Volume One

Chapter One: Destiny

God said: All things are possible.

Man said: God is omnipotent.

Day after day, year after year, human technology advanced by leaps and bounds, but after World War II, there was no longer any fundamental breakthrough. The increasingly balanced global system made the possibility of war ever lower. As resources gradually dried up and the environment steadily worsened, human development hit a bottleneck.

Perhaps it was a joke from God. After a rather ordinary sunspot storm, a strange asteroid entered the solar system. But this was not enough to attract global attention—at most, it was a curiosity for astronomers. However, this asteroid actually hurtled directly toward Earth on a trajectory that completely defied the laws of physics. According to Hubble Telescope observations, the asteroid was a bit smaller than the Moon, but an object of that size, charging toward Earth at thirteen times cosmic velocity, could easily replay the extinction of the dinosaurs. Even with Earth's highly developed mechanical civilization, there was no way to resist.

At first, this news was tightly sealed by governments around the world. Major systems were already operating at full speed, hoping to come up with an effective countermeasure before the news leaked. But soon, some amateur astronomers also discovered the secret and made it public, plunging Earth into panic.

Fortunately, the media in various countries maintained an optimistic attitude, and observatories and the military swore to defend Earth's safety. Several nations with nuclear weapons and advanced space technology joined forces to propose a planetary defense plan.

But time was far too tight. A total of 103 hours was not enough to accomplish anything; not even a feasible plan had been produced. While leaders from all sides were still arguing and fighting for technical authority, the asteroid was already approaching Mars at breakneck speed and would soon reach Earth, surpassing the safety warning line. Even if the asteroid could be destroyed at that point, the damage caused by its remaining fragments would still be enough to return Earth to its most primitive state. Humanity's fate might be no better than that of the dinosaurs.

When people were nearly in despair and large-scale riots had already broken out in many places on Earth, a surprising turn of events occurred. As soon as the asteroid entered the Earth-Moon system, whether due to the gravitational fields of Earth and the Moon or not, it actually entered Earth's satellite orbit, becoming another planet in the Earth-Moon system. The suddenness of this change also defied existing physical laws, catching all astrophysicists off guard.

When this result was announced, the world naturally erupted. Everyone's attention was focused on this planet that repeatedly violated the laws of motion, eager to know why the asteroid's trajectory was so bizarre. Under joint investigation from all sides, something even more astonishing was discovered: since the advent of space technology, the life-bearing planet that countless humans had searched for was now within reach. It was practically a planet covered in primeval forests.

Seeing one clear photo after another sent back by satellites, countless scientists were so happy they could explode. They all thanked their parents for giving birth to them in such a wonderful era, allowing them to witness the most glorious chapter in history. This planet was named—Life One. Its appearance and fate brought Earthlings endless surprises.

Several major spacefaring nations immediately launched landing plans, but the special test results from unmanned spacecraft were shocking. The asteroid was shrouded in a strange force field, strong enough to utterly destroy any biological entity that entered. The instruments on the spacecraft would also suffer severe damage, and after landing, no signal could be sent back. In other words, with current technology, humans simply could not land on Life One by spacecraft.

But this could not stop human curiosity. Unmanned spacecraft from various countries were quickly dispatched to collect atmospheric samples from Life One. Because of the strange force field, the spacecraft could not land, but for Earthlings, these samples were already extremely precious. Each country naturally treated them as national treasures and launched large-scale research efforts.