"Professor, we've arrived."
A familiar electronically synthesized voice came from outside.
It sounded incredibly distant.
Lü Yongchang gradually regained consciousness, an unprecedented sense of heaviness and sluggishness spreading through every part of his body.
It was as though he were in a slow-motion movie.
His brain issued a command, but his body took several beats to carry it out.
After some effort, with Zero calling softly to him, Lü Yongchang slowly opened his eyes.
The pale yellow liquid before him sent a flicker of panic through his heart.
But he quickly remembered where he was.
The Deep-Sea Pod.
To conserve supplies as much as possible, Lü Yongchang had chosen to enter hibernation after boarding the Deep-Sea Pod and giving the order to depart.
Lü Yongchang's eyes shifted slightly as he quickly issued a mental command.
The brainwave reader picked up the signal.
The next moment, the pale yellow deep-sea fluid before his eyes began to drain.
An extremely faint suction came from his lungs.
The Lung Tube, made of nano-robots, was drawing out the deep-sea fluid filling his lungs.
After a few minutes of waiting, several lines of holographic text appeared on the Deep-Sea Pod's hatch before him.
[Deep-sea fluid recovery complete] [Lung Tube recovery complete] [Professor Lü, welcome to Mars] [Hatch opening shortly...]
The sound of the hydraulic mechanism reached Lü Yongchang's ears.
As he watched the hatch slowly open, excitement shone in his eyes.
Mars!
He would soon set foot on a planet other than Earth!
To Lü Yongchang, this moment felt like something out of a dream!
With his hands trembling slightly, he unfastened the brainwave reader from his head, then removed the mask covering his mouth and nose.
"Cough, cough, cough!"
He had instinctively taken a deep breath.
The deep-sea fluid remaining in his