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

The silver structure exposed beneath the old ground station in the western suburbs resembles an eye ring buried in the soil.

It's small, less than three meters in diameter, with no Tianheng markings or modern industrial welds on its surface. Only after the rusty telemetry antenna sinks down does the eye ring become fully visible, with cold white lines gradually lighting up along the inner side, echoing the seam of the North Heavenly Gate.

Wen Zhaolin stared at the screen, his expression even worse than before.

"I didn't know it was down there."

Lu Chenggong leaned back in his chair and said coldly, "You Tianheng people don't even look at the blueprints when you dig the foundation?"

Wen Zhaolin did not refute.

He knew that this sounded like an attempt to shirk responsibility. But the truth was worse—if this thing wasn't buried by Tianheng, then it meant that Tianheng's choice of the old ground station in the western suburbs back then was probably not accidental. Someone, or some old system, had already led them to the old road sign at Beitianmen.

Xu Wangshu quickly compared historical materials.

"Before the construction of the old ground station in the western suburbs, this land belonged to the early abandoned surveying site of the space city. Further ahead was a temporary warehouse on the periphery of the Buzhou Mountain Project."

Lin Xiaoman gripped her employee badge tightly.

"Dad has been here."

The old silver light in the cracks of the name tag flickered, like a recording device that hadn't been used for too long trying to spew out its remaining content.

Lin Wangchuan's voice came through intermittently.

"The North Heavenly Gate... is not in heaven."

"It needs road signs first."

"With enough road signs, you'll know which way to open the door."

The main control room was completely silent.

This sentence connects all the clues.

What the North Heavenly Gate truly needs is not the broken bow, nor the remnants of the star. It needs coordinates, witnesses, and signposts that can project the "border" onto the human world. The broken bow is a signpost, the celestial ladder navigation map is a signpost, and this silver eye ring underground in the western suburbs is an even greater signpost.

If the landmark is activated, the gap in the North Heavenly Gate will no longer be just an anomaly in the shadow of the track, but will gain a landing point on the ground of the space city.

Qin Lan immediately ordered the repair team to evacuate.

"Old Zhou, Chen Rui, leave the factory area immediately."

Old Zhou cursed.

"We're getting ready to run!"

In the surveillance footage, the two men were seen retreating along the maintenance mezzanine. However, thin, cold white lines had appeared on the factory ground, like frost creeping across the concrete and blocking the drainage outlet.

Chen Rui's voice trembled.

"Uncle Zhou, the road is gone."

Xu Wangshu quickly sought alternative routes.

"There is an old freight elevator shaft on the east side of the factory building, which leads to the second floor, and then you can go down to the outer wall platform through the window."

Old Zhou, panting, said, "It doesn't sound like a path for humans to walk on."

There's nothing better right now.

The two turned toward the freight elevator shaft.

Meanwhile, the brightness of the silver eye ring continued to increase. The text on the crack of the North Heavenly Gate also changed.

[Old road sign found.]

Border location tracking restored.

Please do not damage the patrol facilities.

Lu Chenggong sneered: "It says please do not."

Qin Lan asked Wen Zhaolin, "Can it be blown up?"

Wen Zhaolin shook his head.

"That thing is connected to the ground station's basic structure. Blindly detonating it would bury Lao Zhou and the others inside. What's more troublesome is that the damage might be recorded by Beitianmen as an attack on patrol facilities."

Xu Wangshu looked at the silver eye ring.

"It can't be blown up, but its definition can be changed."

Lu Chen raised an eyebrow: "Not again?"

"The old system defined it as a signpost, and it could open doors. We need to prove that it's not a signpost in the human world."

"What is that?"

Xu Wangshu did not answer immediately.

This silver eye ring has been buried beneath the earth for many years, passing through the Buzhou Mountain Project, the Tianheng Ground Station, the footsteps of ordinary maintenance workers, and the mud and rust of drainage ditches. It was once a landmark of the North Heavenly Gate, but now it too has been covered by the realities of the human world.

The toolbox flashlight turned on.

Manhole cover.

Everyone in the main control room was stunned for a moment.

Lu Chengong was the first to burst out laughing, which aggravated his wound, causing him to cough for a long time.

"Lin Jibai, you really are..."

Xu Wangshu, however, stared intently at those two words.

Manhole cover.

A manhole cover is something that conceals underground dangers, warns people not to fall in, and is only opened when maintenance is needed. It is neither sacred nor noble, but rather very human. More importantly, the logic of a manhole cover is not to guide passage, but to prevent accidental entry.

Qin Lan's eyes lit up.

"Should we re-register the old road signs as dangerous underground facilities?"

Wen Zhaolin said in a low voice, "On-site markings are needed."

Xu Wangshu asked, "What mark?"

"Physical covering, danger warnings, and manual numbering," Wen Zhaolin said. "The old celestial landmarks relied on an ancient priority system of unclaimed sites. If we give them a clear earthly facility number, even a temporary one, we can weaken their landmark function."

Qin Lan immediately contacted the space city's emergency response department to generate a temporary hazardous facility number.

[Abnormal manhole cover at the old ground station in the western suburbs of the space city - temporary designation XJ-0717.]

Lu Chenggong read it aloud, his expression complex.

"Beitianmen would probably be furious if he heard that."

Xu Wangshu said calmly, "The door won't die of anger, but it will get stuck."

The problem is that the number must be affixed on-site.

Old Zhou and Chen Rui haven't left yet.

They were climbing up to the second-floor freight elevator shaft when they heard about the task, and Old Zhou cursed loudly.

"They just made us run, and now they're making us put up manhole covers?"

Qin Lan immediately said, "This is not an order. You can refuse."

Old Zhou took a couple of breaths.

"Refuse my ass. Where's the sticker?"

Chen Rui suddenly said, "Our car has reflective warning stickers and paint."

Old Zhou glanced at him.

"What are you doing carrying that thing around?"

"Last time when we repaired the manhole cover at the west gate, Brother Lin said not to skimp on it and to just stuff it in."

The flashlight in the toolbox glowed softly.

Good habits.

Chen Rui grinned, but quickly tensed up. They had to get back to the center of the factory and affix the temporary numbers and danger warnings before the silver eye rings fully lit up.

Xu Wangshu provided the route.

"Don't step on the cold white line, go around the pillar, stick to the outer edge, and don't look at the center of the ring."

Old Zhou and Chen Rui did as instructed.

The cold white lines on the factory ground grew denser, resembling a gate being woven. The text on the North Heavenly Gate was constantly being updated.

[WARNING: Patrol facilities must not be contaminated.]

[WARNING: Border signs must not be obscured.]

An old man ran around cursing, "Pollution my ass!"

He slapped the reflective warning sticker onto the outer edge of his silver eye ring.

Chen Rui then sprayed the number XJ-0717 onto the screen with spray paint.

White paint is ugly.

It's crooked and messy, and one stroke is even smeared.

But the moment those ugly words were written, the cold white light of the silver eye ring froze.

The stars twinkled in unison through the cracks in the North Heavenly Gate.

[Definition conflict.]

[Old road sign/Dangerous manhole cover.]

[Verification in progress.]

Xu Wangshu immediately supplemented the human records.

[This facility is located in the western suburbs of the human space city and poses risks of fall, electromagnetic interference, and unknown signals.]

[Purpose: Warning, containment, pending maintenance.]

[This is not a passageway, not a border sign, and not an old celestial patrol facility.]

The fragments of Nuwa glowed with blue light.

Naming can change the direction of traffic.

The deficit at Zhurong Terrace has also emerged.

A fire can be lit under the manhole cover; a door is not necessary.

Lu Chenggong muttered to himself, "That sentence actually sounds quite human."

Beitianmen did not retreat immediately.

It began retrieving older records, attempting to prove that the eye ring existed before the human identification number. But the human review panel did not argue with it about age. Xu Wangshu only repeatedly confirmed the same thing: now, here, at this moment, within the human jurisdiction, it is marked as a dangerous manhole cover and passage is prohibited.

Old Zhou and Chen Rui finally broke through the outer wall of the factory area.

Just as the two climbed over the wall, the silver eye ring in the center of the factory suddenly collapsed inward by half an inch, and the cold white light was mostly extinguished.

The gap at the North Heavenly Gate narrowed again.

Just when everyone thought it was about to shut down, Lin Jibai suddenly made a loud noise inside the toolbox.

Xiaoman's expression changed.

"My brother's records are being checked!"

Unable to find any landmarks at Beitianmen, it turned its attention to the person who first recognized it.

Cold white text appeared on the main screen.

[A Gonggong variable has been discovered.]

[This can serve as evidence of border sabotage.]