CH 11

Zhao Huasheng's body trembled slightly.

Before Mars, the brightness did not weaken. This also means that the radiation level on the other side of the sun did not weaken either. But now Mars has also dimmed...

Meng zhuo's words still echoed in Zhao Huasheng's mind: "But the Science Department still decided to let the Thunder Rain Mercury Probe go to the other side of the sun. The other side of the sun has been weakened for a short time. They hope to find some clues there."

"Okay. The entire sun is wrapped up." Zhao Huasheng sighed, "What is the situation of the sun today?"

Meng Zhuo shook his head. "No improvement. The level of solar radiation is still decreasing."

Zhao Huasheng anxiously asked, as if he couldn't catch his breath, "What if the level of solar radiation continues to decrease, even to the point where even the equator is too cold to be suitable for human life? What about our civilization? What can we do?"

Meng Zhuo glanced at Zhao Huasheng, "The Equator Project is a public project, while the government is secretly sponsoring the 'City of Life' program. The City of Life program will construct a large, completely closed city in a geologically stable area, in order to prevent drastic decreases in solar radiation and extreme low temperatures and various severe weather. Even if the sun completely extinguishes and the Earth's atmosphere turns into solid matter falling to the ground, the City of Life does not have to worry about being harmed by various harmful rays and asteroids in the universe, as well as the vacuum and low temperature environment, because of its thick shell and defensive system."

"How many people can the City of Life accommodate?"

"It will not exceed two million people. The Research Department has already made an assessment. Due to the extreme difficulty of energy acquisition on Earth after the end of the world, if the population exceeds two million, then even if we store as much energy and food as possible, it will not last for more than ten years. And ten years is the lowest expectation time for the breakthrough of controllable nuclear fusion technology."

"What about the rest of the people? That's almost seven billion people..." Zhao Huasheng muttered. In fact, Zhao Huasheng already had an answer in his heart, but this answer was too cruel, and Zhao Huasheng even dared not to think about it.

But the answer that Zhao Huasheng did not dare to think of was lightly and skillfully spoken from Meng zhuo's mouth. Meng zhuo's tone did not change at all, and he said it calmly, as if he were saying "I had a bowl of noodles today".

"Death." Meng Zhuo uttered this word faintly, "We have no choice." 

"Tell me, who, who can qualify to enter the City of Life..." Zhao Huasheng asked tremblingly. 

"The elites of human society." Meng Zhuo's tone remained flat, "Only the elites can pass on human civilization. They can be successful businessmen—their success already reflects their excellence; or they can be high-ranking politicians...don't deny it, without leaders, human society will completely collapse, as well as scientists, engineers, researchers in various fields of human knowledge, and outstanding artists, such as musicians, painters, singers, calligraphers, etc. They will be the main force in the inheritance of human science and culture. In short, only the most outstanding can get the pass to the City of Life. Of course, among these outstanding people are you and me. Even without your current special identity, with your knowledge as a stellar physicist, you have the qualifications to enter the City of Life."

In addition to this, there will also be various creatures on Earth, chickens, ducks, geese, tigers, leopards, various plant seeds are included here. After all, if one day in the future the sun returns to normal and allows humans to return to the outside, if there are no animals and plants, human survival will be very difficult... There will also be various works of art in human culture, various treasures, etc., which will be preserved in the city of life. The crisis center has sent forces to begin to preliminarily determine the selection of candidates and collect various animal specimens and art treasures. After all... If we wait until it is determined that the equator is no longer suitable for human survival before doing this work, time will be too late... 

"Of course... This is only the worst-case response plan. Personally, I also hope that the situation will improve and that all the work they do is useless." Meng Zhuo said calmly.

Zhao Huasheng's body was trembling uncontrollably.

You guys have thought it through thoroughly and considered everything...you've thought of preserving art and animal specimens, but you have neglected our kind, our seventy billion kind! Zhao Huasheng roared out this sentence with a red light in his eyes, like a wild beast.

But Meng Zhuo still kept his composure, seemingly unaware of Zhao Huasheng's change in emotion. Meng Zhuo glanced at Zhao Huasheng again: "I've said it before; you don't have a choice. You must make this kind of selection. You should take the view from the whole picture rather than focus on one individual. I ask you, if the situation is the worst and the city of life can only accommodate two million people, who would you choose to get the qualification to enter the city of life?"

"You choose ordinary people? But even if two million of them are ordinary people, there are still around seventy billion people without the qualification for survival. Since it's a matter of choosing, why not choose the outstanding ones, the outstanding ones who can better pass on human civilization?"

Zhao Huasheng wanted to refute, but he didn't know what to say. Menzhuo's words seemed very reasonable..., why not choose the outstanding ones? From the perspective of maximizing benefits, it is indeed the most sensible approach to choose the outstanding ones to enter the City of Life. For the whole of mankind, the benefits that the outstanding ones can gain by surviving are undoubtedly much higher tthan those ofordinary people. 

Meng zhuo said, "In addition, in the planning of the City of Life, only one million places are for the outstanding, and the remaining one million places are for ordinary people. In the great migration towards the equator, each person will be taken some blood by the gene bank under the Research Department to analyze the genes. These gene data will be summarized in the database and will undergo further gene screening. Those with disease-causing genes will be eliminated, those with weak genes will be eliminated; and those with excellent genes will be selected. In the next step, further screening will be carried out among these ordinary people with excellent survival genes; those with certain skills and in the prime of their lives will enter the next round of selection quota, and then finally combined with the total population structure ratio, gender ratio, and other data for the last round of screening. One million ordinary people will eventually be selected."

"So, apart from the two million people who entered the City of Life, the remaining seven billion people can only choose to die in the low temperature and cold, right...?" Zhao Huasheng murmured.

"That's right," Meng Zhuo nodded.

Zhao Huasheng took a deep breath, then turned his head and cast his gaze to the already somewhat deserted streets. The progress of the Equator Project had almost an immediate effect, causing this once bustling city to suddenly become desolate. But even so, there were still some people on the street.

Zhao Huasheng saw a couple walking hand in hand. Although it was a summer night, due to the cold weather, both of them had already put on long pants and long coats. After walking for a while, the man in the couple leaned in and whispered a few words to the girl's ear, then took off his robe and gently draped it over the girl's body.

Under the man's robe was a simple tank top. Under the tank top was his obviously strong muscles. The girl stopped and looked at the man's chest, her eyes full of tenderness. She looked at the man's chest as if she saw the whole world and saw reliance.

The girl turned around and hugged the man tightly, and the man also hugged the girl. The two of them snuggled together, as if no power in the world could separate them.

Zhao Huasheng knew what kind of force could separate them. If, in genetic screening, the man was selected while the girl was eliminated, or the girl was selected while the man was eliminated, or both were eliminated...

Zhao Huasheng felt something stirring in his heart. He suddenly could not bear to watch the couple anymore.

"They probably don't know their situation yet...if the radiation level doesn't improve, if the Life City plan is really implemented, then what kind of cruel future awaits them?"

"If things get to the worst...how many more people like this couple will be trapped in such a tragic situation in this world? Among them, there might be married couples, fathers and sons, brothers and sisters, friends, lovers..."

"Actually, in a way, their fate is in your hands," Meng Zhuo seemed to have seen through what Zhao Huasheng was thinking and his words drifted into Zhao Huasheng's ears when Zhao Huasheng was in turmoil. 

"In my hands?" Zhao Huasheng murmured.

"Yes," Meng Zhuo said. "If Li Qi really knew how to solve the problem and you really cracked the puzzle he left behind, then... nobody here has to face the harshest of choices. Lovers, spouses, fathers and sons, siblings, friends... nobody has to be separated and nobody has to die."

"I understand, let's go, let's go back," Zhao Huasheng nodded then turned and walked away. Meng Zhuo followed behind Zhao Huasheng and with his keen eyesight, he could clearly see white streaks mixed in Zhao Huasheng's black hair. And Meng Zhuo remembered clearly that these white streaks were not there yesterday.