In the year 2020,
A distant, tearing roar echoed through the air from Mount Everest.
Massive sheets of ice slid down the dark mountain and crashed into the surging sea.
The violent ice sea surged and roiled, seemingly stretching to the very ends of the world. Then, a gust of wind blew in from the edge of the world, carrying with it the scent of ash and dust.
Suddenly, the world felt small.
The towering sky seemed to press down, turning into pure white iron. Through the massive cracks in the sky, one could glimpse the stars of the universe gradually dimming and fading away, like lamps melting into darkness after losing power.
It seemed as though there was nothing left in the vast expanse of the world, except for this narrow, highest platform on the planet and the temporary work cabin erected upon it.
A fishing rod was propped up on the edge of the platform, with the fishing line cast out into the murky sea and a bobber bobbing up and down in the water.
The bored fisherman, wearing a cap, lounged in his folding chair. He even had an old chessboard with him, seemingly passing the time while ignoring the constant sounds of destruction in the distance, idly moving the pieces around.
It was as though he had experienced countless years, and the black and white chess pieces were now difficult to gather. "Population decline" had left only the "king" and "bishop," which were also incomplete and weathered with age.
Even the chessboard was missing a large corner, and the black and white squares twisted and mixed together, forming a large, chaotic gray area.
But surprisingly, no matter how much the world shook, the chess pieces remained firmly in place on their own territories, without any sign of wavering.
"President, NASA sent a message--"
An assistant with thick glasses walked out of the cabin, carrying the last of their luggage. "--The fourth settlement is complete, and the New York Stock Exchange has finished uploading. They're ready to evacuate and wish us success in our work."
"They should have left a long time ago."
The president shook his head impatiently. "Those guys from the Oversight Bureau are really troublesome, always dragging their feet and not moving out properly."
"We need to keep backups. After 'Heaven' fell, we can only rely on hard drives to transfer data."
"Don't be silly, child." The president snorted. "Those guys just like the feeling of stepping on the bell, as if they're so professional and punctual. Tsk, ten minutes early won't kill anyone."
"Ahaha."
The assistant laughed awkwardly and didn't say anything else. He walked over and saw a computer lying next to the chessboard. Apart from the two pages he had just searched for on "how to fish in the Himalayas," the screen displayed only a real-time satellite cloud map.
From the old NASA satellite, even now, it stubbornly maintained its mission and transmitted the images it captured from space with meticulous care.
Unfortunately, what was displayed on the screen was no longer the beautiful stars of the past, but rather countless wounds.
Countless chaotic cyclones covered the entire blue sky. And beneath those thick or thin typhoon clouds, one could see one after another shocking burns.At the same time, a huge crack slowly appeared on the satellite map, and a red line spread from thousands of kilometers away, quickly extending and pulling the surrounding yellow continents and black-gray oceans. Finally, a hurricane was stirred up, tearing open another hole in the atmosphere.
"Is it an earthquake?"
The assistant exclaimed in surprise and leaned over. "It's amazing. I didn't expect it to be so spectacular."
The president looked up and then understood. "It's a geothermal eruption. After the Earth's core starts to cool down, the third wave of shock is being released from the North and South American continental plates. If left alone, it will probably end in about sixty years... Look, New York has sunk into the sea."
"It's a pity. I haven't seen the Statue of Liberty yet."
"I have."
The president withdrew his gaze. "Actually, it's not that interesting..."
Suddenly, a roar came from the distance, and a light seemed to have lit up in the depths of the ocean. The red color rolled in the darkness, reflecting the painful light from under the crust.
The burning wind blew from the end of the sea, carrying gray dust and white mist, as if covering the whole world.
"It looks like teppanyaki." The president suddenly said.
"Huh?"
"Teppanyaki. Didn't I take you to eat it last time? It tastes great."
The president seemed tired, lying on the chair, covering his face with his hat, and speaking softly like a dream: "A friend from Yingzhou told me before that teppanyaki is actually divided into two types, Kanto and Kansai. What everyone usually eats is the Kanto type, which is easy and simple. The real wonderful taste is the Kansai flavor. Because it only applies a thin layer of oil on the iron plate at the beginning, as long as the temperature is enough, the oil of the ingredients themselves can cook them. It is said that only in this way can one taste the natural freshness and flavor of the ingredients..."
The assistant was silent for a moment. "It sounds really cruel."
"Yes, but isn't humanity itself a cruel creature?" The president asked back. "If eating is the only way to survive, then we will eat. This is the simplest truth rooted in human nature. Starting from swallowing thunder and fire, burning the wilderness, mining coal mines, then extracting oil, when oil is not enough, we covet nuclear fusion... and even if the world is dying now, we won't let go. Ever since our ancestors put Neanderthals on the menu, it has been an unstoppable trend."
The assistant turned around and looked at the man lying on the recliner, but she couldn't see his face through the hat, and couldn't tell whether his eyes were full of pity or the familiar sarcasm and ridicule.
In the long silence, the sky became darker and darker. The originally pure white sky gradually became gloomy, until finally, the halo behind the clouds gradually shrank and dissipated...
"Is the sun about to go out?"
"Yes, the power of the source material column is starting to converge."
"The storm is blowing again."
"Yeah."
"Will it stop this time?""Who knows?" The president slowly stood up and put his hat back on. "No matter how much we change, this is no longer a land where humans can survive... haven't you seen it? Besides this body full of pain, it has nothing left."
He paused for a moment and whispered, "This is our last supper."
The last cigarette was lit.
The flames flickered and a line of blue smoke rose up.
We are bit.ly/3iBfjkV, find us on google.
On the computer screen, all the satellite signals gradually went out, replaced by one strange emblem after another. They ran on the dark screen, like gods running on their own abyss, with indescribable coldness and majesty.
Utopia, online.
Survival Institute, online.
Supervisory Bureau, online.
The Stone Cauldron Society, the Bronze Hand, the Wanderer's Grave...
Through the black screen and their own emblems, it seemed that countless eyes were cast on this last piece of land, welcoming the arrival of the final moment.
All the guests were in position, waiting for the final curtain to rise.
Staring at the incomplete chessboard.
The assistant nervously swallowed his saliva and carefully looked at the pocket watch in his hand. At the moment when the hour and minute hands overlapped, he reported electrically, "The Divine Marrow Column has finished preheating."
"Wait!"
The president suddenly frowned, as if listening intently.
Not only the assistant, but also the emblems on the screen seemed to become serious, as if facing a great enemy.
Then, that guy suddenly reached out and pulled the fishing rod. Something was actually pulled up from the sea. It looked furry like a cat, but had a fish-like tail, and was indescribably strange.
"Ah ha, waited for two hours, and finally got something. Who said the Thousand Degrees Encyclopedia is unreliable?" The president smiled and looked at his "harvest," "What a coincidence, little thing! But it doesn't really look like a fish, can we eat it?"
Everyone remained silent and didn't want to talk to him.
After being pulled up by the fishing rod, the little thing opened its mouth unhappily and called out twice. It stretched out two small paws and tried to scratch his face, but he stuffed it into the fish basket with ease.
After returning to the sea, it settled down and turned over lazily, too lazy to move.
"Alright." The president put the fishing rod and bucket into the assistant's arms and picked up his chair. "Let's get ready to go."
He reached out and took the white rook off the chessboard.
With his movement, it seemed that the last light went out.
The sun, hanging high in the sky, disappeared without a trace.
Everything in the world plunged into darkness.
After losing sight of the light, no wind could be heard anymore. Because except for them, everything else had come to a halt, as if time had frozen.
The first thing to leave was the universe, because a slender hand appeared out of nowhere, taking the black queen - the Utopia took away the Source Essence. As a result, the original darkness faded away, countless stars disappeared, and only the meaningless void remained.Immediately after that, the remaining ocean receded, and the Proof of Existence was taken away by the Surviving Institute. The black bishop disappeared without a trace. Whether it was the towering tsunami or the boiling red sea, all the living water in the world was rapidly receding and collapsing. In the end, only a black seabed was left.
Then, the white bishop's illusion melted away like a phantom, and the Control Bureau closed the brilliant light. Thus, everything was silent, and the rumbling crust fell into silence. The lava spewing out of the cracks quickly solidified, losing all its heat...
Now, in Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, North America; in the barren land, the violent ocean, the cold or hot hurricanes, or above the sky... everything is being destroyed in an orderly manner.
Only the low mourn of the world collapsing remains.
Like the strings of a broken instrument, in the end, only the hollow echo remains.
In this vast and lonely destruction, the old Gaia Earth VIII welcomed its end.
When the last cigarette was smoked, this world full of holes only had its final outline left, and the last door that had not been closed beside the chairman.
"The fourteenth abandoned Eden and Promised Land..."
The chairman silently stared at the empty chessboard in front of him, took out a pure white bouquet of flowers from his arms, and the petals, from an unknown source, still had dew on them.
Like tears, they fell into the cracks of the chessboard.
"Thank you for your shelter and patience for more than three hundred years. It's really hard work."
He took off his hat, said goodbye gently, and to all of this:
"—One day, let's meet again in other hells."
.
Finally, the door closed.
In the eternal darkness and silence, the meaningless space shrank inward, dragging the struggling spectrum to start its futile redshift. With the collapse of the four fundamental forces, the chessboard and the flowers disappeared into nothingness.
Earth VIII was destroyed.
The International Astronomical Union's fourteenth End of the World Plan was completed.
In the last moment, a faint light appeared on the chessboard, outlining the pure white silhouette of the queen in the tears of the flowers, like a shooting star flying into the distance.
The old world died again, just like countless times before.
Then, a new world arrived.
Everything continued as usual.
.
This is the last remnant of the glorious era from ninety years ago.
Since then, there has been no such glory.
