Don't go to the moon, there are gods on the far side of the moon.

"Don't let them go to the moon."

When the sound came from the abdominal cavity of the Buzhou Mountain model, Lin Jibai was kneeling on the third floor of the Aerospace City Exhibition Hall, with a test pen in his mouth and his fingers inserted into the base of the model, tightening a copper screw that was about to strip.

He froze.

The exhibition hall was closed, and the lights were only on in maintenance mode, casting a cold white light on the three-meter-tall "Mount Buzhou" science popularization model. The model was made into a fractured mountain according to the myth, with cloud-patterned light strips inserted in the middle and a half-moon projection hanging on the top, telling visitors about "the pillar of heaven in the imagination of the ancients".

But that last sentence wasn't part of the tour guide's audio.

It wasn't a system prompt either.

That was the voice of his father, Lin Wangchuan.

The father, who disappeared ten years ago, is recorded in the official archives with only one line: "died in a deep space communications accident."

Lin Jibai's electric pen fell to the ground with a thud.

There was another sound from inside the model.

"Ji Bai, if you hear this echo, it means they have already encountered the far side of the moon."

Lin Jibai suddenly looked up, hitting his head and making it go numb. Ignoring the pain, he reached back and unplugged the model's power supply.

The LED strip lights went out.

The moon's projection disappeared.

But the sound didn't stop.

"Remember, Mount Buzhou cannot be fully restored."

A chill crept up Lin Jibai's spine.

At the broken edge of the model, tiny silver lights seeped out from the plastic cloud patterns, like moon frost, or like countless needles opening their eyes in the darkness.

Lin Jibai's first reaction was not to run.

He propped his phone up on the ground, turned on the video recording, and with his other hand pulled a multimeter from his toolbox and clamped it onto the signal cable of the model's motherboard.

The values ​​are jumping around randomly.

It's not alternating current.

It's not the exhibition hall's intranet.

The frequency was ridiculously low, as if it came from a very, very far place, passing through rock layers, vacuum, silence, and ten years of death, and forcefully drilling into this cheap popular science model.

"Dad?" Lin Jibai's throat was dry. "Where are you?"

The model remains silent for one second.

Immediately, the speaker in the base emitted a piercing noise.

The noise was mixed with many overlapping human voices.

"Verification in progress..."

"Access to the far side of the moon via a link..."

"The remains of Mount Buzhou are responding..."

Finally, the father's voice was squeezed out as if it had been torn apart.

"Don't let Xiaoman look at the moon!"

Lin Jibai's expression changed instantly.

My younger sister, Lin Xiaoman.

Moonlight sleep disorder.

She fell into a coma as soon as she turned one month old. The hospital couldn't find the cause, only saying it was a rare neurological rhythm disorder. Lin Jibai worked as a maintenance contractor outside the exhibition hall during the day and delivered food at night, accumulating a mountain of debt, all to continue her treatment.

Tonight is the full moon.

He grabbed his phone, not even turning off the recording, and rushed out of the repair area.

Just as I reached the stairwell, the entire exhibition hall suddenly shook.

It wasn't an earthquake.

It was more like something enormous had turned over in the distant darkness, and the aftershocks crashed into the human world along the signal lines.

The giant screen in the lobby on the first floor lit up on its own.

The screen, which should have been playing a space promotional video, was instead filled with live footage of the far side of the moon.

A gray and barren wasteland.

Black crater.

Then, the camera shakes.

Something so enormous that it could not be described as a mountain emerged from the moon dust.

It stretches across the field of vision, like a broken pillar, or the spine of a dead dragon. Its surface is covered with regular patterns, far older than any human-made structure, and far sharper than any natural landscape.

Red text flashing wildly at the bottom of the screen:

[Signal abnormality of the Wangshu-3 lunar probe on the far side]

[Unauthorized footage]

[Cutting off]

Lin Jibai felt as if his heart was being squeezed.

He saw a very thin line of light flash at the broken section of the "mountain".

Like the character.

The next second, the phone rang.

She is a hospital nurse.

"Xiao Lin! Your sister has suddenly fainted, her brainwaves are completely erratic! She keeps talking, come quick!"

"What did she say?"

The nurse's voice trembled.

She said…

A girl's dreamlike whisper came from the other end of the phone.

"Mount Buzhou has awakened."

Lin Jibai rushed out of the exhibition hall.

The night sky over the space city is very bright.

The full moon hung at the edge of the city, white as a cold eye.

He got on his electric scooter and twisted the throttle to the floor. The night wind stung his face, but all he could hear was his father's warning echoing repeatedly in his mind.

Don't let them go to the moon.

Don't let Xiaoman look at the moon.

Ten years ago, his father disappeared, and everyone advised him to accept reality.

But tonight, reality itself cracked open.

Behind the seam, there is the moon's shadow, broken mountains, and the father's voice.

There is something else awakening.

When Lin Jibai arrived at the hospital, all the lights in the corridor were flashing.

Doctors and nurses surrounded the ward door. Xiaoman lay on the bed, her face pale, her eyes darting rapidly beneath her eyelids. The curtains were drawn, yet the floor was bathed in a moonlit glow.

The light didn't come from outside the window.

It seeped out from under her skin.

Lin Jibai rushed over and grabbed her hand.

"Xiaoman, your brother is here."

Lin Xiaoman suddenly opened her eyes.

A broken mountain was reflected in her pupils.

"elder brother."

Her voice was as soft as dust blown from the far side of the moon.

"Dad is under the door."

Lin Jibai's breathing stopped.

"What door?"

Lin Xiaoman raised her hand and pointed to the ceiling.

"South Heavenly Gate".

As soon as he finished speaking, all the monitors in the ward reset to zero.

Behind the full moon outside the window, a huge shadow seemed to slowly turn around.

On Lin Jibai's phone, the still-recording video automatically displayed a system notification he had never seen before:

[Echo receiver from Tianzhu confirmed.]

[Lin Jibai, awaiting verification.]