As soon as it was light, Chen Hao squatted at the door and ate a piece of dry food.
Nana stood beside him, holding a detector with slightly chipped paint. She glanced at her watch. "We're thirteen minutes behind schedule."
"I haven't swallowed it yet." Chen Hao's cheeks ached from chewing. "What's the rush? It's not like we're going to a market."
“The energy supply will only last for eight hours,” she said. “The round trip is expected to take six and a half hours, with the remaining time used for the search.”
"Okay." Chen Hao stuffed the last bite into his mouth, patted his pants, and stood up. "Let's go, or you'll say I didn't listen to you later."
They walked eastward along the route they had planned the day before. The ground was uneven, with cracks in some places, as if something had pushed through it from underneath. Chen Hao stepped on a loose stone slab and almost slipped.
"Watch your step," Nana said.
“I’m not a robot.” He adjusted his backpack strap. “I won’t slip or short-circuit.”
Nana didn't reply, but looked down at the instrument. The green dot on the screen was flashing, indicating the safe path ahead.
After walking for more than two hours, the collapse zone came into view. The original road was broken into several sections, with exposed steel bars, like broken bones. They circled around to the north side of the wasteland, proceeding on the loose stones. The wind was strong, making it difficult to open their eyes.
"How much longer?" Chen Hao wiped his face.
"Two kilometers." Nana looked up at the sky. "The clouds are getting thicker; it might rain."
“Rain is a minor issue,” he said. “I’m more worried about the equipment getting wet.”
“The waterproof cover is ready.” She pulled a layer of silver film from her bag. “It can cover the detector if necessary.”
"You really do bring everything," Chen Hao chuckled.
They arrived at the edge of Zone C7 before noon. The first place they saw was the old main building of the repair shop, half of its exterior wall had collapsed, and the door frame was crooked. They climbed in through a side window, and the inside was filled with the wreckage of abandoned machines.
Nana turned on the scanner, and the red light swept across an old generator. "Model number mismatch." She put away the instrument. "Continue."
Chen Hao bent down and moved a piece of sheet metal. "There are so many machines in here, surely one of them will work?"
“The xG series is extremely rare,” she said. “Only three devices registered in this area have ever been equipped with this type of module.”
"We still have to find them." He clapped his hands. "Anyway, we're here."
They searched through the ruins for nearly an hour. Chen Hao opened two computer cases and found that the internal parts were severely corroded and crumbled into powder at the slightest touch.
“This isn’t about finding parts,” he said, flicking the rust off his hands. “This is about participating in a scrap metal recycling competition.”
Nana walked to another device, scanned it, and shook her head. "Match rate 31%, unusable."
"Even at a lower price, I've never seen you so decisive." Chen Hao leaned against the wall, panting. "You even glanced at that eighty one a couple more times."
“That’s an effective value within the margin of error,” she said. “This is outside the technically permissible range.”
"Alright." He stood up. "Next."
The second location was an underground storage room, the entrance blocked by a pile of concrete blocks. The two of them worked together to move some of them aside and barely managed to squeeze inside. The air inside was stuffy, and there was puddles in the corners.
Nana walked forward holding the lamp, and stepped on a piece of metal, making a hissing sound.
“Be careful,” she said.
"This place is messier than my storage room at home." Chen Hao kicked away a coil of electrical wire at his feet. "Nobody cleans up the junk left behind by anyone."
They found three backup power units, but all of them were too old and had completely different interface shapes. Nana scanned them one by one, and each time she heard the same message: "Incompatible."
The third time, Chen Hao simply waved his hand and said, "Don't say anything, I know it won't work."
“Objective data needs to be verified,” she said.
“I know you’re right.” He sat down against the pillar, “but now I feel like rolling on the floor whenever I hear ‘unavailable’.”
"Emotional fluctuations don't affect the outcome." She continued walking forward.
The last piece of equipment was hidden in the innermost compartment, its casing still relatively intact. Chen Hao rushed over and peeked through the crack in the door. "This one looks reliable!"
Nana remained silent for two seconds after scanning.
"How is it?" He stared into her eyes.
“It was equipped with an xG-5 type resonant valve,” she said. “The structural similarity is 68 percent.”
"That's pretty much it!" He slapped the machine. "Take it apart, modify it a bit, and it'll work!"
“The material fatigue level is too high.” She pulled up the internal images and said, “There are hidden cracks in the valve body, and the pressure-bearing capacity is less than 20% of the original design.”
"...Can't we just make do?" he asked in a low voice.
“Once it leaks, the consequences will be uncontrollable,” she said. “It will be unusable.”
Chen Hao slowly slid down to sit on the floor, leaning against the machine. He looked up at the ceiling, where a sliver of grayish-white light shone through a crack.
“I thought this time it would work,” he said.
“We’ve only covered a third of the area,” she said.
"You know what the rest will be like," he said with a wry smile. "A bunch of lumps of iron waiting to rust."
Nana turned off the scanner. "Let's move on to the next point."
The third place was an open-air warehouse, with only a few pillars remaining. The wind rattled the sheet metal, and various parts and fragments were scattered on the ground.
They spent forty minutes checking all the visible equipment. Nana finally stood in the center of the open space, and the instrument screen went black.
“All scans are complete,” she said. “No replacements are available.”
Chen Hao was squatting on the ground tightening a screw when he heard this, and he paused. He threw the screw away, stood up, and dusted himself off.
"Really not?"
“The database comparison is complete,” she said. “The most recent maintenance record is accurate, but the part was lost during a subsequent transfer.”
"So it was all for nothing?" He looked up at the sky. "Forty-seven kilometers, just to hear you say 'it's over'?"
“The process is valuable,” she said.
“What’s the value?” he raised his voice. “The generator is still broken, and the parts are still nowhere to be found. If we go back now, we’ll be empty-handed, just like when we came.”
“We’ve ruled out that possibility,” she said. “That’s progress.”
"Elimination counts as progress?" He laughed. "Then you can go count how many stones are outside the base tomorrow; that counts as elimination."
Nana didn't say anything, she just put the detector into her bag.
Chen Hao stood there for a while, then suddenly bent down, picked up a small piece of iron, weighed it in his hand, and threw it. The iron piece arced through the air and landed in a haystack some distance away.
“Let’s go,” he said. “Staying here won’t make the machine grow on its own.”
The two barely spoke on the way back. Chen Hao walked slowly, stopping every now and then to rub his legs. The sun was setting, casting long shadows.
"Battery at 35 percent remaining." Nana glanced at the portable power bank. "Enough to get back."
"You're quite optimistic," he said, panting. "I can barely walk anymore."
“Your cadence has dropped by 18 percent,” she said. “I suggest you adjust your breathing rhythm.”
“I’m not a machine,” he muttered. “I can’t be restarted with one click.”
It was already dark when we arrived at the base. The metal gate was ajar, with a faint light shining from inside.
Chen Hao stood outside the door, took a deep breath, and then exhaled. He raised his hand and patted the dust off his clothes, a heavy motion, as if trying to shake off all the fatigue from the journey.
"What do you say when you go in?" he asked.
“Report the facts,” she said.
"So you said you couldn't find it?" He turned to look at her. "Susan will definitely hold a grudge again, and Carl probably won't dare to look up."
“Facts don’t need embellishment,” she said.
“But it sounds awful when you say it.” He scratched his head. “For example, ‘We went, we looked, and there was nothing there,’ it sounds like we’re cheating.”
“Or you could say, ‘At least we tried,’” she suddenly said.
Chen Hao paused for a moment, then said, "This sentence is alright."
“You said that before,” she said.
"Did I say that?" He blinked.
“Before the third inspection,” she said, looking at him, “you took apart the outer shell of that xG-5 after you finished speaking.”
"Oh." He touched his nose. "I thought I was just improvising."
“It’s a direct quote,” she said.
Chen Hao grinned and pushed open the door. "Alright, let's say that then."
He stepped over the threshold, his footsteps landing on the concrete floor with a dull thud.
There were shadowy figures moving inside the room.
He cleared his throat. "Is everyone here? We're back."
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