The Lucia people did not save the Blue Planet; the interception mission failed, or rather, only partially succeeded.
As predicted, the nuclear bomb shattered one of the three meteors. Although it hit the other two, they weren't shattered, only polished. Now these two meteors are falling toward the Pacific Ocean.
According to the astronomers' estimates, their impact points will be between Australia and Hawaii.
But all this no longer concerns Chen Xin. No matter where the meteors land, two meteors with a diameter of five kilometers will be enough to trigger a global catastrophe, stirring up dust clouds that obscure the sky and plunging the entire world into a long, cold night.
Now all Chen Xin can do is take one last look at this sunlit world and then quickly retreat into his shelter.
Because for the next several decades, or even a hundred years, there won't be any sunlight on the surface. This could very well be the last time Chen Xin sees the sun in his life.
At this moment, in the sky, aside from the sun, there are two enormous fireballs streaking across the sky at tremendous speed, heading eastward.
Along the trajectory of these two large fireballs, there are also small bright spots like Mars occasionally shooting out, dragging long tails across the sky.
Chen Xin knows that these are the two meteors about to strike the Blue Planet, and those scattered sparks are merely fragments peeled off the meteors due to atmospheric friction.
With the landing of these two meteors, the Blue Planet will face yet another mass extinction, just like the fifth mass extinction, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 65 million years ago, where over 80% of life on the Blue Planet will perish, and the entire ecosystem will completely collapse.
Whether humanity's fate will be similar to that of the dinosaurs, who once ruled the Blue Planet, Chen Xin does not know.
If humanity can survive this crisis, there will still be a chance to rebuild our home.
If not, humanity will, like the dinosaurs' extinction paved the way for mammals to rule, become a stepping stone for the next generation of Blue Planet rulers.
But such matters concerning the fate of humanity are too distant for Chen Xin and are not his to consider. All he can and should do now is enter his shelter quickly and strive to survive.
"Everyone, I'm entering the shelter. If we all survive, let's continue to contact each other via shortwave radio on the channel we agreed on before," Chen Xin sent out one last message to the survival group. Seeing everyone discussing the same topic, he thought for a moment and added, "Live long and prosper."
This is the blessing from the Vulcan salute in the movie "Star Trek," but now Chen Xin feels there is no more fitting expectation and blessing.
In the face of the impending doomsday crisis, humanity needs to reproduce continuously and, after surviving this disaster, to thrive again.
Just as Chen Xin sent out this message, watching everyone echo the same line on his phone, intending to pick up his belongings and enter the shelter, the sky suddenly roared with a sound similar to an aircraft engine passing overhead.
Chen Xin hurriedly looked up, only to see a crimson flame crashing down toward his location.
It's a meteor!
Realizing this, Chen Xin quickly put away his phone, cradled the blanket-wrapped television, and ran toward the shelter, regretting why he had delayed for a moment!
Can a person outrun a meteor?
This question is difficult to answer.
The fastest human running speed is 36.86 km/h, which isn't slow, but the speed of a meteor could easily change the time unit to seconds. In the universe, many things travel at tens of kilometers per second.
So for a person to outrun a meteor, you'd have to be a superpowered superhero or anime character like The Flash or Quicksilver. Otherwise, forget about racing meteors.
But if it's just about dodging a meteor strike, as long as the meteor's size doesn't exceed certain limits, it's possible to escape the impact range and avoid being hit by a meteor.
Chen Xin's luck seemed a little off because just as he was within arm's reach of the shelter's door, the meteor descended right in his direction.
However, Chen Xin wasn't hit, only pushed away by the impact, falling to the ground, and the blanket-wrapped television fell out of his grasp.
The crash's roar left a ringing in Chen Xin's ears. He clutched his head tightly, taking a while to recover.
Looking at his scratched palms and feeling the pain throughout his body from the impact, he had no mood for cursing or feeling thankful.
Somewhat awkwardly, he got up from the ground and checked if the blanket-wrapped television was damaged, finally breathing a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, with the blanket wrapped around it and a pillow inside, the television wasn't broken.
He rewrapped the television, opened the shelter door, and paused at the entrance, only then did he set down the television and stagger toward the direction of the meteor's landing.
If it could land and create an impact, chances are high that there's a meteor remnant; it wouldn't be completely burnt up in the atmosphere.
Meteors that can land on the Blue Planet now are mostly fragments of the two large meteors in the sky, even if not, they are part of the initial ten-kilometer meteor.
When this meteor is about to bring the apocalypse, picking a fragment as a memento seems like a good idea.
Under normal circumstances, Chen Xin certainly wouldn't have such a thought.
But now the meteor landed right in front of him, this one-in-a-million occurrence can only happen when the entire world is getting hit by meteors. Without picking up a piece as a souvenir, who knows if there'll be a next time.
The fallen meteor didn't seem large, as there was only a trace plowed by the meteor about several dozen meters long and a crater roughly a dozen meters in diameter.
The impact lifted and compressed the soil at the impact site, and at the crater's base, there was a portion with burn marks, seemingly still emitting heat.
Chen Xin climbed down, the heat of the impact still palpable at the crater's bottom, but he was concerned with whether he could find the meteor.
However, to Chen Xin's surprise, there was indeed something at the crater's bottom, but it didn't seem like a meteor.
For a meteor could not possibly be a perfect sphere, nor could it glow.
What on earth is this? Chen Xin fearfully halted his steps.