The two, filled with unwillingness, had no choice but to leave the cave.
Ou Zhanpeng recalled his circling fighter jet and returned to its original orbital altitude. With little effort, he located the damaged external pod.
However, the pod had eight holes just on its hull, the smallest no bigger than a fist, the largest as wide as a washbasin. At least half of the holes had penetrated and torn through the hull. All sorts of debris floated inside and outside the pod, and as they tumbled, the foil packaging reflected tiny glints of light.
"It's over!"
Ou Zhanpeng lost himself for a moment, his gaze heavy. Xu Qing bit her lip, holding back her tears.
After the *Expedition* had diverted to Jupiter, their ample supplies instantly became critically scarce. The remaining provisions had very little redundancy.
They had already needed to economize meticulously, and now, a small celestial body had managed to take everything in one fell swoop. How long would the remaining provisions last? Ten days? Or twenty?
Xu Qing once again turned her gaze to Ou Zhanpeng, but this time, there was no expectation in her eyes, only despair.
At this critical juncture, Ou Zhanpeng did not lose his composure. He sighed and said, "Don't think about it too much, let's clean up first."
He himself didn't notice that his tone was gentler than ever before.
Xu Qing nodded, but her mood did not improve in the slightest.
Ou Zhanpeng maneuvered the battleship closer to the tail pod, crashing through the floating debris. The grappling hook inserted into the external pod, and with a single attempt, the docking was successful.
The two then drifted out of the cockpit. The airlock opened before them, and upon seeing the condition of the external pod, their hearts sank to the bottom.
The supplies in the pod, originally neatly arranged by category, were now a chaotic mess with collapsed shelves and fallen supports, broken packages and floating provisions everywhere.
Xu Qing reached out and grabbed a packaging bag that floated past her eyes. The simple foil displayed four plain characters: Yu Xiang Rou Si (Fish-Flavored Pork).
Upon careful inspection, the packaging was intact. She immediately set this pack of food aside.
At this crucial moment, this single pack could allow the two of them to last another day or two.
Ou Zhanpeng used metal tape to patch all the damaged holes. Xu Qing meticulously inspected each package, placing intact ones aside for centralized storage. Damaged ones were more troublesome, requiring them to be opened and checked. All small packages were examined, intact ones stored together, and damaged ones set aside separately.
Before long, several large bags of damaged space meals had accumulated.
Xu Qing reluctantly clutched a pack of damaged Hong Shao Zhu Pai (Braised Pork Ribs in Red Sauce), her large eyes filled with hope. "Fatty Ou, this one is only torn on one side. If we cut that part off, can we still eat it?"
Space meals were stored at low temperatures, frozen as hard as steel. At most, the damaged areas might have residual radiation dust from the celestial body. The areas covered by intact packaging should be safe.
Ou Zhanpeng resolutely shook his head, "No, there might be radiation. We can't take the risk!"
Xu Qing was still unwilling to give up, "Then let's check them first. We'll throw away the irradiated ones and keep the un-irradiated ones, okay?"
Seeing that Ou Zhanpeng still disagreed, Xu Qing became anxious, tears welling up in her eyes. "We don't have enough to eat already, and if we throw away so much more, we might as well starve to death!"
Her small mind raced, and she petulantly ignored Ou Zhanpeng, leaving him only with the back of her head.
Ou Zhanpeng, despite feeling extremely heavy-hearted, was almost amused by her demeanor.
It was only then that he suddenly realized that Xu Qing was just a young girl in her early twenties. At her age, weren't most girls pampered darlings of their parents?
Yet, she had enlisted and traveled to an alien planet to fight alien species from deep space alongside him.
Thinking of this, a touch of softness crept into Ou Zhanpeng's resolute heart. "Alright, then we'll set them aside. We'll eat the good ones first. When we're truly out of options, then we'll eat these problematic ones."
Heaven and earth, life was the greatest. On one hand, eating radiation dust would mean suffering the continuous damage of radiation to the body for the next several, even tens, of years. On the other hand, having a pile of food but being forced to starve.
Between two evils, which to choose was obvious, wasn't it?
The two spent a full half-day finally organizing all the food. Not only was the pod's contents screened, but they also retrieved as much of the scattered debris from outside the pod as possible.
However, when Xu Qing finished counting the remaining food, a look of worry returned to her face. "If we ration it, it will only last for just over two months."
Her gaze shifted to the other side; there were actually a third more damaged items than intact ones. Her emotions were on the verge of collapse.
In this accident, the greatest loss was food.
There was no other way; provisions were the largest part of their supplies, accounting for more than half. Moreover, once contaminated, they could not be consumed. A larger loss was normal.
The remaining items were either nutrient paste, oxygen candles, or batteries – things that did not need to be eaten. Most of them were still usable, and some could be used again after simple repairs. Only a very small portion had to be discarded, so the loss was not as significant.
After a careful inventory, everything that could be moved was loaded into the fighter jet until it could hold no more.
"Alright, that's enough for now," Ou Zhanpeng said, clapping his hands optimistically. "Cheer up, at least we can last another two months."
Xu Qing's small face was almost wrinkled into a bun shape. "What about after two months? What do we do for the remaining four months?"
"What else can we do? Just wing it!" Ou Zhanpeng spread his hands. "In life, there are only two difficult things: life and death. We're not at a point where we have to choose between life and death yet. What if we find a turning point within these two months?"
Xu Qing was both angry and annoyed. "Our nearest turning point is still on its way!"
She suddenly felt that Ou Zhanpeng was not as reliable as she had imagined. How could she have thought he was so dependable before?
"Well, there's nothing I can do about that," Ou Zhanpeng said with a chuckle, deliberately teasing her. "How about this, a fair trade. I weigh over a hundred and eighty pounds, which should be enough for you to last another two months if we ration it..."
"Ou Zhanpeng, get lost!" Xu Qing finally exploded, clenching her small fists and shouting back.
The rest of his words were choked back by her shout.
"Okay, okay, I won't say it. Don't get agitated. If you get agitated, you consume more oxygen, and we can't afford to waste it like that."
Anger surged within Xu Qing, and she suddenly felt how annoying Ou Zhanpeng was. How could she have thought he was pretty good all along?
After shouting and fussing, life had to go on.
To conserve supplies, Ou Zhanpeng was the first to extend his cryogenic sleep time to eighty-six hours. Moreover, each time he woke up, he ate very little, saving provisions as much as possible.
Xu Qing wanted to do the same, but Ou Zhanpeng stopped her, hoping she would gradually approach the transition rather than delay by a full twenty-four hours at once, as he had.
Furthermore, Ou Zhanpeng developed a logically consistent theory for his decision: women consumed less, so the more he slept, the more he saved, which was reasonable!