Chapter 10

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

“It’s over! If the United States’ astronauts can’t land, our astronauts can’t land either. In that case, the meteorite could neither be blown up nor pushed away. It will be over for Earth!”

“I am panicking a lot now. could someone tell me if a bunker 50 meters underground could withstand the impact of meteorites or not?!”

“We’re so dead! The bunkers near my house are already full. My sister, my besties, and I haven’t gotten a place in the bunkers. We have to wait for the next slot!”

“Aren’t there bigshots in the group who built their own bunkers? Could we stay at your refuge? I’ll send my sister’s and my bestie’s pictures over! (picture) This is my sister and my bestie, what do you guys think about it?!”

Looking at the seemingly crooked discussions in the group, Chen Xin did not hold his hands back and opened the picture. He did not intend to let them come over but just wanted to take a look at the clothes the ladies were wearing.

Right, just to take a look at their clothes, he did not have other intentions.

After all, if the meteorite really crashed, it was estimated that there would be no girls in low-cuts and backless outfits in the next one to two hundred years. The weather conditions would not allow them to.

Aside from the drama, Chen Xin continued to pay attention to the rescue operation. He felt that neither the UN operation team nor the astronauts of Vermillion and the USA would give up their mission because of the pyroclastic flow on the surface of the meteorite.

At that time, there were two counter-solutions. One was to rely on Team Vermillion to disrupt the gravity near the meteorite with the weight of their heavy-lift spacecraft, thereby attracting part of the pyroclastic flow, opening a gap for Team USA, and allowing them to land on the surface of the meteorite.

If they did this, then Team Vermillion would not be able to complete their original mission.

After all, the fuel carried on the spacecraft was limited. If they did this, they would consume the fuel originally planned for completing their tasks, which may cause the mission to fail.

Of course, they could also adopt another scheme. They could drop a nuclear bomb first and blow away the pyroclastic flow on the surface of the meteorite. After all, both spacecraft were equipped with Tsar Bombas sponsored by the Russians.

With blast energy large enough to move Europe, the Tsar Bombas could blow away the pyroclastic flow on the surface of the meteorite temporarily.

After landing on the meteorite, as long as the United States’ astronauts could successfully plant the nuclear bombs, the explosion would not only blow up the meteorite but also blow away the newly generated pyroclastic flow. Then, Team Vermillion could also land and alter the meteorite’s trajectory with the thrusters from their heavy weighted spacecraft, deviating the meteorite from its impact trajectory.

For Team USA, they had little choice.

Although using up a nuclear bomb would leave them with only one left to blow up the meteorite, there was still hope in completing the mission. Otherwise, they could only choose to return and give up on changing the orbit of the meteorite.

Therefore after a little consideration and inquiring about the specific conditions of the astronauts on both spacecraft, the United States decided to use a nuclear bomb to blow away the pyroclastic flow so that both spacecraft could land successfully.

Soon on the live broadcast, one of the United States’ spacecraft, the Atlantis, opened its cabin and dropped a nuclear bomb.

The Tsar Bomba dropped by Atlantis was quickly captured by the gravitational force of the meteorite and fell toward the surface of it. The astronauts in the spacecraft also took the opportunity to detonate the nuclear bomb.

This was the second time in human history that nuclear weapons were used formally other than nuclear tests. It was also the second time a Tsar Bomba was detonated after its development and its first official combat mission.

It was just that at that time, the most destructive weapon invented by mankind was no longer used to kill and destroy, but to save mankind itself. It was ironic.

The Tsar Bomba did live up to its name as the strongest nuclear bomb ever created by humans. Although the explosion did not set off a mushroom cloud in space, it swept the surface of the meteorite clean, like a broom.

When the audience of the broadcast watched the stream of debris being blown away by the shock waves of the explosion, they cheered joyfully.

Even in Chen Xin’s group chat, everyone was astonished. They felt that there was still hope and the crisis brought by this meteorite could be resolved.

“Is this the legendary Tsar Bomba? I really love it. If only there was a picture of it!”

“What kind of situation are we in now? Why are you still fantasizing about your imaginary wife? If the meteorite really falls, there’ll be a global power outage and you won’t even be able to connect to the internet. There won’t be any luxury for you to be fantasizing on your phone!”

“Compared with this, I’m more concerned whether big shot’s bunker could still take in others? I also have a bestie (pictures, pictures)”

Chen Xin continued watching the live broadcast on the TV seriously as he ignored the messages from the group chat.

When the nuclear bomb exploded, it blew open a gap in the pyroclastic flow that was large enough for two spacecraft to go through and land on the surface of the meteorite.

As he watched the disappearing Team USA take advantage of this costly gap and plunge toward the meteorite’s surface, Chen Xin could not help but feel nervous and paced around the room.

He thought he had already looked past death, but when he saw the two spacecraft rush down without hesitation when the surface was exposed, Chen Xin inevitably felt anxious and worried.

Could Team USA complete their task? Could the Tsar Bomba blow up this meteorite with a diameter of more than ten kilometers? Would the explosion disintegrate the meteorite into a pile of fragments?

Those kinds of questions boggled Chen Xin’s mind, which made him feel anxious and restless.

At that time, most of the people in the world had shared Chen Xin’s sentiments, but everyone was waiting. They were waiting for Team USA to detonate another Tsar Bomba and blow this meteorite apart.

However, the wait felt like a lifetime. Every second that passed felt like gruesome torture to the six billion people around the world.

It was as if they were awaiting their death sentence. You may be dead the next second, but you also might be alive. 

Still, it would take some time for Team USA to plant the bomb. If they wanted to blow the meteorite apart, they must first drill a hole big enough to plant the Tsar bomb.

Drilling was quite a time-consuming job, which was why everyone ended up waiting. What worried the people was that communications with Team USA were disrupted because of the earlier explosion.

Therefore at that moment, besides Team USA themselves, nobody knew the situation on the meteorite’s surface.