I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 809 - 707: After the Nuclear Explosion

Through the reactivated satellite, it was clear that massive cracks had appeared on the ice surface of the entire Dongting Lake region. The lake surface visibly bulged on the satellite map, then completely collapsed.

A million-ton nuclear explosion shouldn’t have caused such a significant impact on the crust thousands of meters thick.

However, the alien creatures had riddled the area with tunnels and caverns, like a bun full of cavities. The explosion’s shockwave not only traveled through the layers of the earth but also surged upwards along these tunnels and caverns.

Thus, the entire stratum was lifted up and rapidly collapsed due to the destruction of its geological structure.

Such violent geological activity, although not a natural earthquake, caused strong tremors in surrounding areas, and numerous buildings in cities even collapsed.

Fortunately, residents of surrounding cities had been evacuated when the alien invasion first began, with only military personnel stationed there now. They had built strong defensive structures and camps, thus minimizing any significant impact.

This intense change in terrain also altered the original landscape of the entire Dongting Lake region.

Junshan Island in the heart of the lake completely sank. With the crust’s collapse, the underground tunnel exits dug by the alien creatures naturally collapsed the most, causing the entire island and large surrounding lake area to sink, making Dongting Lake appear like a massive dried-up pit.

Even though the military had conducted numerous calculations and simulated using Chen Xin’s virtual system, the extent of Dongting Lake region’s collapse exceeded initial expectations.

The entire lake area sank by at least over fifty meters on average, with severe areas sinking over a hundred meters!

It was three days before the whole Dongting Lake region stabilized without further collapses.

Riding in a helicopter over Junshan Island, looking at the drastically altered island below, Chen Xin reflected: "What astounding destruction! We’ve been fighting the alien creatures for nearly two years, and Dongting Lake wasn’t damaged like this. Yet now, with just one nuclear bomb, the landscape changed in just three days..."

"This is primarily because the alien creatures hollowed out the area beneath Dongting Lake. During previous geological scans, more than half of the stratum 500 meters below the lake was found to be tunnels and caverns dug by the aliens. How could it not collapse?" A researcher accompanying Chen Xin responded to his reflection, equally sighing.

As he spoke, he looked at the almost unrecognizable Junshan Island below and asked Chen Xin, "I remember you once had an ecological farm on Junshan Island, right?"

"Yes, before the alien invasion, Professor Li and I had solved the problem of establishing an ecological agriculture system in greenhouse conditions, planning to restart agricultural production at the original Junshan Farm. But who knew that shortly after it began, the alien invasion would devastate the area, and the entire ecological agriculture zone was abandoned," Chen Xin reminisced. He and Professor Li had invested considerable effort in ecological agriculture, hoping to solve domestic food production issues, but the alien invasion nearly rendered their efforts fruitless.

However, recalling ecology, Chen Xin suddenly thought of something. With concern, he remarked while looking at Dongting Lake, "With Dongting Lake becoming like this, I wonder what impact it will have..."

"Impact? Are you referring to the impact of this geological collapse, Professor Chen?" The researcher heard Chen Xin’s concern and, smiling, replied, "No need to worry too much about that. The Geological Institute has calculated that this nuclear explosion shouldn’t significantly damage Dongting Lake region’s geological structures. Instead, the collapse of these tunnels has stabilized the geological structure.

Moreover, since Dongting Lake region isn’t on a seismic belt, no geological disasters are expected, other than small-scale landslides."

However, Chen Xin shook his head, still worried, and said, "I’m not talking about geological impact. Although the nuclear explosion has indeed caused geological collapse, disrupting the original structures, it released the accumulated energy from potential earthquakes, reducing the likelihood of large-scale seismic events in the future.

What I’m worried about is the ecological problem. Now, due to the temperature, we can’t see the effects, but in the future... with Dongting Lake in this state, the ecological impact..."

At this point, Chen Xin suddenly gave a self-deprecating laugh, shook his head again, and said helplessly, "Who knows how many years this severe winter will last, and Earth’s ecology has already been utterly destroyed, even if the ice and snow melt, the ecological system will need to reform. The impact or lack thereof is utterly meaningless; it’s truly worrying for nothing!"

Hearing Chen Xin’s concern and self-deprecation, the researcher comforted him, "Professor Chen, your thoughts are for the future of the nation and humanity. How can it be worrying for nothing? Even if the ecological environment reforms in the future, Dongting Lake region’s collapse will impact the ecosystem’s future formation.

Although it seems distant, possibly hundreds of years away, thinking through this issue now is better than leaving it to future generations, right?"

Receiving this comfort, Chen Xin smiled without further comment.

The helicopter circled the entire Dongting Lake, with all the impacts of the nuclear explosion laid bare before Chen Xin.

After thoroughly understanding Dongting Lake region’s current situation, Chen Xin ordered the flight back.

Returning to his lab, Chen Xin inputted all the observed data and information gathered over these three days into the virtual system to compute and deduce the impacts of this nuclear explosion.

Beyond calculating the nuclear explosion’s impact on geology, the environment, and future natural ecology, Chen Xin was most concerned about whether this blast had completely eradicated the alien creatures underground. 𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

According to his prior calculations, the explosion should have destroyed the alien creatures’ underground lair and most of their entities. Even if some survived, they would have been crushed in the geological collapse. However, no one could guarantee that all alien creatures were eradicated by the explosion.

Thus, for peace of mind and to reach a conclusion, Chen Xin hoped the virtual system’s deduction could provide a more accurate answer.