Chen Hao stared at the green dot on the map, tapping his finger twice in the air as if trying to press it into the ground to take root and sprout. The sun was already high in the sky, making the back of his neck feel hot, but he still squatted there without moving, his shadow shrinking into a small ball pressed against his buttocks.
"You're saying you can really find iron in that place?" he finally spoke, his voice a little dry. "Is there anywhere closer? Like... a piece of iron suddenly appearing right at the entrance of our base?"
Nana stood to the side, the camera slightly tilted: "The nearest mineralized zone is located 423 meters to the southeast, there is no shortcut."
"I knew it." He sighed. "Good things always stay hidden, but bad things come knocking on our door every day."
He slowly stood up and dusted off his pants. He had been hoping to hammer out a hammer from the scrap metal he had, but he'd even broken the chisel. Now it seemed that hoping a hardware store would spring up out of the junkyard was less likely than hoping he'd suddenly lose weight.
"Alright then." He picked up his backpack and stuffed in a few thicker metal plates. "It's just a trip through the mountains, right? I didn't sleep well last night anyway, so this is a good opportunity to stretch my muscles."
Nana pulled up the holographic path map, and a thin green line extended from the current location, bypassing the landslide area from last night, passing through a scree slope, and finally landing in a sunken valley.
"The route has been planned and will avoid high-risk loose areas. We recommend maintaining a steady speed to avoid secondary landslides caused by vibrations."
"Your words have made me afraid to take a step." Chen Hao stomped his foot on the ground. "I thought it was just about picking up stones, but it sounds like defusing a bomb."
He walked along the green line, and every fifty meters he would take a small metal piece out of his bag and forcefully insert it into a crack in the soil or wed it between rocks. "To make a mark so I won't get lost on the way back, and to tell anyone who comes after me—a man who dreamed of making a hammer died here."
Nana followed half a step behind him, the optical system continuously scanning the terrain ahead. Her voice was steady: "Current slope 12.3%, loose surface particles, low coefficient of friction, please be careful of footing stability."
"Speak slower, my ears can't keep up." Chen Hao almost slipped and fell, but quickly grabbed a protruding rock next to him. "I already told you I'm not suited for wilderness survival. My forte is lying down and contemplating life."
"Then you are going against your talent."
"...You're getting better and better at talking."
The deeper we went into the valley, the more rugged the terrain became. The once relatively smooth dirt road was gradually covered with boulders, and the rock walls on both sides began to close in, forming a narrow passage. The wind swept over us, carrying sand that stung our faces.
Chen Hao wiped his face and said, panting, "Do you think if we were trapped here, they'd put up a monument outside saying, 'Here lies a failed craftsman and an overly intelligent robot'?"
“No,” Nana replied. “I will record your last words and send them to the life pod’s main control system.”
"You're still connected to the internet?"
"The last function before the signal was interrupted."
“Oh.” He paused for a moment. “Then you’d better pick your words carefully. Don’t write ‘This man died while trying to make a hammer out of a stick.’”
"Based on behavioral data, a more accurate statement would be: 'Martyrdom in toolmaking for refusing to accept the limits of materials.'"
"That sounds pretty tragic." He grinned, then frowned. "Wait, are you praising me or insulting me?"
Nana didn't respond, but suddenly stopped, and the camera focused on an exposed rock layer in front of her. "An abnormal mineral reflectance spectrum was detected, with a significant peak in iron content, preliminarily identified as iron oxide deposits."
Chen Hao leaned closer, squinting at the patch of grayish-black stones. "Where? Where? Could it be one of those 'looks like iron but is actually coal slag' things I'm seeing things with?"
"Coordinates locked. Continuous vein-like structures are present within a depth of 30 centimeters. The surface is severely weathered. It is recommended to remove the surface layer before confirming."
"Well, time to get to work again." He pulled a piece of alloy with a sharp edge from his bag, squatted down, and began scraping the surface of the rock.
Dust settled, revealing a layer of dark gray rock beneath. He scratched at it a few times, his fingernails filled with debris, when suddenly he felt his fingertips touch something different.
“Wait…” He held his breath and gently pried off a piece of the peeled stone with the alloy sheet.
Several dark silver glittered from below, shimmering in the sunlight, as if someone had secretly sprinkled some sequins inside.
"Hey!" He looked up abruptly. "Nana! Look at this! Isn't there something there?"
Nana approached, her blue light sweeping across the cross-section, and the data stream rapidly scrolled through her field of vision.
"Confirmed: The hematite exhibits distinct characteristic peaks, with an estimated purity of approximately 42%-58%, making it suitable for preliminary mining."
"Really?!" Chen Hao was so excited that he lost control of his grip, and the alloy sheet snapped in half with a "crack." "Ah...it's over, the tool is ruined again."
“But the ore didn’t run away,” Nana said calmly.
“That’s true.” He grinned, casually breaking off the shiny stone and clutching it in his hand. “Although it probably thinks it’s unfortunate to have met me.”
He stood up, held the ore sample up to his eyes and looked at it from side to side. The sunlight shone on the tiny crystals, giving them a cool, metallic sheen.
"If I take this thing back and polish it, could I use it as a mirror? To look at my face that hasn't been washed in ages."
"Insufficient reflectivity results in blurry images."
"Sigh, I really can't expect it to give me any confidence." He stuffed the stone into the pocket of his backpack and patted it twice. "But it's okay, at least it proves that we didn't make a wasted trip. Before, I thought my greatest achievement in life was guessing the multiple-choice questions on the exam."
Nana continued scanning forward: "The surrounding area still has exploration potential; we recommend expanding the exploration area."
"Let's go." Chen Hao cracked his knuckles. "Since we're already this far, we might as well make the most of it. If we happen to find an iron ore vein, we can rename our story 'Iron Man and His Intelligent Assistant'."
"Your weight does not meet the physical requirements for this title."
"Hey, don't poke at people's sore spots."
They slowly advanced along the rock face, making several more marks along the way, and inserting the last piece of metal next to the roots of a dead tree. The air gradually became drier, and the soil beneath their feet changed from soft to hard, making a slight crunching sound when stepped on.
Suddenly, Nana raised her hand to signal to stop.
“Five meters ahead, a new crack has appeared in the rock fracture zone, and its width is slowly expanding.”
Chen Hao peeked out and, sure enough, a slanted crack cut across the ground, the dark gash looking as if the earth had been ripped open. He tentatively touched the edge with his toe, and the pebbles immediately rolled down, only hearing a thud several seconds later.
How deep is it down there?
"Distance cannot be measured at the moment; the echo is affected by the rock strata."
"So you don't know?" He took a step back. "Shall we go around it?"
"Okay, the offset will be increased by 67 meters."
"Alright, safety first." He was about to turn around when he suddenly noticed something unusual about the rock wall on the other side of the crack. "Wait a minute... isn't that rock over there a different color than the rest?"
Nana zoomed in, and the blue light swept across the opposite rock face.
"A high-density metallic reflective area was discovered, located 1.8 meters above the ground, with an area about the size of a palm. Its composition is yet to be analyzed."
Chen Hao stared at the dark red rock formations, his heart skipping a beat.
"Do you think... if I go over there now, I might fall?"
"The probability is 17.3%."
"That high?"
"If you run, jump, or make any strenuous movements, the probability will increase to 61.4%."
"Then I'll move slowly?"
"It is recommended to use auxiliary supports."
Chen Hao looked around and finally spotted a rusty metal pole half-buried in the ground next to him. He pulled it out and tested it; the length was just right for building a bridge, but he wasn't sure if it could hold up.
He gripped one end of the metal rod tightly, and carefully extended the other end toward the other side of the crack.
The pole made a soft sound when it hit the opposite rock, causing a few pebbles to fall.
He held his breath and waited a few seconds, but the pole neither broke nor collapsed.
"Looks like God doesn't want to take me yet," he muttered, then slowly lifted his other foot—
The metal rod suddenly emitted a piercing squeak, and bent in the middle.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com