307: Chapter 307: 100 years is probably the limit of human-made time.

"Xiao Yu, everything above is just the appetizer."

"Next comes the real problem."

He put down his drink, his gaze turning serious. "On the 30th day after humans disappear, the most serious problem emerges."

Xiao Yu's gaze instantly became solemn.

In the livestream room, everyone held their breath and listened carefully.

"Nuclear power plants."

"There are over four hundred nuclear power plants and thousands of nuclear reactors globally."

"Under normal circumstances, they require continuous cooling and professional maintenance. Once left unattended, the cooling systems will fail within a few days."

"Around the 30th day, the first reactor will begin to melt down."

He picked up the tablet on the table and pulled up a world map, densely marked with the locations of nuclear power plants.

The nuclear power plants in Xia Country were marked.

"In our country, sites like Qinshan, Daya Bay, Ling'ao, Tianwan, Hongyanhe, Ningde, Fuqing, Yangjiang, Fangchenggang, Taishan, Changjiang, and others—over fifty nuclear power units in Xia Country are distributed along the coastal regions."

His finger traced a red circle on the map. "When a meltdown occurs, the temperature of the reactor core will rise to several thousand degrees. The concrete shell won't be able to withstand it, eventually leading to a steam explosion. Then, radioactive materials will spread into the atmosphere with the smoke and dust, drifting with the wind."

"Within a month, radioactive fallout will be detectable across the entire Northern Hemisphere."

He zoomed in on the map, pointing his finger at the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions. "These most economically developed and densely populated areas will turn into radioactive exclusion zones where nothing can grow if left unmaintained."

"Of Xia Country's 9.6 million square kilometers, the area severely contaminated will reach hundreds of thousands of square kilometers."

These words made the viewers realize the severity of the problem for the first time.

"Then won't the entirety of East and South China be finished?"

"My hometown is right next to Qinshan."

"If humans are gone, does radiation even matter anymore?"

"That's not right; animals and plants will be affected!"

"..."

Jiang Zhe continued his narration without the slightest pause.

"After 1 year, the problem turns to the sky."

"There are over four thousand operational man-made satellites in Earth's orbit. After humans disappear and ground control is lost, they will gradually drift off course and eventually be pulled back into the atmosphere by Earth's gravity."

"If there were still people on the ground, they would see a meteor shower lasting for months. Satellite debris would streak across the night sky with trails of fire; some would burn up completely, while others would crash into the ground."

Xiao Yu's beautiful eyes lit up. "Wow, how romantic!"

Jiang Zhe glanced at her and said somewhat speechlessly, "Yeah, it's very romantic, but that's a romance that belongs only to you."

Xiao Yu turned her head away in embarrassment.

The next moment, Jiang Zhe changed the subject. "But there is something that actually lives better without humans."

Xiao Yu asked curiously, "What?"

"Plants."

Jiang Zhe pointed to the courtyard outside the window, then to the grasslands and forests in the distant suburbs.

"Human cities, farmlands, and roads were originally a suppression of plants. Once we humans disappear, plants will reclaim lost territory in the shortest time possible."

"Within a few months, weeds will sprout from every crack, covering walls, roads, and rooftops. Vines will wrap around utility poles, and moss will cover concrete floors. The originally gray cities will be covered in green in a short time."

"The entire Earth will slowly turn from azure blue to green."

"Moreover, plant roots and vines have strong expansion power; they will penetrate the cracks of buildings, crack foundations, and overturn road surfaces."

"The roots of trees will go deep into underground drainage pipes, tearing the entire underground reservoir to pieces."

As he finished, viewers from relevant professions began to speak in the livestream room.

"I'm in horticulture; the power of plants is seriously underestimated."

"If left untended for one summer, the weeds in the yard can grow to be half a person tall."

"Those creepers can cover a whole building in three years."

"..."

Jiang Zhe looked at Xiao Yu's rolling eyes and realized she was thinking.

He continued his narration:

"Next, 50 years after humans disappear, Earth will become a paradise for animals."

"In the ruins of cities, herds of deer will stroll on what were once highways, wild boars will forage for food in subway stations, and wolf packs will make their homes in abandoned residential areas. Without human hunting and interference, animal populations will see explosive growth."

He picked up the tablet again and pulled up a set of photos.

"Do you know about Chernobyl?"

Xiao Yu nodded. "The nuclear accident in 1986?"

"Correct." Jiang Zhe handed her the tablet to look at. "After the explosion in 1986, humans evacuated, and a 30-kilometer radius around Chernobyl became an exclusion zone. Now it's 2026, forty years later—what has it become?"

Xiao Yu leaned in closer to the screen, examining it carefully.

On the screen were photos: abandoned schools surrounded by forests, playgrounds filled with green weeds, tree branches poking out of classroom windows, and wild animals moving through the ruins. There were also a few deformed creatures contaminated by nuclear radiation, yet their vitality was incredibly resilient.

"What you're looking at is now one of the largest wildlife sanctuaries in Europe. Wolves, bears, bison, and lynxes are far more numerous here than outside the exclusion zone. Many buildings have also become hazardous and could collapse at any time."

"It's only been 40 years since Chernobyl, and it's already like this. Without human intervention, in another few decades, this area will completely return to being a primeval forest."

Xiao Yu stared at the photos, lost in thought.

At this time, in the livestream room, the viewers began to express their feelings.

"Chernobyl has already returned to an original ecological state without human civilization!"

"It's like this after forty years; I can't imagine a hundred years."

"Human civilization is truly fragile."

"..."

Inside Qingfeng Temple.

Professor Wen looked at Zheng Ming and asked with a serious face, "Has he done research on this?"

Zheng Ming shook his head. "I don't know. Every time Xiao Yu asks various questions, even unrelated ones, he can answer them immediately."

"This..."

Professor Wen narrowed his eyes.

Although he had heard before that Jiang Zhe had been a postdoc for only one day, he didn't expect his thinking to be so terrifying.

He didn't need to look up information and could answer on the spot, deducing right there...

And the answers he deduced were ones even he couldn't refute.

At this moment, on the big screen, Xiao Yu couldn't help but ask, "Brother, what about 100 years later?"

Jiang Zhe smiled with satisfaction. "100 years later, most of the buildings, bridges, and roads built by humans will collapse."

"Without maintenance, rainwater will seep into cracks, freezing and expanding in winter, and undergoing thermal expansion and contraction in summer. Metal structures will rust and corrode. 100 years is the limit for most modern buildings."

"Brother, hasn't the Great Wall existed for over two thousand years?"

Jiang Zhe shook his head. "That's the result of repairs in every dynasty. From the Qin Dynasty to the Ming Dynasty, every generation would renovate and reinforce it. If no one looked after it, it would have collapsed in a few decades."

Speaking of which, he moved his fingers and found the building for a high-tech information center in the USA.

He pointed to another image on the tablet:

"What you see here is the Getty Center in the USA. It preserves all the knowledge, artworks, and historical archives humanity has ever had. When humans disappear, there will be no electricity, the climate control systems will stop, and those precious films, discs, and tapes will quickly deteriorate. Paper will mold and rot, and digital storage devices will demagnetize and fail."

"Xiao Yu, do you see? Even high technology will slowly disappear with the passage of time."

"If we've only talked up to 100 years, what about 1,000 years, or 10,000 years later?"

"The power of time is truly terrifying!"

Xiao Yu's brows furrowed tightly; she felt things were becoming quite serious.

According to her brother's deductions, the things of human civilization would rapidly disappear within a few hundred years because humans were gone, as if they had never existed.

Not just her, even the viewers were gradually realizing it.

The limit of human architecture is within 100 to 200 years. If a civilization really had existed before, they would have flashed by in a very short time after their extinction, just like a meteor in the sky.

Future generations would find it hard to find traces of former civilizations.

"Suddenly I feel like humans are so fragile!"

"Yeah, we always thought humans were powerful, but in reality, after a century, most everything will disappear."

"I'm starting to suspect that we might have really had civilizations in prehistory, but they just disappeared."

"Suspecting, +1!"

"..."

Just then, on the big screen, Xiao Yu couldn't help but ask again, "Brother, what about 1,000 years later?"

Jiang Zhe shook his head slightly. "1,000 years later, everything man-made will disappear. Actually, whether it's 1,000 years or 10,000 years, there isn't much difference. Everything we humans built, manufactured, and wrote will turn to dust. By then, Earth will completely erase the traces of human existence, as if we humans never appeared."

Just then, a child-like mechanical electronic voice suddenly sounded in the living room.

[Host, error. 10,000 years later, three man-made things will still be preserved!]

Xiao Yu was startled and immediately looked around. "Who? Who's speaking?"

Jiang Zhe was also surprised, then realized it was the high-tech bracelet on his wrist.

He looked down, and a line of text slowly appeared on the bracelet screen, accompanied by Xiao Hei's voice.

[Those would be the Pyramids, the Great Sphinx of Giza, and the Mount Rushmore statues in the USA!]

Xiao Yu leaned over and saw that line of text, her face full of disbelief. "Has our technology already advanced to this point?"

In the livestream room, everyone saw this scene.

The black bracelet on the brother's hand was actually taking the initiative to correct his mistakes?

Is what it said true?

10,000 years later, can three things really still remain?