Only the final habitation module, number 2, remains; the answers to all the mysteries of the Firebird may lie within it.
Before that, we must find a way to open the hatch.
Zhang Fan has tried various methods, but has failed to open the hatch. Perhaps the only option left is to use brute force.
However, Zhang Fan was unaware of the situation inside the living quarters. He worried that if he used brute force to forcibly remove the door, he might injure the people behind it, especially if there were people behind it.
Then we'll have to find another way to get in.
If you can't get in from this side, you can enter from the other side. The living quarters have two doors.
However, the hatch on the other side cannot be opened directly. There is no pressure chamber on that side, and if the hatch is opened, everything inside will fly out due to the pressure difference.
There was still a way. Zhang Fan went to the electromechanical energy compartment and used the robotic arm outside to remove a nearby pressure chamber.
Then return to the Soyuz space station, pilot the Apollo spacecraft, use the spacecraft's robotic arm to capture the pressure chamber and store it in the cargo bay, then fly to the location of Habitat 2 and dock the pressure chamber to the interface on the other side of Habitat 2.
Finish.
Zhang Fan entered the external pressure chamber and turned the hatch of the No. 2 living quarters.
Click, click, click—
The hatch opened, and Zhang Fan's heart pounded.
Upon entering the living quarters, you'll see eight sleeping bags hanging on the bulkhead. In weightlessness, you don't need a bed to sleep; people will hang in the sleeping bags on the bulkhead like bats.
But now all eight sleeping bags are empty.
In the center of the living quarters is a very conspicuous device:
The missing hibernation pod number 10. Someone went to great lengths to move it here.
Zhang Fan slowly walked forward, his gaze passing through the transparent glass above the hibernation pod.
A young girl lay quietly inside.
Su Muran?!
What's Professor Su doing here?
Zhang Fan found it hard to believe. He thought Su Muran was long dead, but the person in the hibernation pod was indeed Professor Su.
After graduating from university and joining Shenyu Group, Zhang Fan spent the most time with Su Muran, so he couldn't possibly mistake her for someone else.
Su Muran lay quietly inside the hibernation pod.
Zhang Fan found the hibernation pod's operating interface. The data showed that the pod had been running for 10 months.
In other words, after her last communication with Zhang Fan, Su Muran continued to live inside the "Firebird" for another month.
The hibernation chamber has no set hibernation time, which means that if no one wakes her up, Su Muran will fall into a deep sleep forever.
Zhang Fan initiated the wake-up procedure.
The frozen gas inside the hibernation chamber was expelled, and another gas that activates bodily functions began to fill the chamber.
It will take an hour from the activation of the wake-up program to Su Muran's body gradually warming up and finally restoring her bodily functions and waking up.
While waiting, Zhang Fan looked around the living quarters.
The hibernation pod's wiring is connected to the living pod's power cord, with some wires directly exposed to the air, suggesting that the person who connected the wires did so hastily and with limited skill.
On the other side of the hatch, a steel pipe as thick as an arm was used to lock the door, and a "bomb" was also attached to the steel pipe.
Zhang Fan broke out in a cold sweat.
This was truly a bomb. The main structure of the bomb consisted of several canisters containing a simple explosive device made of sugar, liquid oxygen, and ammonia-containing detergent. These materials could be found in "Firebird's" kitchen, but its power was no less than that of a regular black powder bomb.
The bomb's fuse was attached to the hatch. If someone opened the hatch from the outside, the entire living quarters would be blown up, and those outside would not survive.
This is a device that results in mutual destruction.
What kind of grudge could someone have to create something like this? Luckily, I didn't try to force the hatch open from the outside.
Zhang Fan knew that Professor Su Muran majored in chemistry, so the bomb must have been made by her to prevent outsiders from getting in.
Crack—
The sound of the hibernation pod opening came from behind. Zhang Fan turned around and saw Su Muran, with long hair, sitting up inside the pod.
Overjoyed to see his old friend again, Zhang Fan couldn't hide his excitement and quickly went up to greet him: "Su..."
Thud—
Su Muran leaped out of the hibernation pod, slamming Zhang Fan against the pod wall mid-air. Her thighs were spread wide on either side of Zhang Fan's body, her expression ferocious, her hands clasped together, and a gleaming knife in her hand, she plunged it straight towards Zhang Fan's heart…
Holy crap!
Why are there knives inside the hibernation pod?
In a moment of desperation, Zhang Fan raised his knee and struck Su Muran's body, causing Su Muran to lose his balance, and the knife was now stuck next to his ear. Zhang Fan immediately wrapped his arms around Su Muran and rolled around inside the cabin.
Ping-ping-pong-pong—
As they tumbled, their bodies crashed into their surroundings. Su Muran, who wasn't wearing a spacesuit or helmet, was hit harder, and the knife slipped from her hand.
Zhang Fan slapped open his spacesuit helmet and called out, "Professor Su! Teacher Su!"
"It's me! Zhang Fan!"
With the two so close together, Su Muran finally got a clear look at Zhang Fan's face.
"Zhang, Zhang Fan?"
Su Muran looked around and, after confirming the man's face, her furrowed brows finally relaxed, and her expression changed from anger to calm, then to surprise, and finally to joy.
"What are you doing here, you idiot?"
"Hahaha." Hearing the warm Mandarin, Zhang Fan laughed heartily.
"Hey, you can laugh all you want, but shouldn't you let go of me first?"
"Ah, this—"
Zhang Fan then realized that the two of them were still floating in mid-air, and his hands and feet were twisted together with Su Muran's body like a pretzel, making her unable to move.
"I'm sorry, Professor Su." Zhang Fan quickly let go of Su Muran. "You scared me to death just now, that's why I clung to you so tightly and wouldn't let you move."
"It's nothing. I thought you were someone else." After they parted, Su Muran looked Zhang Fan up and down. "But you, it's only been a short time, you seem to have gained weight? How can you live so comfortably on Mars all by yourself?"
"Well……"
"Your skills seem to have improved? You couldn't beat me before."
"Ah, this—" Zhang Fan didn't know what to say. It was normal for his body to have become a little stronger after practicing wrestling with Katerina and boxing with Bob every day on Mars.
"Wait a moment."
Su Muran's face suddenly came close, her lips less than an inch from Zhang Fan's neck, startling Zhang Fan.
"Professor Su, what are you doing?"
"Whoosh." Su Muran took two deep breaths.
"It smells like a woman." Su Muran looked at Zhang Fan with suspicion. "And there's more than one..."
"I..." Zhang Fan's eyes widened. "Are you even human? Your nose is even more sensitive than Bob's!"
"Don't talk about life yet, come with me to a place first."
After Su Muran finished speaking, she stepped forward and began to remove the bomb from the hatch. She was the one who had installed the bomb, and she removed it in no time.
"Come with me." Su Muran opened the cabin door and beckoned Zhang Fan to come over.
Su Muran picked up the knife and handed it to Zhang Fan, while she carried the improvised explosive device through the hatch.
Zhang Fan, unaware of what was going on, quickly followed Su Muran, holding the knife Professor Su had given him in his right hand, and couldn't help but feel nervous.
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