Chen Hao's hand trembled slightly as he placed the still faintly glowing eel into the wooden bucket. Too much salt had been sprinkled on, covering the fish in a white blanket, like a thin layer of snow.

"As long as this stuff is edible, it's fine." He brushed the salt off his hands. "As for the taste? Well, I'm so hungry I could eat rocks."

Nana squatted beside it, her mechanical fingers lightly tapping the side of the container, a stream of data flashing in her pupils. "Current humidity is too high, we recommend increasing ventilation frequency. Preliminary calculations indicate that the optimal flavor period will begin in 72 hours."

"You're at it again." Chen Hao rolled his eyes. "Three days? I can't even wait for three meals."

"Cured food is an art of time."

"Shouldn't we light some incense and hold an opening ceremony for it now?"

Nana didn't reply. She turned around and dragged a square metal box from the pile of tools. After opening it, she connected a flexible hose to the wooden barrel. The box started with a hum, and the indicator light on its surface changed from red to green.

"The temperature control is on, maintaining an internal temperature of 13 degrees Celsius and a relative humidity of 68 percent." She said calmly, "If there are no external interferences, the success rate is 82 percent."

"You're talking like you're gambling with your life." Chen Hao sat down on the edge of the bucket, dangling his legs over the rim. "Last time you said 67%, I believed you. And what happened? The net was saved, but all the fish escaped. Now that you've raised it to 82%, I'm even more panicked."

"The probabilistic model is updated based on the new variables."

In other words—it's still not allowed.

"Accuracy is improving."

"Alright then." He sighed, reached out and touched the lid of the bucket. "I'll just pretend it's asleep, dreaming about becoming a delicacy."

As darkness fell, a wind swept in from the sea, carrying an indescribable fishy smell. The pickling hut at the edge of the camp, made of wood chips and canvas, swayed gently in the wind, a few loose planks creaking.

Nana stood up and scanned the sky. "Abnormal cloud charge, strong acidic particles detected. Rain is expected within thirty minutes, pH value below 3.5."

"What?" Chen Hao looked up abruptly. "So poisonous? It can dissolve your skin after a bath?"

"It is recommended to reinforce the roof immediately and move the pickling barrels to a higher cave."

"Wait!" He slammed his hand on the bucket lid. "This fish just settled down, hasn't even uttered a few words in its sleep, and you want me to move it?"

"The roof structure is not strong enough to withstand corrosive rainwater."

"Can't we let it rest for a while first?"

"cannot."

The two stared at each other for a second, then Chen Hao raised his hands in defeat: "I give up. Don't you robots have any humanity at all? You won't even give me the right to marinate a fish?"

"Rights are not currently on the survival priority list."

Before the words were even finished, the first raindrop fell.

It didn't fall to the ground, but hit the wooden planks of the roof directly, making a soft "hiss" sound and emitting a little white smoke.

"Damn!" Chen Hao jumped up. "They really poisoned the water!"

Nana had already started dismantling the barrel. She lifted the entire barrel with one hand and tore off the securing ropes with the other, her movements swift and efficient. Chen Hao didn't even have time to complain and quickly went to move the second one.

But as soon as he bent down, his foot slipped. Rainwater flowed down the slope, and the ground quickly turned muddy. He staggered a few steps, almost kneeling in the water, and managed to steady himself by holding onto the wall.

"Don't stop." Nana said without turning her head. "There are still two buckets left."

"Do you think I'm a forklift?" He gritted his teeth and went to pick up the third bucket. "This bucket is heavier than me!"

"The estimation error is five percent."

"You're even counting on this?!"

The fourth bucket was the hardest to move; its bottom was stuck in the wet mud, and Chen Hao used all his strength to pull it out. He carried the bucket and rushed towards the cave, where rain began to fall heavily, each drop stinging his skin.

"We're almost there." Nana was already waiting at the cave entrance. After putting down the two she was holding, she immediately went forward to help.

Chen Hao pushed the bucket forward and collapsed onto the dry ground inside the cave, panting like a broken blower. "I... I'll never say 'just a little bit more' again. 'Just a little bit more' means 'completely finished'."

The rain outside was pouring down harder and harder, the sound of it hitting the roof of the pickling shed like oil sizzling in a pan. In less than ten minutes, half of the shed collapsed, the remaining planks bubbling and curling and blackening at the edges.

An empty bucket that hadn't been snatched away rolled out, spun around in the rain, and finally got stuck in a ditch, with only half of it still smoking.

"It's over." Chen Hao stared at the bucket and muttered, "My high-voltage power supply package has been withdrawn from the market before it even hit the market."

Nana stood at the cave entrance, unfolding a curved metal plate to shield herself from the drizzling rain. She glanced down at Chen Hao and saw him dipping his finger in the salt water that had splashed from the edge of the bucket, drawing circles on the ground.

"What are you doing?"

“Count the losses,” he said. “One fish equals one meal; one meal equals half a day’s energy; half a day’s energy equals… well, the more I calculate, the hungrier I get.”

"The remaining two buckets are intact, and the food has been preserved at a rate of 60%."

"It sounds high," he grinned. "But it's like passing a minor subject in an exam; it's not something to be happy about."

Nana didn't speak, but brought up the wrist projector and began recording rainfall, acidity, and wind speed. The data scrolled by line, her eyes focused as if she were writing a thesis.

Chen Hao looked up at her and said, "What are we doing this for? It would have been so nice to just sunbathe on the beach, but we had to set up a fish farm, catch fish, and pickle fish... Now look what's happened, we've lost our house, the fish are almost gone, and we have to hide here listening to you read out the data."

"The goal is to establish a sustainable food supply system."

"But all I want right now is a hot bite."

"Emotional fluctuations are normal, but heart rate has increased by 12 percent."

"You're monitoring this too?"

"All physiological indicators are within the monitoring range."

"Then how did you detect that I wasn't full?"

“The empty stomach has been identified, but there is currently no feasible solution.”

"So you knew I was hungry, but you pretended not to?"

"I don't have any 'installed' functional modules."

Chen Hao rolled over, lying face up, staring at the water seeping from the cave ceiling. "I should have known better than to catch that damn eel. I struggled to dredge it up, almost got electrocuted, and finally brought it back, only to be denied even the right to marinate it for a couple of days. What did it ever do to deserve this?"

"It probably wouldn't want to become food either."

"Hey?" He sat up. "You're still defending it?"

"I am merely stating a possibility."

"Okay, next time you go catch them, you pickle them, you expose them to acid rain, and I'll sit here and read the data to you."

“I can take on more physically demanding tasks.”

“That’s not what I meant…” He scratched his head. “Fine, I can’t argue with you.”

The rain subsided, but a burnt smell lingered in the air. In the distance, on the mudflats, the scattered remains of several wooden barrels floated in the shallow water, gently swaying with the waves.

Chen Hao suddenly laughed.

"What?" Nana asked.

“I was thinking, if this fish could talk, it would definitely be cursing us right now,” he said. “‘You humans are outrageous! Catching me is one thing, but expecting me to just lie here obediently in a bucket and wait to get salty? Dream on!’”

Nana was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Perhaps it just wants to generate electricity quietly."

“Who knows?” He propped himself up on his knees and walked to the cave entrance. “But next time, could we pickle it somewhere else? Like—a mountaintop? A desert? Or maybe we could build an acid-resistant chamber?”

"A feasible solution is being developed."

"Then hurry up." He glanced back at the remaining two buckets. "I don't want to go through another 'Rapid Rescue of a Salted Fish' scenario."

Nana nodded and continued recording the last segment of meteorological data. Her drone was covered in mud and acid stains, and had some rust on the joints, but it was still running smoothly.

Chen Hao squatted back down beside the bucket, reached out and touched the lid, and whispered, "Bear with it a little longer, brother. This time we'll definitely be able to turn you into a dish."

He licked his lips, tasting a trace of lingering salt.

At that moment, the last wisp of rain outside the cave stopped.

Sunlight peeked through the gaps in the clouds, shining on the damp rock face and reflecting a faint light.

Chen Hao squinted, then suddenly pointed into the distance and shouted, "Hey! What's that?"

Nana immediately turned in the direction he was pointing.

At the edge of the shallows after the tide recedes, a metal plate half-buried in the sand is slowly rising, its surface engraved with strange patterns, like some kind of symbol array.