I can upgrade the shelter-Chapter 612 - 510: Rescue Completed

After a night of rest, the members of the exploration team gradually woke up.

The internal space of the Emergency Survival Pod was extremely cramped. When people stayed inside, they could only curl up their bodies, making it hard even to straighten their legs. Those who were slightly taller might feel completely squeezed.

Curling up for a whole night in such a confined space was extremely uncomfortable.

This resulted in the first thing everyone did upon waking was to rub their bodies, which felt particularly sore after being curled up all night.

Despite the discomfort of spending a night inside the Emergency Survival Pod, it was far better than being directly exposed to the cold snowy ground outside. Therefore, there were no complaints.

Once awake, the team members reported their safety through the communication channel. After confirming that no one was in trouble or missing, and that the injured had been bandaged and rested without any severe issues, everyone prepared to carry out self-rescue.

Due to the impact of the avalanche, the Emergency Survival Pods had rolled over, causing the orientations of the entrances to be scattered in all directions.

Some faced upwards, some downwards, some were behind, and some were underneath. Although everyone understood the reason for such situations occurring, surviving was already a blessing, but it did add challenges to the team members' self-rescue efforts.

Fortunately, everyone had the assistance of Exoskeletons, and their backpacks contained survival tools. After expending considerable effort, all members of the team finally managed to dig themselves out from under the snow.

Because they started out together, and despite being scattered by the avalanche, nobody got lost or separated, thanks to the locators and communicators they carried.

"Captain, I just took inventory of our supplies. The tents and main instruments and equipment we brought have been swept away by the avalanche. Now, we only have the backpacks and a little personal supplies everyone carries." A team member reported to the captain with a dejected expression. Although lucky to survive the avalanche, losing a large amount of equipment undoubtedly meant their expedition was a failure.

The captain's expression became grim upon hearing this. The loss of tents and supplies were minor issues, but the loss of the instruments and equipment, which were crucial for completing the mission, meant they could no longer continue the expedition.

This was an irreparable loss, particularly because their mission being aborted would require the state to organize another expedition, incurring significant time delays and resource expenditure.

Understanding this deeply, the captain and the other team members found it hard to feel the relief of surviving a disaster.

However, since the situation had transpired, and avalanches are unavoidable accidents, there was nothing they could do to change it, leaving them with no choice but to wait for rescue.

Fortunately, their perilous situation had already been reported to the two team members guarding the vehicles last night, who had sent out a distress signal to the state. After learning that the rescue team had completed self-rescue and was awaiting rescue, they quickly arrived.

Since the exploration team's emergency was in a mountainous area, the rescue team arrived by helicopter. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Looking at the helicopter in the sky with its searchlights, with a large humanoid figure dangling from its belly, the captain couldn't help but look at a team member beside him in astonishment and ask, "Could that be a Titan? Is such a piece of equipment necessary for a rescue?"

Nowadays, the Titan is becoming familiar to the public, so seeing it isn't very surprising. However, seeing a Titan suspended from a rescue helicopter was indeed a surprise.

The rescue helicopter lowered its altitude and deployed the Titan first.

Watching the massive Titan land on the snow, kicking up a flurry of snowflakes, the team members didn't know what to say.

It wasn't until the Titan had flattened the ground to create a landing spot, and the equally massive helicopter landed, that the captain and a few team members went to meet the rescue team.

"Thank you for the rescue. Some of our members are injured. Although we've done some bandaging, please treat them further," the captain said to the rescue team members while also asking, "By the way, is a Titan necessary for our rescue?"

"Considering you might be buried under the snow and unable to escape, a Titan was indeed necessary," the rescue team member explained to the captain while quickly ushering the exploration team members onto the aircraft.

After everyone boarded the helicopter, it took off directly, while the Titan remained on the ground, seemingly digging something up.

————————————————

Inside the Research Center, Chen Xin learned about the exploration team's peril from Tang Tang.

Although assisting in the rescue didn't require Chen Xin's involvement, a call was made to him shortly after the team encountered the avalanche.

Because the exploration team faced an avalanche in a mountainous area, the rescue team's resources alone were insufficient, so they requested to borrow a large helicopter and a Titan from the Research Center to aid in the snowy mountainous rescue.

Tang Tang, as the administrative supervisor of the Research Center, agreed to the borrowing, but because it was late, he didn't notify Chen Xin immediately. It wasn't until the next morning, when Chen Xin came to work, that he heard about it.

"Saving lives is important; loaning the equipment is fine. It's not a big deal," Chen Xin was unconcerned about the matter, as long as it wasn't akin to Liu Bei borrowing Jingzhou.

However, recalling this situation prompted him to mention another issue, so he asked Tang Tang: "I remember the exploration team should have been equipped with Emergency Survival Pods before setting out. They must have used these to survive the avalanche. Could you have the Titan recover the used pods? I need to evaluate their efficiency."

"I'll notify the Titan Driver," Tang Tang nodded, passing Chen Xin's instructions to the Titan Driver participating in the rescue to recover the used pods.

However, neither Tang Tang nor Chen Xin anticipated that the Emergency Survival Pods were highly effective; all the exploration team members had self-rescued without needing the Titan.

Instead, the buried pods proved difficult to excavate; even after half a day, only a few had been dug up.

Furthermore, these pods hardened on the surface and inflated considerably after use, rendering them difficult to transport, even with a large helicopter, resulting in only a few being brought back.