Free Web NovelChapter 1185: Chapter 184: Nuclear Detonation
"A single Yellowstone Volcano eruption actually doesn’t cause the world-ending level of harm that ordinary Bugmen might imagine."
In the underground bunker on the southern outskirts of London, a volcanologist was briefing the European Union leaders in a special meeting room via video conference, "While Yellowstone Volcano is the largest and still active supervolcano in the world today, its potential volcanic material capacity is not the highest.
Let’s put it this way,
the geological community uses the Volcanic Explosivity Index to assess the power and volume of a volcanic eruption.
A VEI-6 level volcano has an ejection volume of 10~99 cubic kilometers,
a VEI-7 level volcano has an ejection volume of 100~999 Cu km,
a VEI-8 level volcano, commonly referred to by ordinary Bugmen as a supervolcano, has an ejection volume of 1000~9999 Cu km.
Yellowstone Volcano has erupted three times in history, the first time over two million years ago with an ejection volume of 2450 Cu km, the second 1.3 million years ago, 2800 Cu km. The third time was 630,000 years ago, 1000 Cu km.
In Earth’s history, over 40 VEI-8 supervolcano eruptions have occurred, and Yellowstone Volcano can only be considered of medium scale. Above it are Indonesia’s Toba Volcano at 3200 Cu km, Colorado’s The La Garita Volcano at 5000 Cu km, Sham Volcano at 6800 Cu km..."
"Wait a moment."
A high-ranking European Union official interrupted in the video conference, "I recall the Toba Volcano erupted 75,000 years ago, right? That eruption supposedly released energy equivalent to 120 billion tons of Trinitrotoluene, equivalent to the detonation of two thousand Tsar Bombas simultaneously.
This directly reduced Earth’s average temperature by 5 degrees Celsius within six years, plunging it into an ice age that nearly led to human extinction."
"Yes, your memory serves you well, Prime Minister."
The volcanologist nodded, "But that occurred 75,000 years ago before humanity established civilization.
Now, our Bugman civilization has built cities and possesses technologies like modern greenhouse agriculture, luminescent lights, hydroponics, gas masks, and more to minimize the impact of a supervolcano eruption.
Yes, if Yellowstone Volcano erupts at full reserve,
the 2800 Cu km of volcanic ash it emits would spread across the skies of America within days, entering the global atmospheric circulation system within weeks.
In the subsequent years, it would block sunlight and heat, causing the global temperature to drop by 5 degrees on average,
leading to a reduction in global agricultural output, many plants dying from lack of sunlight, and causing a chain reaction in ecosystems, driving a mass extinction of herbivorous, carnivorous animals, and insects.
Simultaneously, it would trigger drastic global climate changes, altering the westerlies and ocean currents, turning Europe into a subarctic or tundra climate, with southern East Asia experiencing alternating freezes and droughts.
However, the entire Bugman civilization would not go extinct.
Even in the worst models, the Bugman civilization may only see a death toll of approximately 1.5 to 2 billion,
most of which would occur in regions lacking large-scale modern greenhouse agriculture technology like Africa and South America — local Bugmen would first starve due to lack of aid from America and Europe, then perish in wars over resources.
And these 2 billion Bugmen would die out slowly over 6 to 10 years.
If one insists on counting the Bugmen death toll due to Yellowstone’s eruption within 15 hours, it would roughly be... 300,000.
First, the 90,000 Bugmen residing around Yellowstone National Park, followed by 200,000 Bugmen in nearby regions, who would suffocate from inhaling excessive volcanic ash."
"300,000..."
The European Union leaders wore solemn and grave expressions.
In the past half-hour, Li Ang had fully demonstrated his threat, and all Bugmen believed that this higher-dimensional being would not take futile actions.
He definitely knows that triggering Yellowstone’s eruption would not achieve the target of exterminating 500 million Bugmen in 15 hours, yet he still proceeds with it, surely there must be a reason behind this.
Someone quietly asked, "Could it be that he intends to create a large-scale weather weapon through the massive volcanic ash produced by the supervolcano eruption?"
"Ask if it can be done before asking if it is,"
The volcanologist stated seriously, "The US Volcano Research Institute always stations personnel at research stations of large volcanoes like Yellowstone to monitor volcanic conditions.
Typically, a supervolcano eruption has a preparation period of several months to a year — magma from the mantle enters the crust, undergoes several eruptions, accumulating pressure within the crust until the internal pressure surpasses external pressure, resulting in an eruption.
During this process, the volcano’s interior continuously releases bubbles, which stationed researchers can immediately detect.
And previously, Yellowstone Volcano showed no signs of pressure reduction, indicating it is not ready for a power eruption at all.
This means that the Transcendent descending from a higher dimension must manually trigger the eruption — the way to trigger Yellowstone is to bury at least five Tsar Bomba-level large yield nuclear bombs deep within the volcano and simultaneously detonate them,
only then can sufficient pressure theoretically be applied to the crust layer, urging the magma storage below the volcano to activate and erupt."
"Five Tsar Bombas..."
The European leaders in the video conference fell into silent contemplation, someone quietly asked, "Should we halt the intercontinental missiles launched towards America?
Li Rising has been lingering there for more than 10 minutes; perhaps he is waiting for us to proactively launch intercontinental missiles with nuclear warhead combat units."
"No, there’s no need to halt the intercontinental missiles."
A European leader shook his head slightly, the Tsar Bomba is actually 60 megatons, and below that is the 25 megaton B41 nuclear bomb.
Currently, countries fear Li Rising’s bizarre powers, and without clarifying the details, all intercontinental ballistic missiles launched at him are small yield nuclear bombs,
such as the 100 kiloton W76 or the 150 kiloton W80.
The destructive power of these nuclear bombs is significant, but compared to the B41 or Tsar Bomba, they seem rather small.
"From the beginning, Li Rising has consistently avoided direct contact with intercontinental ballistic missile nuclear explosions, continuously teleporting.
Perhaps he really lacks the ability to withstand a nuclear explosion from an intercontinental ballistic missile at close range.
Lingering at Yellowstone National Park might also serve the purpose of intimidation. Intimidate us to halt the launch of intercontinental ballistic missiles towards America, making it easier for him to collect missiles bombing American cities."
One European leader took a deep breath, "The American Bugman is already in chaos; we must remain calm and composed, exercise restraint,
and launch more intercontinental missiles at them."
————
Hidden among the layered towering trees in Yellowstone Lake, Li Ang listened to the sounds made by the surrounding flora.
He could imagine what the high-ranking Bugmen from America, Russia, Europe, and other regions would think upon discovering that he had arrived at the Yellowstone Volcano crater.
They would feel fear, panic, suspicion, and dread.
This is normal because these are exactly the emotions Li Ang wanted them to have.
"The distance from Russia’s Bering Strait to Wyoming is 5000 kilometers, and from England’s mainland to Wyoming is 6800 kilometers.
Calculating the time, it should be close,
the first wave of intercontinental missiles."
Accompanied by Li Ang’s murmurs, the layered trees above the lake slowly tightened like a giant’s hand, taking Li Ang into the lake water.
In the sky, white dots quietly appeared.
The leisurely strolling deer looked up, staring at the blue sky,
while the brown bear sitting in the creek, gnawing on a salmon, instinctively set the luscious fish down, listening to the sharp whistling of the breach of air.
That was a nuclear bomb, the embodiment of the most powerful destructive force of Earth’s civilization.
Intercontinental missiles from East Asia and the Atlantic crossed thousands of miles, descending upon the skies above Yellowstone National Park.
The anti-aircraft artillery array surrounding the lake automatically activated, shooting dense ammunition towards the sky, but the intercontinental missiles, falling at a maximum speed of 20 Mach in a semi-vertical trajectory, did not offer much interception opportunity.
The defensive artillery hit many of the fake target missiles from the B-23 Doomsday Defense Program, while the real ballistic missiles directly exploded in the high sky.
Endless light and heat rapidly expanded, as if a new sun had been hung in the sky.
The air was heated infinitely, transforming into an isothermal fireball,
the lake surface, subjected to radiation from the light and heat, sank like gel, with large quantities of water instantly vaporizing,
and the surrounding plants and vines quickly withered, crumbled, and turned to dust.
The fireball dimmed, fragmented, forming shockwaves pushing outwards at 40 kilometers per second.
All objects that came into contact with the shockwave were flattened and shattered,
nearby forests became charred ruins,
far-off forests lost all leaves, leaving only a few thick trunks standing forlornly.
Meanwhile, the shockwave from the ruptured light ball pulled the air and dust upwards,
forming a column of smoke and dust that ultimately joined with the upper clouds to form a mushroom cloud.
Rulers around the world anxiously watched the footage captured by low-earth orbit surveillance satellites. After the first intercontinental missile successfully exploded, subsequent ballistic missiles lost contact due to the presence of shock waves, mushroom clouds, and radiation,
and the remaining missiles could only explode at higher altitudes, creating mushroom cloud after mushroom cloud.
In total, ten nuclear bombs exploded above Yellowstone Lake.
"Did it succeed?"
"Did it kill him?"
The noisy, urgent inquiries echoed across various communication channels, with all Bugmen’s eyes fixed on the Yellowstone Lake shrouded by the mushroom cloud.
The complete dispersion of the mushroom cloud would require three hours, but they obviously didn’t have that much time,
and soon two teams of U.S. Army soldiers dressed in full protective suits drove vehicles to the edge of Yellowstone Park, operating an unmanned car and drone fleet charging into the periphery of the mushroom cloud.
Amidst the swirling dust, they finally saw the state of Yellowstone Lake.
A vast amount of the lake’s water evaporated, leaving the remaining water turbid and over radioactive levels,
the originally plant-covered vines of the lake entirely obliterated, exposing the dry, charred, and ugly lakebed.
No sign of Li Rising could be seen.
"Where is he?"
"Did he die?"
"Did we succeed?"
Amidst the endless clamorous noise of the Bugmen,
a rock on the lakebed was gently pried, flipped, and dropped onto the lakebed.
Plop.
Several plant vines emerged from the hot steaming rock layers on the lakebed, carrying Li Ang back to the surface.
The Mirage Dragon Red Mane Coat on his body was continuously absorbing the remaining radiation and heat, crackling,
its color gradually turning red, deep and blood-like.
"Hmm..."
Li Ang took a deep breath of turbid and scorching air, tilted his head at the unmoving camera drones on the lake shore, calmly saying, "Who told you that a nuclear explosion could kill me?"
The camera drones remained motionless, silently conveying the Bugmen’s astonishment and fear.
Li Ang ignored them, stepping on invisible stairs, entering the radiation-exceeding mushroom cloud, ascending rapidly into the sky.
Triggering a volcano is not limited to merely planting nuclear bombs on the rock layers.
