Chen Hao's fingers were still blocking his view, light seeping through them and making his palms feel hot. He blinked, his eyes slowly adjusting to the light outside. The light filtering through the crack at the end of the slope wasn't the lifeless gray of a cave, but rather warm, flowing daylight.
"Am I blind?" he said. "Is this really the sun?"
From behind came Karl's panting voice: "If you go blind, we'll all go blind."
Nana had climbed halfway up the rock face, the metal casing scraping against the rock wall with a slight creak. She didn't speak, but the scanning module lit up, and a stream of data flashed rapidly through her pupils.
Susan was the last to cross the crevice, emerging with her knees covered in mud. She steadied herself against a rock, and the first thing she saw when she looked up stunned her.
There is a lake in front of us.
The water was so clear that you could see the colorful pebbles scattered at the bottom—blue, green, and purple—like a box of glass marbles that had been spilled. The lake wasn't large, and it was surrounded by plants with deep purple leaves edged with gold. Several small flower bushes were blooming with fluorescent pale blue flowers that shimmered slightly in the sunlight.
The wind blew across the lake, carrying an indescribable scent, somewhat like grass after the rain, mixed with a hint of fruit.
“This place…” Karl squatted down, picked up a flat stone, and threw it into the water.
The stone slab bounced three times before sinking.
Ripples spread across the lake, startling a flock of small birds. Their wings were not wide, but their tail feathers were long. When they flew, they looked like a string of fluttering ribbons. Their feathers changed color in the sunlight, from red to orange, from orange to yellow, before finally disappearing into the treetops.
“Alive.” Chen Hao sat down on the shore and took off his shoes.
His socks were already soaked, and his toes were huddled together and white. He threw off his socks and put his feet directly into the lake.
"Hiss—it's cold!"
But instead of pulling back, he leaned back, placed his hands on the rocks, and tilted his face up to bask in the sun.
“I declare that I am now a salted fish,” he said. “Nobody should ask me to move.”
Carl sat down and unbuttoned his coat. His backpack straps had been chafing his shoulders all the way, and now they ached at the slightest touch. He took out his water bottle, unscrewed it, took a sip, and then exhaled a long breath over the lake.
"I thought we were going to die in there."
Susan didn't sit down. She walked over to a glowing plant and squatted down to examine it. The leaves were covered in a fine layer of downy hairs, trembling gently as if breathing. She reached out and touched them; the leaves immediately closed, then slowly opened again a few seconds later.
“It reacted,” she said.
Nana walked over, her eyes flashing, and started the basic environmental detection.
"The oxygen content is normal, there are no toxic gases, and the ultraviolet radiation intensity is moderate," she said. "The surface humidity is 68 percent, which is suitable for a short stay."
"So, we can lie here for a while?" Chen Hao lay on the rock, one leg dangling in the air.
"The premise is that it won't delay subsequent operations," Nana said.
"The next step is to get back alive." Chen Hao rolled over, burying his face in the crook of his arm. "Right now, I think surviving until tomorrow is a victory."
The lakeside was quiet for a while.
No one mentioned the mission again, nor did anyone say where to go next. They just sat there, listening to the wind rustling through the leaves, the birds singing, and the water gently lapping against the shore.
Carl poured the remaining half-full of water into his mouth, then tossed the empty bottle into his bag. He looked up at the sky; the clouds were thin, and the sunlight shone through, warming him.
"How can there be a place like this on this island?" he asked.
"You're asking me?" Chen Hao opened one eye. "If I could answer that, I wouldn't be a bad student anymore."
“That’s so unscientific,” Carl shook his head. “The colors of these plants are all wrong. How can a plant with purple leaves survive?”
Susan stood up and walked to another area. There stood a short tree with a silvery-gray trunk and branches that drooped down like willow twigs, but instead of leaves, it bore clusters of tiny, transparent spheres that seemed to contain flowing liquid.
As she approached, a small ball suddenly cracked open, spewing out a cloud of fine mist.
She abruptly took a step back.
The fog dissipated quickly, and nothing happened.
“It’s just releasing spores,” Nana followed. “It’s harmless.”
"You scared me!" Susan breathed a sigh of relief. "I thought it was going to mutate."
"So now you have an extra eye or three legs?" Chen Hao shouted from behind.
"Shut up."
"If it really mutates, that would be good. It would save us from walking; we could just grow wings and fly back."
Carl laughed, grabbed a handful of pebbles from the ground, and threw them one by one into the lake. Each splash made him feel the tightness in his chest ease a little.
He had been trapped in the cave for too long.
It was pitch black, with forks in the road everywhere. Every step I took was fraught with the fear of slipping, getting lost, or something suddenly appearing behind me. Now, I can finally see the sky, feel the sun, and hear my own voice echoing, instead of bumping around among the rocks.
He dipped his hands into the lake to wash them, then wiped his face.
"Is my face covered in mud?"
“You’re the only one who looks like a coal miner,” Chen Hao said.
"How dare you say that to me? That scratch on your face has already scabbed over."
Chen Hao touched his cheek and grinned: "This is a battle-damaged skin, a limited edition."
Susan walked to a large rock in the middle of the lake and sat down. The rock was warm from the sun, and the warmth seeped through her trousers onto her skin. She looked down at her reflection in the water and noticed that her hair was a mess, like a bird's nest, and there were a few mud streaks on her face, but her eyes were bright.
She hadn't felt this relaxed in a long time.
Nana stood by the lake, not sitting down. Her system was still running, recording air composition, changes in light, and vegetation distribution. But she paused for a few seconds, her gaze falling on the ripples in the center of the lake.
A fallen leaf floats on the water, slowly spinning in the breeze.
She didn't turn off the record.
Chen Hao sat up and rummaged through his bag to find the last pack of compressed biscuits. The packaging was crumpled and the corners were crushed. He opened it, took a bite, and found it too dry to swallow.
He simply walked to the lakeside, broke the biscuits into pieces, and sprinkled them in.
Several small fish immediately emerged from the bottom of the water, scrambling for the food. Their bodies were translucent, and their tails shimmered as they swam.
"It's quite lively," he said.
"We might find something to eat in this lake," Carl said, staring at the school of fish.
"You want to eat raw fish?" Susan turned around. "With your hands?"
"I can try using a branch fork."
"Then you should practice 100-meter sprints first. I think they can swim faster than you."
Chen Hao stuffed the empty package back into his bag, then knelt down by the lake and scooped up a handful of water to wash his face. Mud and sweat mixed together, which he rubbed off. He shook his hands, and water droplets splashed onto the nearby stones, leaving a few dark spots.
“I feel like I’ve been reborn,” he said.
“Even if I were reborn, I shouldn’t be this fat,” Carl said.
"So what if I'm fat? Being fat means I'm resilient."
"So you got stuck in the crack because you were too resilient to impact?"
"That's tactical positioning, understand?"
Susan laughed out loud.
Laughter echoed across the lake, and even Nana's lips twitched.
No one noticed that a leaf swayed gently in the woods across the lake.
It wasn't blown by the wind.
Chen Hao stood up and stretched his limbs. His legs were still a little numb from being curled up for so long, but he felt much better.
“We can’t stay here any longer,” he said. “We have to go back.”
“I know,” Carl nodded, “but let me sit for five more minutes.”
“Ten minutes,” Susan said.
"Fifteen." Chen Hao lay back down on the rock. "Whoever wakes up first can wake me."
Nana stood still, the scanning continuing.
The lake water is clear, the plants are exceptional, and the air is clean.
Everything defies common sense.
But she didn't warn her.
Sunlight shone on her metal casing, reflecting a quiet light.
Susan closed her eyes and felt the warmth of the sun.
Carl leaned against the tree trunk and slowly slid down to sit on the ground.
Chen Hao was already snoring softly.
Nana turned her head and glanced at them.
Then she raised her hand and quietly extended the recording time.
The lake was calm, and a gentle breeze rustled the purple leaves.
A small bird landed on a rock by the lake, tilted its head to look at the group of strangers, hopped twice, picked up a crumb of biscuit, and flew towards the treetop.
Deep within the shadows of the trees, that leaf stirred again.
A bird perched on a horizontal branch, about to stuff food into its mouth.
Its head suddenly froze.
My eyes widened.
The next second, its body split in two, one half falling to the ground and the other half still hanging on the branch.
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