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

The smell comes from the peroxides that are abundant in the soil. Although everyone has tried their best to keep the spacesuits clean, some small dust particles are inevitably brought in after each spacewalk.

However, the smell wasn't unpleasant. To be precise, compared to the sour and stinky smell I experienced after being cooped up in the "Xihe" space station for half a year, this was quite refreshing and pleasant.

That night, routine nighttime maintenance was still essential, and each spacesuit had to be carefully inspected and refurbished in preparation for use the following day.

The filter needs to be thoroughly cleaned, the circulating catalyst needs to be replaced in a timely manner, and the zirconium oxide battery also needs to be baked to remove residual sulfur poisoning substances.

These spacesuits were not originally designed to withstand such high-intensity continuous operations. The theoretical limit of their oxygen production capacity is twenty hours, and Sheng Tianhong must ensure that the duration of a single use is far below this limit.

Just keeping these devices in optimal condition takes up a full hour every night.

During the long nights when sleep was hard to come by, Sheng Tianhong actually preferred the feeling of weightlessness in a microgravity environment. He could simply hang his sleeping bag on the bulkhead in a quiet corner of the space station and enjoy a sleep that was softer and more comfortable than any top-quality down comforter on Earth.

At this moment, the events of the day kept replaying in his mind, and the lingering worry in his heart kept gnawing at him. How could he use a spaceship that could only accommodate two crew members to rescue the entire team? If it was destined that not everyone could survive, what should he do?

Finally, he fell into a deep sleep amidst extreme anxiety, but it seemed that he hadn't closed his eyes for long before dawn broke.

At dawn, the group continued their advance along the base of the mountain, but the terrain was too rugged for off-road motorcycles to navigate.

After a brief deliberation, Sheng Tianhong secured the motorcycle to the side of the "Rock Jumper," handed over the driving of the roaming vehicle to Song Xingye, had Mira sit in the passenger seat, and arranged for Han Jing to sit on the roof.

The roof of the car was an excellent scouting position, making it easy to spot obstacles in advance, but if Han Jing had known he would be arranged this way, he would have definitely refused outright.

Sheng Tianhong and Sergei walked forward, following the route he had previously scouted on the cliffside. Because the "rock jumpers" had to move slowly through the broken rocks, their walking speed was almost the same as their car speed.

The two remained mostly silent throughout the journey, occasionally using the radio to briefly report obstacles ahead and warn the "rock jumper" to be careful.

Sheng Tianhong would stop every now and then, climb to the top of the larger boulder, raise his binoculars to carefully survey the terrain, and look into the distance. He noticed something unusual on the edge of the cliff, as if a gully was deeply embedded in the cliff face.

He secretly speculated that if they climbed up the ravine, they might be able to greatly reduce the use of the winch, or even reach the top without it. Although the bottom of the ravine was full of jagged rocks and the road conditions might be even worse than the area they were on, this did not shake his judgment.

"Sir, I have something to ask you."

Sergei gently touched Sheng Tianhong's arm, but his eyes darted away. Before that, he had been unusually silent the whole way.

Sheng Tianhong glanced at the radio indicator light on the helmet and noticed that Sergei had switched to a private communication channel.

"I'm listening," Sheng Tianhong replied.

"I've been thinking about this..." Sergei hesitated, then stopped himself from speaking.

About a minute later, Sheng Tianhong finally spoke, asking, "What are you thinking about, Sergei?"

"Song Xingye said that the return spaceship can only hold three people... Is that true? Is it true? Is it true?"

Sheng Tianhong remained silent.

He was exhausted and had no desire to face such a difficult problem at the moment, as they were gradually approaching the end of the canyon.

He silently took out his binoculars and began to survey the climbing route on the scree slope ahead. Although the outline of the river was no longer visible, a feasible uphill passage could still be vaguely discerned.

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"That's true," Sergei said with certainty.

"Perhaps," Sheng Tianhong admitted frankly, "but maybe we can think of other ways."

They need to conduct a full inspection of the spacecraft from Country A, assess any supplies that may have been left on board, recalculate the fuel reserves, and plan the launch trajectory; everything is still uncertain.

But Song Xingye looked worried, even though he was a master of calculation.

"Indeed," Sergei's voice lowered further. "This is a matter of life and death, do you understand? What are you planning to decide? Have you considered this?"

"No," Sheng Tianhong lied.

In fact, he was preoccupied with this matter, almost to the point of obsession, and he even had trouble sleeping all night.

"No, I never even thought about it."

"Oh," Sergei murmured, "I thought you might have already considered it."

He paused for a moment, then pressed on, "But no matter what you decide, I'm definitely going to be able to go back to Earth, right? I mean, it's a sure thing, isn't it?"

He paused for a moment, then pressed on, "But no matter what you decide, I'm definitely going to be able to go back to Earth, right? I mean, it's a sure thing, isn't it?"

After all, I'm just a 'passenger' here, not a real crew member. I mean, I'm officially a crew member, but I'm not a professional astronaut.

Sheng Tianhong remained silent. The road beneath his feet was becoming increasingly difficult to navigate. The rock surface was covered with loose soil and pea-sized gravel, and one could easily slip and fall.

"Damn it, sir, you know what I mean? I mean, you're all getting on in years... I don't mean any offense, right? But my life is just beginning! So, if the spaceship can only hold three people, I absolutely have to take one of those spots, right? You understand, right?"

Sheng Tianhong remained silent, gazing at the scree slope and towering cliff before him, until the oppressive silence between them became suffocating, before he finally spoke:

"I haven't made any decision yet, Sergei."

"God, please decide quickly!" Sergei shouted, his voice growing increasingly shrill, almost a scream.

"You have to let me go. I mean, you know what's right, right? I'm just a passenger, God! You can't leave me here to die alone!"

The "Rock Jumper" was slowly approaching from behind them. Sheng Tianhong stepped aside and directed the vehicle to go around a huge rock, about the size of a house, which was the starting point of the uphill road. Then he pointed to the top of the cliff.

Song Xingye nodded in the cockpit. The fact that this six-wheeled roaming vehicle could steadily climb up such rugged terrain while maintaining a nearly level chassis was truly amazing.

"You can't leave me behind," Sergei continued rambling. "I mean, it would be immoral, you would never do that, right? You definitely wouldn't, right?"

"I haven't made a decision yet."

Sheng Tianhong said coldly, then turned around and left Sergei with his back to her, continuing his ascent with the "rock jumpers".

Hopefully, he will never have to make this decision, and hopefully this cruel choice will never be put on the table.

……

Climbing the sheer cliffs on the other side of the canyon is actually much easier than descending.

The gully that Sheng Tianhong discovered extended almost all the way to the edge of the canyon. It was so close that he only needed to climb the last two hundred meters to reach the top, and this section of the road was easy to walk.

They drilled expansion bolts into the rock face and slowly hoisted the "rock jumper" up with steel cables. After successfully driving out of the ring mountain, they smoothly unloaded the off-road motorcycle that was fixed to the side.

The sharp pain in her arm made Mira dizzy. She cursed herself in her heart, "I'm such an idiot, an idiot, an incurable idiot."

With each rock the "Rock Jumper" wheels rolled over, the resulting jolts turned into excruciating pain, tearing at her arms.

When the men treated her like a child, she wanted nothing more than to pounce on them, scream and bite, but on the surface, she could only grit her teeth and pretend to be calm.

She knew very well that her only chance of survival was to rely on their charity. Even more critically, if she wanted to secure a spot to return to Earth, she had to cling to the captain's coattails.

The crew members had already started to dislike each other, and she could keenly sense the tension in their brief exchanges and increasingly irritable tempers.

That night, taking advantage of Song Xingye's emotional breakdown, she tried to seduce the captain in the "Rock Jumper" but failed. In fact, the atmosphere in the team was already very tense even before the radio was damaged.

At the time, Sheng Tianhong didn't refuse outright, but when she unzipped his bodysuit and slipped her warm hand inside, he simply pushed her away gently. Perhaps, if only he had given her a little more time...

With her arm broken, her appearance is really not suitable for using her charm. In fact, the captain is not her type at all, and that young lad Sergei is not even on her radar.

She had long noticed that the boy would always steal glances at her with a strange look. Sometimes she would even deliberately expose herself, just to give him a little treat, but that was purely out of bored goodwill.

She had absolutely no interest in seducing a little kid. Although he insisted he was already twenty-one, in her eyes, his immature appearance hardly resembled that of a man in his early twenties. She seriously suspected he was only seventeen, perhaps just turned eighteen. In the end, he was nothing more than a child who hadn't been weaned.

No, the one she truly longed to be alone with deep down was Song Xingye. He was tall and slender, with thick eyelashes and captivating hazel eyes. His gaze was deep and sharp when he spoke… He was the only man in the entire team for whom she was willing to give her true feelings. He exuded an indescribable quality, a melancholy aura hidden deep within him…

But reason told her that the only person she had to flatter and seduce was the captain. No matter how charming Song Xingye was, she was just a dessert. The captain, on the other hand, held the power of life and death and was the key to whether she could live or die.

Looking out through the porthole of the "Rock Jumper," the Martian landscape is dreamlike, with an almost magical and strange quality.

As she traveled north towards the Coprates Mountains, the terrain gradually became flatter and more open. She could no longer remember the names of the geological rocks, but now they seemed to be whispering to her.

The waves of pain emanating from her arm seemed to transform into a strange serenade, causing her to involuntarily shake her head. The beautiful scenery outside the window intertwined and permeated with the excruciating pain in her body. In this hazy, half-awake state, everything merged into a chaotic whole in her mind.

……

Sheng Tianhong felt a sharp pain in her throat.

The scenery before him had become monotonous and unchanging, or perhaps he himself had simply lost interest in it.

They knew that before reaching the main canyon, they would have to cross a smaller canyon, a tributary of Mariner's Canyon, and he had considered stopping for a day to try to contact Earth with a high-gain antenna for advice.

But he knew that their chances of survival were greatest if they continued north without stopping, and besides, the advice given by Earth had been useless so far.

The only valuable information came from a private channel. People on Earth were closely watching the progress of this space disaster, while the official channels tended to downplay the issue. The private message was very blunt: people had to find their own way out, as Earth could not provide any substantial assistance.

There was absolutely no need for him to waste another day listening to the other side of Earth repeating the nonsense of "we can't help you".

The stinging sensation in my throat lingered, and my mouth tasted metallic, like I was holding a rusty galvanized nail in my mouth.

He guessed that it was mostly caused by Martian dust, which was finer than talcum powder and relentlessly invaded every tissue in the human body. He took a deep breath of electrolyte drink, but his symptoms did not improve significantly.

This is destined to be a long day.

As noon approached, they reached the next cliff, where the canyon widened further, and the distant cliffs were almost obscured by the dust.

But he knew perfectly well that they were still south of the main canyon, and what they were seeing was just a tributary. This time, instead of using the winch to lower the "Rock Jumper" rover, they turned east and slowly drove along the edge of the cliff.

Satellite photos show that, provided they follow the correct route, they can traverse the canyon along a narrow ridgeline, a treacherous area where both sides plunge sharply into the abyss like knife cuts.

After advancing about five kilometers, the edge of the cliff began to extend northeast. After driving a few more kilometers, they came to a fork in the road. Looking around, they saw bottomless canyons on both sides.

Sheng Tianhong stepped on the brakes, bringing the "Rock Jumper" to a stop.

Directly in front of them, a mountain ridge spanned the canyon, with sheer drop-offs on both sides. The ridge sloped gently downwards and gradually disappeared into the distance.

In the distant past, the unknown force that cleaved the massive canyon must have also razed this ridge to a blade-like sharpness, but after millions or even billions of years of weathering and erosion, the sharp edges have long since become rounded.

Although the top of the ridge is not flat, it at least forms a relatively wide transition zone, which is just enough for the Rock Jumper to pass through the canyon without having to descend all the way down.

They reinforced the rover for safety. Sheng Tianhong had Han Jing, Song Xingye, and Sergei secure themselves with safety ropes and lead the way in front of the vehicle, while he and Mira stayed in the pressurized chamber, piloting the "Rock Jumper" slowly along the narrow path behind them.