Chapter 135 After the Storm_1
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Because the ground was all permafrost, Feng Zi cleaned up for a while and quickly climbed out of the cave entrance.
Outside the cave, the raging wind had stopped, but the air still reeked of an icy coldness that had been polished by the blizzard.
What met the eye was a dull yellow sky and earth, stretching vast and boundless, with the original forest hills leveled out, the smell of dust pervading the air and blurring the line of sight.
The surface of the ground looked like rolling waves, suggesting the land had been churned up three or four meters by such a cataclysmic storm, a sight that even stunned Feng Zi.
This was not just a scene of devastation and disorder; it was desolation and destruction from hell, a cross-earth terror and despair.
Snowflakes continued to fall, but they were not pure white; they were a dull gray, with a quiet, desolate feeling of wasteland.
Looking back, the mountain where he had taken shelter was nearly flattened; now, he truly marveled at his extraordinarily good luck.
The mountain was not very tall and its slopes were gentle. Otherwise, it would have been flattened like the other peaks. Had it been any lower, it wouldn't have been able to protect him - he indeed was blessed by heaven.
Where does the future path lie?
The sights of devastation were like being in purgatory, and the path ahead was unclear.
The arrival of the Trisolarans seemed to plunge this purgatory into an endless abyss. Was there any road ahead?
If his guess was correct, did human civilization still have any meaning?
Could the past be returned to? The future climate was certain to be abnormally cold, and coldness meant less rain, more drought.
All plants and forests were destroyed, the ground was loose, and the dry, dusty wind no longer had any adversaries. Perhaps this was the best explanation for the desertification "insert erosion" mentioned in the original text.
Inland, large chunks of land began to desertify simultaneously, spreading outward from various points, just like a wet cloth drying in the sun.
Next, agricultural production would plummet, reserves of grain would be exhausted... Where would human civilization go from here?
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A week later, the weather gradually recovered; "recovered" is relative to the previous temperatures of minus fifty or sixty degrees. Now, at minus ten or so degrees, it was tolerable for people.
From the shelters around the world, people came out one after another to look at the devastated world outside, a world no longer recognizable to humanity.
Humanity had strived for hundreds of years, toiled for hundreds of years... Yet, it seemed as if overnight, civilization had regressed to the pre-industrial Agrarian Era, no - with the current state of the land, even agriculture was no longer possible.
Within that week, all countries were busy tallying the damage caused by the natural disaster; to say they were assessing the damage is better described as figuring out what remained.
Lin Sen was most concerned about the losses in Huaxia. Fortunately, Huaxia's losses were much less than estimated and there were very few casualties, thanks to the public's high level of cooperation and the coordinators' management.
They had used their space to the limit; though crowded, everything was in order, and all passages within the shelters remained accessible. All things considered, it was nothing short of a miracle.
Despite the harsh reality outside being a massive shock to everyone, the presence of family companionship and comfort, the mutual support and encouragement among friends, were enough reasons not to give up, weren't they?
To stand up once again and continue moving forward, to advance together hand in hand; these beliefs etched into their very bones were the most precious wealth that would forever keep this nation standing.
If humanity were to step out from the shadow of this disaster, the people who did so with such faith would surely inscribe it into the deepest reaches of human genetics forever.
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Even greater disasters engrave beliefs deeper; humanity will become stronger as a result.
Lin Sen looked at the post-disaster statistical report of Huaxia and the reconstruction plan for the future, took a deep breath, and thought that if humanity is to thrive ceaselessly, it would need a nation like Huaxia to lead the entire civilization.
It is a civilization that is good at creation, brave in dedication, happy to take on challenges, disguising itself as a nation.
Human civilization, from the birth of the first written character, has spanned countless years to arrive at today, but today, everything is lost.
I could have endured darkness, because I had never seen light. The cruelest thing for humanity is to have seen the light and then be pushed back into darkness.
The biggest problem after the disaster was not industrial reconstruction and such, but that humanity contracted a kind of spiritual terminal illness, and they might never be able to recover from it.
Human civilization is like a man in a well who has climbed to the edge, looked out for a moment, then fell down again.
Lin Sen couldn't save them; what he could do was to introduce humanity to new survival concepts through a certain method, but only they could save themselves.
The choice was either to climb out of the well again, embrace new survival ideas, and heal the spiritual terminal illness, or to be utterly devastated by it; it all depended on humanity itself. Civilization never needs saving, nor can it be saved.
Humanity needs to recognize itself, change its thinking, continue to grow, and constantly evolve, but the reality is that every step requires a cost unimaginable, a cost no one wants to bear.
We cannot leap out of our era; we can only stand on the conditions of our era to accomplish the possible "miracles."
Lin Sen's most important plan before the final battle was about to take the stage. If the plan succeeded, humanity would face the Trisolarans in the future with a completely new look, and even increase Lin Sen's chance of victory by ten percent.
You can be arrogant, but not idiotic!
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Meanwhile, the world, which prided itself on freedom, was in total chaos, with the post-disaster struggle for benefits and resources intensifying even more.
The conflicts among nations not only failed to subside after the disaster but were exacerbated instead.
The competition for resources became even more intense, for they understood what post-war resources represented. Although the investment in mainstream defense plans had been greatly reduced, the post-disaster resources existed like strategic deterrents.
Many areas with infertile lands that the storms had not ravaged became hot commodities; vast food production armies marched there, even though everyone knew it was just a drop in the bucket.
They suffered great losses in the natural disaster but did not need to restart the industry to such an extent. Although their cities had become ruins and their industries had withered, they had been left with too much industry and resources despite being severely weakened.
The human heart is the hardest to predict; those who had nothing left after the disaster found that the companionship of family was the most precious. Those with some resources, however, suffered not from scarcity but from inequality, and their conflicts were even sharper.
We bore much more of this natural disaster than the Western world, but we also seized many of the most critical rights after the disaster in negotiations before it struck.
Perhaps some think that after the disaster, we'll have no industry left, and what if the West joins together and refuses to acknowledge the agreement? They underestimate us. The safeguarding of rights always relies on strength, not on agreements.
A nation's true strength is not so easily destroyed. Since the last century, we have implemented a civilization backup plan, establishing multiple complete industrial systems in the deep mountains.
If they want to default on their commitments after the disaster, we'll not mind showing them the true mettle of a great power.
If we are to take control of the world's future, it is not by sacrificing ourselves to save others, making them grateful to us. If there are many people with this idea, then this country might as well not exist, because such an idea is bad; stupidity does not reach that level.
It's our true foundation we rely on, our economic and military power, our determination at all costs, and our strategic perspective, it's the real cohesion of a nation!