Chapter 44: A Task One and a Half People Can Accomplish

Imagine grabbing a handful of damp sand from the beach, squeezing it into a ball, and slowly bringing it closer to the suction nozzle of a vacuum cleaner. At the precise distance, the sand ball gradually disintegrates into crumbs and gets sucked into the vacuum. That exact distance where the sand ball falls apart is its Roche limit.

The vacuum cleaner represents Jupiter's tidal force, while the cohesive force that holds the sand ball together via water is Earth's gravity.

Much like a high-voltage electric field, a gravitational field possesses varying energies at different locations.

The closer one gets, the denser the field lines become. A unit potential difference exerts a stronger tearing force, making any unlucky soul entering Jupiter's gravitational field all the more likely to disintegrate.

Right now, Earth is that unlucky soul.

So unlucky that the chat group directly issued a quest, demanding that group members rush to the rescue.

If they don't rescue it soon, a chat group already lacking in members is about to lose one more.

......

Rin, My Rin: "4000 reward points? Can I participate in this mission? With points, can I exchange them with the Immortal Lord for immortal pills?"

Queen of the Snake-People: "Can we join together? Let's form a team and distribute the points among ourselves afterwards. Whoever contributes more gets a bigger share."

Little Spider: "If possible, I can do it alone! I need those points, everyone."

Spirit Hall's Golden Generation: "After just consuming an immortal pill, I feel like I can handle it alone too. Better let me do it and spare you all the trouble."

Old Celestial Master: "This old man feels that this mission is still quite difficult. Let's see what little girl Wu Xu has to say."

Useless Prophet: "Don't waste your breath, everyone. Take a lesson from our Old Celestial Master and realize when you're in over your heads! As for the likes of you... you want to take on this mission? You need to have the capability first."

Queen of the Snake-People: "What's that supposed to mean? I don't get it."

Spirit Hall's Golden Generation: "Are you saying we aren't worthy of joining the mission? Or do you want to hog all the points for yourself to trade with the Immortal Lord?"

Little Spider: "I am determined to get these points this time. Don't stop me."

Useless Prophet: "Determined my foot! Determined my ass! Take a look at your own weight first, will you? You can't even destroy a planet on your own, what gives you the right to join the mission? Do you even have any idea what kind of problem the Wandering Earth is facing?"

Little Spider: "Is this mission really that hard? I'm already strong enough. In New York, I fight for justice and have won the praise of the Avengers."

Queen of the Snake-People: "Even though I joke around with you guys in the chat group every day, I'm not actually weak. I am a Douhuang-tier powerhouse, after all."

Spirit Hall's Golden Generation: "Having eaten the immortal pill, I'm not weak either. I'm just a step away from entering the Titled Douluo—no, Spirit Emperor realm!"

Rin, My Rin: "I have spatial ninjutsu. If it's just a pure rescue mission, I can handle it."

Useless Prophet: "@Rin, My Rin, stop bragging. I'm not flattering you, but your single-target spatial ninjutsu is so weak I could beat you up right now."

Rin, My Rin: "Hehe, then come at me! My dojutsu is tailor-made to counter big talkers like you."

Queen of the Snake-People: "With all your back-and-forth, is there actually anyone in our group who can complete the mission?"

Useless Prophet: "Not to brag, but you guys really need to stop boasting. I'm blushing for you. Is it really that hard to know your place? There is only one and a half members in our chat group who can complete this mission."

Wandering Earth: "You mean, unless this one-and-a-half members are willing to help, I'm dead for sure?"

Useless Prophet: "Yep, what you said is basically correct."

Wandering Earth: "......"

Wandering Earth: "Guess I'll just sit here and wait to die then."

Useless Prophet: "Actually, it doesn't have to come to that."

Useless Prophet: "I'm not looking down on you guys, but didn't you all download the copy I uploaded earlier? Have you paid attention to the Wandering Earth itself? Maybe you haven't read far enough yet. Go ahead and take a look further down, and you'll understand why I said you were just blowing hot air."

Shortly after, the chat group fell silent.

All the group members presumably went off to check the subsequent plot of Wandering Earth.

Jiang Mang loved everyone's enthusiasm because the enthusiasm of the group members would ultimately transform into spiritual stones, gathering in his hands.

Currently in the chat group, basically every member had their eyes on getting an immortal pill.

Everyone had a reason they simply had to obtain an immortal pill.

However, the points obtained from daily check-ins—aside from Hu Liena—were pitifully meager for everyone else.

When a mission that actually awarded a decent amount of points finally popped up, how could they not howl and rush forward like wolves?

Unfortunately, the difficulty of this mission was a bit too high.

Qin Wuxu the Prophet was right.

In the entire group, only one and a half people could complete the mission.

After a short while, the chat group grew lively once again.

Rin, My Rin: "Sorry, my bad! I was too arrogant."

Queen of the Snake-People: "Count me out for this mission. A Douhuang can't handle a crisis of this magnitude."

Spirit Hall's Golden Generation: "It was wishful thinking on my part. I can't handle it. Such a terrifying thing—how could anyone possibly handle it!"

Old Celestial Master: "Haha, this old man took a look. Two planets colliding—I am truly powerless. @Wandering Earth, you are the consciousness of the Earth, can't you control the planet?"

Wandering Earth: "I can't control it! My entire globe is being pushed around by humans!"

Little Spider: "I was overestimating myself. If I could push the Earth, I wouldn't just be a friendly neighborhood hero in New York."

Useless Prophet: "That's why I said, there are only one and a half people in our group who can finish this. The 'half' is Saitama-sensei, and the 'one' of course is our Immortal Lord. Aside from that one-and-a-half, the rest of you shouldn't even dream of leeching off this mission. You don't have the capability, you know? You'll just die!"

Nemesis of Mosquitoes: "I can't do it! I could shatter the Wandering Earth, but I might not be able to push it away from Jupiter."

Useless Prophet: "Saitama-sensei, you actually can! Of course, that's assuming the Wandering Earth doesn't get crushed to pieces by the recoil."

Queen of the Snake-People: "Wait, in the subsequent plot of Wandering Earth, didn't that man named Liu Peiqiang sacrifice himself to detonate Jupiter and successfully push the Earth away? With him around, why is the chat group issuing this mission?"

The mission issued by the chat group was indeed rather strange.

Jiang Mang knew the future of Wandering Earth very well.

When the Wandering Earth arrived near Jupiter, due to the Roche limit, it was ultimately destined to be torn apart by Jupiter's gravitational pull.

To save the Earth, humanity launched every possible measure to push the Earth out of its orbit.

Yet, despite exhausting every method, Earth's elites ultimately failed to save the planet.

During its final moments, the Earth would be drawn in by Jupiter's gravity and disintegrate completely.

Humans, too, would have to bear immense psychological pressure during these final moments, culminating in total annihilation.

However, the Wandering Earth ultimately escaped being swallowed by Jupiter, because a variable emerged.