"Wow, Mr. Zhang Fan, you've finally appeared! Waaah..."

On the mobile communication screen, Yui was crying uncontrollably, her eyes red and swollen, indicating that she had been crying for quite some time.

"Yui, are you alright?" It took Zhang Fan quite a while to calm Yui down.

"I'm fine. I saw on the space station that Mr. Zhang Fan was buried by a sandstorm. It scared me to death."

As expected, Yui had been monitoring his every move through the Soyuz space telescope.

"Yui, how did you get through it? Did you go hungry?" Zhang Fan remembered that when she left the "Bird's Nest", she only had a week's worth of food left.

"Mr. Zhang Fan, you don't know, I've already eaten all the food you gave me."

"I thought about eating only one meal a day so I could eat for another two weeks, but I was so hungry I couldn't stand it anymore, 555... In the end, I finished it in less than a week, it was so embarrassing."

"I've already made up my mind. If Mr. Zhang Fan doesn't show up today, I'll turn off the oxygen on the space station."

“I saw the dust storm on Mars, and I still can’t get in touch with you. I’m afraid I’ll just die like this, without even saying goodbye to Mr. Zhang Fan. I’m afraid Mr. Zhang Fan will blame me, and Mr. Zhang Fan is too lonely all by himself. Even if I’m going to die, I have to tell Mr. Zhang Fan first. I haven’t said goodbye to Mr. Zhang Fan yet, so I can’t die yet…”

"Stop, stop, stop." Zhang Fan was getting a headache. Yui had said a lot, but none of it got to the point. "Yui, tell me first, where have you gotten your food these past few days?"

"Oh! I ate all the materials from the experimental chamber."

"Experimental materials?"

“These are bean sprouts grown in the space station.” Yui pulled over a compartment box from the side, which was filled with stacks of white and tender bean sprouts with green tips. “There is no food on the space station, but there are bean sprouts for experiments in the experimental module. They are grown in these nutrient boxes. I survived by eating these bean sprouts.”

"Oh, I see." Zhang Fan suddenly realized.

While there was indeed no food on the Soyuz space station, it wasn't entirely devoid of edible items. For instance, the astronauts who were botanists would grow various plants in the experimental modules to study plant growth in the space environment.

Bean sprouts are easy to manage and grow rapidly, and are often used as experimental subjects.

Bean sprouts are a type of vegetable and can indeed be eaten raw as an emergency food.

As for whether there are side effects from eating bean sprouts grown in space experiments, people are starving to death, and you're asking me about side effects?

"Mr. Zhang Fan, you don't know," Yui said pitifully, "I've been eating bean sprouts for a week, every single day. I feel like I'm turning into a rabbit. If you don't show up soon, I really want to die, boohoo..."

"It's alright. Now that I'm back, I'll help you," Zhang Fan comforted her. "I'm here for you."

"Mmm-hmm!" Yui nodded vigorously.

After chatting about their recent situations, Zhang Fan coaxed her to go to bed early, since judging from her puffy eyes, Yui probably hadn't been getting enough rest.

"Uh, well..." Yui's tone became hesitant before the video call ended.

"What?" Zhang Fan was also puzzled by Yui's hesitant expression.

"It's that one..." Yui became hesitant.

"Which one?" Zhang Fan was even more confused.

"That's right, that's right... Where is Mr. Zhang Fan sleeping tonight?"

“Of course it’s the bed…” At this point, Zhang Fan suddenly realized, “The bed…the floor beside the bed…”

Zhang Fan wiped away his cold sweat, thankfully he stopped himself in time. What if he said he had shared a bed with Katerina? That would be terrible! Although they had slept together one night and nothing had happened, who would believe him?

With Katerina's figure and looks, it's impossible for a man not to like women, but Zhang Fan certainly likes women.

"Oh, oh." Erisa seemed very happy. "Isn't the floor too cold?"

"No, no." Zhang Fan shook his head firmly. "The floor has underfloor heating, so it's not cold at night."

The living quarters have terrible underfloor heating.

"Hahaha, Yui, you can figure it out yourself. Katerina and I aren't even that close. We've only known each other for a few days. How could a man and a woman, alone together, possibly squeeze onto a 1.2-meter bed? Hahaha, that's hilarious, hahaha—"

Damn it!

The joke wasn't funny at all, but Zhang Fan could only laugh louder to cover up his guilty conscience.

"Okay, goodnight Mr. Zhang Fan."

Goodnight, Yui.

Zhang Fan turned off the communication screen and took a sip of water to calm his tense nerves.

Katerina, who was also sitting on the 1.2-meter bed, stopped working, put away her tablet, and leaned her voluptuous body against the bed.

"Are we sleeping now?" Katerina tossed her long hair aside with both hands, looking very sexy.

"No, no." Zhang Fan shook his head vigorously. "This bed isn't wide enough for two people. I'd rather sleep on the floor."

"The ground is so cold..."

"I'm wearing a spacesuit and using a thermal sleeper!"

"You won't sleep comfortably that way."

"I'm just a rough guy, it's okay."

"What if I don't mind the cramped space?" Katerina stretched her long legs out from the bed with a glance and poked Zhang Fan's waist with her toe. "A 1.2-meter bed can still accommodate two people if they squeeze in."

puff--

Zhang Fan spat out a mouthful of water.

"As long as I don't say anything, and you don't say anything, your little lover won't find out." Katerina smiled wickedly at this moment.

Never mind.

Zhang Fan surrendered, actually put on his spacesuit, and lay down on the floor next to the bed.

Zhang Fan wasn't a lecherous scoundrel with a brain full of worms. He knew Katerina was teasing him. Even if he really pounced on her, Katerina might not do anything intimate with him; she was more likely to get a beating.

Although he didn't want to say it, Zhang Fan had to admit that, as a man, he was no match for Katerina in a fight. Knowing this, he figured he might as well act like a gentleman; a man should act like a man!

Yui had just saved him, and Zhang Fan couldn't bring himself to sleep with another woman behind Yui's back.

Sigh—it seems my skills as a scumbag boyfriend aren't deep enough.

Zhang Fan sighed, put on his helmet, turned on the heater, and lay down on the floor to sleep.

Katerina stopped teasing him and went back to bed to rest.

The spacesuit had a backpack containing life support equipment on the back, so Zhang Fan could only sleep face down, which was extremely uncomfortable.

"Fan, are you asleep?"

"No."

How can anyone sleep in this position? It's so uncomfortable.

"How long have you known your lover?"

"It's been a few months since she arrived on Mars."

Do you know her?

"What? Katerina, do you know her?" Zhang Fan felt that Katerina was acting a bit strange tonight.

"Hehehe." Katerina's laughter came from the bed. "She is the granddaughter of Kazuo Ishihara, the president of the Mitsubishi Zaibatsu in Wano Country. I have had a few encounters with her at diplomatic events."

"By the way," Katerina changed the subject, "aren't you going to ask me why I left you alone and then came back to pick you up?"

"Yeah, why did you leave me?"

Zhang Fan sat up and looked at Katerina on the bed. Katerina lay on her side and looked at him as well.

“Because you saw what I looked like inside Living Pod 5, you have to die! Hehehe—” Katerina laughed sweetly, her tone even gentler, as if she were whispering sweet nothings, “Especially since you’re a man… you absolutely have to die!”

Zhang Fan knew that Katerina had been tortured by Ivanka. Although he couldn't know the details of the torture, he thought about the thick, black sewage at the bottom of "Number 5" living module. He himself vomited after only a short time there, but Katerina had lived in that environment for half a year.

An ordinary girl would probably go crazy spending a day in such a filthy environment. To outsiders, Katerina was the embodiment of a pure and holy goddess; being in such a place must have been worse than death for her.

Zhang Fan couldn't imagine what kind of obsession Katerina had relied on to survive. Moreover, Zhang Fan felt that the reason he wasn't killed by Katerina after seeing her in such a wretched state was because all the other humans on Earth were dead.

Otherwise, to prevent his embarrassing image from being leaked, he might be the first one strangled by Katerina.

Having witnessed Katerina's twisted obsession with Ivanka, Zhang Fan felt she was truly capable of such a thing. In that sense, perhaps he should thank that asteroid that destroyed humanity.

Cold sweat broke out on Zhang Fan's back: "Then why did you come back to save me?"

"So you should thank your little lover; she saved your life."

"She begged you to save me?"

"Beg me? Heh heh heh..." Katerina laughed again, "Do you think begging will work on me?"

"So... I can't think of any reason why Yui could convince you to save me."

Although they hadn't known each other for long, Zhang Fan believed that nothing in the world could threaten Katerina. Besides, humanity was now extinct; one was in the sky, the other on earth—how could they possibly pose a threat?

"What did Yui say?"

"You can ask your sweetheart about that later," Katerina said, turning away and ending the conversation for the evening.

"I just wanted to remind you to be more careful in the future. Your little lover is no pushover."

...

Anyone who can travel 60 million kilometers to Mars is no ordinary person.