Chapter 127: The Lamp on the Road

At the darkest moment before dawn, the rapid rescue team set out.

There was no grand farewell, no rousing speech. Seven people gathered beneath the purification tower, checked their gear one last time, nodded to Su Yu and Old Zhao waiting at the camp gate, then turned and walked into the lingering morning mist.

Su Yu watched their silhouettes disappear into the ruins' outline, still hearing Han Qing's parting words in her ears: "Two weeks. Whether or not the mission is completed, you must return within two weeks."

Two weeks. In the heavily polluted zone, in an unfamiliar land without reinforcements, two weeks felt as long as a lifetime.

Old Zhao tapped her arm: "Come on, it's time to light the lamp."

The two climbed the purification tower. The wind at the top was stronger than on the ground, whipping Su Yu's long hair into a frenzy. Old Zhao took the lamp from his pack—not an ordinary lamp, but a special device made from stardust crystal and a modified old-era searchlight. He carefully mounted it on the tower's edge, adjusted the angle, and aimed it toward the direction the rescue team had departed.

"The light will reflect off the path they've walked," Old Zhao explained. "As long as they remain within visual range, you can see the light spot. If they get lost, you can use this for positioning."

He pressed the switch.

The lamp did not light up immediately. The stardust crystal needed a few seconds to charge, then—a soft, pale gold column of light pierced the morning mist, shooting straight toward the distant ruins. The beam was not blinding, but its penetrative power was extreme; even in the brightening sky it remained clearly visible.

Su Yu imagined the scene of Han Qing and the others turning back to see this beam of light. What would it feel like? Knowing home was there, knowing someone was waiting, knowing a light had been lit just for them.

"They'll come back safely," she said, not knowing whether she was comforting Old Zhao or herself.

"Of course they will." Old Zhao checked the lamp's status, straightened up, and said, "Let's go—there's still plenty to do today."

Over the next three days, Pure Land operated in a state of waiting.

Surface reconstruction work continued. New purification towers began construction, farmland expanded into the second zone, and the first batch of stardust-improved vegetable seedlings had already grown two true leaves. Children were organized to study basic cultural courses—the teachers were several elderly instructors from the underground shelter, the materials were handwritten, the paper was the backs of old documents, yet the children studied diligently.

Because the adults said, "When you grow up, we will build a proper school."

Underground, Old Zhao's Seed Plan was also progressing. The survey team discovered the entrance to a natural underground cavern five kilometers from Pure Land, about 1,200 meters deep. The cavern system was vast, with underground rivers and a constant temperature, making it an ideal site for a refuge.

But problems came with it.

"Air tests show an unknown spore colony inside the cavern," said survey team captain Liu Yan—who had been reassigned to lead this project due to his familiarity with subterranean environments—frowning as he reported, "It's not shadow contamination, but it's not harmless either. Two team members inhaled it and began hallucinating, seeing… things that aren't there."

"What things?" Su Yu asked.

Liu Yan hesitated: "They all said they saw light. A beautiful, warm light, with someone calling their names from within it. But when we pulled them out, the light vanished, they became despondent, and some even wanted to go back."

Su Yu recalled the description of "inducive ecology" in Starfire knowledge: certain underground ecosystems release pheromones to lure animals into specific areas, then…

"It could be a predatory mechanism," she said, "light as bait. Continued exploration must be equipped with full-seal protection, and the air filtration system must be of the highest grade."

"That would slow progress considerably," Liu Yan said.

"Safety first," Su Yu insisted, "the Seed Plan is meant to preserve hope, not create new sacrifices."

Liu Yan nodded and left. Su Yu remained alone in the temporary command room, staring at the hand-drawn map on the wall—the rescue team's planned route marked in red line, now extended fifty kilometers. According to the plan, they should reach the first waypoint today: an old-era logistics center that might still have usable vehicles.

The communicator was so quiet it made one's heart race.

As agreed, the rescue team was to send a brief status report at a fixed time each day. But yesterday's report arrived seventeen minutes late. Although it was finally received, Han Qing's voice sounded exhausted, with continuous wind in the background.

"Everything's normal, proceeding according to plan," that's all he said.

Too brief. Too brief to be normal.

Su Yu tried to convince herself: they might be rushing, communications might be poor, maybe… but the faint throbbing of her chest scar told her it wasn't that simple.

On the fourth day at noon, the communication finally came.

But it wasn't Han Qing's voice—it was Kaiwen's, and the signal was extremely poor, breaking up:

"……encounter……new mutant……not shadow……like……a fusion of plant and animal……Wang Hu injured……not serious……but we need……to change the route……"

In the background gunfire could be heard—not continuous fire, but precise single shots. Plus Marcus's shout: "Left! Left again!"

Su Yu gripped the communicator: "Kaiwen! Report your position! Do you need support?"

"……no need……we can handle it……but the original route is unsafe……the new route will add……two days……communication might……cut off……"

"Keep the daily reports! That's an order!"

"……as much as possible……the captain said……light the lamp……we saw it……thank……"

The communication cut off.

Su Yu set down the communicator, her hand trembling slightly. She walked to the window and looked at the lamp on the purification tower. By day the lamp is off, but the crystal reflects a faint glimmer in the sunlight.

They saw it. In danger, they turned back and saw that beam of light.

That was enough.

That afternoon, Xiao Yu found Su Yu.

The little girl held out a clay flowerpot—handmade by the children in crafts class, lopsided but earnestly made. Inside grew a tiny green plant with only two leaves.

"This is for you," Xiao Yu said, tiptoeing to hand the pot to Su Yu, "Aili said this is 'Hope Grass.' It grows fast and needs watering every day."

Su Yu took the pot. Hope Grass, mentioned in Starfire knowledge, can grow in poor soil, its roots slightly purify the earth, and more importantly—it changes color according to the planter's emotional state. Calm: green; anxious: yellowish; sad: blue; angry: red.

Now it is a healthy verdant green.

"I'll take good care of it," Su Yu said, patting Xiao Yu's head.

"Aili said when you adults fix the world, there will be lots and lots of flowers," Xiao Yu's eyes sparkled, "Really?"

"Really." Su Yu squatted to meet the girl's eye level, "When that time comes, what kind of flower would you like to plant?"

"Sunflowers!" Xiao Yu replied without hesitation, "Because they always face the sun. Aili said the sun is the oldest light, it has watched us for ages."

Su Yu felt a warm surge in her chest. Yes, the sun has watched us for ages. It has witnessed humanity's birth, growth, glory, and disaster, and now watches us struggle to rise again.

"Then let's plant sunflowers," she promised, "a whole field of them."

Xiao Yu ran off happily. Su Yu carried the pot of Hope Grass back to the command room, placing it on the windowsill. Sunlight streamed through the glass onto the leaves, giving their edges a faint golden hue.

Just then, the alarm sounded.

It was not an enemy alert, but the Deep Space Monitoring Station's alarm. As Su Yu rushed over, Kaiwen's deputy—a young technician named Lin Wei—was frantically operating the console.

"What's the situation?"

"An unknown signal," Lin Wei said, voice tight, "not from Orion's direction, but… straight overhead. Low Earth orbit."

The waveform on the screen showed the signal source at an altitude of three hundred kilometers, drifting slowly. The signal itself was simple—just a repeating pulse—but its frequency matched stardust energy astonishingly closely.

"It's imitating us," Lin Wei said, "our stardust communication frequency is encrypted, but this signal… is almost identical. Like… an echo."

"Echo?"

"First we receive our signal, then we send it back almost immediately on the same frequency." Lin Wei pulled up a comparison chart. "Look, this is the purification tower status report signal we sent yesterday, and this is the 'echo' we received today; the waveform similarity is 99.7%."

Su Yu felt a chill crawl up her spine. This was no coincidence.

"Can we track the exact location of the signal source?"

"We're trying... got it." Lin Wei zoomed in on the image. "It's not a single source, but multiple. Seven points, distributed across different orbits, are... forming an array."

On the screen, the seven light points moved slowly, eventually forming a standard regular hexagon with a central point.

"What kind of array is this?" Su Yu asked.

Lin Wei shook her head. "Starfire knowledge has no record. But based on basic geometry... this is the most stable structure. It's usually used for... focusing."

"Focusing what?"

The young technician looked up, his face pale. "Energy. Or... observation."

Su Yu looked out at the clear sky. Nothing was visible to the naked eye, but at three hundred kilometers altitude, seven unidentified objects were watching them. They were mimicking their signal, forming an array, preparing... to do what?

"Should we notify the rescue team?" Lin Wei asked.

"Not for now." Su Yu forced herself to stay calm. "They're barely holding on themselves right now. We... will observe first."

She left the monitoring station and returned to the command room. The hope grass on the windowsill had, at some point, turned a faint yellow.

A color of anxiety.

Su Yu watered it a bit, her fingers lightly touching a leaf. "Don't worry, we'll fix this."

The leaf gradually turned back to green under her touch, though a trace of yellow lingered at the edge.

Night fell.

Su Yu didn't return to her dormitory; she spent the night in the command room. Lao Zhao brought her dinner—a simple nutritional paste and a baked potato. The potato was one of the first harvests from the newly built farmland, tiny but precious.

"You should rest," Lao Zhao said.

"Waiting for their safety report today," Su Yu stared at the communicator. "It should be coming soon."

The clock pointed to nine p. m. By agreement, the report should have been sent between eight and nine.

Ten past nine. The communicator was silent.

Half past nine. Su Yu began pacing back and forth. The hope grass turned yellow again.

Ten o'clock. Lao Zhao also stayed, and the two were silent with each other.

At eleven oh seven, the communicator suddenly emitted a harsh noise, then Han Qing's voice, panting heavily, with explosions in the background:

"Su Yu... listen carefully... we've found the first settlement... but the situation... is terrible... they're surrounded by a new type of mutant... we're establishing a defensive line... but..."

A massive explosion sound cut him off.

"Han Qing!"

"... we're still alive... but we need... support..." his voice was intermittent, "... not combat support... medical... medicine... food... the people here... are near death..."

"Location! Report the location!"

Han Qing gave a string of coordinates, then the communication cut out again.

Su Yu immediately checked the map—87 km from Pure Land, an old-era industrial park. At the rescue team's speed, they shouldn't have traveled that far unless...

"They're hurrying," Lao Zhao analyzed, "abandoning the safe route to rescue people, cutting straight through a heavily polluted zone."

So Pure Land said to change the route—not to detour, but to take a risky shortcut.

"Organize a support team," Su Yu ordered, "lightly equipped, only medical supplies and food, no combat personnel. I'm going."

"You can't," Lao Zhao held her, "you're a Sower; Pure Land needs you."

"But they need support!"

"I'll go." Lao Zhao stood up, the fifty‑seven‑year‑old veteran's eyes steady, "I'll bring six youngsters from the underground; they know harsh environments. We'll set out through the night, using the still‑operable troop carrier we found underground, and arrive before dawn."

Su Yu wanted to object, but Lao Zhao gave her no chance: "It's decided. You stay in Pure Land to deal with that." He pointed at the sky, "We handle what's on the ground."

He turned and left, his steps resolute.

Su Yu walked to the window and looked again at the light on the purification tower. Lao Zhao would brighten it before departure, to guide the two groups.

She lowered her head, looking at the hope grass in her hand; the leaf was completely yellow now.

But the root, beneath the soil, a new tender shoot was sprouting.

Even amid anxiety, life still grows.

Su Yu opened the communicator, connecting all channels—not just ground, but also air.

"No matter what you are," she said into the microphone, her voice calm and clear, "we are rescuing people. If you are observing, watch closely: this is humanity's choice. Always choose salvation, always choose light."

She turned off the communicator, awaiting a response.

In the Deep Space monitoring station, Lin Wei stared at the screen. The seven light points had stopped moving.

Then, one of the light points flickered once.

Like blinking.