Around noon the next day, Zhang Fan and Katerina drove the Mars rover to the "Bird's Nest".

The first thing they did upon returning to the base was to take a shower and change back into their work clothes.

I've been wearing the only pajamas I have for several days now, and they smell really bad. I have to change them.

Katerina's black lace nightgown was also thrown into the washing machine.

Sigh—Zhang Fan couldn't help but sigh in regret. What a waste! It'll be worthless after washing.

If you give it to him to sell online, you can buy him 10 brand new ones and make money in no time, believe it or not.

And the thought of never seeing Katerina lying on a 1.2-meter bed in just a lace nightgown again is even more heartbreaking.

After taking a shower, Zhang Fan took Katerina to the central garden to meet her new friend whom she hadn't seen for two weeks.

"Bob, come here, let me introduce you."

Bob was currently swinging on a tree. He had somehow found a large net, tied it to the trunk between two Hainan rosewood trees, and was lying there swinging back and forth.

“This is my brother Bob, the ‘boss’ of the gorilla world,” Zhang Fan introduced Bob to Katerina.

“Fan, is this the brother you said you’ve been living with? I thought…” Katerina looked at the gorilla in the tree in surprise.

“Yes, that’s my good brother!” Zhang Fan patted Bob on the tree again. “Bob, the young lady in front of you is the most beautiful woman in Tsarist Russia, the pearl on the banks of the Volga River, and an angel who descended to the Ural Mountains—Sister Katerina, who possesses both wisdom and beauty and upholds love and justice. You must remember her in the future.”

"Hehehe." Katerina laughed happily. "Fan, you really know how to talk nonsense."

Bob rolled over in the hammock, glanced at the two people under the tree, then touched his body, pulled out a meal card from somewhere and tossed it over before going back to sleep.

Holy crap, this thing's practically a spirit!

Zhang Fan caught the meal card that flew down from mid-air in a spinning motion, and took Katerina to the automated dining room. Without any hesitation, he took all the meals for 10 people.

Katerina's eyes lit up as she looked at the table laden with a dazzling array of colorful food.

Eating only canned beef for six months is actually quite a scary thing.

"Eat as much as you want. These are all vegetarian, and the meat is fake artificial meat. Don't worry about gaining weight if you eat too much."

"Mmm-mmm ...

This was the first time in six months that her tongue had tasted anything other than beef, and whatever it was made of was delicious to her.

Zhang Fan smiled. At this moment, Katerina had lost her domineering and obsessive nature. With food crumbs on the corners of her mouth, she looked exactly like a little girl.

They're actually quite cute.

Zhang Fan opened his tablet. Mealtimes had always been his and Yui's video mukbang sessions.

"Koniqiwa, Mr. Zhang Fan. Hello, Sister Katerina."

Yui greeted the two of them in a video call; she and Katerina clearly knew each other before.

"Yui, have you eaten yet?" Zhang Fan had already finished eating; he didn't binge eat like Katerina.

"Not yet." Yui picked up a stack of tender green bean sprouts from the side, and her face immediately fell.

"Uh..." Seeing this, Zhang Fan didn't know how to comfort her.

At this moment, Yui took a can of braised pork from the side and placed it in front of the bean sprouts.

"Huh? Yui, how come you still have canned braised pork?" Zhang Fan asked in surprise.

"It was given to me by Mr. Zhang Fan. This is the last jar, and I've been saving it because I can't bear to eat it."

Zhang Fan previously used a DF3 weather rocket to deliver a batch of food to the Soyuz space station, most of which was canned food, since canned food is easier to preserve.

These canned foods were sent to Mars with the Firebird spacecraft at the beginning, originally intended to supplement Zhang Fan's food supply for his six months of living alone, since the production module was not yet able to produce meat.

In the video, Yui is seen staring intently at the braised pork pattern on the can of braised pork, glancing at it after each bite of bean sprouts, then taking another bite and glancing at it again...

This is too tragic; even Zhang Fan couldn't bear to watch.

After eating the bean sprouts, Yui became somewhat depressed.

"Mr. Zhang Fan, I have some bad news for you."

"What?"

"I only have this small box of bean sprouts left, and even those are almost gone." As she said this, tears streamed down Yui's face.

Even something as simple as growing bean sprouts requires beans, and there are no beans available for replenishment on the Soyuz space station.

"Don't cry, Yui." Zhang Fan reached out to wipe Yui's tears, but he couldn't reach anything through the screen.

"Mr. Zhang Fan, if I die, you must remember me, please! Waaah—"

As Yui was speaking, she suddenly burst into tears.

"It's okay, I'm here." Zhang Fan patted his chest and said gently, "Yui, don't cry, let me finish what I have to say, okay?"

"Mmm." Yui silently wiped away her tears.

"I want Yui to go somewhere..."

"Where are we going?" Yui couldn't help but ask, her big, curious eyes wide.

"That place is far away and dangerous, but I promise I will get you there safely. Can you trust me?"

"Wherever Mr. Zhang Fan tells me to go, I'll go!" Yui nodded firmly, then asked curiously, "Where exactly are you going?"

Phobos.

Um?

Katerina, who was eating across from her, looked up.

"Where is Phobos?" Yui still didn't understand.

Phobos is one of Mars' moons, located 9,400 kilometers away from Mars.

Why do I need to go there?

"Go there and pick someone up, then go back to Mars with her."

The Soyuz space station has run out of food, and Zhang Fan has no way to send food to the space station. If Yui continues to stay on the space station, her only fate will be death.

The Vulcan spacecraft was not capable of landing on Mars, but it was still an interplanetary spacecraft that could fly to Phobos' orbit and dock with the Apollo spacecraft.

The Apollo spacecraft had a landing module, and the Vulcan spacecraft returned with it, thus enabling it to land on Mars.

"I want to go! I want to go!" Upon hearing that she could land on Mars, Yui nodded vigorously without a second's hesitation.

"Alright, from today onwards you must do as I say, and we'll depart in two days."

After saying this, Zhang Fan turned to look at Katerina.

"Look, Katerina, how about I exchange this for a 'forgiveness' from you in the future?"

“Why should we be so formal?” Katerina smiled sweetly. “I’d give myself to you if you could bring Ivanka back to me.”

"No, I can't afford it."