Doomsday Traveler

Chapter 205 Plans and Disasters

The man in the suit still hasn't provided an answer as to why the Dyson Sphere project was damaged.

Lu Xi'an tentatively asked, "What exactly do you mean by 'certain reasons'? I've heard people say that the world is just a giant makeshift operation. So, can I guess that the Dyson Sphere project had some flaws in its planning or execution?"

The man in the suit paused his explanation, falling into a slight silence, as if deep in thought.

This contemplation likely involves analyzing Lu Xi'an's words and then accessing the relevant data.

"Yes."

After a long pause, the man in the leather suit gave his answer.

Everyone couldn't help but look at Lu Xi'an again, and Luo Ping exclaimed once more, "Wow, brother, you're amazing! How do you know everything?!"

"Uh-huh!"

The illiterate Chai Xin nodded repeatedly, agreeing with Brother Luo and expressing his deep admiration for Lu Xi'an.

Old Tree echoed Luo Ping, "Yes, Brother Luo, you're right. This guy is really impressive. If it were back in our day, he'd be at least a college student!"

"College student? What's that?"

Luo Ping was puzzled.

Old Tree explained, "It means someone who is very capable and knows a lot."

"Back then, we went to school in many different ways. At the beginning, we were in kindergarten, where we didn't know anything and just played. Then we were in elementary school, where we didn't know much, just recognized a few characters and knew one, two, three, four, and five."

"Then junior high school students, then high school students, and then college students. Once they understand, they're amazing. They understand everything under the sun."

This was said as if it were a ranking of abilities. However, Luo Ping understood: "Now that you mention it, I'm barely a primary school student, while you're a university student, two levels below me. You're way ahead of me, you're really amazing!"

Chai Xin said, "I'm only in kindergarten..."

Yao Wei's gaze, which had been fixed on Lu Xi'an, unconsciously swept over Lao Shu, Chai Xin, and Luo Ping a few times. When she looked back at Lu Xi'an, the corners of her mouth involuntarily turned up slightly. She couldn't suppress it.

However, she didn't want to suppress it. She felt that these three people were right; Lu Xi'an was truly amazing, more amazing than all of them combined.

She was very happy that Lu Xi'an was so capable.

Lu Xi'an kept staring at the screen, waiting for the speakers in the room to speak.

After answering "yes," the man in the suit fell silent again, as if he was analyzing and organizing his next words, adjusting the data and information, and reorganizing his explanation.

While staring at the screen, he also listened to the conversations of others, and for some reason, he thought of some web novels he had read in his previous life that used internet memes. He seemed to have seen a novel that used elementary school students, middle school students, and college students as power levels...

Now, as Lao Shu talks, he's started to categorize diplomas as levels of ability. I feel a little uneasy, but also strangely satisfied.

Listening to the three people's praise, Lu Xi'an unconsciously put his hands behind his back and said, "Actually, I'm not that good either. Many people are at their best in high school."

"If you enter university, your strength will decline if your realm is not stable. Only those with unwavering will and extraordinary strength can stabilize their realm and continue to climb upwards, all the way to graduate school, doctoral school, and postdoctoral studies."

The old tree said, "Sigh... We'd be happy if our village had even one college graduate; we wouldn't even dare dream of a master's or doctoral degree!"

Luo Ping asked in surprise, "There are even higher levels?! How powerful must they be?!"

Lu Xi'an pointed to the man in the suit on the screen.

Luo Ping shuddered and shook his head repeatedly: "It has to turn out like this? Then forget it!"

Lu Xi'an was about to explain to Luo Ping, but the man in the suit on the screen seemed to have finally finished his analysis, and the speakers in the room started playing again, so he shut his mouth and listened attentively.

The voice from the speakers said, "The Dyson Sphere project is a joint effort by multiple countries around the world, and there have been countless difficulties and obstacles along the way."

"At the beginning, we made many predictions and contingency plans for the possible problems and mistakes. Even the original Dyson Sphere plan was compromised to reduce the difficulty of building the Dyson Sphere by making the construction of the Dyson Ring and Dyson Cloud the phased goals."

"Even the potential impact on human society from a failed plan or project termination has been anticipated."

"The original plan's proposers even considered that the Dyson Sphere project was seen as a sign of civilizational advancement, and that its failure would shake humanity's trust in technology, cause a serious blow to confidence in civilization, and generate anti-science and anti-social sentiments."

"Therefore, it is proposed that the Dyson Sphere project be kept strictly confidential. It is not necessary for the project to be carried out in secrecy, but when necessary, it should be publicized as a 'new energy project' to lower public expectations..."

Is that so?

Lu Xi'an frowned slightly.

This explains why the Dyson Sphere project was classified. It's likely that the participating countries initially intended to keep the project a secret from the public. However, given the scale of the project, maintaining secrecy was not easy, so the new energy project eventually became widely known, even to the most observant people.

The consequences of this failed plan far exceeded the original planners' expectations. When disaster struck after the plan's failure, humanity no longer cared about the blow to its confidence in civilization.

Human civilization as a whole, and the entire species, has been dealt a blow. If civilization ceases to exist, what confidence in civilization can we talk about?
Lu Xi'an continued listening to the mannequin's explanation, while the speakers in the room continued to emit sound:
"The complete, high-coverage Dyson Sphere plan will only be launched after the Dyson Cloud is completed and put into use, and when global energy demand increases significantly."

"However, we did not expect that the problems and mistakes in building Dyson Cloud had already reached an extremely serious and irreversible level."

"Human beings have to bear the serious disasters caused by mistakes and errors."

"The global investment in building the Dyson Sphere and related facilities has resulted in excessive consumption of resources and waste of energy. It is now impossible to recover in space, and a global economic burden has already been created, triggering serious social unrest."

"Dyson spheres rely on high-energy microwaves and laser beams to transmit energy. When the control system fails, the energy beams deviate from their target, destroying countless spacecraft and satellites. Planetary surface fires and atmospheric damage occur frequently."

"We had a plan to send a large team to the Dyson sphere for emergency repairs, but the damage to the local structure of the Dyson sphere has created debris that has formed a dead ring around the star, making the repair work difficult to continue."

"The construction, damage, and malfunction of the Dyson sphere have blocked and reflected excessive stellar radiation, and the imbalance in stellar energy output has begun to have an impact."

"The Earth's climate underwent a dramatic change, triggering an extreme ice age. As a result, all remedial plans had to be terminated."

"If humanity wants to survive and maintain its social system, it can only do so as quickly as possible by engaging in disaster response."

"This concludes the explanation of the background. Please answer whether you have understood. If you answer yes, I will begin explaining the next part. If you answer no, I will return to the background and explain it in simpler, more basic language."

Lu Xi'an looked back at everyone and saw that Lao Shu, Yao Wei, Chai Xin and Luo Ping all looked confused, so he wanted the man in the suit to explain.

However, Yao Wei saw through his thoughts and stopped him, saying, "We won't understand these things no matter how much you explain them. It's enough that you can understand what I'm saying. What's more important is what comes next."

She remained as rational as ever.

Lu Xi'an could tell that Yao Wei was quite interested in what the man in the suit was saying. But what this woman cared more about was what Institute 923 was, what was inside, and what benefits it could bring to their survival and lives.

Apart from that, everything else can be left to the side.

That's why she stopped Lu Xi'an.

When Yao Wei said this, the others nodded in agreement.

The old tree said, "Yes, yes, I'm an old man who didn't go to school for more than a few days. I only know a few words. How could I understand this stuff? No matter how it speaks, I still won't understand. Let's not waste our time."

Luo Ping said, "Yes, yes, I'm just a primary school student. This should be something only college students can understand, right?"

Chai Xin echoed Luo Ping's words, saying, "I'm the one who's in kindergarten."

Lu Xian: "..."

Well, since they've all said so, let's just listen to them. We can probably have the costumed character explain these things again later, or I can find a way to explain them myself so these people can understand.

Let's continue listening then.

He then answered the man in the suit on the screen, "Yes."

"Feedback received. Now let's move on to the next part."

The man in the suit immediately reacted and began explaining new information: "After the Dyson Sphere disaster, a global ice age began, and the severity and extreme nature of the ice age slowly increased over time."

"Human societies, having established short-term social organizations, found it difficult to withstand this disaster and began to invest resources and propose various plans to cope with the arrival of an extreme ice age."

"This includes, but is not limited to, the construction of shelters, the planning of material reserves, and the human genome compilation project, namely Project X."

"The most important of these is Project X. It is now 2197. If the disaster has not completely subsided, it means that you, standing in front of me, have become a new human being compiled by the Human Genome Project."

"Please answer no. This question won't affect the following explanation; it's just to satisfy my curiosity."

"Yes."

Lu Xi'an answered "yes," finding the suited man quite interesting.

This was probably a costume made for someone at the 923 Research Institute so they wouldn't have to appear in person during presentations. Now, decades later, the real person in that costume is probably long gone.
He recorded a video asking this question, knowing full well that his real self couldn't hear the answer, yet he still asked it... He must really want to know about the future—which is the current situation.

"The explanation continues."

The speaker in the room continued, "But our Institute 923 is independent of these projects and plans, though not entirely..."

(End of this chapter)