Chapter 296: Global Energy Field Affected, Accidents Surge

This time the alarm that sounded was a Level‑One alert, the flashing red light and the rhythm of the siren indicating that the power station deep within the island base had a problem.

The base's safety department responded immediately; besides the security personnel stationed at the power station who checked the situation right away, hundreds of safety experts also rode the elevator there at once.

In less than two minutes, Ning Hai learned the situation.

The cause was a rupture on the outside of the nuclear reactor, posing a risk of nuclear material leakage.

The safety team had already begun emergency repairs.

"Mr. Ning!" the safety chief called out, sternly, "You once assured us that all the materials used to build the power station were the safest and most reliable, that no damage could occur. Why is there a problem now?"

Ning Hai's eyes were clouded with indecision.

He hadn't lied; the power station's interior and exterior used top‑grade building materials, and the multiple safeguard technologies employed were the most advanced. Combined, no other nation in the world could match it, except for Huaxia Guo's industry, which could even be compared to it.

Moreover, the site of this island base was selected jointly by several meteorologists, oceanographers and geologists from M Guo, and it itself lies in the most stable region of the central Pacific.

However, the problem lay in the nuclear material.

The previously common and technically mature nuclear fuel could no longer meet the island base's power needs, but M Guo's higher‑ups were pressing urgently, so Ning Hai had to risk using a new nuclear material whose energy output was nearly a thousand times that of the old fuel.

He also employed a large‑scale power‑supplying technology still in the experimental stage.

According to Ning Hai's calculations, the current power station's strength can exceed the design load by 200 %, and theoretically there is over a 90 % chance that it can bear the new nuclear reactor.

"Mr. Ning!" the safety chief, seeing he hadn't answered, shouted again.

Ning Hai said coldly, "Calm down, don't shout at me. Show me the inspection data on the damage."

The safety chief handed a tablet computer to Ning Hai.

The tablet displayed in real time the relevant data entered by the safety department's technicians, and also showed live video of the site.

"The problem is minor," Ning Hai said calmly, "Based on the island's environment, I designed a unique water‑cooling system using the seabed currents. Even if the damaged area expands a bit, the reactor won't melt through. Rest assured; have your people repair it by the usual method."

As he spoke, Ning Hai silently prayed in his heart that no fourth time‑space fissure would appear around the island today.

That thing works on a principle similar to opening a Time‑Space Gate, but one is controllable and the other is generated completely unintentionally, appearing anywhere, extremely unstable; sometimes it devours all surrounding energy and matter, sometimes it inexplicably releases energy—a truly high‑risk, uncertain factor.

He wondered whether the power station's damage had coincided with a tiny time‑space fissure appearing inside the station at that instant.

But that was only speculation, impossible to verify.

At that moment, the alarm inside the base stopped, and the area outside the island gradually fell silent.

Ning Hai let out a long sigh, looked at the visibly relaxed safety chief, and smiled, "You see, everything is under my control. Don't forget, I'm not the only one here; my good brother Lu Xingfeng and my beloved daughter also have to rely on this base to return here. I don't do anything I'm not sure about."

The safety chief said, "Mr. Ning, it's not that I don't trust you. My duty is to oversee safety issues. Everyone in this base are M Guo's top‑level research experts, and the hundreds of thousands sent to the other side of the Time‑Space Gate are also M Guo's key elites. There can be no mistakes, otherwise…"

"Alright, alright, I get it," Ning Hai said with a smile, supporting his shoulder and pushing him toward the door, "Go attend to your duties, thank you for your hard work."

The safety chief said nothing further.

After he left, Ning Hai closed the door, flopped onto a chair, and took a while before regaining his composure.

Half an hour later, the base gradually returned to normal operation.

Overall, this incident did not have a major impact on the island base, and the most critical Time‑Space Gate remained stable.

But Ning Hai knew clearly that he was essentially leading everyone in the island base to walk on a knife‑edge.

He had run simulations; if the island suffered the worst‑case accident, the energy released could cause apocalyptic‑level devastation to the world.

He also reported the simulation results to M Guo's highest ruling council, but they replied that M Guo had already built multiple doomsday fortresses capable of handling disasters of this magnitude, keeping M Guo's ruling class and top‑wealthy echelon safe.

If a disaster did occur, it wouldn't shake M Guo's foundation; while countless casualties would ravage other nations, even if the world population fell from tens of billions to tens of millions or even a few million, M Guo could still become the leading nation in rebuilding the world and remain the top power.

Within the doomsday fortresses, there is naturally a place for Ning Hai's family, and if the project succeeds, he could become the chief benefactor who helps M Guo fully dominate the world, receiving the highest privileges and status, and forever be recorded in history.

Conversely, if Ning Hai, out of fear of causing a disaster that kills billions of ordinary people, slows the project's progress, M Guo's rulers would make his suffering worse than death.

Ning Hai, of course, chose the former without hesitation.

At that moment, a video‑call notification appeared on the computer screen before him.

He sat up quickly, tidied his appearance, and opened the call.

On the screen appeared several men with silvery hair and blue‑green eyes; the dim lighting on their side made their features indistinct, yet through the screen one could feel the oppressive aura of superiors.

"Gentlemen, is there something?" Ning Hai asked politely.

The man seated in the middle spoke in flawless Mandarin, "Did an abnormal situation just occur on your side?"

Ning Hai replied immediately, "Sir, yes, I was planning to compile this incident as before and report to you afterward."

The people on the screen whispered among themselves for a few sentences, then the man in the middle told Ning Hai that each time the island base experiences a similar incident, it affects the entire globe.

It had already happened many times before, but they were not certain, so they did not inform Ning Hai to avoid disturbing his work.

"It affected the whole world?" Ning Hai asked in surprise, "Is the situation serious?"

The man said, "According to analysis by our consultants, because the whole world shares a single large energy field, under certain conditions when the island base's output exceeds a critical threshold, it can generate a special effect that interferes with Earth's energy field, causing the power materials to resonate and release further unknown energy. Laboratories in dozens of countries have already observed numerous anomalies, and even some satellites orbiting Earth have been affected."

Ning Hai furrowed his brows and fell into thought.

"Mr. Ning," the man leaned toward the camera, tapping the desk with his finger, "Many countries suspect we are conducting secret experiments, because some of them have detected abnormal energy sources, and Huaxia has already begun pressuring us for an explanation. We can ignore other nations, but attracting Huaxia's attention is not good. We will do everything to hinder Huaxia's targeted investigation, so please, Mr. Ning, accelerate the progress as much as possible."

Ning Hai's brows furrowed even tighter.

Accelerate the pace, again accelerate the pace.

Now this base is a super‑powder keg cobbled together after countless rushed accelerations.

If we speed up any further, we might truly have to rely on divine protection.

"Hmm, I will," Ning Hai thought reluctantly, but said it aloud.

The man paused briefly, then asked, "The energy our island base generates is now large enough to affect the global energy field; so, Mr. Ning, do you have a way to harness this phenomenon?"

Ning Hai said, "You mean using it to interfere with other nations?"

The man nodded.

Ning Hai replied helplessly, "Sir, we are far from having such technological means. We don't even know what type of energy the island base is releasing that interferes with the global energy field; we can only call it unknown or anomalous energy. Controlling it and using it at will is pure fantasy."

"Alright, I was just asking casually," the man said, "We won't disturb you further; may God be with you."

The video call then ended.

Ning Hai casually used his computer to search for recent international news events.

Not searching is fine.

When he searched, a slew of reports about anomalous accidents in various countries' experimental labs appeared.

Minor ones were instrument failures; severe ones involved energy materials exploding on their own.

Such problems hadn't never occurred before, but they have become especially frequent in the past one or two months, which is very abnormal.

At the same time, the widespread failure of electronic devices and satellite communications worldwide is worsening.

Consequently, many countries' accidental incident rates have risen dramatically; car crashes, plane crashes, and trans‑oceanic ship disappearances are three times higher than normal.

Various signs indicate that the island base's power station, while supplying the Time‑Space Gate, triggered a massive shift in the global energy field.

In related news, a small fraction of media pointed the blame at M Guo.

But M Guo currently holds the dominant discourse, and, by contrast, the vast majority of media either defend M Guo or concoct myriad excuses to shift responsibility onto Huaxia Guo.

This is M Guo's old routine; Ning Hai is no longer surprised.

"Whatever the commotion outside, I'll just do my own thing," Ning Hai muttered, then slammed his laptop shut.

Then he glanced at the real‑time monitoring data of the base displayed on the studio's wall screen.

All the data were within normal ranges.

So he left the studio, went into the adjacent personal lounge, and opened a cabinet door.

Inside the cabinet was a communicator he had privately fabricated from materials sourced within the base.

Don't be fooled by its microwave‑oven size; the top‑grade materials used cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

Moreover, its power requirement is terrifying—it must be connected by cable to the island's underground power station to activate.

Ning Hai built this special communicator solely to call his daughter, who spends most of her time on the other side of the Time‑Space Gate.

After all, ordinary communication devices lack such strong wireless transmission capability.

He had to cobble one himself to conveniently contact Ning Yao.

Click!

Ning Hai pressed the activation switch.

The moment the device powered up, the detection data on the adjacent studio's wall screen surged sharply; an inconspicuous datum exceeded its threshold within half a second, then instantly returned to normal.

Ning Hai was completely unaware of this.

He removed the communicator's headset, put it on, and sat in the chair waiting patiently.

After more than ten minutes, Ning Yao's voice came through the headset, "Dad, did you need something?"

Ning Hai replied softly, "Nothing, nothing—just wanted to chat, see how you're doing over there. It's been a while since you came back."

"Oh, dad!" Ning Yao said impatiently. "I was just about to go out and have some fun. The institute has been tinkering with some very interesting genetically engineered animals lately, and I'm involved in the research—so busy! You know that the Time‑Space communicator you built for me requires a dedicated nuclear power plant here for power. I can't carry it on me, so when you transmit, I have to run over here to answer!"

Ning Hai laughed, "Great, just as I expected of my daughter—you've started taking part in genetic engineering research. Don't you want to tell your old dad about your findings?"

After Ning Hai's compliment, Ning Yao felt delighted, her tone softened considerably, and she eagerly began to explain the details to Ning Hai.

She talked about gene fusions, creating new species that could later be used to clear out local indigenous populations, for example.

Some cannot be used directly for clearing natives, but their serum can be extracted to enhance soldiers' combat abilities and enable limb regeneration, among other things.

In any case, there have been breakthrough advances in many areas.

When she mentioned the fanatical medical experts who would stop at nothing for genetic modification, Ning Yao's tone was full of admiration, and she couldn't stop talking.

As the father‑daughter conversation continued,

Among the massive detection data on Ning Hai's studio screen, several readings kept hopping around the threshold one after another.

Near the island's underground power station, under the deep‑sea spotlight, a few faint, electric‑like black fissures flickered in and out, unnoticed even by the staff constantly watching the monitors…

……

On the other side of Earth.

Huaxia Guo, deep in the north‑western desert.

Affected by a sandstorm, the rescue convoy arrived more than ten hours later than expected.

When they reached the destination, night had already fallen.

The night sky glittered with countless stars, a crescent moon hung high, echoing the brilliant Milky Way, casting a veil of hazy silvery mist over the entire desert.

Ning Jinli and the rescue team members all stepped out of the vehicle.

Ahead of them, the faint outline of a small town's building cluster could be seen.

The structures weren't tall, yet in the flat desert they appeared massive in scale.

That was Huaxia's most important comprehensive experimental base, never publicly disclosed, where hundreds of researchers from various cutting‑edge scientific fields conducted frontier experiments, most of whom hadn't returned home in over a decade.

Besides the researchers, there were over a thousand support staff and a special forces unit of about three thousand people.

The rescue team leader tried to contact the base with specialized communication gear, but received no response, and the other electronic devices carried with the vehicle were also malfunctioning.

Moreover, looking around, the entire base was completely dark, like a dead city…