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

The question of the Moon Palace fell to Xu Wangshu.

[Chang'e lunar probe candidate, please confirm: Are you willing to provide external guarantees for anomalous samples?]

Every word in that sentence is like frost on a cold storage door.

Candidate.

Abnormal sample.

External guarantee.

It acknowledges that Xu Wangshu has authority, but still does not acknowledge that Lin Xiaoman is a human being. It acknowledges that Xiaoman can temporarily not return to the warehouse, but demands that a warehouse keeper bear the risk for her.

Qin Lan whispered a reminder: "You can request joint guarantees."

Wen Zhaolin also said, "Don't sign alone. The guarantee in the Guanghan Palace rules might transfer the sample risk to you."

Lu Chenggong frowned: "Speak like a human being."

Xu Wangshu answered himself: "If Xiaoman gets out of control, the cold storage might freeze me first."

Lin Xiaoman became anxious.

"Sister Xu, don't sign!"

Lin Jibai immediately added, "Don't sign any guarantee agreements."

Xu Wangshu looked at the frosty white cold storage door on the screen and suddenly remembered how she felt when she first learned that Chang'e was not alone.

At that time, she thought it was absurd.

Later, she saw the afterimages of successive guardians in the cold storage on the far side of the moon, and realized that the name "Chang'e" was not about fairy-like beauty, but about the long, lonely, and silent sound of doors closing.

The keeper is responsible for keeping the danger inside.

They are also responsible for keeping themselves either outside or inside the door.

Xu Wangshu never liked this identity.

She does scientific research not to inherit anyone's loneliness.

But now, the Moon Palace is asking her to confirm her guarantee.

For the first time, she clearly understood how she should be a candidate.

She won't just close the door.

She needs to learn how to open doors.

Xu Wangshu looked up.

She knew very well that her next words would be recorded in the Moon Palace.

Every lingering image of a warehouse keeper, every automatic rule of the cold storage, and every application for external placement of abnormal samples may take today as a precedent.

This isn't just opening the door for Xiaoman alone.

This is the first window that was chiseled into the old wall of the cold storage.

"I confirm the guarantee, but am modifying the definition of the guarantee."

The Moon Palace responded.

The candidate does not have sufficient permissions to modify the rules.

"I didn't make the changes alone."

She simultaneously accessed the records of the Moon Far Side Lighthouse Recorder, the Human Testimony Network Review Authority, and the Nuwa Mending the Sky Bureau's patching records.

"I submit the Human Union Joint Repair Clause."

[Terms and conditions?]

Xu Wangshu typed it out word by word.

[A guarantee does not mean taking responsibility for the sample.]

[A guarantee serves as proof that one possesses external living boundaries.]

The guardian's duty is not to keep the gates closed forever, but to allow those sealed away to return to the world of the living when the danger is under control.

The sounds behind the cold storage door grew even quieter.

[Deviating from old rules.]

"The old rules only apply to anomalous samples where no one takes responsibility, no one identifies them, and no one refuses to accept them," Xu Wangshu said. "Lin Xiaoman has already publicly refused to return the sample; she has family connections, a network of isolation measures, and external cooling-off solutions. Continuing to define her as a sample is what makes the rules outdated."

The fragments of Nuwa lit up.

Expired rules can create loopholes.

The Deep Space Divine Court observation interface also flashed briefly.

[Detected self-correction of human rules: Old identity removed.]

The Moon Palace remained silent.

That silence was colder than the North Heavenly Gate.

On the screen, the door of the frosty white cold storage room slowly opened a crack.

There is no palace behind the door.

It is a row of low-temperature filing cabinets.

One of the cabinets had a sign that read:

[Abnormal sample: Lin Xiaoman.]

The cabinet door is frosting over.

Xu Wangshu said, "Delete the sample prefix and retain the historical record."

[A replacement name is needed.]

Lin Xiaoman was stunned.

Xu Wangshu looked at her.

"Fill it out yourself."

Xiaoman stood in front of the screen, her fingers still trembling slightly.

She typed:

Lin Xiaoman.

A message from the Moon Palace.

[Duplicate name. 】

Lin Xiaoman bit her lip and typed another line.

[Lin Xiaoman: An observer on the Human Dream Network.]

Inside the cold storage room, the words "abnormal sample" on the filing cabinet gradually faded away.

The fading process is very slow.

It's like someone using their fingernails to scrape away old words stroke by stroke from the ice.

With each stroke she scraped away, the cooling ring on Lin Xiaoman's wrist lit up. She gritted her teeth, remaining silent. In the dream network, the white corridor reappeared, the Southern Heavenly Gate at its end slightly ajar, and many voices behind it called her back.

This time, she didn't run away.

She stood in the middle of the hallway and said to the voices, "I'm not going back to the closet."

The calls from behind the door stopped for a moment.

Then, a very ordinary little window appeared on the wall of the white corridor. Outside the window wasn't the Moonlit Cold Storage, but an old ward of the Aerospace City Hospital; the curtain track was a little stuck.

That's the place my brother promised to fix on Wednesday.

A new name has emerged.

[Lin Xiaoman: An observer on the Human Dream Network.]

Lin Xiaoman burst into tears.

She wasn't something that was rescued.

She personally changed her name in front of all the systems.

The heartbeat inside the toolbox was steady.

thump.

thump.

Fragments of Nuwa float with words.

[Family anchoring is strengthened.]

[The boundaries of the DreamNet have been established.]

The Guanghan Palace Cold Storage sent out a final notification.

[External cooling solution filing.]

[Remote recall suspended.]

[Chang'e candidate permissions updated: Door opening record updated once.]

Lu Chenggong let out a soft breath.

"Does this count as a win?"

Before Xu Wangshu could answer, Lin Jibai's voice suddenly came from the toolbox.

"I remembered steamed buns."

Lin Xiaoman suddenly looked up.

Lin Jibai said, "Huang Baihua has a small hole in his left ear. He only eats starch sausage, not the expensive kind."

Lu Chenggong: "Even a dog would be more frugal than you."

Finally, someone in the main control room burst out laughing.

The laughter was soft, yet it was like a breath of fresh air letting in after the door of a cold storage room had been opened.

The monthly chart shows that Lin Jibai's identity boundary stability has risen to 53%.

For the first time, it exceeded half.

Xu Wangshu looked at the line of numbers, her eyes stinging, but she forced herself to remain calm.

"Not enough."

Lin Jibai said, "I know."

Just then, a new record popped up on the Deep Space Divine Court observation interface.

The stabilization progress of the Gonggong variable has exceeded the critical value.

[One low-risk ground projection test is permitted.]

The main control room fell silent instantly.

Lin Xiaoman held her breath.

Xu Wangshu looked at the toolbox.

Lin Jibai remained silent for a long time.

Then he said:

"Does 'low risk' mean I'll have one hand?"