I really don't want to date a girl addicted to the internet!

"According to the records, the scientific expedition team focused on studying this cave back then, assuming the cave entrance hasn't drifted due to glacial activity." Cheng Fei looked down at the ice cave.

"Let's begin." Shen Xi took a half step back, her face tense, and tilted her head to check the rope connecting the two of them before her expression relaxed slightly.

"Okay, Ms. Shen can stay in a safe place nearby. You can have some snacks to replenish your energy." The boy said, taking out the equipment he had brought with him from his travel bag.

In order to find what is hidden under the glacier as much as possible, just like when they searched for the corridor last time, they brought a variety of instruments this time.

Most importantly, there is a portable prospecting magnetometer that can locate crashed Protoss ships or other metallic objects, and a lightweight glacier detection radar that can easily penetrate ice sheets to detect underground structures.

Compared to the past when they had to borrow the gravimeter from the school's science and engineering department through Shen Xi's cousin's connections, this time the two of them bought the equipment themselves, so the expense was no burden for them at all.

The aloof girl stood beside him, watching the boy operate the equipment. After thinking for a moment, she opened her pocket, took out two chocolates, removed her gloves, peeled off the wrappers with her small hands, put one in her mouth, and handed the other to the busy boy, coldly and expressionlessly saying, "Open your mouth."

"I want to eat what Teacher Shen is in." The boy glanced at her slightly puffed-out cheeks, his expression serious.

"This flying fish should just die." The girl narrowed her eyes with disgust and took the food back.

"I was wrong, Teacher Shen." The boy opened his mouth and gestured to her with his eyes.

The girl then fed him the food with a look of disdain.

Next, the two spent some time in place exploring the ice cave at their destination.

The result was that nothing was gained.

"Forget about spaceships, there's hardly any magnetite here." Cheng Fei shook his head as he looked at the detection data on his laptop screen.

“The spaceship must have already left.” Shen Xi frowned slightly.

“That’s true, but we should leave some traces, right?” The boy rubbed his chin and pondered for a moment. “I think we should go down and take a look.”

"Go down?" The girl's face suddenly turned serious.

"What cute expression is that again? I'll go downstairs, Teacher Shen will wait here." The boy patted her head lightly.

“No, I’ll go with you.” The girl replied without hesitation.

"Never mind, I'm safer on my own." The boy shook his head, then observed her subtle expression. "Or are you afraid of leaving me alone, Ms. Shen?"

"Don't talk nonsense." The girl frowned and turned her face away.

"Don't worry, I'll be back before eight o'clock this afternoon." The boy confirmed the time.

Considering that it won't be completely dark at night during the polar day, he will have plenty of time to move around.

"What if he doesn't come back?" the girl asked, staring at him.

"Then he's probably dead." The boy smiled.

"Then I'll go down and find you," the girl said in a muffled voice.

"Just kidding, this is a piece of cake for me. Just be careful, Ms. Shen." The boy ruffled her hair.

"Okay." The girl nodded reluctantly.

So, under her unwavering gaze, the boy secured his anchor point on the rock near the cave entrance, descended, and disappeared into the ice cave.

The girl watched the boy's figure disappear, then stood silently in place, staring at the hanging rope. After a moment, she suddenly saw the rope loosen, and her small hands clenched tightly.

"Teacher Shen, I've reached the bottom. It's very deep inside, and the signal might be bad." The walkie-talkie hanging on her shoulder crackled to life.

The girl breathed a sigh of relief, picked up the walkie-talkie and said, "Be careful."

After that, she continued to stand in place, staring at the hanging rope.

On a clear afternoon, the girl was the only one standing on the glacier.

After a while, the girl squatted on the ground, eating snacks while watching.

A strange, low, cracking sound came from somewhere unknown.

Even though she knew it was the sound of the glacier cracking due to the alternating hot and cold temperatures of summer, the girl couldn't help but turn around and look around. Finding nothing unusual, she continued to stare at the rope at the edge of the ice cave.

The sun's path moved slowly across the sky, illuminating this cold land.

In the afternoon, the wind picked up on the glacier, and the air currents scraped against the rugged mountain slopes, making an unsettling whooshing sound.

The girl shivered, her face tense, and she looked around.

As time passed, the sun gradually set below the horizon, and the slanting rays of sunlight cut large areas of alternating light and shadow on the earth, and the sunlight became less warm.

The aloof girl, crouching in place, glanced at the time, hesitated for a moment, and then turned on the walkie-talkie, "Trash, how long until you're back?"

There was no response from the other end except for the rustling noise.

The girl blinked, took a deep breath, put away the walkie-talkie, and continued to stare at the cave entrance.

As the sun gradually sank in the west, the shadows on the ground became bizarre and grotesque, with a sense of menacing power. Even the girl squatting on the ground cast a long shadow beside her.

The girl checked the time again, gritted her teeth, and picked up the walkie-talkie. "Cheng Fei, it's 7:30."

There has still been no response.

She stood up, rubbed her temples, and moved slightly closer to the cave entrance. Seeing that the ice cave was completely shrouded in darkness, making it difficult to see what was below, she retreated to her original position.

Time ticked by, and on the empty glacier, the only sound was the howling wind.

The girl's brows furrowed deeper and deeper, a hint of anxiety creeping onto her usually icy face. She spoke coldly into the walkie-talkie, "Cheng Fei, if you don't come up soon, I'm coming down."

It was quiet over there; even the hissing radio noise seemed to have disappeared.

She paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and expressionlessly opened her travel bag to start looking for equipment.

Ice axe, crampons, ice screws, headlamp, first aid kit, emergency food... The girl silently packed everything onto her body. After confirming that everything was ready, she got up and went to the edge of the ice cave. Looking down into the abyss, her body stiffened.

Suddenly, the light from the headlamp appeared in the darkness of the cave, swaying as it approached the ground with lightning speed, the rope being pulled taut and making a faint sound.

The girl stared at the scene, her pure, dark eyes widening slightly as if she were witnessing something unbelievable.

"Damn, I'm finally back. I'm exhausted." The boy climbed up using the rope, wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, and let out a heavy sigh of relief.

Then, he looked up and saw the cool and aloof girl in front of him, fully armed and ready to go. He was stunned for a moment. "Teacher Shen, are you getting ready to go out and have some fun?"

The girl looked at him, her eyelashes trembling slightly, then swallowed and turned her face away.

"Why aren't you saying anything?" The boy stepped forward and peered into her field of vision to observe.

The girl sniffed, then suddenly buried her face in his chest, her small hands climbing up his back.

"Trash, it's already past eight o'clock." The girl's small hand gripped his back slowly, her tone seemingly displeased, yet also as if she were hiding something else.

"Unexpectedly, there were quite a few forks in the road below, so it took a little longer to get back. Could it be that they were worried about me?" The boy seemed to sense something and asked curiously.

"Mmm." The girl's voice was barely audible.

"what?"

"I thought something had happened to you, and I was about to go down to look for you." The girl kept her face down, her voice cold and devoid of any emotion.

The boy looked down at the slender, motionless body in his arms, hesitating to speak.

"You said you'd be back at eight, but you didn't keep your promise. You're a lying piece of trash." The girl kicked him lightly.

"At least I didn't call you by your name, little cutie." The boy sighed helplessly, then let out a relieved sigh and hugged her tightly.

1010. Just the two of them setting up camp.

As the polar day reached its sunset, the earth was shrouded in a seemingly eternal, heavy twilight. Cheng Fei and Shen Xi moved to a safe, sheltered spot to set up camp.

The boy carefully secured the tent according to the nearby wind direction, and nodded in satisfaction after looking it over.

The girl squatted in front of the kerosene stove, her pure, dark eyes fixed on the pot of pure ice and snow as it gradually melted and collapsed, and she added more snow into it.

The boy came to her side and rummaged through his travel bag to find vacuum-packed food. "What would you like to eat, Ms. Shen? We have spaghetti bolognese, curry chicken rice, and beef baked rice. Of course, they are all freeze-dried, so the taste may not be ideal."

"Why did Cheng Feiyu stay down there for so long?" The girl asked expressionlessly, as if she couldn't hear him.

"The terrain down there is quite complicated, with caves connected to caves. I explored almost the entire area." The boy recalled his exploration that afternoon, smacked his lips, and then helped her make her choice.

"What did you find?" the girl asked, looking at him.

"Judging from the results," the boy rubbed his chin, "we didn't find anything special."

The ice cave was just an ordinary ice cave, without any of the ruins left by the crashed Protoss spaceship that he had imagined. He spent an entire afternoon confirming this.

The girl fell silent, and after a moment she spoke softly, "So this time we failed."

"It's not exactly a failure, is it? At least we eliminated one wrong answer." The boy said seriously.

"Could it be that I guessed wrong from the beginning and it has nothing to do with this place at all?" The girl rested her chin on her knees, staring at the flames of the kerosene stove and talking to herself.

"Who knows? Well, since things have come to this, let's eat first." The boy shrugged, waited for the snow water to boil, poured it into the freeze-dried food like instant noodles, and put the lid on.

The girl frowned, lost in thought, her stubborn, pink lips tightly closed.

Soon, the aroma of food wafted through the air. In the harsh polar outdoors, anything hot, whether it's freeze-dried food or something else, is enough to make one's mouth water.

The two sat side by side, watching the ever-setting sun devour their food on the horizon. In the gentle orange-pink glow of the sunset, there was no sound except for the wind. The whole world was divided by light and shadow, peaceful and dreamlike, as if they were at the end of the world.

"By the way, was Teacher Shen scared when I wasn't around?" The boy slurped up a mouthful of spaghetti and found that the rehydrated pasta tasted surprisingly good, even better than when he tested it at home before. He wondered if it was just psychological.

"No." The girl put a mouthful of curry rice into her mouth, her face expressionless.

"Really?" The boy peered over to observe her.

After a moment of eye contact, the girl lowered her eyes and ate without making it obvious. "One thing, is Cheng Feiyu satisfied with this explanation?"

"Satisfied. Ms. Shen is lovely for her frankness." The boy nodded with certainty.

"It's just the weak instinct of this body, you boring Cheng Feiyu," the girl said with disdain.

“I like Teacher Shen’s frail body.” The boy continued to nod.

"Disgusting." The girl chewed on a large piece of chicken.

"Why is it filthy again?" the boy asked, puzzled.

"Anyway, they think I'm easy to assault or something." The girl narrowed her eyes and stared at the horizon.

"Why do you think of me like that again? Actually, I'm more concerned about the feeling that Teacher Shen is weak and therefore relies on me." The boy shook his head and sighed.

The girl glanced at him. "Pathetic male instincts."

"Of course, it's also important that Ms. Shen, who is as beautiful as a work of art, is completely unaware of the danger while she's by my side every day." The boy nodded to himself again and sighed comfortably.

The girl shivered violently, staring at him with her brows furrowed, and slowly moved away from him.

"Just kidding. Even if I could, I wouldn't go too far with Teacher Shen. At most, I'd just verbally harass her a little," the boy quickly said with an embarrassed laugh.

"Disgusting." The girl kicked him with a token effort, then returned to her seat and continued eating, her face showing displeasure.

"So you were planning to go down and look for me when I hadn't come back by eight o'clock?" the boy asked curiously.

"What's the point of asking such obvious questions?" the girl said coldly.

"Teacher Shen really does what he says."

"Ha, I am indeed different from aquatic mammals that are prone to lying."

"It's normal for things to be a little unexpected sometimes, I was only a little over ten minutes late, my little cutie."

"Sorry, I only remember Cheng Feiyu saying he would be back before eight o'clock. Who knows if he turned into a frozen fish somewhere?"

"Being so worried about my safety means you love me beyond redemption."

"Cheng Feiyu's biological clock is really stable; he can dream right on time even before the sun sets."

"Since there's nothing here, we can go back tomorrow."

"know."

The boy tilted his head to observe her still beautiful yet cold face, trying to glean her emotions, but failed. He then patted her head and said, "Little cutie, it's okay if you didn't succeed this time. Just go back and continue your investigation."

"Why is Cheng Feiyu suddenly spouting nonsense?" The girl turned her head to meet his gaze, her brows furrowing slightly.

"I was just worried that you might be feeling down or something." The boy looked into her eyes seriously, then paused. "After all, before, if you couldn't find the coordinates of the corridor, you could sulk and starve yourself until you had low blood sugar."

"First of all, I wasn't sulking at the time, and secondly, Cheng Feiyu was being overly sentimental." The girl subtly turned her face away.

"I'm just concerned about Teacher Shen." The boy shook his head and devoured his food.

The girl's eyes flickered, and she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. After a brief silence, she raised her chin and said in a cold, nonchalant voice, "It's enough that Cheng Feiyu is back safely."