Earth explodes

Through the electronic surveillance equipment aboard the spaceship, Xiao Yu witnessed the complete destruction of Earth.

Moments ago, a super explosion occurred at the Earth's core, shattering the planet into fragments. The powerful explosion accelerated the Moon's velocity to 137 kilometers per second, propelling it out of the solar system, transforming it into a wandering star.

In the Earth's former orbit, a massive asteroid belt will form, and the entire solar system will become an interstellar pinball battlefield. It is estimated that in the next few million years, all major planets in the solar system will be continuously bombarded by debris from Earth.

Countless observational data was transmitted into Xiao Yu's brain. He sighed and accelerated the spaceship to its maximum speed, fleeing the solar system.

In fact, ten years before the catastrophe, Xiao Yu, as humanity's most distinguished scientist—holding over twenty doctorates in theoretical physics, high-energy physics, astrophysics, materials science, mechanical engineering, astronomy, chemistry, computer science, and more—having also won over twenty Nobel Prizes—had already detected these signs. Unfortunately, Xiao Yu's warnings were ignored by human society and ridiculed by his peers. Everyone thought he had gone mad. One scientist even passionately shouted at the media cameras, "I don't know what evidence Xiao Yu based his conclusions on. Was it a dream he had last night? Earth will be destroyed? What a joke! Even kindergarten children know that Earth will exist peacefully forever!"

With a bitter smile, Xiao Yu came to a realization: "Even if humanity accepted the warnings, with our current technological level, there is no way to prevent this destruction. Rather than let humanity live in despair, it's better to let them enjoy their last moments of happiness."

So, Xiao Yu faded out of the scientific community and, within the first two years, amassed a huge fortune, becoming the world's richest man, and then began his plan.

With a scientific foundation at least twenty years ahead of human society, Xiao Yu spent eight years building humanity's first true interstellar spaceship, assembling it in geosynchronous orbit. Then, at the ground control center, he used his self-made equipment to separate his soul, transmitting it into the spaceship's main control computer, merging with it. Without hesitation, he accelerated, broke free from Earth's gravity, and escaped into outer space.

Xiao Yu had already verified that the human spirit, or soul, can exist eternally under certain conditions. Moreover, abandoning the physical body and merging the spirit with the computer had another benefit: it saved the enormous mass and space occupied by the life support system, reducing the need for food and water reserves to almost negligible levels.

This was the entire process.

"It seems I'm the last human in the universe," Xiao Yu murmured to himself. "No, it seems that in my current purely spiritual form, I'm no longer human at all."

"But, the feeling of possessing such immense computing power, unlimited energy, and infinite life is wonderful," Xiao Yu marveled as he savored every detail of his new body.

Xiao Yu's new body was thirty meters long, twenty meters wide, and about five meters high. The spaceship was divided into several sections, including a materials storage room, materials processing room, science laboratory, equipment manufacturing room, main control room, and maintenance passages. A meticulously crafted robot handled the daily maintenance of the entire spaceship.

In the vast starry sky, an infinitely expansive sea of stars, a small spaceship was speeding forward at about thirty-three kilometers per second. But even at this speed, it would still take about two hundred days to reach the closest gas giant, Jupiter.

Yes, Xiao Yu's first destination in space travel was set to be Jupiter, because it held nearly infinite nuclear fuel. Although Xiao Yu had chosen chemical fuel as the spaceship's power source for various reasons, he would not hesitate to upgrade the power system to nuclear power once he developed controlled nuclear fusion.

In the astronomical telescope, the Earth had already transformed into a vast curtain of light, a phenomenon Xiao Yu knew was caused by the Earth's oceans evaporating under the Sun's heat, forming a tail-like structure similar to a comet's. These elements would be gradually stripped away, dispersing into the vast, boundless expanse of space, a process that could last millions of years.

And the countless fragments formed by the Earth's explosion, in the future, some would rush towards the Sun, some towards outer space, while others would slowly merge in collisions, eventually forming a new planet, albeit much smaller than before.

"Sigh," Xiao Yu sighed silently. Watching his home vanish into ashes, thinking of the seventy billion humans who perished in an instant, Xiao Yu felt deep sorrow.

"Unfortunately, I don't have the power to save them... But, this explosion seems strange... almost as if some mysterious force was orchestrating it," Xiao Yu pondered, employing his vast computing power to perform some logical deductions, but he got no results and had to abandon the thought.

"In the vast universe, where can I call home?" Xiao Yu felt a tinge of melancholy, but quickly adjusted his mindset: "With my current computational abilities, my technological progress alone can rival that of all humanity. In fact, this pace will accelerate once I obtain new materials and create stronger computers. So, let the exploration of the infinite mysteries of the universe begin!"

As this thought spurred Xiao Yu's spirit, something caught his attention—a point of light in the distance, in the direction of Earth.

The astronomical telescope mounted on the spaceship's exterior instantly adjusted to the appropriate angle, focusing on that point of light.

The point of light was large, and not too far away now. Xiao Yu quickly determined the mass of the celestial body.

"It's the Moon... Hiss... Something's wrong." A bad premonition flashed through Xiao Yu's mind. He immediately input the orbital parameters, mass, velocity, and eccentricity of the planets within the solar system into a formula. The powerful computational capability quickly produced the result.

"How could it be so coincidental? How could it possibly collide? At its current speed, the Moon should pass by Jupiter and head into outer space. How could its orbit overlap so perfectly?"

"Damn... Is the universe toying with me? Is this meant to kill me?" Xiao Yu stared dumbfounded at the results, cursing inwardly.

"Am I really going to witness the most spectacular collision event in the history of the solar system?"

Xiao Yu cried out in despair.

The calculation clearly indicated that at its current speed, in about fifty days, the Moon would directly collide with... the largest planet in the solar system, Jupiter.

Generally speaking, a direct collision between celestial bodies of this magnitude is unlikely. The most probable outcome is that Jupiter would capture the Moon as a satellite, gradually shrinking its orbit until it exceeds the Roche limit, at which point the Moon would break into several pieces, which would then collide with Jupiter in succession.

When the collision occurs, it could take countless millennia. However, the Moon's orbit is so precise that it will result in a direct collision.

"With my current technological level and equipment, how can I possibly survive such a magnificent cosmic collision event?" Xiao Yu lamented.

Seventy million years ago, the asteroid that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs had a diameter of just ten kilometers. And the Moon's diameter? Over 3,400 kilometers!

Jupiter has a diameter of over 140,000 kilometers! When fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 collided with Jupiter, each piece had a diameter of only about two kilometers, yet the total energy released from the impact exceeded 40 trillion tons of TNT! The speed of the comet fragments was about 210,000 kilometers per hour, and now the Moon's speed is over 400,000 kilometers per hour.

How much energy will this collision release? Xiao Yu dared not calculate. But he was certain that the resulting material ejections and radiation bursts would sweep across the entire solar system. The asteroid belt would be blown apart, and the newly formed asteroid belt in Earth's former orbit would be thoroughly disrupted. It is expected that a significant portion of the mass would impact the Sun. If the fragments are too large, they could even penetrate the Sun's convective zone, causing a massive ejection of solar material and prematurely accelerating the Sun's aging process.

In other words, this collision could potentially destroy the entire solar system. Even if it doesn't, the solar system will become a living hell.

Xiao Yu increasingly suspected that the Earth's destruction was the calculated outcome of some hidden energy, otherwise, things wouldn't be so coincidental.

"Damn it, let's figure out how to survive the most intense phase of the collision first. If I'm caught in the radiation burst from the impact, with my current material technology, the entire spaceship will be instantly vaporized, even from billions of kilometers away."

As Xiao Yu shuddered at the thought, his vast computing power began to operate at full capacity.

This central computer, designed and built by Xiao Yu himself, with a technological level at least twenty years ahead of humanity, had computing power equivalent to Earth's fastest supercomputer, Tianhe-2, while consuming only a fraction of the energy.

In an instant, countless orbital parameters, speed parameters, and other variables were fed into the calculations. Countless indicator lights began flashing rapidly, and it took Xiao Yu half an hour to regain his composure.

"This is the only way... Hmm, there's about a fifty percent chance of surviving the most intense phase of the collision, but... my energy reserves are insufficient," Xiao Yu thought bitterly.

"Change the course towards Mars. Estimated arrival at Mars' orbit in twenty days, then maintain position behind Mars, using the planet as a shield. That should help me survive this disaster. After that... Jupiter is out of the question, so I'll head to Saturn. Titan should be good; it has a large reserve of methane that can be used as fuel. But the oxidizer is still a headache. Without an oxidizer, methane can't burn...