Reborn Before the Apocalypse: My Backing is the Nation

Chapter 197 Failure, Success?
In five minutes, the end of the world will come.

At this moment, the hydrogen bomb constellation is still about 1000 kilometers away from the location where the black hole is scheduled to appear.

If the black hole is being transported via conventional means, then it is currently still estimated to be about 1000 kilometers away from its intended location, even though it is still encased in a membrane.

Its orbit is different from that of the hydrogen bomb constellation, but they will eventually converge there.

This is the result that humanity spent dozens of days, using dozens of supercomputers, over 100,000 engines, and countless human resources to finally achieve.

According to the plan, the hydrogen bomb constellation will be detonated 20 seconds before the final apocalypse.

This timeframe is close enough to the first and second possibilities in the speculation—that the hydrogen bomb was generated on-site or delivered via space tunnel technology—to ensure that it would have a sufficiently significant impact on them.

At the same time, this timing is also sufficient to ensure that if the reality is the third, speculative possibility—that the black hole arrives via conventional means—the hydrogen bomb constellation is close enough to unleash enough energy to test whether the hydrogen bomb can destroy its envelope and to allow infrared telescopes sufficient observation time.

Time slowly passed in this solemn atmosphere.

Inside the lunar base, all 200-plus staff members were gathered in the conference room, their expressions solemn and filled with worry.

The voice of the Earth base commander was clearly heard.

"The 11655th overall inspection is complete. Communication system normal, coordinates normal, orbit normal, telescope normal..."

"Countdown, 00:04:22."

Jiang Yang sensed a slight tremor in that seemingly solemn and emotionless voice.

Although he couldn't see the expressions of the numerous council members, decision-making team members, researchers, and hibernation team members in the Earth base, Jiang Yang knew that they must be just like those of the people in the lunar base at this moment.

Even with the strongest will, even when facing death without flinching, one still cannot maintain inner peace in the face of this situation.

The reason is simple: we are facing an uncertain outcome.

The ability to face death without fear stems from the certainty of death.

There's nothing to fear about things that are already determined.

What if... whether we die or live, whether human civilization will perish or not is still uncertain, and the final answer will be revealed in less than five minutes?

At this moment, who can remain calm?

Even Jiang Yang, who was already confirmed to have the ability to circulate, couldn't help but feel his heart pounding at this moment, let alone the others.

call……

时间仍旧在慢慢流逝着，转眼间便到了00：01:00，进而又变成了00:00:30。

Last 30 seconds.

"Countdown: 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0... Detonate!"

Amidst solemn words, the detonation order was finally given. In that instant, the pre-programmed automatic sequence suddenly sent a detonation signal to the hydrogen bomb constellation, consisting of 100,000 hydrogen bombs, more than 10,000 kilometers away.

At that moment, the high explosives inside the hydrogen bomb, having received the detonation signal, were detonated first.

Extreme high temperature and pressure instantly begin to compress nuclear fission materials, causing them to fission in an instant, and a very small portion of their mass is converted into energy during fission.

This immense energy then began to put pressure on the lithium deuteride that serves as the fusion fuel, causing their temperature to rise rapidly, reaching hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius within microseconds.

Under the influence of this surging energy, the particles that make up the atomic nucleus come together, transforming from lighter elements into heavier ones. And in this process, even more surging energy is released.

In an instant, unparalleled light and heat were released and rapidly spread to the surrounding space.

But before the light and heat could reach the nearby hydrogen bombs, those bombs also exploded with a bang under the trigger signal.

One hundred thousand hydrogen bombs were detonated one by one within a 2-millisecond timeframe.

At that moment, it was as if a sun had suddenly appeared in space.

At that moment, people above the Earth were astonished to see the once pitch-black sky suddenly brighten, and all objects that were originally hidden under the darkness were now clearly visible.

The violent radiation swept across the entire surrounding space, even extending hundreds of thousands of kilometers away.

Some satellites that had not been protected beforehand were instantly burned up by radiation and electromagnetic storms. Even the Earth's upper atmosphere rippled at that moment.

At this moment, it is not only radiation and electromagnetic waves that are disturbing this space.

Hydrogen bombs themselves also have mass.

Including communication devices, engine devices, etc., a hydrogen bomb can weigh up to 4 tons.

One hundred thousand units would amount to 40 tons.

At this moment, all 40 tons of complex materials were ionized and vaporized under the hundreds of millions of degrees Celsius of the hydrogen bomb explosion, turning into violent plasma that swept across the entire space with a force even more intense than the solar wind.

Suddenly, a star so bright it was impossible to look directly at appeared on the large screen in front of Jiang Yang.

Although he didn't observe it with the naked eye, but rather through a telescope broadcast, Jiang Yang could still truly feel the power of 100,000 hydrogen bombs exploding together.

At that moment, he was slightly lost in thought.

This star was ultimately shaped by the united efforts of hundreds of millions or even billions of people, who invested countless financial, material, and human resources.

It's not a star, it's a gun.

A gun that gathers the power of all humanity, piercing towards the apocalypse, piercing towards darkness.

This marks the first time since the second and subsequent cycles of doomsday that human civilization has directly confronted the end of the world.

Only during this apocalypse did people truly learn who the real culprit was, and for the first time, they truly possessed the ability and plans to influence the end of the world.

So this charge...

What will be the outcome? Will the violent energy fluctuations disrupt the process of the black hole being transported through space or created on-site, preventing the black hole from "descending" and thus ending the apocalypse, or will the black hole remain unaffected and still descend?

Or perhaps the black hole simply traveled there by normal means, rendering our plan to disrupt the "production environment" ineffective? At this moment, no one knows.

Jiang Yang's heart could no longer be controlled; it pounded violently. His gaze was fixed on the large screen in front of him, unable to look away for even a moment.

The flash of the hydrogen bomb explosion was fleeting. The next moment, a number on the big screen suddenly spiked.

Electromagnetic interference!

An electromagnetic storm has occurred!
"Our communications are under severe interference and are expected to be interrupted in 30 seconds. Countdown: 29, 28..."

Jiang Yang was slightly taken aback.

Damn it, the end of the world has come after all!

Hydrogen bomb constellation failed to avert the apocalypse!

"Quickly, quickly transfer the data, quickly..."

"It's already being transmitted! Data from 16 telescopes... all transmitted!"

The cold, ticking countdown continued: "15, 14...0."

The screen suddenly froze, no longer changing.

Communication was completely cut off.

Under the onslaught of raging radiation and electromagnetic storms, the lunar base was once again reduced to a small, isolated island, cut off from all contact with the outside world.

At this moment, the only way for our side to obtain any information from the outside world is to actually send personnel to the base.

Let's go out and take a look.

In the previous cycle, out of caution and due to the uncertainty of what would happen next, and because of the unusually strong electromagnetic storm and radiation, our side did not send anyone out to investigate.

This time, Jiang Yang already knew that once the apocalypse arrived, the moon would only have about ten hours left.

With only this much life left, what do I care about radiation?
Donning a mechanical spacesuit, and protected by several astronauts including Zhuo Fangting, Jiang Yang hurriedly left the base, then immediately looked up.

The next moment, he witnessed an astonishing scene.

The azure planet floating in the vast depths of space in the distance has now been stretched into the shape of a parachute by an invisible force: one side remains spherical, while the other side has been stretched and thinned, extending towards that unseen point in the distance.

Upon seeing this, Zhuo Fangting's expression changed, and he immediately grabbed Jiang Yang and dragged him backward.

Once the black hole begins to devour Earth's matter, forming an accretion disk, even more intense radiation, powerful enough to scorch the moon, will arrive.

Staying outside is tantamount to waiting to die!

Jiang Yang did not resist, letting Zhuo Fangting pull him back, his gaze fixed on the Earth.

He didn't know what his compatriots who remained on Earth felt when they finally learned that the hydrogen bomb constellation project had failed.

But he knew that no matter what people's state of mind was, there was no way to change it.

There is no way to do it.

Even if they escape Earth, the radiation from when Earth is swallowed by the black hole will indiscriminately sweep across all surrounding space, destroying all man-made objects.

Even if they hid on the moon, they would only be able to prolong their lives for another ten hours before ultimately dying.

Death is inevitable; there is nowhere to hide, nowhere to escape.

Back at the base, after taking off his spacesuit, Jiang Yang waited quietly.

The atmosphere within the base was heavy and oppressive. Apart from the researchers busily analyzing data, no one spoke.

Time slipped away quietly in this way.

After a long while, a scholar suddenly looked up.

At this moment, his face showed no grief or fear of the impending apocalypse, but rather was full of joy.

His eyes even began to well up with tears from his overwhelming excitement.

"Data analysis shows that... we have captured the trajectory of the black hole."

Furthermore, the precise time of the black hole's appearance has been determined; it is 06:59:41 AM, East Eighth Time Zone, which is 19 seconds earlier than the time you, Comrade Jiang Yang, verified multiple times before…”

Jiang Yang was suddenly stunned.

The next moment, a strong sense of joy welled up in his heart.

The telescope captured the trajectory of the black hole, meaning that we have solid proof that the black hole traveled there by conventional means, rather than being created on-site or transported through space as speculated.

At the same time, in the next life, our side will be able to more accurately deduce the coordinates of the black hole.

Furthermore, this would definitively prove that the reason this black hole failed to interact gravitationally with other celestial bodies in the solar system must be because it was surrounded by a membrane that could shield it from gravity.

It released gravity normally after arriving near Earth, simply because the outer membrane had disappeared.

The fact that the end of the world happened earlier proves something else entirely.

That protective layer can be destroyed using current technology! The energy from a hydrogen bomb explosion would suffice!

Jiang Yang suddenly stood up.

Outside the base, the Earth has been torn apart, the apocalypse has arrived, and nearly 10 billion people have perished.

Inside the base, the last 200 humans were jubilant.

(End of this chapter)