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

Xu Wangshu locked himself in the archives of the Aerospace City Geological Research Institute.

Lin Jibai climbed in through the window without waiting for her invitation.

"Could you please use the main entrance?"

"There's a security guard at the main entrance, and he recognizes me. I still owe the cafeteria twelve yuan from last month."

"You owe a lot of money."

"The complexity of my social relationships shows that I live authentically."

Xu Wangshu slammed a stack of documents on the table: "The real person is currently being watched by three surveillance systems. Your entry through the window triggered at least two of them."

Lin Jibai pulled out a chair and sat down: "Then hurry up."

The screen displays scanned copies of ancient books, lunar geological reports, publicly available papers from Tianheng Group, and several old files that Xu Wangshu forcibly accessed using his privileges.

She pointed to the first picture.

Fragments of the Huainanzi.

Chang'e flew to the moon.

Next to it is early data from the aerospace sample library, including an abnormal sample record numbered "GH-00".

The record date is ten years ago.

Recipient: Lin Wangchuan, Repairman 07 of the Buzhou Mountain Project.

Lin Jibai's eyes darkened.

Xu Wangshu continued, "I originally thought Chang'e was just a mythological figure. But the voice in the lunar soil mentioned 'Chang'e number seventeen,' which is not a person's name, but a position."

"post?"

"The custodian."

She switched pages.

A blurry image of the far side of the moon appeared on the screen. Beneath the shadow of the broken mountains, there was a cluster of regular buildings, like a giant beehive buried in the lunar soil.

"The Moon Palace is not a palace, but a cold storage. It seals away what leaked out after Mount Buzhou broke apart: mythological remnants, old celestial equipment, and failed human variables."

Lin Jibai narrowed his eyes: "A failed human variable?"

Would you like to hear the milder version or the more accurate version?

"The accurate version."

"People who were deemed unclassifiable, unregisterable, and uncontrollable by the old Heavenly Court system."

The light in the archives flickered.

Lin Jibai laughed: "Sounds like an unlucky guy like me."

"You're more troublesome than them," Xu Wangshu said. "It's not that you can't register, it's that you registered but shouldn't exist. Successor repairman, Tianzhu echo, Buzhou Mountain legacy variable. Triple mark."

"Thank you, sounds like a high-risk member."

Xu Wangshu pushed another file to him.

That was Tianheng Group's early internal recruitment plan; the names were blacked out, leaving only a summary line:

"The selection of Chang'e candidates prioritizes families with expertise in lunar geology, cryogenic engineering, and ancient mythology."

Lin Jibai looked up: "How many of these apply to you?"

Xu Wangshu remained silent.

She took an old photograph out of her bag.

The photo shows an old ancestral hall with a picture of the moon hanging on the wall. The caption on the corner of the picture reads: "Wang Shu Shi, who guarded the moon and never returned."

Lin Jibai was unusually not poor.

Xu Wangshu said softly, "My grandfather said something before he died: 'Women of the Xu family shouldn't look at the moon for too long.' I always thought it was superstition."

"And now?"

"Now I think his ability to express himself is very poor."

Footsteps came from outside the door.

Neat and composed, unlike a security guard.

Xu Wangshu immediately turned off the screen.

The door was pushed open.

Three people in dark blue uniforms stood at the door, with no unit insignia on their chests, only a silver star emblem.

The leading man glanced at Lin Jibai: "Mr. Lin, you have illegally entered a key national experimental area."

Lin Jibai stood up: "Would you believe me if I said I was here to deliver takeout?"

The man said expressionlessly, "We are from the Joint Anomaly Sample Review Group. Please hand over the lunar soil box and all the copied data."

Xu Wangshu said coldly, "My research authority is higher than yours."

"Dr. Xu, your access has been frozen."

Her expression changed.

The man took out an electronic document, which read: Xu Wangshu, suspected of being a candidate for contamination on the Chang'e lunar probe, contact with samples from the far side of the moon is suspended.

Lin Jibai's smile faded.

"Who froze it?"

The man did not answer.

Lin Jibai noticed a line of very small writing inside his sleeve.

Tianheng Medical.

He suddenly understood.

Wen Zhaolin was not waiting for him to keep the appointment.

Wen Zhaolin was about to close the net.

Lin Jibai raised his hand and smashed the burnt casing of the detector on the table against the fire sprinkler in the corner.

boom!

The water mist exploded.

The alarm in the archives went off.

The men instinctively raised their hands to cover themselves.

Lin Jibai grabbed Xu Wangshu: "Run!"

The two rushed deep into the archive shelf.

Someone behind me shouted, "Seal off the exits!"

Xu Wangshu yelled as she ran, "Can't you even plan something once?"

"Yes, I have."

"What plan?"

"Run first, and win the race."

Lin Jibai led her into the maintenance passage. He had worked as a contractor in the space city for three years and knew the most unseemly escape routes in every building.

As they slid down the ventilation shaft, Xu Wangshu's computer automatically turned on.

The pages of the ancient books that were just closed started flipping through themselves.

Finally, it stops at a line of vermilion annotation.

"Chang'e is not the woman who flew to the moon, but the one who guards the moon."

The next second, the screen went black.

A line of white text appeared:

"Xu Wangshu, the candidate for the 18th term, has been selected."