The welding torch went out, and Karl put away his tools and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

"It's soldered on," he said. "The interface is now very secure, and the signal shouldn't jitter."

Susan placed the testing pen on the screen, the readings flickered a few times, and then stabilized.

"It's definitely stable now." She let go of his hand. "There's no problem for now."

Chen Hao kept his eyes glued to the main screen. The dark, cracked line was still there, but the signal from the distant flying object had disappeared; he didn't know if it had been destroyed or escaped.

"How long can we keep up this 'playing dead' act?" he asked.

“As long as the device doesn’t break down and the voltage doesn’t fluctuate, it can keep going.” Nana stood in front of the control panel. “But the trap will perform a deep scan every now and then, and the next scan is expected in seventeen minutes. If we are still in a low-power camouflage state by then, it might become suspicious.”

"Then you can't just keep pretending?"

“No,” she said. “It will upgrade its judgment logic, switching from passive attack to active probing. Once it discovers our actual damage data, the attack will immediately restart.”

The cabin quieted down.

Carl sat on the floor, leaning against the equipment cabinet, panting. Susan placed her toolbox at her feet, her fingers unconsciously tapping her knees.

Chen Hao looked down at his hand. He had touched the control stick just now, but nothing happened. There were no light filaments, and nothing unusual.

He was a little disappointed, but also felt relieved.

If this thing keeps popping up, it'll burn him up sooner or later.

"So now it's either keep pretending and wait for them to investigate and find out; or..." He looked up, "...go for something big?"

Nana nodded: "I checked all the records in the knowledge base and found a way. We can inject a pulse signal of a specific frequency to simulate the spaceship having completed its self-repair. Once the trap receives it, it will consider the threat cleared and automatically shut down the attack program."

"It sounds like you're trying to fool its brain."

“It’s just tricking its brain,” she said. “But it’s not intelligent; it just operates according to its settings. As long as the signal matches, it will stop.”

"That's easy!" Chen Hao grinned. "Just send it."

“The cost is high.” She brought up the energy panel. “It requires releasing the reserves of a complete set of energy crystals at once to power the main control console’s launch module. This is our last set of intact crystals.”

Everyone fell silent.

Seventeen units of energy; I calculated before that the minimum stability maintenance wouldn't last more than four hours.

Now we need to throw everything in at once.

“Without this power source, we can’t even fully charge our shields,” Karl said. “What if something else is targeting us?”

"That's for later." Chen Hao leaned back in his chair. "If we can't get over this hurdle now, there will be no future."

“But this is a gamble.” Susan looked at him. “If the signal is wrong, or the trap doesn’t recognize it, we will not only waste energy, but also expose that we are actively interfering. It may directly upgrade to the highest attack mode.”

“I know.” Chen Hao ran his hand through his hair. “But do we have any other choice? Turn off the lights to save electricity? Wait for someone to come and rescue us? There’s not a soul in sight outside.”

No one spoke.

Nana stood still, swiping her finger across the screen to bring up the program parameters.

“I have compressed the code to a minimum,” she said. “It only contains the necessary waveforms, and the computational load is extremely low. The success rate… according to the model, is 63%.”

"Sixty-three percent?" Carl frowned. "That's it?"

“In this environment, it’s already the highest probability,” she said. “And we have to complete the transmission before the next wave of scanning. There’s only one window of opportunity.”

Chen Hao glanced at the timer.

Seventeen minutes, thirteen and a half minutes remaining.

"63% isn't low," he said. "I'm not even that confident of passing the exam."

Susan gave a soft hum.

Carl shook his head: "You're quite optimistic."

"What if things don't look good?" Chen Hao shrugged. "Should we cry and beg it to let us go?"

"So, what's your decision?" Susan asked, looking at him.

Chen Hao didn't answer immediately. He turned to look at the main screen; the cracks were twisted and distorted, like a rotten film negative. Their ship was also in a state of near-total destruction. They had survived until now not because of luck, but because they had gritted their teeth and taken a gamble each time.

He recalled the day he first entered the spaceship, when he didn't even know how to press a button and was warned by the system three times.

Now he's the one giving orders.

It's quite funny.

But he knew that no one could make this decision for him at this moment.

“Go for it,” he said. “Use the last set of crystals to send the signal.”

Carl took a deep breath and stood up: "I'll change the route."

Susan opened the energy management interface: "I will monitor the output and cut it off immediately if it is overloaded."

Nana started loading the program: "Preparing for the countdown, starting in ten seconds."

The three took their places.

Carl disassembled the main control panel's side panel, connected the shunt cables, and his fingers moved quickly between the interfaces. Susan stared at the voltage curve, ready to intervene manually at any moment. Nana's fingers tapped lightly on the interface, confirming that each line of code was correct.

Chen Hao placed his hand on the confirmation button.

"Everything's ready." Karl took a step back. "We can send it now."

"Countdown," Nana said.

“Wait a minute,” Susan suddenly spoke up, “Check the frequency matching again. Don’t make a mistake, we don’t have a second set of crystals.”

Nana pulled up a comparison chart: "The original trap band is 3.8 Hz, and we simulated the stable flow after the repair, which is 4.2 Hz. The difference is within the allowable range."

“Send it.” Susan nodded.

"Five, four, three, two..." Nana counted.

Chen Hao pressed the confirmation button.

Buzz—

The entire ship shook slightly.

The signal curve on the main screen suddenly spiked, and a golden ripple spread outward, crashing into the depths of the fissure zone.

Everyone was watching the data stream.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

The energy fluctuations in the trap area began to weaken.

In the fourth second, the attack frequency decreased.

In the sixth second, the shield pressure returned to zero.

The alarm stopped completely in the eighth second.

A message pops up on the main screen: [External threat eliminated, defense system in standby mode]

"It's stopped?" Chen Hao's eyes widened. "Really stopped?"

“The trap has exited attack mode.” Nana looked at the readings. “The signal was identified as ‘repaired,’ the target was determined to be harmless, and the attack has terminated.”

The cabin was silent for a few seconds.

Then Carl plopped down on the ground.

"Damn," he laughed, "it actually worked."

Susan leaned against the wall and let out a long sigh: "I thought we were going to explode."

Chen Hao leaned back, his head hitting the seat: "I have a 63% chance of winning. I'll buy lottery tickets next time."

Nana didn't laugh. She was still looking at the energy panel.

“The energy crystals have been depleted,” she said. “The backup power has only a trace amount remaining, just enough to maintain life systems and basic navigation.”

"So... the power's out?" Chen Hao sat up straight.

“Yes,” she said. “Lights, temperature control, sensors, and communication arrays are all off. The engines are in minimum standby mode and cannot perform warp jumps or high-speed navigation.”

Carl smiled wryly: "We're a breathing iron coffin now."

Chen Hao looked down at the control lever. All the indicator lights on it were off. He tried pushing it, and the system's response was noticeably delayed.

"Can it still be driven?"

“Yes,” Nana said, “but it can only travel in a straight line, it cannot change direction or accelerate. Any additional operations will require temporary energy allocation, which may affect the oxygen cycle.”

“That means…” Susan said softly, “we are alive, but we can’t move or call for help.”

No one responded.

The starry sky outside hung silently, without any distress signals.

All the lights inside the ship were off, except for a faint blue glow from the instrument panel. The temperature was slowly dropping, and the air was becoming a bit stuffy.

Chen Hao rubbed his arms.

"It's cold," he said.

“That’s what we’re saving.” Susan glanced at him.

"You used to complain about the heat."

“That was before.” He shrank his neck. “Now even fat people are afraid of the cold.”

Carl shifted his position on the ground, picked up a fallen wire, and casually wrapped it around himself.

Susan was holding her toolbox, her eyes closed, but she wasn't asleep.

Nana stood in front of the control panel, her fingers occasionally twitching as she adjusted the signal parameters.

Chen Hao stared at the main screen. The image of the rift was still there, but it was no longer flashing red. The energy trap had fallen silent, as if it had fallen asleep.

He suddenly felt a little empty.

The thing we were desperately trying to crack just now is now silent.

But they didn't win either.

It's just that "dying immediately" has changed to "dying slowly".

He raised his hand and lightly touched the control stick.

No light filaments have emerged yet.

This time he didn't pay attention.

He knew that the real problem wasn't how to survive.

The question is, how will we survive?

Susan opened her eyes, her voice very soft.

How much water do we have left?