Earth Era

Chapter 2: 10%

The elderly person was the highest leader of the Human Alliance. The several people accompanying the elderly person were also important figures in the Human Alliance. When Zhao Huasheng saw these people, he vaguely anticipated that something big was going to happen, but it all came too suddenly. In fact, until now, Zhao Huasheng still hasn't calmed down.

Li Qi died, committing suicide, but he left a blank piece of paper before his death. It was almost the highest specification, and the highest leader was attending the meeting. At this moment, the highest leader was still asking himself, "What happened to the sun?".

"Sorry, sorry." Zhao Huasheng muttered a few times, waved his hand, and slapped his head a few times, then sat down and closed his eyes for a while, digesting all the information he had heard and contacted. After a lot of effort, he finally calmed down.

Can you tell me what is going on here? What happened?

The old man gestured to Meng Zhuo, who said, "At around 3 oclock this morning, the solar observation telescope on the west hemisphere, the fifteen solar observation satellites on the Earths orbit, and the observation satellites on Lagrange Point and the solar orbit all reported the same message to the Crisis Prevention Department: the solar radiation intensity had dropped by ten percent in just a few minutes and was still rapidly decreasing. After receiving this message, the Crisis Prevention Department quickly reported it to the Prime Ministers Office and contacted Li Qi, the director of your Stellar Physics Research Institute. When Li Qi could not be contacted, our Liaonan Department joined the event and went directly to Li Qis residence."

"After knocking on the door and not getting a response, we forced open Li Qi's residence door. We then found that Li Qi had already passed away, and we noticed the signs of a fire at the scene, but it was strange, as if it was a controlled fire that only occurred in Li Qi's bedroom. Li Qi's corpse was also heavily damaged, and the autopsy showed that Li Qi had died in the fire. The fire scene was a mess, and only this safety deposit box was preserved intact, leading us to believe that it had been purposely kept by Li Qi to deliver a message to you."

"We investigated and found that Li Qi had been normal in the days leading up to his suicide, except for the fact that he, who never drank, invited you to the top floor restaurant of the Century Building for drinks and talked with you for at least an hour last night. Through reviewing Li Qi's past research records, we also concluded that Li Qi had known at least a year ago that the sun was going to undergo a great change, but for some reason, Li Qi never publicly disclosed these research results."

Meng Zhuo spoke in a calm and steady

tone, yet his words stirred up a huge wave in Zhao Huasheng's mind. Zhao Huasheng's thoughts were almost stagnant, yet Meng Zhuo's words kept forcefully drilling into his mind like bullets. "Well, there's one more thing, the time of death of Li Qishou. The autopsy report shows that Li Qishou died exactly an hour before the solar drama. From this, we can know that Li Qi had known about the impending changes in the sun and the reasons for it, yet he said nothing and had a conversation with you before his death, and left you a blank paper, and left a last will saying that you can answer all our doubts... So, Zhao Huasheng, can you tell us what's going on?"

"No... that's impossible, how could the solar radiation level suddenly drop by 10%... This isn't right... If the solar radiation level decreases, it won't be able to resist its own immense pressure, it will shrink in volume, increase in density in order to raise the core temperature and thus raise the radiation level again... It's a dynamic balance... It's common sense..." Zhao Huasheng muttered.

The old man gestured to Meng Zhuo again, and Meng Zhuo took out a stack of materials and put it in front of Zhao Huasheng.

This was a schematic diagram of changes in solar radiation level, as well as preliminary observational data from various observation satellites, and some preliminary analysis conclusions. All of these were things that Zhao Huasheng was familiar with, so he immediately understood what was described on them.

All the detecting devices have clearly indicated one conclusion: "The solar radiation level has decreased, but the mass, volume, and density of the sun have not changed much."

"You know what a 10% decrease in solar radiation means, right?" the old man said slowly: "It means the whole earth will enter the most serious glacial period ever seen, the equator will become temperate, temperate will become cold... the Antarctic ice sheet will even border South America, the Greenland ice sheet will touch the Asian continent, most parts of the earth will become uninhabitable, food production will be greatly reduced, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of people will starve to death, if the solar radiation level continues to decrease... our human civilization will completely collapse, and we may even devolve into primitive humans."

Today is the first day of the decrease in solar radiation. Due to atmospheric circulation and the insulating effect of the ocean, we have not yet noticed much change, at most feeling the weather getting a bit colder. But if we can't increase the level of solar radiation, the temperature will keep dropping, lowering to an unbearable level. So, Zhao Huasheng, tell me, what can we do?

"I don't know, I don't know," Zhao Huasheng murmured.

"What did Li Qichang say to you last night? Repeat it word for word," said a physicist present.

"I..." Zhao Huasheng calmed down and

Zhao Hua Sheng reminisced for a moment, saying: "The weather is nice today."

"On the way to the Century Building with Li Chi-chang driving, how many times did Li Chi-chang complain about the traffic jam?"

"Three times," Zhao Hua Sheng thought for a moment before replying.

Zhao Hua Sheng has an excellent memory. During college, Zhao Hua Sheng even won the Memory Championship. It is precisely because of this that Zhao Hua Sheng can recall every detail of last night.

said with a slight bitterness: "Yesterday was Friday, after work, Director Li Qi found me and said he wanted to broaden my horizons... We went to the top floor restaurant of the Century Building, Director Li Qi told me to sit down and order dishes... then drink wine, he asked me about my recent situation, any ideas, after talking for a while, Director Li Qi led the topic to how small human civilization is..."

Next to him, a secretary was quickly recording Zhao Huasheng's words. During the process of Zhao Huasheng's recollection, the secretary did not interject and was silently recording. After Zhao Huasheng finished speaking, the secretary checked the record and then asked: "On the way from the research institute to the underground parking lot, what did Director Li Qi say, 'The weather is nice today' or 'It's quite cool today'?"

......

"Did Li Qi make any statement such as 'come in and sit down' before he went home and closed the door?"

"No." Zhao Huasheng replied.

"Very well. This is the record of your conversation. See if there is anything missing." said the secretary.

Zhao Huasheng took the few records, quickly looked them over, and said, "There is nothing missing."

"If you remember anything else, remember to report it to Meng Zhuo. Meng Zhuo, follow Huasheng for a while." said the old man.

"Yes." Meng Zhuo uttered a single word.

At this moment, a knock on the door sounded at the entrance of the conference room. After obtaining the consent, a person dressed as a secretary with a pair of golden glasses walked in.

"Chief, the paper test results have come out. This is just a normal sheet of A4 paper that has not been treated by any technical means or hidden drugs after it was produced. Cryptographic experts have not obtained any valuable information from the details of the paper fiber distribution and indentations. The paper was produced three months ago and purchased from a common office supply store. It was produced by a forestry company called "Flying", and the paper's raw material is fast-growing poplar with an age of three years, one hundred and fifty-two days. Six tons of the same batch of paper have been produced, five of which have already entered the market, and the remaining one ton has been sealed. Of the five tons that have entered the market, four and a half tons have been retrieved, and the remaining half a ton has been sent out with personnel to the residences of the buyers and garbage transfer centers to continue the pursuit. A total of three thousand and seventy people who have come into contact with this batch of paper have been investigated. So far, we have not found any valuable information."

"Immediately assemble a team of psychological experts to conduct a psychological investigation of Li Qi, as well as gather experts from all fields to immediately analyze and study all the research material and items left by Li Qi. I want to know the reason for Li Qi's suicide in the shortest amount of time, why Li Qi predicted the disaster but refused to issue a warning beforehand, why he chose to commit suicide before the disaster happened, why he left a blank paper for Zhao Hua Sheng, etc. Furthermore, how did Li Qi predict the disaster, what unique research did he have on the changes of the sun at this moment, and most importantly, did Li Qi have any way to solve the crisis, and if so, what was it? At the same time, immediately summon all relevant scientists within the Alliance to analyze the changes of the sun."

The elder gave a series of unquestionable commands in a plain tone. After saying all this, the elder rubbed his temples, a bit tired, and looked at Zhao Hua Sheng and said, "Huasheng, from today onwards, to a certain extent, the fate of humanity... is in your hands."