drop--
The soft sound still echoed between the rocks. Chen Hao's hand was still pressed against the engraving, and he could feel a slight vibration at his fingertips, as if a small motor inside the wall had just started and then stopped.
Nana immediately turned around, the probe ball returned to her side, and the light swept towards the top rock layer.
“The structure is unstable,” she said. “The resonance frequency just now was close to the critical value, and triggering it again could cause a collapse.”
Chen Hao quickly withdrew his hand and patted his trouser leg twice: "Who wants to touch this? I'm not a doorman who clocks in."
“You’ve already done it twice.” She pulled up the scan image. “The first time it woke up the system, the second time it activated the feedback loop. This place is like a piece of glass that’s been hit; it could shatter at any moment.”
“Then let’s not just stand there talking.” He slung his backpack over his shoulder, and the instruments on the sled clicked. “Hurry up, I don’t want to be buried alive here and become a fossil.”
Nana walked ahead, the probe sphere hovering and clearing a path, projecting thermal images into her field of vision in real time. Fine cracks appeared in the rocks on both sides of the passage, and abnormal temperatures were observed in some areas, indicating a redistribution of internal stress.
“There is a risk of the load-bearing column breaking three meters to the left,” she said. “Go around to the right.”
Chen Hao followed, dragging his sled. The wheel got stuck in a crack, and he pulled hard, but the sled didn't budge, and he almost fell over.
"This old car is even lazier than me," he panted. "Shouldn't we give it a retirement pension?"
“Its battery can last for another forty hours,” she said, “as long as you don’t overload it.”
"Where did I overload the vehicle? I only brought necessities!"
"Including the half-pack of compressed biscuits you casually slipped in?"
"That's emergency rations!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide. "What if we starve to death on the road?"
"Based on your body fat reserves, the probability of starving to death is less than 0.3 percent."
"Can you please stop saying things like that?" he rolled his eyes. "At least leave me some dignity."
They continued forward, the slope gradually decreasing, and the air becoming fresher. The sound of wind could be faintly heard from the cave entrance, carrying the sound of snowflakes hitting the rock walls.
As we approached the fork in the road, a muffled thud came from above, and a rock the size of a fist hit the edge of the sled and bounced off.
"Run!" Nana said.
The two quickened their pace, Chen Hao practically dragging the sled along. The probe had scanned a safe path ahead of time, avoiding several loose rocks. The last section of the slope was covered with a thin layer of ice, and they slid down it, hearing continuous cracking sounds behind them—a small section of the latter half of the passage had collapsed.
"Luckily we didn't go overboard." Chen Hao glanced back. "Otherwise, we'd have to stay here for three days."
“Nobody’s going to come and dig us up,” she said. “Communication signals don’t reach here.”
"Then wouldn't you become a wandering ghost?"
"I will enter a low-power standby mode and restart after you have naturally decomposed."
"You're really cold-blooded," he grinned. "But I like it."
The wind and snow outside the cave had lessened considerably; the sky was still gray, but at least the path was visible.
"Return along the original route," she said. "We expect to reach the base in two hours and fifteen minutes."
"So fast?" He looked up. "Is the weather getting better?"
“It’s not the weather,” she said. “It’s because I optimized the driving algorithm and called up the polar transportation model in the robot’s knowledge base. It avoids deep snow areas and uses the terrain’s slope to glide, saving energy.”
"Then why didn't you do this sooner?"
"You refused to unload the cargo before."
Chen Hao opened the side bag of the sled and took out a few non-core pieces of equipment, throwing them into the snowdrift. "Is this okay? Ten kilograms lighter."
“Actually 8.3 kilograms,” she said, “but that’s enough to increase speed.”
The insulated box was moved to the very center and wrapped tightly in animal hide. Inside were a data storage module, a 3D modeling chip, and a small sample of silicon-germanium crystal. This was the most important find of this expedition.
"Do you think we can get a decent meal with these things when we get back?" he asked as they walked.
"The base does not have a barter system."
"I mean, could the cafeteria add one more dish?"
"You can submit an application."
"Come on," he sighed. "Every time I write an application, I have to fill out five forms. By the time they're approved, I'll be starving."
The sled power system emitted a slight alarm, and the screen flashed red.
“Overheating,” she said. “Slow down for ten minutes.”
"Can't you fix it?" He stopped in his tracks. "This thing keeps alarming."
“The parts are worn out,” she said. “The heatsinks need to be replaced, but we don’t have enough in stock.”
"So all that effort we put into bringing back these high-tech gadgets, and we can't even afford to replace a fan?"
“The irony is valid,” she said. “I suggest recording it in a log so that future generations can reflect on the extent of civilization’s decline.”
Chen Hao laughed out loud: "You're quite good at making sarcastic remarks."
"I'm just stating the facts."
They rested for a while; the wind felt like knives on their faces, but the sunlight actually peeked through the clouds, reflecting off the snow.
“It feels like going back to my childhood,” he said. “Back then, after it snowed, my mom wouldn’t let me go out, so I would lie on the windowsill and watch other people have snowball fights.”
"You can play now too."
"All I want to do right now is lie down."
Ten minutes later they continued on their way, and the second half went much more smoothly. On the downhill section, they used the gliding mode; the sled was like a runaway dog sled, and Chen Hao gripped the handles tightly, cursing under his breath.
Did you speed up on purpose?
"Go with the flow," she said. "Energy conservation is a priority."
"Energy conservation my ass! I'm going to fly out!"
They eventually managed to hold their ground in front of the base gate, where the sentries saw them and opened the gate.
"You're back?" the man asked, peering over his shoulder. "I heard the cave collapsed over there?"
“It was a partial collapse,” Nana said. “There were no casualties.”
"That's good." The sentry waved. "Go inside, it's warm inside."
The terminal in the main control room beeped a few times, indicating that an external device was connected.
Nana connected the data cable and started uploading files. The progress bar slowly climbed.
“The mural decoding files are transmitted first,” she said, “and then the 3D model of the installation.”
Chen Hao stood to the side, rubbing his hands together: "I hope this system doesn't lag. I don't want to stay outside for even a minute longer."
"It's stuck." The screen showed "87%" and remained unchanged.
“I knew it.” He slammed his hand on the table. “This damn machine is more stubborn than a donkey.”
“The server load is too high,” she said. “The heating system is consuming most of the computing power.”
"Then let's turn off the heating for a while."
"The indoor temperature will drop below zero."
"That's better than freezing to death." He walked over, unplugged the power, and restarted it. "Let's try this family secret."
After the host computer restarted, the data was reloaded. This time, the import was completed successfully.
"Resource entry complete." The system voice announced.
Chen Hao let out a long breath and plopped down on the ground.
"Finally done."
“You can stand up,” she said. “The floor is cold.”
"Let me lie down for a while." He tilted his head back. "This trip is more tiring than moving ore for three months."
"You have indeed expended a lot of energy."
"Of course, I walked more than ten kilometers."
“Plus psychological stress,” she said, “humans are more prone to fatigue in such situations.”
"So now you've learned how to comfort people?"
"I am just analyzing the phenomenon."
He smiled, struggled to get up, and slipped while taking off his winter coat, falling to the side with his knee hitting the corner of the table.
"Ouch!" He jumped up, clutching his ankle. "Oh no, I've twisted it!"
Nana immediately stepped forward, opened the medical kit, sprayed on anti-inflammatory agent, and skillfully wrapped a bandage.
"It's just a minor strain," she said. "I'll be fine after a couple of days of rest."
“That’s called a triumphant entrance,” he grinned. “A hero returns, feet first.”
"I suggest you do the fall after you win next time."
“Then you have to make sure you get something next time.” He sat down, rubbing his feet. “But this time we really struck gold. Those murals, that device, and that crystal… we might actually find a new power source.”
"The possibility exists."
"Can't you be a little more positive?"
"I am stating the facts."
“The truth can be embellished.” He leaned back in his chair, looking at the mural images on the screen. “Do you think people two thousand years ago were like us now, hiding underground, hoping one day they could rise up?”
History often repeats itself.
“But they left something behind.” He pointed to the location marked on the star map. “They knew we would come.”
“They assumed someone would come,” she corrected.
"Anyway, it's pretty much the same thing." He yawned. "I just want to take a nap now."
"You can go to the rest area."
"No, thank you." He waved his hand. "I want to take another look at these drawings. I was in a hurry earlier and didn't have time to look at them carefully."
Nana didn't say anything, but brought up the complete sequence of murals and displayed them one by one.
The snow outside the window stopped, a crack appeared in the clouds, and sunlight streamed into the room, falling on the monitor screen.
Chen Hao stared at the last star map, then suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“Wait,” he said, “the position of this star… is wrong.”
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com