It was still dark when Karl followed Nana across the scree slope. The wind whistled through the mountain crevices, making necks stiff. He was panting, and adjusted his backpack strap; his shoulder was already chafed red.

“Slow down,” he said. “I’m not a robot.”

“I know you’re not,” Nana said without turning her head. “But Chen Hao’s legs won’t last much longer, we have to hurry.”

She didn't stop, her mechanical legs making a soft clicking sound as they stepped on the gravel. A section of the road ahead had collapsed; the original wooden bridge was broken in two and leaning precariously beside the ditch. They had to take a longer route, walking along a slope that hugged the rock face.

“This road is much harder to travel than the one we came on,” Carl said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “The earthquake has turned the ground upside down.”

“The terrain data has been updated.” Nana stopped, raised her arm, and scanned the area ahead. “A new path has appeared. Fifteen meters to the right, there’s a gentle slope you can go down.”

“How can you do everything?” Carl muttered. “You can fix things, identify medicines, and even navigate.”

“There’s relevant information in the database,” she said. “It’s like how you remember where you put compressed biscuits.”

"But I didn't live with an entire book in my mind."

Nana glanced at him: "You're carrying half of my parts right now, which is quite heavy."

Carl looked down at his bag: "...That makes me sound like a human delivery box."

“You’re an auxiliary transport unit.” Nana turned and continued walking. “Number K-7.”

"Who gave you the authority to assign random numbers?"

"I just wrote it."

Carl rolled his eyes and followed.

It took them forty minutes to circle around to the perimeter of the base. The iron gate lay askew on the ground, half of it pinned down by a fallen utility pole. Several cracks appeared in the wall, as if it had been smashed with a hammer. The medical pod's window had a large hole, and the curtains hung outside, swaying in the wind.

"The situation is more serious than we thought." Nana walked in, her footsteps making a crisp sound as she stepped on the broken glass.

The room was a complete mess. All the shelves were overturned, drawers were half-open, and medicines were scattered all over the floor. Some bottles were broken, and liquid was seeping into the cracks in the floorboards. The monitor on the wall was black, with only the emergency light flickering dimly.

"Is the power supply still working?" Carl asked.

“The main circuit is damaged, but I can connect the backup battery.” Nana walked to the control panel, opened it, and quickly inserted her fingers into the interface. “Three minutes.”

She closed her eyes, and the system connected automatically. A few seconds later, the lights brightened, and a tattered interface appeared on the screen.

“The database is still there,” she said, “but some records are missing and need to be manually checked.”

"How do we find it? There are so many medicine bottles, and the labels are all gone."

Nana crouched down and activated the scanning mode. A blue light flashed in her eyes as she began to identify the medicines on the ground one by one.

“Antibiotics, found them.” She picked up a bottle. “Anti-inflammatory drugs are also here, just the packaging has changed.”

"What about nerve medication?"

“The data shows it’s stored in cabinet B3.” She stood up and walked to a metal cabinet in the corner. “But now…”

The cabinet was hit by a falling steel beam and completely crushed. The door was warped and jammed, making it impossible to see what was inside.

"It's over?" Carl leaned closer. "It's not really gone?"

"Not necessarily." Nana reached out and touched the cabinet. "The impact might have bounced the medicine bottle off."

She lay down on the ground, scanning for any remaining debris. A few seconds later, a notification sounded.

“Trace amounts of active ingredients were detected,” she said. “That’s the direction.”

She pointed to the other end of the room, to a small corner hidden by a collapsed partition. There were several empty boxes and insulation materials piled up there.

“You stay here and watch over the other medicines,” Nana said. “I’ll go check on them.”

Carl nodded and began packing up the usable medicines. He sorted them by category and put them into clean bags. As he packed, he muttered to himself, "I should have brought more bags."

Nana moved the partition and found a hidden compartment behind it. It was originally meant for spare batteries, but now it was crammed with miscellaneous items. She reached in and groped around, her fingertips touching a sealed bag.

Upon closer inspection, I found two small vials inside, labeled "nerve stabilizer".

“Found it,” she said softly.

"What did you say?" Karl turned his head when he heard the voice.

"Psychotropic drugs." She came out. "Two vials, unopened."

"Thank God," Carl breathed a sigh of relief. "At least the trip wasn't in vain."

"Don't celebrate too soon." Nana put the medicine away. "We need to confirm the dosage and expiration date now."

She accessed the terminal to verify the information. A few minutes later, she confirmed that everything was correct.

“It’s usable,” she said. “The storage conditions are also met.”

"Then hurry up and pack it up and go back." Carl handed over the prepared medicine. "I've packed it all."

Nana took the bag and checked it over. Then she took out the incubator from the toolbox, put the critical medicines inside, and turned on the cooling function.

"The energy can last for another six hours," she said. "Enough for us to make the round trip."

"You used a lot of electricity just now, didn't you?" Carl looked at her. "Are you alright?"

“The damage to the casing doesn’t affect its operation,” she said. “It just makes my footsteps a little louder.”

"It sounds like a tractor starting up."

"Then you must be a tractor driver."

Carl smiled and slung his bag over his shoulder. He glanced back at the messy medical pod.

“I used to think this place was pretty sturdy,” he said. “Now it just looks so-so.”

“Everything will break,” Nana said. “Including me.”

"If you break down, who can save the day while yelling at you?"

“Nobody’s here,” she said, “so I’m not going to be bad.”

She closed the lid of the incubator and fastened the latch. Then she walked to the door and paused at the threshold.

"Shall we go?" Carl asked.

“Wait a minute,” she said.

She glanced down at a shard of medicine at her feet. It was stained with a little yellowish liquid. She crouched down, touched it with her fingertip, and then smelled it.

“No,” she said.

"What's wrong?"

“There’s something wrong with the ingredients in this medicine.” She pulled up the analysis results. “This isn’t the sedative we usually use; it’s a different alternative with stronger side effects.”

"Did someone change the medication?"

“It might not be a person,” she said. “It could have been the wrong person in the chaos.”

"And what we've brought with us now..."

“They’re all correct.” She looked up. “I’ve checked them three times.”

Carl exhaled: "You scared me."

"Stay alert, that's the key to survival," she said. "Let's go."

They stepped out of the medical pod, where the wind had picked up. The sky was overcast, making it impossible to tell the time. The distant mountain ridges were blurred, as if shrouded in fog.

"Should we stick to the original route?" Carl asked.

“We’ll avoid the landslide area,” Nana said. “It’ll take twenty more minutes, but it’ll be safer.”

"I'll listen to you."

They walked down the gravel path, their footsteps crunching on the loose stones. Nana walked ahead, the incubator strapped to her back. Her steps were a little stiff, and her joints made a slight grinding sound.

"Are you really okay?" Carl asked again.

“I said there was no problem,” she said. “Even if there are problems, we can’t stop now.”

"I did not mean that."

“I know,” she said. “What you really meant was, ‘Are you tired?’”

"right."

“I’m not tired,” she said, “but I can feel the battery level dropping.”

"Then why are you walking so fast?"

“Because Chen Hao is waiting for his medicine,” she said. “Susan is waiting too. They can’t wait for us to rest.”

Karl didn't say anything more and quickened his pace.

When they reached the halfway point of the mountain, Nana suddenly stopped.

"What's wrong?" Carl asked.

She didn't answer, but instead crouched down and opened the incubator to check the temperature reading. The number was within the normal range, but she frowned.

“The cooling module’s output is unstable,” she said. “It’s possible that the impact caused it to become loose internally.”

Can it be repaired?

“Okay.” She reached into her bag for her tools, “but it will take five minutes.”

"You fix it, I'll watch."

She took out a small screwdriver and unscrewed the cover on the side of the enclosure. The wiring inside was exposed, and the fan was spinning slowly. She flicked the fan blades with her fingers, cleaning off some dust, and then re-secured the connectors.

"Okay," she said, "It's stable for now."

She closed the lid and stood up. Just then, the incubator emitted a short alarm.

The temperature reading jumped up from four degrees to six degrees, then dropped back down.

“It’s protesting,” Carl said.

“It’s reminding me,” she said, “that this thing is about to break.”

"Then let's hurry up and go."

Nana nodded, picked up her suitcase, and continued forward. Her strides became smaller, and she walked more cautiously.

The mountain path grew narrower and narrower. Steep slopes lined both sides, and the ground was covered with slippery moss. They had to hug the rock face, allowing only one person to pass at a time.

“Do you think we can get back in eight hours?” Carl asked.

"If nothing unexpected happens," she said, "it will."

What does "if" mean?

“Like now,” she said.

As soon as she finished speaking, a rock beneath her foot slipped, and she slid to the side. She immediately reached out to grab the rock face and steady herself. The incubator hit the rock with a dull thud.

"Damn!" Carl reached out and pulled her. "Are you alright?"

"The box is fine," she said. "The medicine is fine too."

"And you?"

"I'm fine," she said. "I just slipped."

"This road is deadly."

“There’s more than one deadly path,” she said, “but we have to see it through.”

She adjusted her shoulder strap and continued forward, each step firmer than the last.

They finally reached the edge of the forest. Further ahead was open ground, where they could see the direction of the resource point.

“Three kilometers to go,” Nana said.

"Keep going," Carl said. "We'll be there soon."

Nana didn't respond. She looked down at the screen of the incubator.

The temperature jumped again.

This time it didn't drop back down.

The number stopped at seven and flashed red.