Chapter 178
Su Jing placed her palm on the metal floor of the villa's courtyard. A faint blue spatial energy fluctuation flashed, and a silver-gray flying car slowly drove out of the space—
The vehicle is about 5 meters long, with folding wings on both sides and a terrain detector mounted on the roof. The trunk has been pre-loaded with equipment by Robot No. 1: 3 portable altimeters, 2 metal detectors, 1 spare tracking laser gun, and 5 emergency power batteries, all of which are necessary supplies for surveying the new base.
"Xiao Jin, hold on tight to your backpack. We might encounter turbulence while we're flying, so don't stick your head out."
Su Jing zipped the insulated backpack on her chest all the way up, leaving only a small gap for Xiao Jin to breathe. She then went around to the driver's seat, swiped her fingertip across the touchscreen on the door, and the screen lit up, displaying "Flight permission activated, current range 500 kilometers, weight capacity 1.5 tons".
"Su Jing, I can smell a 'safety smell' mixed with the 'metallic smell' of the flying car! It's much more stable than the previous patrol robots!"
Xiao Jin's voice came from the backpack, filled with curiosity, "Shall we go to the mountaintop with the cell tower now? I can't smell the moisture down below anymore, the 'earthy' smell over there is so dry!"
Su Jing nodded, sat in the driver's seat, and activated the flight system—the wings slowly unfolded, the engine emitted a low hum, and the body lifted slightly, taking off about 1 meter from the ground. She steered the plane towards the northern mountain peak, and the communicator simultaneously connected to Robot No. 3 left at the villa: "No. 3, monitor the villa's water accumulation in real time, report every 10 minutes, and call immediately if there is any abnormality."
As the flying car passed through the storm clouds, the fuselage swayed slightly. Su Jing looked down through the windshield and was shocked by what she saw: the familiar abandoned road was completely covered by murky water, with only a few leaning lampposts visible.
Several makeshift rafts floated on the water, crowded with survivors. Some held up their phones to take pictures of the flying cars, while others waved for help, their voices drowned out by the sound of rain and engines.
"Su Jing, someone's shouting down below! They seem to want us to stop!"
Xiao Jin's voice was hesitant. Su Jing gripped the steering wheel tightly, without slowing down: "The priority now is to survey the mountaintop and determine the location of the new stronghold, otherwise when the tsunami comes, neither we nor they will have anywhere to hide."
She marked the raft's location on the communicator, saying, "I'll note down these coordinates. After we've moved the villa, I'll come back and see if I can help them."
About 20 minutes after the flying car took off, the outline of a signal tower appeared ahead—a metal signal tower about 30 meters high. The tower was somewhat rusty, but the main structure was intact. There were no tall trees around to block the view. The area on the mountaintop was larger than Su Jing remembered, roughly the size of two football fields. The ground was a layer of hard rock with no obvious traces of water.
"Prepare for landing, Number 1, activate the ground detection instrument to test the load-bearing capacity of the rock layer."
Su Jing controlled the flying car to descend slowly. Robot No. 1 took out a detector from the trunk, and the robotic arm inserted the probe into the ground. The screen instantly displayed the data: "Current ground load-bearing capacity is 5 tons/square meter, there are no geological cracks, suitable for building large buildings, altitude is 82.3 meters, which is 32.3 meters higher than the tsunami warning safety line."
After landing, Su Jing opened the car door. The torrential rain instantly soaked her coat, but the enhanced physical condition brought by her heat resistance ability made her feel no cold at all.
She walked to the cell tower, pressed her fingertip on the metal support of the tower, and the communicator popped up: "Currently receiveable bands: 2G/4G, signal strength 3 bars, suitable for basic communication."
"Su Jing, I ran a lap around the mountaintop!" Xiao Jin jumped out of the backpack, stepped onto the dry rocky ground, and pointed its little paws at the east side of the mountaintop.
“There’s a recessed area over there, with a pure ‘rustic’ feel, without any animalistic smell, which is suitable for building the main structure of a villa.”
The rocks on the west side are flat and can be used to install defensive netting;
The view to the north is very far, making it suitable for installing surveillance cameras!
Su Jing followed Xiao Jin to the depression on the east side and measured it again with an altimeter: "The altitude here is 80 meters, which is 2.3 meters lower than the average height of the mountaintop. It can just avoid strong winds, and the depression can reduce the impact of water flow during the flood season."
She took out a manganese crystal marker from her spatial storage and drew the general outline of the villa on the ground: "This is the control room, next to it is the supply storage area, and the area next to the signal tower is reserved for defensive equipment. Leave a 3-meter-wide passage between each area."
Robot No. 1 has installed small detectors around the mountaintop, one every 10 meters, forming a circular monitoring circle: "The detectors are activated and can monitor animal activity and water flow changes within a 5-kilometer radius, with data synchronized to the communicator in real time."
Su Jing tapped the communicator screen, looked at the coverage area of the monitoring circle, and nodded in satisfaction—this distance was enough to provide early warning and allow reaction time for subsequent defense setup.
Just then, the communicator received a report from Robot No. 3: "The water level in the villa has now reached the first floor, rising at a rate of 0.6 meters per hour, which is 0.1 meters faster than before. It is expected to submerge the first floor in 20 hours."
Su Jing's expression changed slightly, and she immediately ordered Robot No. 1: "Put away the detector. We need to return as soon as possible and prepare to dismantle the main structure of the villa. We can't delay any longer."
Xiao Jin jumped back into her backpack, a voice inside her saying urgently, "Is the water rising fast? Let's go back quickly, don't let the villa get flooded!"
Su Jing sat in the driver's seat, started the flying car, and the aircraft took off again. On the way back, she deliberately went around to the raft location she had marked earlier and found that the raft was still in the same place, but there were fewer survivors on it. It was probably because some people had fallen into the water due to exhaustion.
"We must come and rescue them after the villas are demolished."
Su Jing silently chanted in her mind, controlling the flying car to increase its speed.
When the outline of the villa reappeared in her field of vision, she could clearly see that the water had flooded the windows on the first floor, and the previously erected awning was half submerged in water and on the verge of collapse.
After the flying car landed, Su Jing immediately found Robot No. 3: "The flooding is more serious than expected. Notify all robots to prioritize dismantling the main beams and core equipment of the villa. Non-core materials can be collected later. All dismantling must be completed within 15 hours to ensure that the transfer is completed before the floodwaters submerge the second floor."
She walked to the villa entrance, looked at the floodwaters rushing in, and traced the coordinates on the communicator to the top of the mountain.
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