In the summer of 2088, near the Earth's orbit in the abyss-like space, a silver, streamlined warp butterfly spacecraft, traveling at near-light speed, passed through like a photon, heading towards Earth. Seated in the cockpit of the disc-shaped spacecraft, Xiao Hei, a man in his early thirties dressed in a tight black space suit, gazed at the increasingly clear blue Earth scenery below. His coffee-colored face reflected the blue glow from the window screen, resembling the patina on a freshly excavated bronze artifact. Together with his beautiful fiancee Maya, they stared intently at the blue Earth below, feeling an indescribable sensation, a call from a force deep within the collective consciousness of human and animal instincts.

Xiao Hei looked at the home where his parents and generations of humanity had lived. Having watched countless videos on Mars depicting the blue water-filled planet, he felt a surge of energy awakening the dormant mechanisms in his and Maya's genes, attracted by the gravitational waves emitted by Earth.

"Ah!"

Xiao Hei let out a loud breath, trying to harmonize the newfound feelings in his stream of consciousness. His dark brown skin, tight like bronze, showcased the handsome features inherited from his father, Xiao Jian. Sitting beside him, Maya's eyes were also fixed on the increasingly detailed Earth landscape. There was an inexplicable feeling emerging, a sensation of being summoned by a force deep within the human-animal consciousness.

As the warp spacecraft observed Earth from a distance, the surface of the land looked fragile, like pieces of shattered eggshells, irregularly scattered over the blue seawater. Upon entering Earth's atmosphere, the sky above the spacecraft turned pale, and the land beneath became pale too. The blue seen from space seemed to disappear.

Xiao Hei calmly piloted the warp spacecraft through the high-altitude atmospheric layers of Earth, and the sky outside the window began to resemble ink paintings, with a hazy tint. The color of the sky faded into a gloomy gray as the spacecraft descended. The spacecraft's sensors displayed dust particles scattered in the upper atmosphere due to the shockwaves from nuclear explosions. Xiao Hei wondered how long it would take for this dust to settle again.

Observing Earth from the warp spacecraft, the surface of the land appeared vulnerable, resembling broken eggshells with a thin layer of yellowish yolk floating in the blue sea. As the spacecraft descended into Earth's atmosphere, the sky became paler, and the once vibrant blue seemed to vanish.

Undeterred, Xiao Hei continued to pilot the spacecraft through the atmospheric layers. The sky outside gradually blurred like ink paintings, and the atmosphere turned into a misty gray. The spacecraft's supersonic frequency triggered lightning in the lower stratosphere, followed by rain. Xiao Hei steered the spacecraft to chase the rain clouds, an experience he had never had on Mars. His friend, Qin Pengfei, piloted another warp spacecraft, following Xiao Hei's trajectory. Pengfei joyfully exclaimed over the communication system, "Xiao Hei, there are clouds, lightning, and rain in the sky here. It's so amazing to fly the spacecraft in these conditions!"

Xiao Hei's sister and Pengfei's fiancee, Mulan, chimed in, "This is Earth, with biodiversity and life content a thousand times that of Mars. Once we return to Earth, we won't want to leave."

Observing the rainwater washing the Earth's surface from above, Xiao Hei was moved. He had watched countless videos on Mars, but the real experience was entirely different. The gravitational waves emitted by Earth seemed to awaken the dormant mechanisms in his and Maya's genes.

"Wow! So, this is rain," Xiao Hei exclaimed with excitement. "It's like the sky taking a shower, and look, some parts of the gray land are turning green."

Maya, seated beside him, admired, "This green is the color of life. We have returned to a planet full of life."

Pengfei's voice came through, "Xiao Hei, this is amazing. There are clouds, lightning, and rain in the sky. Flying the spacecraft here is so exhilarating."

Mulan added, "Earth's biodiversity and the richness of life are ten thousand times that of Mars. After returning to Earth, we won't want to leave."

As Xiao Hei looked at the rainwater washing away the traces of the desolate Earth, he saw that it did not cut through the scarred landscape. The rain quickly revitalized the long-dry leaves of plants, washed away the dust from the trees, and revealed a hint of green on the ground, a sight unseen on Mars.

With joy, Xiao Hei observed the droplets falling on the window and said, "So, this is rain. The sky is literally bathing, and look, some parts of the gray land are turning green."

Maya, sitting next to him, praised, "This green is the color of life. We have returned to a planet full of life."

Mulan agreed, "You're right. After the nuclear explosion, the ruins were dominated by weeds like dandelions and crabgrass, with well-developed root systems. These vigorous weeds oppressed the other shallow grasses, depriving them of sunlight and moisture, making them wither."

Maya added, "You're right. The vitality of these weeds is incredible."

Xiao Hei, hearing Mulan and Maya's conversation, turned his head to look at the images collected by Maya. The weeds on the ground grew taller, and the leaves tilted toward the sunlight, despite their weakening strength. Xiao Hei also read the sensor data from the warp spacecraft, indicating that the oxygen in the air at high altitudes was thin. It seemed that after the nuclear explosions in the era after the Earth's detonation, a large amount of green plants was needed to synthesize oxygen.

When the warp spacecraft landed at the space center airport within the gray fortress city, the horizon disappeared from Xiao Hei's view. Tall and massive gray city walls blocked the sight, and the outside world, including trees and weeds, vanished. The gray and dark red lands were covered by a special green curtain.

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It was summer in the fortress city of Toronto, and the newly built and towering gray city walls bathed in the desolate warm acid rain. As the spacecraft flew over the castle, Xiao Hei saw the vast fortress construction project, seemingly ongoing tirelessly with lights burning day and night. About half of the city walls, composed of gray reinforced concrete and fifty meters thick, had already been completed, with various steel scaffolding supporting the sections under construction.

Through the mesh of steel bars, Xiao Hei saw the construction site, where robots and humans worked together diligently. These robots and humans in the wilderness were covered in a layer of dust or white frost, making their bodies and faces look like a mix of dust and frost. In the ruins after the Earth's nuclear explosion, humans were building a Great Wall with their flesh and blood, the fortress city, to isolate the invisible killer – radiation pollution.

Xiao Hei thought, "Hopefully, a few years later, these workers and the gray walls will disappear from Earth forever."

After the warp spacecraft landed, Xiao Hei, wearing a helmet and a white spacesuit, stepped out of the spacecraft. The moment he set foot on Earth, his body immediately felt a tremendous force pressing down

At this moment, the in-car phone rang with Wang Chao's voice: "Xiao Hei, Mu Lan, Ma Ya, Qin Pengfei, how are you guys?" The four people in the car immediately became spirited, "Grandpa, we've arrived."

Wang Chao's magnetic voice said, "The in-car robot is named Lei Jia, you can fully trust him, we'll meet later."

Xiao Hei replied, "Thank you, Grandpa, see you later." The in-car robot, Lei Jia, upon hearing Wang Chao's command, brought Xiao Hei and the others to the Blue Mountain in the North American ecological protection zone. Lei Jia stopped the car and said to Xiao Hei and the others, "This is an area that hasn't been affected by nuclear explosions. Except for the oxygen content being different from before the explosions, the natural environment is the same as it was before. You can get off and take a look."

"Okay, let's get off." Wearing space suits, Xiao Hei and the others got out of the car and entered the green-covered wilderness. In the distance, there were lush forests on the hills. Ma Ya and others stood in the open field, looking up at the grayish-white clouds. This was a sight they had never seen on Mars. Ma Ya reached out and danced in the air, saying, "I really want to take off my spacesuit, smell the air here, and touch the wind with my fingers."

Xiao Hei encouraged, "There will be such a day, as long as we work together." Mu Lan looked at the distant sky in amazement, "Indeed, this is not the barren Mars. Everywhere here is green, with clouds, wind, and rain. Although not pristine, I love it here."

Qin Pengfei opened his arms and cheered, "Earth, we're back. The descendants you nurtured have returned." Ma Ya bent down and picked a small yellow wildflower, asking Xiao Hei, "Is this the remaining non-nuclear area on Earth?"

Xiao Hei nodded, "Yes, this used to be Canadian territory. Canada is a non-nuclear country with a large land area, and its land is close to the North Pole. Therefore, large areas of original ecological zones survived on Earth after the nuclear explosions. Look, the surrounding forests are still intact. We saw many land plates on Earth from the spacecraft, and they were all gray and scorched, just like this area before."

The in-car robot Lei Jia reminded, "Xiao Hei, it's going to rain. There are still radioactive substances in the rainwater. Please return to the car." The group quickly returned to the car. Lei Jia closed the doors, and through the transparent car windows, they saw thick dark clouds rising. The grass in the wilderness was shaken nervously by the strong wind. After a muffled thunder, the heavy rain only lasted a few minutes before stopping. Xiao Hei joked, "This rain greeted us and then hurriedly ran to other lands."

Qin Pengfei laughed, "Haha, just a welcome gesture." Lei Jia, the in-car robot, took Xiao Hei and the others aimlessly through the wilderness. A day passed, the weather was uncooperative, the wind was fierce and relentless. The sky gradually turned black with the rising dust, and the wind became stronger. Dust rose from the fields, and gray feathers floated like slow smoke into the air. Some wheat grass in the fields made dry and urgent sounds in the wind. It seemed like they were praying that the best dust wouldn't fall back to Earth but disappear into the dark sky.

After dusk, the sky returned to darkness. Lei Jia stopped the car for everyone to rest. "We'll rest here for the night. You can take off your spacesuits. I'll adjust the indicators inside the car. After you finish dinner, please put on your spacesuits again, as this is the wilderness, and there might be unexpected emergencies."

"Okay." Lei Jia transformed the car body, leaving only a small window. Xiao Hei and others, in the automatically partitioned areas inside the car, completed their personal hygiene needs. They ate heated dinner of egg-fried rice. After dinner, the two couples lay down in separate areas to sleep. During the night, the wind outside grew stronger. The car body was vigorously shaken by the wind, and some stones hitting the car made a thudding sound. Xiao Hei, unable to sleep, got up and used night vision goggles to look at the scenery outside. He saw straw and leaves being blown up by the strong wind, and even some clumps of soil. It marked the route Lei Jia took through the fields. The sky became even darker, and through it, it seemed like the air could be felt spasming in waves. In the darkness of the night, no light penetrated the space because starlight couldn't pierce through the dust. Xiao Hei finally understood why, twenty years after the nuclear explosions, Toronto was building a hundred-meter-high city wall.

At dawn the next day, a red sun appeared in the gray sky. The sun looked like mature fresh blood. Throughout the night, the wind raced across the land, and plants fought with their fragile leaves. The roots of thin trees on the outskirts were probed by the wind and scattered in the direction of the wind. In the morning, the dust hung like fog, a kind of aerosol emulsion in the air composed of dust and air. The dust fell from the sky throughout the night, like a uniform blanket covering the earth. It landed on plants, piled up on the tops of buildings, and accumulated on dry power lines; it fell on the wilderness, making weeds and trees murky.

Seeing the harsh Earth environment in the so-called natural protection zone after twenty years of nuclear explosions, Xiao Hei, filled with many questions, asked Qin Pengfei, "Should we go out again to take a look?"

At this moment, Wang Chao spoke in the real-time monitoring system, "Xiao Hei, it's time to come back. You're just wasting time like this. If you want to do things, the first thing is to restore your bone density to Earth's level."

Xiao Hei replied responsibly, "Understood, Grandpa, we'll be back soon." Soon, the in-car robot returned to the city, almost flying back. An hour later, the in-car robot, Lei Jia, brought Xiao Hei and the others to the Star Navigation Building at the North American Space Station Center. Xiao Hei and the other four, wearing space suits, calmly walked towards the security checkpoint. Ma Ya felt that the Earth's security officers here looked like celebrities.

On the large screen above the security checkpoint, the song "Earth Welcomes You" was playing. Xiao Hei wondered, is Earth welcoming not only Mars immigrants but also immigrants from other planets? Is this to brainwash the locals or is it genuinely welcoming extraterrestrials? We were born on Mars, are we extraterrestrials? Are we the extraterrestrials now?