Did the world end today?

Chapter 198 A Part of Time and Space
Good morning, Comrade Lin Xu.

"It's bad this morning, Zhiyun."

Lin Xu rolled out of bed and patted himself up. He stepped outside and quickly contacted Bai Mo using the ship's internal communications system. Then, following the established procedure, he activated the Butterfly Contingency Plan.

Two minutes later, he entered the bridge command room.

Bai Mo was waiting for him with a smart eyepiece in her hand, but the moment the two met, the expression on Bai Mo's face underwent a subtle change.

Lin Xu keenly noticed this change, and after putting on the smart glasses, he asked:
"what happened?"

Bai Mo was silent at first, but then shook his head and said:

"It's nothing, really."

"Well, you're a little different from the butterfly I imagined."

It wasn't the butterfly she had imagined?
This was the first time Lin Xu had heard this sentence from Bai Mo.

She never mentioned it, even though I've come so many times before!
"Why is it different?"

Bai Mo looked at Lin Xu and replied:

"You look relaxed and confident."

"It's strange. Your appearance clearly means the end of the world is coming, but to be honest, looking at you like this, I don't feel sad at all."

"Because there's no need to be sad in the first place."

Lin Xu quickly operated the smart panel of the Butterfly Plan, issuing a series of instructions before saying:
"For a long time, I believed that death was your end."

"After all, every time I enter a world, I have to destroy it."

“You will disappear—even if I enter again next time, I will still see you almost unchanged, but in reality, the new you is no longer the old you.”

"But now, I've completely figured it out."

“Death is not the end for you, but merely a rest.”

"The world that has been sacrificed will one day be restarted."

"Then what is there to be sad about?"

"Okay, no more words."

"I'm going to do something big this time!"

"What's the big deal?"

Bai Mo seemed to be influenced by Lin Xu; his expression remained firm, his eyes still sharp, but he also had a more carefree and open-minded air about him.

"I'm going to detonate this spaceship, detonate Suzaku-1."

Lin Xu spoke in a serious tone, but Shen Li, who was not far away, turned his head instantly.

"what?"

He could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"No, I need to use the ship's nuclear thermal reactor to create a nuclear explosion and test whether a nuclear explosion can create a high-dimensional channel piping effect."

Lin Xu quickly explained the theories about ponds, oceans, filters, and anthills.

After hearing his words, everyone present fell silent.

Lin Xu thought that his plan was too radical, which made it difficult for others to react in time.

But then, Shen Li spoke up:
"The plan is a good plan."

"But the problem is... my ship carries a reactor, not a nuclear bomb!"

"what??"

Like being struck by lightning.

Lin Xu suddenly realized that he had made a fatal mistake.

He saw a nuclear explosion on the other side of the higher-dimensional passage.

Therefore, he assumed that Suzaku-1 had the capability to create nuclear explosions.

But in fact
how could it be possible!
The abundance of radioactive material in nuclear reactor fuel is on a completely different order of magnitude than the abundance of radioactive material in a nuclear bomb, okay?
Even if this thing explodes, it will only explode into a huge dirty bomb, and it will never achieve the "high-energy radiation beam" effect that I want!

Damn it.

What should we do then?

Lin Xu suddenly realized he had spoken too boldly.

At this moment, Bai Mo had already noticed his problem.

"Two options."

"We can launch a high-yield nuclear bomb into geosynchronous orbit, but we can't guarantee it will arrive on time. You need to give the order immediately!"

"understand!"

Lin Xu quickly issued instructions through the Butterfly Plan, and at the same time, before Bai Mo could speak, he took over the conversation and continued.

"The second option is that we can directly enter a high-dimensional portal near Mars and detonate the fission reactor there."

“I think the equivalent should be sufficient, and the effect should be even better after adding chaotic rules.”

“That’s right. No matter which end of the high-dimensional channel the piping is triggered from, the effect should be the same.”

“Someone wants to go in—but I’m staying.”

"It's decided!"

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone sprang into action.

Shen Li returned to the control panel and began to maneuver the Vermilion Bird No. 1 toward the location where it was scheduled to appear in the higher-dimensional channel.

Lin Xu was responsible for contacting the Zhurong base and arranging subsequent monitoring and communication work.

Bai Mo then led Qi Yuan out of the bridge command room and headed straight for the engine room.

They need to find First Officer Dong Hui and, with his assistance, adjust the operating parameters of the nuclear thermal engine to bring the spacecraft's fission reactor to criticality ahead of schedule.

There are 53 minutes left in the countdown.

At this moment, through Earth's perspective, Lin Xu saw that a nuclear bomb with a yield of ten million tons had been released from the warehouse.

The launch pad has been erected, and it seems to be in the final preparations before launch.

But this is unreasonable.

The design concept of intercontinental nuclear missiles is completely different from that of launch vehicles that fly into outer space. Their energy level and flight control system are simply insufficient to support them to fly directly into geosynchronous orbit.

The process of changing orbit from low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit alone is enough to completely lock this missile in place.

So what's the purpose of this?
Lin Xu wanted to ask a question, but at that moment, a series of updated information was presented to him.

On the holographic projection, a man was explaining their plan at an extremely fast pace.

"We will send this Dongfeng-61 intercontinental ballistic missile into orbit and perform warhead separation at an altitude of about 1200 kilometers ahead of schedule."

"Then, we will use a Xuanwu-class carrier spacecraft to capture the warhead at the lowest speed point of the orbital high, and then accelerate it again to send it into low Earth orbit."

Damn it.

Space relay!

Without a doubt, this is an extremely insane plan.

In fact, given that no weapon has been specifically designed for "space nuclear strikes," this is currently the fastest and most successful solution they can implement!
Lin Xu could not possibly object to this.

He just said something.

"I hope we have good luck."

Yes, this plan definitely requires luck.

Even a small deviation could lead to a capture failure.

At that point, the losses will be far more than just a single nuclear warhead.

Thirty seconds later, the Rocket Force, reacting swiftly, issued the missile launch order.

A massive plume of smoke rose from the ground as this superweapon, carrying unparalleled destructive power, hurtled into space with a special mission that may never have been considered in its initial design.

It takes 25 minutes to reach the highest point of its trajectory.

At that time, the Xuanwu-class carrier spacecraft will have 22 minutes to capture it and bring it to the location of the high-dimensional channel in geosynchronous orbit.

There should be enough time.

Countdown 47 minutes.

Bai Mo's voice came through the earphones.

"The fission reactor power is increasing, preparing to enter the supercritical state!"

"understand!"

Lin Xu's heart tightened.

At this time, Zhuque-1 was already accelerating towards the higher-dimensional passage in Mars orbit.

The high-dimensional channel will appear 16 minutes before the countdown ends.

He has half an hour left.

At the Zhurong base, the Higgs factory is undergoing preparations for its startup.

It is expected that it will complete the pre-startup self-check in 15 minutes.

"Board the landing craft! All non-essential personnel, prepare to evacuate!"

Bai Mo's voice came again.

"Shen Li, I'm leaving him to you!"

"Don't worry, it'll be no problem."

Shen Li's voice was incredibly calm and steady.

Lin Xu strode out of the bridge command room and ran towards the landing craft. Three minutes later, the landing craft separated from the Zhuque-3.

This time, the landing craft did not land on Mars, but instead activated its shock engines to accelerate and fly towards the Zhurong space station.

The quantum communication equipment there will help Lin Xu obtain the latest information from the Zhurong base in the event of a possible "piping effect".

To fly, to approach.

The entire process went incredibly smoothly.

Bai Mo completed the docking of the landing craft with the space station in an almost brutal manner.

At that moment, three messages came in succession.

"This is the Zhurong Base. The accelerator has completed its self-check and is now commencing experimental testing."

"Xuanwu reports: I have visually identified the target warhead and am preparing to capture it."

"Zhuque-1 reports, expected to arrive at the designated location in two minutes."

Countdown 24 minutes.

Lin Xu entered the main control room of the Zhurong space station, where constantly updated coordinates displayed the progress of each independent project.

The Zhuque-1 satellite is green, and all its preparations are complete.

The Xuanwu ship's side is marked in yellow; although progress is going smoothly, there are still uncertainties.

Lin Xu stared nervously at the control panel, but at that moment, Bai Mo relaxed instead.

"Don't be nervous."

She offered words of comfort:

"If all else fails, we can just start over."

"There is still room for improvement in our process. Next time, we will definitely succeed."

"clear."

Lin Xu nodded.

Countdown 16 minutes.

"Zhuque-1 reports: A strange spatial phenomenon has been observed and confirmed to be a high-dimensional channel."

"I'm ready to go in."

"Goodbye everyone."

A farewell so brief it couldn't be more poignant.

Shen Li piloted the Vermilion Bird One and charged headlong into the higher-dimensional passage.

Lin Xu kept his mouth tightly shut.

The Vermilion Bird-1 disappeared into the void of space.

Theoretically, the explosion should occur immediately upon entry.

However, at this time, the particle accelerator at the Zhurong base did not react at all.

Failed?
K.

After all, the success rate of this plan was not very high to begin with.

The last hope lies with the Xuanwu.

Meanwhile, the Xuanwu had completed the acquisition of the warhead and began to move towards the higher-dimensional channel.

Countdown 5 minutes.

"That's too late."

The captain of the Xuanwu reported via the quantum communication system:
"We are unable to reach the designated location."

"When the time reaches zero, the estimated distance to the target location is 174 kilometers."

"Detonate the nuclear warhead prematurely."

"At least fry it up, it's better than doing nothing!"

"clear."

Lin Xu gave the order in a deep voice:
"Detonate immediately after the countdown reaches zero."

The information was quickly disseminated.

Soon, the countdown reached its final 30 seconds.

"This time it might really be too late."

Lin Xu raised his head with a hint of disappointment.

"The distance is too far. A megaton-class nuclear bomb sounds powerful, but the average energy level of the particles is still too low relative to the accelerator."

"We'll have to wait until next time."

"Fortunately, we're not that far off."

"It's only a difference of a few tens of seconds, it's perfectly fine."

"A cross-sectional jump has occurred!! A cross-sectional jump has occurred!!"

Lin Xu was interrupted by a report from the Zhurong base before he could finish speaking.

Almost at the same instant, Lin Xu noticed that a plasma storm was gradually rising in the distant void of space.

time.

In that chaotic universe, the timeline is different from the universe I'm in now.

That's right, the last time I entered, I received the news of the apocalypse the moment I entered.

And now.
The time difference was perfect.

Successful.

Lin Xu turned to look at Bai Mo.

But he suddenly realized that everything around him was distorted.

A report came through the headphones in a muffled voice.

"Already detonated"

"us."

"storm."

"Exploding veins."

Lin Xu's mind was in complete chaos.

what's the situation? ?

The countdown to the nuclear explosion of the Xuanwu should have ended by now, right?

No, even the apocalypse should have already happened, right?
So what's the situation now?
In the distance, the plasma storm suddenly died down.

Immediately afterwards, Deimos appeared to be pulled by an invisible hand, and began to twist abnormally.

This time, it's not tearing apart!

The light around it bends into a spiral shape, converging towards the center of the satellite.

Its center is a pitch-black dot.

It was a void deeper than the darkness of the universe itself.

Then, that point began to expand.

No, it's not expansion, but rather the surrounding spacetime falling towards it.

Lin Xu suddenly realized.

The form of the apocalypse has changed.

When two high-dimensional channels are simultaneously "broken down", when two piping effects occur simultaneously
Even the apocalypse itself was affected!
The Zhurong space station was completely torn to pieces—or perhaps "disintegrated" in a certain sense is more accurate than "torn apart."

The fragment flew at near the speed of light toward the black hole-like center, but vanished without a trace the instant it made contact.

Meanwhile, time itself began to become disordered.

On Lin Xu's watch, the hands spun wildly, and the smart eyepiece displayed a jumble of characters.

He took off his goggles and immediately saw the skin and muscles on his arm switching back and forth between "aging" and "recovery".

The starry sky around the center point is like a film rewinding, with the sun's light flickering, as if the universe is retracing its own history.

Then, he saw the boundary from which light could not escape.

The horizon at the center point is like a transparent film; beyond that film, the starry sky remains.

Within the membrane, everything returns to nothingness.

Lin Xu felt an irresistible pull.

It's not a physical pull, but the collapse of the spacetime structure itself.

His body felt no pain, yet it felt as if it were being dismantled into elementary particles, with every cell undergoing a quantum-level tearing process.

At the last moment, his vision was stretched infinitely.

The interior of the center point was not pure darkness, but rather a vision beyond his comprehension.

Fragments of countless parallel universes converge here.

He saw a mirror image of the Earth, and a reflection of himself from a few minutes earlier.

Then, everything fell silent.

In the last moment before his consciousness faded, a thought suddenly popped into Lin Xu's mind.

I have become a part of time and space.
(End of this chapter)