Chapter 96
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Chapter 96: After Humanity Disappears
Wen Jing flew the aircraft smoothly over the ocean, trailing a vast expanse of spreading volcanic ash behind her.
When she was little, her mother often shared stories about the sea with her and her sister, telling them about the creatures in the ocean and the underwater terrain. Below the southern sea lay a volcanic basin, currently the largest active submarine volcano in the world.
Her mother had once said, "This volcano might erupt within a hundred years, covering the surrounding fifty kilometers of ocean with volcanic ash in three days. The ash would then gradually be diluted by the atmosphere, but the volcanic debris and mineral particles would blanket the globe within a month, causing severe impact on human-made devices."
In the past, such a volcanic eruption would have been a total disaster, but amidst the impending giant solar flares, these globally dispersed mineral particles could shield a portion of cosmic radiation, acting like a protective layer for the ground vegetation and marine microorganisms on various continents.
Over time, these mineral particles would settle on the land, enriching the soil and bringing new life to the vegetation.
Xue Zheng sat behind Wen Jing in the aircraft. After listening to her explanation, she turned back to glance at the dense clouds of smoke and remarked, “Isn’t this a kind of savior action?”
Wen Jing smiled as she pushed the control stick forward, watching the smoke spread in the rear-view footage. “Yes, a savior, but appearing as a world-destroying monster.”
They accelerated over the ocean for three and a half hours and reached the abandoned drilling platform off the coast of the Neutral Continent, where aircraft had once been stored, just before their fuel ran out.
The two of them jumped from the aircraft, stretched their legs, and finished the last bag of nutritional supplements they had brought. Then, they lay on the platform to sunbathe.
Around two o’clock in the afternoon, a large aircraft carrier appeared on the eastern sea. Wen Jing heard the sound and turned to squint—sure enough, it was Kun Whale No. 1.
After a while, Kun Whale No. 1 slowly approached the drilling platform, extending its broad alloy gangway, which gently connected to the edge of the platform. Wen Jing and Xue Zheng confidently walked up, where Wen Yang was waiting at the edge of the carrier’s flight deck to greet them.
Wen Yang smiled at them as they approached, “Are you exhausted? Are you hungry?”
“I’m not hungry,” Luo Yu said, patting her stomach. “I just finished the last bag of nutritional supplements.”
Xue Zheng scratched her head, “Actually, I feel like I could eat a bit more…”
Wen Yang burst out laughing, wrapping an arm around each of them and giving their shoulders a pat as they walked toward the rest chamber. “Though it’s past mealtime, I’ve prepared plenty of snacks for you.”
As they made their way inside, Wen Yang recounted the large cargo ship that had been intercepted at the Nanzhou port before setting off. Sure enough, it contained many women placed in sleep chambers, who had been transferred to a nearby shelter hospital for treatment and checks. They would soon be assigned shelters there.
Wen Jing nodded, “Without that Sabbath base, the Northern Continent should be quieter for a while.”
They entered the rest chamber, the same cozy suite where Wen Jing and Xue Zheng had previously stayed. A snack cart sat in the living room, boasting a long-missed ice cream machine.
The two approached the cart, each scooping three bowls of ice cream before sitting on the sofa. Wen Yang unfolded a tablet on the coffee table, taking the ice cream from Wen Jing. “You two have been busy recently, and Doctor Yan Yi, who returned with you from thirty thousand years ago, hasn’t been idle either. Yesterday, he and the Joint Astronomy Bureau quietly pulled off something significant.” She turned the tablet toward them.
They leaned in with their bowls of ice cream to see the countdown released by the Space Administration’s Astronomy Bureau for the giant solar flares’ particle radiation reaching the atmosphere: 705 hours, 37 minutes, and 21 seconds remaining. The numbers in black on a white background danced rhythmically, creating a sense of pressure.
“There’s still nearly a month left,” Wen Jing recalled the previous predictions regarding the solar flares. This countdown must have been more precisely revised; she did not doubt its accuracy. However, going public with it would undoubtedly face significant public scrutiny, alongside various doubts, so she felt somewhat surprised. “I can’t believe the Bureau Office actually agreed…”
This reminded her of the World Geological Monitoring Bureau, which could already predict localized earthquakes accurately three days in advance but never disclosed such forecasts to the public. On one hand, it was to avoid potential mass anxiety and chaos from advance announcements, and on the other hand, it was to preserve the authority of the institution. A predictive failure would be devastating for the credibility of the Geological Monitoring Bureau and related departments.
But this situation was different; the upcoming giant solar flares represented an epic disaster on a global scale. Obviously, for Yan Yi, pushing for transparency in informing the public about impending disaster was far more crucial than preserving the reputation of any authoritative institution, even in the face of pressure.
At that moment, Wen Yang raised her hand to point, “Look at the bottom right corner.”
They took a closer look, and in the bottom right corner, the issuing party of the prediction displayed the name “Yan Yi,” followed by a symbol X, with the smaller logo of the Space Administration’s Astronomy Bureau. It appeared to be a joint announcement initiated directly by the physicist Yan Yi himself, leaving room for the institution to shift the blame in the future.
Xue Zheng scoffed, “Even when the world is about to end, they’re pulling such stunts. Hiding behind a scientist’s name—how embarrassing.”
Wen Yang shook her head helplessly, “This should be the result of the Space Administration’s concession. After all, news of the solar flares has already spread widely due to the viral phone message; it’s no longer a secret. Previously, only a rough estimate of the range was provided, while specific timing wasn’t disclosed. The Bureau Office has faced immense public pressure lately, and the time has come to respond. After weighing the pros and cons, they settled on this compromise.”
Wen Jing pondered, “Once this is announced, can we still invite Yan Yi to come to the Neutral State for shelter?”
That was the plan they had previously agreed upon. After Wen Jing and Xue Zheng finished their tasks, they would invite Yan Yi and the head of the Time Bureau’s maintenance team to seek shelter in the Neutral State, preparing together for the future reconstruction of the space station and the modification of the time capsules.
The Space Administration’s base had its underground shelter and supporting supplies. Before the solar flares arrived, the Personnel Department would arrange for everyone to enter the underground facility in batches, and of course, individuals could apply to go home for shelter too. Yan Yi had also mentioned he would apply to leave the Bureau base to take refuge in the Neutral State, but now it was uncertain whether the Bureau Office would reject such an application following this announcement.
Wen Yang smiled slightly, “This should not be affected. The shelter site we have in the Neutral State belongs to the same shelter system as the Space Administration. Don’t worry; I’ll follow up on this matter for you once we return.”
They then discussed the matters of the southern sea area. This underwater volcanic eruption, being far from the main continents and with the countdown to the solar flares looming, did not attract much international attention. Wen Yang mentioned that she would inform the Global Meteorological Agency to keep monitoring the coverage of volcanic debris for the next month.
In the lounge of the rest chamber, they chatted for a long while until all three bowls of ice cream were empty. A secretary came in to announce that the aircraft carrier would soon dock. Wen Yang got up to leave, saying she would call them over when it was time to disembark.
After returning to Wind Island, Wen Jing and Xue Zheng finally had two restful days before starting to pack their belongings with Haikui, preparing to move to a nearby underground shelter in ten days.
People around the world busied themselves after the countdown to the solar flares was announced. Many countries opened public shelters, with some families moving in early, while others opted for community or residential shelters.
Everyone transitioned from initial panic and anxiety to gradually accepting the situation and actively preparing. Even the recently tense relations in the Federation and the Northern Continent, where mercenaries had previously rebelled, cooled down as they each entered their respective shelters. Some minor scuffles over supplies occurred, but these were quickly quelled.
With only ten days left in the countdown, Yan Yi successfully obtained shelter qualifications in the Neutral State from the Space Administration. He arrived at Wind Island on Zhu Long’s private plane, accompanied by Hu Jiao and two experts from the maintenance team.
That afternoon, Wen Jing and Xue Zheng went to the airport to pick them up and returned home together. They all had dinner and chatted in the living room for a while.
After Wen Yang took Haikui upstairs, Wen Jing and Xue Zheng brought down several blankets from their suite on the second floor. They cleared the furniture in the living room and spread their sleeping mats on the floor for a lively night together.
The next day was their scheduled move to the underground shelter. They had finished packing over the past few days, and some items they didn’t often use had already been moved earlier.
Wind Island had opened a total of one hundred and eight shelters, varying in size, each equipped with private rooms, activity spaces, and indoor crop planting areas, all developed with technology provided by the Denis Agricultural Institute to the Alliance.
Wen Yang chose the small seventy-seventh shelter. Besides her family, it housed some staff from the Territorial Waters Convention Agency, scientists from the asexual reproduction laboratory, as well as several recovered asexual infants—a total of fifty-nine people, some of whom had moved in early.
As Wen Jing and the others got out of the vehicle in front of the shelter, they walked inside together. Xue Zheng spotted the entrance marked “Base 77” from a distance and frowned slightly, saying, “This name is too cold; it should be something warmer.”
Wen Yang walked ahead holding Haikui’s hand and laughed, “Since we’re settling here, you can give it another name.”
By the time they reached the entrance, Wen Jing, Xue Zheng, and Yan Yi stood aside, admiring the scenery. This shelter was built on a small hill, and the three exchanged glances, smiling, “Let’s call it Di Qiu.”
After selecting their rooms, they settled in and adjusted comfortably over a few days. The shelter’s lounge featured a display screen showing the countdown to the solar flares.
On the day of the countdown, everyone sat in the lounge, watching the continuously rolling numbers. As it neared the final ten minutes, Wen Jing stepped out to inspect the shelter’s protective measures. When she returned to the lounge, there were only three minutes remaining on the screen.
They silently watched the time decrease until all the numbers reached zero, causing the display to flicker and turn off automatically.
Soon, they felt a slight tremor through the ground as the sunlight outside turned a pale white. Cosmic particle radiation penetrated the atmosphere and reached the surface, causing the global magnetic field to distort—the apocalypse had arrived.
This solar flare would peak within a month and was expected to last three to six months before gradually decreasing, with the global surface radiation returning to normal levels in about three years.
The Astronomy Bureau advised that people could return to the surface only in the fifth year after the solar flare occurred while living in the underground shelters.
In the first three years after humanity vanished from the surface, nature reclaimed the world. As particle radiation gradually faded, tender green shoots began to sprout from the lands of the continents. Many plants overtook cities filled with concrete and steel buildings, breathing new life into those cold, man-made structures.
By the end of the third year, a biological research institute in the Alliance began releasing animals cultivated from genetic sample banks through pipelines to the surface. Other continents also started to release cultivated species gradually.
By the fifth year, herds of animals began to roam the surface, and people used external monitoring devices to find that particle radiation levels had largely returned to normal. They gradually emerged from the underground shelters, attempting to reconnect with each other.
During those five years, the nuclear leak from Poli Port entered the global water cycle and was further amplified by the solar flares’ effects. Many people who had not developed radiation-resistant antibodies—despite being in the underground shelters—succumbed to genetic fractures, ultimately resting forever underground.
The survivors returned to the surface and, over the next five years, completed one technological leap after another.
By the tenth year after the solar flares, the order of the new world had been rebuilt.
One morning, Wen Jing stepped out of her home in the woods, walking on the slightly damp early spring ground to a stone house at the foot of a mountain.
She first passed the menstruation center, then turned right through a stone door and walked down a long corridor to the assembly hall at the end. The door was open, and many people were already seated around the round table.
Yan Yi spotted her and waved with a smile, “Have you thought of a backup name for our new time capsule that we are about to announce?”
Wen Jing smiled back, “After thinking it over, I still feel like it should be called ‘New Shan Hai Jing.’”
