"Leah, you stay on the bridge and continue monitoring and sending distress signals. I'm going to check the engine room." Kane stood up, taking a spare high-frequency blade and an energy pistol from the weapon rack. Although the ship's interior should theoretically be safe, after everything that had happened before, he no longer trusted any "theory."
"Commander, the engine room environment is extremely dangerous. There may be radiation leaks, structural instability, and vacuum areas," Leah warned, her tone filled with concern.
"I know. Keep communications open." Kane checked the weapon energy and headed towards the airtight door on the bridge.
The passageway leading to the engine room was a mess. The shockwave from the explosion had clearly reached a great distance; most of the wall lights were out, with only emergency lights providing dim illumination. Fragments of fallen pipes and traces of solidified coolant were scattered on the floor. There was a faint smell of burning and ozone in the air.
The closer he got to the engine room, the more severe the damage became. Finally, he arrived at the main airtight door of the engine room. The heavy alloy door was severely twisted and deformed, jammed in the frame, and could not be opened normally. The observation window on the door was riddled with cracks, and the interior was pitch black.
Kane tried to open the door with the manual emergency valve, but the valve wouldn't budge; clearly, the internal structure was damaged and jammed. He took a few steps back, raised his energy pistol, and aimed it at the door lock area.
"Leah, I'm going to force it open. Monitor the bridge pressure changes."
"Roger. Adjacent area isolated."
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Several energy beams precisely destroyed the twisted door lock structure. Kane stepped forward, inserted his battle blade into the crack, and, using the powerful strength of his bionic muscles, pried it open!
Creak—Clang!
He forcefully pried open a gap large enough for a person to pass through in the deformed airtight door. A stronger, more intense smell of burning and the acrid odor of molten metal rushed out.
Behind the door was a scene of hell.
The engine room was vast, but now it was unrecognizable. The massive main engine structure was shattered, as if torn apart by a giant beast; twisted metal components and charred cables were tangled together, and traces of explosions and intense heat were everywhere. Dry chemical powder left by the fire suppression system covered most of the surfaces, mixing with the molten metal to create an eerie color. Some areas, due to breaches in the outer shell, were directly exposed to the vacuum of the spaceship's environment, where temperatures were extremely low and frost had formed.
There was no light, only a lonely beam of light from Kane's helmet flashlight sweeping across the ruins.
"Rex?" Kane's voice echoed clearly in the empty, deathly silence of the ruins, but there was no response.
He cautiously stepped into the engine room, the debris crunching under his feet. Following his memory, he groped his way towards the control panel where Rex had last reported.
That was one of the epicenters of the explosion. The control panel was completely reduced to charred fragments, and the surrounding walls were covered with jets of molten metal. A heavily damaged and unrecognizable wreck of heavy armor was buried under collapsed metal supports, with only a mechanical arm covered in burn marks protruding from the ground, its power claw still gripping tightly.