He brought up Rex's profile, looking at the rugged, scarred electronic face. A pure warrior, ultimately ending his life as a warrior. Kane silently marked his status as "**MIA (Missing in Combat)**", rather than "**KIA (Dead)**". In his heart, as long as the body wasn't found, a sliver of hope remained.
Time passed in silence. Several hours went by, and Leah reported that the life support system was temporarily stable, and distress signals were being sent continuously at maximum intervals. However, a scan of the G-173c area, apart from residual energy disturbances from the CME, found nothing unusual.
It seemed, it really was over.
Just as Kane slightly relaxed his tense nerves, Leah suddenly let out a soft exclamation.
"Commander…received a…very weak, non-standard signal feedback."
Kane sat bolt upright. "Source? Content?"
"Source…cannot be precisely located. It seems to be radiating from within the CME cloud…very chaotic, like some kind of…**echo**." Leah struggled to analyze. "Content…unanalyzable, but the energy spectrum characteristics…have an extremely weak, less than 0.01%…similarity…"
Similarity? Similar to what?
Kane's heart sank.
Leah looked up at Kane, her eyes filled with confusion and gravity:
"It has an extremely weak similarity to the energy signature of the 'Pandora's Stone.'"
Leah's words were like a cold needle, piercing the fragile calm of survival. Less than 0.01% similarity—the probability was so low it was almost negligible. It could be sensor noise, a random result of the interaction between CME energy and interstellar dust, or even a misjudgment caused by damage to Leah's own system.
But after experiencing the illogical and unpredictable nature of the "Pandora's Stone," Kane dared not harbor any illusions. Even a one-in-a-million chance that the thing hadn't been completely destroyed was enough to keep him on high alert.
"Continue monitoring that signal, analyze all characteristics, and report any subtle changes immediately," Kane's voice held a barely perceptible tension. "Simultaneously, scan the interior of our own ship, especially the energy pipelines and highly sensitive areas, checking for any...abnormal energy residue or data disturbances."
He suspected that the thing might have left some kind of "seed" or "mark" during their contact with it.
"Understood," Leah immediately complied. The data stream in her eyes became focused again, but the speed was noticeably slower than at its peak; the impact of the system damage was obvious.
Kane then pulled up the ship's detailed structural diagram, his gaze falling on the red area representing the power module, now showing severe damage. Was Rex... still inside? Or rather, what was left inside?
A powerful urge drove him; he had to go and see. Whether it was to confirm Rex's fate, to inspect the damage to the engine compartment, to assess whether there was even the slightest possibility of repair, or... to rule out the worst-case scenario.