Chen Ming considered these two options.
He decisively chose the latter.
Repairing the spaceship's external armor might result in fainting during the process.
He could finish the repair just before needing rest; if he fainted, it would simply put him to sleep quickly.
Having made his decision, Chen Ming took the two personal terminals and sat in the captain's chair.
Alongside the ever-changing starry sky outside the porthole due to the spaceship's motion, he began studying the personal terminal device.
With the memories of Maintenance Master Chen Ming, he quickly became familiar with the personal terminal in his hands.
After all, it's essentially akin to a personal computer, with functions like communication, recording, file saving, etc., not much difference.
However, the features of the device are not important; what's crucial is the content within.
Previously, at the Space Station, Chen Ming found the station map and the doctor's logs on the doctor's terminal.
This let Chen Ming understand the situation in the Space Station and provided considerable convenience for his subsequent actions.
This time, in searching the doctor's terminal, Chen Ming indeed found some new things, some e-books.
The content was mostly about the use of simple medical instruments, collecting common herbs, and methods to prepare medicines.
Although it seemed useless at first glance, considering how many planets are there in the universe, just listing all the names of common plants might fill up the entire personal terminal's capacity.
However, when Chen Ming opened one of the e-books, he discovered that all the common herbs recorded inside came from one place.
They came from this planet called Rui Mu, orbiting the Space Station.
The significance of this needs no further explanation; the contents of the book could have immeasurable benefits for Chen Ming's subsequent landing on the planet.
In a completely unfamiliar natural environment, who can ensure they won't get sick or injured during their lifetime?
Although Chen Ming recently saw a medical kit prepared by former crew members in the living quarters, it was placed there thirty years ago.
The medical tools inside should still be usable, but the medicines have surely lost all their potency over the past thirty years.
These things are what Chen Ming needs the most right now.
The doctor, though having died thirty years ago, really helped Chen Ming a lot.
If possible, Chen Ming even thought about cremating or burying the doctor's remains, so at least they could rest in peace.
Chen Ming also looked at his own personal terminal.
Inside, he found his electronic identification and Imperial Savings Card, which is essentially his payroll card.
The identity and career history of Maintenance Master Chen Ming can be seen clearly here, much like Chen Ming, just an ordinary person from an orphan background with a mundane and difficult early life.
The savings card, however, seemed inaccessible due to the lack of network connection.
Who knows if Sinda Corporation has continued to pay him over the thirty years, or perhaps they have erased his name, or maybe the company actually no longer exists?
Chen Ming didn't dwell too much on it; it's probably best to avoid any connection to the company for now.
Speaking of which, he hadn't found these two functions on the doctor's terminal.
Perhaps they existed but were hidden by the doctor.
Chen Ming picked up the doctor's terminal again, and before long, he found these two functions hidden within a secret, locked folder.
Though they were locked, and he couldn't view the doctor's detailed records or past.
However, Chen Ming learned the doctor's name, Ding He.
If there's a chance to build a grave, maybe he could inscribe the name.
After double-checking the doctor's terminal to ensure nothing was missed, Chen Ming picked up his own terminal again.
Aside from his identification and savings card, Chen Ming also found some other items in his terminal.
They were similar e-books to those on the doctor's terminal but of a completely different type, all professional books related to maintenance work.
Who knows if it's because the Space Station has too few entertainment activities, or maybe both the doctor and Maintenance Master Chen Ming enjoyed reading?
Chen Ming himself actually has a similar hobby.
He casually flipped through the terminal and saw two books that particularly caught his interest, "Sinda Corporation Spaceship Design Philosophy Analysis" and "Prerequisites for Ship Weapon Modifications and Applicable Environments."
Additionally, there were some blueprints for common civilian ship weapons and their modified versions.
Since there wasn't much to do on the spaceship, Chen Ming thought he might as well take a look to become more familiar with the role of a Maintenance Master.
If repairing the spaceship would still consume a significant amount of mental energy in the future, then handling relatively simple damages that are easier to fix should be done personally wherever possible.
Though panel repairs are efficient, Chen Ming still felt that experiencing that sensation of mental exhaustion should be kept to a minimum.
Chen Ming discarded any distracting thoughts, opened the book he found interesting, and started reading while recalling his memories as a Maintenance Master.
With these two factors combined, Chen Ming read and absorbed these professional books at an exceptionally fast pace, understanding most of the content after a single read-through.
Although he might be a bit unfamiliar in practice, since he would eventually need to pilot the spaceship across half a light-year, experiencing spaceship repairs would be accumulated sooner or later.
The time spent reading passed quickly.
Several hours later, until the work chamber issued a notification that temporary storage was full, Chen Ming reluctantly lifted his head from the more interesting book titled "Common Weapon Modification Manual."
He proceeded to the work chamber to deliver a newly processed batch of metal ingots to the storage chamber across the door.
As before, the vast majority were cheap metals like iron.
Honestly, if Chen Ming were truly a person making a living by mining with a mining ship, mining like this might not even cover the fuel costs by the end.
But since Chen Ming isn't and the fuel was taken from the Space Station, he didn't mind.
After securing the metal ingots, Chen Ming quickly filled his stomach with the packet of nutritional survival food he had torn open in the freezer earlier.
Then he continued indulging in the content that fascinated him on the terminal.
The process of reading combined with past memories felt akin to personally engaging in those actions.
Chen Ming kept reading until he felt obvious mental and physical fatigue.
After collecting the last batch of metal ingots produced in the work chamber, he lay on the bed in the living quarters.
He glanced at the personal terminal showing Earth standard time at 8:00 AM and silently adjusted it to 10:00 PM.
Given the current situation, he decided to live as comfortably as he liked.
Finally, Chen Ming opened the panel, looked at the 24% durability of the left-side armor, and chose to repair it.
Then, Chen Ming lost consciousness and fell into a deep sleep.