When Chen Hao opened his eyes, the green light on the main unit was flashing. He stared at it for three seconds, then reached out and touched it. The temperature was normal; the casing wasn't hot to the touch. He breathed a sigh of relief, sat up, and his shoulder cracked.
He cracked his neck, stood up, and walked to the door. The doorframe was a little crooked, but it could be opened all the way. The light in the hallway outside was on, not the dim yellow light of last night, but a steady white.
He stepped outside, his feet landing on the newly paved ground. Yesterday, this place was a pile of rubble; now, it was as flat as a tabletop. The ventilation ducts by the wall hummed, and the air blowing out was clean, cool, and free of the smell of dust.
He walked all the way to the square. The sun had just risen, shining on the exterior wall of the main building. That wall, which had been half-collapsed, had now been patched up with metal plates, reflecting the light like a mirror. The solar array was also set up, rows of blackboards neatly facing the sky. The water purification system gurgled in the corner, the sound not loud, but it never stopped.
He stopped in the middle of the square and looked up at the sky. It was a deep, clear blue, with very few clouds. A breeze blew by, carrying a slight coolness, but not biting.
Not long after, Nana arrived. She stood next to him, and the camera panned to her.
"Structural inspection completed," she said. "The load-bearing capacity meets the standard at 98.6%, and the system has no abnormal warnings."
"So it won't collapse?"
"Based on the current assessment, it is not likely."
"That's great." Chen Hao grinned. "I want to live a few more years."
A little while later, Susan and Carl came out from the east passage. Susan was carrying a board with paper and writing on it. Carl had a tool bag slung over his shoulder and walked with a slight limp, but his steps were firm.
"The last list is in," Susan said. "The gas was turned on in the kitchen this morning, and the first meal has already been cooked."
"Do you have meat?" Chen Hao asked.
"We have canned food."
"That counts."
Carl crouched down and touched the seams in the ground. He pressed a few spots and nodded: "Good welds, no one cut corners."
"Do you think everyone is like you used to be?" Chen Hao laughed, "always thinking about doing less work."
“Back then, I didn’t believe it could be fixed.” Carl stood up. “Every time I woke up, I was afraid it would collapse again.”
“Me too.” Susan looked at the smoking chimney in the distance. “Last night I dreamed that the dormitory area collapsed again. I ran out, but I found that none of you were there. When I woke up, my heart was pounding.”
"And now?"
“Now…” she took a breath, “seeing the smoke from the chimneys, I suddenly feel like crying.”
"Don't cry," Chen Hao patted her shoulder. "I don't have any tissues if you cry."
Susan glared at him, but a smile played on her lips.
Nana suddenly said, "This is not a temporary stability, but a sustainable state."
"Your words are more formal than a leader's speech," Chen Hao said.
"I'm just stating the data."
“But you never said things like that before.”
“With a large enough sample size, the conclusions will be more accurate.” She paused. “You didn’t abandon each other even in the most dangerous times. This kind of behavior was not predicted by the initial program.”
"So we won?"
"To be precise, those who 'chose to continue' won."
Chen Hao smiled. He walked to a metal plate next to him and patted its surface. It was cast using old equipment; no words were engraved yet, but the outline was there.
“We didn’t die, and the house didn’t collapse,” he said. “It wasn’t by luck; we built it back step by step.”
No one answered. The wind blew the clothes against the body, then loosened them again.
“I used to hate doing manual labor the most,” Chen Hao continued. “I even thought it was too tiring to copy answers during exams. I would never sit if I could lie down. Who would have thought that one day I would volunteer to connect electrical wires, move steel plates, and dig foundations?”
“You’re adapting quite well,” Carl said.
"It's not about adapting, it's about discovering something—as long as people work together, even the worst place can be transformed."
Susan looked down at the whiteboard in her hand. It was covered with crossed-out plans, revised schedules, and patch-like notes. She gently touched one line: "Back at the volcano, I said I wanted to change the fuel lines, but nobody listened. Now that I think about it, it wasn't that I lacked confidence in the technology, it was that I lacked confidence in people."
"Do you believe me now?"
“I believe you.” She looked up. “Because you all accomplished things that you shouldn’t have been able to do.”
Carl interjected, "I used to think Chen Hao was just a lazy bum, fat, and glib. Turns out he was the first to rush into the core room and the last to leave the control panel."
"You still remember?"
“I remember.” Carl looked at him. “That day you said ‘just being alive is enough,’ but you didn’t want it to be that simple. You wanted to bring everyone back.”
Chen Hao didn't speak. He looked down at his hands. There was still black ash under his fingernails, and a scab had formed on his wrist.
“During that deep-sea adventure, I thought I was going to die at the bottom of the well,” he said. “My legs were shaking as I climbed the slope, and my protective suit had a hole in it, letting the wind in. I thought, ‘That’s it, I’m really going to die here this time.’”
“But you didn’t stop,” Susan said.
“I didn’t stop,” he nodded. “Because there were people following behind me. If I fell, they would lose their way.”
“Volcano escape, cave decryption, energy core adjustment…” Karl counted, “none of these steps should have succeeded.”
“But we didn’t abandon anyone,” Chen Hao said. “We didn’t skip any steps either. We took it one step at a time, correcting mistakes and repairing what collapsed.”
He turned around, with his back to the sun, and faced the three people.
“This planet won’t give us miracles,” he said, “but it has given us a chance. From now on, it’s not about surviving, it’s about living like human beings.”
He raised his hand and pointed into the distance.
"Build schools, farm the land, bring electricity, and connect to the internet. We want to turn this place into our home."
The wind suddenly picked up, ruffling the corners of their clothes. The smoke from the distant chimneys tilted for a moment, then straightened up again.
None of the four people moved.
After a few seconds, Susan said softly, "I want to teach my child to read."
"You need to have a child first," Chen Hao laughed.
“You can keep a dog,” Carl said. “The base has been too quiet for too long.”
"A dog or a cat is fine," Chen Hao nodded. "It would be best to also have a chicken, so we can lay eggs and eat them."
Nana suddenly spoke up: "Air quality continues to improve, radiation levels have dropped to zero, and the energy network is operating stably. The external environment is now suitable for long-term habitation."
"So you're agreeing to celebrate?"
She paused for two seconds and said, "Today is a day for celebration."
"Then it's settled." Chen Hao slapped his thigh. "Everyone will have dinner tonight, canned food is unlimited, hot water is available for showers, and anyone who dares to work overtime will be carried out."
“The kitchen is only so big,” Susan reminded her.
"Set up a tent," Chen Hao waved his hand. "Eat outdoors and watch the stars. The sky's clear enough to see the Milky Way."
"Do you remember what the Milky Way looks like?" Carl asked.
"I don't remember," Chen Hao said honestly, "but I'll see him tomorrow."
Susan smiled. She put down her clipboard, hugged her knees, and gazed towards the chimney. Her shadow, long in the sunlight, fell on the newly paved ground.
Carl crouched down to examine a seam near his feet. He poked at the edge with his fingers to make sure it wasn't loose. Then he slowly sat down on the ground, leaning against a support post.
"This time, it's really secure." He muttered to himself.
Nana stood still, the camera slightly rotating to scan her surroundings. Her body reflected the morning light, as if plated with a thin layer of gold. She didn't move or speak, but the alarm module automatically deactivated a routine alert.
Chen Hao walked to the unengraved metal plate and took out an engraving pen from his pocket. He squatted down and began to write the first line.
"First rule: A house may collapse, but people's hearts must not be scattered."
After he finished writing, he blew away the metal shavings.
Article Two:
The pen tip is still moving.
His hands were very steady.
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