Tang Yue walked through the airlock chamber and left Kunlun Station, closing the heavy hatch behind him.

The black desert unfolded before his eyes, and the plain of Ihidi was essentially a large, shallow impact crater, formed 3.9 billion years ago, and it had existed on Mars for a long time, but in more than 30 days it would be covered by another huge crater.

Looking at the horizon in the distance, Tang Yue once again remembered that he had been roasting on the Gobi Desert with Lao Wang during the special training, talking about the man named Peng Jiamu.

The desert at night suddenly had a fatal attraction to Tang Yue, he wanted to walk into the desert like Pengamu, leaving everything behind, it would be an exploration with no way back, it didn't matter where he went, because he knew that he had only one destination.

Death may not be a huge wall that is boundless up and down, left and right, but an endless wasteland, the so-called death is that on a cold and windy winter night, you turn off the lights, open the door of your home, put up your collar, and huddle with the heating to the distant horizon, never to return.

"Tang Yue!"

The old cat's voice sounded in the headphones, interrupting Tang Yue's thoughts.

"Are you alright?"

"It's fine." Tang Yue came back to his senses, he was suddenly a little worried that he couldn't control his legs, and he really walked into the desert in front of him regardless of it, this impulse was similar to the person standing on the edge of the cliff always wanting to jump.

The descending stage of the Eagle lander still stands not far away, like an ancient tower under the stars, and another conspicuous thing is the Chelome probe, the old cat dragged the Cherome back last time and left it in the Kunlun station, the aging probe is still working - the detector after removing the temperature control processor is missing half of its functions, but it still tirelessly sends greetings to Earth every day.

Tang Yue took out a long-handled shovel from the garage, walked around the lander and the Chelome, said goodbye to them, and then found the tomb he had dug for himself earlier.

This is a shallow pit, just enough to accommodate Tang Yue who is lying flat, he picked up the shovel in his hand, and expanded and deepened the pit, the old cat said that the huge impact generated by the impact may completely tear him apart, in order to make it more convenient for the old cat to collect the body, Tang Yue still wants to try to ensure the integrity of his body.

He revised his suicide note and saved it in the computer at Kunlun Station, which would send the letter to Mai Dong and the old cat on the day of the comet's impact.

In the suicide note, Tang Yue said:

"Death is an unavoidable fate for everyone, no matter what kind of person you are, whether you are a rich man, a beggar, a politician, a prisoner, all are equal in front of death, but this does not mean that death is not terrible, if you ask me if I am afraid of death, there is no doubt that I am afraid of death, and I am afraid of death.

But I couldn't get to the root of this fear - apart from my biological instincts, the solitude of life on Mars was actually worse than death, but deep down I was still afraid of death, and I tried my best to survive, even though I knew that even if I survived, nothing would come of it.

A long, long time ago, I watched a very classic old movie "Buried Alive", I don't know if you have seen it, the character in the movie is only one person, a person who is buried alive in the ground, he must overcome panic and despair in a limited time, and use limited tools to escape.

I'm actually a man who was buried alive too.

But you can escape the coffin, but you can never escape this universe. ”

Tang Yue struggled to dig the grave pit.

"When I was a kid reading The Lord of the Rings, John Tolkien once said that we survived because of the indestructible courage of the little people who rebelled against a powerful fate.

I think courage and fear are not incompatible, a person can be cowardly, shy, greedy for life and afraid of death, but he can also be brave and fearless, in the long history of human beings, countless brave little people have gone forward one after another, for a higher ideal and forward, this is the most glorious and greatest thing about human civilization - courage is born from fear, the brave is not fearless, but overcomes fear.

As the last person on this planet, at the last moment of my life, I asked myself, have I become a brave man?

I hope there will be a voice there to answer:

Yes, you are brave. ”

Another shovel suddenly plunged into the sand in front of Tang Yue's eyes, and he raised his head to find that the old cat had also copied the shovel.

"What are you doing here?" Tang Yue asked.

"Dig the grave." The old cat replied, digging the floating earth out of the bottom of the pit, and it was expanding the edge of the tomb.

"What are you digging so big?"

"Can't lie down." The old cat said, "Two people are a little crowded. ”

"Go, go, do you want to rob me of the grave? Can't you give me a single bedroom? You don't have to lie here, get out of here. ”

"But I'm going to come back sooner or later, so of course the pit has to be occupied first." The old cat didn't move its position, continued to increase the pit, then threw away the shovel and jumped in to lie down, patted the position next to him, and motioned Tang Yue to lie down with it.

Tang Yue was a little helpless, it seemed that the cat who saw the ghost couldn't get rid of it, he stuck the shovel on the sand on the side, and lay down next to the old cat.

Lying on the ground with Mingguang armor was really awkward, and the life support system behind it was big and hard, Tang Yue moved it so that he could lie down more comfortably.

Before dying, I still wanted to be comfortable, humans are really strange creatures, Tang Yue smiled silently, this is like some people who hang themselves don't want the rope to get stuck in their hair, because it hurts to pull their hair.

He and the old cat looked at the sky with their eyes open.

"Can I see the comet?" Tang Yue asked.

"I can see it." The old cat said, "But you can't yet, because it's not bright enough." ”

"What is it like?"

"A dim, blurry little point of light." The old cat replied, "Very small, very small." ”

Tang Yue's body completely relaxed, and he felt like he was one with the earth.

He closed his eyes and let his thoughts wander through time.

He saw Homo sapiens chasing prey on the African savannah, craftsmen of the Fourth Dynasty of ancient Egypt dragging huge stones from logs to build magnificent pyramids, scholars of the ancient Greek city-state of Athens strolling under the promenade, Ottoman Turkish soldiers blasting the walls of Constantinople with cannons, Columbus's Santa Maria raising sails in Port Barros, Spain, and Galileo putting away his telescope on the tower to record Jupiter's fourth moon on paper.

The history of humanity flashed back before his eyes.

Tang Yue opened his eyes and saw that the old cat's paws were resting on his mask.

"What are you doing?" Tang Yue turned his head.

"Are you afraid of death?" The old cat opened his arms, "If you're afraid, I'll hug you." ”

"No, I don't." Tang Yue pulled his claws away, "I don't know if it will hurt when I die, I'm afraid it will hurt." ”

"It should be a matter of moments." The old cat said, "It's like holding a nuclear bomb that has been detonated." ”

"You're not going to vaporize me, are you?" Tang Yue frowned.

"At such a distance, it will not be directly vaporized." "If it falls a few hundred kilometers closer to the site, then you may be wiped out in the impact...... So this distance is the most suitable, farther away you may not be able to kill with one blow, you will die of pain in the suffocation of pressure, so it seems that your luck is still quite good, if this is the death penalty, then your position is the VIP seat of the execution ground. ”

Tang Yue nodded.

"Then I have to thank God for giving me such a good position, and thank it for eight lifetime ancestors."

"You're more calm than I thought, I thought you'd cry."

"I wanted to cry, but Mai Dong girl has already cried for me." Tang Yue said, "The tears I shed in my life are not as much as she shed in a day today." ”

"As a materialist atheist, do you feel regret at this time?"

"Regret what?"

"I regret that I don't have a world to go to after death." The old cat said, "If you are a Christian, you will probably comfort yourself that this is the way to heaven at this time, if you are a Buddhist, then you can still count on reincarnation, and the Taoist masters may take this opportunity to feather and ascend, but you will only have a blank void in front of you in the darkness." ”

Tang Yue thought for a moment and shook his head.

He didn't want religion.

Do not expect an afterlife.

Be worthy of yourself.

Not afraid of the dark.

Open-mindedness and indifference in the face of death are probably the last dignity left of human beings in this universe.

"We're going to die."

"yes...... I'm going to die. ”