Chapter 0 - Expedition to the South Pole (Prologue)

By the end of 2040, global warming has reached its peak. The cause behind it was the decreasing green area due to the expansion of residential and industrial areas. In addition, the expansion of industrial areas caused a drastic increase in pollution levels which made the situation even worse.

Slowly but surely, the effects of global warming which has reached its peak can be felt by every single person all over the world. The heat on the earth's surface that was increased drastically due to global warming makes most people choose to stay at home from morning to evening since most of those who go outside at that time will fall unconscious and some of them even die because of it.

Apart from that, foodstuffs are becoming scarce because plants and livestock also feel the same impact of global warming. As a result, the price of foodstuffs has increased to the point that only those who have a lot of money can buy them, and starve to death for those who cannot buy them.

The number of deaths caused by global warming is extremely huge and it makes almost every single person all over the world think that sooner or later the world will reach its end. Some people think that they have to do something to fix it, but they have no power to do so. Therefore, they're doing a demonstration to the government of their country to make them want to directly intervene in handling the global warming that is happening.

The actions taken by those people went viral on social media and a lot of people from all over the world started doing the same thing as them by demonstrating to the governments of their countries. The events of mass demonstrations that occurred almost all over the world made the United Nations unable to remain silent.

The United Nations formed a special research team called Global Warming Solutions Researcher or it can be abbreviated as GWSR. They were assigned to look for ways to overcome and minimize the effects of global warming. However, the situation has been exacerbated by the rising of sea levels due to the ice that began to melt rapidly at the North and South Poles.

The rising of sea levels causes the reduction of land on Earth to be three-quarters of what it was originally. Some of the affected countries went into chaos because their entire country might sink soon. Knowing that fact, GWSR immediately researched how they could overcome the rising sea levels first. Unfortunately, their research barely made any progress and got no results.

With the incompetent performance that was shown by GWSR, the public opinion of them had soured. They had no other choice but to choose an alternative method by refreezing the melting ice at the North and South Poles. They chose that because they couldn't deny the fact that there was a possibility the whole world would sink before they finished their research.

With a fund of ten million dollars provided by the United Nations, GWSR has prepared a huge amount of liquid nitrogen which they will use to refreeze the melting ice at the North and South Poles. However, they must prioritize refreezing the melting ice at the North Pole first because there is less ice that was left in there than at the South Pole.

Sadly, what they did only made the North Pole disappear and caused several countries around the North Pole to sink. That can happen because GWSR did not do research beforehand about whether what they were going to do by using a huge amount of liquid nitrogen to refreeze the melting ice at the North Pole was successful or not. The failure of the GWSR made the public furious, especially those who were directly affected by it. Thus, the United Nations had no other choice but to dissolve the GWSR and investigate its top officials.

The results of investigations into top officials from GWSR were announced to the public just a few days later. In the announced results of the investigation into top officials from GWSR, it was found that the top officials from GWSR had embezzled large amounts of funds and delayed their research for trivial reasons. In addition, the information about their plan to re-freezing the melting ice at the North and South Poles is just a lie.

To replace the role of GWSR in resolving the case of the melting ice at the South Pole, the United Nations sent out an expedition team to the South Pole that included five of the best scientists from every continent. They are Jhonatan Bellwood from Australia, Li Xianfan from Asia, Christina Harris from America, Robert Goris from Europe, and Makena James from Africa. Their task is to find the best and safest way to handle the melting ice at the South Pole.

The five scientists set off for the South Pole on March 11, 2041. On their flight, they agree to put aside all kinds of differences between them and work together in saving the world. They introduce themselves to each other with the aim of getting to know each other and even exchanging information on methods they can use in handling the melting ice at the South Pole.

Robert Goris said that they could use the same method as GWSR did by using liquid nitrogen to refreeze the melting ice. However, he also added that it was reckless and only a short-term solution before all the ice in the South Pole melts. Even so, Jonathan Bellwood supported the theory that was said by Robert Goris and added that they could have just created a new layer of ice to slow down the melting of the ice.

Meanwhile, Christina Harris said that they could use the prototype of the freeze gun she recently developed. Even so, she wasn't sure about the freezing power of the prototype of her freeze gun as it was still in the development stage and there is a possibility that it will even destroy the ice it hits.

On the other hand, Makena James said that they could have slowed the melting of the South Pole ice using a method she called Eternal Ice. In her method, she explained that they can use the same method as refrigerators by building a giant iron cage that has no gaps and covered all parts of the remaining ice in the South Pole. Then, they have to lower the temperature inside of it to the point where the ice at the South Pole stops melting.

However, the method suggested by Makena James immediately was refuted by Robert Goris. He said that the theory was completely implausible because it would take a lot of funds and time. Moreover, they don't have much time because it is estimated that all the ice at the South Pole will melt in just a few months.

Amidst the somewhat tense atmosphere between Makena James and Robert Goris, Li Xianfan said that they could use all the methods they had told each other. First, they have to test run and make some adjustments to the prototype of Christina Harris's freeze gun. Then, they can use it to reduce the amount of liquid nitrogen needed to refreeze the melting ice for a short period of time. Lastly, they can use Makena James's method for a long period of time.

The method that was said by Li Xianfan sounded so convincing to the other four scientists. They think that the method can be implemented and is quite effective for some reason. Therefore, they agreed to use that method.

They arrived at the South Pole on March 12, 2041. As soon as they landed, they immediately carried out the method they had agreed to. They asked the United Nations to send the prototype of Christina Harris's freeze gun and it arrived in one day.

They immediately conducted a test on the prototype of Christina Harris's freeze gun by shooting it at an ice chunk. Surprisingly, the shot immediately destroyed the ice chunk and re-frozen it along with the air around it which makes the size of the ice chunk become bigger than before.

With the results they got, they made some adjustments to the firepower that was possessed by the prototype of Christina Harris's freeze gun to the point it does not cause the slightest damage to the object it hits and just freezes it. They sent the adjusted freeze gun to the United Nations for mass production and they asked them to bring those freeze guns back to the South Pole along with a team that consists of the same number as the number of freeze guns that were produced.

While waiting for the arrival of the massive produced adjusted freeze gun and the team, the five scientists decided to wait inside the makeshift base that had been set up by the United Nations while making a design for the giant iron cage that was suggested by Makena James.

The United Nations quickly responded to requests from the five scientists and immediately began mass production of the adjusted freeze gun. It took them one month to produce one hundred thousand freeze guns and gather one hundred thousand personnel to be sent to the South Pole. That one hundred thousand personnel were gathered into a team called the South Pole Freezing Team or abbreviated as SPFT.

The SPFT was sent to the South Pole on April 11th and arrived there the next day. As soon as they landed, the five scientists took command of them and ordered them to immediately start the plan to re-freeze the South Pole.

At first, everything went smoothly and without the slightest hitch. Refreezing of melting ice at the South Pole has reached the 30% stage in just one week. However, something unexpected happened on April 21, 2041.

The five scientists suddenly disappeared in the sudden appearance of a blizzard over the South Pole while conducting field monitoring of the refreezing of the melting ice. Strangely, all members of the SPFT are safe and not one is missing.

The news of the disappearance of the five scientists shocked the world, but their South Pole refreezing project continued. However, the five scientists reappeared and were accompanied by five mysterious people after a few days went missing.

The reappearance of those scientists who were accompanied by the five mysterious people was a big question to the United Nations, but it was immediately answered after they explained that each of those five mysterious people was their droid who was bestowed by the Almighty Guardian System. They explained to the United Nations about their meeting with the Almighty Guardian System and the plan for the worldwide changes offered by it. What the five scientists said was only known by the top officials of the United Nations and not shared publicly.

The United Nations tried to discuss with the countries that are considered its members and they reached a decision that they had to accept the deal with the Almighty Guardian System for undisclosed reasons. Moreover, they bestowed the title of Five Great Pioneers to the five scientists they originally sent on an expedition to the South Pole.

The Five Great Pioneers, who had just received their title immediately returned to the South Pole and continued the project of freezing the melting ice at the South Pole. Surprisingly, they succeeded in the project that was thought to be impossible to do in just one night and the South Pole along with the entire continent of Antarctica was closed by a giant iron cage. Finished with the South Pole, the Five Great Pioneers reformed the North Pole and put it in a giant iron cage just like the South Pole.

Not only solving problems with the North and South Poles, the Five Great Pioneers also solve various other environmental problems that threaten the safety of the earth. Their achievements are so famous all over the world that almost everyone in the world knows them.