Earth Era

Part 63

Qin Feng had a feeling as if he had entered a parallel timeline.

He first returned to the dormitory, where the furnishings were identical to the surface room. Daily flight training was canceled and replaced with simulation training, akin to playing a game, which had no practical combat effect, but was still useful for honing operational skills.

Several days later, in the middle of the night, a deafening sound woke everyone up. It came from the surface, like countless giants rolling on the ground.

Everyone gathered in the playground, where a circular pool was located at the center. Ripples on the water reflected onto the dome of the bunker, creating a surreal ripple effect...

"That's the sound of floodwaters," Li Hongyue said. "Due to the polar displacement, the once polar ice caps melted rapidly, submerging about two-thirds of the landmass, including our airspace."

"We won't lack water to drink in the future," someone remarked.

Li Hongyue glanced at the person and replied, "That's if you're still alive to drink it."

"Are the consequences of polar displacement severe?" Qin Feng asked.

Li Hongyue pointed upwards. "What do you think?"

"But we've learned from textbooks that planetary polar displacement occurs every few years, and it didn't result in such severe consequences," Qin Feng remarked.

"Well... how should I explain it to you?" Li Hongyue pondered for a moment, then retrieved a stone from the pool and said, "Imagine this is our Saitan planet. The top and bottom represent the South and North poles, which is easy to understand, right?"

Qin Feng nodded.

He continued, "If the pole movements are relative, meaning one moves this way and the other moves that way." He used his fingers to represent the poles, gesturing, "Or one moves this way and the other moves that way, there wouldn't be any problem, right?"

Qin Feng nodded again. "It's like quantum entanglement, one goes up, the other must go down."

"Exactly, that's more or less the idea." He then retrieved a larger stone from the pool and said, "But what if, at this moment, there's an object several times larger in mass than our Saitan planet slowly approaching? What would happen?" He brought the two stones closer together.

"Saitan will be drawn towards it," someone said.

"Correct," Li Hongyue affirmed. "But it's not just any planet, it's a starship with a mass several times larger than ours. So it won't attract Saitan, but rather push it away. However, due to the mutual tug of magnetic fields, Saitan's magnetic field is no match for the starship's, so the North and South poles will gradually be pulled towards it, collide, and then disappear!" The disappearance of Saitan's magnetic field would signify catastrophic consequences.

As Li Hongyue explained, influenced by the intense magnetic field of the starship, Saitan's poles were slowly moving towards one direction.

Once the two poles collided or merged, the consequences would be unimaginable!

The magnetic field locked the tides, continental plates, and thick atmosphere of this planet.

Without the magnetic field's lock on the tides and atmosphere, floods would ravage, and the atmosphere would dissipate into space...

Without an atmosphere, humans would be unable to survive on this planet, and the distant stars became humanity's only hope.

Before this, some still held onto a glimmer of hope, believing that with enough determination, they could win this war and reclaim their homeland!

But now, even that sliver of hope had been shattered... Listening to the rumbling overhead, it truly sounded like the voice of doomsday. Three days later, they were informed that the floodwaters had receded. Qin Feng and several dozen others were the first to return to the surface.

They wore protective suits and oxygen masks because the "Cosmic Research Institute" stated that 90% of Saitan's atmosphere had already dissipated into space, leaving mostly nitrogen and trace amounts of rare gases, insufficient for normal breathing and unable to block cosmic rays (UV rays, gamma rays, etc.).

Due to the loss of the atmosphere, the global average temperature became extremely unstable, with daytime temperatures averaging above 70°C and nighttime temperatures averaging around -35°C, resulting in a temperature difference of nearly 100°C between day and night!

Therefore, they tried to stay in the bunker as much as possible, minimizing outdoor activities, and wearing protective suits when necessary.

Thus, they were all fully armed, dressed like astronauts, as they stepped into the elevator.

Soon, the elevator reached the surface. When the elevator doors opened, everyone was stunned by the sight before them!

This was no longer the airspace! As far as the eye could see, it was all water, ankle-deep.

The once-standing buildings no longer existed, surrounded by a world of water!

During the day, the outside temperature was indeed hot, as indicated on the protective suit: 56°C. A thin layer of mist floated around, the evaporated water vapor, as if the entire universe was misty. Qin Feng attempted to locate the cemetery, but after looking around, he couldn't distinguish the directions without reference points.

After searching in vain, he disappointedly returned to the bunker.

Li Hongyue comforted him, saying, "It's okay, wait for the surface water to evaporate, and then it'll be easier to find."

At night, all the water froze into ice, and during the day, all the ice melted into water. As time passed day by day, several months later, the United Government announced that Saitan's atmosphere had completely disappeared, and the surface could no longer sustain human life. Except for the airspace personnel, all others were not allowed to venture outside.

This was a death sentence. In the past, the United Government rarely issued such death sentences, as it amounted to imprisoning everyone in the bunker, although it was also for everyone's safety. But not everyone understood this; some disobeyed orders and secretly went outside, never to return...