Darkest Hour

According to calculations, the first wave of the Sun's eruption would reach Jupiter's orbit in less than fifteen minutes. But because Jupiter had shielded it with its body, Callisto Base still had time.

Callisto's orbital period was 16.7 days, and it had only just begun slipping behind Jupiter. Therefore, Jupiter could provide it with protection for at least another six or seven days.

As for what came after that, they could only pray that Heaven would watch over Humanity.

And as Yue Yuan spoke, the Sun erupted with a thunderous roar, just as predicted.

There were two mechanisms for a Supernova Explosion. One was a White Dwarf Star accreting material from its companion star and exploding. The other was a massive star undergoing gravitational collapse at the end of its evolution, breaking its equilibrium and triggering an explosion.

The second was the most common in the universe. When the hydrogen in a star's core was exhausted, the star could no longer generate enough radiation pressure to maintain gravitational equilibrium. At that point, its core began to collapse.

This collapse caused the core's temperature and pressure to surge dramatically, reaching the conditions required for helium fusion and thus igniting it. The onset of helium fusion allowed the stellar core to once again generate enough radiation pressure to halt the collapse.

Helium fusion produced carbon, cooling the stellar core slightly, though its temperature remained extremely high—enough to sustain further helium fusion. Once the star exhausted its helium, if its mass was great enough, it would possess sufficient pressure and temperature to fuse even heavier elements.

For example, oxygen came next, followed by neon, magnesium, and silicon. The entire process of collapse, restabilization, expansion, and collapse would repeat several times. Each time, the stellar core would create heavier elements and generate higher temperatures and pressures to drive fusion.

This continuous production of Heavy Elements caused them to gradually accumulate toward the star's core. The closer an element was to the core, the heavier it became. From the outside inward, the entire star fused elements from light to heavy in layer after layer, until it produced its final product: iron or Nickel-56.

At that point, fusion ceased, and gravitational equilibrium was completely shattered.

Then, under its own immense Gravity, the star underwent catastrophic collapse. Its core could collapse at 23 percent of the speed of light. Here, on this battlefield where Gravity and the Electromagnetic Force took center stage, the Supernova Explosion began.

Apart from the initial light and heat, the vast majority of matter was accelerated to one-tenth the speed of light and hurled outward. The remaining portion met different fates depending on its mass.

Anything not exceeding the Chandrasekhar Limit became a White Dwarf Star. Anything exceeding the Chandrasekhar Limit but not the Oppenheimer Limit became a Neutron Star. And anything exceeding the Oppenheimer Limit would, without question, become a black hole.

But this second mechanism required a star with at least eight times the Sun's mass.

Yet in the Southern Gate Two Trinary Star System, Star A had only 1.1 times the Sun's mass, Star B only 0.907 times, and Proxima Centauri was an even smaller Red Dwarf Star. Like the Sun, none of them fit either of those two mechanisms.

They belonged to an unprecedented third kind: an attack by an advanced civilization.

As everyone knew, the more massive a star was, the more powerful its Supernova Explosion would be. Therefore, the eruptions of the Sun and the Centaurus Trinary Star System were bound to be far weaker than ordinary Supernova Explosions.

An ordinary Supernova Explosion had an enormously broad range of impact. The powerful radiation and shock waves it released could affect an area spanning 160 light-years. If a life-bearing planet existed within that range, the energy unleashed by the supernova would be enough to blow away its atmosphere and kill every living thing on it.

Of course, that destructive range referred to supermassive stars and organisms exposed on a planet's surface.

The Sun was much smaller than stars that normally underwent Supernova Explosions. But small as it was, it was still a Supernova Explosion—far beyond what current human technology could withstand.

It was simply too close, practically right in their faces.

And even now, no one knew what had caused the Sun to explode.

At that moment, following the Alpha Centauri Three Stars, the Sun became the fourth star to illuminate the entire Milky Way Galaxy.

Violent Gamma Rays were the first to radiate outward from the Sun. The gentle Sun transformed into the Grim Reaper, launching indiscriminate attacks against the entire Solar System.

The Xihe Probe melted instantly. Mercury, the closest planet, lasted only a few seconds longer before shattering completely and turning into cosmic dust.

Within those few seconds, the Sun roared as it unleashed the terrifying energy that would originally have taken ten billion years to release. It raced across the distance of one Astronomical Unit and poured down upon planet after planet.

Venus held on for a few dozen seconds longer before following in Mercury's footsteps.

Then came Earth.

An ocean of light swept across it. The side facing the Sun instantly turned white, becoming an ocean of light. Vegetation on the surface ignited in an instant and became flying ash. Towering mountains turned into magma in an instant, even sublimating away.

Sublimation was not some spiritual transcendence. It was physical sublimation—the transformation of a solid into a gas.

Earth's atmosphere was blown away in an instant. Its seas boiled and evaporated, while its vast continents became thick soup.

The side in darkness became daylight as well, and its temperature rose rapidly.

As Earth rotated, the other side, still barely clinging to life, could not escape disaster either. Every Great Project on the planet became worthless rubble before this force.

Hanhai became Hanhai once more, then began transforming into a sea of magma.

That magnificent Orbital Mass Accelerator, Humanity's pride, was instantly melted into molten iron and merged with the earth once again.

Under the ravages of light and heat, the ground split open, subterranean fire erupted, tectonic plates shattered, and Earth began to break apart, merging into the ocean of light.

Joining it in that light was Tiangong, the pinnacle achievement of Humanity's Space Station construction.

Next came the Moon and Guanghan Palace. They too could not withstand the Sun's endless energy, shattering and falling apart completely.

Mars Orbit was farther away and lasted several minutes longer, but it too could not avoid following Mercury, Venus, and Earth into becoming part of the Sun's light.

Hanhai, the Orbital Mass Accelerator, Tiangong, Xihe, Guanghan Palace, Yinghuo, Artemis, Apollo, Zeus.

One name after another that Humanity had taken pride in, one spiritual anchor after another, one technological creation after another at the pinnacle of Human Civilization, one Great Project after another—all seemed so tiny and fragile before the Sun's fury.

Greatness itself seemed to have become a mockery that only highlighted their smallness and fragility.

All was silent.

The deceit and scheming once found there, the tenderness, the soaring ambition, the love and hatred—all became light. Every prayer to the gods and every curse spat at demons also became light.

This was the Darkest Hour in human history.

The darkness of destruction swept through the Asteroid Belt, passed through immense Jupiter, shattered every strong soul, and branded itself deep into the hearts of those survivors.

It was the mark of Humanity's wounds and pain, the merciless blow dealt by the Unknown Universe to Humanity, which had only just lifted its foot to step out of its cradle.

It shattered every beautiful fantasy Humanity had held about this Unknown Universe.

Ah! Please send some investments my way—let's get a hundred investors!