Chen Hao's palms were still pressed on the D-shaped mat, and his whole body felt as if his bones had been removed, slumped limply to the ground. He felt a tightness in his chest, and his breaths were like those squeezed out of a broken bellows, gasping and trembling.

"Sealing complete." Nana's voice rang out, as calm as if she hadn't just experienced that life-or-death race. "Oxygen concentration is recovering."

He grimaced, trying to laugh, but only managed a face that looked worse than a grimace. Sweat dripped down his chin, making a small dot on the metal floor before being quickly dried by the residual heat of the hold.

"You said..." he gasped, "Could you please not always make me the human sealant next time?"

Nana didn't answer, but a flash of blue light appeared in her eyes as she began scanning the main control system's status. A few seconds later, she said softly, "Power restart program initiated, backup power remaining at 3%."

The moment he finished speaking, the escape pod jolted violently, as if it had been thrown from a great height and bounced back. Chen Hao was flung directly to the edge of the seat, his shoulder throbbing painfully, and he almost bit his tongue.

"Ouch—I've landed?" He sat up, leaning against the wall, his head spinning.

“Landing confirmed.” Nana looked at the screen that had come back on. “The impact cushioning system has run out of energy. The outer shell is slightly deformed, but the structure is intact.”

The red lights inside the cabin went out, and the green lights slowly came on, as if a sigh of relief had finally arrived. A line of text appeared on the main control screen: **Landing confirmed, coordinates locked, environmental assessment in progress.**

Chen Hao rubbed his temples, his chubby body slowly moving towards the door. He steadied himself by holding onto the control panel; his legs were still wobbling, but at least he didn't kneel down again.

"Can people really live outside?" He stared at the hatch, his voice a little weak.

"Atmospheric composition testing in progress." Nana walked over and tapped the panel a few times with her finger. "Nitrogen and oxygen ratio is normal, carbon dioxide concentration is slightly high, no highly toxic gases, it is safe to breathe directly."

"Isn't that just like the suburbs of Earth?" He breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought I'd have to wear a gas mask and act out a biohazard."

“But the surface temperature is 45 degrees Celsius.” She turned to look at him. “I suggest you put on your propulsion suit immediately to avoid heat stress.”

"45?" He stared wide-eyed. "This isn't a planet, it's a sauna!"

Nana didn't say anything, but simply opened the storage compartment, took out a flat silver backpack, and placed it at his feet.

"The pre-cooling of the suit is complete. A three-minute cooling cycle has been completed. Wearing it now will reduce the initial heat load."

Chen Hao bent down to grab it, but as soon as he squatted down, he felt a jolt in his knee and almost fell to the ground. He took a breath and muttered to himself, "I never used to be this tired when I cheated on exams... Now, I have to walk to escape."

He unzipped the suit and shook it open. The suit looked like a thicker version of a ski suit, but the material was stiffer, with metallic textures at the joints and a flat battery pack on the back.

"Won't this thing turn me into a portable electric heater if I wear it?" he muttered, putting on the leg sleeves as slowly as if he were defusing a time bomb.

Nana stood to the side, the blue light scanning the data stream from the external sensors, and suddenly said, "The hatch hydraulic system is delayed due to energy-saving mode, and manual assistance is required to open it."

"Huh?" He was stuck in one leg, hopping on one foot to keep his balance. "Couldn't you have waited until I was dressed before opening it? If there are monsters outside, I'm a buffet right now."

“No life signs were detected,” she said. “And the monster doesn’t use pressure valves.”

"You make it sound like you've seen this before." He finally shoved his second leg in, plopped down on the metal ladder, and started fastening his belt.

The hatch clicked shut, followed by a slow depressurization sound. The hydraulic lever hummed a few times, the door gap widened little by little, and finally slammed shut with a thud, kicking up a cloud of reddish-brown dust.

Hot air rushed in immediately, hitting my face like a burning hot towel.

Chen Hao squinted as he looked outside—

A desolate wasteland stretched to the horizon, with stones scattered haphazardly on the ground like shards of broken pottery carelessly tossed aside. The sky was a dark orange, cloudless and birdless, with only a dim, yellowish sun hanging in the sky like a nearly broken old light bulb.

"This is... my new home?" He reached out and touched the ground, immediately pulling his hand back because it was so hot. "You could make pancakes on this floor."

“The surface rocks have a high iron content and strong reflectivity,” Nana said calmly, standing behind him. “I suggest you don’t touch exposed rocks with your bare hands.”

"You're quite good at giving reminders." He raised his hand to wipe his face, the sweat that had just appeared was evaporated by the hot air. "So what's our next step? Should we build on the spot or plant a flag to declare sovereignty?"

"The priority is to establish a temporary survival point," she said. "Once the propulsion suit is donned, a preliminary exploration of the surrounding 50-meter radius is required."

"Exploration?" He smiled wryly. "I can't even read a map of my neighborhood, and now you want me to do a geological survey?"

“You just walk around and record visual information,” she said. “I do the analysis.”

"So I'm your eyes?" He sighed, looking down as he continued fastening his shoulder strap. "Then you'll have to give me a sun hat, otherwise I'll be cooked before I've even walked ten meters."

Nana paused for two seconds, then suddenly pulled a folding wide-brimmed hat from the side pocket of her backpack and handed it over.

"Standard accessories for promotional uniforms include a radiation-proof sun hat with a UV protection level of 9+."

Chen Hao took the hat, unfolded it, and put it on, the brim covering his nose. "This look... is exactly like the ID photo my mom took when she forced me to go on a blind date."

“Appearance doesn’t affect function,” she said. “You can get up now.”

He gripped the ladder handrail and slowly climbed up. His large body was stuck in the hatch, and the joints of his propulsion suit made a slight creaking sound, as if it were about to give way at any moment.

As soon as I took a step, I felt a burning sensation under my feet; even through my shoes, I could feel the ground "baking".

"You'll live in this place during the day, but freeze to death at night, won't you?" He steadied himself and looked back at the escape pod—the outer shell was crooked at one corner, and the hatch was half collapsed, like a flattened soda can.

"The temperature is expected to be 21 degrees Celsius at night," she said. "There is a large temperature difference between day and night, but it is within the range that the human body can tolerate."

"That at least leaves you a way out." He took two steps forward, his steps a little unsteady. "You're saying no one has ever been to this planet?"

"The orbital scan detected no man-made structures, electromagnetic signals, or vehicle debris," she said. "It has been determined to be an uninhabited planet."

“Shouldn’t we put up a monument?” He stopped, turned around and pointed to the escape pod. “Write ‘Human Chen Hao and robot Nana first landed on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year’, and then draw a smiley face after it.”

“The carving tools were not in the emergency kit,” she said. “And the rock is quite hard, so it’s impossible to carve by hand.”

"Can't you cooperate a little?" He rolled his eyes. "At least give it some ceremony."

“Your left foot is stepping into loose sand,” she said. “I suggest you adjust your center of gravity.”

He looked down and sure enough, his left foot had sunk three centimeters into the soil, which had buried up to the top of his shoe.

"Am I going to be swallowed by this planet?" He quickly pulled it out, which kicked up a cloud of dust and made him cough.

Nana stepped forward, the blue light sweeping across the ground ahead. "There's a stable rock base three meters ahead, suitable for a short stop. There's a sheltered depression fifteen meters to the right, which can serve as a temporary observation point."

"Your navigation is even better than my phone's." He staggered forward. "Did you used to work part-time as a tour guide?"

“I have no record of experiences outside of my memory bank,” she said. “All information comes from standard databases.”

“You make it sound so real.” He walked to the rocky base, steadied himself, and looked up at the dim, yellow sun.

The wind whipped up fine sand, rustling it across the surface of the propulsion suit. The surroundings were eerily quiet; even the hot air seemed to suck away most of one's breath.

He raised his hand and looked at the shadow cast on the red soil—a short section, like a compressed mushroom.

"You mean..." he suddenly began, "that we can really survive here?"

Nana stood beside him, the blue light flickering slightly.

“The survival rate is 78.6%,” she said, “provided that the operating procedures are followed.”

He grinned, sweat dripping from his chin and making a small dent in the red soil.

"The way you say that is as perfunctory as the cafeteria lady telling 'We still have vegetables today'."

He raised his hand to touch the shoulder strap to make sure it was fastened, then took a deep breath and took a step forward.

A blast of hot air hit me, and the cooling system of the propulsion suit began to hum.

He looked up at the dim, yellow sun and took a breath:

"Damn it... this is just the beginning."