afterglow

Chapter 686: The blazing sun falls to the ground; ten suns appear at the same time, burning everything
Someone responded: "If you fly too low, there will be anti-aircraft guns!"

Xiao Bi Zhang flew the plane slowly down from 8500m to 6000m. The city of Canberra located between the valleys came into view. Anti-aircraft fire started and many shells from QF 3-inch anti-aircraft guns exploded behind the formation.

"What's going on? I'm going to hand over control!" Xiao Bi Zhang asked loudly.

Ren Rui stared at the panel nervously, only to see that the yellow indicator light finally went out and the green light came on.

"Alright! Normal!"

"Okay, get to work. Fang Zening is counting on you."

"clear!"

5月20日当地时间10：07，投弹手方泽宁接管了飞机控制权，QZ350-6号机的投弹舱门随即开启，露出了挂载的绿色“西瓜”。

The anti-aircraft fire seemed to be more accurate. The explosions rumbled and everyone felt a clear vibration.

The navigator said calmly, "The current wind is from the southeast, with a speed of nine knots, few clouds, and visibility of Class A. Bombing is allowed."

Through the bomb sight, Fang Zening saw the iconic building - the Federal Capitol. Worried, he glanced at the aerial photo used as a reference and confirmed that the building in the middle of the circular plaza was the target.

After aiming, he pushed the lever, and the four-engine heavy bomber immediately entered automatic flight mode. After flying over the target in the current posture, the bomb hook would automatically unlock.

According to the flight speed and target direction, there are about ten seconds left.

After doing all this, Fang Zening's mind kept replaying the video clips of the test explosion. Thinking of the light and mushroom cloud that symbolized death, he couldn't help but ask himself: Is this city going to be destroyed because of this?
At this moment, on the ground below, many anti-aircraft guns were still firing fiercely in vain.

Although the South Pacific route has limited capacity, it has still transported a lot of key materials over the past year, and most of the US-made radars have been deployed in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne.

Therefore, the traces of the Ming army bombers had been discovered long ago. Realizing that only a few bombers had arrived this time, the Royal Australian Air Force suspended the interception operation. Now, there are only about a hundred planes left in the vast Australia that can still fight, so it is better not to waste them.

The sharp sound of air raid sirens had already resounded throughout the city, and citizens rushed to the underground air-raid shelters.

Compared with the general public, federal officials were much calmer and appeared composed. Some were even sorting out documents while handling matters.

Although the Ming army also bombed Canberra in the past few months, usually only 20 to 30 heavy bombers came, and the bombs would deliberately avoid the Federal Parliament Building, so the officials and security personnel were quite calm.

Second Lieutenant Evatt of the 3rd Air Defense Regiment (Battalion) put down his binoculars and called the headquarters.

He reported: "This is the D6 air defense observation post. Identification is complete. The incoming targets are determined to be 3 heavy bombers and 8 light bombers. One of them broke away from the formation and advanced about 1 miles alone. It looks very strange."

Lieutenant Evatt mistook the escorting Type 38 heavy fighter for a light bomber, and also noticed something strange.

There was a lone plane in front and a larger group behind, so the ground anti-aircraft firepower would undoubtedly prioritize attacking the latter.

When it was still hundreds of meters away from the target, the bomb hook of QZ350-6 was unlocked, and the green mysterious watermelon instantly fell out of the bomb bay and fell downward from an altitude of 6000m.

At this point, everything is irreversible.

It suddenly felt several tons lighter, and everyone felt as if the plane suddenly jumped upwards.

The drop was successful, control was automatically returned to the pilot, and everyone put on glare goggles.

Xiao Bizhang shouted in a brisk tone: "Everyone, sit tight!"

He pushed the throttle to the bottom, pulled the control stick to steer the plane slightly to the left, and then continued to turn sharply and dive.

The aircraft deviated by about 65° during this process, and the flight altitude dropped sharply from 6000m to 4700m, but the speed also increased to 580km/h.

Everyone's hearts had never been so tense, as if they were being held tightly by demons and monsters.

"The die is cast; there is no regret in making the move." For some reason, Ren Rui suddenly said two idioms in an elegant manner.

At the same time, the QZ-5500-350 aircraft 2 meters behind also dropped two aluminum alloy cylinders, which, like gasoline barrels, opened their parachutes and fell slowly at a very slow speed.

They are equipped with shock wave sensors, Geiger counters and radio equipment, which will automatically send out the detected data.

Five seconds after leaving the carrier aircraft, the small white parachute at the tail of the atomic bomb opened to slightly slow down its descent.

In the first second, the mechanical time fuse is activated.

At the tenth second, the radio altimeter was activated.

At the fifteenth second, the barometric altimeter is activated.

According to calculations by explosives experts, an air blast at an altitude of 550m can maximize the killing range, but cannot destroy solid buildings; conversely, the lower the altitude, the smaller the killing range and the stronger the attack capability. This time, the Ming army decided to set the detonation altitude at 475m, which will be determined by a radio altimeter.

If it fails unexpectedly, the mechanical time fuse will ensure forced detonation after the countdown ends, but the error will become larger and the height will be uncertain.

At the 30th second, the battery has completed charging the capacitor.

At the 67th second, the radio altimeter detected that it was at the correct altitude.

In this tiny moment, the control system sent an electrical signal to make the capacitor release a current of 3600V, instantly activating 20 electric detonators and detonating the 20 triangular cones surrounding the central plutonium ball.

Each cone is actually subdivided into three layers - the outermost layer is high-speed explosive (containing wax-passivated tetryl), the middle layer is low-speed explosive (lead nitrate), and the innermost layer is high-speed explosive (containing wax-passivated octogen).

The complex structure is designed to ensure that the detonation wave is evenly and stably collected and applied to the central plutonium ball, which is greatly compressed and enters a supercritical state.

There is also a small ball in the center of the plutonium ball. Its scientific name is a neutron source. It is made of polonium and beryllium, and the two are separated by boron-containing plastic.

Under instantaneous overpressure, as the plutonium ball is compressed, the small ball in the center is also compressed, and polonium and beryllium are squeezed together. Polonium mainly radiates alpha particles, while beryllium releases neutrons after absorbing alpha particles. This is the role of the neutron source.

As a result, a large number of free neutrons spread violently in all directions, causing the plutonium element in the supercritical state to fission and develop into an uncontrollable chain reaction.

In the blink of an eye of less than 50 milliseconds, countless energies contained between atomic nuclei were suddenly released, equivalent to about 82 trillion joules, and they gushed out between heaven and earth like a huge wave that could destroy the world!
"What's going on? No movement yet?"

Fang Zening kept staring at his watch and asked puzzledly.

As soon as the words fell, a sudden bright light bathed the entire plane in white!
He understood that everything was settled.

It has never been so bright, never.

Even under the bright summer sun, the cabin was always a little dim, but now it was as bright as if a searchlight had been stuffed in.

Before anyone could recover from this extraordinary flash of light, they immediately felt a strange reaction – a strange metallic taste appeared in their mouths.

The taste is strange, a bit like iron and a bit like lead, similar to licking a key or a coin with your tongue, but the taste is a bit stronger.

All crew members knew that this was a normal physiological reaction to ionizing radiation. "The sun is falling to the ground! The sun is falling... Shit! The shock wave is coming!!!"

The tail self-defense machine gunner is the youngest soldier on the plane. He is seventeen years old and from Xi'an. Everyone calls him Little Xi'an.

He saw a circle of light - just like Saturn's rings, it was expanding rapidly, sweeping around and getting closer and closer to the plane.

The shock wave of a nuclear explosion expands at three times the speed of sound, destroying everything around it. Although it is constantly weakening, it should not be underestimated.

It caught up with the carrier aircraft that released it. The QZ350-6 aircraft was now 13.4 km away from the explosion center, but the shock wave still threw the heavy bomber weighing dozens of tons into the air like a paper airplane.

"Hold on!"

The plane was shaking violently. Xiao Bi Zhang gripped the joystick tightly, trying his best to maintain control of the plane, silently praying to God that the plane would not disintegrate.

Fortunately, the Yuan-year bomber manufactured by Zhongsheng Company was of qualified quality and had sufficient structural strength to withstand this extraordinary "backlash".

The crew members were still in shock and had no time to catch their breath when little Xi'an started screaming again.

"Fuck! Damn it! It happens again!"

The second shock wave came toward the plane, which was actually the echo formed by the shock wave bouncing back into the sky after hitting the earth.

The force wasn't great, and the plane took it easily.

However, by this time the plane had already fallen nearly a thousand meters in altitude due to the severe turbulence caused by the first shock wave and was semi-out of control.

Xiao Bi Zhang carefully maneuvered the plane to stabilize, checked various instruments, and found that there were no major problems except for some minor abnormalities in individual components.

He turned the plane around and headed back, then switched to autopilot and impatiently took off his glare goggles.

Not only him, but also the navigator, radio operator, bombardier, machine gunner, mechanic and others also gathered at the left self-defense machine gun turret and the tail machine gun turret, staring at the scene of death in the distance in amazement through the bulletproof glass.

A huge dark gray mushroom cloud rose from the ground, and the Canberra city that was intact half a minute ago had completely disappeared.

Everything below seemed to have turned to ashes. No, to be more precise, it was embers that had not yet been completely extinguished, still emitting faint sparks.

The high-temperature and high-pressure nuclear explosion shock wave swept through the city like magma, and the temperature of thousands of degrees, which was almost the same as the surface of the sun, burned everything. Any building near the explosion center was reduced to ruins, but a few reinforced concrete buildings in places a little further away stubbornly persisted.

No one said a word and everyone was shocked.

"This life is worth it. Fortunately, I didn't go to college." Xiao Bi Zhang exclaimed in amazement.

As a special member from the Red Sand Castle Base, Major Ren Rui installed the detonator himself. He took a deep breath and couldn't help but recite.

"Beyond the southeastern sea, between the Gan River, there lived a woman named Xihe who gave birth to ten suns in the Gan Yuan. In the time of Emperor Yao, ten suns emerged at once, scorching crops, burning grass and trees, scorching fields, and drying up streams."

The plane flew over Canberra and past the mushroom cloud, and everyone has not yet recovered from the shock.

The navigator suddenly thought that this scene was unforgettable and wanted to keep something as a commemoration, so he hurriedly found his camera and took a roll of film with a series of clicks.

The color of the mushroom cloud faded from dark gray to light gray, and it rose thousands of feet into the sky.

This mushroom cloud blooming on the oldest continent on Earth was like a graffiti left by the god of death, coldly and ruthlessly declaring that this place had been brutally erased with a force that had never been used in disputes.

编号TZM-2（特种照明弹二号）、昵称西瓜的钚弹在5月20日上午10时11分联邦国会大厦上空爆炸。

它的实际当量达到了19300吨梯恩梯，火球半径400m、重度冲击波毁伤半径1000m、轻度冲击波毁伤半径4000m、光辐射灼烧半径2800m（可造成三级烧伤）。

The Capitol Building and the Circus suffered the most damage and are almost completely gone.

No one could tell that this was once the administrative center of Australia. Only ruins were left on the ground, and the rubble appeared in a strange charred, dark red, and molten state.

The current Parliament House is different from the newly built ones in later generations, and the artificial Lake Burley Griffin does not exist. There is only the Molonglo River in the center of Canberra.

The high temperature, almost as high as that of the sun's surface, caused the surface river water to boil. The fish in the river also became victims. People who were swimming in the river to relax were also not spared.

The position of the Australian 3rd Air Defense Regiment (Battalion) was in the northern suburbs and was not damaged, but some people were temporarily blinded because they happened to look directly at the flash. All QF 3-inch anti-aircraft guns stopped firing and the soldiers were deeply shocked.

The nuclear explosion caused some communications to be interrupted, and Lieutenant Evatt hurriedly called on everyone except a few to stay behind to rush to the city for rescue.

Most of the city was gone, the familiar houses were in ruins, and the streets were filled with distraught citizens.

There were fires everywhere, and the number of fire points was countless. Some firefighters and militiamen were struggling to put out the fires.

The situation was better in places further out. The Canberra Post Office was a reinforced concrete building so it was basically undamaged, but the glass in all the windows was completely shattered.

However, once you go deeper into the city center, an indescribable scene of tragedy comes into view.

Cries for help, crying, and screaming were everywhere; fear and pain became the only atmosphere here.

Lieutenant Evatt was horrified when he saw a dying man sitting with his back against the ruins, the skin on his arms had fallen off and hung under his hands.

The light radiation, which far exceeded the brightness of the sun, caused severe burn injuries. The clothes and hair of the exposed people instantly burned up. Now many people are in tattered clothes or even naked, with large pieces of skin peeling off and bloody.

The horrifying smell of burnt human flesh filled the air, making one feel sick.

Some injured people staggered towards the Molonglo River, perhaps trying to wash their bodies or find water to drink, but the river was covered with dead fish with their white bellies turned up.

"Mr. Officer, please give us some water. The children are so thirsty." A severely burned mother with her two boys blocked the convoy.

But they set off in such a hurry that no one brought water. Ewart suddenly remembered that there was water in the car's radiator, so he took some cooling water.

Seeing the army arriving, some government employees took the initiative to find Evatt and his team and asked them to help rescue the Capitol.

The scene here was even worse, indescribable, with charred limbs and smoking corpses everywhere.

A British Humber Sands luxury car had all its paint melted away and was completely burned into a metal wreckage, with four charcoal-black bodies that were no longer human.

The Federal Capitol no longer existed, and without engineering machinery, it was impossible to rescue the pile of rubble.

The officials and lawmakers had obviously suffered serious casualties, and there was actually a sturdy air-raid shelter near the building, but their arrogance and self-confidence cost them their lives.

Someone stared at the ruins in amazement and said, "Lord, we are being attacked by the devil."

【You can refer to NukeMap's simulation. 】

(End of this chapter)