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

"Teacher Shen, are you still sleepy? If not, get up and try to make it to lunch at the camp." The boy seemed not to hear her.

The girl stared into his eyes, her pupils slightly narrowed.

The air inside the tent was still for a moment.

The girl leaned down, brought her mouth close to his neck, and opened it.

"Hiss..." The boy gasped instinctively, only to realize that the girl hadn't actually bitten down. She looked up and punched his shoulder with her small hand.

"You're just a cowardly piece of trash, you don't deserve any attention." The girl glared at him, pulled open her sleeping bag and got up, her small, soft body ruthlessly stepping over him.

In any case, by the time the two stepped out of the tent, it was already fully light. A cold wind carrying ice crystals swept across the ice field, and the scene was no different from the day before.

The two lit the kerosene stove again, ate a hot breakfast on the spot, and then packed their things to continue their journey.

"Teacher Shen, I think there's another possibility," the boy said as he walked, deep in thought.

The aloof girl beside him stared ahead with a cold expression, as if she couldn't hear him.

“It’s normal that we can’t find anything because the Foundation cleared out the ruins.” The boy nodded to himself.

The girl remained silent and did not look at him.

"Teacher Shen?" The boy turned to look at her, puzzled. "Is she angry?"

That pretty little face exuded a chilling aura that was no less powerful than the surrounding environment.

"Teacher Shen, if you keep doing this, I'm going to do something really bad to you. I'll kiss you first and then..." the boy gestured fiercely.

The girl tilted her head, the chill in her gaze almost tangible.

"Wrong." The boy shivered and zipped up his mouth.

The two spent the whole morning returning the way they came, and when they arrived at the campsite safely, the Sakura students were having lunch in the cafeteria.

"Hey, I heard you caught a cold. What a pity. I chose the difficult route for yesterday's glacier hike, I was looking forward to having a good competition with you." Chen Hao came up and put his arm around Cheng Fei's shoulder.

"That's a real shame," the young man nodded tentatively.

Shen Xi accepted the food expressionlessly, then took the tray and sat down at the seat occupied by the research department in the corridor.

Cheng Fei sat down next to him, breathing in the warm air, and sighed with a sense of comfort, "Modern civilization is still the best."

"Honey, you're back?" Lin Xuanqi leaned forward, her eyes, reddened at the corners, filled with affection.

"Um, you two, someone contacted you late last night." Nagasaki Asuna hesitated for a moment, then put down her chopsticks.

"Who?" Cheng Fei was stunned for a moment, unable to think of an answer.

The sweet-looking girl glanced around nonchalantly. "Reporter Tang, she seems to have something urgent to tell you to contact her as soon as you get back."

"Which reporter Tang wants to interview you?" Lin Xuanqi, who was watching from the sidelines, looked confused.

Cheng Fei and Shen Xi exchanged a glance, realizing something at the same time.

After quickly eating, the two returned to their dormitory and connected to Tang Yu's video call via satellite network.

"Reporter Tang, I heard you were looking for us?" The boy looked at the screen on the tablet.

"You're finally back." The young woman with long, wavy hair patted her chest and breathed a sigh of relief. "It wasn't me looking for you, it was the foundation."

"Why are you looking for us?" the boy asked, puzzled.

"The files on the Antarctic operation that you've all been wanting," Tang Yu said, her expression turning enigmatic. "Now you have the chance to see them."

As soon as he finished speaking, the air in the dormitory cabin seemed to freeze for a moment.

"What are the conditions?" Shen Xi raised her chin, her small hand under the table quietly clenching.

"The condition is that you must complete an urgent mission," Tang Yu said softly.

"How urgent is it?" Cheng Fei asked curiously.

"Forty-eight hours left, no, thirty-six hours." The young woman glanced at her watch.

"But we're still on a study tour in Antarctica, we can't go anywhere else?" the boy said, shrugging.

"Just because you're in Antarctica, you're the closest candidates." Tang Yu paused. "You're going to return to the site of the Antarctic operation. That area isn't safe, but it's not too dangerous either. Once you accept the mission, you'll set off immediately. The helicopters outside will take you to the Foundation's facilities."

"Wait a minute." The boy had barely opened his mouth when the video call was abruptly ended, leaving him speechless. "Where's the helicopter?"

No sooner had he finished speaking his confused words than a rumbling sound came from outside, like a deep rumble of thunder coming from afar.

……

On the sunny afternoon of the fourth day of their school trip, the students of Sakura were enjoying their free time at the campsite, taking photos in the snow.

A rhythmic roar quietly emerged, then grew louder and louder, like the heart of some prehistoric behemoth beating rapidly, so heavy it felt almost tangible, even giving one the illusion of a tingling sensation in the chest.

"what?"

"Helicopter?"

Everyone stopped simultaneously and looked up to find the source of the sound.

On the horizon, a black dot swept across the sea, rapidly approaching, its outline expanding and becoming clear.

An MH53 heavy transport helicopter, painted in a silver-gray color reminiscent of a stealth fighter jet, arrived over the research station without any markings.

Even when the helicopter was still dozens of meters off the ground, the powerful downdraft blasted the snow on the helipad into a white mist, revealing the black permafrost beneath. This huge and menacing steel bird was much larger than an ordinary helicopter. Hovering in mid-air, even the sunlight seemed to be cut by the rotating blades of its six wide rotors, casting shimmering shadows on the ground.

As the sturdy landing gear lowered, the helicopter slowly descended to the ground, its rotor blades still spinning at a low speed, forcing nearby students to cover their faces with their arms to ward off the cold wind.

"Ruan Jingyi, that's huge." Zhou Han's round eyes widened slightly as she exclaimed.

The quiet girl next to her also tilted her head as she looked at the sudden scene.

"Hey, that looks like a military helicopter. What's going on? Are we getting involved in some kind of incident?" Chen Hao shaded his eyes with his hand as he observed, speaking in a low voice.

"What business is it of ours? Don't let your imagination run wild." Du Xinhua shook his head and sighed.

"Wait, Cheng Fei is over there. What's he up to?" The boy with the pompadour noticed something and his eyes widened.

The same scene was witnessed by all the students nearby.

The tall, upright young man protected the slender, aloof girl as they walked towards the helicopter. He first helped the girl board the helicopter before following her up himself. The ground crew then closed the cabin door.

Under the bewildered gazes of everyone, the steel giant bird's engines roared to full power, its heavy body lifted off the ground, and it quickly became a small black dot disappearing into the distance.

"Where did this plane come from? Where are they going?" Lin Xuanqi looked at all this with a furrowed brow.

"Is that the secret?" Nagasaki Asuna, standing beside her with her hands behind her back, watched the black dot disappear on the horizon as if nothing had happened.

……

After landing, Cheng Fei discovered that the two seemed to have been sent to the Antarctic interior, where the temperature was significantly lower, so he had Shen Xi wrap herself tightly in the thermal blanket provided by the aircraft maintenance crew.

Before us lay a cold, icy expanse. The facilities of the research station were hidden in a sheltered spot beside a small hill, with a tall signal tower standing against the cold wind.

Escorted by maintenance personnel, the two entered the facility.

The foundation staff had been waiting for a long time, using tablets to verify the identities of the two people.

Judging from their refined and cultured demeanor, the boy guessed that they were researchers stationed here.

Soon, the two were led to a large screen.

On the other side of the screen stood a group of people, the atmosphere serious, and the background suggested a busy operations command center.

A female operator with a sweet voice spoke to the two, "Senior Specialist Shen Xi, Prospective Researcher Cheng Fei, welcome. Now, let me explain your mission."

The image on the screen then changed.

"Your mission is to travel to a large ice cave located on the edge of the Palmer Ice Cap. At some unknown time, a Protoss ship crashed there. The ship has since left, but dangerous Protoss relics still lurk underground."

The two of them stared at the screen and simultaneously held their breath.

"For years, we have been monitoring that area to prevent the danger within from awakening. Just a few days ago, the monitoring station, which is where you are now, has been receiving unusual signals. We have determined that an extremely dangerous Protoss apostle is awakening. If it is allowed to leave Antarctica, it will cause irreparable serious consequences and may even endanger the entire human civilization," the operator said quickly.

Shen Xi narrowed her eyes slightly, her expression becoming serious.

"Wait a minute, since what's inside is so dangerous, why don't you deal with it sooner instead of waiting for it to wake up?" Cheng Fei hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help asking.

“We tried to eliminate it before but failed. After that, we decided to maintain surveillance to avoid provoking it, while accelerating the reverse engineering of Protoss technology. Ideally, we would wait until we find a reliable solution in the future before dealing with it,” the operator responded immediately.

"So you have a solution now?" the boy asked again.

The operator and the person next to her exchanged a glance, and only after receiving instructions did they nod, "It's there to some extent."

"To a certain extent," the boy said, savoring the other person's words.

"So what kind of apostle has awakened?" Shen Xi asked coldly.

"In a sense, it is a familiar entity to you, having recently defeated its kind in the Corridor." The operator paused, her voice softening as if afraid of disturbing something. "The most powerful and dangerous of the Protoss Apostles... a failure."

A brief silence fell on both ends of the screen.

"A failed project on Earth?" Cheng Fei was incredulous, sensing something was very wrong. "Are you kidding me?"

A failed creation in the corridor is one thing, but appearing on Earth is quite another. In reality, there are no game equipment to enhance the game, nor are there game characters with infinite resurrections.

The boy even considered backing out on the spot and refusing the mission. The only problem was whether he could hijack the helicopter outside and return the way he came if the other side refused.

Just as he was pondering how to persuade Shen Xi, the aloof girl beside him had a flicker in her eyes. She took a deep breath, looked at the other side of the screen, and spoke first, "We refuse the mission. The failed attempt is simply not something the two of us can handle."

The boy stared at her profile with a look of surprise. Noticing this, the girl glanced at him out of the corner of her eye and then looked away, her face still cold.

"Please let me explain." The operator's tone remained unchanged. "A failed creation at its peak possesses the combat power to destroy human civilization single-handedly, which is indeed beyond human capability to counter."

"Then why did you call us here?" Cheng Fei was even more confused.

Since that's the case, he thought he might as well take Nagasaki Asuna back to her hometown before Earth's civilization is destroyed, enjoy the last rays of light before humanity's demise, and then consider how to survive using the system.

The operator continued in a calm tone, "But the failed creation, which is dormant in Antarctica, is far from reaching its full potential. According to the measurements obtained from previous research on Protoss Apostles, the failed creation will remain in the second stage of awakening for the next thirty hours, which means it has just emerged from hibernation and is repairing its physical form."

Complex charts are displayed on the screen.

"At this stage, the failed creation is not yet fully formed and does not have strong mobility, just like a developing baby. Naturally, it is not a fatal threat. If we seize this most vulnerable period and deliver a fatal blow, we can eliminate it."

1012. Passing through the milky-white light curtain, what did the boy and girl encounter?

“A few days ago, an advance team was sent to the signal source, but they were trapped due to bad weather, and the virtual energy wave generator they were carrying, which was developed for the failed project, also fell into a crevasse.”

"Before the failed creation enters the third stage of awakening, activating the device nearby can cause fatal damage to it."

"Your mission is to go to the signal source area, make contact with the advance team's survivors, retrieve the device, and enter the ice cave to approach the failed project and activate it."

"Due to the failure of the mission, the weather conditions in the mission area are extremely bad, so you can only carry out this mission by land."

"The worst-case scenario is that you fail to complete the mission in time, and the Failed Creation awakens and enters the third stage. At that time, immediately lead the survivors to evacuate the area. The Foundation's combat team will arrive shortly afterward. However, by then, stopping the Failed Creation will become extremely difficult, and countless casualties will occur in any affected human activity areas. Therefore, you will need to do your best."

……

The endless white ice field was broken by the roar of engines, and the heavy tracks of snowmobiles rolled over the hard snow crust, leaving a lonely, winding trail.

Cheng Fei gripped the handlebars tightly, while Shen Xi hugged the boy from behind. To ward off the cold, both of them were fully bundled up so that their faces were obscured.

"Why did you accept the mission?" The girl pressed her face against the boy's back, avoiding the icy wind, and raised her voice slightly amidst the noise.

"How can I investigate your mother's affairs if I don't accept the mission?" The boy glanced back casually.

"This is too dangerous." The girl narrowed her eyes, her expression hidden by her face mask.

"It's alright, as long as it's not a complete failure like the corridor." The boy gazed ahead.

He initially wanted to refuse, but after hearing the explanation, he felt it was worth a try.

Although the sudden realization that he was in a situation to save the world felt unreal, he wasn't really there to save the world anyway. If things went wrong, he would just take Shen Xi and run away. At most, he would pray for the foundation's follow-up actions out of humanitarianism.

"Cheng Feiyu, who is usually always afraid of death and backs down at the slightest danger, is so brave now." The girl's tone was sarcastic, yet also had a muffled quality.

"Touched? You actually braved yourself for the sake of a little cutie?" The boy was a little smug. "In that case, remember to think carefully about how to respond to me when you get back."

"Hopeless." The girl said with a hint of disgust, tightening her grip on his small hand slightly.

"I was just about to ask, why did Teacher Shen, who used to be fearless, suddenly refuse the task? Did her cowardly nature come out?" The boy's lips curled into a smile.

"Nonsense. No one here is a coward; they just don't want to get involved in pointless danger." The girl's voice turned cold and displeased.

“If it weren’t for the emergency, the foundation wouldn’t have contacted us. This is a great opportunity to enhance our qualifications and get to the bottom of what happened back then. How can you say it’s meaningless?”

"What's the use of even the best opportunity if something goes wrong? We might as well go back to Academy City first." The girl's tone had an indescribable quality to it.