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

At three in the morning, the launch tower at Tianheng Base shone like a white bone nailed into the night sky.

Lin Jibai stood outside the isolation pod, looking at the silver-gray suit inside the glass, and suddenly felt it was absurd.

Thirty days ago, he was repairing a leaky Buzhou Mountain model at the Aerospace City exhibition hall, casually taking a takeout order, and calculating his sister's medical expenses for next month.

Thirty days later, he was going to the far side of the moon.

Go to rescue your sister, who has been accepted as an abnormal sample by the Moon Palace.

Go find your father who is locked under the South Heavenly Gate.

To stop Wen Zhaolin from handing over the entire human world back to the so-called Heavenly Court.

Xu Wangshu walked over carrying a black data box with three layers of seals on it. The outermost seal read: "Chang'e Candidate Permission. Unauthorized access will result in immediate archiving."

Her face was very pale, but her eyes were as steady as a scalpel.

"You have three minutes to regret it," she said.

Lin Jibai glanced at the launch tower: "And you?"

"I don't."

Why?

Xu Wangshu paused for half a second, then lifted the box: "Because this thing only recognizes me. If the Guanghan Palace cold storage is really opened, those mythical remnants inside might not be any gentler than Wen Zhaolin. If I don't go up, your sister might not be able to get out, and you might not be able to get out either."

Lin Jibai smiled and said, "Dr. Xu, what you're saying sounds like concern."

"illusion."

She pasted a picture of the moon, as thin as a cicada's wing, onto the glass.

The moon map unfolds automatically even without wind.

Instead of mountain and river lines, the back of the building features rows of cold storage unit numbers.

Deep inside, a red dot is flashing.

Number: GH-0007-Human Interface Sample.

Name: Lin Xiaoman.

Status: Awaiting verification by Nantianmen.

Lin Jibai's pupils contracted.

What does "pending verification" mean?

Xu Wangshu looked at the words and lowered her voice: "It means she's not dead yet. But if the Southern Heavenly Gate is activated, she will transform from a person into a key."

Footsteps echoed from the end of the corridor.

Lu Chengong walked over wearing a black combat suit, with a folding bow-shaped device hanging on his back. The device had no string, only nine tiny sun-like points of light slowly rotating inside the bow.

Hou Yi sequence.

The heir to the Nine Days Fragment.

He was also the one who almost pinned Lin Jibai to the training ground wall with an arrow last night.

"The Gonggong variable." Lu Chengong stopped two meters away. "Make this clear before you board the ship. If you try to break a pillar on the far side of the moon, I'll shoot you through first."

Lin Jibai looked at him: "What if Wen Zhaolin opens the Southern Heavenly Gate?"

"That depends on who the Southern Heavenly Gate is opened to."

"Open it to the old Heavenly Court."

A glint flashed in Lu Chenggong's eyes: "At least the old Heavenly Court had order."

"When your ancestors shot down nine suns, did they also think they were very orderly?"

The air suddenly turned cold.

A faint glow appeared on the bow behind Lu Chengong.

Xu Wangshu stepped between the two: "That's enough. If you want to fight, you can wait until the spaceship explodes. At least don't waste ground fuel."

The broadcast started.

"Moonside Squad, proceed with final quarantine procedures."

The three of them looked up at the same time.

The screen at the top of the corridor lit up, and Wen Zhaolin's face appeared on it.

He was still wearing a dark suit, with the massive control hall of the Earth-Moon Elevator behind him. Hundreds of orbital data streamed by like a galaxy.

"Lin Jibai".

Wen Zhaolin looked at him, not at anyone else.

"When your father stood beside me back then, he thought he was saving someone, just like you do now."

Lin Jibai said coldly, "Later he discovered that you saved the system, not a person."

Wen Zhaolin was not angry.

"People will starve, they will cheat on each other, there will be wars, and they will worry about the bills after sending their children to the hospital," he said. "At least the system won't be biased."

"The system will remove those who haven't registered."

That was a bug in the old version.

Lin Jibai laughed: "You call that a mistake?"

Wen Zhaolin was eerily calm: "I call that the price."

The light from the screen shone on Lin Jibai's face.

He suddenly heard a low-frequency echo in his ear.

Like a broken giant pillar trembling in deep space.

My father's voice was distant and hoarse.

"Ji Bai...don't believe...the complete door..."

Lin Jibai suddenly looked up: "Dad?"

But the sound disappeared.

Wen Zhaolin seemed to have heard something, and for the first time, his eyes showed a subtle change.

"He's still holding on."

Do you know where he is?

"The far side of the moon. Beneath the Southern Heavenly Gate," Wen Zhaolin said. "So you should thank me. Without the Earth-Moon Heavenly Ladder, you wouldn't even have had the right to see him one last time."

The screen went black.

The isolation chamber door opens.

A cold mist surged out, like frost that had come to the moon ahead of time.

Lin Jibai went inside.

The moment the cabin suit buckle closed, the successor certificate for the Buzhou Mountain Project on his wrist suddenly lit up.

A line of ancient text floated in the air.

[Repairman successor confirmed.]

[The variables on the Gonggong side have been confirmed.]

[Warning: This launch will trigger the Nantianmen pre-verification.]

[The cost has begun to be counted.]

Lin Jibai stared at the last line.

"What price?"

no answer.

Only Lin Xiaoman's very faint murmurs came through the communicator.

"elder brother……"

"Don't come up."

"Behind the moon, something is counting our names."

Launch countdown begins.

ten.

Nine.

Eight.

Lin Jibai looked up and saw that the moon in the night sky looked like a closed eye.

seven.

six.

five.

Lu Chengong gripped the stringless bow.

Xu Wangshu pressed down on the moon map.

Four.

three.

two.

One.

A burst of fire erupted.

The entire launch tower vibrated.

The moment the spaceship soared into the sky, Lin Jibai heard countless people whispering in their sleep around the world at the same time.

"The Southern Heavenly Gate is about to open."

On the far side of the moon, a shadow opened its eyes.