Humanity is missing, luckily I have billions of clones - Chapter 420: Drain It
Just one month after more than ten million colossal exhaust machines started operating, this ice giant’s magnificent planetary ring was completely "blown away," vanishing forever.
Not only the planetary ring, but the large moons orbiting this ice giant were also severely affected.
Moons with atmospheres were rapidly having their atmospheres stripped away. And due to violent gas impacts, the temperature of their atmospheres was rapidly rising. Furthermore, due to the exchange of electrical charges, incredibly fierce thunderstorms commonly appeared in the atmospheres of these moons.
The entire sky was filled with dense, silver-snake-like lightning, ceaselessly striking.
The warming of the atmosphere also brought about a series of peculiar changes.
Among these moons, one was an "ice moon," meaning its surface was completely covered by water ice, with temperatures as low as over 100 degrees Celsius below zero, somewhat similar to Jupiter’s moon Europa in the Solar System.
But now, the temperature of the atmosphere had risen due to friction. This heat was then transferred by convection into the ice layer.
Thus, the hundreds of kilometers thick ice layer covering the entire planet gradually melted, transforming into a global ocean.
Surging waves, boundless and incredibly magnificent.
But Tom knew this was only temporary.
Soon, as the atmosphere continued to be stripped away, its density continuously decreased, and pressure gradually diminished, the boiling point of this seawater would also continuously drop, eventually causing the entire ocean to boil.
Water would change from liquid to gas, merge into the atmosphere, and then be stripped away along with the loss of the atmosphere.
All the seawater would disappear, and this planet, covered by water for billions of years, would ultimately be left with only a bare core.
Indeed, even this core might not last long.
Other moons were already demonstrating its future fate.
There were also several moons around this ice giant that had no atmosphere, being merely bare rocky moons.
These rocky moons were also violently buffeted and impacted by the gases, causing their surface temperatures to gradually rise, even melting the rocks, eventually leading to global lava flows.
Their geological structures were also damaged, and the previously dormant planets began violent volcanic and seismic activity, with the ground tearing apart and mountains collapsing.
At the same time, the kinetic energy carried by these high-speed gas and dust particles was continuously transferred to these planets, constantly altering their orbits and pushing them further and further outwards.
The decrease in the ice giant’s own mass also accelerated this process.
According to Tom’s estimates, even if he only maintained the current ejection rate without accelerating, these moons would be pushed out of their current orbits within a mere 100 years.
They would enter orbits around the Sun, transforming from moons into dwarf planets.
But clearly, Tom didn’t even want to wait 100 years.
Rapidly dealing with these Star Beasts, silencing them, then quickly handling the Moraise civilization, obtaining the information he desired, and then swiftly escaping this solar system to avoid potential future risks, was Tom’s true plan.
Guided by this philosophy, even though the gas extraction speed was already so rapid, Tom still did not stop rapid construction.
Thus, more colossal exhaust machine components were transported to the ice giant, joining the gas extraction efforts.
Time passed bit by bit, and the number of exhaust machines also rapidly increased.
One million, two million, five million... until it reached 15 million before stopping.
The surface area of this ice giant was only about 7.85 billion square kilometers. Tom deployed a total of 15 million colossal exhaust machines, averaging approximately one per 500 square kilometers!
From the South Pole to the North Pole to the equator, no part of this ice giant was spared.
With 15 million exhaust machines, the average daily extraction volume was approximately 200 quintillion tons. At this rate, it would only take about 12 years to completely drain this ice giant.
Of course, this was an idealized scenario. Actual engineering would be influenced by various factors. Also, the ice giant’s core was rocky and obviously couldn’t be extracted, and the core accounted for about 20\% of the total mass. All things considered, Tom believed he could complete the entire project in about 10 years.
Ten years to completely destroy an ice giant with approximately 15 times the mass of Earth—something previously unimaginable—became truly within reach as Tom’s technological level reached approximately mid-Moraise civilization.
Time quietly passed under these circumstances. As the numerous exhaust machines continued to operate, Tom saw the ice giant’s volume visibly shrink.
At this point, the Star Beasts lurking deep within the ice giant also seemed to finally sense their future fate, and at last, unable to restrain themselves, they began to move.
Millions of Star Beasts, large and small, churned up from the planet’s depths like abyssal sea creatures, launching attacks on Tom’s numerous exhaust machines.
Seeing this scene, Tom felt no anger, but rather exhilaration.
"This is exactly what I want!
Anyway, these exhaust machines only extend to a depth of 500 kilometers at their deepest. The gas density isn’t too high yet, so it won’t significantly affect my specialized spacecraft, and their combat power can remain high.
If you dare to attack these exhaust machines, I’ll wipe you out right here. If you don’t attack the exhaust machines and remain hidden deep within the planet where I can’t easily reach, then just slowly wait for me to drain the entire planet, and you’ll still die in the end!
No matter what, you will die!"
Tom immediately commanded numerous warships to penetrate the planet’s interior, setting up defenses centered around these exhaust machines.
It was merely a defense. If the Star Beasts didn’t attack these exhaust machines, Tom wouldn’t bother actively pursuing them.
Anyway, time was on his side. If they didn’t attack, they could just slowly wait for death.
In the third year after all the exhaust machines were fully deployed and operational, the ice giant’s mass had shrunk by about 20%, but its volume had not decreased.
Because its own gravity had decreased, its density also decreased. The gases previously compressed by gravity expanded, still maintaining its original size.
But it became increasingly "hollow."
Tom continued his gas extraction operation. It wasn’t until 10.5 years later that this massive planet, which had taken hundreds of millions of years to form, finally disappeared.
In its place was a rocky planet with a radius of only about 4,000 kilometers, smaller than Earth, its surface completely covered by molten lava, and with extremely active geological processes.
It was the core of the original ice giant. All the gases previously concentrated outside had now been extracted, finally exposing it.
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