Hogwarts: From Selling White Peppers to Becoming a God

Chapter 396 Star of Man

Four days later.

In lunar orbit, a six-legged, spider-like landing module detached from the work module and began its lunar orbit along a huge arc.

After several minor adjustments to the angle, the lander was captured by the moon's gravity, and its descent pattern and angle gradually stabilized. Then, the partition in front of the camera opened, and the lander saw the desolate planet for the first time.

The high-speed camera and advanced chips were protected by an armor enchantment enchanted with a magical insulating coating. The data stream was steadily transmitted to the work pod, and then relayed back to Earth by the latter through high-power laser communication equipment.

Two seconds later, the Earth's lunar landing command center also saw that scene.

That's an image of the near side of the moon.

A cheer erupted in the command center. With this, the launch mission was essentially complete. The three tests—the usability of the Levitation Charm during the launch phase, the reliability of the Unmarked Stretch Charm during long-distance travel, and the final communication stability—all yielded satisfactory results.

From now on, every extra second the probe satellite exists is an extra bonus.

Everyone relaxed, and occasionally people would walk around and pat each other on the shoulder.

Murphy was still waiting; the landing module's orbital position was still too high, and at this moment it could only see things like craters.

We need to get closer.

"According to our latest calculations, the location of those primordial particles should be the very center of the far side of the moon, where the lander can decelerate twice before landing."

After more than ten hours, the lander circled the moon once, then slowed down again and gradually descended to the lunar surface. Finally, it descended to a low enough position and quickly swept across the lunar surface, passing from the near side of the moon to the far side.

It quickly passed the Jules Verne crater, reduced its speed again, adjusted its landing position, and then passed the Tsiolkovsky crater. Ahead was the planned landing spot on the far side of the moon, a valley in the Soviet mountain range.

At that moment, the sun was in the perfect position, providing a very clear view. The high-speed camera transmitted the scene of the far side of the moon back to the control room with perfect clarity.

A magnificent mountain range came into view of the landing module. The mountain range was very irregular, with towering cliffs and abyssal valleys. The landing module slowed down further, the landing engines were ignited, and after the third attitude adjustment, it began to descend slowly from an altitude of about 15 kilometers.

Below is an area surrounded by towering lunar rocks, but the deeper part is shrouded in darkness due to the angle of sunlight.

"They look...like man-made structures..." someone suddenly said from the side.

Murphy also saw the shape of the lunar rocks clearly. Indeed, compared to the strangely shaped lunar rocks elsewhere, or the craters formed by meteorite impacts, the lunar rocks here were too regular in shape. They formed a circle, but they did not seem to be formed by meteorite impacts. They almost all had similar outlines, and looked more like a deep well made of several ring-shaped stones.

"This thing...something's not right!" someone exclaimed in surprise. "Although no detector has ever observed this place at this altitude, some photos have been taken from higher vantage points in the past. If this is what it looks like, it should have been discovered long ago..."

Murphy frowned, suddenly remembering the term, "the insider effect of magic..."

At this moment, the high-speed camera seemed to malfunction, flickering incessantly. In the few frames that occasionally appeared, the shadows of rock pillars could be seen below, with irregular outlines covering those pillars.

But before they could see it more clearly, a crimson light suddenly shone down below.

……

In the darkness below, surrounded by the ring of moon rocks, towering stone statues stand in the valley. Some stand, some lie down, each with a different posture. Most of the statues are dilapidated, some even lying on the ground with their bodies shattered into stones. However, many statues still look as if they were newly carved, as if they have never suffered any hardships.

In the long-silent space, a tiny star suddenly appeared in the deep, abyss-like sky and slowly began to fall.

Suddenly, a stone statue began to tremble, and countless cracks appeared.

Soon, more stone statues began to shake, and with a "crackling" sound, it seemed as if countless fragments were falling as the statues shook.

"star……"

"The Star of Man..."

"The time has come..."

With a crash, a huge crack appeared in the head of a stone statue, revealing a fiercely burning eye that shone with a crimson light.

The next instant, a red beam of light shot into the sky.

However, a transparent barrier suddenly appeared in mid-air, reflecting the light back like a mirror and carving huge furrows in the valley.

At the same time, the constantly flickering screen in the control room suddenly started flashing, and then turned into static.

……

The signal was lost, but the landing module did not crash. Instead, it continued to descend, and the stone statues below began to stir. One statue crouched down and then leaped up with a bang, shooting out like a cannonball. Just as it was about to make contact with the landing module, a chain suddenly appeared on its body.

The next instant, the chain turned from a blur to a solid lock, and with a bang, it gripped it tightly.

The landing module also stopped descending. It stopped more than 100 meters above the valley, where there was clearly nothing, but it seemed to have landed steadily on a piece of glass and remained motionless.

"Its power..."

"Weakened..."

In the next instant, countless stone statues came to life. They leaped up, only to be held in mid-air by chains. Then new stone statues ran upwards along those materialized chains, only to be pulled back by newly appearing chains.

Countless stone statues eventually piled up in the valley like a human pyramid, growing higher and higher, while the chains also multiplied, binding the stone statues together like rice dumplings.

Below, the stone statue that had just emitted red light crouched down, then suddenly began to run wildly, galloping up the mountain of stone statues that was like a stone pillar, tightly bound by thousands of chains. Countless chains emerged from the ground again, trying to stop it, but a blood-red spear appeared in its hand, blocking the chains and preventing them from binding it for the time being.

But a phantom chain appeared on its body, and just as it reached the top of the stone pillar, the chain turned from phantom to solid, instantly pulling it down. The enormous pulling force even made the entire valley tremble.

However, he threw the spear in his hand, which suddenly turned into a blood-red meteor and pierced through the transparent dome with a "bang," firmly fixing it there.

The entire valley trembled violently, and the transparent barrier suddenly lit up with a blinding light. The next instant, with a "crack," the dome severed the spear and returned to its original state.

However, the crimson spear tip that had broken off outside the dome twitched, then sprang up like a worm and leaped into the landing device.

Immediately, the six metal legs of the landing module came to life, crouched down to gather strength, and then suddenly leaped into the air.

Several chains, like long snake tentacles, chased after it from below, but the landing craft suddenly disappeared from the air, leaping hundreds of meters higher and breaking free of the chains.

At the same time, the landing engine, which had clearly run out of fuel, emitted a blue exhaust flame and rushed toward the work capsule that was stationary in lunar orbit in deep space at an astonishing speed.

……

"What's going on? The signal's gone..."

In the Earth command center, people were checking various parameters in bewilderment, trying to find the reason for the disappearance of the landing module's signal.

Just then, a researcher noticed the data on the screen, paused for a moment, and asked, "Director, our landing module doesn't have a return plan, does it?"

"It seems to be returning to lunar orbit!"

(End of this chapter)