I Was Exposed While Mining on Mars

[Winner of First Prize in the 2021 Zhangjiang Star Science Fiction Writing Contest]

One day, everyone on Blue Star was glued to their TVs or livestreams, waiting for the first photos of Mars from Zhurong, the Mars probe launched by the Huaguo-led Blue Star Joint Space Agency.

But at this crucial moment, a blurry figure carrying a pickaxe suddenly crossed in front of the camera.

People around the world were instantly stunned!

Chinese netizens: “Holy crap! Have we found aliens?”

Foreign netizens: “I knew it! The green screen in Huaguo’s film studio messed up! Their technology could never reach Mars!”

Only Luo Xiu, on Mars, calmly walked up to the probe and said, “Huh, something small fell off.”

“Hello? Can you hear me? Hello?”