Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

Lu Yongchang, who had been interrupted, cast an approving glance at Gao Yang.

"good."

"Although we don't know where or how they are connected, there is a very high probability that these two oceans are connected."

"This is good news for us too."

Lu Yongchang picked up the water glass on the table and moistened his throat.

"The shells of these three robots should be able to withstand the pressure of the seabed."

"Under the control of built-in programs, one day they may be able to leave the inland sea and send us data again."

"Of course, it requires a certain amount of luck."

As he spoke, Lü Yongchang shook his head with a hint of helplessness.

Clearly, he himself did not believe this claim.

"Professor, do we still need to send robots to explore?" Zhao Zijie asked hurriedly.

After a moment's thought, Lü Yongchang rejected Zhao Zijie's proposal.

"Not needed for now."

"The robots on the Luan Bird Starship are not powerful enough; the exploration mission will have to wait until later."

"I will send [Taotie] with enough detection robots to pick you up."

……

Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.

"Zijie, hasn't [Taotie] arrived yet?" Gao Yang asked listlessly, sitting in his seat.

Zhao Zijie shook his head silently and turned to look at the holographic image beside him.

Warehouse capacity: 80%

"I guess the delay in setting off was due to the production of the exploration robots," Zhao Zijie shrugged, looking slightly helpless. "But it's also good, our progress has been slowed down by the tides and jellyfish, and the warehouse isn't even full yet."

Gao Yang stood up from his chair, walked to the porthole, and gazed at the shimmering sea in the distance.

"Speaking of which, it's been half a month already. Shouldn't those three robots have emerged from that inland sea by now?"

"Come on, give me a break."

Zhao Zijie curled his lip and said irritably, "Do you really think you're the chosen one? I reckon these three robots will be stuck forever..."

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

A sharp reminder interrupted Zhao Zijie's words.

Robot communication signal detected.

"..." Zhao Zijie stiffly turned to look at Gao Yang, "Holy crap?"

Gao Yang stared in astonishment at the constantly flashing holographic image, muttering to himself, "Yi, you're not kidding me..."

Data transmission channel successfully established.

[Transferring stored data...]

"Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! Gao Yang, what the hell are you?!" Zhao Zijie blurted out a string of profanities.

What is this?

The chosen one?

"Don't just stand there!" Zhao Zijie shouted, seeing Gao Yang still standing there dumbfounded by the porthole. "Contact Professor Lü immediately!"

……

A few minutes later, long-distance communication with Mars was successfully established.

In the holographic image, Lü Yongchang also looked at Zhao Zijie and Gao Yang as if he had seen a ghost.

"Are you sure these are the three robots that fell into the inland sea?!"

Zhao Zijie swallowed hard and nodded almost imperceptibly: "Professor, if there are no other people on this planet, I think it must be them."

"Holy crap!" Lu Yongchang hesitated for a long time before finally managing to utter two Chinese characters to express his astonishment.

What incredible luck!

To be honest, after learning that the three robots had fallen into the inland sea, Lü Yongchang immediately gave up on the idea of ​​waiting for the three robots to climb out on their own.

The reason is simple: the terrain is unknown, there is no navigation, and relying solely on that pitiful automatic program, the probability of those three robots climbing out on their own is infinitely close to zero!

But that's exactly what happened!

"Where are they?" Lu Yongchang rubbed his temples and asked in a low voice.

Zhao Zijie quickly reached out and tapped a few times on the holographic image.

A hint of surprise flashed in Zhao Zijie's eyes when he saw the result.

"Professor, it's not far from us, just a hundred kilometers away."

Data transmission complete.

A line of text flashed in the holographic image beside them.

"Professor, the data transmission is complete!" Zhao Zijie's voice was filled with excitement. "I'll send it to you now."

……

The transmission speed is very fast.

Sitting in his office, Lü Yongchang looked at the holographic image in front of him with a hint of anticipation in his eyes.

"Zero, open the file. Let me see what this inland sea is like!"

"Okay, Professor."

When the file is opened, the holographic image is completely black, with a faint sense of swaying visible.

Lu Yongchang frowned: "Zero, speed up, just skip the useless scenes."

The images change rapidly until they freeze on a single frame.

A long passageway.

Propelled by the "water flow," the robot slowly walked towards the passageway ahead.

The floor of the passageway gradually slopes upwards, and its diameter becomes narrower and narrower.

What was originally a spacious area that could accommodate three robots walking side by side has gradually become a narrow passage that can only accommodate one robot at a time.

Inside the passageway, waxy substances could be seen clinging to the walls everywhere.

Before Lü Yongchang could even ask a question, Zero released a series of preliminary test data.

"Professor, it's some complex organic matter; the robot has already taken samples."

Lü Yongchang nodded slightly and asked again, "What about the composition of the seawater?"

"There is much more organic matter in the Kraken-Mare Sea, and the temperature is about 1 degree Celsius higher."

As soon as the words were spoken, the holographic screen suddenly opened up!

"Professor, according to the detection, the robot has arrived at the Kraken-Malay Sea, and the current depth is about 250 meters."

"The next scene is a real-time image transmitted from the robot."

As he spoke, Zero controlled the robot to look back the way it had come.

"This is..." Upon seeing the terrain, Lü Yongchang was stunned.

"A volcano? An ice volcano?"

"So that's how it is! The two ocean layers are connected by an ice volcano!"

A so-called ice volcano is a low-temperature volcano, and its eruptions typically produce water, ammonia, or methane.

At extremely low temperatures, liquid methane and other organic matter slowly flow out of the ice volcano crater.

Like a volcanic eruption.

"Zero, control the robot to look around," Lü Yongchang suddenly said. "Turn the searchlights up to maximum brightness!"

"receive."

A few seconds later, the previously dim screen suddenly lit up.

A hint of joy appeared in Lü Yongchang's eyes.

"Just as I expected!"

In the live footage, countless pale yellow jellyfish circled around the ice volcano crater.

The increased temperature after the searchlight brightness was turned up seemed to have attracted their attention.

Seeing the jellyfish "swimming" towards the robot, Zero quickly turned down the power of the searchlight.

Fortunately, the "warm" liquid spewed from the ice volcano's crater attracted the jellyfish's attention in time, saving the three robots from disaster.