Dark, absolute darkness, a space devoid of any source of light, where nothing can be seen.
But just then, suddenly, within the pitch-black surroundings, a light flickered on inside something resembling a metallic coffin, emitting a faint blue tinged with yellow.
Cao Ge woke from his slumber, slowly opening his eyes with brows deeply furrowed and feeling utterly exhausted, followed by a sensation of utter weakness. His brain was malfunctioning as if it had crashed, and, to his astonishment, he was suspended in a narrow, nearly two-meter-long iron box.
The box was illuminated by a dim yellow light and contained an assortment of iron racks and rubber tubes whose purpose he didn't know.
Cao Ge stretched out his right hand tiredly and clumsily removed the oxygen mask from his face, beginning to struggle. He had no idea what had happened, and his head hurt so much that he found it difficult to think simply.
Breathing heavily, Cao Ge's view in front of him was of metal iron sheets with a piece of transparent glass, beyond which lay only darkness.
In his struggle, Cao Ge carelessly pressed a button that had kept him suspended.
With a "bang", he fell from the air and collapsed onto the cold metal.
Just then, with a "click", the pod door opened automatically, and Cao Ge fell out without any warning.
"Clang!"
Weak and using all his limbs, Cao Ge crawled out of the cryogenic pod.
He felt very weak, and the environment around him was very dark. Cao Ge slumped to the ground with no memory of why he was there in the first place.
He looked down at himself to find a sticky substance on his skin, as if a layer of thick, translucent wet gel adhered to him, feeling very uncomfortable.
Cao Ge pulled out the needle that had been inserted into his arm and tore off the nearly dried-up gel from his skin, then shakily stood up.
The scene before him was so unfamiliar. He turned to glance at the iron box resembling the pod he had emerged from.
How had he come to be here?
"Ah~"
Suddenly, Cao Ge's head began to throb with intense pain, and he clasped it, screaming as if it were about to explode.
This feeling lasted for a quarter of an hour until the pain in his brain slightly subsided.
Cao Ge staggered to a metal table, observing the dense buttons and the LCD screens with a furrowed brow and a sense of confusion.
The metal table was covered with a thick layer of dust, nearly half a centimeter thick. Only then did he realize that the air was filled with the smell of mold.
Cao Ge pulled out the chair in front of the table and sat down, blew onto the metal surface, and dust flew up in the air.
"Cough~ Cough~ Cough~"
Cao Ge coughed non-stop and, without trying to decipher the writing on the buttons, got up to explore another place.
In the dim light, Cao Ge walked over to what looked like a wardrobe made of iron sheets.
This iron cabinet was tall, almost over three meters high, and its cold metallic surface was covered with some indiscernible stickers.
Cao Ge opened the iron closet to find a personal storage space with a few black uniforms hanging inside and some everyday items like toothpaste and a toothbrush.
After rummaging through it, Cao Ge found several unfamiliar photos.
But after thinking it over, he had no recollection, so he put them down.
Cao Ge took the clothes and put them on himself, then sat down on the pull-out stool by the wardrobe.
"Why am I here?"
This was the thought in Cao Ge's mind as he looked up at the iron box resembling the cryogenic pod not far away.
He only remembered his name was Cao Ge, but knew nothing else about his situation.
This space, akin to a basement, made him feel extremely claustrophobic. The walls were all made of steel, dim and lightless, and apart from the light from inside the pod, everywhere else was cloaked in darkness, with only the objects near the pod faintly visible.
After sitting for a while, Cao Ge returned to the front of the cryogenic pod.
On the metallic lid of the pod were a serial number and personnel information.
"Colonel Walker," Cao Ge read aloud.
"Walker?"
Cao Ge glanced at the empty hibernation pod, feeling a bit panicked.
"How could it be Walker? My name should be Cao Ge."
"It should be Cao Ge," Cao Ge said in a state of panic.
"Ah~"
His brain began to hurt again, and Cao Ge crouched down, holding his head and screaming in agony.
He clearly remembered his name was Cao Ge, so how could it possibly be written as Walker?
What on earth had happened, and how had he woken up in this place?
The place was extremely quiet, so quiet you could even say it was absolutely silent, not a sound to be heard, as quiet as being thousands of meters underground.
So quiet that if he didn't make some noise on his own, his ears couldn't stand it – that kind of quiet.
......
In the pitch-black space, Cao Ge sat on a metallic sliding chair.
A lot of time had passed, the hibernation pod was malfunctioning, and the lights inside had gone out, but Cao Ge still couldn't remember why he was here.
Over the past while, Cao Ge had explored every corner of the space.
Apart from a circular hatch that he simply couldn't open, he found nothing that would help him understand the environment he was in.
He only knew he was inside a not-so-large steel box as to the purpose or location of this steel box, he had no idea.
The densely packed buttons and the LCD screens on the metallic table in front of him, however, made him feel as though he might be at a control console in some large laboratory.
Cao Ge, holding a glow stick he'd found in a storage cabinet, carefully examined the buttons on the control desk.
Cao Ge had tried, but all these buttons were now non-functional, either broken or locked.
But judging by the dust that had accumulated, this "computer" had clearly not been used for a long time.
Just like this steel box, also devoid of people; apart from himself, Cao Ge hadn't seen a trace of any living person's activities.
There was only one possibility, that the traces had disappeared. This place must have been uninhabited for a very long time, and the unit of time was probably counted in years.
Cao Ge might have been here alone for many years already.
Cao Ge couldn't get out, no matter how hard he banged on the metal plates and the circular iron door, the silence that followed was the same as before.
Cao Ge was somewhat scared, his current feelings like he'd been buried alive underground.
There was a sense of powerlessness, no matter how much he shouted or banged on the walls, there was no response, not even a decent echo.
Just where on earth was he, this was a thought that now filled Cao Ge's mind, along with why he'd woken up in a hibernation pod belonging to someone named Walker.
Why was he the only one here, where had everyone else gone?
Had he lost his memory?
Was his real name Cao Ge or was it Walker?
He was curious about all of this; could it be that he was part of some secret experiment?
Cao Ge felt he couldn't just sit and wait for death; he had to get moving, to think of a way to save himself because, judging by the level of decay in the space, he feared he'd die before anyone would come to rescue him.
Moreover, he could not re-enter a state of hibernation now; relying on the food and water from the personal storage locker, which he didn't know if they were expired, he wouldn't last many days.
So he didn't have much time left to save himself, and even if he didn't starve in a short time, the silent and dark environment here would drive him insane in a few days.
Human beings are social animals; a person can't stay long in an environment of absolute silence and darkness.
Cao Ge began to fiddle with the metal console in front of him, constantly searching beneath the desk.
Cao Ge didn't believe such an important device would lack a secondary backup system.
The power-on button must be hidden in some unseen corner, and what Cao Ge needed to do was to find this switch. He wouldn't think about anything else until he restored the power to the cabin.