Zhang Fan didn't know how long he had been lying there. All he could see was a vast expanse of red sand, his vision almost completely obscured, so dark he couldn't see his own hand in front of his face. He curled up into a ball, pressing his back as close to the rock behind him as possible to minimize the wind exposure.
A sandstorm, mixed with gravel, raged, the stones pounding against his helmet like hail, making a loud, clattering sound in his ears.
Zhang Fan always felt that his helmet would be smashed by a rock at any moment. Fortunately, the material used to make the spacesuit helmet was special tempered glass, which was strong enough to withstand a pistol bullet head-on.
Why? Why? Why?
Zhang Fan covered his head with his hands and huddled even tighter around himself. He couldn't understand why Katerina had abandoned him and run away.
Did I do something to offend her?
But after spending time together, Zhang Fan didn't feel that he had offended her in any way, and he even avoided mentioning Ivanka's name.
Could it be because I peeked at her while she was taking a shower?
Surely not?
From a human nature perspective, Zhang Fan believes the most likely explanation is that Katerina wanted to live, and to live longer.
Resources on Mars are limited. The time it takes for one person to consume resources is naturally twice as long as that of two people, and their lifespan is naturally twice as long.
Katerina wants revenge on Ivanka, but Ivanka is in orbit around Phobos. Bringing Ivanka down will be a long and arduous task; she needs more time to plan—months, years, decades, or perhaps a lifetime…
Zhang Fan knew that Katerina's obsession with Ivanka would be relentless, and the knot of their love-hate relationship was something no one could untie.
Sigh, Zhang Wuji's mother was right after all.
You can't trust what women say.
The more beautiful a woman is, the more likely she is to lie.
A woman's heart is like the bottom of the sea; it's best not to overthink it. Just think about how to survive.
The surroundings began to quiet down; the sandstorm had stopped. Zhang Fan got up from the ground; most of his body had been buried in the sand.
He reached up and wiped the dust off his helmet. As he looked around, the sun began to set, and the surrounding temperature gradually dropped. It was precisely this drop in temperature that allowed the sandstorm to quickly subside.
Zhang Fan turned on the arm monitor, but there was no signal, indicating that the Mars rover had already gone far away.
He turned on the spotlight on his helmet and sat down on the rock.
what to do?
The surrounding area was full of boulders. It was far from Mariner Valley. There were no ridge-shaped lava tubes underground, nor any Mars rovers like Opportunity and Spirit.
This is just an ordinary plain on Mars, so ordinary that it doesn't even pique human interest in investigating and exploring it...
Unlike Earth, even the sunset here is blue.
Watching the sunset gradually sink below the horizon always evokes a strong urge to go home. Perhaps this feeling is ingrained in our bones—the feeling of walking home in the sunset after school as a child.
My mother lives at home.
But there was nothing in front of Zhang Fan.
A tire track can still be faintly seen disappearing into the distance on the sand.
However, Zhang Fan no longer had the strength to chase after the Mars rover, and it was impossible for him to catch up with it on foot.
It seems I'm really going to die on Mars this time.
Zhang Fan rested his chin on his hands, watching the sunset, imagining how he would die. The best way, of course, would be to fall asleep, then freeze to death in the middle of the night when his spacesuit ran out of power.
I've heard that dying in your sleep is painless, but if you're woken up by the cold first, that's more troublesome.
I still have so many things to do, I can't die yet.
Zhang Fan began to check his belongings. In the pocket on his right thigh was an emergency kit, something he had grabbed along the way when he hurriedly fled "Peace Station".
The emergency kit looks like a bag of instant noodles.
Zhang Fan tore open the emergency kit. Inside, there was a palm-sized bag of something that looked like jelly, a folded small package, and a small note.
The small note contains a brief instruction manual for the emergency kit.
Zhang Fan connected the tube on the "jelly" packaging to the interface on the helmet and tightened it. Then he opened the airtight valve and bent down to suck the "jelly" from the straw.
Judging from its texture and taste, this "jelly" is a liquid food with various nutrients added to water. It's not particularly delicious, but it's rich in nutrients and can replenish the body's water needs.
Now that food and water are secured, all that's missing is a shelter.
Zhang Fan opened the remaining small package, which was folded up but unfolded into a round "sleeping bag".
This thing looks like a sleeping bag, but it's not a sleeping bag, or rather, it's not the kind of sleeping bag found on Earth. This "sleeping bag" is covered with a layer of something similar to tin foil. This is a special coating that can block most harmful cosmic rays and also provides warmth.
Zhang Fan wrapped himself in the sleeping bag, zipped it up, and crushed a peanut-sized air bladder. The sleeping bag slowly inflated into a capsule.
This two-square-meter "capsule apartment" can be considered a temporary home.
Zhang Fan lay inside the capsule, feeling as if he were lying inside a large, semi-transparent lantern.
Although the thin capsule doesn't actually provide much protection, and it's a disposable item, and you can't sleep inside it without taking off your spacesuit, it's still a luxury villa compared to being in the wild. After all, this is Mars, and it gives people a great sense of security psychologically.
It was already evening, and through the transparent windows above the capsule apartment, one could see a sky full of stars. In another month, one could witness a spectacular Leonid meteor shower.
Zhang Fan activated the spacesuit's heating system. The thin capsule could only slow down the heat exchange with the cold outside air and could not raise the internal temperature.
Based on the rate of power consumption, the spacesuit's battery should last until tomorrow morning, but what can they do in this desolate place tomorrow?
Zhang Fan was starting to miss "Zeijiba Yong".
When Zhang Fan woke up in the middle of the night, he found that half of his capsule apartment had collapsed.
It's leaking air.
As expected, this thing isn't trustworthy. After all, it was just something casually taken from "Peace Station," and you can't expect anything that's been stored for over 10 years to have any quality guarantee. In that sense, this capsule apartment is actually quite reliable.
As expected, products from the Russians are all durable and reliable.
Is Katerina also...?
As the only male in the solar system, Zhang Fan felt he could still have some expectations, both on a civilizational and physiological level. Theoretically speaking, this made perfect sense, right?
Based on the estimated timeline, the Mars rover should have already entered the communication signal coverage area of the "Bird's Nest" base.
I wonder how Yui is doing? Will she be disappointed that I didn't appear on the Mars rover?
What will she do?
A beam of light illuminated the starry sky above.
When the Mars rover came into view, Zhang Fan wondered if he was seeing things.
He unzipped the zipper and crawled out of the deflated capsule.
It's true, it's not a hallucination, it's a Mars rover!
"Katerina, what's wrong?"
"I've come to pick you up, Fan."
Katerina stepped off the Mars rover with a grin and gave Zhang Fan a big, Russian-style bear hug.
Zhang Fan felt it was a bit of a pity. Why hug here? Wouldn't it have been better to go inside the Mars rover?
He had seen Katerina in her pajamas before. If it weren't for the constraints of his spacesuit, he would be embracing Katerina in her close-fitting pajamas right now, instead of slamming his spacesuit helmet against the pressure valve on Katerina's chest.
It's pointless!
Zhang Fan would rather Katerina not have rushed out to greet him so enthusiastically, and had stayed obediently inside the Mars rover.
"Fan, I really thought you were dead."
After entering the living quarters, Katerina took off her spacesuit, revealing her stunning figure.
Zhang Fan knew he had almost died tonight, but he just couldn't bring himself to be angry with Katerina.
"Why are you back?" Zhang Fan still wanted to know the details of Katerina's sudden departure without any warning.
“I didn’t want to come back.” Katerina was still smiling, her tone relaxed, as if this was just a normal date where she stood someone up, rather than leaving them in a deadly situation.
"But there's no way around it, your little lover is too amazing, I had to come back to pick you up."
"Little lover?" Zhang Fan was taken aback. "Yui?"
"How is she?"
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