Chapter 76: The Truth

The White House's Oval Office.

An emergency meeting was convened here to address the appearance and spreading of the golden structural barrier over Hoover Dam.

The meeting was attended by more than dozens of top officials from various government agencies, including the President, representatives from the National Security Council, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Homeland Security, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of the Air Force, the Secretary of the Army, the Secretary of the Navy, the Senate Majority Leader, the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of War.

"According to data compiled from the National Weather Service, NASA, the Nevada Weather Observatory, the Arizona Weather Observation Center, and others, the golden barrier has already covered Nevada and Arizona. The average temperature in both states has dropped by 18 degrees Celsius, and it is expected to continue to decrease, with a minimum of -50 degrees Celsius in the next three weeks," a staff member responsible for summarizing the report explained, highlighting the severity of the situation.

In this scorching July, the average temperature in Nevada and Arizona should have been around 30 degrees Celsius. However, the stratospheric golden barrier had covered both states, making them feel cool and comfortable, devoid of any oppressive heat.

The citizens of the two states felt unusually comfortable and were unaware of the impending situation.

Discussions about this event were dominating the headlines on the internet, with various baseless speculations and religious fervor.

"What's the principle behind this golden barrier?"

"The National Institute of Technology's branch in Nevada has monitored it and found that it's a structural medium substance formed by the combination of protons from different circuits. It absorbs thermal energy, solar radiation, and does mechanical work to maintain the barrier's state."

"What impact would breaking this barrier have on the atmosphere?" The Secretary of the Army suggested, "The military base at the Nevada border has reached Hoover Dam and can take action promptly."

"Unfortunately, that might not work," explained another expert. "The Earth receives about 1.49E22 joules of energy from the Sun in a day. Most of it is either directly reflected or scattered back into space through atmospheric reflection, scattering, cloud reflection, surface reflection, etc. The rest warms the atmosphere and supports atmospheric and hydrological processes, including atmospheric circulation."

"The Earth's biosphere utilizes less than one-thousandth of the solar energy hitting it, primarily through photosynthesis. The golden barrier, on the other hand, has already absorbed various scattered solar energy, including atmospheric reflection, scattering, cloud reflection, surface reflection, etc., accounting for roughly one three-hundredth of the solar energy."

With a hint of professional terminology, some of the top officials didn't fully grasp the situation, prompting the briefing personnel to simplify their explanation.

"At this moment, due to the unique structural aggregation of the golden barrier, its power surpasses that of all the nuclear bombs on Earth combined."

The faces of the people in the Oval Office instantly turned grim.

"Once it explodes in the atmosphere or tears apart unevenly, the energy it has been condensing will rapidly evaporate the atmosphere over the United States."

"We are the first to face an enormous hole torn through the atmosphere over the United States. Based on the healing rate of Earth's atmosphere, it will take at least seven thousand years to reconstruct a complete ecological chain."

"All kinds of cosmic radiation will directly enter Earth, and we will be the first nation to face the initial wave of cosmic radiation."

After the experts finished their explanations, the high-ranking officials, with serious expressions, began to discuss.

The first thing they concluded was that the structural barrier had spread beyond the point where they could detonate it. Once exploded, the entire United States would face the dangers of cosmic radiation, resulting in the country's destruction.

Therefore, detonation was not an option.

Someone then suggested the possibility of relocating the barrier to another country or over the ocean, enabling them to detonate it there.

As long as the United States wasn't directly exposed to cosmic radiation, there was still a chance of survival in the distant future, within Earth's self-healing process, and the reconstruction of the planet's ecological chain.

However, under the guidance of professional meteorologists, they abandoned this idea.

Because it wasn't just about the United States; if the golden barrier were to detonate, it would affect the entire Earth. No one could escape it, and humanity would disappear within the time it took for Earth to heal its atmosphere.

It would be like the dinosaurs, disappearing into history, waiting for the next intelligent civilization to excavate and study them.

"Ladies and gentlemen, currently, we cannot touch this golden barrier. We haven't found a solution yet. In this situation, we can only speculate that Earth will be covered by it, without a trace of sunlight. We will enter an ice age a year from now."

"To preserve the United States, I suggest mobilizing the entire nation to excavate underground cities suitable for the survival of all American citizens. We need to relocate everything from the surface to these underground cities," the President proposed.

While H'el was busy executing his proton-carving commands and releasing protons into the atmosphere, he was also preparing plans for the underground cities.

H'el hadn't imprinted his thoughts on all the high-ranking officials, so the President needed to guide them to implement the plan to save the country.

The first to respond was the Secretary of Defense: "We don't know how far the structural barrier will spread, or how long it will last, but we must prepare for the future's harsh surface environment, which won't be suitable for human habitation. I agree with the President's plan."

Those present represented various political parties, and as long as they nodded in agreement, a policy was likely to be executed.

Numerous military leaders, party representatives, and the Secretary of State exchanged glances.

How did the conversation shift to building underground cities?

They hadn't even dispatched reconnaissance teams to investigate or called upon the National Emergency Response Forces to search for a solution.

Deciding to dig underground cities solely based on current meteorological data, without finding the root cause or trying to resolve the structural barrier—was this not too hasty?

Shouldn't the logical response be to assemble special emergency teams, gather meteorologists and scientists from across the country, and expedite research into the structural barrier to find a solution?

Why jump to the idea of digging underground and hiding there?

Bang!

Amidst the audience's confusion, a disheveled and exhausted-looking man, with a determined face and a military bearing, forcefully opened the doors to the office, pushing past the guards.

The Secretary of Defense, upon seeing this man, waved to stop the guards from raising their weapons and ordered them to close the office doors. Then, he furrowed his brow and asked, "Harold, what's going on?"

"I know everything," Harold said as he held a USB drive and inserted it into the office's projector. As the projector displayed its contents, he began a resolute explanation.

"Two months ago, a dark shadow traversed the stratosphere, continuously passing through the skies of various countries. It controlled key figures, high-tech laboratories, and high-tech companies in these countries, compelling them to carve protons and launch them into the atmosphere.

Once this task was completed, all the controlled high-ranking officials, believing they were acting for the benefit of humanity and searching for its future, began to plan the excavation of underground cities, preparing to relocate all of humanity underground.

Here are the behavioral records of high-ranking officials from all nations. All the individuals who decided to carve protons and implement policies for excavating underground cities were manipulated by this dark shadow."

The assembled group of leaders turned their gaze toward the President, their expressions filled with a mix of surprise and concern.

°°°

Hungry for more chaps? Then check out our pătreon!

Link: Påtreon.com/BaphometFiction

I post 10 advanced chapters of this fanfic there.