1: After being hit by a meteorite, microscopic particles were seen

“For those with extra brains, you can store them here; I’ll use them for hotpot! It’s highly recommended to watch with your brain engaged. The main text begins below.”

“This station reports that last night, August 3rd, at 8:15 PM, a fragmented piece of the planet gaia ultraman fell into the Olympic Sports Park in our city…”

At the scene, a female reporter stood outside the Olympic Sports Park, with thick smoke billowing behind her. The air was filled with a pungent odor.

“Currently, rescue efforts are proceeding in a tense yet orderly manner. Some injured individuals have already been sent to the hospital, and casualty figures are being urgently tallied. Please stay tuned for further reports.”

……

“It hurts, it’s killing me!…”

Tian Ming suddenly sprang up from the sofa, the intense pain almost suffocating him.

In the living room, the female reporter’s voice reached his ears, and the television screen was still showing the rescue operation.

Tian Ming was dazed for a moment before he came to his senses. He looked at the time in the bottom left corner of the TV screen.

It was 8:15 AM on August 4th, 2089, meaning 12 hours had passed since the fragment impact.

Tian Ming clearly remembered that last night he was jogging in the Olympic Sports Park when, all of a sudden, a white light flashed in the sky, illuminating the entire night like day.

Later, that meteor directly crashed down. What happened after that was a complete blank.

Was he not dead? Why was he still at home? Tian Ming looked at the massive impact crater on the TV screen and fell into deep thought.

He frantically felt his body, then pulled open his waistband, letting out a long sigh of relief. His little brother was still there, and all his parts were intact. Only his phone had a black screen and wouldn't turn on.

“Damn it, my new phone is already unusable?” Tian Ming grumbled, retrieving his old phone from the room.

The meteor incident, in fact, was not surprising to Tian Ming. For the past month, news of meteors striking cities had been commonplace.

……

Five years ago, a rogue planet from space entered the solar system where Blue Star is located.

This planet was captured by Blue Star’s gravity and became its second moon. The official name given to it was a rather chuunibyou-sounding one: gaia ultraman.

It was a rocky planet about 100 kilometers in diameter, but its orbit was very low and elliptical. Its appearance caused tidal disturbances on Blue Star, leading to frequent natural disasters over the past five years.

The scientific community predicted that in ten years, gaia ultraman’s orbit would enter the atmospheric boundary.

As its orbit got lower and lower, gaia ultraman would eventually collide with Blue Star.

Once it collided, it would extinguish all life on Blue Star.

Humans on Blue Star did not sit idly by. For the past five years, rockets had been launched into space almost every year, planting mushroom clouds on gaia ultraman. After five years, over five thousand directional mushroom clouds had been launched.

They formed a massive dot matrix system. Humanity's goal was to use the impact of nuclear bombs to push gaia ultraman out of its orbit.

A month ago, humans detonated the mushroom clouds at gaia ultraman's apogee. In a powerful flash of light, gaia ultraman turned into dust and debris scattered across the sky.

Most of the fragments were propelled into deep space, but a small number were captured by Blue Star’s gravity.

Although there was still a threat, it was much better than extinction.

In the month since gaia ultraman shattered, every night, meteor showers caused by fragments rubbing against the atmosphere could be seen.

Even during the day, if one looked up, one could still see a ring of dust encircling Blue Star, forming a stellar ring. That was the ring-shaped dust cloud formed by the shattered gaia ultraman.

Tian Ming held a cup and took a sip of water.

Suddenly, a cluster of dense, tiny spheres appeared before his eyes. These spheres were stuck together, constantly pulsating.

Tian Ming rubbed his eyes, and the tiny spheres disappeared.

He had been hit by a meteor and inexplicably appeared back at home. Now his eyes seemed to be acting up; could it be floaters?

Tian Ming felt a little panicked but still shook his head, “Hallucination, it must be a hallucination!”

When he looked at the water in the cup again, those tiny spheres reappeared, dense and numerous, making his scalp tingle.

“Damn it, why is this happening? I hope I don’t go blind!” Tian Ming shook his head, and these tiny spheres vanished again.

Knock, knock!…

A knocking sound came from outside the door.

“Who is it?”

Opening the door, a woman in her fifties stood outside.

Her face was grim, looking at Tian Ming with a resentful expression. This was Granny Liu from downstairs, who lived with her grandson.

Normally, Tian Ming was very polite to Granny Liu. After all, when his parents had their accident, she was the one who called him.

But Granny Liu was not a good person; she always took advantage of others as if it were her right. When she borrowed seasonings or scissors, she never returned them. Tian Ming truly disliked this neighbor.

“You brat, why did you change the WiFi password again? My grandson can’t attend his online classes! Change the password back immediately! If my grandson can’t get into a prestigious university, can you take responsibility?”

The flab on Granny Liu’s face jiggled, and her expression was one of absolute entitlement.

“Granny Liu, I didn’t change the password. Maybe the broadband bill is overdue?”

After all, she was a neighbor. Although Tian Ming was utterly disgusted, he chose not to break ties.

Granny Liu looked at Tian Ming. This young man’s attitude towards her was becoming more and more perfunctory.

“Go pay the bill right now. Don’t delay my grandson’s online classes.”

At this commanding tone, Tian Ming’s temper immediately flared. If it weren’t for the old woman’s past kindness, he wouldn’t even bother with her.

“Hey, you old hag, are you out of your mind or have you been drinking too much toilet water? I haven’t had a job for half a year, where would I get money to pay for internet?”

“Oh, you! Don’t forget, when your parents had their accident, I took them to the hospital, and I arranged the funeral for you. Has your conscience been eaten by dogs, daring to speak to me like that?”

Tian Ming’s full name was Lu Tianming. He was adopted by his foster parents. When he was adopted, his foster parents were already over sixty and in poor health; they raised a child simply to have someone care for them in their old age and perform their funeral rites.

Six years ago, the old couple died from food poisoning after eating sprouted potatoes.

At the time, Tian Ming was living at school. Granny Liu went upstairs to borrow something and discovered the old couple had been poisoned. But it was too late; they were already dead when she found them.

“You still have the nerve to bring that up? They were already dead! The funeral expenses and everything were all paid for with money I borrowed. You were the one who said a filial son should hold a grand funeral. You said I was young and could earn money, so you told me to borrow money. Damn it, I owed so much debt and dropped out of school to work for a full six years to pay it off.”

“You brat, the kindness of raising you is greater than the heavens. What’s wrong with letting your parents have a grand send-off? You yourself agreed to borrow money for the funeral back then. It’s not like I forced you. You gained face, and it was for your family. Which neighbor didn’t praise you as a filial son and grandson?”

Tian Ming couldn’t refute her. What happened back then, he did indeed agree to it. But the hardships of these six years had made him understand what it meant to suffer for the sake of appearances.

“I don’t have money to pay for the internet. If you want it paid, go pay it yourself. My phone number is the broadband account.” After saying this, Tian Ming slammed the door shut, ignoring Granny Liu’s knocking and refusing to respond.

This old woman was no good. In all the years he had been working to pay off his debts, she had taken advantage of him countless times. She claimed to cook for him, but then made him split the food costs.

Tian Ming ate her food a few times, then stopped. All the vegetables and meat he bought for himself would be scooped into her grandson’s bowl. Later, when Tian Ming cooked for himself, he realized that a dozen yuan worth of noodles with meat could last several meals. It was clear that despite the old woman’s talk of benevolence, her heart was utterly rotten.

The cursing from outside finally stopped. Tian Ming sighed in relief, sat on the old sofa in his home, picked up a textbook, and began to read.

He planned to self-study for the self-taught higher education examination. He had saved a little money over these six years. Although he was twenty-three, he still had a dream of going to college. Once he passed, he would go to university!

Looking at the chemical formula and molecular diagrams of water in the textbook, Tian Ming fell into contemplation.

One oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms form one water molecule.

This image was very familiar. It seemed he had seen it somewhere before?

A sudden flash of inspiration struck Tian Ming’s mind. He stood up and picked up the glass of water on the table. As his gaze focused on the water glass, countless pulsating tiny spheres appeared before his eyes again.

These tiny spheres were stuck together in groups of three, dense and numerous, constantly moving in an irregular fashion.

“Water molecules! Damn it, I can see water molecules.”

……