August 2032
Lü Yongchang looked at the holographic calendar on his desk and sighed softly.
"Time flies..."
He let out another quiet sigh, then turned to look at the sky outside the window.
There was not a single cloud in the azure sky, only the blazing Sun.
By this point in the Sun's abnormal transformation, even ordinary people on Earth could sense something was wrong without astronomical observations.
The weather had grown hotter.
The reason was simple.
As the Sun entered its declining years, the massive consumption of hydrogen caused its core to shrink.
The reduction in hydrogen content caused the Sun's core to compress even further.
Hydrogen fusion in the core grew increasingly intense, releasing ever more energy.
In just two years, Earth's average temperature had risen by two degrees.
A mere two degrees had nevertheless had an enormous impact on humanity's living environment.
All kinds of extreme weather began to emerge.
Wildfires, floods, melting glaciers, rising sea levels...
Countless low-lying coastal cities were submerged, to say nothing of some island nations.
"Zero, calculate the temperature increase trend over this period."
"Understood."
As the synthesized voice sounded, a colorful holographic projection appeared above the desk in front of Lü Yongchang.
With the breakthrough in second-generation holographic projection technology, the formerly all-blue projections finally had color.
Looking at the curve with its steadily increasing slope, Lü Yongchang sighed softly.
"It's getting faster and faster."
Zero said nothing, simply displaying the temperature increase curve before Lü Yongchang.
After a moment of silence, Lü Yongchang spoke again. "Zero, what stage has the Sun reached now?"
The holographic display changed instantly.
A huge, round fireball wreathed in crimson flames appeared before his eyes.
This was a "real-time" image from eight minutes earlier.
"Professor, it matches your predictive model exactly."
"The Sun is currently