Chapter 6 - Sol One, Can Last Another Five Sols (2/2)

“If you can survive longer than five years, eat dirt… By then, I believe you would have become an immortal who practiced inedia. Just eating dirt and drinking the wind is enough for survival,” Tomcat said.

Tang Yue rolled his eyes. Tomcat never said anything constructive.

“Even Bodhidharma spent nine years wall-gazing,” Tomcat said. “If you were able to survive on Mars alone for more than five years, even if you couldn’t become Buddha, becoming a Bodhisattva wouldn’t be a problem, right? Years later, when some intelligent beings dig you out of Mars’s sand, they would definitely think of you as a god as they prostrate before you. They would even give you a title called the Great Salvation Bodhisattva of Mars.”

“Then what about you?”

“If I still haven’t broken down by then, I’ll be your priest and help spread your teachings,” Tomcat said. “I’ll spread your stories, revering you as the supreme god of Mars… If I’ve, unfortunately, broken down, there’s not much I can do. Robots have a lifespan as well. Please be understanding about that.”

Tang Yue threw a pack of compressed biscuits at it in passing.

“Give me something constructive!”

“There’s no need to panic. It’s useless anyway.” Tomcat said as it dodged the compressed biscuits. “You are considered lucky to have sufficient material resources in the Hab. You can still live on for quite a while, giving you sufficient time to slowly make preparations… Isn’t there a saying? Living in the moment?”

“Living in the moment?” Tang Yue felt that the phrase was rather profound 1 .

He packed the food into boxes again and rearranged the rack. The next thing he had to do was to come with a detailed plan and ration list. How much food and water he could expend a sol would be listed, and it had to be precise to the gram.

Saving a gram every meal meant three grams a sol. In an Earth year, that would be 1,095 grams.

A kilogram of food could at least keep him alive for another sol.

Tang Yue meticulously did the math, carving out weight from anything that could be considered extravagant. Every one kilogram of food saved extended his life by another sol. He felt like a sailor shipwrecked on an uninhabited island, and he needed to make use of every resource at hand to live on.

However, the sailor might be rescued one day, but it was impossible for Tang Yue to return to Earth again.

Despite knowing that his resources would one day run out, Tang Yue still worked hard to push that day back further.

“Mr. Tang Yue? Mr. Tang Yue? Are you there? Can you hear me?”

Mai Dong appeared on the video conference screen.

Tang Yue got to his feet and huddled over with Tomcat. “Miss Mai Dong? How’s the situation? Have you finished doing an inventory check?”

The woman hesitated for a few seconds before slowly nodding.

“How’s your situation?” Tang Yue and Tomcat asked in unison.

“Electricity, as well as the water and oxygen recycling systems are working fine. It’s the food…”

“How’s the food situation?”

The woman pursed her lips, her eyelashes quivering slightly. Bit by bit, the color in her face drained as Tang Yue felt a sense of ominous foreboding.

“Miss Mai Dong? Miss Mai Dong? Answer my question.”

“I… I counted it several times.” Mai Dong lowered her eyes and softly replied, “The food on the space station… can last another five days at most.”