Jiang Ling gradually relaxed as the various alarms within the exoskeleton began to fill her ears. Most of them were yellow damage warnings, but there were also some red emergency reports.
"Operator A0001, the ambient temperature is too low. Please turn on the electric auxiliary heating module immediately. The electronic control system will fail soon."
"Operator A0001, the underwater detection module has failed, the attitude control module has failed, and the underwater oxygen supply module has failed..."
"Operator A0001, the exoskeleton is currently carrying too much weight. Propulsion efficiency will be significantly reduced."
The visor screen automatically closed after not being held up for too long. These alarms were transmitted by the system using a more reliable acoustic module.
Of course, most of the problems were caused by coming ashore. The exoskeleton used for deep diving is now like a salted fish that has lost its dream.
Jiang Ling turned on the electric auxiliary heat and concentrated the heat energy near the core modules of the exoskeleton—the energy pack and data processor. Thanks to the good thermal insulation of the lining, she herself did not need to heat it for the time being.
The lighting inside the exoskeleton also disappeared.
Unable to find the reason for a while, Jiang Ling had to retract his hands that were controlling the exoskeleton arms, reawaken the dormant operating panel, and remove the flexible screen on the visor to allow the scarce sunlight from outside to penetrate the shell.
The experience of repairing various modules inside the exoskeleton was very cramped. The small space made it difficult for her to move around. Fortunately, she was still an awakened person and could handle most of the errors with her psychic abilities.
As she breathed, frost quickly formed on the inside of her visor. A strong wind was blowing outside, and combined with previous information, it seemed this place was still under the influence of a northern hemisphere storm. Jiang Ling couldn't really see the outside world clearly. The seawater on the surface of her exoskeleton seemed to have been frozen by the low temperature the moment she emerged from the water.
At this time, there was a thick layer of ice on the outside of the mask. In addition, the ice was originally sea water, and the recrystallization of various salts caused the light to refract in it. Looking out from the inside, there was only a vast expanse of white.
The current fourth-generation exoskeleton is too specialized. The seabed doesn't have the same low temperatures as the surface, so it naturally lacks a surface de-icing module. Jiang Ling couldn't find a safer way to reduce the load, so she risked damaging the pressure hull. Using the harpoon's strikes and her psychic powers, she slowly peeled off the outer layer of ice, like peeling an orange.
She tinkered cautiously for several hours, making no attempt to restore communication between the exoskeleton and Unit 509. Using radio communications on the surface would be extremely dangerous, even though the latitude was low and the reflective materials in low orbit could eliminate some of the threats, there were always killer satellites in medium-altitude orbits passing through.
Of course, Jiang Ling always knew his relative position to the submarine, and they had not drifted out of his sensing range.
But the main thing was Lao Ning's message, telling her not to worry.
Her plan caused some minor trouble for the submarine. There's always a trade-off, and pulling a tooth out of a tiger's mouth doesn't always mean bloodshed. The previous tug-of-war game had left a small, irregular window, 30 centimeters in diameter, on the front of the submarine. If Jiang Ling hadn't warned her in advance, the seawater rushing in would have likely filled the entire F2.
Now the damage control team is trying to seal the breach in the bow of F2, while the rest of the people are ready in the submarine to warmly welcome Jiang Ling, the culprit.
She didn't want to go back so early and get scolded, so she slowed down her repairs.
In fact, many modules do not need to be repaired. Most of their problems are caused by the liquid in the pipeline being frozen. With the continuous operation of the electric auxiliary heating module, it is only a matter of time before they melt.
Jiang Ling didn't try to examine the mutant's corpse up close. Firstly, she didn't have any extra sample jars. Secondly, who knew if there were any traps hidden in the corpse? There were plenty of things on the surface that would explode after death.
Theoretically, she only needs to guard the corpse now, and there is really no need for her to take more unpredictable risks.
Unfortunately, being alone on the surface, on a barren icy plain, and staying still was a risk in itself. Jiang Ling felt she needed to find something to do, lest she fall asleep in the warm exoskeleton and cause an accident.
She looked around and once again at the orange equipment box lying on the side. It was very conspicuous on the snow. It would be best to deal with it now while the clouds were still thick.
She used her psychic powers to remove the tentacles hanging from the equipment box. The cold weather had frozen them into ice sculptures in such a short time. These ice sculptures were extremely fragile. The ice crystals had destroyed the microstructure of its body, the skin lost its elasticity, and the muscles shrank into dry meat due to the massive loss of water.
The equipment box's tail thrusters had been completely damaged from previous use, their four nozzles blackened by the intense flames. Jiang Ling employed the emergency maneuver, which provided the highest thrust for a short period of time. These were essentially a set of miniature solid rockets. Originally designed to allow users to quickly escape danger, they seemed to be making the most of their use.
Her gaze shifted to the front of the equipment box. There were still a few usable items there, but they seemed to be stuck in ice. As a last resort, she could only command the system to eject all the modules and then manually open them.
Soon she had four rolls of one-hundred-meter rope, four baited devices, a tool box, and a signal booster.
There is no need to elaborate on the others. The toolbox contains some handy gadgets, including but not limited to welding guns, cutters, lighting sticks, emergency breathing apparatus... However, they are all designed for underwater operations, and not all of them can be used on the surface.
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