30: Public opinion explodes! A plane triggers a global earthquake!

On the other side, within the Innate Domain.

Absolute darkness and silence enveloped the Boeing 737 passenger plane suspended in mid-air.

The passengers in the cabin were freed from the agonizing pain of weightlessness and rotation.

That terrifying force that tore at their bodies and compressed their internal organs had vanished.

But they immediately fell into a deeper, collective panic born of cognitive collapse.

Some opened their mouths wide, their throats and chests heaving violently as they tried to scream with all their might, yet no sound came out.

The air refused to vibrate.

The very concept of sound had been stripped away here.

They could only stare with bloodshot eyes at the incomprehensible sight outside the window, their bodies trembling violently from extreme fear.

Jiang Ming stood in the center of the aisle.

He was the only existence in this space capable of moving freely.

He closed his eyes and activated the [Voice of the Mind].

A clear, cold, and emotionless thought rang out simultaneously in the minds of the one hundred and fifty-seven passengers and crew members on board.

"Quiet."

The panic was forcibly smoothed over.

They were forced to calm down, sitting blankly in their seats, using their eyes to frantically communicate the tremors from the depths of their souls with those around them.

At this moment, Jiang Ming could clearly sense that maintaining the suspension of this hundred-ton steel creation and continuously neutralizing its terrifying kinetic energy—enough to shatter a mountain peak—was placing a continuous and massive drain on his soul.

Then, Jiang Ming ignored the passengers. He turned and walked step by step toward the cockpit.

The cockpit door was severely distorted due to the violent deformation of the fuselage during the fall, and it was firmly stuck in the door frame.

For mortals, this was an insurmountable dead end.

Jiang Ming made no unnecessary movements.

He simply placed his palm gently against the cold metal cabin door.

The next second.

The hard alloy door, like living flowing water, silently receded and melted to both sides, yielding a path.

Captain Wang Hai and the co-pilot beside him were slumped in their seats.

When the cabin door opened in a way that defied all common knowledge of physics, their brains completely short-circuited.

The two top pilots, who had just experienced the despair of an impending crash and possessed tens of thousands of hours of flight experience, looked at Jiang Ming before them, their eyes filled with world-shattering shock... Outside.

Three hours had passed since Flight CA4527 lost contact.

Seven o'clock sharp in the evening.

The official website and Weibo of the Civil Aviation Administration of China simultaneously released the first formal announcement.

[Report on the Loss of Contact with Flight CA4527: At 14:30 this afternoon, Flight CA4527 from Jiangcheng to Yuzhang lost contact with the ground after flying through a convective weather zone over the northern mountainous area of Yuzhang. Currently, search and rescue operations have been fully launched...]

The moment the announcement was issued.

Major news media outlets around the world almost simultaneously interrupted their regular programming.

"We interrupt with a piece of breaking news..."

"According to official Chinese news, a Boeing 737 passenger plane carrying 158 people lost contact three hours ago..."

#CA4527 Lost Contact#

This cold topic topped the trending lists of all social networks worldwide within a short ten minutes.

On the TikTok platform.

The [Special Content Cooperation Department].

Assistant Zhao Lin stared at the news notification popping up on her phone, her mind going blank.

With trembling hands, she clicked on the passenger list that had just been sent through internal channels.

When the two characters "Jiang Ming" entered her sight, she felt as if all the blood had been drained from her body.

In the entire department, all work came to a halt.

On the internet.

The initial prayers and concerns were gradually replaced by various bizarre speculations and conspiracy theories during the long wait.

"It's definitely aliens! Disappearing instantly at ten thousand meters—there's no explanation other than a UFO!"

"Could it be a new type of terrorist attack? Like some kind of electromagnetic pulse weapon?"

And in another dark corner, those anti-fans who had previously betted against Jiang Ming's fans began their celebration.

Under the topic #Crow God's Talent Exhausted#, a post was pushed to the top.

"Brothers, I'm announcing something. I won!"

"He played too hard this time; he literally physically disappeared."

"Waiting for the wind to rise? More like waiting for the seventh-day funeral rite! Hahahaha!"

Below were countless gloating replies, their words sharp and malicious.

In stark contrast was Jiang Ming's TikTok account, "Jiang Lai."

Under his latest "vacation" update, the number of comments surpassed hundreds of thousands within a single hour.

"Brother, you must be okay, right? Please come out!"

"Crow God, I beg you, create another miracle!"

"My god, your believers are praying for you. Please respond to us!"

...Ninth Bureau, Temporary Command Center.

Chen Jianguo's face was as grim as water as he watched the climbing negative public opinion data on the main screen.

Various conspiracy theories were rampant, and the public's panic was being infinitely magnified.

"Public Opinion Team!"

He picked up the microphone, his voice hoarse.

"Increase the guidance efforts! Direct public attention toward weather causes and technical failures! We absolutely cannot let talk of aliens or the supernatural become mainstream!"

"Yes, sir!"

However, faced with the spontaneous flood of emotions from hundreds of millions of netizens, the official guidance seemed like a drop in the ocean.

At the same time.

The Eagle Nation's "Keyhole" series of military reconnaissance satellites and the Polar Bear's "Cosmos" series of satellites all quietly adjusted their orbital parameters, aiming their reconnaissance windows at the airspace where the plane had lost contact.

They also wanted to know where that plane had actually gone.

Nine o'clock at night.

China Central Television, a prime-time live special program.

A team composed of the country's top aviation experts, physicists, and meteorologists sat in the studio, analyzing the incident.

"Based on all the data we currently have," a physicist said, pointing to a simulation animation on the screen with a heavy tone.

"Before losing contact, the aircraft encountered a lightning strike that exceeded its design limits, and the left engine was confirmed to have failed. In such a situation, the aircraft enters an uncontrollable 'death spiral' state."

"Falling from ten thousand meters, the instantaneous speed upon hitting the ground will exceed eight hundred kilometers per hour."

"Under an impact of this intensity, the possibility of survival is..."

The expert paused, seemingly searching for a less cruel word.

But he ultimately gave up.

"Zero."

The studio fell into silence.

In the television frame, the host's face, adorned with exquisite makeup, wore a perfectly measured expression of grief.

She faced the camera and, in a tone that was almost a premature verdict, spoke slowly:

"Though we still hope for a miracle, we must also offer our deepest condolences in advance for our one hundred and fifty-eight compatriots on board."