Jiang Ling piled the tools together, marking them with a harpoon, and buried the empty equipment box next to the corpse. She then walked a few steps upwind and built herself a small, low-rise snow hut. While the two snow mounds still stood out, they were barely noticeable from the air.
We waited like this until the afternoon, when the wind gradually weakened and disappeared. The early summer sunshine made the pure plains sparkle, but it could not bring the temperature here back to its previous level.
The exoskeleton's visor turned an eye-protecting brown, filtering out most of the ultraviolet rays reflected by the ice and snow. Jiang Ling hid in the shadow of the igloo and looked up at the blue sky. She saw that spectacular man-made ring again—that thing she never got tired of seeing no matter how many times!
[Where are you? Are you still alive?] Lao Ning's telepathic message shattered this beautiful moment.
[Nonsense, who else could you be sensing?] Jiang Ling replied unhappily.
"What's going on on the surface right now? We estimate the black box is on the ice cap. They'll be coming up soon. Stay where you are!" Old Ning ignored her and continued to deliver the message.
"The daylight is bright. If you're coming up, don't forget to bring a few sample jars. I've preserved the mutant's body; it looks quite valuable for research. By the way, how are you supposed to get up here?"
[Okay, I'll let them know.] Lao Ning quickly disconnected his psychic abilities.
A moment later, a violent tremor erupted a hundred meters away. The tranquil white wasteland suddenly rose, throwing the snow covering it even higher. Then, the shockwave from the explosion swept over Jiang Ling's location, collapsing the snow house and blowing away nearby snowpack.
The flames shot up into the sky, stirring up a large amount of sea water. They bloomed on the surface like a flower, and quickly cooled in the cold air, leaving behind an ugly oval gray ruin.
The smoke and dust dissipated, and white foam began to appear on the sea surface between the broken ice holes.
After a while, two snow camouflage exoskeletons were lifted up by an equipment box of similar color and gradually approached the edge of the ice cave.
A square hole opened in the equipment box, and two micro-drones flew out. After they circled around the ice hole, the box suddenly erupted with gunfire, and three hooks were launched, flying onto the ice surface.
Then, the rope connected to the hook gradually tightened, and the equipment box climbed up together with the two exoskeletons.
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