A beam of light came from the cave a few kilometers below.
A figure dragged the hibernation cabin with a rope as he walked forward with heavy steps.
This kind of hibernation cabin installed on the spacecraft had an escape function. It had an independent energy supply module and did not require an external power supply. Although General Reinhardt did not carry any food and supplies on the spacecraft, fortunately, he did not dismantle the facilities that originally belonged to the spacecraft.
Otherwise, there would be no way out.
"This should be far enough … Let's stop here."
Lu Zhou took off the locator from his spacesuit and placed it under the hibernation cabin.
People could only survive for thirty seconds in a vacuum.
From the tenth second onwards, the skin and subcutaneous tissues would experience mild, reversible, and painless swelling, and he would lose consciousness at the fifteenth second. Considering that Mars was not an absolute vacuum, there was still a certain concentration of carbon dioxide gas underground, so he should be able to last longer.
But out of caution, it was better to complete all the steps within ten seconds as much as possible …
In order to get into the state quickly, before taking off the spacesuit, Lu Zhou injected himself with the spare X-0172 bacterial culture fluid in advance.
Every astronaut was equipped with one of these things. In extreme environments, they could enter a state of suspended animation to reduce oxygen and energy consumption and buy time for rescue.
Lu Zhou quietly waited for the medicine to take effect. He held the hibernation cabin and sat next to it.
"Actually, there's one thing I've always wanted to ask you."
"Go ahead."
"Then I'll be straightforward, what are you now?"
After hearing these words, the communication channel was quiet for a while.
Reinhardt seemed to be thinking about this question seriously. After about half a minute, he replied.
"It's probably a piece of memory."
"… A memory?"
"Apparently, as long as you copy all the memories of a person, you can theoretically recreate him."
A touch of surprise appeared on Lu Zhou's face.
"Can such a thing really be done?"
"Those people can."
Lu Zhou knew who those people were.
It was the civilization that had sent out the Anomaly Drop to warn the entire universe, and when the 'natural disaster' happened, they had taken in all the refugees who had fled to the center of the galaxy and brought them into the Void.
Lu Zhou pondered for a while and asked.
"Do you know what a natural disaster is?"
"I don't know. Regarding that crisis, even the Observers were reluctant to talk about it. Perhaps they thought this was the most likely way to survive the natural disaster after their calculations. But I suggest that you don't think too much about it. You should think about how to survive first. "
There was a hint of pity in the voice.
But more than that, it was indifference.
Lu Zhou noticed this and grinned.
"You don't seem to want me to leave this place alive?"
"No." Reinhardt replied faintly, "In fact, whether it is you or the human civilization behind you, your life and death have nothing to do with me. The reason why I'm here is to fulfill the terms of the contract. "
"From the moment I arrived at the center of the galaxy, my fate no longer belonged to me. Everything about me is firmly bound to the Void. I am willing to keep my promise, but this does not mean that I am happy to be at the mercy of others. "
Lu Zhou: "In other words, it doesn't matter to you?"
"Probably, my civilization has been destroyed anyway."
There was silence in the communication channel for a while.
After a long silence, Lu Zhou took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you, but I don't want to give up yet."
His Adam's apple moved as he continued.
"There are still people waiting for me on Earth."
There was a soft sigh in his ear.
"Then why did you choose this path? I gave you a choice from the beginning. "
"Because my civilization has not been destroyed yet." Lu Zhou opened his eyes and looked at the dormant cabin next to him. He was silent for a while and continued, "Before the natural disaster comes, I want to do something."
"Is that not a good reason?"
The voice was silent for a while.
"Okay then.
"I accept your bet."
"I have nothing else to do anyway. If you succeed, I will accompany you for the rest of the journey until the end of your life …"
…
Twenty-four hours had passed since the collapse of The Gates of Hell.
The last update on the official website of the Mars landing office was still a photo of the rover taken by the diplomatic mission of the human civilization when it set off from the Mars base yesterday.
In the span of more than 20 hours, such a serious disaster had occurred, but there was not a single piece of news until now.
Even a thick-skinned person would be able to sense that something was amiss.
The Mars landing office remained silent, and the Jinling launch site also declined interviews. The collective silence of the relevant units caused all kinds of rumors to fly around.
Some people said that the negotiations with the aliens had failed, causing the aliens to launch their weapons and blow up the Gates of Hell on Mars to warn human civilization.
Some people said that there was no extraterrestrial civilization there at all, but when the diplomatic mission went deep into the ruins, they triggered a mechanism left behind by the Martian civilization.
At this time, the world's major astronomical observatories 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 it was impossible to continue to hide what happened on Mars, finally held a press conference to disclose the current situation.
The ruins of the Martian civilization were confirmed to have been discovered.
No clues of extraterrestrial civilization were found for the time being.
Also, an earthquake of magnitude 9.5 or more occurred near the Gates of Hell mountain range.
In this earthquake, two members of the diplomatic mission went missing.
And the list of missing people …
Lu Zhou's name was written on it!
…
Across the Pacific Ocean.
NASA headquarters.
Director Carson, who was sitting in his office watching the live broadcast of the press conference, suddenly burst into laughter the moment he saw the list of missing people.
"Hahahaha! God bless the United States! "
However, at this moment, he suddenly couldn't catch his breath. His eyes bulged out, and his laughter turned into dry sobs.
Noticing the change in him, the staff and assistants next to him immediately stood up from their desks in a panic and surrounded him.
"Quick! Call an ambulance! "
"F * ck! He's not breathing! "
"Give him CPR!"
"Stretcher! Bring the stretcher in! "
After a while, Director Carson, who was lying on the stretcher, was finally sent to the ambulance. However, this scene was photographed by reporters lurking at the entrance of the NASA headquarters.
Early the next morning, the news that Director Carson was sent to the ICU was published on the headlines of the Wall Street Journal.
According to his assistant, after Director Carson heard the news of Lu Zhou's death, he was overwhelmed with grief and fainted on the spot.
At the same time, people familiar with the matter revealed that during Director Carson's visit to China, the two had met in Jinling, and they became good friends.
In any case, Carson was lying in the ICU, and there was no way for him to prove that he was dead. Even though the media in North America and his colleagues at NASA were crazy about him, he couldn't accept an interview or make any clarification.
But then again, even if he was awake, he probably wouldn't give any explanation, and he wouldn't let the reporters know that he fainted because he was too happy.
Knowledge didn't have nationality.
No matter how much they hated the man who brought China's academic community to the forefront of the world, after hearing about his death, governments around the world sent condolences to China and Jinling.
On this day, human civilization lost a great scholar.
The entire world fell into deep sorrow …
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