Fang Er pondered for a long time and decided to go and see for himself.
He ordered the gold-prospecting ships to be brought over, bringing Ge Luoyang and Xue Rengui with him.
When Chai Lingwu and Li Ke heard they were going on a long trip, they shamelessly tagged along.
Fang Er thought about it and decided to bring Li Xiaogong along as well.
This would prevent the old man from constantly eyeing the young women of the native tribes. Otherwise, by himself, he could make the Li clan the largest surname in Australia.
Hundreds of gold-prospecting ships shot up into the sky and sped south.
Li Ke and Chai Lingwu, brothers who hadn't traveled far for a long time, started playing a game of aerial racing shortly after setting off.
For everyone, this was the first time they were crossing the Australian continent from south to north.
The entirety of Australia was still just the tip of the iceberg in terms of development. Not to mention the south, even the central regions remained untouched.
In the pristine natural environment, there were lush, towering trees everywhere, a paradise for wild animals.
The desert area was also not as vast as it would be in later times, occupying almost half of the entire continent. From a bird's-eye view, the yellow sand below accounted for less than a tenth.
At dusk, they landed on the southern coast of Australia.
This area was closer to the South Pole, and the temperature was much lower than in the north, making it very cool.
With a clear sky and numerous stars, a group of people gnawed on roasted meat, sitting on the beach, enjoying themselves immensely.
"Beep beep beep..."
Suddenly, the radio placed nearby started ringing for no reason. Xue Rengui sprang forward and quickly jotted down the coded message. After the translation came out, he quickly looked up at the sky.
Fang Er and the others were waiting for him to report the telegram. Seeing him frozen there, they couldn't help but urge him on.
"Where did the telegram come from?"
"Duke, look quickly!"
Xue Rengui didn't mention the telegram but pointed at the sky and shouted. Everyone quickly looked up at the night sky.
In the sky, a meteor shower had appeared! Dozens of glowing masses streaked towards the west, illuminating the night sky! The largest one, seen from such a distance, was as big as a walnut! If this were to fall into a city, it would absolutely be a natural disaster!
"What the heck??"
Fang Er suddenly remembered Yuan Tiangang's telegram and felt like he had misunderstood something. He crouched down, sketched the outline of the world map in the sand, and after a moment of pointing, slapped his forehead.
"Damn it! Yuan Tiangang tricked us!"
"What's wrong?" Li Xiaogong asked, confused.
Fang Er speechlessly dropped the stone in his hand and pointed at the lines on the ground.
"What Old Yuan said about twenty-five thousand li to the southeast must have been based on him as the reference point!"
"If calculated from our location, it should be to the west!"
"So, we went to the wrong place!"
If the reference point was the east coast of North America, then twenty-five thousand li to the southeast would point to the South African region. However, if calculated from Australia, it would lead to Antarctica. These were two completely different destinations!
He had Xue Rengui send a telegram to Yuan Tiangang to confirm, and it turned out to be exactly as Fang Er had thought. That old fellow had no idea where Fang Er was at the moment, so he hadn't considered if Fang Er's southeast was his own southeast!
Given the speed of the gold-prospecting ships, it would have been the best choice to chase after the meteors at this point. But these things... like the Marauder's photon generator, they were useless without sunlight, so everyone could only watch the meteors fall to the west with no way to do anything...
"I say, you have thousands of researchers, all incredibly brilliant, and yet you can't even develop a high-capacity battery?" Li Xiaogong mocked him from the side.
"You watch you, I don't care!" Fang Er retorted without politeness.
Li Xiaogong: "????
"What the heck, what does that mean!"
Chai Lingwu walked over with a chuckle and patted him on the shoulder.
"Heh heh... my brother-in-law says, 'A true gentleman does not speak while watching a game of chess!'"
Fang Er immediately turned to look at him. When did this guy secretly study? And he could even translate it so elegantly?
"Hiahiahiahia.........."
"How is it, aren't you amazed? Second Master wasn't idle these past few days!"
Chai Lingwu was very satisfied with Fang Er's reaction, smugly put his hands behind his back, and walked towards the tent.
"Going to sleep, tomorrow, we chase the stars!"
Fang Er: ..........
The night passed without incident.
As soon as the sky dawned the next day, they headed west.
No one knew where the meteor had fallen. But no matter where it landed, with such a large volume, it couldn't have been silent! If it fell into the sea, it would likely have created colossal waves. If it landed on land, an earthquake would have been inevitable.
From Australia, all the way west, the gold-prospecting ships streaked through the sky like streaks of light, everyone intently watching the sea below. Calm. Still calm. Flying at a thousand kilometers per hour from sunrise until noon, they finally detected an anomaly ahead.
"Ascend, there's a giant wave!" Xue Rengui's voice came from the walkie-talkie.
Hearing this, everyone instinctively raised the flight altitude of their gold-prospecting ships. Soon, they saw a mountain-like tsunami sweeping towards them from ahead. The crest of the wave was at least fifty meters high!
"Holy cow, will this thing roll all the way to Australia?" Li Xiaogong stared at the tsunami below, his face filled with shock. They had never heard of such massive waves! Anyone who had seen or experienced them wouldn't be able to escape!
"It will have an impact, but it shouldn't be too significant, right?" Fang Er sounded a bit guilty, as he couldn't be sure himself. "Rengui, notify Australia to prepare for disaster relief, and also inform the Protectorate of Southern Yue."
All they could do now was prepare. They were about five thousand kilometers away from the west coast of Australia. At the speed of a tsunami, it would take six to seven hours to arrive. Along the way, there wasn't even a single large island. They could only hope that this long distance would dissipate the tsunami's kinetic energy.
Unable to do anything, they could only cross over the tsunami's wave crest and continue heading west. Three hours later, when they reached the airspace above Madagascar, they were shocked to discover that the area was already in ruins! Mountains had collapsed, trees were broken, it was a scene of utter devastation!
"Except for Team One, everyone else disperse and see if there are any survivors. Contact via radio!" In this situation, they could only do their best and leave the rest to fate. Leaving three hundred people to search, Fang Er, Li Xiaogong, Xue Rengui, and the others continued forward. An hour later, above the airspace of what would later be Mozambique, everyone stared at the scene before them in stunned silence. A mountain peak had been snapped in half from the middle! Within a radius of several kilometers, there were scattered rocks everywhere, making it impossible to distinguish whether they were meteorites or mountain stones. The surrounding trees had fallen radially, their branches and leaves gone, leaving only thick trunks! Everywhere were animal corpses that had been scorched and then soaked in seawater! This scene was equivalent to the power of a nuclear explosion! And it wasn't just one!