A beam of light came from the cave a few kilometers below the surface.
A figure walked forward with heavy steps as they dragged the dormant cabin with a rope.
The hibernation cabin installed on the spacecraft was for survival purposes. It had an independent energy supply module and did not require an external power supply. Although General Reinhardt did not carry any food or supplies on the spacecraft, fortunately, the facilities and equipment on the spacecraft stayed intact.
Otherwise, it would be a disaster.
“This should be far enough… Here.”
Lu Zhou took off the locator from the spacesuit and installed it under the dormant cabin.
Humans could only survive for thirty seconds in a vacuum.
From the tenth second, the skin and subcutaneous tissues would experience reversible swelling. By the fifteenth second, they would begin to lose consciousness. Considering Mars was not an absolute vacuum, there was still a certain concentration of carbon dioxide gas, he should be able to survive for a bit longer.
However, to be safe, it was better to complete all the steps within ten seconds…
Before taking off the spacesuit, Lu Zhou injected himself with the spare X-0172 bacterial culture in advance.
Every astronaut was equipped with one of these things. They could enter a state of suspended activity in extreme environments to reduce oxygen and energy consumption and buy time for rescue.
Lu Zhou quietly waited for the effect of the medicine. He sat beside the opened dormant cabin.
“Actually, there is one thing I always wanted to ask you.”
“Go ahead.”
“Then I’ll just ask, what exactly are you?”
After hearing this sentence, the communication channel went quiet for a while.
Reinhardt replied after about ten seconds.
“Probably a piece of memory.”
“… A piece of memory?”
“Apparently, as long as you copy the memories of a person, you can theoretically recreate them.”
A slight surprise appeared on Lu Zhou’s face.
“Is that possible?”
“For some, yes.”
Lu Zhou knew who he was talking about.
It was the civilization that sent out quark stars to warn the entire universe. And when the “natural disaster” happened, they took in all the refugees who fled to the center of the galaxy and brought them into the Void Civilization together.
Lu Zhou went silent for a while and asked, “Do you know what the natural disaster is?”
“I don’t know. Even The Observers are secretive about the disaster. Maybe they think this is the most likely way to survive natural disasters. But I suggest you better not think about it too much, think about how you’re going to survive right now.”
There was a hint of pity in that voice.
As well as a hint of coldness.
Lu Zhou grinned.
“You don’t seem to want me to live?”
“No.” Reinhardt replied faintly, “In fact, whether it is you or the human civilization, your life and death have nothing to do with me. The reason why I am here is to fulfill the contract.
“From the moment I arrived at the center of the galaxy, my destiny no longer belongs to me. Everything I have is firmly bound to the Void. I am willing to keep my promise, but this does not mean I want others to be at the mercy of me.”
Lu Zhou: “In other words, it doesn’t matter to you?”
“Probably so, my civilization has been destroyed anyway.”
The communication channel went quiet for a while.
After a long silence, Lu Zhou took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
“… I am sorry for what happened to you, but I don’t want to give up yet.”
He gulped and continued, “There are still people waiting for me on Earth.”
There was a soft sigh in the channel.
“Then why did you choose this path? I gave you the opportunity to choose.”
“Because my civilization has not been destroyed.” Lu Zhou looked at the dormant cabin next to him. He continued, “I want to do something before the natural disaster comes.”
Lu Zhou said, “Isn’t that a valid reason?”
The voice went silent for a while.
“Okay then.
“I accept your bet.
“I have nothing else to do anyway. If you succeed, I will accompany you through the rest of your life…”
…
Twenty-four hours had passed since the collapse of The Gates of Hell.
The last update from the official website of the Mars landing office was still the photo of the rover taken by the civilization diplomatic mission team yesterday, before it set off from the Mars base station.
A serious disaster occurred over the next twenty hours or so, but so far, there was no update.
Even the most naive people felt something was unusual.
The Mars landing office remained silent. The Jinling launch site also declined interviews. The collective silence of the relevant departments caused various rumors to fly in the sky.
Some people said that the talk with the aliens went south, causing the aliens to launch their weapons and blow up The Gates of Hell on Mars to warn human civilization.
Some said that there was no extraterrestrial civilization there, but when the diplomatic mission went deep into the ruins, they triggered a trap left by the Martian civilization.
The world’s major astronomical observatories successively announced the suspected earthquake phenomena observed on the surface of Mars. NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover also confirmed this information through seismic wave sensors.
Once the news was announced, the world was in an uproar.
Under pressure from the outside world, the Mars landing office, knowing that they could no longer hide what happened on Mars, finally held a press conference belatedly to disclose the current situation.
The remains of the Martian civilization had been confirmed.
No clues of an extraterrestrial civilization were found.
Also, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5 occurred near The Gates of Hell mountains.
Two people from the diplomatic mission were missing.
This included…
Lu Zhou!
…
Across the Pacific Ocean.
NASA headquarters.
Director Carson, who was sitting in his office late and watching the live broadcast of the press conference, suddenly burst into laughter when he saw the list of missing persons.
“Haha! God bless America!”
However, suddenly his eyes almost popped out of his face, and his laughter turned into violent coughs.
The staff and assistants next to him immediately got up from the desk in a panic and surrounded him.
“Quick! Call an ambulance!”
“F*ck! He’s not breathing!”
“Someone give him CPR!”
“Stretcher! Bring the stretcher in!”
Director Carson laid on a stretcher, and he was finally taken to an ambulance. This scene was filmed by a reporter lurking at the entrance of NASA’s headquarters.
Early next morning, the news that Director Carson was sent to the ICU was published in the headlines of the Wall Street Journal.
According to an assistant in the same office, Director Carson was so sad that he fainted on the spot after hearing the news of Lu Zhou’s death.
A person familiar with the matter revealed that during Director Carson’s visit to China, the two had a relationship in Jinling. They formed a happy friendship the first time they met.
Carson was laying in the ICU, hanging onto his life by a thread. Even though rumors about him were running wild, he couldn’t conduct an interview or make any clarifications.
But then again, even if he were awake, he wouldn’t let the reporters know that he passed out because he was so happy.
There was no nationality in science.
No matter how much they hated the man who brought the Chinese academia to the forefront of the world, after learning about his death, governments from all over the world sent their condolences to China and Jinling.
On this day, human civilization lost a great scholar.
The whole world was plunged into grief…
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