I live in the Martian wilderness!

This kind of jolt goes deep into your bones.

Even though the Tissot was equipped with the top-of-the-line independent suspension and hydraulically damped seats, Gu Yu still felt like a die in a dice cup.

Calling this place the "Black Dead Sea" is inaccurate; it's more like a frozen, raging black sea.

The surrounding rocks are no longer rounded rocks, but large ridges of wind-eroded basalt as sharp as knife edges.

These are plate-like joints formed after ancient lava flows cooled, layer upon layer, compressed together, retaining the ferocious appearance of the lava when it cooled and contracted millions of years ago.

"Warning, the road ahead narrows. There is less than 30 centimeters of clearance on both sides." Xuanjian's voice remained steady despite the vibration. "I suggest reversing and replanning your route."

Gu Yu glanced at the screen on the left, which displayed real-time distance data on both sides of the vehicle, with red warning boxes flashing wildly.

Two huge basalt rocks blocked our way; taking a detour would mean walking an extra two kilometers in the high-risk area.

"No detours." Gu Yu's fingers flew across the touchpad, switching operating modes. "We're an engineering vehicle, not a sightseeing vehicle. If the road isn't wide enough, we'll widen it."

"Understood. The mountain-moving excavator module has been activated."

With a high-frequency roar from the motor, the folded heavy mechanical arm on the roof of the Tiansuo car slowly extended.

Then, the drill bit, equipped with a carbide breaker, was probed above the black rock blocking the way.

"Open it!" Gu Yu slammed down the fire button on the joystick.

"Boom boom boom boom—!"

The hydraulic breaker hammers furiously chisel at the rock's most vulnerable textures at a rate of two thousand times per minute. There is no sound, only dust flying everywhere.

That solid basalt rock, which had stood in this location for hundreds of millions of years, crumbled into countless fragments in less than two minutes in the face of human industrial violence.

"The passageway has been cleared, and there is an extra 1.2 meters of width."

"keep going."

The massive metal tracks of the Sky Shuttle mercilessly crushed the newly fallen rubble, forcibly squeezing through the pass.

This is the source of its confidence in driving heavy engineering vehicles on long expeditions. Nothing in this wilderness can truly block its path, unless it gets tired on its own.

"Xuan, shouldn't the Utopia Plain be flat? Why is there an Achilles rocky area here?"

"Yes, Captain. But we just happened to stumble upon a rare 'impact melt flow' remnant."

"When the asteroid that created the Utopia Basin struck billions of years ago, the instantaneous high temperature melted the Earth's crust."

"The lava in this small area fractured brittlely as it cooled rapidly, leaving behind this jumble of rocks."

"Achilles is the Greek god of war, who is immortal. His only weakness is his heel, so I named it the Achilles Rocky Belt."

"Xuan, you're really good at naming things."

"Thank you for the compliment, Captain."

16:45 PM.

As the sun dipped below the western horizon, turning the entire rocky area a strange, blood-red hue, the Sky Shuttle's energy alarm finally sounded.

[Warning: The Tianchi battery pack has 15% charge remaining. It is recommended to stop driving immediately and enter charging cycle mode.]

Nearly ten hours of high-intensity off-road and crushing operations almost completely drained every joule of energy from the supercapacitor.

"The foundation here is solid. Okay, I'll spend the night here."

Gu Yu parked the Sky Shuttle next to a huge leeward rock, leveled the ground slightly with a bulldozer blade, and then locked the tracks.

"Buzz—"

With the high-torque drive motor and auxiliary systems turned off, the buzzing and vibration that had lasted all day came to an abrupt end.

The world fell into a deathly silence.

Only behind the cockpit, the heat exchange pump of the Zhuzhao nuclear power core was still emitting an extremely faint hissing sound, like the breathing of a sleeping beast.

Over the next twenty hours, it will tirelessly convert heat energy into electrical energy, feeding the thirsty battery pack bit by bit.

Gu Yu exhaled a long breath of oxygen, and the moment his body relaxed, a strong soreness swept through his entire body.

That's a side effect of prolonged exposure to turbulence and intense mental concentration.

But now is not the time to rest; the physiological warning signs have been on for quite some time.

He gave a wry smile.

A few minutes later, with a soft click from the miniature pump, it was all over.

This seemingly torturous system perfectly ensured his dignity and hygiene in this desperate situation.

Night fell.

Night falls very quickly on Mars. Without atmospheric scattering, the sky instantly changes from dark red to deep black.

Gu Yu only turned on one magnetic reading lamp.

The dim, concentrated light illuminated only the small area of ​​the driver's seat.

Using the warm light, Gu Yu took out a tube of standard Type VII nutritional paste in silver packaging from the storage compartment and unscrewed the cap.

He put the tube in his mouth and squeezed out a thick, cold paste.

It had a bland taste, a mixture of synthetic starch, vitamins, and a trace of sweetener, and it tasted like chewing toothpaste, but it could replenish his tired body with maximum efficiency.

He held the nutritional supplement in his mouth and approached the thick lead-glass window.

Outside the window, the countless jagged rocks of the Achilles Rock Belt appeared as overlapping dark shadows under the faint starlight.

And above that sky, the unfamiliar starry sky was dazzlingly bright.

"Xuan, you said that the Zhurong has been lying here for twenty years, and every night it looks at the stars like this?" Gu Yu swallowed a mouthful of sweet nutritional paste and asked softly.

"It has no vision, Captain. In hibernation mode, it's just a piece of constant-temperature metal; only humans can romanticize loneliness."

"Perhaps." Gu Yu didn't refute, but simply responded softly.

He swallowed the last mouthful of the sweet, cloying nutrient paste, but his gaze remained fixed on the dark, jumbled rocks outside the window.

In that instant, the blurry reflection on the lead glass seemed to overlap with the distant, yet-to-be-seen Mars rover.

The same loneliness, the same being forgotten by the world 60 million kilometers away.

A long silence fell over the cockpit.

Until Xuanjian's clear voice rang out again, this time with less mechanical coldness and more urgent inquiry.

"Captain, we have detected non-physiological dilation of your pupils, and your cortisol levels have increased by 15% in the past three minutes."

"According to the psychological model analysis, you are exhibiting excessive emotional projection onto the target 'Zhurong'. Subconsciously, you are equating its fate with your own."

Gu Yu paused for a moment, then subconsciously raised his hand to press his temple—the location where the "Heart Bridge" biochip was implanted.

He then shook his head with a wry smile: "I almost forgot, in this shared brain, I have no secrets from you."

He sighed. "You sensed my fear even before I did... Yes, Xuan, I was indeed thinking, what if I were to lie here like it for twenty years..."