Chapter 120 - Epilogue (1/2)

Two months later.

“Buddy… Buddy!” Tang Yue held the red, plump tomatoes with welling tears as he sniffed. “After so long, I’m finally seeing you!”

Tang Yue carefully played with the tomato in his hand. It was cold and soft to the touch, and it lived up to being the excellent breed that Mai Dong had selected. The tomato’s color was bright and beautiful, its skin supple, and it gave off a unique freshness that only vegetables and fruits have.

Tang Yue was on the brink of tears.

To see a fellow buddy from Earth moistened his eyes.

“Buddy, you’re truly delicious!”

Tang Yue took a big bite of the tomato. This was the first time he had eaten fresh fruit since he had been stuck on Mars. The sweetness and juiciness exploded in his mouth, as a refreshing taste filled his heart. He couldn’t help but exclaim that this was the true meaning of life.

He had finally escaped the fate of eating endless amounts of compressed biscuits.

His tongue was swollen from months of eating hard biscuits. Now, just the sight of compressed biscuits disgusted him so much, he retched.

Tang Yue’s tomato planting project had finally succeeded. He and Tomcat had used the methane and liquid oxygen from the Eagle’s fuel reservoir to obtain water for the planting of the tomatoes. Tang Yue found every container he could in Kunlun Station and filled them with soil and fertilizer to plant tomatoes. There were a total of thirty stalks, and thankfully, all of them survived. After the OGS’s temperature control was fixed, Kunlun Station had become a plantation that seemed to enjoy spring all year round.

Of course, this also drained Tang Yue of all his feces.

Tang Yue finished the tomato and he licked his fingers, as though it was good to the last drop. Tomcat sat on the chair, holding a tomato with its head lowered in thought. It was a mystery as to what was on its mind.

Something worth mentioning was that Tomcat’s broken arm was fixed back. The joint and bearing had slipped off, so it wasn’t too serious. However, this left arm wasn’t as nimble as before.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Tang Yue carried a cup filled with brownish-yellow paste. It was the leftovers of the crushed compressed biscuits. Due to his severe ulcers, Tang Yue could no longer eat the hard biscuits, he could only drink them. As Tang Yue comforted himself that it was cereal, he drank down the biscuit paste.

“I’m thinking about the problem of preserving the tomatoes.” Tomcat tossed the tomato into the air and caught it. “Fresh tomatoes can’t be kept for long.”

“Have you thought of any good solutions?”

“Based on the present situation, drying them at low temperatures is the most suitable solution. There are negative temperatures outside Kunlun Station, and there’s a lack of oxygen, so the fruits wouldn’t be oxidized,” Tomcat said. “We can store the tomatoes we harvest in the garage. They should be able to last for quite a while… Of course, we can also try pickling them. That way, they will taste better, but does Kunlun Station have sugar?”

“Would white sugar work? I recently found a bottle of it. I have no idea who left it behind,” Tang Yue commented. “I’ve finished half of it, but there’s still half a bottle left.”

“We shall see.” Tomcat nodded. “Using sugar to pickle tomatoes would definitely be tastier than freezing them until they are hard. Have you had breakfast?”

Tang Yue was taken aback. “Yes.”

“Then get to work.” Tomcat pointed to the door.

“Damn it, ordering me around early in the morning.” Tang Yue grunted angrily, but he still donned on the Radiant Armor and secured the life support system before stretching his limbs and fingers. After confirming that the EVA suit was fine, he pressed the button on the airlock before opening the hatch.

“I’ll be heading out.” Tang Yue turned around.

Tomcat crossed its legs as it leisurely sat on the chair and waved its paw.

“Good luck!”

…

“Hey, Tang Yue, Mr. Cat, about the recording of human history, I think we can start working on it? We don’t have to finish everything. Let’s just do as much as we can. If we don’t know or are unaware of something, we can ask Mr. Cat,” Mai Dong said. “I still wish to leave something behind. I don’t want to spend the rest of the time doing nothing.”