Chen Hao was walking forward with his backpack when his foot slipped, and he almost fell to his knees. He looked down and saw that the soles of his shoes were covered with a thin layer of dust, as if he had stepped on a pile of dried mud.
"You just said that thing is valuable?" He turned to Nana and asked, "You're not lying to me, are you? I remember that time you said 'you can camp on the riverbed,' and the water flooded up to my pillow in the middle of the night."
Nana didn't turn around; her optical lens swept across the undulating terrain ahead. "Data doesn't lie, but human memory is prone to error. Your insistence on resting at the lowest point wasn't within the system's recommended range."
"Alright, here comes another attempt to shift the blame." He patted his backpack. "But I won't take it to heart this time. We have our treasures; there's no need to argue with a robot."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a sharp screech came from above, like a wire being suddenly snapped.
His neck stiffened, and when he looked up, he saw a dark shadow swooping down from a gap in the clouds, moving so fast he couldn't even react. The creature's wingspan was a full three meters, and its claws were aimed straight for his backpack.
"Damn it!" He instinctively clutched his bag and rolled to the side, his shoulder slamming hard into a patch of hard earth. A raptor grazed past his head, whipping up a gust of wind that covered his face in dust.
"It's back!" He sat up abruptly, his voice trembling. "Did this bird have a tracking device? It knew we'd just dug it out?"
Nana was already standing in front of him, a red glow emanating from the back module of her propulsion suit. "Initiate electromagnetic pulse interference," she said calmly, as if reporting the weather.
The next second, a burst of red light flashed, and an invisible ripple spread forward.
But the bird of prey suddenly folded its wings in mid-air, flipped over to the side, and easily dodged the attack, as if it had known this move would come.
"It dodged it?" Chen Hao's eyes widened. "This bird can predict the future?"
“It shows learning ability.” Nana quickly pulled up the terrain map. “There is a metal structure 300 meters to the left, suspected to be the wreckage of an abandoned spaceship. The entrance is narrow, suitable for defense.”
"You mean I should crawl inside the metal shell and hide?" he gasped. "Isn't that the same as telling it to 'come and eat me'?"
“There’s no better option right now.” She grabbed his arm. “Let’s go.”
The two took off running. Chen Hao felt as if his lungs were stuffed with cotton, each breath burning with pain. The propulsion system of his suit was still running, but his legs were as weak as if they had just had their bone marrow extracted.
"Seventy degrees to the left front, accelerate for three seconds," Nana suddenly shouted in his ear, her voice eight octaves higher than usual. "Keep close to the rock face!"
He had no time to think and charged forward as instructed. Just as he reached behind a protruding rock, that piercing cry rang out again overhead. A second raptor swooped down from the side, its claws slicing across his shoulder, snapping his backpack strap in half.
"My bag!" He clutched the backpack tightly, rolling down the slope until he landed in a low-lying ditch.
Nana jumped down immediately after him and pulled him up. "Continue forward, target: main hatch of the wreckage, 120 meters away."
"One hundred and twenty? I can barely walk ten meters now!" He gritted his teeth and got up, staggering. "Why is this bird so fixated on this thing? It can't even eat it!"
“The energy signals released by stellar core fragments may attract or stimulate biological nervous systems,” she said, while locking onto a target ahead with a detector. “It cannot be ruled out that they may regard them as territorial markers.”
"So it's here to steal our territory?" he said with a wry smile. "So all the time I painstakingly dug out wasn't a mine, but a bird's nest pass?"
The third raptor swooped down from high above, the wind pressure from its flapping wings sending pebbles flying. Nana shoved him forward, shielding him with her own body, the protective plate on her arm instantly torn open by its claws, sending metal fragments flying.
"You're injured!" Chen Hao exclaimed.
“The damage to the outer shell does not affect the core functions.” Her tone remained unchanged. “Now is not the time to discuss this.”
They finally reached the edge of the wreckage. The old-fashioned exploration ship lay askew in the ground, half buried underground, with only half of the hatch still hanging on the hinges, covered in rust.
"This place looks even safer than a cemetery?" Chen Hao panted. "What if it collapses?"
“Structural stress testing shows the main frame remains stable.” She kicked aside the metal plate blocking her way. “Go inside.”
He stumbled inside, then slid down to sit against the inner wall. He clutched his backpack tightly to his chest, as if it were his final exam answers, afraid someone would steal them.
Nana followed closely behind, her blue eyes scanning the interior space. In the dim light, several rows of broken control panels leaned precariously in the corners, their wires dangling like withered vines. The air was thick with the smell of burnt, aged electronic equipment.
“I’ve confirmed there are no other entrances or exits.” She said, turning to look at the damaged hatch. “Help me block the entrance.”
"How do we get stuck in traffic?" He looked up at her.
“Use your backpack, along with the broken support over there.”
He hesitated for a second: "But this is for storing star cores..."
“Its current use is as a barrier material,” she said decisively. “Priority: Survival over preservation.”
He gritted his teeth, placed his backpack horizontally on the lower half of the doorway, and dragged over a twisted metal rod to wed it into the gap. Just as he finished, a loud "bang" came from outside, and the entire cabin shook slightly.
“It’s here.” He shrank his neck.
Then came several more violent scratches, the metal claws scraping against the hatch with a piercing noise, like someone sharpening their teeth with a file.
"Don't come in..." he muttered under his breath, "We didn't do anything to you, can you just pretend you've never seen us before?"
Nana walked to his side, and the power indicator light on her suit flashed red. She concentrated the remaining power into the audio module, then pressed a hidden button.
In an instant, a low, mechanical humming sound came from inside the wreckage, as if the entire spaceship's engines were restarting.
The scratching sounds outside stopped for a few seconds.
Then, a short screech sounded, like some kind of warning signal.
"Are you playing a recording?" Chen Hao's eyes widened.
“The sound of a simulated spacecraft self-test,” she whispered. “These kinds of creatures typically avoid mechanical environments that are still in operation.”
"You seem to understand bird psychology quite well?" He swallowed.
“I don’t understand, but I can observe.” She stood in front of the door, her optical lens continuously tracking the external heat source. “They are hesitating.”
Sure enough, for the next few minutes, only the sound of light footsteps pacing back and forth could be heard outside, occasionally accompanied by a few low growls, but no one tried to force their way in.
Chen Hao breathed a slight sigh of relief, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down to the floor. "Finally... I've stabilized?"
“For now.” Nana didn’t turn around. “They might be waiting for the right moment.”
"Wait for what? Wait for me to starve to death and crawl out myself?" He rubbed his stomach. "By the way, did we bring any food? I remember we still have half an energy bar..."
He reached into his pocket, and just as his fingers touched the bag, a sudden burst of rapid flapping of wings came from outside.
Immediately afterwards, three dark figures appeared outside the wreckage, circling the hatch, their wings whipping up sand and dust that poured into the cracks.
“They’ve surrounded us.” Nana quickly shut down the audio simulation. “New strategy: apply pressure in turns to force us to move.”
"Move my ass!" He shoved the energy bar into his mouth, chewed it twice, and swallowed it. "Moving even a little bit now would be a betrayal of myself."
A raptor suddenly swooped down, slamming its body into the upper part of the hatch, the metal frame making a sickening, creaking sound. The support wobbled, and the backpack slumped down a bit.
“If you apply that force again, the barrier will fail,” Nana said.
"So what's your idea?" He looked up at her. "Play the fake engine again? They won't fall for it this time."
“There’s another option,” she paused, “but I need your cooperation.”
"Go ahead and say it." He closed his eyes. "I'm already on the bird food list anyway, can things get any worse?"
“I will create a brief energy burst to attract attention. You can then use this opportunity to move the core fragment to a deeper control room, where there is a sealed storage cabinet that can block signals.”
"You're letting me run in alone?" He opened his eyes. "It's as black as ink in there, and I have to feel my way along dead electrical wires?"
“The route has been planned.” She handed him a miniature lighting device. “It will last for fifteen minutes once turned on.”
"What can you do in fifteen minutes? I need to lean against the wall to catch my breath after just a couple of steps."
Another violent impact occurred outside, the support frame completely loosened, and the backpack slipped to the ground.
Nana bent down, picked it up, and put it back in his arms. "You don't want it to go to waste, do you?"
He stared at her for two seconds, then suddenly laughed: "You robot, you're quite good at using reverse psychology."
He stood up, leaning against the wall, gripping the light fixture in one hand and holding his backpack in the other.
"If I fall and die on the way, remember to bury me in the place closest to the takeout shop." After he finished speaking, he turned and walked into the depths of the wreckage.
Nana stood still, her propulsion suit holding 18% of its energy remaining. She raised her hand, preparing for the next energy burst.
The raptors outside took to the air again, wings fully extended, circling outside the broken hatch.
She pressed the switch, and a beam of bright light burst from the chest of the propeller suit, accompanied by a high-frequency hum.
The three birds of prey were startled at the same time and simultaneously rose in altitude.
At that very moment, Chen Hao's figure disappeared at the end of the dark corridor.
Nana stared at the monitor screen and saw him stagger across the broken floor and push open a deformed iron door.
He put his backpack in the closet, turned around, closed the door, and leaned against the wall, panting heavily.
The lights from the illuminator began to flicker.
He looked up at the camera and his lips moved slightly.
"Hey, are you still alive?"
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