My Courtyard Shelter

Chapter 19: The Great Solar Flare Strikes

The Lantern Festival night in the capital was just as lively as New Year’s Eve. A grand fireworks display, a spectacular light show, and a sea of lanterns filling every street and alley… What a magnificent scene of prosperity! After dinner, Xu Dong and his wife took their twin daughters for a stroll down the street, heading wherever the action was. It wasn’t until after 9:00 p. m. that the four of them returned to the Siheyuan, still reluctant to call it a night. “Why are you back so late? Ke Ke and her sister have to go back to school tomorrow!” Xu’s mother nagged. Little Ke Ke, who wasn’t the least bit sleepy, tugged at Mrs. Xu’s sleeve and boasted: “Grandma, the lanterns on the street were so pretty! They even set off big fireworks, and there were lots of older girls wearing summer clothes. I want to wear summer clothes too.” “All right, all right. When you and Le Le are on break, Grandma will take you to the pedestrian street to shop,” Grandma Xu said affectionately. “Grandma is so nice. I want to be a female warrior.” “A female warrior isn’t as good—a princess is the prettiest…” After a bit of commotion, it was soon past 10:30. After a quick wash and brush-up, the whole family finally went to bed. Xu Dong leaned against the headboard, chatting with his wife while watching a live broadcast of a sports event from overseas. It didn’t matter if he couldn’t understand the commentary—the visuals were enough. “Honey, it’s getting late. You should go to sleep,” Yang Lina urged. Xu Dong held up his phone screen. “You go ahead and sleep. I’m going to watch some soccer for a bit—tonight’s game is crucial.” Of course, these were all just excuses. Yang Lina must have been genuinely tired, as soft snoring soon began. An hour later, the Sun’s flare arrived as predicted. This historic moment would be etched in everyone’s memory: Yanjing Time: 23:35 London Time: 15:35 New York Time: 12:35 San Francisco Time: 8:35 As the live stream on his phone suddenly cut out, Xu Dong knew that the first wave of the Sun's superflare had reached Earth. According to reports he had read in his previous life, this flare lasted nearly an hour, with a power equivalent to the energy released by 150 quadrillion giant hydrogen bombs exploding simultaneously. It was the most intense flare on the Sun ever observed by humankind, and it even significantly altered the course of human civilization. Just 48 minutes later, a piercing emergency alert suddenly blared overhead in Yanjing, startling the entire family awake—the triplets, in particular, burst into loud, wailing cries. While hurriedly getting dressed, Yang Lina called out to Xu Dong, “What’s going on? Is there an earthquake?” Xu Dong shook his head and handed his phone to his wife; it displayed an emergency text message. Yang Lina hurriedly took the phone and read it. The message was long, but the gist was as follows: An hour ago, the Sun erupted with a massive solar flare, causing severe damage to parts of the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia. To prepare for another flare, with the exception of a few special locations, power will be cut off simultaneously across the entire country at 5:00 a. m. Please make the necessary preparations promptly. Starting today, schools will be closed, factories will cease operations, and businesses will suspend service. The notice requires all residents to stay home unless absolutely necessary to avoid injury. Signed: Daxia Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Committee “Honey, what’s this Sun flare all about?” Yang Lina looked completely bewildered. “Didn’t you take high school geography?” Xu Dong was still relatively calm at this point—he even had the presence of mind to joke around. Yang Lina gave him a skeptical look, and Xu Dong quickly explained, “A solar flare—you can think of it as the Sun suddenly erupting, and its energy will be heading straight for Earth.” “So the Earth isn’t going to explode, is it?” Yang Lina asked in terror. “It shouldn’t come to that,” Xu Dong reassured her. “At most, it could damage electrical equipment and disrupt communications; it might also affect hydrology and the climate, but it’s unlikely to destroy the Earth.” Yang Lina patted her chest, feeling temporarily relieved, but immediately asked, “Will it harm our bodies? Will there be radiation?” “I’m not sure about that either. In any case, whether there are effects or not, we’ll just stay home and not go anywhere…” Before Xu Dong could finish his sentence, the two Ke Ke sisters burst in, flustered, wearing pajamas and barefoot. “Mom, Dad, I’m scared…” “Sweetheart, Mom and Dad are right here. Don’t be afraid!” Xu Dong hugged Le Le, while Yang Lina hugged Ke Ke; the couple each comforted their children in their own way. Soon, the twins calmed down, and the four of them went downstairs to Xu Dad and Xu Mom’s bedroom. “Dad, Mom, are you both okay?” Xu Dong asked. “We’re fine! Dongzi, what’s going on out there?” Xu’s mother asked anxiously. “Didn’t you see the text message?” “We didn’t have time to check our phones—Da Bao and the other two just wouldn’t stop crying. We only just managed to calm them down.” As she answered, Mrs. Xu gently patted Xiao Bao. Yang Lina quickly repeated the contents of the emergency text message, and Xu Dong shared his own theory. After hearing this, Mr. Xu said in puzzlement, “Do these solar flares even distinguish between good and bad? How come our country is unaffected, yet they’re targeting those other countries to cause destruction?” “How is that even possible?” Xu Dong was at a loss for words, but quickly explained: “Our country is currently on the far side of the Sun—in other words, it’s nighttime here. The Sun’s rays can’t reach us, so the impact is naturally minimal. Meanwhile, countries in Europe and the U. S. are on the sunlit side—it’s broad daylight there—so they’re taking the brunt of the impact directly, which is why the damage is so severe.” Xu Dong pursed his lips and continued: “Actually, it’s not just our country—our neighboring countries probably haven’t been affected that much either. But in a few hours, it will be daylight, and by then we’ll be facing the full brunt of the impact just like Europe and the U. S. are now—that’s why the government made the decisive decision to cut off the power.” “So that’s how it is. In that case, our country’s been pretty lucky this time!” Xu’s dad said with a touch of schadenfreude. Xu Dong instinctively shook his head; he suspected his father wouldn’t be smiling for much longer. It wasn’t just Daxia—the whole world had underestimated the power of this super flare. The damage to electrical equipment is merely an appetizer; the destruction of the atmosphere is the most lethal blow. This would be a catastrophe of unprecedented proportions. Returning to the present, Xu’s mom suddenly asked a crucial question: “When will this solar… flare end?” Under normal circumstances, no one would know the answer to that question, but Xu Dong was a reincarnated soul—so he was the exception. “About a week!” “That’s good—it’s not too long. From the way you guys were talking, I thought we’d have to wait several months!” Mrs. Xu smiled. “A week isn’t exactly short either. With no water or electricity, it’ll be manageable in the countryside, but in the cities, it’ll probably be total chaos,” Yang Lina remarked with a sigh. Those words gave Xu’s dad an idea. He suddenly slapped his thigh hard, his face beaming with excitement. Mrs. Xu was startled and glared at him: “What are you going crazy for? If you scare Da Bao and the others, I’ll never let you off the hook.” Dad Xu quickly explained, “Listen, with the water and power out, the stuff in our store is definitely going to sell like crazy. I’m going to raise the prices a bit tomorrow.” “Dad, what kind of time is this? You’re still thinking about business?” Xu Dong was at a loss for words. Besides, the store’s merchandise becomes more valuable as time goes on; selling it now would be a classic case of “chasing small gains while neglecting bigger ones.”