Chapter 16 No Aliens Attacked Earth

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Late at night, when everything was quiet, two young men were frantically working on their study problems.

Li Zhendong was very angry, really angry. Every time Zhang Yuan surpassed him, he had to work hard again to surpass him back.

For him, working hard was a painful affair.

Especially when this guy was working on middle school math problems and grinning foolishly, what's that about?

Doing middle school math problems with such joy, is he even human?

Ruffling his hair, Li Zhendong grew irritated, and the various texts in the book looked like fleas jumping around, bouncing here and there. After a while, he still didn't understand a thing.

Unable to calm down, he stopped looking.

He glanced at Zhang Yuan's problem: "Prove: the nth root of 2 is irrational. (n being an integer greater than or equal to 2.)"

"Proof: Assume the nth root of 2 is rational and denoted as p/q, with p and q being primes to each other."

"Then 2 = (p^n)/(q^n), which means 2(q^n) = (p^n)."

"Rearranging gives p^n = q^n + q^n."

"By Fermat's Last Theorem, there are no positive integer solutions to this equation. Hence, the assumption is wrong, and the nth root of 2 is irrational."

Li Zhendong nearly spat out old blood: "You can't teach my sister like this, you really can't! Besides, you're helping her with math problems, how is this ok?"

Zhang Yuan paused, realizing that he had unconsciously turned into a free homework doer.

But it didn't matter, if the entire proof was copied exactly, the teacher would definitely laugh hysterically.

"Forget it, I'm done. This much distraction is enough." Zhang Yuan yawned, feeling quite carefree.

Li Zhendong finally breathed a sigh of relief, eagerly put down the books in his hands, and rubbed his aching temples.

He picked up a telescope, walked out to the balcony, and looked in the direction of deep space.

Gliese 581, a Red Dwarf Star located about 2 degrees north of the Libra β Star, was their destination.

Its mass was 0.31 solar masses, its radius was 0.38 solar radii, and its surface temperature was approximately 3,480K (3206.85°C).

A +10.56 apparent magnitude meant that ordinary telescopes couldn't see it, but Li Zhendong continued his ceaseless search.

That was the future Mother Star after all!

Li Zhendong had a sudden thought: "Do you think there's a deep-space plan because the high human councils already know Aliens will attack Earth?"

"Impossible!"

Zhang Yuan responded casually, "If that were the case, they would definitely be building spaceships on a massive scale with global resources. Plus, would people like us get the chance to escape? Surely you've watched various sci-fi movies, where, at the apocalypse, how expensive are tickets for Noah's Ark? Even as sons of scientists, there's no guarantee of us being that important!"

"Movies aren't reality, but they do somewhat reflect reality. Right now, no national leader is rushing to escape, since when have humans been so noble?"

Silence ensued for a while.

The 500,000 volunteers were not the most outstanding individuals of Earth Civilization. Everything depended on personal will. There were some scientific giants with dreams, but true political bigwigs would not abandon everything on Earth to venture into such desolate lands.

Li Zhendong chuckled, "Indeed. So there are no Aliens attacking Earth. Then what do you think is the reason?"

Zhang Yuan pointed to two directions in the sky, frowning as he spoke, "Maybe it's that, or maybe it's this... or possibly both, or perhaps there are more important reasons we don't know."

Where Zhang Yuan pointed, one star was KIC-8462852, commonly known as Tabby Star.

In the other direction, there was Eta Carinae.

Looking up at the sky.

The moon was bright, and lights from the big city obscured the dazzling starry sky above, making finding these stars all the more challenging.

In the historical year of 1977, North America experienced a massive blackout.

During that night when the lights vanished, the boundless heavens revealed their original, primitive appearance.

In an amusing turn of events, on that night, police stations received many alarm calls reporting, "Aliens are attacking Earth!"

The reason was nothing more than... these urban people had never seen the true Milky Way, and the primeval force from antiquity left them bewildered and alarmed.

Indeed, Mother Earth was simply too warm and gentle, so gentle that humans of that era were reluctant to leave the swaddling, slowly forgetting the vast world outside.

However...

This world was not just for humans.

The universe wouldn't simply disappear because humans chose to cover their ears and pretend nothing happened.

The first challenge came from "Eta Carinae," also known as Eta Carinae, a supergiant star with more than a hundred times the mass of the Sun. Scientists estimated that this star might explode within a million years, forming an extreme supernova!

Note, it is an extreme supernova, with the word "extreme" added.

If considering Eta Carinae's distance from the Solar System of 7,500 light years as a somewhat okay news, then the other news was utterly deadly...

Research indicated its rotational axis possibly already aimed at the Solar System, like a stellar cannon ready to fire at any moment!

When Eta Carinae exploded, powerful gamma-ray bursts would sweep across the entire Solar System.

"Unfortunately, this bright star cannot be seen from the Northern Hemisphere."

Of course, this disaster could be very large, or very small. Firstly, the timeline for its explosion was very blurred, perhaps a million years from now or maybe tomorrow, or even already happened a hundred years ago.

Moreover, scientists were still in heated disputes over the rotational axis deviation of Eta Carinae and disaster prevention...

Human knowledge of such celestial bodies was minimal, making it difficult to accurately predict the disaster it might bring to human civilization.

Gamma-ray bursts, after a long journey, might destroy the entire ecosystem or perhaps have little effect. It was unclear.

The second challenge came from KIC 8462852, Tabby Star.

In the 21st century, humans had already discovered this strange star, whose periodic dimming had garnered widespread attention from astronomers.

At the time, many scientists speculated that a nebula or other large celestial body obstructed the star, causing its dimming.

However!

Hundreds of years of observation only proved one thing: Its dimming was increasing at a rate of 0.064% per decade.

In other words, if the maximum dimming data ten years ago was 22.112%, now it would be 22.176%, without exception.

What did this mean?

It meant there was an artificial structure near that star, and it was being built at a constant speed.

This construction had continued for hundreds of years!

The Dyson Sphere was right there. It wouldn't change due to human will.

This fact caused a significant panic among the high echelons of civilization.

A distance of 1,400 light years was too far for humans, yet it was not enough to quell such panic.

Any normal person knew what a "Dyson Sphere" signified.

In comparison to a civilization capable of building a Dyson Sphere, human civilization was merely an amoeba!

At the time, Professor Qi Yuanshan, the "Father of Nuclear Fusion," excitedly wrote in his diary, "Without Aliens, humanity might destroy itself through idleness!"

"... just like the old days, the forthcoming entertainment craze and non-toxic neural drugs will inevitably destroy much of human spirit for progress. The Dyson Sphere being proven true, humanity might revive from decadent consumerism and capitalism, similar to the US and USSR Cold War effects!"

"Truth be told, having a good neighbor might bring hope, fortunate... exceptional!"

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