Chen Hao stared at the dark green water, his finger tracing something in the air. He suddenly turned his head, his eyes unusually bright.
"Do you think we could try building a raft?"
Nana didn't move, but a flash of blue light appeared in her eyes, as if the system had just finished loading some obscure module.
"Feasibility analysis initiated." She paused for half a second. "Under the current environmental conditions, the simple raft can achieve basic buoyancy support and downstream movement. Structural stability depends on material strength and connection methods."
"So it's possible?" Chen Hao slapped his thigh. "I thought you were going to say 'I suggest giving up'."
“I only provide data support,” she said. “I don’t offer emotional dissuasion.”
"Alright, then hurry up and figure out what we need. Don't come back carrying a bunch of junk only to find that we're missing a nail."
Nana accessed the internal database, quickly searched, and compiled a list: "The main material is the buoyancy body - it is recommended to use dry hardwood, with a length of no less than two meters and a diameter of more than fifteen centimeters; the connectors need to be high-strength ropes or vines, with a total length of no less than ten meters; bark strips or fiber bundles can be used to enhance the tensile strength for auxiliary fixation."
Chen Hao scratched his head as he listened: "It sounds like a pre-construction purchase list from a renovation team... This isn't a building materials market, where are they going to find these?"
“There is a vegetation degradation zone around the cave.” Nana pointed to the eastern branch road. “Based on the composition of the sediments and the air flow trajectory, it can be inferred that this area was exposed to the surface wind belt for a long time, and there is most likely an accumulation of dead branches.”
"Oh, so you mean there are those scrap wood pieces lying over there that no one's collecting?" Chen Hao grinned. "Then why don't you hurry up and pick them up? Free stuff is free, so why not take it?"
"The premise is that the physical exertion is lower than the expected return," she said. "Your current heart rate is a bit high, so I suggest you take a short rest before proceeding."
"My heart is racing right now because I'm excited, okay!" He stood up and stretched his arms and legs. "Besides, after lying around for so many years, this is the first time I feel like there's something to look forward to doing some work. Shouldn't you give me some encouragement?"
“Encouragement isn’t in my basic instruction set,” she said calmly, “but you can take it as a form of recognition.”
The two walked along the main passage towards the eastern side tunnel. The ground gradually softened, making a slight crunching sound underfoot. Chen Hao muttered to himself as they walked, "If I get too tired, do you think I'll have to carry me back?"
“The weight limit allows it,” she replied, “but your weight will increase energy consumption by 39 percent, so I suggest prioritizing energy conservation.”
"So you think I'm just a huge power consumer?" He rolled his eyes. "When I really stop using it, you can just turn it off and leave."
“If I detect the disappearance of vital signs, I will try to contact the nearest human settlement.” Her tone remained calm. “Although the database currently shows that the nearest coordinates are about 430 million kilometers away from here.”
"Ha," he chuckled dryly, "then you'd have to fly halfway through the galaxy to find someone to collect the body?"
“Theoretically, yes,” she said, “but it’s more likely that the backup power will be depleted first.”
"...Let's not talk about this anymore."
The entrance to the side tunnel was narrower than the main passage, and the jagged stone edges hanging from the ceiling looked like a row of nails that someone had casually stuck in. When Chen Hao bent down to crawl in, his shoulder scraped against a protrusion, making him wince in pain.
"This place is really not suitable for fat people to travel to."
“Body shape is something we can’t change,” Nana said, following behind him. “But we can optimize traffic flow by adjusting our posture.”
"That sounds so irritating."
After walking a dozen or so steps, a dry, musty smell began to waft through the air, like a sun-dried haystack mixed with dust. Chen Hao sniffed, "Wait, this smell... did something burn?"
“Non-combustion residue.” Nana confirmed after scanning, “It’s organic volatiles from long-term plant dehydration, originating eight meters ahead.”
Sure enough, after walking a few more steps, the view suddenly opened up. Beneath a collapsed rock formation, there were some broken branches, grayish in color and covered with cracks, but overall still relatively intact.
"Wow, God has blessed us with talent." Chen Hao rubbed his hands together and went closer, kicking a thick one. "It looks pretty sturdy, but I don't know if it can support me sitting on it."
"Please do not test the load-bearing capacity casually," Nana warned. "Some dead wood may be carbonized or infested with insects inside, which is difficult to judge from the outside."
"Then you should take a look and see which ones are usable."
She activated the thermal imaging mode, her blue light flickering slightly as she scanned each piece of wood. A few seconds later, the system identified five pieces that met the criteria.
"The density distribution is uniform, the moisture content is less than three percent, and the structural integrity is good," she concluded. "It can be used as a main beam."
"You're really professional." Chen Hao bent down and pulled out the first one, testing its weight. "Hey, not too heavy, I can move it."
He made repeated trips, dragging all five logs to the vicinity of the exit and piling them up. By the time he put down the last log, sweat was beading on his forehead, and he plopped down on a nearby rock, panting.
“I said, wouldn’t you say we’re in the early stages of a startup? A few people, all of one mind, starting infrastructure from scratch.”
“There are only two people right now,” Nana corrected, “and my heart is a titanium alloy core processor.”
"Shut up," he waved his hand. "I finally had a bit of romance, and you've taken it all apart."
After resting for a while, he pulled out a roll of plant fiber rope from his backpack—it was a leftover scrap of material from when he made the insecticide, which he had originally intended to use as spare straps and had never been willing to throw away.
"How about this?" He tugged at the rope. "It's a bit thin, but it's quite strong. It didn't break when I hung medicine bags on it before."
Nana took the test, gently stretched it with her fingertips to test its elasticity, and then did a small-amplitude torsion test.
"The tensile strength meets the standard." She nodded. "It can be used as a secondary connector. If combined with a cross-weaving process, it can improve the overall strength."
"Then let's keep it." Chen Hao rolled it up and put it back. "It saves us from having to dig up any more vines, and who knows if there are any poisonous thorns."
“There are also suspected signs of bark peeling about 30 meters to the east,” Nana added. “These could be used to make additional binding strips.”
“Not now.” He shook his head. “We already have enough to do today. Let’s get this pile of wood to the river first.”
“The transportation route needs to be replanned.” She pulled up a topographic map. “Returning via the original route will involve two steep slopes, reducing handling efficiency by 52 percent.”
"Then let's take a longer route."
"The west side passage has a gentle slope, but it requires crossing a waterlogged area, about 17 centimeters deep."
"It's only ankle-deep, what's there to be afraid of?" Chen Hao stood up and dusted himself off. "At worst, my shoes will get wet. Anyway, my socks are already so worn out you can't even tell the color anymore."
They reorganized their tasks: Nana scouted ahead and monitored the ground's load-bearing capacity in real time, while Chen Hao was responsible for hauling the logs. The two adopted a segmented approach, moving one log at a time, gradually transferring it towards the underground riverbank.
When passing through a flooded area, Chen Hao stepped into a mud puddle and swayed before regaining his balance.
"Oh my god, I almost did the splits."
"Please keep your balance." Nana reached out to steady you. "A fall could cause the materials to slip into the deep water."
"You were quick to help," he muttered. "Why didn't you help sooner when we were climbing the hill?"
"The intervention threshold was not reached at the time."
"You robots always talk in such an infuriating way."
When the last log was dragged to the riverbank, the timer on the skylight simulator showed that more than three hours had passed. The five logs were neatly stacked in a safe area two meters from the water's edge, and the ropes were also sorted and arranged.
Chen Hao plopped down, leaning against a rock and catching his breath: "Finally done. Shouldn't the next step be to build the scaffolding, take measurements, and draw up the blueprints?"
“Yes.” Nana nodded. “The structural design needs to take into account the impact of water flow, load distribution, and steering flexibility.”
“Just hearing about it gives me a headache.” He raised his hand to shield his eyes. “What if we didn’t make this broken raft and just kept growing vegetables? At least we could eat something green.”
“Yes,” she said, “but you will never have the chance to know where this river leads.”
Chen Hao's fingers slid off his eyelids as he stared at the dark riverbed.
After a long while, he sat up straight, reached out and tapped a piece of wood beside him, the sound crisp and clear.
"This thing, can it really float?"
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