Translator: CKtalon Editor: CKtalon
Tang Yue got on the Mars Wanderer, sat in the front passenger seat, and buckled his seatbelt.
“Time to leave?”
Tomcat held the steering wheel, its gaze straight ahead.
“Time to leave.”
Tang Yue pressed the engine ignition and stepped down on the accelerator. As the Mars Wanderer started, its wheels trembled across the desert. They had already determined their direction. It involved traversing half of the Isidis Planitia to reach their destination. The Isidis Planitia’s east-west breadth was comparable to the Tarim Basin, but it’s north-south length was twice the latter. This also meant that Tang Yue and Tomcat needed to traverse a super large version of the Tarim Basin desert and not get lost midway.
The Wanderer slowly raised its speed as it drove stably. Tang Yue sat in his seat, the rubble on the desert beneath him sweeping by. The driver compartment didn’t have any glass windows to block out the wind or any doors. All that was left was a warped frame that made it look like a convertible.
“Are you not going to turn back for a glance?”
“There’s nothing to see.” Tang Yue sighed. “We are the ones going to war.”
He pulled out the letter from the sun visor, pinching it in between his thumb and index finger.
“I’ve never fought a lawsuit my entire life. What kind of dispute would a lawsuit involving the entire Earth be considered? A civil case or a criminal case? Is it too late for me to memorize the General Principles of the Civil Law and the Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China?”
“The Criminal Law of the People’s Republic of China has a total of 10 chapters and 452 articles. The General Principles of the Civil Law has a total of 9 chapters and 156 articles. It’s too late to memorize them now. If you have the ability to do so, why be a grease monkey? You could have been a lawyer and embark on a path to life’s pinnacle.” Tomcat shook its head. “Besides, how do you know that this is a case that involves criminal or civil law? Who knows, it might be Road Traffic Safety Law or Economic Law.”
Tang Yue gave a wry smile.
As a man with a STEM background, nothing was worse than complicated and long winded law articles.
“Then wouldn’t that mean I’m doomed to failure?” Tang Yue asked.
“Yup.”
“What’s the outcome for failure?” Tang Yue asked. “Denial for compensation?”
“If you lose the lawsuit, wouldn’t that mean that they can decline to make compensation?” Tomcat hugged its forearms and used its hind legs to hold onto the steering wheel. “It doesn’t make sense that they compensate you despite winning the lawsuit. There aren’t any philanthropists in the Universe.”
“But according to the letter, Earth was vaporized because of them.”
“Lawyers can twist anything. You can call it an oversight on their part, thus causing the Earth to be vaporized, but they can claim that Earth was jaywalking for not following the traffic lights,” Tomcat said ethereally. “Who knows if they have the strongest legal department in the Universe?”
“Then wouldn’t I be doomed? What’s the point of going?”
“Chill. It’s not necessarily that you are doomed.”
“What? Wise Old Cat, do you have some ace up your sleeve?” Tang Yue was surprised.
“Aren’t you just lacking a lawyer?” Tomcat said. “I have a clever trick to teach you… When you really go to court, draw Mickey Mouse on the table. Then declare to all the creatures present that this cartoon image’s intellectual property is yours. After that, you will receive formidable backup.”
Tang Yue let out a sigh.
Making idle talk was one thing, but both he and Tomcat lacked confidence. The situation they were facing was something no human in the past ten thousand years had ever encountered. The path ahead was a blur and they didn’t have any experience to reference. Tang Yue didn’t know if the letter was real and he doubted Tomcat’s claims. He knew that the cat’s acting skills were deserving of an Oscar. Although it pretended to look clueless on the surface, it was possible that it knew everything deep down.
Describing it as a war wasn’t wrong either.
It could be foreseen that this would be an unprecedented journey of immense difficulty. Even Tomcat was of no help. Tang Yue was destined to face the battle alone.
The Mars Wanderer proceeded forward on the desert as Tang Yue cocked his head to look into the distance.
They had been heading west the entire time and the terrain was flat.
There was almost nothing that allowed Tang Yue to focus his eyes. Soon, they were exhausted. He had no choice but to retract his gaze and blink. On the other hand, he was alarmed to realize that he had underestimated the desert. Without any precise navigation, just turning him three rounds on the spot was enough to make him lose his bearings.
“Want to listen to some music?” Tomcat asked.
“You brought a music player?”
Tomcat nodded.
“Play any song as long as it’s pleasant to the ears. The kind that can relieve stress.”
Tomcat began humming an old song, Sailor, by Zheng Zhihua. Clearly, the music player it mentioned was itself.
“The feeling of bitter sand blowing painfully against my face,
“Like a father’s scolding and a mother’s crying, I can never forget,
“The young me loved going to the seashore alone…”
Tomcat’s voice was like a busted gong. Singing Sailor with its tone-deaf voice sounded like ghost wails.
However, it sang with emotion, akin to Old Wang who always hoarded the microphone at KTV sessions.
“Stop! Stop!” Tang Yue tried to stop it. Its voice was in no way better than nails scratching against a chalkboard. “Change to another song! Change the song!”
Tomcat ignored him. As it sang, it released its hindfoot from the accelerator, slowing down the Mars Wanderer.
“What’s wrong?”
“We can no longer see Kunlun Station.”
Tang Yue was alarmed as he subconsciously released his seatbelt and sat up. He leaned out half his body from the driver’s compartment and tried his best to look into the distance.
Tomcat was still singing by itself.
“Always dreaming of another world at the end of the ocean.
“Always admiring the intrepid sailor as a real man,
“Always weak and frail,
“They bullied me, always hearing the sailor say:
“He said this bit of roughening up is nothing…”
On the distant horizon, Tang Yue could still vaguely see Kunlun Station’s figure. The white, dome-shaped building was reflecting the bright sunlight. Like it, the Eagle could barely be made out with the Descent Vehicle sitting alone there. As for the Chelomey and garage, they had already exceeded the limits of his vision. Tang Yue felt a baffling sense of pain.
He suddenly regretted not taking one more look at them, but the Mars Wanderer didn’t stop. It continued cruising ahead, opening up the distance.
Kunlun Station was getting smaller and smaller.
At that instant, a sorrow that never existed suddenly erupted in Tang Yue. He didn’t even know where it had been hiding; thus, he was left at a loss when he was suddenly awash with such feelings. All he could do was watch as Kunlun Station gradually disappeared from his sight. From today, Tang Yue might never be able to see them again. This was a farewell in the true sense of the word, but he was powerless to change this reality.
He would become rootless duckweed, a wanderer no one knew of.
Tang Yue slowly bent his back and leaned against the vehicle’s roof.
Tomcat wore a deadpan expression without even turning its head to look back once. It continued singing,
“He said this bit of roughening up is nothing?
“Dry your tears, don’t be afraid, at least we still have our dreams,
“He said this bit of roughening up is nothing?
“Dry your tears and don’t question why…”
