Chapter 92: Heaven and Earth Destroyed

Actually,

even most people in the Underground Shelter City who had been watching the real-time broadcast of the Asteroid 2801 impact site,

saw practically nothing at the very moment of impact.

Before the impact, the Huaxin News Agency had already shared predictions from the Negentropy Research Institute’s team in the live broadcast,

explaining what would happen when Asteroid 2801 hit the ground.

But when all these events crammed into an incredibly brief moment,

people only saw a flash of intense light in the live feed before the screen went black, and the broadcast cut off.

During the final seconds counting down to impact on their screens,

countless people froze where they sat or stood, staring fixedly at the timer,

their hearts kept rising uncontrollably, nerves kept tightening like a rope stretched to its limit.

Then, as the timer hit zero,

it felt like that taut string in most people’s minds snapped.

Hearts stuck in throats felt suddenly misplaced,

ears seemed deaf to sound, limbs felt disconnected,

minds went blank and numb. Only a shrill, siren-like ringing filled their heads, thoughts grinding to a halt.

Until,

the piercing, endlessly repeating “Impact Alert” blaring throughout every Underground Shelter City snapped them back,

finally letting many regain their ability to think.

As awareness returned, numerous people shuddered violently,

then felt limbs go weak, bodies drenched in cold sweat, gasping for air.

Though deep within shelters, everyone felt they’d brushed against death itself.

Those standing remained rooted, finding themselves swaying unsteadily when they tried moving forward, bodies light and floaty, feet as if stepping on cotton – solid ground just wasn’t there.

“Impact has occurred. All personnel in the Underground Shelter City are to remain in safe locations. Do not move randomly.”

“Impact is confirmed! Impact effects are underway! All personnel must stay in secure positions. Do not move randomly…”

Inside the city, the harsh alarm repeated over and over,

making recently recovered hearts clench tight again.

The impact was over, but the danger was far from ending.

…

On the Lunar Surface, the researchers who likely remained saw a clearer, broader view of the moment.

As Asteroid 2801 came so close, its final movements became near-impossible to track visually.

What the Moon researchers directly observed was this:

on the familiar face of their home planet, at the predicted impact site,

as if without warning,

a dazzling ‘firework’ instantly bloomed – a firework so bright it was visible to the naked eye from the Moon.

This ‘firework’ was more brilliant than anything before, and also more terrifying.

Enormous amounts of matter, like released fireworks, would exceed escape velocity from the moment of impact, soaring past Earth’s atmosphere into space itself.

Next, something else became visible:

The entire planet’s atmosphere, like water disturbed by a giant rock thrown in, began to heave and distort visibly.

This too could be seen with the naked eye.

Immediately after,

communication between the Lunar Surface and Earth was lost.

This single moment held many events.

The instant Asteroid 2801 met Earth’s atmosphere,

vast amounts of oxygen were consumed by the intense friction.

Directly above the impact zone, the dusk sky lit up anew under the asteroid’s immense flash.

Due to abrupt, violent atmospheric changes, the entire planet’s temperature surged wildly. Fires erupted from the ground, flaring within cities long before impact. However,

the time between Asteroid 2801 hitting the atmosphere, burning oxygen, and striking the ground was simply too short.

This cascade of reactions hadn’t even spread; most folks hadn’t yet sensed the changes,

when the asteroid already landed, triggering far more violent effects.

Firstly came the greatest threat of Asteroid 2801 to Earth and Human Civilization:

the extreme release of kinetic energy.

This might surpassed anything Earth could do, being effectively ineffective at such speeds.

At impact’s instant, even hitting the ocean did little to dampen this power.

Compared to the asteroid’s speed and energy, the ocean was like a shallow puddle on land.

Upon impact,

a colossal crater, stretching six hundred kilometers across, formed instantly at the impact center.

Within this zone, huge volumes of seawater vaporized instantly.

Massive amounts of material melted outright; immense quantities at the edges were compressed and sent hurtling high, expelled into near-Earth space or beyond.

The ocean floor within the crater churned as molten rock surged up from the depths,

turning the entire crater crater—and well beyond—into seething lava.

At the microscopic level, even more ferocious reactions unfolded.

In that instant, absurdly immense, terrifying energy unleashed itself violently upon the entire Earth.

It was precisely this explosive energy release that scrambled all surface communications,

directly severing the Earth-Moon link and cutting the live broadcast dead.

The continental shelf began tearing violently from the impact site.

The planet’s very rotation shuddered under the blow.

The vast six-hundred-kilometer crater was merely the opening act.

Radiating outward from it,

the colossal shockwave of the asteroid strike began its savage rampage.

The ocean’s cushioning offered no meaningful resistance.

Starting from the crater’s rim, kilometer-high waves—reaching over 1.5 kilometers—were brutally hurled up, carrying staggering force as they raced toward distant shores, enveloping the world.

Meanwhile, the shockwave bearing immense destructive power surged outwards, eventually scouring everything within thousands of kilometers in diameter.

Where it passed, the earth itself heaved; city buildings collapsed instantly, crushed into rubble.

Most people caught within the shockwave’s reach perished at this stage.

If cities suffered such annihilation, the carnage in wilderness, land, and sky was infinitely worse for the countless wild animals and plants struggling to survive. Only feats like unleashing special powers or transforming could offer any relief, but that relied on profound heritage.

But this place, truth be told, was still only part of the crisis brought by Asteroid 2801’s impact.

Everything, just now, was only beginning.

Right after the moment of impact,

across a much wider area, ‘stone rain’ began to fall.

Huge amounts of material thrown skyward, pulled by gravity, now slammed back down.

Some even re-entered from beyond the atmosphere, causing secondary ‘meteor impact’ disasters.

Across the whole globe, countless ‘shooting stars’ flashed brightly in the sky. Even in daylight near the sun, they fought to shine.

Then, the initial impact’s enormous oxygen consumption and the global temperature rise started taking effect.

Global oxygen levels plunged rapidly. Air currents created more low-oxygen zones,

while rising temperatures ignited fires all over Earth. Oxygen continued to dwindle.

Next came sharper, more direct reactions.

The massive energy released upon impact needed an outlet.

A global earthquake began,

a chain reaction starting deep underground,

reaching far beyond the crater and shockwave zones,

rocking Earth’s surface and depths.

The land ripped open into immense canyons. Towering mountains crumbled instantly. Vast ridges burst from flat plains.

Earth’s surface underwent violent reshaping, compressing geological changes that usually take millions of years into moments.

From the Afrika Continent, to Europa Continent, to the Nine Provinces, to the North and South American States –

every human-inhabited land –

experienced unprecedented quakes, magnitudes beyond any historical record,

becoming instantly common, happening everywhere.

Sea water churned like bathwater sloshed in a tub by a rough child,

swinging back and forth violently.

Cities untouched by the initial impact waves were completely flattened.

This global quake inevitably triggered another geological horror.

Volcanoes erupted worldwide.

In the Amerika State, the dormant Redstone supervolcanoes,

poised to erupt, blew violently almost immediately amid the intense shifting.

Then, from North and South Amerika States, to Afrika Continent, Europa Continent, and the Nine Provinces,

countless active volcanoes exploded.

New volcanic chains ripped through the land.

Seen from space,

Earth resembled a burst balloon riddled with holes.

Massive flows of subsurface matter surged toward the surface and into the air.

Volcanic ash began coating the atmosphere.

Immense flows of deep lava started blanketing the planet.

This eruption scale shattered human understanding.

Lava columns shot sky-high.

Undersea volcanoes blasted the oceans into boiling steam.

The whole surface seemed flipped inside out.

Crucially,

once begun, these eruptions wouldn’t stop easily,

starting a volcanic era lasting decades.

By this stage,

most life across Earth’s surface had perished.

But Asteroid 2801’s threat continued.

Massive volcanic ash and toxins in the atmosphere mingled with evaporated seawater from impact.

Global rains began – but now toxic, acidic rains laced with volcanic poison –

a deluge lasting long days.

Simultaneously, the massive kilometers-high waves began lashing land.

These surging seas met erupting volcanoes and ongoing global quakes reshaping terrain.

Truthfully,

within moments after Asteroid 2801 struck Earth,

a full cataclysm unfolded.

Sky and earth ruptured. World-ending destruction.

Earth’s landscapes and environments underwent violent, fundamental transformation.

…

Qin Yu walked the land. These disasters couldn’t harm him, the Absolute Immortal.

He witnessed it all firsthand:

Asteroid 2801 slamming Earth, and the subsequent chain reaction,

actually unfolding briefly.

The towering waves, over 1500 meters high, surged faster than ever before, pushed by immense force.

By the time the impact’s roar echoed through the atmosphere to Earth’s farthest corners,

many disasters had already struck.

Qin Yu saw distant land ripped open. Massive lava columns catapulted subsurface material skyward.

Nearby, they blotted the entire sky.

He saw countless meteors – large and small – flashing above,

shaking the earth violently upon landing.

As the doomsday scenes unfolded before him,

Qin Yu stood on land now unrecognizable even to him,

standing silent for a time.

…

Even for those inside Underground Shelter Cities,

times grew difficult after Asteroid 2801 hit.

Though shielded from above-ground disasters,

its ripple effects inevitably reached them.

Intense geological tremors rattled everyone awake.

Despite careful location choices,

many shelter spaces suffered partial collapses and pressure damage.

The impact’s deafening blast reached faintly even underground.

Inside every Underground Shelter City,

Strong Artificial Intelligence directed fleets of Intelligent Robots and Machinery.

Their tasks: counter secondary disaster effects threatening the shelters,

and urgently repair damaged sections and systems.

This day, this night after impact,

most survivors crammed inside the Underground Refuge Cities couldn’t sleep.

Shelter didn’t mean safety.

The Doomsday Crisis loomed heavily over each person.

The initial shockwave severed communications briefly –

between shelters; with Lunar Surface observation devices; with surface monitors.

Yet gathered shelter data confirmed:

Earth’s surface was likely completely scorched.

Human Civilization’s ancestral homes, the places we built and lived – likely all gone forever.

This realization brought impossible rest.

Survivors knew complete safety remained distant.

Few posted on the shelter-city networks.

Many couldn’t form words at all.

Faces stayed frozen from Asteroid 2801’s countdown reaching zero, too stunned to process grief.

Sadness, pain – the numbness came stronger than tears.

Only when shelters inevitably shook again from secondary tremors did shock finally break.