Chapter 2: Unjust Disaster

For Zhou Liming, who was about to finish the second year of high school and enter the devilish training ground of the third year, this did not just mean the arrival of a watershed in life, but more importantly, a sense of confusion about the future.

Perhaps for many people, failing to get into university in the third year of high school meant they could retake the exam; for many classmates, university was not the only path, as their parents had already paved a life road for them; even some rich second-generation kids had their prosperous lives destined from the start.

But as an orphan who had called the Orphanage home since childhood, could Zhou Liming make such choices?

Of course not… The Orphanage’s rules stated that children must leave and live independently after turning 18. This meant that even if Zhou Liming got into university, without applying for and receiving a scholarship, it would be no different from failing the college entrance exam.

Zhou Liming had a somewhat withdrawn personality. Due to his orphan status, people in his class from elementary school, through middle school, and now high school, all looked at him with prejudice.

Understanding the gap between himself and others, Zhou Liming had hardly made any friends at school. His withdrawn nature, mixed with a bit of inferiority complex, led him to choose an ostrich-like lifestyle. During his time at school, he always buried himself in books, which resulted in the whole class viewing him as a very strange and unreasonable person.

Sometimes Zhou Liming would mock himself, wondering why his parents had given him life if they didn’t want him.

As his knowledge grew and his understanding of the colorful world deepened, Zhou Liming himself yearned to be like other peers, to eat meals cooked by parents every day, spend Sundays playing in parks or by the sea with his parents’ company, live in a house that seemed unattainable to him, and be driven to and from school by a car.

However, Zhou Liming had none of this; it existed only in occasional dreams.

It wasn’t so much dissatisfaction with society, for life could never be fair.

Zhou Liming’s only friends were his playmates in the Orphanage. It was only when he returned to the Orphanage that Zhou Liming was happiest. Only there could he forget his identity and enjoy the familiar air.

The Dean of the Orphanage was surnamed Zhou. Zhou Liming’s surname and given name were both chosen with her help, so he took her surname.

Zhou Liming was still grateful to Dean Zhou. Without her, he would probably have entered society early after middle school, and how could he have enjoyed school life for a few more years compared to others? Diligent and eager to learn, Zhou Liming gave the Orphanage staff the impression of being a hardworking and compliant child. He never complained about anything he did, no matter what.

The Orphanage was not far from the high school Zhou Liming attended. Plus, since many orphans had been adopted from the Orphanage over the years, there were naturally many empty rooms, allowing Zhou Liming not to live in the school dormitory.

Zhou Liming’s favorite place was actually a small woods by a lake within the Orphanage. Whenever he had free time, he would lie on the grass by the woods, watching the ripples spread out in circles on the small lake. In Zhou Liming’s mind, this small lake and woods were the unforgettable memories of his childhood.

“Unless I get into a key university, the scholarship application will not be approved!”

Zhou Liming lay on the grass by the woods, watching the scattered lights reflected on the lake. Today was June 1st, which happened to be a Saturday. This allowed high schooler Zhou Liming to enjoy Children’s Day for a while. He could put aside the increasingly heavy study load. Once he entered the third year of high school, Saturdays and Sundays would probably be off-limits to him.

Looking up at the sky, the starlight twinkled.

Suddenly, Zhou Liming remembered his classmates discussing a rare meteor shower that humanity would encounter yesterday. Wasn’t it landing in the Pacific Ocean region tonight? It would be a burning feast caused by the friction of the bright meteor shower with the atmosphere. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a computer; otherwise, he could have witnessed the burning scene starting from the Indian Ocean on the news portal this morning.

Checking the electronic watch on his wrist, the time pointed to nine o’clock. Zhou Liming seemed to remember that the meteor shower would enter the airspace over the Pacific Ocean at this time.

Sure enough, not long after, a small orange bright spot began to appear in the starry sky. In the blink of an eye, this spot suddenly expanded, like a burning ball of fire smashing onto the ground, splashing out countless sparks and illuminating the entire sky.

Zhou Liming knew that this was because the terrifying flying speed of the meteorite blocks, when colliding with the Earth, generated friction through the atmosphere, causing the surface of the meteorites to burn.

“The atmosphere is Earth’s last protective layer. Countless small alien objects cannot even break through the atmosphere and will be burned to ashes.”

From reading newspapers, he learned that up to 527 pieces of meteorites of different sizes would appear in the sky above the Pacific Ocean. This would be a sky anomaly lasting for three hours. Perhaps humanity would have to wait at least a thousand years to witness such a visual feast again. Therefore, at this moment, almost everyone with free time stood under the sky, staring up at the horizon.

This orange light brought out a large expanse of burning sky, but before this bright spot disappeared, a second orange point suddenly exploded, dyeing the entire sky orange and yellow again, like a sun obscured by thin clouds, casting a golden hue.

Meteorite fragments hitting the atmosphere and burning through friction were like raindrops falling on a lake, creating ripples. The only difference was that these ripples were actually circles of fire. The extremely high temperature swept through the atmosphere, and the resulting fire waves filled the sky, as if the entire sky were burning.

“It’s truly spectacular!”

Zhou Liming sighed. It looked exactly like raindrops falling on the ground and splashing out. It was impossible to describe with words. Those who hadn’t witnessed it with their own eyes could never imagine how vast this spectacle was. The burning sky emitted a faint, audible screech due to friction, constantly striking the visual senses and hitting the soul, as if the soul itself wanted to escape the body.

Continuous meteorite fragments rolled toward the Asian continent. They began landing in the Indian Ocean early in the morning and finally reached the Pacific Ocean at nine o’clock, lasting for three hours, making up a whole day.

Although the sky was magnificent, Zhou Liming felt visual fatigue after watching for more than half an hour. Shaking his head, he said, “Maybe I don’t have any artistic cells. Such a grand scene that humanity might not see for ten thousand years doesn’t attract me much.”

When Zhou Liming turned his gaze away, who could have noticed that outside the atmosphere, a fist-sized meteorite fragment, while rushing toward Earth at high speed, coincidentally collided slightly with an operating satellite. The huge impact force, even if just a little bit, blew the entire satellite apart in mid-air, turning it into a ball of burning fire in space.

A tiny amount of power was enough to change everything.

The small meteorite fragment, originally following its orbit into the atmosphere, deviated slightly due to this minor accident. A distance of hundreds of kilometers, even with the slightest deviation, would create a heaven-and-earth difference from the destination. The small meteorite fragment, blocked by the satellite, had lost half of its huge impact force. By the time it entered the atmosphere, it was no longer sufficient to generate the friction needed for burning.

Among the astronomy enthusiasts stimulated by the spectacular scene, who would notice the trace of this fist-sized meteorite fragment that did not burn up?

This small meteorite fragment did not appear over the Pacific Ocean as scientists had predicted. Instead, it moved in a diagonal line, rushing quickly toward the Asian continent. Like an invisible ghost, it made no sound.

With a loud boom, the small meteorite hit the small path paved with thick marble. Even with half the impact force reduced, it still generated a terrifying shock. It was like being hit by a cannonball. The marble on this section of the path was shattered into pieces and splashed in all directions, forming a large pit with a diameter of more than one meter.

The huge noise was so sudden that Zhou Liming only had time to turn his head. Before he could see what was happening, he felt something smash into him. His vision went black, and then his head shook violently. Severe pain suddenly stimulated his nerves, and a thick liquid flowed from his head, down his neck, and wet his collar.

Zhou Liming widened his eyes. His mind hadn’t even processed what was happening yet when his consciousness gradually blurred. Then, falling into endless darkness, he fell heavily back onto the grass…