Natural Disaster(3)

While Jiang Chen was busy cooking in the kitchen, he heard two gentle voices like murmuring birds. He shouted to the girls, "Xiao Yan! Yueyue! Are you not done with cleaning yet? The food will be ready in five minutes. Finish up and wash your hands."

"Yan, you're really lucky to have a brother who cares and loves you so much," Xia Yue said enviously.

"Indeed, if you want, you can also have my brother, hehe!" the girl proudly replied.

"A Construction Engineering Group," he quietly spat.

"Brother! What are you staring at? You're staring at sister Yue too much," she hesitated, turned, and walked to the table.

"Nothing. I just saw you staring at her. Anyway, how come she's with you?" he quickly changed the topic and asked.

"I don't know either. But I'm 100% sure she's here because of you, hehehe." She shrugged her shoulders while pulling out the chair and said, "Oh? Wash your hands and stop mumbling there. I'll call her now."

"Um," she nodded and suddenly remembered something. She said, "Brother, we're going to the mall after we eat dinner."

"Going out? It's already 9 pm in the evening. Don't go out tonight. Lately, there's a rumor that those gangsters in the fifth street near the mall are fighting. Tomorrow is a long day, and you can buy everything you want, and so can I," he mentioned and added.

She pouted and bargained, "Eh? That's scary. I'll tell sister Yue that you're coming with us tomorrow and will treat both of us." Then she ran towards the living room while laughing.

"This little succubus!" he was speechless and thought that he was being tricked again. He suddenly jerked and had an uneasy feeling. Lately, I always feel this way. The first time was before he broke up with his girlfriend Zhu Jianghu. The second time was before he fetched his sister from the terminal. And now, it's obvious that something bad might happen.

"Is this an illusion, or am I just being paranoid?"

-

-

As he tried to shake off his uneasy feelings, he realized that his fears were not unfounded. CSS and ISS were in a state of panic, much like ants in a heated pot, as the asteroid Ben-nu inexplicably increased its gravitational pull, causing smaller asteroids to be drawn towards it. If it were to enter Earth's orbit, it would double in size.

"Is anyone here? Can anyone tell me what's going on?!" the President of the USA shouted in anger.

The observatory was silent, with no one able to provide an explanation for the bizarre phenomenon. Suddenly, a voice spoke up from the back.

"Isn't this similar to Fermi's Paradox? Are we going through a process of the Great Filter?" The speaker paused for a moment, then continued. "Even if we pooled all of our technology and resources, could we really destroy Ben-nu? Especially now, when it seems to be mysteriously increasing its gravitational pull and speed?"

"By the time it reaches its maximum speed, the Earth will be shattered or dismantled," the speaker warned. "We will be the next species to be filtered out, just like the dinosaurs."

Everyone in the observatory was sweating profusely as the speaker wiped his brow and continued speaking. Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream pierced the air.

"Why are you screaming so loudly?" the President demanded.

Ignoring the question, the speaker continued to wail, "This is terrible news, everyone! Ben-nu has suddenly increased its speed by 60 percent!" With that, he collapsed to the ground, weeping uncontrollably.

"What?!" the observers exclaimed in shock.

"Oh, great God, why are you doing this to humanity?" one of the personnel moaned.

-

"Why?" the President asked out loud, his thoughts echoing the concerns of everyone in the room.

As the silence stretched on, the President spoke up. "We need to inform other leaders about this. Perhaps together, we can find a possible solution and prevent this impending disaster."

Turning to the personnel in charge of calculating the time until impact, he asked, "How many days do we have left, given Ben-nu's current speed?"

The personnel replied with caution, "At its current speed of 48,000 miles per hour, we have only 17 days and 2 hours until impact."

A collective sigh echoed through the observatory, as everyone contemplated the short timeline they had to work with.

The President began to walk towards the exit, but then stopped and turned back. "Keep us informed of any changes to Ben-nu's trajectory, no matter how small. We need to inform everyone in the world that the end is coming," he said with a heavy sigh.

The observatory remained quiet, as everyone tried to come to grips with the enormity of the situation.