A genius? I just love studying.

Chapter 344 Countdown, Eight Hours

Immediately after Voyager-Gamma lost contact, China mobilized a large number of monitoring stations to converge in that direction for detection.

They quickly obtained the information they wanted: a stream of particles carrying terrifying energy and traveling faster than the speed of light was hurtling toward the solar system.

Chief astrophysicist Professor Huo Jiaqi looked at the perplexing yet chilling energy spectrum transmitted back by the detector on the main screen, and his face turned deathly pale.

“This is not a natural phenomenon…” he murmured, his voice trembling slightly, “This is… a weapon, a faster-than-light particle weapon…”

The entire hall fell silent.

The combination of "faster than light speed" and "weapon" represents a level of technology and malice that plunges everyone into an icy abyss.

They had just learned to shoot birds with slingshots in their own backyard when a sniper rifle bullet came flying from beyond their line of sight in the darkness.

The reason they were able to detect it so easily was because the other party had no intention of hiding it at all, and thus launched a head-on attack with the force of a rainbow piercing the sun.

If Traveler-γ hadn't happened to be in its path, it wouldn't have paid any attention to the little fly at all.

It has absolutely no fear of the Blue Star civilization discovering its existence!

Chen Hui was urgently summoned to the monitoring room.

He didn't even need to look at the complete physical data analysis; once he saw the key data on the screen, his brain, which was adept at processing abstract models, had already sketched out the most terrifying picture.

The resonance effect would drastically accelerate the nuclear fusion rate in the core region. Imagine a super catalyst being thrown into a normally stable combustion furnace, causing the combustion to instantly turn into an explosion; the sun's core would transform from a controlled nuclear reactor into a runaway nuclear bomb.

The dramatic increase in the rate of nuclear reaction would cause the temperature and pressure in the core region to surge at an unprecedented rate, far exceeding the equilibrium point that the Sun's own gravity could restrain.

The sun won't be blown up like a bomb because of the immense mass and gravity of its outer layers, but a loss of control at its core could have two possible catastrophic consequences.

If the resonance is strong and deep enough, it could trigger a thermonuclear explosion that could blow the Sun’s outer layers away. Although the Sun’s mass is usually not enough to explode as a supernova, such a well-designed resonance could provide the conditions needed to detonate it.

The result is that a brief, extremely bright supernova will appear at the center of the solar system.

More likely, the resonance triggered a catastrophic event similar to a helium flash.

A helium flash is a process that stars like the Sun may experience at the end of their evolution, where the hydrogen in the core rapidly fuses into helium, which is then instantly ignited, releasing enormous energy. This flash will violently eject the Sun's outer gas shell.

In either case, in the short term, the sun will release X-rays and gamma rays equivalent to its total normal radiation over billions of years. This death ray will travel at the speed of light and reach the inner solar system first.

Following closely behind is a stream of high-energy charged particles traveling at near the speed of light, with an intensity far exceeding that of ordinary solar wind.

Mercury and Venus would be instantly vaporized and wiped out of the universe.

The atmosphere of Blue Star will be ionized and stripped away by high-energy radiation, the oceans will be boiled and evaporated, the crust will melt, and the entire planet will become a scorching ball of magma, completely destroying all traces of life!
Even if Mars were a little farther away, it would still be destined to be completely roasted and stripped of its atmosphere.

The massive shell of material ejected by the sun will expand at a speed of thousands of kilometers per second, creating a stellar-scale shock wave.

This shockwave will sweep across the entire solar system, destroying or severely disturbing the atmospheres of the asteroid belt, giant planets such as Jupiter and Saturn, and turning the Kuiper Belt objects upside down.

Chen Hui felt a chill run down his spine as he experienced the horror and cruelty of war between civilizations, where an entire galaxy could be destroyed at any moment, with absolutely no room for maneuver.

"It's over!"

Everyone collapsed to the spot, envisioning that terrible future.

Even if they were to escape to the outside of the solar system now, it would be too late. When they detected it, the superluminal particle stream was less than 0.5 light-years away from the sun and would reach it in less than three months.

At that time, the gamma rays emitted by the sun will also annihilate them in space like autumn leaves being swept away by the wind.

Moreover, without Earth, what good would it do for them to escape to space?
Will we drift through the starry sky like rootless duckweed?

Thinking about that lonely and hopeless future, perhaps destroying the planet along with it would be a better choice.

"Initiate the Wandering Plan!"

Qian Lao's voice rang out in the control room. They had already made the worst-case scenario plan when dealing with ALX.

Although everyone understands that fleeing is futile, it doesn't mean they do nothing. If they can get far enough away from the solar system and take certain protective measures, they might be able to survive.

Keeping the green hills, you don’t have to worry about having no firewood.

"Professor Chen, you should go with the first group!"

Qian Lao's dejected voice rang out beside Chen Hui. Faced with this level of defeat, he no longer harbored any illusions.

Chen Hui shook his head firmly, "It's not time to leave yet!"

With his current basic attributes, his computing power is already comparable to that of an ordinary computer. He can calculate that even if he starts fleeing into space right now, he will not be able to escape the solar storm.

The only way to survive now is to stay and live in the face of death.

"No matter what, I will not leave Earth. If you want to leave, then go ahead."

Chen Hui looked at the researchers in his laboratory.

"Of course, if you're willing to stay, we can try to save the world!"

A hint of madness flashed in his eyes. Now that he was truly at the brink of life and death, he had no way out.

Lin Hao and the others looked at Chen Hui. It was the first time they had seen such an expression in the eyes of this genius. But for some reason, they felt their emotions were somewhat uncontrollably affected by Professor Chen's demeanor.

Rather than searching for that one-in-a-million chance of escape, it's better to stay and accompany Professor Chen in facing death together.

The people in the Barrier Systems Lab exchanged glances, understanding each other's meaning. No one spoke, yet no one backed down; they all chose to stay.

Old Qian gave Chen Hui a deep look, then sighed and didn't say anything more. He knew he couldn't persuade Chen Hui.

But not everyone followed their lead. Soon, hundreds of spaceships left Earth, heading at full speed away from the sun. On a cosmic scale, 0.15 times the speed of light was as slow as an insect struggling in a spider's web. The warning sensors at the edge of the solar system, like thermometers thrown into boiling water, instantly spiked to their peak readings. A destructive torrent composed entirely of unknown particles, traveling at speeds far exceeding the speed of light, like a silent blade in the night, had already torn through interstellar dust and was hurtling straight toward the inner solar system.

Seventy-three hours until impact!

On the large screen, a stream of superluminal particles, heading straight for the sun without any obstruction, was displayed, along with a countdown to its arrival.

In the command center of the barrier system, the air was as solid as lead.

All eyes were focused on the model representing the barrier system on the central holographic projection. In countless simulations, it was still like a fragile soap bubble under the sun, torn to shreds the moment it was activated by the spacetime turbulence generated by the universe's own restorative force.

"Energy overflow, field stability collapse, seventy-ninth full-scale simulation...failed."

Lin Hao said in a hoarse voice, "Professor, we have tried all the known field enhancement schemes, but... the universe does not allow modification of its fundamental constants. It's like trying to hold onto flowing water; the tighter you hold it, the faster it flows away."

Chen Hui stood motionless in front of the projector.

His brain was like an overloaded quantum computer, with countless equations, models, and data streams colliding and deducing wildly, only to crash into that sheer cliff called the inertia of physical laws time and time again.

He could unify forces, but he couldn't make the universe obey the new rules after they were unified. An unprecedented sense of powerlessness, like the ice of deep space, slowly seeped into his bones.

Time ticked by, and their research had reached a dead end.

There are 48 hours until the impact.

As the distance closed, the deep-space telescope transmitted clearer images. It was not a physical ship, but a dazzling yet deadly stream of energy that distorted spacetime. Wherever it passed, even starlight was bent and annihilated.

This is an attack method that Earth civilization cannot yet comprehend, transcending the traditional concepts of matter and energy.

"Is it a pure information disturbance? Or a projection of higher-dimensional energy?" The theoretical physicist on the team guessed, his face pale.

Suddenly, Chen Hui, who was pondering why the law node had failed, looked at the stream of particles. He did not participate in the discussion.

His entire focus was on the data from that superluminal particle stream.

Why? Why can it exist and move in a way that violates the known laws of physics? Why doesn't the universe's immune system consider it heretical and eliminate it?
He retrieved all the massive amounts of data on quantum fluctuations in the cosmic background that the Chaos Ring had collected over the past few years. This information, which had once been considered useless noise, now seemed to him to contain the deepest secrets of the universe.

There are twelve hours until the impact.

An atmosphere of despair spread like a plague.

Some people began to sob softly, while others stared blankly at the beam of death that was constantly approaching in the projection.

Chen Hui remained standing there, like a solitary peak confronting despair.

His eyes were bloodshot, but his mind entered an unprecedented state of clarity. He repeatedly compared the spacetime curvature data of the superluminal particle stream with the spectral model of quantum fluctuations in the cosmic background.

Suddenly, a seemingly insignificant detail struck him like the first flash of lightning in the darkness!

Around the core trajectory of the faster-than-light particle stream, an extremely faint but perfectly synchronized quantum fluctuation pattern was detected...
This isn't noise! ​​This is... a key!
Chen Hui whirled around, his movements stiff with extreme excitement, but his voice, like the tolling of a dawn bell, shattered the deathly silence of the command center: "I understand! We were all wrong!"

Everyone was stunned by his voice, and they looked up at their leader, who was almost a god in their eyes.

“We have been trying to use brute force to override the rules of the universe, which is like building a dam against a flood, destined to fail!” Chen Hui spoke rapidly, his eyes burning with the flame of insight into truth. “But we have overlooked the fact that the universe itself is not monolithic; it is constantly fluctuating!”

He waved his hand to bring up a brand-new data model, highlighting the cooperative pattern of background quantum fluctuations and superluminal particle flow.

"Look here, this superluminal particle stream exists not because it defies the rules, but because it cleverly utilizes the gaps and fluctuations within the rules themselves. It's like a surfboard; instead of fighting the waves, it rides the momentum of the waves forward!"

He pointed to those specific quantum fluctuations that were amplified synchronously.

"These fluctuations are the moments when the universe allows the rules to change briefly. That stream of particles achieves faster-than-light speed by traversing through countless such moments. It is not violating physics; it is utilizing the deeper, dynamic nature of physics!"

At that moment, a torrent of inspiration completely overwhelmed all obstacles.

Chen Hui's mind was redesigning the barrier system at an unprecedented speed.

"Therefore, our law nodes should not act as dams, but as surfers and conductors!" His voice carried an undeniable determination. "What nodes need to do is not to create a stable, antagonistic field, but to detect, filter, and then resonate with those naturally occurring rule fluctuations that are beneficial to us, such as fluctuations that cause alpha to rise!"

"We'll synchronize it, amplify it, and guide it!"
By enabling countless nodes to work together, the countless tiny, random moments of change within the universe itself are superimposed and amplified into a macroscopic, stable new domain of rules!

"The universe will not attack itself; our barriers will become part of the universe's own breathing!"

The entire command center fell silent, then erupted into a thunderous roar, a mixture of ecstasy and hope!

Even though they haven't conducted any experiments to verify it, they still understand from Chen Hui's description that Chen Hui is right!

The new plan was quickly issued, and the law node devices had already been assembled. All they needed to change now was the rhythm of issuing the laws, to follow it, to feel the breath of the universe, and to resonate with it.

Therefore, not many adjustments are needed.

"However, even if we complete the Law Node now, it will be too late. That superluminal particle stream is only eight hours away from the sun. Even if we rush there at full speed now, it will be too late to set up the barrier system."

Suddenly, Lin Hao's desperate voice rang out in the laboratory.

The revelry came to an abrupt end, and everyone looked at the countdown on the big screen, instantly becoming like ducks with their necks being choked, unable to utter a sound.

Eight hours would be enough for them to reach the front of the sun, but setting up the law nodes, completing the adjustments, and forming a complete barrier would take at least six hours.

It's simply too late.

I had seen hope, but I never expected it to end like this.

In the end, it was fate that played a cruel trick on us.

(End of this chapter)