Magic? My Iron Torrent will sweep it all away!

Chapter 497 Is Giving Up on Blue Star the Only Option?

The news was so significant that it was hard to believe for a moment, causing the meeting room to fall silent.

Lin Mo seemed to hear his own heartbeat, each beat resonating in his eardrums.

Ninety-nine years, that sounds like a long time.

But for a civilization, this number is staggeringly short.

The elderly man surnamed Li broke the silence first, speaking in a deep voice:

"Academician Qian, we were already mentally prepared for Blue Star to fall into the sun; it's just that the time has been accelerated."

"Now that we have heavy nuclear fusion technology, if we mobilize the entire nation to build planetary engines, could we push Earth away before it's too late?"

Qian Zhenhua glanced at him and shook his head.

"It's too late."

He switched to a concept image of a planetary engine.

"My colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Engineering and I have calculated it."

"Given the current level of technology and industrial capacity under population decline, coupled with the impact of environmental factors such as nuclear winter and equatorial high temperatures."

"Even if we were to fully produce intelligent robots to build a global-scale planetary engine array, it would still take at least ninety years to complete."

"This is already the maximum speed."

"But ninety years later, Earth is already approaching Mercury's orbit."

"It's too close to the sun, the gravity is too strong."

Qian Zhenhua drew a simple force diagram on the screen.

"Assume the total thrust of the engine array is 10 billion tons."

"When it was designed 90 years ago, the gravitational pull of the sun on Earth was 9 billion tons, which was enough to provide thrust."

"But ninety years later, Earth has gotten closer to the sun, and its gravity has increased to tens of billions of tons."

"A hundred billion tons of thrust is a drop in the ocean."

He put down the laser pointer.

"The planetary engine is too large to be upgraded in terms of technology and thrust over time."

"The day it was created, it was already outdated."

"Moreover, even if we upgrade the thrust as we build, it will cause uneven forces on the continents, leading to unpredictable tectonic shifts on Earth."

"We...cannot bear it either."

Old Li's lips moved, but he didn't say anything more.

Qian Zhenhua continued.

"That's just the first problem."

The screen switches, and a temperature change curve appears.

The red line soared almost vertically.

"The second question is about temperature."

"Blue planet has a huge amount of water and a thick atmosphere."

"As the Earth gets closer to the sun, its surface temperature rises, causing large-scale evaporation of seawater."

"Water vapor entering the atmosphere exacerbates the greenhouse effect."

"The greenhouse effect further traps heat, pushing up temperatures."

"This is a positive feedback loop."

He pointed to a point marked in red on the curve.

"In the fortieth year, when Earth enters Venus's orbit, the surface temperature will not be the more than four hundred degrees Celsius of Venus."

"Because Earth has far more water than Venus, the greenhouse effect is much more intense."

"Models from the Academy of Sciences show that the surface temperature of Earth will exceed 1,000 degrees Celsius at that time!"

1000 degrees Celsius!

Lin Mo was horrified!

The temperature of an open flame is only a little over 600 degrees Celsius.

A surface temperature of 1,000 degrees Celsius means that rocks will soften and metals will deform.

At this temperature, let alone building a planetary engine, even a robot cannot function; its internal circuitry would burn out.

Is it made entirely of special high-temperature resistant metals?

That's even more impossible, it's too massive!

"In other words..." Qian Zhenhua's tone was calm beneath a veneer of despair.

"Starting in the fortieth year, the surface of Earth became a no-life zone."

"At that time, not only will construction be impossible, but the underground city's cooling system will also face its ultimate test."

"The window of opportunity for human survival on Earth is actually far less than ninety-nine years."

He turned off the laser pointer and faced six heavy gazes.

"This concludes the Academy of Sciences' complete assessment."

The meeting room remained silent for a long time, with everyone closing their eyes in thought.

So long that Lin Mo thought everyone had fallen asleep.

Old Zhao finally spoke, his voice steady, but every word carried an unyielding weight.

"Academician Qian, you mean...."

"Are we left with no choice but to abandon Earth?"

Qian Zhenhua was silent for two seconds, then nodded.

From a scientific point of view, Earth is beyond saving.

These words were like a boulder falling from the sky, extinguishing the last remaining hope of the crowd.

Old Zhao closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

The other executives either gripped their teacups tightly or stared intently at the table.

Blue Star.

That is the cradle of human civilization.

Billions of years of evolution, thousands of years of civilization, and the memories, bloodlines, struggles, and glories of countless generations are all etched on this planet.

Now, it's time to give it up.

An indescribable sense of desolation permeated the meeting room.

But this feeling didn't last long.

Old Zhao opened his eyes, his gaze sharpening once more.

"It's sad as it is, but things still need to be done." He looked around at everyone and said:

"If we can't save Earth, then let's find another home."

"We need a new plan to continue civilization!"

Old Li thought for a moment, then leaned forward and said:

"Mars!"

He raised his hand and tapped the table.

"The average surface temperature on Mars is around minus sixty degrees Celsius, and even in extreme cases, it is only a little over two hundred degrees Celsius. With our current level of technology, we can definitely withstand it."

"And we have the seeds of the World Tree!"

Old Li became more and more excited as he spoke.

"The World Tree can modify the ecological environment, which has been proven in Terra and on our current surface."

"Given enough time, Mars could very well become a second habitable planet!"

"With the addition of the teleportation portal, transporting supplies will be no problem at all!"

"No!" Qian Zhenhua interrupted him.

Old Li was taken aback.

"What?"

Qian Zhenhua picked up the laser pointer again, and a panoramic view of the solar system's orbit appeared on the screen.

"The fall of the blue planet into the sun is not as simple as a pebble falling into a pond."

He used a laser pointer to draw an inward-sloping arc on the orbit of Blue Star.

"Blue Star has an enormous mass!"

"Its orbital deviation will disrupt the gravitational balance of the entire inner solar system."

"The orbits of Mars, Venus, and Mercury will all be affected."

The red arc spread out from the blue star, affecting the trajectory of every planet like ripples.

"According to simulations, after Earth falls to the Sun, the orbits of the planets in the solar system will be disrupted on a large scale."

"Mars will most likely be flung into a more distant orbit, or even ejected from the solar system, becoming a rogue planet."

"It's also possible..." He paused for a moment.

"It could collide with other planets, or similarly crash into the sun."