Chapter 191: Who is protecting the Earth?

In the video footage...

This was a video captured by a car owner on the highway.

The city skyline.

A meteorite trailing a ten-kilometer tail of flame suddenly flared up at an altitude of twenty thousand meters.

A flash of light thirty times brighter than the sun appeared before them.

Then, a deafening roar echoed for dozens of kilometers. Its power was equivalent to 30 atomic bombs, shattering the glass of 3,000 buildings in the nearby city.

Seeing this, some viewers thought it was nothing special; the asteroid had simply disintegrated in mid-air.

"I really don't see what's so special about this meteorite?"

"Yeah, I've seen videos of this online too. It's just a normal asteroid hitting Earth and vaporizing in the air."

"I really don't know why you guys are so surprised!"

"Guys, didn't you see the follow-up analysis of the meteorite?"

"What analysis? Could they have found aliens in it?"

"Heh... they actually did."

"..."

At that moment, Jiang Zhe began to speak: "Perhaps seeing this, you all think it's nothing out of the ordinary. But if you adjust the light levels of this video to near-nighttime, you will discover a strange phenomenon."

After speaking, he raised his hand and instructed the director through his headset to switch the lighting.

Soon, the exposure of the video was significantly reduced, turning the footage dark, as if it were night.

"Please watch it again!"

All the experts and viewers focused their attention on the video once more.

In the now night-like footage, a brilliant flame streaked across the sky at an angle.

The original meteorite had turned black, with only the firelight flashing around it.

Just before the meteorite was about to fall and disintegrate, a faster, smaller object pursued it from behind.

It caught up from behind at nearly double the speed, then passed straight through the meteorite. At the moment it pierced through, the unknown device accelerated again and left the car owner's field of vision, completely intact.

Seeing this scene, those viewers who had been stubborn earlier were suddenly filled with confusion, stunned by this miraculous sight.

"What's going on?"

"Holy crap, what is that thing?"

"Is this video photoshopped? What on earth just flew through it?"

"Is it a fragment of the meteorite? But the meteorite hadn't disintegrated yet; even a fragment in the atmosphere couldn't catch up to such a fast meteorite like that!"

"Damn, is this why you said an alien craft was found in the meteorite?"

"Exactly, this is the evidence. Besides, Russia doesn't have such fast aircraft at all. Even if an aircraft were fast enough to crash into it, wouldn't it shatter? But look, is this object broken? Not at all!"

"..."

Almost instantly, a massive number of people were left dumbfounded, feeling their worldview being challenged.

They previously thought it was just a simple video, but who would have thought it contained such a huge visual impact.

Inside the lecture hall.

Professor Hua Yunfeng and Old Feng were also seeing this video for the first time, and they both looked bewildered.

So, the two of them quickly conducted an emergency authentication of the video.

They found that while the footage was a bit blurry after being reposted many times, there were no detected dropped frames or signs of human manipulation.

Professor Hua Yunfeng said with a look of shock, "Holy cow, I'm seeing this for the first time too."

Beside him, Old Feng was even more incredulous. "This... did Russia have missiles this fast in 2013? The meteorite data Jiang Zhe gave is Mach 55. No matter how impressive Russia was in 2013, even with their hidden trump cards, they couldn't reach Mach 55. The Sarmat and Avangard hypersonic missiles reach Mach 20 to 27 at most; they can't reach the speed of this meteorite. Theoretically, a missile couldn't catch up to it."

Professor Hua Yunfeng quickly asked the audience, "Are there any astronomy experts here? Is the Mach 55 meteorite speed Jiang Zhe gave correct, or did someone calculate it wrong on purpose to get attention?"

He thought it was a data error, but the astronomy experts in the audience shook their heads one after another.

"Sorry, Professor Hua, this data is accurate. Even if we recalculate it right now, the speed of this meteorite fluctuates between Mach 48 and 60."

"Yes, and besides, this data was provided by the Russian side. We are certain they aren't lying; this data is fair and impartial, just as Jiang Zhe said."

Hearing this, Professor Hua Yunfeng asked again, "Then what is that thing chasing the meteorite? Is it a fragment from before it disintegrated?"

An elderly astronomer stood up to explain: "After a meteorite enters the atmosphere, its speed gradually increases. Due to the effects of Earth's Gravity, gravitational potential energy is converted into kinetic energy, leading to an increase in speed."

"However, as the speed increases, air resistance also increases accordingly. When the resistance increases to equal the force of Earth's Gravity, the meteorite's speed will reach a limit and it will begin to move at a constant velocity."

"So, Little Hua, your guess that a subsequent meteorite fragment caught up to this Mach 55 giant meteorite is incorrect."

As he finished speaking, Professor Hua Yunfeng's expression became even stranger. "Does that mean the thing chasing the large meteorite from behind really isn't a smaller meteorite?"

The Professor nodded. "Yes, it really isn't a small meteorite, nor is it man-made. As far as I know, our technology and our man-made objects aren't yet capable of colliding with a meteorite and remaining intact. Especially in a high-speed collision, nothing remains undamaged."

These words shattered a piece of Professor Hua Yunfeng's worldview.

As far as he knew, the limit reached by a man-made object was supposedly a manhole cover at the moment of an explosion on Earth.

It reached 70 kilometers per second, equivalent to 206 times the speed of sound.

But who would have the ability to use an exploding manhole cover to chase a meteorite when it was falling?

For some reason, he felt that things were far from being that simple.

...

Inside the leaders' conference room.

Old Zhao and Old Wang were even more shocked and confused.

The two of them quickly leaned forward and frantically toggled the video playback button.

Back and forth, over and over, they still saw this black unknown object after watching it.

So Old Zhao turned back and asked Wang Lin and Xiao Shiyi, "This?"

Xiao Shiyi shook his head gently. "It's not a man-made object."

Wang Lin said, "Xiao Shiyi is right. This isn't a man-made object, nor is it a missile. If it were a missile launched by Russia, even if they hid the missile's attributes, it would explode upon contact with the meteorite. But this thing simply pierced through the meteorite and then flew away. It's clearly something conscious, or an intelligent being is controlling this small object as it passes through the meteorite."

"This..."

Old Wang felt his worldview collapsing.

As far as he knew, nothing in the whole world could catch up to a meteorite.

Let alone domestic high-speed missiles!

Could it really be an alien craft?

At this moment, almost everyone watching Suzhou TV Station fell into self-doubt.

Previously, they had always heard about mysterious UFOs coming out of the sea, space, or volcanoes. But this time, it really wasn't a man-made object, but a literal creation that exceeded human understanding!

...

In Su City, at the Astronomical Research Institute.

After the Chelyabinsk video was played, a group of staff members rushed into Director Wu's office.

They all asked excitedly, one after another.

"Director Wu, this?"

"This has been broadcast on the TV station. Could it really be aliens?"

"Inner-earth people, or aliens?"

All the subordinates looked at Director Wu excitedly.

They had all seen the video before, but they just thought it was from a clickbait account or photoshopped.

Who would have thought that Jiang Zhe would use this video as evidence? They didn't dare to underestimate the video's content anymore.

Director Wu gave an awkward smile. "This... I can't be sure, but my intuition tells me it's real. My intuition also tells me this is classified information; it's not for us to know. You should call the Intelligence Services to ask about its authenticity. Meanwhile, conduct a second authentication of the video's reality. But the probability is that it's [True]!"

As soon as he said this, all the astronomy workers were stunned.

The alien civilizations they had been searching for so hard, and all those suspected alien signals—it turns out they literally appeared on Earth?

Their intuition told them it had happened more than once, but many times; and every time, it had been covered up!

Soon, the subordinates left the office with great enthusiasm and drive to pursue the astronomical wonders they yearned for!

...

Meanwhile, inside the Su City Police Station.

A group of police officers sat around in Officer Su Cheng's office with nothing to do.

After watching the video, they were all dumbfounded and looked toward the well-traveled Officer Su Cheng.

Officer Su Cheng remained silent, tapping on his keyboard to perform an authentication analysis of the video; the analysis report came back as authentic.

He pushed the laptop toward the group. Looking at the authentication report, the officers all had strange expressions.

"This..."

"Damn, could this be some kind of astronomical phenomenon, rather than the aliens we're imagining?"

"Yeah, just like the Tunguska Event in Russia. Back then, there were also rumors that the Tunguska Event was an alien craft exploding!"

"Yeah, what do you think?"

Officer Su Cheng shook his head slightly. "I don't understand these things. I'm just watching a live stream. If you want to ask, go ask Jiang Zhe. There will be a hotline afterward anyway; just try to get through."

At these words, the officers on the scene became excited. Right, someone would definitely ask that question afterward. As long as Jiang Zhe said it was [True], then there was a high probability it was [True].

Just then, on the large computer screen, Jiang Zhe smiled slightly and gave his answer: