Reborn in 2011, I am the chief designer of aerospace.

The instrument pointer suddenly sprang up and got stuck at the top of the range.

A moment later, Song Xingye felt a violent tremor inside the cabin, followed by Sasha's exclamation over the radio:

"Oh my god!"

He immediately switched to the external camera, but couldn't see anything; the entire screen was completely obscured by the surging white fog.

The red warning lights inside the cabin suddenly lit up, then began to flash frequently, triggering overpressure alarms, abnormal flow monitoring alarms, and temperature over-limit alarms.

"Damn it!" he roared, "Sasha! How are you?"

The radio was silent.

He sprang up from his chair, rushed out of the cabin, and jumped straight into the sand below. The ladder rattled under his feet, and the dust he kicked up momentarily obscured his vision.

"Sasha! Respond immediately!"

Through the billowing fog and dust, he saw a broken pipe spewing out vapors of liquid oxygen.

The sight was breathtaking; a blue-glowing foam fountain shimmered in the air, and out-of-control pipes swung back and forth, forcefully spraying precious liquid oxygen onto the spaceship's hull.

Wherever the liquid oxygen at -180 degrees Celsius touched, the panels began to twist and deform amidst noticeable vibrations.

Another loud bang erupted, but in the near-vacuum environment of Mars, this bang should not have been deafening.

On the other side of the spaceship, the second oxygen supply pipe had also burst, and the two storage tanks were desperately depressurizing. Liquid oxygen, like blue champagne, surged and flowed across the sand, freezing and boiling at the same time, creating a bizarre yet magnificent scene.

There was indeed ice blockage in the valve, but beneath this layer of ice blockage lurked an even more deadly threat.

"Sasha!"

Song Xingye rushed into the thick fog, and a thick layer of white frost immediately formed on the visor of his helmet.

His vision was blurred, so he quickly pressed the emergency location beacon and then staggered backward.

"Sasha, where are you!"

He frantically operated the spacesuit's control system, trying to max out all the thermal regulation functions and push his body temperature to the highest limit, before plunging back into the dense fog.

Tiny white flakes of liquid oxygen swirled around him, like fireflies shimmering in the sunlight.

The yellow and black striped spacesuit was designed to be eye-catching and easy to find, so finding it shouldn't have been difficult.

But it was all too late.

……

Sheng Tianhong was already drenched in sweat and walking with difficulty, while his personal trainer, Ms. Ma Li, who was jogging with him, seemed to be in complete ease.

However, upon further reflection, he realized that this was simply her duty.

"Focus your attention, adjust your breathing," she instructed from the side. "Swing your arms naturally, take deep breaths, inhale, exhale. Relax your body, it will be more effective that way."

The dusty grass underfoot has a soft, rubbery feel, just as it always has, and it remains so now.

Ma Li wasn't sweating or even out of breath. She was running backwards in front of him, stretching her arms as she ran, her steps light and rhythmic.

Her chest heaved considerably However, the swaying on both sides seemed a little out of sync, and he secretly guessed that arousing the excitement of customers was probably one of her job duties.

Perhaps that's why she deliberately ran in front of him and backwards. Anyway, if he had any complaints, he could just change coaches.

"Looks like you're all warmed up," she said. "Ready to run a few laps?"

"Ready," he replied.

Actually, he just felt that he was fat and clumsy, panting like an old ox, but complaining about these things was pointless.

"Okay, the route is set. See you after you finish the run."

"No problem, my beauty."

Ma Li turned back, while he continued running deeper into the grassland.

The low grass shimmered golden in the sunlight, and in the distance, a solitary acacia tree stretched its branches towards the sky like fingers, resembling fractal geometry.

Before him stretched rolling hills, the scenery not bad at all. The African sun seemed intense, but it didn't feel warm at all when it shone on him, and there wasn't a breath of wind in the air. He looked around and then glanced back.

A lioness emerged from the depths of the forest, just a few steps away from the spot where she had just respawned.

She stretched, yawned, and then stretched again, revealing fangs that sent chills down one's spine.

She let out a low growl, a sound like a deafening cough that struck right into his internal organs.

Then, the lioness raised her head, looked at him suspiciously, and then started walking, chasing after him relentlessly.

The appearance of the lioness caused Sheng Tianhong's adrenaline to surge instantly, and his fatigue was almost completely swept away. Of course, there was nowhere to hide on this vast grassland.

The hills ahead were far away, and this was destined to be a test of endurance. He was unwilling to sprint too early, but tried his best to maintain a steady pace and silently recited regular breathing. Although the uphill section was slightly undulating, there would be a flat area at the top of the mountain.

Behind him, the lioness followed closely with light steps, her golden eyes shining with a captivating light, and she, too, was not sweating.

There was no need to keep looking back. He focused on his breathing, felt the rhythm of running, and tried to keep his body relaxed. He felt surprisingly good.

As soon as he stepped onto flat ground, the lioness suddenly accelerated, and he had no choice but to quicken his pace to avoid being caught up instantly.

He could clearly hear her approaching footsteps, and even her panting from the intense exercise. He thought to himself that this was probably the ultimate meaning of running: the confrontation between man and beast, a primitive and pure contest.

When they entered the uphill section again, the lioness behind them slowed down. He was also unable to maintain the pace he had been at, so he slowed down as well. Then there was another flat section, and the man and the beast started running again.

The lioness let out a deafening roar. He knew in his heart that the last lap was over, and he had to sprint with all his might, or he would become prey.

He pushed himself to his limits, trying to break his previous record. One minute, two minutes... He felt like his lungs were about to explode. Just one more hundred meters, fifty meters...

The distant alarm bell finally rang in his ears, and he immediately stopped. The lioness behind him also slowly stopped. He turned around and found that Mary had quietly followed him at some point.

"Don't stop, you need to cool down. Keep walking, keep walking."

"Turn right."

"That's much better," she praised. "You're in pretty good shape. You averaged 320 watts during the sprint and maintained that for almost ten minutes. But be careful to maintain proper running form; you could easily twist your ankle if you're not careful."

"I've learned my lesson," he said, panting. "A sprained ankle is no joke."

"Okay," she said with a smile, "Good practice today, see you in two days?"

He doubted whether he would see her again in two days. Now that they were on Mars, they probably didn't even have the leisure to maintain their daily training routine. But there was no point in talking to a virtual coach about this.

"See you there, my dear."

He raised his hands above his head, and everything went black. Although his consciousness seemed to still be on the African continent, his sense of touch had returned, and he could clearly feel the device he was wearing on his head.

He grabbed the VR headset and yanked it upwards, instantly shrinking the vast African savanna into a two-dimensional plane, which was then peeled away from his world.

He put the helmet back on the stand next to the treadmill, grabbed the water bottle and took a big gulp, then pulled open the curtain of the fitness pod.

Although the training session had left him exhausted, he always felt refreshed afterward. He wished that the "Xihe" could be equipped with a more advanced fitness pod, the kind of top-of-the-line equipment that could provide all-around sensory feedback.

If he were in Jingzhou, he could not only smell the bloody odor of the lion and feel the breeze on his face, but even the texture of the ground beneath his feet would change in real time with the undulations of the virtual terrain. He could also climb rocks and swing among the vines.

What's even more frustrating is that he wanted to take a nice hot shower after exercising, but that was just a pipe dream in the cramped cabin of the "Xihe". As usual, he could only wipe himself down with a sponge.

At this moment, Song Xingye and Sasha were inspecting the "Darwin" outside, while Han Jing and Mira were collecting samples using EVA (Extravehicular Activity) technology, making the usually crowded cabin feel exceptionally spacious.

Sergei was supposed to be in charge of monitoring radio communications, but when Sheng Tianhong picked up the sponge, he was disgusted to find that Sergei was wearing a VR mask and looked dazed. He was obviously engrossed in some kind of simulation game, which meant that no one was monitoring Song Xingye and Sasha's inspection work from the back.

Although if something really went wrong, Song Xingye or Han Jing would definitely press the emergency call system and receive an alert immediately no matter where he was on the spaceship, Sergei's dereliction of duty was indeed a serious violation of discipline.

He had just started washing his body with a sponge when he reached for the communicator to listen to the other crew members. However, before his hand could even touch the switch, the emergency panel on the control panel suddenly lit up, indicating that someone had pressed the emergency button.

At first, he thought it was just a minor, harmless accident, but his intuition for danger was already sounding the alarm, and a strong sense of foreboding washed over him. They were probably going to suffer a big setback this time.

……

When Sasha was five or six years old, his parents often took him to visit temples. The glittering Buddha statues did not interest him at all, but the seven giant snakes guarding the steps, those colorful and huge snake monsters, were deeply imprinted in his memory.

After leaving the temple, his mother took him to a fortune teller. The fortune teller was more like a shop assistant than a shaman. She took the change from his mother's hand and, without even glancing at the number drawn from the divination sticks, pulled a tightly rolled-up piece of paper from the drawer and silently stuffed it into his mother's hand.

The fortune slip reads: You will travel far, but you will eventually return home.

Later, when he went to Japan to study, he thought to himself, "Yes, I am on a long journey, but I will eventually return home."

This thought brought him immense peace of mind. He was certain that he would never die far from home. Later, when he crossed the ocean to pursue his doctoral degree at Stanford University, he suddenly realized: Yes, this was the true measure of the "journey" that the old woman had predicted. But no matter how far you go, the way home is always the way home.

His steps did not stop; he went further and further each time, and his colleagues were always amazed by the extraordinary composure he displayed when facing desperate situations.

He once performed a spacewalk, during which a programming error in the robotic arm caused it to shift unexpectedly, and the sharp mechanical edge severed his safety tether, throwing him into the vast expanse of space where he spun wildly.

He activated the emergency location beacon immediately, but because the wireless equipment was damaged in the accident, he had no way of confirming whether the signal was successfully transmitted, and there wasn't even a single witness.

But he calmly adjusted the oxygen partial pressure in his spacesuit to the lowest possible level to maximize his survival time, then peacefully closed his eyes and began to meditate.

Two hours later, when the search and rescue team finally captured him, he slowly opened his eyes, nodded slightly, and said in a calm tone as if he had just bumped into an acquaintance on a street corner: "Ah, so you were here."

Now, he has left his footprints on the red soil of Mars, but he still firmly believes that he will eventually return to his homeland and return to his roots.

His lifelong belief was that no matter what natural disasters or man-made calamities he faced, he was destined to return safely.

The fortune teller's prediction about "a long journey" did indeed come true, and the scale of the journey probably exceeded even her wildest imagination.

However, she miscalculated the other half of the prophecy regarding "returning home."

……

Sasha has always been an extremely low-key person, and Sheng Tianhong has always held him in high esteem. In his eyes, Sasha is undoubtedly the most outstanding among all the crew members, but he has never been able to see through Sasha's inner driving force.

Sasha was always dutiful, never complained, never slacked off, and never spoke a word about his private life. Now, he will never be able to understand Sasha any further.

Sheng Tianhong had faced death before; death brought him an ancient yet familiar sense of dread.

The first shock was: why did this happen? But what followed this initial shock was a shameful, almost suffocating sense of relief.

Before setting off, he knew that this Mars mission was extremely dangerous, with a high chance of losing one person or even being wiped out. At this moment, the death quota had been used up, and death had come, but he, Sheng Tianhong, was still alive.

He cursed himself inwardly for his selfish smugness, yet he was helpless against this instinctive emotion.

After the brief sense of relief faded, an overwhelming wave of guilt engulfed him.

The Martian surface was much harder than expected. Although a breeze dispersed the dust raised during the excavation, by the time they finally dug out a decent grave, everyone's spacesuits were covered with a dull orange-yellow hue.

Han Jing and Mira carried Sasha's body slowly over. After completing the autopsy as required by procedure, they put the body back on its spacesuit and prepared for burial.

Before this, Sheng Tianhong carefully examined Sasha's meager belongings, trying to find one or two items that carried his emotional attachments.

The wildly popular novel "Reborn in 2011, I am the Chief Designer of Aerospace" by Space Pioneer is available on Cola Novels.