Two months have passed since the Shanhai International Space Station incident.
Xian Qianhua and Yan Sichen, who were still floating in deep space, had entered a dormant state in the escape capsule.
This was their last resort, because the circulatory system of the escape cabin was paralyzed. Even if they had enough food and water, without the assistance of the circulatory system, they would soon be suffocated by their own feces.
The two people in the dormant state can effectively reduce their own metabolism, but this does not mean that they can sit back and relax.
Substantially lowering metabolism levels does not mean there is no metabolism.
Before entering the dormant state, Yan Sichen made some rough estimates.
If they are lucky enough, they can last another month, and in the worst case, they may only be able to last another week.
The tiny escape capsule almost does not exist in the face of the vast universe.
At this time, the only hope is that people on earth can discover Xian Qianhua and the others... Of course, this chance is also very slim...
Now their escape capsule has completely left the earth and is accelerating towards the "new home" that mankind has longed for - Mars.
This red planet with an orbital radius of 227.94 million kilometers (about 1.52 astronomical units), a rotation period of nearly two years, and a mass of about one-ninth of the Earth was once the most familiar science fiction protagonist to mankind.
People's classic mantras also include sentences like "You are a Martian, right?"
However, for Xian Qianhua and Yan Sichen in the escape capsule at this time, Mars may be more like the entrance to hell. When the speed of the escape capsule exceeds the critical limit, they may be able to observe this familiar yet unfamiliar planet up close before they die.
The red planet.
…
January 25th.
According to the prior agreement, Yan Sichen woke up first.
He first checked the overall status of the escape cabin and expected that the circulatory system would be able to repair itself.
However, this expectation is more like a fantasy... The condition of the escape cabin is worse than before he entered hibernation. The current speed is approaching the maximum stress limit of the escape cabin. The only good news about this situation is that it fully confirms
The fact that the escape pod is being grabbed by some external force.
Although neither Yan Sichen nor Xian Qianhua knew what was grabbing them.
The circulatory system is still in a paralyzed state. The so-called self-repair system is simply a gimmick. It has even damaged some places that were originally intact, causing the entire escape cabin to be filled with the smell of feces.
For a moment, Yan Sichen really wanted to open the hatch and call it a day.
Rather than two people despairing together, it would be better for one of them to fall asleep completely in a dream...
This idea once occupied Yan Sichen's mind, and he even felt that doing so was full of romance and tragedy and was noble.
But when he actually walked to the emergency opening valve by mistake, he woke up again.
No, he couldn't do this. At least he had to obtain Xian Qianhua's consent, instead of arbitrarily deciding the life and death of others like he does now.
Although...it doesn't seem to make any difference.
In the end, Yan Sichen did not have the courage to do this. He was not afraid of death, but worried that he would inadvertently extinguish the last miracle.
…
January 29th.
When Xian Qianhua woke up, the stench in the escape cabin had disappeared.
The circulatory system actually started to work normally again.
And what makes Xian Qianhua even more incredible is that... they seem to have stopped!
After repeated confirmations several times, Xian Qianhua was sure that the escape capsule had stopped and that it had stopped halfway between the planetary orbits of the Earth and Mars.
It's as quiet here as anywhere else, oppressively quiet.
For more than two months, Xian Qianhua has been thinking about where their escape capsule would end up if it finally stopped, and what would happen to them.
Now, they stopped.
Stopped in a rather awkward place...
Xian Qianhua wanted to wake up Yan Sichen immediately and talk to him.
However, the hibernating state cannot be interrupted at will, which will cause serious damage to the brain nerves of the hibernating person.
Now Xian Qianhua can only sit silently in front of the window and look at the sun.
Originally, she was supposed to go back to sleep again after the examination.
But Xian Qianhua didn't allow herself to fall asleep again... She didn't want her last days to end in a dream.
She suddenly wanted to listen to music, but there were no such things reserved in the escape cabin.
In the past, Yan Sichen sang a cappella for Xian Qianhua, but now... Xian Qianhua can only sing for herself.
The lyrics of the song she sang were vague and intermittent, and she didn't know what she was singing... maybe she was just trying to make as much noise as possible.
I do not know how long it has been.
Xian Qianhua fell asleep leaning against the window.
…
And shortly after she fell asleep...the sun "went out"...
…
Twenty days ago.
It’s another new day, and Natsume got up early as usual.
After his morning run, he bought some vegetables from a nearby unmanned store for breakfast.
Breakfast is very simple, just a bowl of clear soup noodles with an egg and some green cabbage leaves.
But when Natsume began to enjoy the early morning delicacies, a certain woman named Momo was still fast asleep on the sofa.
Although the climate of the earth has changed a lot today, with cherry blossoms blooming in January and the temperature reaching around 20 degrees, lying on the sofa without a quilt all night is still a bit...
…
"Ah sneeze!"
Hanako has a cold.
Natsume glanced at her and handed her a tissue.
"Um...thank you..." Hanako blew her nose and asked: "You think, in my state, asking for sick leave shouldn't be too much, right?"
Natsume didn't express an opinion, only said: "You should pay more attention to rest."
"Haha... I was a little too high last night... Hey, young people, you have to be a little more unrestrained." Hanako's old-fashioned tone did not sound like a young man at all.
Natsume looked ahead and concentrated on driving the boat.
When they were approaching the base, Natsume asked casually: "Hanako, do you like hot pot?"
"What's the fire?" Hanako was a little dazed and couldn't hear clearly.
“Hot pot, old Beijing hot pot.”
"Hey? Is there such a luxurious meal in this day and age?"
Natsume smiled: "It's my birthday tomorrow. I'm going to process the ingredients my mother sent me and have a hot pot meal. Do you want to come?"
Hanako was startled: "Ah?! It's your birthday tomorrow?"
Natsume nodded: "I also invited Masato. Can you please invite Auntie to come to my house for hot pot?"
"Oh!" Hanako looked sad.
"What's wrong?"
"I haven't prepared a gift yet! It's over! I haven't prepared a gift yet!" As a foodie, Hanako's attention was not on the hot pot at all, which was really surprising.
Natsume smiled and said, "I don't care too much about gifts or anything like that, as long as you can come."
Hanako said: "No! How can this be done? Birthdays are very important days! There must be a sense of ceremony! Emmmm, just wait, I will definitely go, and I will definitely prepare a gift for you!"
The talking kung fu boat entered the harbor.
Natsume didn't show much pretense, he smiled and nodded.
After the two parted ways at the port, looking at Hanako leaving in a hurry, Natsume's smile suddenly dropped and his face turned cold.
He is basically certain.
The girl in front of her may have done her best to play Hanako, but she is definitely not the girl Natsume knows.
That girl may be greedy, careless, and sometimes ungrateful, but she is absolutely pure and clean.
So now the question is very clear...if she is not Hanako, then who is she? Where did the real Hanako go?
…
The next day.
"Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday!!!!"
When Hanako sang the birthday song, she still didn't have the right style. The first two lines were fine, but then she started to emphasize the pronunciation of certain words.
Natsume just laughed and didn't care too much.
"Okay, make a wish, and then blow out the candles!" Although the cake made by Ms. Liang herself looks ordinary, there is something special inside. It is said that there are a lot of "violent ingredients" inside, and we will see who is the "luckiest" later.
.
Natsume closed her eyes silently, and after a while, she blew out all the candles with a "whoosh" sound.
"thank you all."
"Hey, hey, don't worry, I haven't given you the gift yet." Hanako took out the gift that she had prepared and handed it to Natsume in a manly manner.
Masato also took out the gift he had prepared.
Ms. Liang also has gifts, but they are not wrapped at all.
"Here, kid, take the flowers."
When everyone saw Ms. Liang's gift, they all had dark expressions on their faces.
Especially Natsume, he didn't know whether he should answer it...
"Hey! Mom, how can you give someone a wad of money as a gift?" Hanako was really convinced, and she was very sour: "Speaking of which, your daughter has never been so generous when she has grown up.
!”
Liang Qiuru raised her eyebrows: "Hey, can what you give to your son-in-law be the same as what you give to your daughter?"
Natsume's eyes suddenly widened and he immediately retracted his hand.
"Daughter...son-in-law?" Natsume looked at Liang Qiuru in surprise.
Liang Qiuru immediately said three times: "Oh no, I let it slip... He is my daughter's good brother! You live next door to our house, and your parents are not around. You usually take such good care of my Hanako, and today is your birthday again."
, just accept it."
Natsume shook her head violently to express her refusal: "No, no, no, Auntie, this gift is too expensive, I dare not accept it."
"Hey, it's not expensive. I just want to give her away for this burden! Hahaha!" Ms. Liang was really generous.
However, after saying these words, Natsume became less embarrassed and began to care about Hanako's mood.
Hanako, who was smiling a second ago, now has a gloomy look on her face.
Seeing this, Masato quickly cut a piece of cake and sent it to Hanako: "Uh... Well, Hanako, look, this is your favorite cake!"
Only then did Hanako get better. She took the cake and said resentfully while eating: "Hey, many old people are getting older. When they are lying in the hospital bed, they wish they had their children by their side... Don't you think so?
Ms. Liang?”
Liang Qiuru smiled slightly: "Yes, my good daughter, Mom still expects you to give birth to a big fat boy for me!"
Hanako smiled perfunctorily, and then...
"Uh!...Bah, bah, bah!" What is this? It's sour and spicy?"
"Tengjiao, your aunt in Sichuan sent it to me. I never knew how to eat it, so I put it in the cake as a surprise. How is it? Does it taste authentic?"
"How can anyone put vine pepper in a cake?!" Hanako was almost driven crazy by her mother.
Natsume was just about to use the knife and fork, but when she saw Hanako like this, she didn't dare to eat it.
"I didn't expect that my baby girl would be so lucky. She would get this surprise I prepared in one bite?! Haha, don't you think so, Natsume-san?"
"Eat, eat, don't be stunned. And you, Masato, look at you. You are already thin. Is it because your father doesn't let you eat meat? Why are you getting thinner and thinner?"
Masato was also preparing to hide the cake quietly, but now she couldn't hide it.
I had no choice but to show heroic self-sacrifice and force myself to eat it!
Then……
"Wow..." Natsume ate pepper...
Masato... ate sausage...
All in all, this birthday party was really special.
…
After Ms. Liang was drunk, she was sent back to the room and fell asleep.
Masato also said goodbye.
When Hanako and Natsume started to pack their things, Natsume asked: "Hanako... After my uncle passed away, did my aunt miss him very much?"
Hanako, who was washing the dishes, stopped and said, "Who knows...she rarely does this. Maybe she was stimulated by something else."
Natsume's heart trembled, and then asked: "What about you, do you miss your uncle very much?"
Hanako continued to wash the dishes. She took a deep breath and sighed softly: "Think about it, when Dad was still here, he often took me to the laboratory to play. Our relationship is very good... But so what, he always
He was stupid, rushing to the front line of everything, and never thought about how sad his daughter and women would be."
woman?
Pfft... Natsume couldn't help laughing and secretly sighed: 'Only Hanako can say this...'
But the smile only lasted for a moment, and Natsume quickly remembered that this girl was not the Hanako he was familiar with.
After everything was cleaned up and Hanako was about to leave, Natsume suddenly stopped her and said, "Um, Hanako, do you like to watch the stars?"
Hanako was stunned when he heard this, then looked at Natsume ambiguously and said: "Oh ho ho, I want to invite my sisters to watch the stars and the moon, brother, do you have other plans?"
Natsume didn't explain much. He took out a backpack from the cabinet and opened it. Inside was a set of astronomical telescopes. This kind of thing is not available in the market now and is a rare "contraband".
Hanako has known since she was very young that the government has completely banned personal observation of astronomy, although she doesn't know what the reasons for this are.
"Hey, do you really have hidden equipment?"
Natsume smiled: "These are my grandfather's things. Before he passed away, he left these things to me as relics."
"Oh oh oh, then... where should we go to see it?"
"Go to the sea and go to a place with few lights."
"OK! Let's go~~"
…
When Natsume sailed away with Hanako, Liang Qiuru stood on the balcony and watched them go away.
Her eyes were filled with tears, and she pressed her hand hard on the armrest. The elegant man beside her didn't know how to comfort her, so she could only stay with her silently.
…
The place without lights that Natsume was talking about is located inside an artificial island group in an ecological zone that is yet to be developed.
The artificial islands distributed in a crescent shape have not yet started construction on them, so the entire area is pitch black.
Under the night sky, the silent sea surface gives people an uneasy and eerie feeling.
Fortunately, with Natsume here, Hanako's mood is quite stable.
When the ship stopped, Natsume set up the telescope, adjusted the angle, and then turned off the lights on the ship.
"Look, this is what the moon looks like when you look up close."
Hanako leaned over curiously, and immediately opened her mouth in surprise: "Oh ho ho ho! It's so big! Oh my God, I have never seen the moon so carefully! Tsk, tsk, tsk! But the moon's skin
It’s really not that good, it’s all full of pimple marks! It’s full of bumps and bumps!”
There are really many adjectives for Hanako.
However, Natsume was not in the mood to make trouble with her at this time.
He had already prepared gasoline on the boat, pulled out his pistol, and put it against the back of Hanako's head.
At the moment when the cold muzzle of the gun came into contact with Hanako's skin, Hanako's first reaction was not to freeze, but to touch it without warning. She smiled and shrank her neck and said, "What are you doing? What is this? It's so cold.
?”
"Gun." Natsume said.
Hanako's smile froze, and when she turned her face, the gun was pointed between her eyebrows.
"You...Natsume...you...why are you pointing a gun at me?" Hanako couldn't believe her eyes. She was completely confused: "This...what kind of divine expansion is this...you...shouldn't you
Could it be a prank?"
Natsume didn't say anything. He quickly raised the muzzle of his gun and fired into the sky, then pointed it at Hanako.
When the gunfire rang out, Hanako was frightened. She looked at Natsume in horror and said incoherently: "I...you...Natsume...Natsume?! What on earth...what do you want to do? Don't kill me.
!”
Natsume's heart was trembling, but he didn't move the muzzle of his gun. He asked: "Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Hanako! Momozawa Hanako?"
"you are lying."
"I didn't, I just..."
"Shut up! The real Hanako Momosawa is dead! Stop lying to me! You are not her at all!" Natsume took out a tube of turbid liquid and showed it to Hanako in front of him: "She was trapped and died in the breeding area.
...You did it...right?"
Speaking of which, according to the normal development, no matter how much the enemy quibbles, they should give up the struggle.
But……
Hanako was still confused. She shook her head: "That's not right...I am Hanako! I didn't...what you just said...I'm dead?"
Natsume's heart rate was accelerating. He had thought of many situations, including gasoline for special situations. He had prepared it.
He had no intention of going back alive...
But now, Hanako's reaction made him a little confused.
Hanako looked at Natsume blankly, touched her face, and stumbled down to sit down: "I...I seem to remember some things...but...but wasn't that a dream? Could it be...could I really be dead?"
?”
Looking into the eyes full of confusion and fear, Natsume's psychological defense gradually collapsed.