Chapter 280: The Sorrow of Earth

Half an hour later, Earth, at the Swordholder Center, night had fallen.

The night was serene and silent as usual, with most people immersed in sweet dreams. However, beneath the tranquil exterior, the greatest crisis in Earth's history was suddenly looming.

All of a sudden, the beast in the darkness seemed to awaken, ferociously opening its gaping maw. In that instant, the Space Ring Naval Port was ruthlessly torn apart, leaving several craters each with a diameter of a hundred kilometers—as if some indescribable force had completely erased it from space, silently plunging it into the abyss of darkness.

Almost simultaneously, the fate of Earth followed suit. The previously placid and profound night sky was suddenly shrouded in an unprecedented blue-purple glow.

This glow emitted a mysterious and intense aura, like the brilliance from another world, breaking through the shackles of time and space with an unmatched momentum. Its dazzling light was as if ten suns had come together, shedding their radiance all at once and pouring it down from above, as if even the atmosphere was ignited, shimmering in a blaze.

At the same time, the surface of the Earth suddenly burst open, instantly revealing dozens of super-deep pits each with a diameter of a hundred kilometers, like deep claw marks left by a mysterious behemoth upon Earth's surface.

In that very moment, both the Swordholder Center and the important interstellar broadcast centers disappeared without a trace. Where they once stood, only bottomless pits remained, reaching a depth of 1,000 kilometers, piercing through the Earth's crust and into the mantle below.

Then, a violent upheaval erupted suddenly from deep beneath the surface. This force, like tens of thousands of nuclear explosions, sent shockwaves that in an instant tore and destroyed the land across hundreds of thousands of square kilometers. It was as if a doomsday storm had descended, mercilessly ravaging the Earth.

The whole globe trembled in this unprecedented vibration, and the roaring sound of explosions echoed to the heavens, resonating in every corner of the world, deafening as if it were tearing the planet apart. Even time seemed to freeze in that moment.

Subsequently, the magma hidden beneath the Earth's surface awoke like an enraged fire dragon, violently erupting through the just-torn pits, spewing fiery columns of magma that reached for the sky.

That scorching magma reddened the sky, like a bloodstained sunset, as if heralding the tragic end of an era.

...

After traveling 30 astronomical units, the gluon field beam had spread to a diameter of several hundred kilometers, although its power had greatly diminished.

When it first touched the Earth's atmosphere, the intense energy atomically cleaved the atmosphere. The cleaving process scattered protons at high speed, causing the surrounding atmosphere to ionize and become excited. Since nitrogen molecules are the majority in the atmosphere, it emitted an overall blue-purple brilliance.

The gluon field beam traveled at the speed of light to the surface, disintegrating all matter it touched on an atomic level, as if that matter was directly erased by some unknown force.

In ordinary rock material, the penetration power of the gluon field beam, even from 30 astronomical units away, could still reach nearly a thousand kilometers. This distance was nearly one-fifth of the Earth's radius.

As this potent field beam pierced through the rock, the rock also disintegrated atomically, releasing massive amounts of protons. This process was like detonating hundreds of thousands of nuclear bombs simultaneously deep below the Earth's surface, whose explosive power was so immense that it was clearly visible from distant space, profoundly shocking.

The so-called Planet-Destroyer Ships usually can't directly blow up a whole planet. Their designation as "planet-destroyer" is more about their ability to destroy the surface of a planet. However, gluon field weapons are different; they truly have the capability to completely obliterate a planet.

Inside Earth, the magma expanded violently due to the rapid heating from the protons, triggering severe vibrations across the entire planet. These tremors were so intense that they caused the Earth's tectonic plates to quiver violently, as if they could split apart at any moment.

Afterward, the tumultuously churning magma erupted like a raging dragon from the earlier pits, with an eruption magnitude expected to reach an astonishing VEI-11. This was an unprecedented scale of volcanic eruption.

The calamity was not confined to the directly affected areas; the resulting chain reaction would trigger volcanic eruptions worldwide, each unusually high in magnitude, as if nature was demonstrating its endless strength and wrath.

All over the world, the strongest earthquakes in recorded history were felt, with many regions experiencing magnitudes of a staggering 10.5. Under such violent shaking, the ground split open everywhere, and magma burst forth from every fissure.

The entire world was engulfed in a sea of fire, the raging flames seeming to devour everything in their path. The entirety of human civilization was on the verge of sinking into this molten sea.

And Earth was simultaneously enduring dozens of such destructive strikes. By comparison, planetary-level natural disasters seemed trivial. The destructive power of these hits was unimaginable.

The sky was stained a hellish red with thick smoke and fire, presenting an infernal sight that filled hearts with endless despair. At this moment, Earth seemed to have become a human hell, with the omnipresent flames and dust heralding the apocalypse.

The Trisolarans' assault was just a few dozen strikes out of a sequence of more than a thousand. These attacks, launched from 30 astronomical units away, were so powerful that they nearly shook the Cradle of Humanity—Earth—to its end in an instant.

Earth, a planet born 4.56 billion years ago, struggled to grow like a muddy infant and finally transformed into a beautiful and noble mother.

3.5 billion years ago, a seemingly insignificant seed of life quietly sprouted in her warm embrace, thus beginning her most splendid life chapter. From the ancient past to the Cenozoic, she nurtured life in all its forms with infinite love and patience.

Today, this planetary mother that had witnessed countless majestic and brilliant moments in life's journey was about to have her grand journey halted.

Her children, humanity, had failed to protect her.

At this moment, the probability of human survival on Earth was exceedingly slim. For those in the strike zone, it could be considered a form of "luck," as their bodies disintegrated at the atomic level in an instant, hardly experiencing any pain.

However, for people in other areas, fate was far crueler. They had to face violent earthquakes, raging volcanoes, and towering tsunamis, steaming seas...

Countless disasters awaited them, making such survival an unfortunate fate.

This was the war of interstellar civilizations. The once familiar blue planet had now become a wasteland, and those treasures of culture and relics of deep history seemed so insignificant and meaningless in this interstellar conflict.

This truly interpreted what "Destruction befalls you, but what does it have to do with you?" meant.

There was only one true meaning, to survive!

Perhaps it was only at this moment that humanity could truly sense its fragility and insignificance. Shock, grief, despair—these might now be considered luxuries.

The Earth Space Defense Center rapidly relayed the situation on Earth to all human forces. This news hit like a heavy bomb in people's hearts, causing massive turmoil. For most, it was undoubtedly an inescapable nightmare.

Earth, as the cradle and foundation of human civilization, has always been laden with the thoughts and hopes of countless individuals.

Even for many who had never set foot on that blue land in their lives, Earth still held an irreplaceable place in their hearts, a destination for their spirit and a haven for their soul.

Perhaps the moment Earth was destroyed would also become an opportunity for humanity's metamorphosis.

Fish that leave the water can never return, and without Earth, humans would no longer be Earthlings but true spacefarers.

From there on, humanity would seek a new home amidst the sea of stars, embarking on a brand-new era of space exploration.

Like the Trisolarans, humanity had no other choice!