The giant beast lay in the pit, its eyes wide open.

Chen Hao stared at it for a long time, until those eyes stopped moving. He turned and left without saying a word.

The others followed behind, no one asking where they were going. They knew they couldn't stay put. The monster's ability to send signals meant something was amiss, and the source of that trouble couldn't be far off.

Nana walked at the back, her blue-light eyes scanning the ground, leaving a faint data trail. This was her way of remembering the route.

The group retraced their steps, following the footprints they had come from. No one mentioned the sound they had heard earlier, but everyone knew in their hearts that it wasn't the noise of a wild animal.

As the sun rose directly overhead, they returned to the place where they had first heard the strange noise. Things were different here. The wind had stopped, the trees were still, and it felt as if some of the air had been sucked away.

“This is it.” Chen Hao stopped and looked down at the muddy ground. “The sound came from here that night.”

Carl leaned against a fallen tree trunk, panting. "Are we really going to look for it? What if it's one of those talking things again?"

“It didn’t speak.” Susan crouched down, her fingers tracing the edge of a blade of grass. “It was giving orders. A thing that only commands others to die, while doing nothing itself.”

Nana had reached the rock wall. She placed her hand on it, and a red glow appeared around her palm. "There's a cavity behind the wall," she said. "It continuously emits low-frequency vibrations, consistent with the frequency recorded last night."

"So," Chen Hao grinned, "the 'strange noise' we heard was actually the wall shaking?"

“To be precise,” Nana withdrew her hand, “it’s a regular vibration inside the mountain. It’s not caused by anything natural, and the cycle is stable.”

"Man-made?" Susan stood up.

"Ninety-eight percent chance," Nana nodded. "The remaining two points are left to coincidence."

Chen Hao walked around the rock face. The vines were so dense that they almost covered the entire rock. He reached out and tugged at one of them, and a large leaf fell down, revealing a crack behind it.

“This place has been hidden before,” he said. “Look at these vines, they were attached there, they didn’t grow on their own.”

Carl moved closer and pulled a small knife from his backpack. "Shall I clean this up?"

"Don't rush," Susan stopped him. "Let's check if there's any airflow inside. If we suddenly open it and poisonous gas comes out, we'll all be lying down."

Nana took out a palm-sized device and placed it against the edge of the crack. A few seconds later, the screen displayed numbers. "Oxygen levels are normal, with trace amounts of sulfides, which will not affect breathing," she said. "It is recommended to wear a simple filter to prevent irritation to the respiratory tract."

"Let's get started." Chen Hao clapped his hands. "Whoever has the strength, go ahead and dismantle it gently, don't collapse the mountain."

The four of them began clearing the entrance. Chen Hao and Carl moved the loose stones, Susan cut the tangled vines, and Nana drilled a small hole with a probe and inserted the camera.

"The footage has been transmitted back," she said.

The three of them huddled together to look at the images on the tablet.

Inside was a sloping corridor with metal walls on both sides and broken light tubes on the ceiling. At the end was a door, half-open, revealing the remains of a control panel inside.

“This place…” Susan frowned, “doesn’t look like it’s been abandoned for too long.”

"The decor is quite old-fashioned," Chen Hao said. "It's even older than my grandfather's house."

“Judging from the building’s features,” Nana said, pulling up a comparison chart from the database. “It belongs to the design standards for scientific research facilities from the late 20th to early 21st century. Its function is indicated as environmental monitoring or geological observation.”

"Is that an observation post?" Carl asked.

“IS-7.” Nana zoomed in on a plaque in the corner of the image: “Planetary Ecological Monitoring Station, Station No. 7.”

"Sounds pretty high-class," Chen Hao chuckled, "but they didn't even close the door properly."

“The point isn’t the door,” Susan said, pointing to a collapsed section of floorboards on the screen. “There’s something moving underneath.”

Nana immediately adjusted the focus. Infrared mode was activated, and the image turned red and black. There were indeed heat sources distributed underground, forming a network and pulsating slowly.

“Energy fluctuations,” she said. “The intensity is not high, but it is highly consistent with the current trend of volcanic activity. The preliminary inference is that it is the residual operation of an early warning system.”

"So," Chen Hao slowly began, "what we thought was a deserted island was actually someone who knew in advance that something bad would happen and built a station to monitor it?"

“And it failed,” Nana added. “Log fragments show that the core energy network was out of control and the emergency shutdown protocol failed to execute.”

"And then?" Carl asked, "What about the people?"

“The evacuation record is incomplete.” Nana shook her head. “The last message was a recommendation for everyone to leave.”

"Nobody's listening?" Susan sneered.

“Or it might be too late.” Chen Hao looked at the half-open door. “The problem now is, the machine is still running, does that mean—it’s not completely broken yet?”

Nana was silent for a few seconds. "Theoretically, as long as the energy is not exhausted, the basic module can maintain a low-power cycle. This mountain may still be connected to some kind of underground energy supply system."

"Then can you still read the data?"

"A physical access terminal interface is required. Current conditions allow us to try."

“Then let’s go in.” Chen Hao stuck the torch in the ground. “Anyway, it’s not safe outside. At least there won’t be a wolf that can suddenly jump out and give orders from inside.”

"Are you sure?" Karl lowered his voice. "Could that behemoth have been guarding this place because of this?"

"Possibly," Chen Hao nodded. "But it's guarding the cave entrance, not us. That means it's not afraid of people, but of what's inside."

"So we're braver than wild animals?" Susan raised an eyebrow.

“No.” Chen Hao laughed. “We’re just at our wits’ end; we have no other choice.”

It took them half an hour to clear the passage. The largest stones were pried open using a triangular support method, with wooden sticks and metal plates placed underneath to prevent collapse. No one spoke throughout the entire process; only the sound of tools scraping against the stones could be heard.

The opening was finally large enough for people to pass through.

Chen Hao was the first to bend down and crawl inside.

It was drier inside than I had expected. There was a slight metallic smell in the air, but it wasn't pungent. Shining a flashlight beam out, I could see some blurry writing on the wall.

"This way," Nana pointed to the left passage, "towards the control room."

The floorboards had collapsed in places, making a creaking sound when stepped on. They walked close to the walls, trying to avoid the hollow areas.

Five minutes later, we arrived in front of a large hall.

The door frame was marked "Central Control Area," but most of the paint had chipped off. Inside, tables and chairs were overturned, wires were dangling, and a computer tower lay askew in a corner with a shattered screen.

Nana walked over and squatted down in front of the computer. She pulled a thin wire from her wrist and plugged it into a port on the side of the computer.

"We are trying to wake up the system," she said. "The database is severely damaged and can only be read in fragments."

The screen flashed a few times, and a piece of text appeared:

[...Core energy network out of control...]

Emergency shutdown protocol failed...

Evacuation is recommended...

Repeat: Evacuate immediately...

"That's that again," Susan said, standing in the doorway. "It's no use saying it."

“Wait.” Nana suddenly raised her hand. “We detected that there is still a response in the deep storage block. Although we cannot recover the complete file, we can extract keywords.”

She tapped a few times on the interface. A new line of text popped up:

[...core resonance anomaly...]

Artificial intervention triggers a chain reaction...

Stop all experimental operations...

Warning: Do not trigger the Earth's nuclear balance mechanism...

"Artificial intervention?" Chen Hao read it aloud. "So... this volcanic eruption wasn't natural?"

“It’s highly likely.” Nana nodded. “Data shows that the site had conducted long-term geothermal extraction experiments, which ultimately led to an imbalance in crustal stress.”

"So," Karl said, leaning against the door, "we shouldn't have moved from where we are now?"

“Right.” Chen Hao laughed. “A group of scientists wanted to do something big, but they ended up hurting the Earth. The Earth shook, and we fell into the sea.”

"So what do we do now?" Susan asked.

"What else can we do?" Chen Hao looked at Nana. "Let's keep watching. Let's see what they've done, and see if we can avoid ending up in the same mess."

Nana continued to connect to the system. Her blue eyes blinked rapidly, as if processing a large amount of information.

Suddenly, she stopped.

"What's wrong?" Chen Hao sensed something was amiss.

“I’ve discovered something,” Nana’s voice changed, “This site isn’t the only one that’s active.”

"What's the meaning?"

"Signal scanning shows similar energy fluctuations at three other coordinate points. Although weak, the pattern is the same."

"Are there any other stations?" Susan frowned.

“Not only that,” Nana said, pulling up a map. “And their positions form a triangle. The center point… is the island we’re on now.”

“So,” Chen Hao said slowly, “this island is not a monitoring point.”

“It’s the bullseye,” Nana said.

The air suddenly became quiet.

Carl, leaning against the wall, caught his breath. "You mean, this isn't a place for observing disasters?"

“It’s a place that creates disasters,” Susan replied.

“And it hasn’t stopped.” Nana stared at the screen. “The energy fluctuations are still increasing. At the current rate, it will reach a critical value within seventy-two hours.”

"So that means," Chen Hao looked at her, "that we should have stayed, but instead, our arrival has triggered a switch?"

“We can’t rule out that possibility.” Nana nodded. “Our actions, including destroying the giant beast trap and entering the cave, may have triggered some dormant mechanism.”

"Damn it." Chen Hao slammed his fist against the wall.

Dust settled in a soft patter.

Susan suddenly raised her hand. "Listen."

Everyone quieted down.

A tremor came from afar.

It wasn't footsteps.

The wall is shaking.

The same rhythm as before.

Low frequency, stable, like a heartbeat.

Nana immediately checked the computer. "The system is automatically restarting," she said. "A program has been activated."

"Who did it?" Karl's voice was tense.

“I don’t know,” Nana said, staring at the screen. “But the command didn’t originate locally.”

"Where is that?"

“The signal is coming from underground,” she said, “more than three thousand meters deep.”

Chen Hao looked at the half-open door.

It was pitch black behind the door.

He picked up the torch and took a step forward.

The firelight illuminated the wall.

There was a line of text carved deep into the surface with a sharp tool:

"Don't touch the Earth's core."