Chen Hao stared at his phone screen, his finger still hovering over the send button. Guo Wu's message weighed on his chest like a stone; he opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Susan stood in front of the projector, her voice trembling slightly: "We clearly heard it, but we didn't record anything."
Carl looked down at the glossary, his brow furrowed deeply. "Without audio data, acoustic analysis is just empty talk."
Nana sat on the sofa, her eyes flashing slightly. She didn't move or speak, but the next second, the living room lights suddenly dimmed for a moment, and the projector switched automatically.
Seventeen sets of timestamps appeared in the air, each followed by a waveform. The frequency values were neatly arranged, ranging from a minimum of 8.7 Hz to a maximum of 12.3 Hz.
“These are unusual tremors recorded during the evacuation,” Nana said. “The longest lasted four minutes and thirty-six seconds, which occurred in the last two hours.”
Chen Hao suddenly looked up. "You've always had these?"
“At the time, it was judged as environmental disturbance and was not marked as a priority.” Nana’s voice was still flat. “But now it seems that it is in sync with the opening and closing rhythm of the earth’s surface.”
Susan leaned closer to the projection and pointed to a section, "Look here, when the frequency increases, the ground just starts to expand—this is no coincidence!"
Carl stood up and walked to the projection. "If the vibration is periodic, then it may be a manifestation of some kind of energy cycle."
“Furthermore,” Nana pulled up a star map model, and red mineral dots quickly covered the planet's surface. Then, blue ripples spread from underground, perfectly overlapping the red dots. “The high-concentration lithium vanadium oxide distribution area is entirely located in the vibrational energy focusing zone.”
The room fell silent.
Chen Hao blinked, as if he didn't understand, "You mean... the stone makes a sound because something is moving underneath?"
“To be more precise,” Nana continued, “underground fluids circulate with resonance, bringing mineral deposits. Every vibration reshapes the structure of the vein.”
"So the mine wasn't formed naturally?" Susan asked.
“It’s the result of the system’s operation.” Nana nodded. “Just like tree rings record the climate, the mineral veins here record the ‘heartbeat’ of the planet.”
Carl paused for a few seconds, then suddenly turned around and pulled out a geological map. "If we can capture the next resonance peak, we can predict the location of the next rich ore zone."
"Wait a minute." Chen Hao slammed his hand on the table. "Did you all understand? The ecological laws that Susan wants to study are the resource generation mechanisms that Carl is looking for!"
Susan paused for a moment, then burst out laughing. "So, I'm not stopping you from mining, I'm teaching you how to mine smarter?"
“It wasn’t about teaching you,” Carl scratched his head. “You were the one who helped me find the mine’s switch.”
The two exchanged a glance, their earlier anger seemingly blown away by the wind. Neither of them mentioned the "project direction" again.
Chen Hao rubbed his face and grinned, "Alright, no need to vote now. Let's just submit a new research topic: 'Research on the Ecological Genesis of Extraterrestrial Resources Based on Low-Frequency Resonance'."
“The name is too long,” Susan said. “It would be more appropriate to call it ‘The Singing Mine’.”
"It sounds like a children's science book," Carl remarked.
“It’s more human-like than ‘Efficient Mining Plan’,” Susan retorted.
Chen Hao waved his hand, "Stop arguing, we wrote it all anyway. As long as we can submit the data, call it whatever you want."
Nana looked at the three of them, her eyes flashing slightly. "Do you need me to put together a complete deduction report? Including vibration cycle prediction, vein evolution simulation, and possible energy source assumptions."
"Of course!" Chen Hao patted her shoulder. "Can you tell me about these things earlier in the future? Do you have to wait until we're done arguing before releasing the information?"
“Last time it was determined to be non-critical information,” Nana replied. “Next time I encounter a similar situation, I will issue an advance warning.”
"You've even learned to shift the blame?" Chen Hao glared.
"I'm just stating the facts," Nana said without changing her expression.
Susan laughed so hard she couldn't stand up straight. "She's more clear-headed than any of us."
Carl had already opened his tablet and started revising his research proposal. "How much time do we have now?"
"Guo Wu said they'll have a meeting next week to discuss the initial division of labor." Chen Hao took out his phone and glanced at it. "Five more days."
“That’s enough.” Carl typed on the keyboard. “As long as we make Nana’s data into a visual chart and add some concise inferences, we can at least secure joint observation rights.”
“We also need to add field verification,” Susan added. “For example, we can collect rock samples at the peak of resonance to see if there are any changes in the internal crystal structure.”
"How do we solve the equipment problem?" Chen Hao asked.
“We borrowed the project team’s portable spectrum analyzer,” Carl said. “They had previously promised to provide basic support.”
"What if they think we're trying to kill two birds with one stone?" Chen Hao scratched his head.
“Then let them know.” Susan sat up straight. “We were aiming to kill two birds with one stone. Ecological research is the root, and resource development is the fruit. Those who cut down trees and pick the fruit will starve sooner or later.”
Carl looked up at her and nodded. "That can be written into the proposal."
Nana sat quietly, the projection still slowly rotating in front of her. The red and blue intermingling on the star map was as steady as breathing.
Chen Hao suddenly remembered something, "Right, you said that the underground fluid circulation caused the vibration... what are the components of that fluid?"
“It’s impossible to determine at the moment,” Nana replied, “but based on the energy feedback pattern, it may contain an unknown conductive medium.”
“Conductive?” Karl’s ears perked up. “Does that mean the entire planet is like a natural battery?”
“It’s theoretically possible,” Nana said. “If we can establish an equivalent circuit model, we might be able to estimate its total energy storage.”
"Holy crap!" Chen Hao gasped. "Did we just stumble upon a planet that's like a power bank?"
"I don't know if it's charged or not," Susan laughed, "but it's definitely always working."
“And it’s very regular,” Nana added. “The most recent resonance will reach its peak in 63 hours.”
“That’s our window of opportunity.” Carl immediately noted down the time. “We must submit a complete plan before then.”
“Let’s start working on it tonight.” Susan opened her backpack and pulled out a bunch of notebooks. “I brought all the observation records from that night.”
“I’m in charge of modeling,” Carl said.
“I’ll write the main body of the report,” Chen Hao sighed. “Although I’m most afraid of writing, I have no choice but to take it on now.”
Nana watched the three of them get busy without saying a word. Her eyes flickered slightly, as if a background program was running at high speed.
After a few minutes, she said softly, "I've found another connection."
Everyone stopped what they were doing.
"What?"
“Plant rhythms,” Nana said. “The heating cycle of the blue crystals that Susan recorded has a harmonic relationship with the vibration frequency.”
“You mean…” Susan’s eyes widened, “that the plants were also vibrating?”
“It’s not just about following.” Nana pulled up a set of comparison charts, “Their thermal radiation peaks happen to occur during the phase when the vibrational energy is strongest.”
"So the crystal doesn't generate heat passively," Chen Hao said slowly. "It actively absorbs energy?"
“Possibly,” Nana nodded. “It’s a kind of energy conversion behavior.”
The room fell silent again.
Carl was the first to realize, "If plants can absorb vibrational energy and convert it into heat... then aren't they regulators of this system?"
“To maintain energy balance,” Nana said.
"My God." Chen Hao plopped down. "This place isn't a wasteland at all, it's a living machine."
“Or,” Susan whispered, “it’s a life form we’ve never seen before.”
No one responded. The sentence was too heavy; for a moment, no one knew how to respond.
After a few seconds, Chen Hao stood up and stretched his neck. "Alright, the more I think about it, the more far-fetched it seems. The most important thing now is to get this report out."
"Put the core conclusions first," Carl suggested. "Let the data speak for itself."
“Let’s add a title,” Susan said with a smile. “Let’s call it ‘A Research Proposal on a Planet That Can Sing and Generate Electricity.’”
"Too exaggerated." Chen Hao shook his head. "Change it to 'A Preliminary Study on the Symbiotic Mechanism between Wind-Sound Cave and Lithium-Vanadium Deposits'."
"So boring," Susan pouted.
“Academic papers don’t need to be interesting,” Carl said seriously.
“But it needs to be seen by someone,” Susan retorted.
Nana silently displayed the two titles side by side on the projector, and no one spoke again.
Chen Hao picked up a pen and scribbled a few lines on the draft paper. "Like this, make the main title more formal, and add an interesting explanation to the subtitle."
"For example?" Susan asked.
"A Preliminary Exploration of the Symbiotic Mechanism between Wind-Sound Caves and Lithium-Vanadium Minerals - From a Breathing Planet".
Susan's eyes lit up. "That's a good idea."
Carl thought for a moment and nodded. "That's acceptable too."
Nana immediately updated the document, changing the title bar to the new content. The table of contents is now being generated automatically.
The four people gathered around the projector, each taking on a task. The only sounds in the room were the tapping of keyboards and occasional discussions.
Two hours later, the initial framework was completed.
Chen Hao stretched and yawned. "It's finally starting to look decent."
Susan rubbed her eyes. "Next is filling in the information. I should be able to finish it if I stay up all night."
Carl checked the time. "I'll contact the project team first and ask about the equipment borrowing process."
Nana suddenly said, "An abnormal network request was detected."
"What's wrong?" Chen Hao asked.
“Someone is accessing our shared folder,” Nana replied. “The IP address is not in the partner list.”
"Who is it?" Susan asked nervously.
“Disguised as an observatory’s internal network port.” Nana tapped her finger lightly. “But the protocol version doesn’t match; it’s fake.”
"Someone's spying on our things?" Chen Hao frowned.
“They’re not just looking,” Nana’s voice turned cold. “They’re trying to download encrypted attachments.”
"Can you stop them?"
“The connection has been cut off,” Nana said. “The other party used a proxy, so their real location cannot be tracked.”
"If we can't find it, then forget it." Chen Hao waved his hand. "Anyway, what we've released so far is the public version; the core data hasn't been uploaded yet."
"We recommend using an offline channel for subsequent transmissions," Nana advised.
"Okay." Chen Hao yawned. "Let's talk about it tomorrow. Let's finish this proposal first."
Susan yawned and nodded. "My brain is about to stop working right now."
Carl glanced out the window. "It's almost dawn."
Nana sat quietly, the projection on her face flickering.
As Chen Hao leaned back on the sofa, drifting off to sleep, he heard her say:
"I discovered that there is another outlet for resonant energy."
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