Chapter 3

Through the telescope, Xiao Yu observed that the debris from the Earth's explosion began to show chaotic fluctuations. Some small fragments broke away from their orbits and started heading towards the Sun, but the larger fragments did not deviate too far from their orbits. Xiao Yu felt a sense of relief, secretly rejoicing that the Sun had narrowly escaped disaster, and so had he.

High-energy radiation bursts are like this: powerful, they come quickly but also dissipate quickly.

Xiao Yu did not come out from behind Mars because the high-energy radiation burst was only the first wave of impact. Another wave was coming.

That was the high-energy charged particle stream, also known as the solar wind. The auroras on Earth are produced by the collision of high-energy charged particles from the Sun with Earth's magnetic field.

When a solar flare erupts, and the intensity of the high-energy charged particle stream reaches its peak, it can even affect satellite communications and cause power grids to fail. A large-scale power outage in the United States in the 20th century was caused by a solar flare.

Even if one were to think about it casually, it was clear that this high-energy charged particle stream from Jupiter would far exceed the Sun's by many times! After all, the particle stream emitted by the Sun is under a generally stable state, but the current situation on Jupiter was unknown to what extent it had changed.

The speed of the high-energy charged particle stream is much slower than the speed of light, roughly four million kilometers per hour. Based on this, it would take about five days to reach Mars' orbit.

The most terrifying thing was that Xiao Yu relied on electronic devices for survival. Although he was now completely hidden behind Mars, no one could predict how much impact this Jupiter wind would have on Xiao Yu.

The first wave of crisis was considered to have passed. However, Xiao Yu's mind was filled with curiosity. After much thought, he finally decided to squeeze out a portion of the remaining fuel to adjust his orbit and observe Jupiter.

Moving out from behind Mars' massive shadow, Xiao Yu turned the astronomical telescope and aimed it at Jupiter.

Observing Jupiter from Mars' orbit, the naked eye could only see a point of light, with no details visible. However, the optical telescope on Xiao Yu's spacecraft had been specially optimized, and the current distance was several million kilometers closer than from Earth, so the quality of the images of Jupiter Xiao Yu obtained was no worse than those from the Hubble Telescope.

Xiao Yu was once again stunned.

The side of Jupiter facing the Sun had turned a dark red, as if it were bleeding. Countless violent cyclones were raging on Jupiter, even affecting the orbits of its moons.

Jupiter's axis of rotation had been tilted by three degrees due to the impact.

Xiao Yu carefully observed this scene, and all the observation equipment on the spacecraft was activated to collect as much data as possible. This data was extremely valuable and would be very important for Xiao Yu's future technological development.

After an hour of observation, Xiao Yu suddenly noticed a very important issue: "Nuclear fusion is occurring in the impact area on Jupiter."

Xiao Yu's heart tightened, and he immediately stopped all other irrelevant data calculations, focusing all computational power on analyzing this phenomenon.

Gradually, through the observation of Jupiter, the incomplete theory in Xiao Yu's mind began to take shape.

It was about the theory of controlled nuclear fusion. The great nature, in its unique way, taught Xiao Yu a lesson through the event of the moon impacting Jupiter, imparting knowledge about controlled nuclear fusion.

Tracing back to Einstein's famous mass-energy equation, E=MC^2, humans have long been exploring nuclear energy, with the most notable example being the hydrogen bomb. However, the hydrogen bomb is an uncontrolled nuclear fusion, suitable for weapons but not for other uses. To make good use of this great energy source, a method to control nuclear fusion must be found.

As a leading figure in the scientific community, Xiao Yu naturally had deep research in this area. However, even he could not solve this problem.

But now, through the greatest teacher, nature, Xiao Yu felt that he might be able to solve this problem.

The biggest challenge in controlled nuclear fusion is that no material can serve as a container for the fusion reactor. During nuclear fusion, the temperature reaches tens of millions to hundreds of millions of degrees, and no known material can withstand such temperatures.

Therefore, humans proposed two methods: magnetic confinement and inertial confinement. By using magnetic fields or inertia to confine the fusion reactor, it can stably output energy to the outside world. However, both methods are still in the theoretical stage.

Xiao Yu focused on the magnetic confinement method.

Jupiter has a very strong magnetic field. Jupiter's magnetic field stably confined the fusion reactor at the impact point, which was outputting energy.

This was the simplest and most efficient teaching method. For example, if you don't know how to fold a paper airplane, and someone gives you a pre-folded one without allowing you to take it apart, you might find it difficult to figure out how to fold it.

But if someone demonstrates how to fold the paper airplane, you might learn it immediately.

Nature demonstrated the folding of the paper airplane of controlled nuclear fusion right in front of Xiao Yu.

If Xiao Yu had eyes, they would have turned red. If he could breathe, his breathing would now be extremely rapid.

No one could appreciate the importance of controlled nuclear fusion more than Xiao Yu.

With controlled nuclear fusion, interstellar travel would become possible, and energy would no longer be a constraint on technological development.

"My dream of space travel finally has hope!" Xiao Yu felt an urge to cry.

Xiao Yu continued to observe for five days, collecting as much data on controlled nuclear fusion as possible. Then, before the expected high-energy charged particle stream arrived, he returned to the shelter behind Mars. With this observational data, solving the problem of controlled nuclear fusion was only a matter of time for Xiao Yu.

"Build a vast space fleet! Leave the solar system, conquer the galaxy!" Xiao Yu's heart roared with excitement.

Five hours after Xiao Yu hid behind Mars, the high-energy charged particle stream finally reached Mars' orbit. The result was undoubtedly catastrophic.

Even with Mars as a shield, the impact of the Jupiter wind still caused half of Xiao Yu's spacecraft equipment to be damaged, and the computing power of the central computer dropped to 30% of its peak.

The high-energy charged particle stream also had a strong stripping ability, and Mars' magnetic field was almost negligible, meaning Mars had almost no resistance against the powerful Jupiter wind.

Almost instantly, Mars' murky atmosphere was almost completely stripped away, and the lava flowing on the Martian surface was directly exposed to space.

Under the powerful Jupiter wind, the entire Mars became a giant comet! It dragged a long tail of debris, including countless meteoroids, which completely enveloped Xiao Yu's small spacecraft.

"Damn it! Are you kidding me?" Xiao Yu, shocked by the scene, couldn't help but curse.

The remaining 30% computing power of the central computer was fully activated, the engines and radar equipment were running at full power, and the energy consumption reached a level that made Xiao Yu's heart bleed.

In the pitch-black, lightless space, Xiao Yu skillfully maneuvered the small spacecraft to dodge the flying meteoroids.

"I just obtained the key technology for controlled nuclear fusion, and a bright future awaits me. How can I die now?"

This belief supported Xiao Yu through the three days of the Jupiter wind's rampage. When he finally caught his breath and conducted a full self-inspection of his spacecraft, a bitter feeling rose in his heart.

"The damage is really severe..." Xiao Yu sighed helplessly.

The Jupiter wind dissipated, and Mars' comet tail began to gradually fade. However, this process might take a long time. Xiao Yu even predicted the final outcome: the material from Mars' comet tail would gradually fall back to Mars' orbit and form a ring around Mars.

Mars was about to become the first solid planet in the solar system with a ring.

Looking at Earth's orbit, the largest fragments had not been blown towards the Sun by the Jupiter wind. This was a good sign because if such an event had occurred, it would have created a large hole in the solar system's convection layer, causing the Sun's internal material to erupt and an endless solar wind to sweep through the entire solar system. At that point, the solar system would become a hell within a hell, and Xiao Yu could not imagine how he could find a way to survive.

The prelude to the great disaster, which began with the Earth's explosion and reached its climax with the moon's impact on Jupiter, had passed. At least, Jupiter's influence on the outside world had diminished. Afterward, there would be a slow and profound impact on the entire solar system.

The most significant impact of this disaster was on the inner rocky planets. The three gas giants beyond Jupiter—Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune—were not greatly affected. Titan, which Xiao Yu was most concerned about, was fortunate to have avoided the disaster because it was on the opposite side of Saturn when the impact occurred, and its environment had not changed much.

Now, there was a serious problem: Xiao Yu's small spacecraft was running out of fuel.

Not only that, but the entire spacecraft was in a dilapidated state, with many modules experiencing electrical short circuits. To prevent further damage, Xiao Yu had to temporarily shut off the power supply to those modules. The raw material storage room was even directly hit, and the spare parts and materials inside were lost. A large section of the spacecraft's hull was also torn off. However, fortunately, the positioning system and gyroscope were still functioning normally; otherwise, Xiao Yu would have been lost in the vast universe.

"Am I, this new human of the new century, to be forever trapped in Mars' orbit until my energy runs out and I die?" Xiao Yu lamented.

Infinite energy was waiting for Xiao Yu on Titan! If he could reach Titan, the amount of energy would be so abundant that even if Xiao Yu used it to make planet bombs, it would never run out.

Xiao Yu began to think intensely. How to leave Mars' orbit and reach Titan.