Liao Changtian's supplementary plan for "Nuwa Mending the Sky" is to go underground.

Ice layers exceeding 3,000 meters are difficult to penetrate given Mars' current technological capabilities and material reserves. Even pre-modern Earth lacked the ability to deploy controlled manned deep-sea submersibles to depths exceeding 3,000 meters.

Let's follow the usual approach and try a different strategy.

We won't go down to rescue her; let her come up on her own.

The "Beetle" crew capsule has buoyancy greater than its own weight, and if there were no ice, it would float on the surface. According to previous isotope radiation tests, the crew capsule still possesses good shock resistance.

So how do we remove the limitations imposed by the ice layer?

In fact, Mars had already demonstrated this to us himself before:

The eruption of Olympus Mons will trigger the melting of the Martian south polar ice cap.

Let's make it explode again!

However, the melting of the Martian south polar ice cap will cause the "Bird's Nest" base to be flooded.

Relocating the entire "Bird's Nest" stadium to higher ground is currently an impossible task.

What should we do now?

According to Liao Changtian, if you can't solve the problem, then solve the root cause of the problem.

Then let's move the entire ice cap at Mars' south pole!

Let's go big!

Detonate nuclear fusion in the center of Mount Olympus to trigger a man-made volcanic eruption.

According to their calculations, this would be a supervolcanic eruption, releasing an energy estimated to be 20 million times that of a regular atomic bomb. The increased pressure from the eruption would be enough to burst the magma chamber beneath the Martian south polar ice cap once again.

Moreover, this time it's not as simple as just making a hole in the "wall," but the entire "wall" will be shattered.

A large amount of scorching magma will surge into the Martian south polar ice cap in a short period of time. The entire ice cap, containing 21.6 million tons of water, will rapidly boil and vaporize into water vapor within 24 hours.

This will turn into a rainstorm that covers the entire Mars. Then the "Bird's Nest" base won't be flooded.

Isn't it simple?

Every time Zhang Fan saw Liao Changtian say this sentence in a serious tone, he wanted to slap him.

"Since it's so simple, why don't you do it?"

"No, no, no, I'm only responsible for coming up with the plan; how to implement it is not my concern."

"Little Fatty" was currently on a flat area below the crater, with a green light flashing above it and a catapult below. As long as Zhang Fan pressed the remote control in his hand, "Little Fatty" would be launched into the lava pool below.

"Little Fatty" is a new type of nuclear fusion bomb that uses helium-3 as its main raw material. The inner spherical core is wrapped with a new type of composite material that resembles a thin film. Liao Changtian said that they call this thin film from "Phoenix" the "eggshell".

The "eggshell" has the characteristic of continuously absorbing heat energy and automatically balancing and distributing the surrounding compressive stress.

The most crucial technology in manufacturing nuclear bombs is centripetal compression. Ordinary atomic bombs consist of a core wrapped with a layer of conventional explosives.

The explosive force compresses the fissile material into a dense sphere, causing the uranium to reach a critical density and triggering a violent chain reaction, resulting in a nuclear explosion.

The difficulty of the explosion lies in the fact that all of this must happen within a millionth of a second, and the centripetal compression of the fissile material must be extremely precise. Otherwise, even the slightest imbalance in centripetal pressure could cause the fissile material to disintegrate before it reaches its critical density, thus preventing a nuclear explosion.

The "eggshell" continuously absorbs heat energy from the magma and collapses instantly when it reaches a certain critical temperature, generating uniform and enormous instantaneous centripetal pressure inside, which triggers nuclear fusion.

Liao Changtian also reminded Zhang Fan to keep it a secret. The "eggshell" technology has been classified as the highest level of secrecy by the United Nations of Blue Star because its emergence would reduce the difficulty of manufacturing nuclear weapons to a level that an ordinary chemical plant could accomplish.

It was already past midnight when the "Little Fatty" was installed.

Zhang Fan and Katerina climbed out of the crater and planned to spend the night nearby before descending the mountain at dawn.

Another night of sharing a bed.

"Fan, I think I'll sleep in the same bed with you more times in my life than with my future husband."

"You're here again." Zhang Fan was used to it and wasn't flustered anymore. "Strictly speaking, I've only slept with you once, and I even passed out afterwards..."

"Does sleeping together once not count? You don't want to take responsibility, do you?"

"Here we go again. Can't you find someone else to flirt with?"

"Do you think I want to? You're the only guy on Mars, who else would I flirt with if not you? Do you really think you're that charming?"

"Uh... okay." Zhang Fan thought about it seriously, and it seemed to be true. "I'm saying, haven't you ever really liked anyone all these years? You act so frivolous, but you're clearly not like that inside."

"What does 'all these years' mean? It just means I'm getting old—"

"Oh dear, why are you focusing on this? You know perfectly well that's not what I meant."

“Hehehe.” Katerina laughed happily. “Since I turned 18, the men who have appeared in my life have generally had some purpose or benefit in mind. Or they may seem clean at first, but slowly, you can always see the shadow of some conglomerate or oligarch behind them. How can you expect me to love someone like that?”

“Sigh, no wonder Ivanka said you were a pitiful woman…”

"You're the first one."

"What?"

"The first man who came into my life without any personal gain or political motivation."

“Then I feel very honored.” Zhang Fan was pleased, and also understood many of Katerina’s actions. “Is this also why you chose space as your career?”

“Indeed, I thought that leaving Earth would free me from many of the conflicts on the ground,” Katerina said, looking at the starry sky. “But the deeper you go into space, the more you realize how much you are bound by the earth… Humans really don’t deserve any sympathy.”

"Don't you Chinese have a saying that goes like this? 'I would rather betray the world than let the world betray me.'"

“So I once thought, why not go crazy once and threaten all of humanity to obey my ideas?” Katerina said with a sigh. “Unfortunately, Ivanka disagreed.”

"Shouldn't you also thank that asteroid?" Zhang Fan was speechless. "It helped you sever the connection to the ground."

“Yes,” Katerina nodded. “I’m like a kite with a broken string now. From now on, I will choose who holds my string!”

“That’s great.” Zhang Fan nodded. “I really think it’s great.”

"Why are you mimicking Ivanka's speech?" Katerina punched Zhang Fan.

"Where did I imitate her way of speaking?" Zhang Fan kicked Katerina back. "You are the one who is. You said that you and Professor Su have very different personalities, but I think you two are the same kind of people, both with a lot of ulterior motives!"

"Alright, alright, go to sleep." Katerina moved closer to Zhang Fan. "We have to get down the mountain tomorrow."

...

The night at the volcano is heavy and quiet, with the plume of smoke from the crater reaching straight into the sky.

The central magma pool was churning and boiling, releasing heat. Some rocks on the inner walls of the crater, unable to withstand the prolonged baking, began to peel off and fall into the magma pool...

"Fan, wake up." Katerina shook Zhang Fan awake.

"What's wrong?" Zhang Fan opened his eyes. The sky was just beginning to lighten, it wasn't even dawn yet.

"If I remember correctly, we were supposed to put 'Little Fatty' in that place last night, right?"

Zhang Fan followed Katerina's finger and looked down; the original platform had disappeared.

Below is bright red magma.