Chen Hao pushed open the door to the records room, and a stuffy smell hit him. He didn't back away or cover his nose; he just fanned it twice with his hand before stepping inside.

The tables and chairs inside were askew, and half of the pile of papers had collapsed, some stuck to the floor like pancakes that had been soaked in water and then dried. An electronic screen hung on the wall, black, with cracks at the edges. Carl followed in, stepping on a piece of paper with a crisp sound. He looked down, bent down to pick it up, blew off the dust, and stuffed it into his bag.

"Maybe I can still read it," he said.

Susan stood in the doorway, glanced around, tucked her notepad under her arm, and went over to right an overturned cabinet. Half the cabinet door was torn off, revealing rows of rolled-up manuals, their covers yellowed, as if they'd been sitting untouched for decades.

Nana was the last to enter, standing motionless by the door. Her camera panned around, scanning the room's layout. A few seconds later, she walked to the terminal in the corner, crouched down, and checked the interface.

“Power is on, but the storage module is aging,” she said. “The read success rate is expected to be less than 40 percent.”

"It's better than guessing." Chen Hao walked to a large table, wiped away the dust on the surface with his arm, revealing a scratch underneath. He stared at it for two seconds, then suddenly laughed, "This table is pretty sturdy, cleaner than my bed."

“Your bed wasn’t clean to begin with,” Carl said.

"That's different, that's the feeling of life."

Susan flipped through the documents in her hand. "Let's categorize them first. Separate them into engineering, geology, and energy categories so Nana can filter them more easily."

“Okay.” Chen Hao opened the drawer; it was empty. He tried another, but it got stuck. He yanked hard, and the drawer flew out, crashing to the ground with a loud bang. A few rusty screws and a small booklet rolled out.

He bent down to pick it up; the cover was gone, leaving only a few pages bound together with thread. He opened the first page; the handwriting was blurry, and he could only make out the words "geothermal."

"Nana, can you read this?"

Nana walked over, took the booklet, and gently pressed the pages flat with her fingertips. Her camera zoomed in and flashed a few times.

"The amount of content that can be identified is limited. It is recommended to process complete documents first."

“Let’s start with the big picture.” Chen Hao put the booklet aside. “Let’s find the big targets first.”

The four split up. Chen Hao was in charge of clearing the central table, piling the clutter in the corner. Carl debugged the terminal, inserted the spare battery, and after the screen flickered a few times, finally displayed the message: "System starting up." Susan sat down with a pile of paper documents, flipping through them page by page, picking out potentially useful markings. Nana stood beside the terminal, waiting for the system to finish loading before connecting it to her knowledge base for cross-referencing.

Time passed slowly. A breeze picked up outside, causing the window frame to vibrate slightly. No one spoke; only the rustling of papers and the tapping of keyboards filled the air.

Half an hour later, Nana suddenly looked up.

"An anomaly match was found."

All three stopped what they were doing at the same time.

"What?" Chen Hao asked.

“An unarchived report was extracted from a damaged book, and the keywords were highly correlated with the heat flow signal at 29 degrees north latitude.”

She pulled one out of a pile of old books. The spine was broken, the cover was completely torn off, and the edges were charred, as if it had been partially burned. She carefully opened it and pointed to a page in the middle.

"here."

Chen Hao leaned closer to take a look. The handwriting was broken and the ink was heavily smudged, but a passage of text could still be made out:

"...In the high-pressure, low-temperature boundary zone, a continuous release of unknown particle streams was observed... It is speculated that this originates from a phase transition in deep crustal materials... The energy output is stable, indicating potential for collection... Subsequent experiments were interrupted due to the base evacuation..."

The rest of the content is gone.

"That's all?" Karl walked over, frowning. "Not even any data?"

“There were no charts or measurement records,” Nana said. “But the terminology used was in accordance with the scientific research standards at the time, and the probability of falsification was less than 12 percent.”

Susan took the book and looked at it carefully for a while. "'High-pressure and low-temperature boundary zone' - there is a similar area in the stratigraphic structure map we analyzed before, which is located 15 kilometers east of 29 degrees north latitude."

“The time the instruments malfunctioned,” Carl nodded. “I remember, the compass was spinning wildly, and the communicator was making a lot of static.”

“It’s not a coincidence.” Chen Hao stroked his chin. “If there really is something that discharges electricity underground, then our current reliance on solar power for charging is like using a candle to light a firecracker.”

"The analogy is inappropriate," Nana said. "A candle cannot light a firecracker."

“I know, I mean waste.”

"Then just say it's a waste."

Susan had already taken out a pen and written a few lines in her notebook: "Assuming the report is true, the energy source is located deep in the Earth's crust, releasing a stream of particles through some kind of phase transition process... We need to confirm two things: first, whether there are still active signals in the area, and second, whether there is a feasible sampling path."

“That’s right,” Carl said. “But the problem now is, how do we prove it really exists? With just a lousy book?”

"Do we have any other choice?" Chen Hao asked rhetorically.

“We can wait for more information,” Carl said. “Perhaps we can find other records later.”

"Wait?" Chen Hao laughed. "Did we ever wait when we were repairing a house? The generator was smoking, and you said you'd wait for the instruction manual to be delivered the next day?"

"You disassembled and reassembled it yourself that time."

"See, it turned out alright in the end, didn't it?"

"It's done, but one part is missing."

"As long as it doesn't affect its use, it's fine."

Susan closed her notebook. "I think it's worth investigating. Even if there's only a 10% chance, it's better than staying put. Every day we use our stored energy, we get one step closer to a power outage."

Nana added, "Based on the current energy consumption model, the efficiency of the solar panels will drop below the critical value in seven months. Without an alternative, the base will gradually lose its lighting, water purification, and temperature control functions."

"Ah." Chen Hao slammed his hand on the table. "So it's not a question of whether to do it or not, it's a matter of having to do it."

He stood up, walked around the table twice, and suddenly stopped in front of Nana.

"Can you trace the original source of this report? For example, from which department or from which person did it leak out?"

“The database is severely damaged and the author cannot be traced,” Nana said. “However, some information remains in the file number, pointing to the ‘Deep Earth Exploration Project Team,’ which was terminated three years ago.”

"Terminate?" Karl frowned. "Why?"

"Records are missing."

"Typical." Chen Hao curled his lip. "They do half the job, then all the people run away, leaving a mess for others to clean up."

“This is common in the early stages of a disaster,” Nana said.

"I know, but I still hate it."

Susan looked at the book and said softly, "The fact that they stopped the experiment shows that the situation was urgent. But if they had time to write this report before they evacuated... at least someone wanted those who came after them to know about it."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

Chen Hao reached out and picked up the book. Although it was tattered, he held it very steadily.

“Then let’s not let them write for nothing,” he said. “Let’s go take a look.”

"Now?" Carl asked.

"Of course not now," Chen Hao laughed. "It's getting dark. Are you going out to die? Prepare your gear tomorrow and leave the day after."

Are you sure you want to go in person?

"If I don't go, who will? Which of the three of you will be the team leader?"

“I didn’t run for office,” Carl said.

“Me neither,” Susan laughed.

“I am a robot,” Nana said. “I am not qualified to lead.”

"Look, it passed unanimously."

Susan began to organize the key points she had just noted down: "We need to bring a portable detector, sampling tools, protective clothing, and a backup power supply. It would be best to check the navigation module again, as the signal was unstable to the north last time."

“I’ll fix the relay tonight,” Carl said. “At least I can make contact.”

Nana has scanned and saved the report to the database, marking it as a "high-priority research lead." She marked the overlap between the heat flow signal area and the location described in the report on the map, with red spots almost completely covering the same area.

“The spatial matching rate is 91 percent,” she said, “which supports the existence of a correlation.”

Chen Hao stared at the red patch, his fingers tapping lightly on the table.

“I used to think the most troublesome thing was getting out of bed,” he said. “Now I realize the most troublesome thing is having to use my brain after getting out of bed.”

“You said yesterday that you wanted to do scientific research,” Susan reminded him.

Did I say that?

“He said it, and even claimed to be the chairman of the Science and Technology Development Committee.”

"Oh." He scratched his head. "Shouldn't that position get a raise?"

"No salary."

"Then there's no such thing as resigning." He grinned. "Keep going."

The group resumed their work. Chen Hao piled all the energy-related materials he could find on the table and began flipping through them one by one. Although most of them only covered basic principles or outdated technologies, at least it wasn't a complete blank anymore. Susan continued taking notes, listing out any suspicious terms and locations. Carl finished testing the terminal and began packing a list of equipment to be used the next day. Nana, meanwhile, ran a simulation program in the background, trying to deduce possible transmission paths for the particle flow.

The sky outside the window was getting dark, and the wind was still blowing, but the lights inside were on, steadily illuminating everyone's shadows.

Chen Hao turned to the last page and stopped.

A simple drawing was on the paper, the lines rough, like a hand-drawn sketch. There was a circle in the center with ripples radiating outwards from it, and a few words were written below:

"Energy Well Prototype Concept"

The image is small and unclear, but the meaning is clear.

He held the paper up to the light.

"Nana, can you understand this thing?"

Nana approaches, and the camera focuses on her.

“The graphic information is insufficient, but the structure is similar to a resonant cavity design,” she said. “If combined with specific materials, energy focusing can theoretically be achieved.”

"So..." Chen Hao slowly grinned, "They not only discovered this thing, but also tried to use it to generate electricity?"

"The possibility exists."

Susan leaned closer to look. "This picture doesn't have a date, but the paper material is the same as the previous report."

“That’s what the same group of people left behind,” Carl said. “They didn’t give up.”

"I just didn't finish." Chen Hao gently placed the paper on the table and flattened one corner.

He sat back in his chair, leaned back, and let out a long breath.

“We used to think that getting the house repaired would be a victory,” he said. “Now it seems that someone had paved the way for us all along.”

No one responded.

But the lamp on the table shone even more steadily.

Chen Hao stood up, picked up his backpack, and walked towards the door.

"Meet up before we leave tomorrow," he said. "Don't be late, or you'll have to do the dishes for a week."

"Who did you just say was washing the dishes?" Carl asked.

Did I say that?

He opened the door, and a cold wind rushed in, scattering the papers on the table.