When Chen Hao released the rudder, his hands trembled as if he had just been pulled from ice water. He looked down at his palms; most of the blood had dried, mixing with dirt and forming hard clumps. He didn't speak, but instead started counting heads: "Susan?"
"Yes." She leaned against the mainmast, untying a broken rope from her belt.
“Karl?”
“Still alive.” Karl sat at the stern, leaning against the wooden plank, panting as if he had run ten kilometers.
"Nana?"
The robot stood in the center of the deck, its blue light flickering in its eye sockets like a light bulb with an unstable signal. "System cooling down, functionality restored to 70%."
Chen Hao then threw himself onto the empty box next to the helm. He closed his eyes for three seconds, then opened them again. "Alright, as long as everyone's alive."
The wind was still blowing, but it had lost its previous fierceness. The rain had also lessened, turning into gusts of dampness that brushed against our faces. The boat wasn't rocking too badly, but with each sway, a creaking sound came from the stern, which was quite irritating.
Nana suddenly raised her hand, her fingertips tracing the air, projecting a diagram of the ship's structure. A long crack appeared at the stern, marked in red, with the words "Leakage has increased to four liters per minute" written next to it.
“The crack has widened,” she said. “If it’s not repaired, it could affect navigational stability within twelve hours.”
"I knew this wrecked ship wouldn't last long," Chen Hao sighed. "But at least it didn't fall apart, so it's quite dedicated."
Carl propped himself up on his knees and walked to the projector to take a look. "This board needs to be replaced," he said, pointing to the deepest red area. "The old tenon won't hold; it's all loosened after being soaked in seawater."
"Do you have any spare timber?" Susan asked.
“There are two.” Carl bent down and opened his toolbox. “Not enough to replace the whole piece, so I can only cut them shorter and piece them together.”
“Then you should major in it.” Susan clapped her hands. “I’ll help you settle in and you can learn a skill while you’re at it, so you won’t have to rely on yourself for everything in the future.”
“Sure.” Carl grinned. “The tuition fee is for me to buy one last energy drink.”
"Dream on." Susan rolled her eyes.
Chen Hao tried to stand up to help, but his legs went weak and he almost knelt down. Susan reacted quickly and helped him up.
"Take it easy," she said. "Your hands are all rotten and you're still trying to be brave."
"I won't move anything, just handing over the tools should be fine, right?" Chen Hao smiled. "Besides, I'm not all this muscle for nothing, so we can save on ballast."
Carl dragged a thick wooden beam from the hold, placed it on the deck, compared its length, and shook his head. "Too long, needs to be cut shorter."
He took out his folding saw, squatted down, and started working. Wood shavings flew up and clung to his hair, like a layer of dust. Susan waited nearby with a splinter, ready to clamp the cut surface as soon as the first section was cut to prevent secondary cracking.
Chen Hao sat to the side, handing over the tools one by one: a hammer, a chisel, nails, and waterproof tubing. Each time he handed them over, his fingers twitched with pain.
"Are you sure you don't need to rest for a while?" Susan glanced at him.
“If I rest, I won’t be able to get up again,” he said. “Besides, if I move around now, at least it proves that I’m still alive.”
As Carl hammered in the third nail, the boat lurched violently. His hand veered, and the hammer struck his thumb.
"Ouch!" he exclaimed, jumping up and shaking his head. "Who's hit the boat again?"
“The waves,” Nana said. “The lingering surge hasn’t subsided yet, so we recommend maintaining single-point support during operations.”
“You make it sound so easy,” Carl said, rubbing his fingers. “It won’t hurt.”
“I can detect changes in structural stress,” Nana said calmly. “Pain is just an inefficient early warning mechanism in organisms.”
"If a doctor heard you say that, they'd dismantle you for research," Chen Hao said with a smile, handing over a new nail.
Carl took it and squatted down again. This time, he braced his knee against the plank and hammered it, one strike at a time. The sound was muffled, like hammering on an old coffin.
Susan applied the resin paste to the seams. It was made from tree sap collected on the island last time; it was sticky and tasted like burnt peanuts. She frowned as she applied it. "This stuff really makes you waterproof?"
"At least it will keep the ship a few days longer," Carl said. "We're not building a yacht; as long as it can float, that's fine."
The two worked for almost two hours and finally sealed the main crack. Karl stood up, stepped on the new board, and nodded. "It's sturdy now. Next time a storm comes, at least it won't burst open."
"Next time?" Chen Hao looked up. "You want to do it again?"
“I mean, if,” Carl wiped his brow, “after all, our ship is only barely usable.”
Susan put away her tools and turned to count the supplies. She opened the sealed compartment and took out the remaining food bags one by one to count them.
Nana walked over and projected the new nutrition model chart. "Current food reserves can support the basic needs of the entire crew for thirty days. If we maintain the current speed, the return journey is expected to take twenty-eight days."
"So that's just enough?" Susan asked.
“No,” Nana said. “We haven’t set aside any emergency supplies. If there’s a delay, we’ll face the risk of running out of food in the fourth week.”
“Then we can’t divide them equally by day.” Susan divided the bags into three piles. “The first pile is labeled ‘Daily Use,’ the second ‘Urgent,’ and the third ‘For Exploration Missions Only.’”
"You're dividing things into such detailed categories?" Chen Hao leaned closer.
“I used to think that bringing a lot of things would save me from death,” she said while putting up labels. “Now I understand that how you spend your money is the key.”
Nana retrieved the drinking water records. "Two freshwater containers were broken, and the remaining capacity is 62% of the original capacity."
"So, each person can only drink one bottle a day?" Susan frowned.
“Accurate,” Nana said. “If you find usable parts for the evaporation and water collection device, you can try assembling a simple water purifier.”
"Let me see if I can salvage anything." Susan walked towards the wreckage and began rummaging through the parts of the sampling equipment.
Chen Hao returned to the stern and looked at the newly repaired wooden planks. Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the clouds, shining brightly on the resin seams.
"You know, with all the repairs we've done to this ship, isn't it becoming less and less like the original?" he asked Karl.
“A boat isn’t a person, why does it have to be named after a specific lineage?” Carl packed his toolbox. “As long as it can run, it doesn’t matter what it’s called.”
"I'm afraid it might suddenly stop working one day," Chen Hao said, kicking the deck. "After all, it's survived several life-or-death situations."
“Then consider him an old soldier.” Karl patted him on the shoulder. “No matter how many wounds he has, he’ll still go to the battlefield.”
The sea was calm in the distance, with only slight ripples. Nana stood in the center of the ship, her eyes flashing steadily with blue light, conducting the final stress test.
Susan put the repackaged food back into the cabin and wiped the sweat from her face. She looked up at the sky and then gazed at the distant horizon.
After checking the last seam and confirming everything was in order, Carl put away his tools. He brushed the sawdust off his trousers and let out a long sigh of relief.
Chen Hao sat on the deck, his right hand re-bandaged, wrapped in white cloth like a rice dumpling. He watched his teammates finish work without saying a word.
The sun came out, shining on the wet deck. The engine hummed softly, and the ship slowly adjusted its course without accelerating.
Nana's voice rang out: "Route data updated, awaiting final instructions."
Chen Hao was about to speak—
Susan suddenly pulled a map from the pile of supplies and stopped her finger on a certain coordinate.
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