My Exclusive Dream World Adventures
Chapter 233 - Chapter 233 233 is broken

Chapter 233: 233 is broken Chapter 233: 233 is broken Chen Xu didn’t disturb Yang Jinxia who was still asleep and turned to leave the room again. His goal was the surrounding houses.

This area was considered a B-class residential zone, mostly inhabited by middle management personnel, as well as senior maintenance technicians and mid-to-senior engineers–it should be possible to find some useful tools.

The technological level onboard the “Dawn” clearly surpassed Earth by a large margin, and the industrial specialization was even more refined. When he first wanted to choose a field of study, the vast catalog made him feel a twinge of despair; it was simply impossible for one person to master so much knowledge.

In the end, he chose to specialize in communications equipment repair, but even within this field, mastering all the knowledge was unattainable.

What he had memorized through the learning machine was really just the most basic knowledge, akin to high school physics or chemistry. It was conceptual knowledge that provided a systematic understanding and was, moreover, more application-oriented.

If one wished to delve further, there were many branches to choose from, and the deeper one went, the more specialized the branches became, exceedingly numerous in number.

Other professions were similar. If the population in area C formed the foundation of the “Dawn,” then the residents of area B were humanity’s core strength. It was their existence that enabled the “Dawn” to operate without problems for hundreds of years.

It was also the disappearance of these people that led to the “Dawn” being unable to last even two months before running into major operational issues; without timely maintenance by crew, it triggered a chain reaction that affected the entire spacecraft.

Faced with such a dilemma, Chen Xu was completely helpless. Even if he weren’t hooked up to the learning machine, he could only watch helplessly as the ship inched closer to death.

While these thoughts occupied his mind, he arrived at a door that was open–obviously Yang Jinxia had entered before. He walked straight in; the house looked decent, a two-bedroom and a living room layout. Although it wasn’t as exquisite as the room he stayed in, it was considerably better than those in area C.

He searched the house and didn’t find anything particularly valuable, so he turned around and left.

This way, he searched house by house, going through all the rooms on that floor without finding what he was looking for.

“Chen Xu.”

While he was searching a room, he heard Yang Jinxia calling out to him. He walked to the doorway and shouted, “I’m here.”

Soon, the figures of Yang Jinxia and 2003 appeared in the corridor. She spread her arms and floated over to him. Chen Xu reached out, grabbing her arm firmly, pulling her to a stop and stabilizing her form.

“You’re finally here,” she said with a joyous smile on her face.

Chen Xu smiled and said, “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Suddenly, Yang Jinxia’s expression changed slightly, concern tinting her voice, “You look pale, are you too tired?”

“I can handle it,” Chen Xu said. “Just in time, you can help me find a toolbox–it’s marked with the number CH001.”

Yang Jinxia shook her head, “No, you rest. 2003 and I will look for the toolbox.”

Chen Xu looked at her, sighed, and said, “We don’t have time, in seventy hours and thirty minutes, the ship will crash into an asteroid belt. We must get to the spacecraft you came in before that and leave this place.”

Yang Jinxia was startled and asked softly, “Why is that?”

“Actually, we had already detected the asteroid belt. According to the original plan, we were to clear a path with all of the ship’s main cannons. Now that the ship is finished, we can only think of ways to escape.

Chen Xu explained the current situation, “We are over thirty kilometers from the main airlock, so we have to hurry there. This area was affected by explosions, and the doors are jammed and impassable. I want to open the transport chamber’s passage–it’s faster to go through there. That’s why I need the toolbox with that number.”

Hearing his explanation and understanding the urgency, Yang Jinxia no longer insisted. “Then let’s split up and look for it.” She turned her head and instructed 2003, then left.

With three people working together, the search was much faster. After over an hour, Yang Jinxia found the toolbox marked with CH001.

“Look, is this the one?” she asked, bringing it over to Chen Xu.

“Yes, this is it,” Chen Xu said as he opened it and saw the tools still inside. He breathed a sigh of relief, a countdown displayed on his round helmet visor–the time until Dawn collided with the asteroid belt.

The search for the toolbox had taken time, with immense pressure weighing on his mind. This wasn’t just about his own life, but also Yang Jinxia’s–without the toolbox, it would have been a waste of precious time.

He said, “Thank you for this.”

She smiled. “Ever since I met you, my luck has gotten better.”

“Let’s go, I will need your help in a bit,” Chen Xu was not being polite, he took her hand and drifted toward the entrance of the transport pod.

The entrance to the transport pod was sealed shut. When it was built, the surrounding walls were made incredibly sturdy, able to withstand impacts from velocities of hundreds of kilometers per hour. So it was difficult to force open. Special tools were necessary–ones from the toolbox he was holding.

To pry open the panel, the screws had to be removed first. These screws were unique, smooth on the surface, completely indistinguishable, blending in as one with the entire panel. It required a specialized electromagnetic wrench to remove them.

Each holding an electromagnetic wrench, the two entered the screw codes, approached the screw locations, and pressed the screw removal switch–squeaking sounds ensued as the screws started to turn.

Such screws were widely used across the spaceship with many different models. Thus, simply having the tools wasn’t enough–one had to know the exact model to unscrew them. It was quite a hassle.

Soon, a massive screw with a diameter of over five centimeters became visible, spinning continuously. As it turned, it exposed more and more of its length. It took a full two minutes for this screw to be completely disengaged from the wall and to float in space, a staggering seventy to eighty centimeters in length.

On this panel alone, there were more than a dozen such screws. It took the two some time to remove all of them, and then they dismantled the outer panel to reveal the inner structure.

Chen Xu took out something that resembled a tablet from the toolbox and walked inside. He pulled out a cable from a control panel, connected it to the tablet, confirmed his permissions, and finally managed to open the hatch door.

The two of them and a robot entered the transport pod’s corridor without pausing and floated toward the main cabin door.

Upon entering the door, Chen Xu glanced at the countdown–sixty-seven hours remained. It appeared to be plenty of time, but boarding the escape spacecraft wasn’t a guarantee of safety.

The asteroid was hurtling toward them at incredible speed, and the spacecraft needed time to accelerate to a speed that would allow escape from the asteroid belt. Whether they could make it in time was still unknown, so he dared not delay any further.

The corridor inside the transport pod was vast; and though there were no handrails, there were two floating track-like structures at the base to leverage against.

The entire corridor was connected without doors, so their speed increased significantly. In less than two hours, they had covered over ten kilometers.

When the countdown reached sixty hours, they arrived at the exit nearest to the main cabin door. They spent over half an hour using the tools to disassemble the outer panel.

After Chen Xu inserted the tablet and passed the identity verification, he pressed the door opening button. A clicking sound was heard, followed by a whoosh from the doorway. Before he could react, he was yanked towards the now open doorway.

“Jinxia–”

His reactions were swift. Just as he was about to be sucked out, he pressed hard at his waist, and a steel cable shot out, clasping onto the track at the base. The cable snapped taut, yanking his body, tumbling uncontrollably, his vision shaking so violently that he couldn’t make out his surroundings. Anxiety filled his heart as he shouted for Yang Jinxia.

Thud.

His back slammed against the edge of the exit, and his hand caught the edge of the door panel, finally stabilizing his body. He frantically turned his head, searching for Yang Jinxia.

Before long, he saw her, with 2003 holding one of her hands, pressed against the opposite wall.

Seeing that she wasn’t pulled outside, he relaxed slightly and quickly asked, “Are you okay?”

“Chen Xu, my spacesuit seems to be torn,” she replied.

Upon hearing her words, his mind went blank with a buzz.