129: Chapter 129: The viewers, teachers, and experts were so frightened they couldn't sleep.

As Jiang Zhe's words fell, the air in the living room seemed to freeze instantly.

The expression on Xiao Yu's face suddenly froze, and her cherry-like mouth opened slightly, but she found it difficult to make any sound!

After a brief silence in the livestream room, the bullet chat suddenly erupted like a torrential flood.

"????"

"Holy shit!"

"What the absolute fuck!!"

"What... what was that?"

"Dead? We're already dead??"

"I dropped my phone in shock, and it smacked me right in the face."

"Don't mess with us, bro!"

"I'm in my blankets, but I feel like I've fallen into an ice cellar!"

"That was suddenly bone-chilling, big brother!"

"We asked you to reveal secrets, not to reveal that we're dead!"

At this moment, all the teachers, professors, and viewers who were about to turn around straightened their backs instantly as a wave of coldness washed over them.

Professor Wang Shouren pinched his fat face in bewilderment, only to find it hurt—this wasn't a dream.

Inside Qingfeng Temple, Celestial Master Zhang's usually expressionless face changed as his eyes suddenly widened!

In the Huaqing University lounge, Guan Jingming and Li Mo suddenly sprang up from their seats.

In the office, Principal Fu, Old Wang, Xiao Wang, and the other teachers looked at each other, all seeing the horror on each other's faces.

Jiang Zhe, who was at the center of it all, was completely unaware of these external reactions!

He tilted his head back and took another sip of soda, then casually tossed the can into the nearby trash bin with a "clink."

"Yes, you and everyone else are already dead; you just haven't realized it yet."

He turned and walked toward the bedroom, glancing back at the pale-faced Xiao Yu.

"Alright, today's tutoring session is truly over."

He pushed the door open and walked in, and the door was gently closed.

[Today's tutoring session has ended. Xiao Yu's IQ +1, Historical Knowledge +5, Vision +3, Experience +4]

[Reward: 371,224 yuan!]

...

Inside the Principal's office at Gusu High School.

The air here had grown a bit colder. Principal Fu huddled his shoulders in bewilderment. "I'm afraid I won't be able to sleep tonight."

Beside him, Old Wang sucked in a breath of cold air. "More than just not being able to sleep, I feel like I don't even have the courage to walk back to the dormitory now."

Teacher Xiao Wang felt a bit cold and instinctively draped Old Wang's fleece-lined jacket over her shoulders.

"He's hinting to us... that we're living in a Brain in a Vat simulation, or something else? This is scarier than a ghost story!"

Old Wang instinctively reached for his black fleece-lined suit jacket to put it on, only to find his hand grasping at thin air; the chair was empty.

And then...

He looked suspiciously at Teacher Xiao Wang, who had put on his clothes.

Then he looked down at his own thin white shirt, his body shivering uncontrollably from the cold.

"Achoo~"

...

Meanwhile, inside Qingfeng Temple.

The deathly silence in the room was instantly shattered by a sentence from Zheng Ming: "Nonsense, absolute nonsense!"

"Earlier he talked about consciousness and Earth's consciousness. No matter how outrageous it was, at least there was logic to follow, like a scientist proposing a disruptive hypothesis."

"But now, he just says, 'we're already dead.' What is that supposed to mean?"

"It's nothing more than a cliffhanger meant to be intentionally mysterious!"

Previously, his arrogance toward Jiang Zhe had gradually diminished, and he had inwardly acknowledged Jiang Zhe's true level.

But he hadn't expected that acknowledgment to be instantly shattered by that one sentence!

He looked at his teacher and Celestial Master Zhang. "Teacher, Senior Brother, you saw it too. This is completely irresponsible nonsense. I thought he had some skill before, and not a low level at that, but now it seems he's just another one of those people in the Sinology and metaphysics circles who plays with words to deceive people!"

Wang Chongyang's brow furrowed as he looked at Celestial Master Zhang. "Little Celestial Master, how should we interpret this? Is it a Zen koan or just wild talk?"

Celestial Master Zhang's gaze was solemn. "Life and death, existence and non-existence—these are inherently delusions. If he says we are dead, are we then dead?"

"If he says we are still alive, are we then still alive? The Dao follows nature; why obsess over the physical form!"

"What he talks about next will most likely be the meaning of 'denying the existence of all things.'"

At this point, even Celestial Master Zhang's opinion of Jiang Zhe wavered slightly.

Jiang Zhe was a very extreme person—

In the metaphysics and Sinology circles, no one would dare speak to their family this way.

Since he dared to say it, it was enough to prove... that Jiang Zhe might truly possess some unknown, cutting-edge secrets!

Doctor Zhou Ming shook his head vigorously. He was originally supposed to take a flight tomorrow morning to provide specialized training for a medical seminar in a neighboring province.

Now, he picked up his phone and dialed a number.

"Is this Old Director Li? It's me, Zhou Ming. I won't be going to the training tomorrow; let's move it to Wednesday. I have something to handle here."

After hanging up, he looked at the three of them and explained, "This has nothing to do with you. It's mainly what Jiang... Xiaoyu's brother said, especially that last sentence. If I don't find out how he's going to explain it next time and what possibility lies behind it, I'm afraid I won't have the heart to work."

Zheng Ming also had no heart to listen to his teacher, the Celestial Master, or Doctor Zhou. Instead, he pulled out his phone and dialed Professor Chen Runzhi's number.

"Uncle Chen, it's me, Xiao Zheng. Sorry to bother you so late."

...

In Kyoto, inside the faculty residential compound of the University of History.

A phone rang suddenly, breaking the silence of the scene.

Professor Chen Runzhi glanced at the caller ID; it was Zheng Ming. He pressed the speakerphone button.

"Xiao Zheng, what's wrong so late at night?"

"Uncle Chen, have you... have you been watching that livestream lately? The one where a younger sister secretly films her brother..."

"I know. You're talking about that last sentence, right?"

"Not only did we hear it, but us old fogies are also baffled. Your Uncle Wang and Uncle Qian are here, and there's an Uncle Liu you don't know."

Zheng Ming on the phone was clearly stunned for a moment. "Uncle Chen, setting everything else aside, those times he showed earlier—Wen Gu, the Republic of China, the Qing, the Ming, the Northern Song... what exactly was going on with those?"

"Was it a fake, or was it real?"

"I'd like to ask you, Uncle Wang, and Uncle Qian to check. You are all big shots in the history department."

"Specifically, whether that Northern Song official actually existed, or if it was something else?"

Professor Chen Runzhi exchanged glances with Old Wang, Old Qian, Professor Liu Guangyi, and the others.

Professor Liu Guangyi nodded, and Old Wang agreed. "We were planning to check anyway, and now we definitely have to!"

"Don't worry, Xiao Zheng," Professor Chen Runzhi said into the phone. "We'll take this seriously. Not just to verify him, but also to give ourselves some peace of mind. We'll let you know when there's news."

"Thanks, Uncle Chen. Next time, I'll treat you to Michelin."

Old Wang looked confused and leaned toward the phone. "Why are you treating us to tires? We're not buying tires."

Zheng Ming was speechless for two and a half seconds. "It's the Michelin Restaurant..."

"Oh, oh, okay!" Professor Chen Runzhi glanced at the old-fashioned Professor Wang Shouren, whose old face immediately turned red.

...

Meanwhile, in Gusu, at the Dougou Platform Operations Department.

Manager Wang Shulin stared at the real-time backend charts, his eyes practically glowing!

Several young operators nearby also huddled in front of the screen, the shock and horror from moments ago still lingering on their faces.

"This Jiang Zhe is really something else; the concurrent viewers hit 7.2 million."

A junior operator pointed at the chart where the curve had spiked and then rapidly dropped. "Then it instantly lost nearly a million people. I guess quite a few were scared off."

Operator Wang took a deep breath. "The effect this time is simply explosive. The buzz will definitely be off the charts. I bet the trending topics on all the major social platforms have already been set."

Switching to the backend revenue chart, the total tips had reached 800,000 yuan.

"Even though the content is getting more and more metaphysical, the stickiness and attraction are truly undeniable."

Wang Shulin leaned back in his chair. "Whether it's science or metaphysics, as long as it comes out of his mouth, it seems to become very... scientific!"

He looked at the colleagues around him with some curiosity. "Guys, sometimes I really suspect that Jiang Zhe's enlightenment has gone too far. He knows everything and can do everything. If he were to do extreme sports or even go to the Olympics, I have a faint feeling he could do it. It's as if he's capable of anything, knows everything, and nothing can stump him."

His subordinates just smiled and said nothing.

...

Not long after the livestream ended, related topics appeared on the Weibo trending list.

This time, the content did not involve any suspected leaks of classified information, resulting in multiple topics about Jiang Zhe occupying the top ten list.