Cataclysmic Era: I can unlock the tech tree

Hong Fan's words made everyone stop their playful antics.

Andrew and Bruno's expressions quickly turned serious.

You can relax and have some fun on the Xuan Nu II or the planetary lander.

But when they had to face this completely unfamiliar planet, no one dared to let their guard down.

After all, nobody knows what strange and wonderful things might exist on this super-Earth.

Whether it is living or non-living.

When you don't know the other party's background, even a tiny speck of dust can lead to utter ruin.

As the numbers in the holographic image shrink, the surrounding scenery also changes slightly.

In the yellowish-brown rock wall, some silvery-white substances with a metallic luster gradually appeared.

Hong Fan, who was in the driver's seat, raised an eyebrow.

"These outside should be the iron ore detected by the detector."

"The absence of oxygen in the atmosphere does have some advantages."

"At least, it saves us the smelting process."

Hearing this, Xia Wanyi chuckled and added, "There might also be elemental nickel ore."

"Don't forget our experience mining in the asteroid belt."

Hong Fan was stunned for a moment, and a look of nostalgia immediately appeared in his eyes.

……

In the midst of conversation.

The planetary lander began to gradually slow down.

Lines of faint text appeared before everyone.

[Approaching destination]

Current outside wind speed: 18 km/h

Please prepare to exit the cabin.

Once the vehicle came to a complete stop, Hong Fan reached out to unbuckle his seatbelt and picked up the helmet hanging beside him.

"Click".

"laugh……"

As the helmet buckle clicked, a whooshing sound filled his ears.

The spacesuit's internal circulation system has been activated.

Current oxygen level: 99%

【…】

Hong Fan glanced at the AR display on his helmet and, after confirming that there was nothing wrong with the spacesuit, he opened the team's communication channel.

"Everyone, please report your situation."

……

Ten minutes later.

The hatches on the sides of the two planetary landing vehicles slowly opened.

One after another, the bulky crew members, aided by exoskeleton armor, filed out with incredibly light steps.

[Exoskeleton Armor Power Output: 15%]

Faint Chinese characters appeared before everyone's eyes.

"Everyone," Hong Fan's voice came through the communication channel, "Hurry up, first identify the types of surface minerals, then proceed with deep drilling."

As he spoke, he walked first to a rock wall that shimmered with a silvery-white light.

After a simple test, a hint of joy appeared in his eyes: "It is indeed elemental iron ore."

"We just don't know how much the reserves are."

"Captain Hong," Andrew's hesitant voice came through the comms, "Without oxygen, there shouldn't be any hematite, right?"

"Of course," Hong Fan replied without hesitation.

"Well..." Andrew's voice grew increasingly strange, "you should come and take a look."

Hong Fan raised an eyebrow slightly: "What?"

"Please don't tell me that a hematite vein has been discovered."

Andrew: "..."

"If the testing equipment is not malfunctioning..."

"This is indeed hematite."

"Moreover..." Andrew paused, "the amount of hematite seems to be quite large, even in the sand and dust that can be seen everywhere, there is a small amount of hematite."

Hong Fan: "???"

He suddenly raised his head and looked at the sand and dust filling the sky.

The main color is still yellow.

However, upon closer inspection, this deep yellow does indeed contain a hint of reddish-brown.

"hiss!"

Hong Fan gasped and rushed to Andrew's side.

Andrew was crouching in a corner beside the rock wall, carefully observing the surface.

Upon seeing Hong Fan arrive, Andrew quickly stood up: "Captain Hong, take a look."

"It doesn't look like anything on the surface, but the deeper you dig, the darker the reddish-brown becomes."

Hong Fan didn't say anything, but quickly squatted down and began to examine the small pit that Andrew had dug.

The pit wasn't deep.

It's about 20cm deep.

But it is clear that beneath the yellow sand lies an increasing amount of reddish-brown gravel.

He carefully removed a small amount of reddish-brown substance from the small pit and released it into the testing instrument beside him.

Before long, the test results appeared on his watch.

[Fe2O3, hematite]

He fell silent as he looked at the test results in front of him.

It's outrageous, but the test results are right in front of us.

Suddenly, as if remembering something, Hong Fan quickly walked to the pile of tools and picked up an entrenching tool made of high-strength alloy.

He randomly chose a spot, controlled the exoskeleton armor, and shoveled down with force.

The power output of the exoskeleton armor surged instantly.

The shovel sank into the ground easily.

"Whoosh!"

He forcefully pulled out the shovel, bringing up some sand from the ground.

It's reddish-brown again.

Seeing Hong Fan's unusual behavior, the team members realized the problem and picked up their entrenching tools to imitate him.

One place, two places, three places...

Reddish-brown, all reddish-brown!

Hong Fan threw down the entrenching tool in his hand and took a deep breath of air from inside his helmet.

Well! The investigation has just begun, and we've already discovered a problem!

Hematite is very common.

Traces of hematite can be found on Earth, on Mars, and even in the supermoon overhead!

But on this planet, on Dawn Star where there is no oxygen, hematite is absolutely impossible to exist!

But now, so much hematite is laid out before them.

In Hong Fan's view, this only proves one thing.

Oxygen once existed on this star of dawn.

And what about oxygen?

There is oxygen, water, a suitable temperature, and a magnetic field...

This is simply the perfect place to nurture life!

But now, Dawn Star is utterly desolate.

What exactly happened in between?!

Could there be remnants of a civilization, or even... extraterrestrial life, hidden somewhere on Dawn Star?

One question after another floated through his mind like a revolving lantern.

Hong Fan felt a chill run down his spine.

Without any hesitation, he raised his wrist and pressed a button on his watch.

A miniature holographic projection came from the watch.

But no one present paid attention to this trivial issue. They all crowded around Hong Fan, looking nervously at the miniature holographic image in front of them.

Hong Fan skillfully operated several buttons and sent a distress signal to the Earth above Dawn Star.

"Everyone, return to the planetary landing vehicle immediately!"

After sending out the distress signal, Hong Fan gave the order in a deep voice.