Solar Top Secret Files: Final Dawn

"Human civilization appears to be flourishing; we can cut through mountains, create land from the sea, and control rainfall... Our civilization seems very powerful. But this is just an appearance; in reality, we are very fragile, extremely fragile." Maxwell Parker took a sip of his drink and slowly said to Ethan Harper, who was sitting opposite him. Maxwell Parker seemed to be pondering something, yet not quite. His gaze was distant, as if his thoughts had already drifted to some far-off place. Ethan Harper had always held great respect for his senior. As early as during his doctoral studies, Ethan Harper had interned at the Stellar Physics Research Institute under the Central Science Academy of the Alliance, becoming a subordinate to Maxwell Parker at that time. Maxwell Parker's profound expertise in stellar physics had always been greatly admired by Ethan Harper. "Perhaps," said Ethan Harper, "but human civilization is continuously growing stronger, and I believe we will truly become powerful in the near future." Maxwell Parker sighed, a hint of indescribable brilliance flashing in his eyes, seemingly of sorrow or perhaps pain. Maxwell Parker stood up and walked to the window of the high-rise restaurant. Through the glass, the bustling city's nightscape was fully visible. The lights were brilliant, seemingly overshadowing the moon in the sky. Light streams meandered everywhere on the roads. Even from this high-rise, hundreds of meters above the ground, it seemed possible to hear the hustle and bustle coming from the streets below. It was eleven o'clock, but the city was far from sleepy. "This is our civilization," Maxwell Parker spread his arms as if to embrace everything in his arms. His eyes seemed intoxicated, and his tone began to sound dreamlike: "This is our powerful and prosperous civilization." "Maxwell, you're drunk. Let me take you home," Ethan Harper said softly, walking over to Maxwell Parker. Maxwell Parker shook his head: "Ethan, no hurry to go back. I have some things to tell you today." Ethan Harper paused, then sat back down. He sensed something unusual about Maxwell Parker today. "Our human civilization has almost changed the entire face of the Earth. We naively believe we are omnipotent, but the truth is harsh. Take the Earth under our feet, for example, how much do we really know about it? The deepest part of the Earth is the Mariana Trench, with a depth of about 11,000 meters; the highest peak is Mount Everest, not even 9,000 meters high. We consider it a great achievement that our submarines can dive into the Mariana Trench, and we proclaim it a significant step forward when we drill a hole only 11 kilometers deep into the Earth... Yet, the Earth's radius is over 6,000 kilometers, and with all our efforts, we have only penetrated a mere one six-hundredth of it... Ninety-nine percent of it remains unknown to us." "The depth of earthquake epicenters usually does not exceed 100 kilometers, and even the strongest earthquake recorded in Earth's history is, compared to the entire Earth, nothing more than a sneeze... No, not even a sneeze, at most a slight tremor. Yet such events often result in the deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of humans..." There seemed to be a hint of mockery in Maxwell Parker's eyes. Ethan Harper was aware of these facts, but hearing them articulated in this manner by Maxwell Parker made him feel somewhat uncomfortable. It was like a person who believes himself to be invincible being directly confronted with his vulnerability and incompetence. "Humans always talk about protecting the Earth, but does the Earth really need our protection? Even if all the nuclear weapons stored by humans were to explode at the same time, what would be destroyed is merely the Earth's surface environment. The impact of these nuclear weapons would not reach a hundred kilometers below the surface. In the end, humans are merely protecting themselves. As for the Earth... even if humans were to exhaust all their efforts to destroy the Earth, could ants destroy a mountain?" "Our entire civilization, all our cities, all our buildings, all our population, our culture, our heritage, our technology... everything about us is just like tiny bacteria clinging to the surface of the Earth. If the Earth had its own consciousness, if the Earth wanted to destroy our human civilization... it would only need to sneeze, just a sneeze." "Our human civilization is indeed very insignificant, but our potential for development is limitless," Ethan Harper said softly. Maxwell Parker turned a deaf ear to this and continued: "And this is just one Earth. Compared to the entire solar system, what is the Earth? Compared to the Milky Way, what is the Sun? Not to mention the Local Group, the Virgo Supercluster, the observable universe..." There was a deep melancholy in Maxwell Parker's words. "Let's go back," Maxwell Parker said. Maxwell Parker was drunk, so Ethan Harper drove him home. During the elevator ride, Maxwell Parker suddenly gave Ethan Harper a look that was hard to describe. Ethan Harper felt puzzled and asked, "Maxwell, what's wrong?" Maxwell Parker just smiled to himself: "Goodbye." After saying these two words, Maxwell Parker walked straight out of the elevator, opened his apartment door, and then closed it behind him. Clearly, he had no intention of inviting Ethan Harper in for a visit. Ethan Harper was somewhat baffled. He felt that Maxwell Parker was acting strangely today, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was odd. After standing in the elevator for a moment, Ethan Harper shook his head and went home. It was now midnight, and after washing up, Ethan Harper lay in bed but couldn't fall asleep. Subconsciously, he felt that something was not quite right, as if something significant was about to happen, but he couldn't grasp what it was. Around two or three in the morning, Ethan Harper finally fell into a drowsy sleep, but after only four or five hours, he opened his eyes again. He was still very tired, as the sleep had not been enough. Under normal circumstances, Ethan Harper would not have woken up at this time. It was the weekend, and he was not in a hurry to go to work; moreover, he had planned to sleep in late the night before. Ethan Harper was awakened by the cold. It was a bit ridiculous, as it was July or August, the height of summer. The sun would rise before five o'clock, spreading its light and warmth to this small planet, warming the air that had cooled overnight until it became hot. But today seemed different. Ethan Harper put on a coat and went to the window. The weather was clear, with no clouds in the sky, and indeed a large sun hung in the sky, but it appeared dim. The sky was not the usual azure blue but was tinged with a dull hue, making it look very oppressive. Ethan Harper was a researcher at the Stellar Physics Research Institute, and the nearest star to Earth was the Sun, so it was obvious that Ethan Harper's work mainly involved studying the Sun, its internal structure, material composition, material evolution, and so on. Today's Sun seemed strange, but at that moment, Ethan Harper did not think to analyze it using his professional knowledge. Ethan Harper just muttered: "It seems to be an overcast day today," and went back to bed, pulling up the thin blanket to cover himself, ready to go back to sleep. But a series of urgent knocks on the door broke the morning's tranquility. Ethan Harper had no choice but to get up, get dressed, wash his face, and go to the door. Upon opening it, he was confronted by a middle-aged man in a black suit, with a cold expression, extending his identification towards Ethan Harper. "I am a first-level agent of the Alliance Security Department; you can call me Marcus," the middle-aged man said coldly: "There are some matters that require your cooperation for investigation. Please come with me." "Alliance Security Department? Me?" Ethan Harper was somewhat bewildered, trying to think of any misdeeds he might have committed, but aside from stealing a classmate's lollipop in his childhood, he couldn't recall anything else, "What's the matter?" "Please come with me, and you will understand once we arrive," Marcus continued coldly. "Alright." Ethan Harper thought for a moment and finally agreed. So, half an hour later, Ethan Harper arrived in a spacious conference room. To his surprise, in this conference room, Ethan Harper saw many familiar faces, including colleagues and leaders, as well as some people he couldn't quite recognize but looked very familiar. After thinking for a moment, he realized that he often saw those people on television. Ethan Harper was seated in an empty chair. For some reason, everyone in the conference room looked very solemn; not a single person was smiling. Moreover, after Ethan Harper entered, including those high-profile figures who frequently appeared on television, everyone looked at him with a somewhat inexplicable gaze. "May I ask what exactly happened?" Ethan Harper inquired. "This is the only item left for you by Director Maxwell Parker," Marcus placed a safe in front of Ethan Harper and opened it. Inside, Ethan Harper saw a blank sheet of paper lying quietly. Ethan Harper did not rush to examine the blank sheet of paper but asked in astonishment: "An item left for me by Maxwell? An item left for me by Maxwell Parker?" "Yes," Marcus nodded, "Director Maxwell Parker passed away last night, and the preliminary conclusion is suicide. At the scene of the suicide, we found this safe and this blank sheet of paper, um, and this note, which reads: I'm gone, please make sure to give this blank sheet of paper to Ethan Harper. He will answer all your questions." Before Ethan Harper could comprehend what was happening, an elderly man with the highest television appearance rate tapped the table and cast an authoritative gaze at Ethan Harper: "So, can you now tell us what exactly is wrong with the Sun?"