In 1532, the Spain conquistador Francisco Pisaro defeated the King of Peru in the Peru highlands of Cajamarca. What was his name?
The host sat behind the podium, expressionless, and read the question on the paper. Then, looking at the students in front of him, he calmly announced the start of the timer.
The students in their seats immediately began to answer the questions nervously.
" Montezuma?" Brian gave his answer immediately.
Then Laura, sitting in the middle, immediately denied it. "No, no, Montezuma is in Mexico, not Peru..."
Sam didn't speak, or even hear the question clearly. He stared blankly at the desks around him, each one bearing the team's number.
For example, if they are number 50, there will be a "50" sign in the upper right corner of the table.
In other words, there should be at least 50 times 3, or one hundred and fifty students in this classroom.
But now there are probably less than 150 people in the classroom, and even with the referees and other staff, there might not be 100 people left.
Perhaps only seventy people?
If Sam weren't worried about being caught cheating, he would have liked to turn around and count how many people were in the classroom.
Many of the participating teams' tables were completely empty, with only a number plate on them.
Where are the participating students?
Perhaps they've already headed south.
Besides his own school and the airport, this was the third time Sam had felt the profound impact of climate change on society.
They can't even get enough people for this small competition.
" Sam?"
Laura nudged him suddenly, Sam snapped out of his reverie. "Sorry, I was just spacing out."
"I know what you're thinking. Don't worry too much. There are plenty of people in New York, aren't there?"
Indeed, New York was as bustling as ever, and traffic jams were still happening in the places where they were expected. If he hadn't been sitting in this classroom, he might never have been able to sense what was hidden beneath this grand and prosperous backdrop.
The people here seem completely unaware of the climate catastrophe. Or perhaps they are aware, and some have fled, but those people are insignificant compared to the vast majority of New York?
Sam still couldn't control his wild thoughts.
The competition continued into the evening.
Their performance in the competition wasn't very good, but their ranking wasn't low.
Because there are only a handful of teams participating in the competition...
Dinner was held at the competition venue; it was a buffet dinner at the school, which also served as a party. Many students dressed up for the occasion.
This includes Laura.
In the past, this would have been the time when hormones would be raging.
But now these high school students from all over North America are arguing excitedly, with no hint of ambiguity in their expressions.
"Climate catastrophe is impossible. Go to any university and find a meteorology professor; they will all tell you how absurd it is."
"But the current climate anomalies are quite obvious, and they are inexplicable. There have been no records of such abnormal weather in the past, either last year or even earlier..."
"Have you seen the news about Hurricane Nonali? It was the strongest hurricane in history, and it suddenly intensified, which shows that our climate may indeed be changing!"
Listening to the students around him arguing incessantly, some even suddenly hurling insults and swearing at each other, Sam felt his ears were being polluted.
He shook his head, deep in thought, and walked to the edge of the restaurant, where he discovered there was another television set, and the person on the screen was his "old acquaintance" —Becker...
Are you giving a speech again?
How about we take a break?
Sam's experience is not an isolated case.
Similar arguments are constantly occurring in every nook and cranny, perhaps at the family dinner table or in the company office.
Although there is almost nothing on television except for Becker's speech, climate change has become the most popular topic of conversation among the public, generating considerable sales in bars across the country.
" Tom, how's it going?" Jack finally got another chance to call his boss Tom.
Not long after he made the phone call, Zhang Tianyuan ordered all the shelters to be activated, and he was taken into one of them. He worked with Liu Chunshi and the others, and also processed data from all over the world.
He's been incredibly busy these past few days.
Even worse, there were no international phone numbers available for him to borrow in the shelter, and he lost contact again.
Fortunately, all weather monitoring stations in the Northern Hemisphere are now closed, which freed up an international phone for him to call back to North America.
Upon hearing Jack's question, Tom paused for a moment, then said in a low voice, "I protested to them, but they didn't respond..."
What does it mean that there's no response?
Jack was stunned.
"It means what you understand. I still don't know Sam's whereabouts."
"Phew!" Jack covered his face, unsure of what to say.
"I'm sorry," Tom apologized instead, "Our department is still under surveillance, which is probably why they ignored me..."
Their weather service already had little influence with a powerful agency like the FBI, let alone now that they were under FBI surveillance.
Even a tiger fallen into the plains can be bullied by dogs.
Not to mention they weren't even considered "tigers" to begin with.
It's no wonder the FBI, those supposedly benevolent people, wouldn't give them any face.
"No, thank you, Tom. You've helped me a lot. It's all because I was too impulsive."
Jack suppressed his worries for the moment. "There's another thing I wanted to tell you while I was calling."
"We believe a powerful low-pressure cloud will soon form off the California coast, which will trigger a series of terrifying weather events, including but not limited to hail, tornadoes, or powerful hurricanes. You must warn the people of California to be prepared, or they will pay a heavy price."
Tom remained silent for a while, holding the microphone, before finally saying, "We received this news through official channels two days ago and have already reported it, but so far we haven't received any response."
"Damn it!" Jack immediately realized what was happening. "Is that clown still giving his speech?"
"I don't know who the clown you're talking about is, but there is indeed someone who gives speeches frequently these days."
Jack felt a surge of guilt and helplessness again, and his heart ached.
Don't worry too much, Jack.
"Maybe none of this will happen? Also, I've heard that there are a lot of people in California distributing special flyers that might save some lives?"
"But we could have saved so many more people!"
Jack paced back and forth in the shelter's workshop, phone in hand, drawing glances from the other meteorologists around him.
"This is not something you or I can decide over the phone."
Tom's words silenced both of them.
Jack realized that complaining to Tom would be futile.
"Feel sorry..."
"Wait a moment, someone's knocking on the door." Tom suddenly left the phone and didn't return for a while.
" Jack, important news."
"What?"
"A tornado really hit California!"
"What!" Jack, who had just been wandering around aimlessly, froze. The disaster had struck much faster than he had imagined.
"I can't say any more. I have to leave now. Someone summoned me. This might be our last chance!"
Tom left with a final sentence and then hung up the phone.
Jack was left alone on the other side of the ocean, filled with anxiety.
at this time.
California, Los Angeles.
Zack held a stack of flyers in his hand, watching the people around him scatter in panic, their faces contorted in disarray. Screams of alarm rose and fell from all directions, the louder the screams, the more likely they were to abruptly cease in the next second.
Because that person is dead!
Bang!
Zack witnessed a person being slammed down by a door panel; after a few difficult twitches, the person went still.
The wind howled all around, and the air was filled with a jumble of objects: fruit peels and paper bags that should have been in the trash cans, trees that should have been in the park, and steel and concrete structures that should have been in the buildings...
They're all flying away now!!!
Before his eyes, three tornadoes rose into the sky, like knives, destroying everything in the city. Even the most sturdy buildings, strong enough to withstand earthquakes, were as fragile as cheese before these tornadoes, silently biting off half of each building as they passed by.
He could even see people struggling inside those tornadoes, their arms and legs kicking and flailing wildly in the air, unable to find a foothold.
He could only be helplessly swept higher and higher by the tornado until he collided with something else, and then...
And that was the end of it.
That person is doomed.
"Am I dreaming?" Zack glanced at himself again.
The flyer in my hand.
The title above was written in a way that resembled a prophecy.
[Major weather disaster looms in California; beware of tornadoes and hail]
Five days ago, he took on this job distributing flyers.
He had already read through all the information at that time, and even knew that the people who asked him to distribute flyers were not ordinary people, but that had nothing to do with him. He was just a "drifter" trying to earn some rent...
The main reason was that they offered a generous amount of US dollars.
Cough cough.
But he really didn't know that what happened on that flyer would actually come true!
"Did a tornado really happen?"
"In other words, regarding climate catastrophe..."
"Is it true?!?"
" God, I don't want to stay here anymore! I... I... I... I'm leaving this awful place right now!"
Zack's sentiments resonate with countless California and television viewers today.
"Hello, Mom? We're coming to pick you up now. I think it's time for us to leave..."
Why are you leaving?
"Haven't you seen the news? An unprecedented tornado struck California, killing everyone there. Climate change is real. Other countries have already built shelters, but we're still being told to stay put and wait to die!"
"I'm coming to pick you up now, Mom. Wait for me at home..."
Countless families turned pale with fright after watching the devastation in California on television.
escape!
Head south!
Get out of here immediately!
That was their only thought.
On the other side.
Tom saw Becker again.
Just like last time, their conversation revolved around Liu Chunshi's paper.
Becker is completely lost in thought.
The California tornado hit him hard.
There are some things that are hard for humans to imagine without experiencing or witnessing them firsthand.
That's just how Becker is.
Previously, there were heavy snowfalls in New Delhi, hailstorms in Tokyo, hurricanes in Hawaii, and heavy snowfalls in the British Isles...
He saw nothing to be afraid of.
Snow, hail, hurricanes—aren't these things quite common?
It's just that the intensity and location of the event are unusual.
But if it's this bad, so what if it snows at the equator?
Wouldn't it be easier for the people there to simply wear more layers of clothing and take shelter when they encounter hail?
Even if we really can't avoid it, it will only mean a few hundred million more people dying than before.
Is this really what you call a climate catastrophe?
You think you can stop their economy like this?
It wasn't until he saw a tornado on TV that could slice buildings in half like tofu that he realized how ridiculously "naive" he had been.
Do you think what that paper says is true? Have we really reached the turning point of global climate change?
"Sir, I think we were indeed wrong this time. The Mutual Aid Society's weather team does have a weather forecasting ability far beyond our imagination. Their weather warnings have never been wrong. I think we still have a chance to make amends."
"A chance to make amends?" Becker seemed unable to escape his own world, speaking absentmindedly and muttering to himself incessantly.
Tom didn't know if he had a mental problem, so he could only sit and wait.
It was only after a long time that Becker turned around:
" Tom, please issue a nationwide weather disaster warning so that people can prepare more supplies."
"Uh... okay, I'll get right on it."
Watching Tom walk out of the office, Becker sank back into his own world. "Is there still a chance?"
"No, there's no chance anymore..."
He withdrew his hand from the desk, and a piece of paper silently slipped to the ground.
The above content is very simple.
[It is expected that three major storm cloud clusters will rapidly form in the Northern Hemisphere within 26 hours. At that time, the storms in North America will trigger a chain reaction of disasters such as extremely low temperatures and tsunamis. Please pay attention.]
Sixteen hours have passed now...
Tom had no idea what Becker was thinking; he was still thrilled to be being given a new role.
"We need to issue a disaster warning immediately so that all citizens can prepare for emergency relief and disaster relief."
"Furthermore, we need to convene a seminar immediately..."
Tom assigned a series of tasks before remembering a rather important personal matter.
He quickly took advantage of his brief break to make an internal call.
They were facing the FBI agents.
The people over there must have received the message, because they finally decided to talk to him, but their response completely surprised Tom.
"What? Sam isn't in Washington right now, nor is he in your hands?"
"He's in New York? Participating in an academic competition?!"