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

He's going to die on Mars.

He took out the geological hammer that Mira had handed him earlier and began carving words on the rock next to the fossil. The rock here was soft and easy to carve, like cutting soap.

He carved "Sergei was here," and tried to come up with a witty remark, but couldn't come up with anything. In the end, he could only add a dry "This masterpiece was completed by me."

He thought to himself that this was probably his own tombstone, a thought that had a strange, dark humor about it, so comical that it seemed unreal.

Then, he carved another sentence: Goodbye, fellow spring outing enthusiasts.

Sergei sat down comfortably, leaning against the sandstone platform, gazing into the boundless darkness, silently hoping for a Martian sunrise that he was destined never to see again.

……

Mira hadn't spoken for almost a week; her throat was so sore she couldn't utter a sound. She really wanted to say, "Stop looking, it's too late, he's dead, we need to break camp and get going," but she swallowed those words.

But Song Xingye's attitude was exceptionally firm; they would never abandon any of their teammates.

So they continued their search the following morning.

In the afternoon, Song Xingye caught a glimpse of an unusual object atop one of the terraces. Its color blended seamlessly with the surrounding rocks, but its outline seemed out of place, and its surface faintly reflected the light of the sky.

One side of the terrace had collapsed, forming a gentle uphill slope. He climbed up the slope to the top and looked closely.

It's Sergei.

"I found him," he said into the microphone. "Han Jing, Mira, I found him."

It was a full five kilometers away from their campsite yesterday. Song Xingye looked up at the horizon and could hardly believe that he had actually walked so far in the sandstorm. What was he thinking at the time?

Han Jing's urgent voice came through the earpiece: "Where are you?"

Song Xingye walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down. Mira and Han Jing were at the bottom of the plateau, a hundred meters away.

“Right above you,” he replied. “Look up.”

Soon, the two of them climbed up the slope and came to his side.

Sergei sat quietly atop the broken plateau, leaning against a low stone wall. He was covered in a thin layer of sand, and at first glance, he looked no different from a strangely shaped rock.

"You found him!" Han Jing quickly walked to his side. "Is he alright?"

She reached out and gently patted his shoulder. "Sergei! Sergei, can you hear me?"

As she moved, Sergei's stiff body swayed forward and slowly fell to the ground, lying motionless on his side.

"I think we're too late," Song Xingye said heavily.

He knelt on one knee, brushed the dust off Sergei's mask, and peered inside. Sergei's eyes were wide open, staring blankly into nothingness.

Han Jing was trying to check his pulse through the stiff protective suit, but the attempt was almost futile. Song Xingye moved behind Sergei and checked the life support system readings on his backpack:

The partial pressure of oxygen had dropped to a level where breathing could not be sustained; the carbon dioxide concentration had soared to nearly 20%, far exceeding the lethal threshold.

Song Xingye glanced at the final record on the electronic panel; Sergei had not breathed for a full seventeen hours.

Mira arrived at their side at that moment.

"How is he?" she asked softly.

Han Jing shook his head.

Mira knelt down opposite Song Xingye, reached out to Sergei's body, took an object from his spacesuit, examined it for a moment, and then handed it to Song Xingye.

That was Sergei's emergency beacon. Song Xingye took it and examined it. The exterior was intact, and the thermal battery was not only unused but also disconnected. Had Sergei disassembled it in an attempt to repair it? But this beacon was supposed to be indestructible.

He reconnected the battery cable, tore off the start-up seal, and pulled out the activation clip. The hot battery gradually heated up in his palm, and the red light on the spacesuit's indicator panel flashed, showing the direction and intensity of the emergency signal.

If the beacon is working properly, then why didn't Sergei use it?

Song Xingye raised his head, his gaze passing over Sergei for the first time to the wall behind him. On that soft sandstone wall were roughly carved characters: "This masterpiece was completed by me." Below was a smaller line: "Goodbye, fellow spring outing enthusiasts."

Song Xingye's heart sank; Sergei knew he was about to die.

……

The fossils that Sergei discovered on the last night of his life were simply breathtaking. Standing in front of the fossils, Han Jing was deeply shocked. How did he find these? Could this be what he had been searching for all along? Was this the great discovery for which he had given his life?

The fossils found next to his body look like some kind of complete organism, or rather, natural molds of a complete organism, formed from mineralized more durable material, and their shape and color resemble works of art carved from onyx.

The creature's appearance was strikingly similar to Medusa, yet also resembled some kind of branching plant. Its cylindrical body was covered with tendril-like branches extending outwards. Han Jing couldn't help but wonder: Was it an animal or a plant? On Mars, was there really a fundamental difference between the two?

He pulled out his rock-drilling hammer and began carefully tapping the edge of the fossil.

"Would you like to help me carve this specimen out?" he asked.

Song Xingye stood behind him without saying a word.

Han Jing looked up, a hint of annoyance in his eyes: "Come on! Give me a hand, we can get it done faster."

"It's no use, Han Jing," Song Xingye said softly, "We can't take it with us, I'm sorry."

"Song Xingye, you don't understand at all." Han Jing put down the hammer, looked directly into the other man's eyes, and said, "This is the greatest discovery of the 21st century: life exists on Mars. This is irrefutable proof! Even if we can't go back, we must preserve this evidence. We have to do it! This is the reason we're here."

He picked up the hammer again and began to hammer, the edges now clean and sharp.

"This is more important than any of our lives."

"Just like Scott's expedition back then," Song Xingye said casually.

Han Jing stopped what he was doing and looked up: "What?"

"Antarctica," Song Xingye explained. "They were the second team to reach the South Pole. When they discovered Amundsen's abandoned camp, they realized they were a full thirty-four days behind their rivals, which was undoubtedly a heartbreaking defeat."

But it was, after all, a scientific expedition. On their return journey, they discovered fossils in the mountains near the South Pole. The fossils were hidden right near the South Pole! At the time, this was definitely a major scientific breakthrough.

Despite extreme scarcity of supplies, battling not only the bitter cold, fierce winds, and blizzards, but also growing weaker due to vitamin deficiencies, they still managed to collect fifty pounds of rock samples from the mountains, even though they hadn't achieved the first victory. Firmly believing these scientific samples could restore the expedition's honor, they trekked over a thousand kilometers carrying them.

"And then?" Han Jing asked.

"They're all dead," Song Xingye said. "Not a single one survived."

Han Jing remained silent for a moment.

"Is it because of those fossils?" he asked.

Song Xingye shrugged.

"If they hadn't brought those stones along as a burden, would they have survived? Nobody can say for sure, but one thing is certain: it was those stones that dragged them down."

Han Jing put down the stone hammer and let out a long sigh.

"Alright," he stood up, "we won't take the fossils."

In fact, Song Xingye carried a rock with him. It was a small fossil that Sergei had found on the cliff of Sailor Valley that day. Compared with the huge specimens on the rock wall, this fist-sized rock seemed insignificant, but it was, after all, the first fossil that Sergei had dug up by his own hands.

They laid Sergei's body to rest on the spot, letting him sit against the wall, his empty eyes forever gazing at the eastern horizon. Song Xingye bent down, placed the small fossil into Sergei's right hand, and then gently placed his left hand on top of it.

Goodbye, Sergei.

He paused for a moment, then said, "Wherever you go, good luck."

When Song Xingye returned to his cabin that evening, he gathered everyone to discuss the next steps. Looking at the shrinking group, he couldn't help but feel a pang of anxiety.

He knew all along that someone would sacrifice themselves, he thought to himself, he understood it rationally, but when the tragedy actually struck, it was still so hard to bear. Sasha, Sheng Tianhong, and now even Sergei is here forever.

What other secrets are hidden in the hearts of the others?

"We can't afford any more casualties," he said. "The team is at its maximum size. We can't afford to let anyone fall behind, and we can't afford any more mistakes. From now on, we must travel light and march at full speed. No detours, no exploration, no sightseeing, just speed. No lingering, we're heading straight for the Agamemnon base."

They abandoned all non-essential items, making the Agamemnon a veritable "luxury cruise ship" for this Mars expedition. The ship was fully equipped with all necessary supplies, and although most of the equipment was left idle due to being abandoned, it was the perfect resupply station for them.

"Now I can take a hot shower," Han Jing said.

"And there's decent food too," Mira added in a low voice.

"Not only that," Song Xingye said, "there's also the most important point."

There is a flying machine on the Agamemnon.

……

The surrounding landscape gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.

Song Xingye seemed to have been here before, but when had he been here? Impossible, absolutely impossible, yet this land in front of him exuded a strange sense of familiarity.

They crossed a low hill, and for the next two days, they traveled among towering peaks, with majestic flat-topped plateaus rising abruptly and piercing the clouds hundreds of meters high.

Song Xingye felt a profound sense of oppression from this land. Faced with the vast and boundless wilderness, he felt as insignificant as an ant.

After leaving the plateau region, the view suddenly opened up into a desolate plain crisscrossed by ravines. Low ridges stretched parallel to their direction of travel, and clusters of boulders half-buried in the soil were scattered about.

A sudden realization struck Song Xingye: this was clearly a floodplain! Ancient floods had sculpted these ravines and carried boulders here. The feeling of déjà vu grew stronger, but he couldn't quite grasp the key details.

A solitary peak, perhaps an extinct volcano, rose abruptly from the plain on the horizon. Its outline was all too familiar. As they continued to travel forward, their perspective changed, and the mountain gradually revealed a symmetrical shape like that of a Bactrian camel.

Song Xingye was not surprised at all; this was clearly "Shuangfeng Mountain".

At this moment, he finally remembered where he was. In the VR simulator, he had explored this place hundreds of times in order to learn about Martian geology.

In an instant, all the details flooded into my mind: Twin Peaks, and those strangely named rocks, Yoga Bear Rock, Half-Flat Rock, Barnacle Bill Rock, Moi Rock.

As a child, he would spend entire days browsing photos of this area online; it was then that the seed of longing for Mars was planted in his heart. Ultimately, this was the true meaning of his trip, the landscape that haunted his dreams.

This is the landing site of the Pathfinder.

They were traversing the Valley of Ares, yes, the only way from the Coprates Gorge to the Plains of Asidalia, with no other choice, but of all the passable routes, fate had brought them back to where they had been before!

"This is history," he murmured to himself. "We are walking on the footsteps of humankind."

"What did you say?" Han Jing's voice came through the communicator.

Song Xingye didn't answer, but quickened his pace. The thing must be right in front of them, right in front of them. He ran excitedly, almost forgetting the huge rocks he had to avoid.

That's right, it's nearby. They're definitely not far from where they landed back then, no more than a hundred meters away at most.

right here!

He suddenly stopped in his tracks.

But where is it?

The ridge-like terrain stretched in all directions. Looking down from above, he was 100% sure he had found the right spot. The outline of every rock seemed familiar, but whenever he squinted and examined it closely, he always felt that something was wrong. It must be nearby, but where exactly was it hidden?

"Song Xingye!" Han Jing caught up, panting. "How are you? Are you alright?"

Only then did Song Xingye finally feel the pain in his legs. After several days of long-distance travel, coupled with that short run just now, his muscles began to ache.

"This is the wreckage of the Pathfinder," he said confidently. "Look here!"

Han Jing looked around.

"You know what, you might actually have found the right place. It really does look like the right spot, doesn't it? Is that why you suddenly started running?"

"That's it! Look!" Song Xingye shouted, pointing ahead, "That's Shuangfeng Mountain."

He turned around and pointed in another direction, "That big rock over there? It should be called 'Sofa Rock,' or maybe the one next to it."

He paused, his tone becoming somewhat uncertain. The terrain here was too confusing. Which of these two rocks was the real "sofa"? Or were they just coincidentally similar?

Han Jing looked around again.

"Wow," she exclaimed, "that's really interesting. So, where exactly is the Pathfinder? It couldn't possibly have grown legs and run away on its own, could it? It must be somewhere nearby."