NABC Chapter 62 Reactions from All Sides: An Unexpected Twist?
Chapter 62 Reactions from All Sides: An Unexpected Twist?
November 13, 3025, 11:06 AM, Eastern Capital Time
The first iron-nickel asteroid, about 110 meters in diameter, crashed into the Pacific Ocean at a final speed of over 15 kilometers per second.
At the moment of contact, kinetic energy is transformed into unimaginable heat and impact.
The seawater wasn't pushed away; it was directly vaporized and ionized in a fraction of a second!
An "initial fireball" with a diameter of more than two kilometers, composed entirely of pure white plasma and ultra-high-pressure steam, suddenly expanded, and its core temperature instantly exceeded 20,000 degrees Celsius, comparable to the surface of the sun!
What followed was a violent display of the laws of physics.
A terrifying shockwave exploded simultaneously underwater and in the air. The underwater shockwave radiated outwards at thousands of meters per second, compressing the seawater in its path into a "fluid wall" harder than steel. Above the surface, a visible, translucent spherical shockwave ring spread outwards at supersonic speeds, hurling tens of thousands of tons of seawater thousands of meters into the air, forming a ring-shaped, ever-expanding, sky-reaching wall of death!
The second blow.
With an interval of only 0.7 seconds, a second rocky asteroid, nearly 100 meters in diameter, followed almost the same trajectory and penetrated the bottom of the instantaneous cavity created by the first asteroid, which had not yet been filled by seawater.
The destructive energy released a second time, combined with the residual power of the first release, resonated and amplified!
"boom----!!!"
The deafening roar sounded as if the Earth itself were letting out a painful groan.
The light from the point of impact momentarily outshone the midday sun, and even with the weakening effect of the atmosphere and the obstruction of distance, it still temporarily blinded many people who were looking up at the sky within a range of thousands of kilometers.
A terrifying mushroom cloud began to rise.
Compared to the mushroom cloud of a nuclear explosion, this one truly blots out the sky!
With a base diameter exceeding twenty kilometers, this super-giant tower, composed of a mixture of seawater vapor, rock dust, ionized gas, and millions of tons of seawater ejected high into the air, struggles and roars as it surges toward the stratosphere.
Centered on the impact point, a large amount of water vapor and dust was injected into the upper atmosphere, which will have a subtle impact on regional climate and even global solar transmittance in the coming weeks or even months.
On the sea surface, a massive circular depression, possibly over 500 meters deep and nearly 5 kilometers in diameter, persisted for several seconds, surrounded by surging, boiling seawater hundreds of meters high. Then, gravity began to fiercely counteract the attack, and the seawater at the center of the depression surged back in with overwhelming force, colliding with the surrounding seawater and generating even more secondary, chaotic giant waves and eddies.
A tsunami was born.
Meanwhile, in the skies over the western Pacific, reconnaissance satellites, early warning aircraft, ships, and planes from multiple countries that were rushing to the scene were sending back images and data of the apocalyptic aftermath of the collision to their respective command centers.
Earthquake monitoring networks in major countries around the world clearly recorded those two closely linked, incredibly strong submarine tremors.
A huge question mark, accompanied by shock and unease, began to spread among a small number of informed senior decision-makers and professionals around the world.
Yes, you read that right, it's a minority!
The impact of two asteroids on Earth was indeed a huge event, but don't forget where we are.
This is the Pacific Ocean, and it's an experimental base jointly hidden by the Western Eagle Empire and the Japanese. It's not on an international shipping route either, and normally no ships pass by within thousands of miles of this area...
Two asteroids, each over 100 meters in size, collided one after another in the Pacific Ocean. The energy released would have been enough to instantly destroy a large city if it had landed or been near the coast, and would have sparked speculation about an "impact winter" affecting the global climate. However, since the impact occurred in the center of the vast ocean, more than 2,000 kilometers from any continental coastline, the impact was greatly limited and absorbed by the Earth's own massive buffer system, namely the ocean.
Therefore, for the vast majority of ordinary people living inland or on remote coasts, November 13, 3025, is just an ordinary Tuesday.
A few hours later, news reports rolled that "strong submarine geological activity is suspected to have occurred in a remote area of the Pacific Ocean, which may trigger a tsunami warning in a specific region." The details were vague, and it sounded no different from previous news reports about submarine earthquakes.
After the recent cryptocurrency storm, global financial markets have reacted mildly to news of such natural disasters.
On international social media, the hashtag #PacificHit briefly trended, accompanied by photos of unusual lights or cloud trails in the distant sky captured by a few astronomy enthusiasts. After a period of speculation and photo editing frenzy, it was quickly replaced by more relatable entertainment gossip and sports events.
The real activity exists only in the intelligence briefing rooms, strategic command centers, and analysis screens of a few cutting-edge research institutions at the top levels of various countries.
Western Hawk, the Hexagon's underground command center
President Naillong's expression was ten times worse than when he saw the Martian text.
High-resolution satellite images were played in a loop on a giant screen, an unimaginable double-satellite attack, instantly turning the massively invested Prometheus region into a flashing red dot.
"Gentlemen," Naillong's voice was hoarse as his gaze swept over the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA Director, and the Director of the National Reconnaissance Office present. Then, in an almost roaring voice, he shouted, "Tell me, why wasn't something this big detected beforehand? Why wasn't there a warning? We have so many satellites, Starlink, and observation stations. Can anyone tell me what exactly happened?!"
"Orbital calculations show that the entry paths of these two small celestial bodies...perfectly avoid the line of sight of all satellites and observatories above Earth, placing them in an absolute blind spot..." The director of the National Reconnaissance Office said with difficulty, "They seem to have been placed on a near-perfect sniper trajectory. The probability of such a precise binary star collision in nature...is close to zero..."
"Don't treat me like an idiot!!" Milk Dragon roared. "Don't talk to me about probability. I'm asking you, where did these two asteroids come from? They couldn't have just appeared out of thin air in near-Earth orbit, could they? Even if they were in a zero-probability blind spot in near-Earth orbit, I don't believe no one observed them when they were near Earth before. That's impossible!"
Indeed, that is the crux of the matter. These two asteroids must have come from somewhere. Asteroids like these, which could potentially collide with Earth and cause significant damage, could not possibly have completely escaped the notice of satellites in the sky. They could have flown all the way from the depths of the distant universe and been observed ten, twenty or even several months ago. How could they only start to react when they appear in near-Earth space?
Milk Dragon waited, but unfortunately, all he got was silence, because there was no way to explain it!
The same thing happens in other countries.
The Eastern Kingdom, Central Emergency Command Center.
"Data from the Wentian series satellites and remote sensing ships have confirmed the impact," the space agency expert reported. "The two impacts were extremely close together, and their orbits were abnormal. Judging from the energy release pattern, there seems to be a tiny 'cavity' or low-drag zone at the first impact point, which is unusual."
"Can you determine what was in that area before the impact?" the old man asked.
The intelligence chief pulled up some blurry, manipulated old footage: "For a long time, this area has been designated as a navigational warning zone by Western Eagle and Japanese forces, for vague reasons. We had some scattered intelligence suggesting the possible existence of a marine research or ecological experiment platform, but its size and nature were unknown. After the impact, all signals of suspected man-made objects disappeared. Now, only the impact crater and chaotic seawater remain."
"What are the reactions from Western Eagle and Japan?"
"Unusually quiet. Aside from initiating standard tsunami warning and relief procedures, no official statement has mentioned anything special about the area. The Japanese response to the coastal damage even seems somewhat... routine."
"Let's leave it at that. Since it's not in our country's waters, let's treat it as a normal meteorite impact event!"
The Kremlin, the Europa Joint Space Command, and other countries with satellite surveillance capabilities...
Similar shocks, suspicions, and urgent assessments were all conducted in secret, but ultimately, nothing was found.
"What the F……"
At the same time, in a secluded room deep within SpaceX headquarters, Ma Dugong, watching the impact footage captured by Starlink on the screen, finally couldn't help but swear.
The ecological base with an investment of tens of billions is a small problem; the real issue is the people inside!
Just then, the phone rang beside him. Governor Ma glanced at it, his face immediately fell, he sighed deeply, and answered the call.
"What exactly happened on Mori's side?"
"The initial assessment is that it was a meteorite impact, but..." Ma Dugong hesitated for a moment, "I have a bad feeling about it."
"Mori, how is it?"
"What do you think would happen from an impact of that magnitude?" Upon hearing the question, Governor Ma's mood immediately soured. "But his life support didn't go out; it just became weaker."
"What?!" Ma Dugong suddenly stood up, his eyes flashing with an uncontrollable yellow light, making him look completely inhuman. His voice also became rough, "This is impossible. Even for us, under such an impact..."
"Find a way to locate him."