Chapter 1 Hanxi City, Guangming District, High-Rise Residential Building

A middle-aged man named Sun Liancheng stood on the balcony, humming a song as he adjusted a telescope and planetary camera.

He was the former leader of Guangming District, now retired at home due to setbacks in his career, feeling disheartened.

His usual hobby was astronomy. He often took children from the Youth Palace to see the stars, and occasionally took photos of celestial bodies himself, uploading them to astronomy enthusiasts' forums. Life was Buddhist and leisurely.

Today, he was preparing to photograph the moon.

Previously, the *Shenlong* (mythical dragon) broke through the clouds, left Earth's orbit, crossed the vacuum, and landed in the center of *Jinghai* (Sea of Tranquility, a lunar basin 1700 meters below the lunar surface), and began to spew grayish-white mist, causing the mist to form a complex architectural complex in the ancient Eastern style.

A human-like female life form hid under the heavy mist.

Professionals from aerospace agencies in various regions made countless efforts to try to detect what was under the clouds, or to directly contact the *Shenlong*.

Unfortunately, various scientific instruments could not see through the cloud.

Whether it was ultraviolet-visible light cameras, near-infrared CCD cameras, laser altimeters, high-resolution cameras, or charged particle telescopes, gamma-ray spectrometers, magnetometers, or neutron spectrometers,

when sweeping across the vast cloud of vapor, comparable to a meteorite crater, they could not obtain any data feedback, as if they had encountered an information black hole.

For the sake of Earth's safety (lunar tidal forces are related to marine ecology) and stable public sentiment, the aerospace agency accelerated the lunar exploration project, launching a lander carrying scientific instruments and communication equipment towards the northeastern direction of the lunar surface, landing on the edge of the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace.

Finally, according to the aerospace agency, after entering the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace, the lander transmitted some important information, but soon lost contact with the dedicated relay communication satellite outside Earth's orbit and the ground command center.

The originally set "automatically leave the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace after losing contact" program seemed to have failed.

As for the content of the important information, it was probably that the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace had no physical entity, the energy fluctuation was very stable, and there was no serious threat to humans for the time being, so everyone should rest assured.

Although the aerospace departments of various regions unanimously agreed to confirm the situation of the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace and the *Shenlong* as soon as possible, landing on the moon was not as simple as going out to buy groceries. Even with strong financial support and various novel technologies brought back from the Killing Game (sha chang you xi),

the lunar landing and manned landing project still had to be slowly advanced and could not be implemented immediately.

This also set off a small-scale astronomy craze in various places. The clouds in the *Jinghai* crater were not static, but were changing every moment. Sometimes, through the thin clouds, one could see the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace architectural complex below, which was also changing.

Astronomy enthusiasts took pictures of the lunar surface every day and uploaded them to online platforms, recording the appearance of the architectural complex.

"I wonder what kind of photos I can take today..."

Sun Liancheng muttered to himself, slowly adjusting the height of the tripod.

The balcony door behind him opened, and Sun Pengmiao, Sun Liancheng's son who was still in junior high school, walked over with two cups of hot coffee, handing one to his father.

Under Sun Liancheng's influence, Sun Pengmiao had also developed a strong interest in astronomy since he was a child. He had won the second prize in the Hanxi Youth Astronomy Science Competition, and the star photos he took had appeared on magazine covers many times.

In the real world, Sun Pengmiao had excellent grades, was sensible and obedient, but his personality was relatively withdrawn, he didn't have many friends, and he usually liked to study computers, astronomy, mathematics, and other things.

Above his ordinary life, Sun Pengmiao also had two other identities - hacker and *wanjia* (player).

To be more precise, he was ranked 181st on the personal combat power list, Lv21, 【Asynchronous Call·LAn】, the fifth seat of the Syndicate disciple.

Compared with the pale and thin, weak teenager image when playing the identity of LAn,

Sun Pengmiao in the real world was undoubtedly much more normal.

He watched his father adjust the camera, and slowly took a sip of coffee, "Dad, my scholarship for this semester is coming soon, and with some New Year's red envelopes, I'll buy a *da hei* (big black). This *xiao hei* (small black) has been used for several years."

*Xiao Hei* refers to the Xingda bkp telescope, and *da hei* is its large-aperture, high-configuration version.

"You can keep the scholarship for yourself."

Sun Liancheng said absentmindedly: "Dad doesn't need you to buy it. When it's on sale, I'll buy a large-aperture APO..."

You didn't buy it last time when it was on sale, did you?

LAn slandered in his heart, but did not show it on his face.

"By the way, the final exam is coming soon, you probably can't secretly get up to play games at night."

Sun Liancheng slapped his arm, driving away the mosquitoes on his hand,

He put his head close to the planetary camera and nagged: "There is a direct-entry class in Shida Affiliated High School, which has very strong teachers. You will have the high school entrance examination next year, so you can't slack off. It's best to get into the direct-entry class, so the learning atmosphere will be better, and your mother will usually say less about me taking you to run around and play."

Hey, are you still calling me to get up in the middle of the night to take pictures of the moon with you?

LAn, leaning against the balcony, twitched the corner of his eyes. He slowly drank his coffee, and with a thought, the mosquitoes hovering around this residential building seemed to sense something, and naturally flew away.

"Um..."

Completely immersed in astronomical photography, Sun Liancheng didn't notice anything outside. He looked at the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace gradually becoming clearer in the lens, and sighed with emotion.

The universe is vast, time and space are infinite. Compared with the ancient nebula, what are humans? What are those moths and dog-like worms who are addicted to intrigue and struggle in their careers? They are just ants and dust...

LAn on the side was staring blankly at a small spider web under the eaves of the balcony, somewhat lost in thought.

In the electronic game script world with an unusually fast flow of time last time, he spent sixteen years after forgetting all his memories, even longer than "Sun Pengmiao" lived.

If that life is also counted as age, he is already in his thirties now...

Clap.

The sound of a chair leg rubbing against the ground came from the side. LAn turned his head to look, and saw Sun Liancheng suddenly stood up, his eyes still on the planetary camera, but his face was full of astonishment and disbelief.

"This, this..."

LAn frowned, and a very faint light lit up in the depths of his eyes, and his five senses were suddenly amplified.

His gaze swept across the sky, and the vision that was strengthened dozens of times instantly saw clearly the source of Sun Liancheng's shock - the vast sky, above the moon, the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace was slowly disintegrating,

A giant dragon head composed of clouds stretched out from the center of the Cloud Palace, silently gazing in the direction of the earth.

"That's a dragon..."

Sun Liancheng's words stopped abruptly. His consciousness was affected by the mental power released by LAn, his pupils dilated unconsciously, and his surprised expression returned to calm. Like a sleepwalker, he stood up silently, turned and walked into the bedroom, and fell asleep next to his wife.

LAn didn't look back, and continued to stare at the moon. The expanded five senses let him know that his father had returned to the bedroom, and a mental barrier released by LAn permeated the entire room.

The *Shenlong* on the moon had unfathomable strength, immeasurable. For this level of legendary life, mortals are in danger just by gazing at it.

How long has it been? The *Shenlong* has been silent...

【Teacher asked me to tell everyone to log in to the square.】

In the friend system, a message notification came from 【Shi Kong】 (Lost Control).

LAn took a deep breath, 【What's wrong? Is it related to *Shenlong*?】

【I'm only responsible for conveying the message.】

Shi Kong replied.

LAn pursed his lips slightly, glanced at his sleeping parents in the bedroom, and his figure did not disappear in place.

————

At this moment, it was not only astronomy enthusiasts like Sun Liancheng who were observing the moon,

Observation stations established by aerospace agencies of various countries automatically uploaded the abnormal information to the Extraordinary Affairs Management Agency. Within ten minutes, the information was reported layer by layer, and countless phone calls were made.

Super-high-resolution photos of the *Jinghai* Cloud Palace dragon head sent back by the Lro Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter appeared on the desks of high-level executives of Extraordinary Affairs Management Agencies everywhere.

In the corridor walls of the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters building, the warning lights lit up in red, symbolizing the highest level of hazard. Employees wearing Special Affairs Bureau work uniforms ran in the corridor, returning to their respective work positions.

Whoosh—

A breeze blew through the corridor, all the way to the door of a dormitory on the upper floor of the Special Affairs Bureau headquarters building.

The wind stopped abruptly, and the figure of Zhu Xuemin slid out of the wind.

He was holding a stack of newly printed lunar surface photos in his hand, took a deep breath, and knocked on the wooden door of the dormitory.

"Enter."

The calm voice did not come from inside the door, but directly in his ears.

Zhu Xuemin exhaled a mouthful of turbid air, and put his hand on the doorknob.

Click.

The door opened in response, but it was not an ordinary dormitory room, but a vast mountain top scene.

The lush forest, the misty clouds, the soft soil underfoot, the crisp birdsong heard in the ears, and the forest air with moisture that was breathed in, all indicated that this was not an illusion.

At the top of the mountain, there was a simple octagonal viewing pavilion. On the stone table in the pavilion, there was a *guzheng* (Chinese zither), an incense burner,

A white-skirted figure stood behind the stone table, looking at the distant mountain scenery.

Zhu Xuemin walked towards the viewing pavilion on the stone steps, not daring to look directly at the white-skirted back, hesitating in his mind how to open his mouth.

The other party's relationship with the contemporary Society of Supernormal Abilities was too complicated. Should he call her Senior Sister? Or should he call her Master? Grandmaster?

"That dragon is fine."

The white-skirted figure, or Su Nisheng, answered his question before Zhu Xuemin could open his mouth, "She is just vigilant."

"Vigilant about what?"

Zhu Xuemin asked subconsciously, and immediately realized his tone, and hurriedly added, "Grandmaster."

Su Nisheng didn't turn her head, and said lightly: "Something is trying to drill through the wall."

"Wall?"

Zhu Xuemin was confused again, but in the next moment, Su Nisheng's figure had disappeared in place, leaving only a breeze, disturbing the white smoke rising from the incense burner.

————

21 billion kilometers away from Earth, in the deep space where no human has set foot.

A door appeared in the void without any warning.

This door was suspected to be made of wood, with a pink surface, and the doorknob was made of circular metal, looking unremarkable.

The doorknob turned slowly. If this were not in a vacuum, there would have been the sound of the doorknob turning.

The door was pushed open from the inside.

A chubby spacesuit with a height of more than one meter walked out of the door - the inside of the door also sparkled with brilliant starlight, but judging from the distribution of the starlight, it definitely did not belong to the star field where the solar system was located.

Lights were on inside the mask of the spacesuit. With the help of the light, one could see that there was a penguin-like creature inside, with blue feathers on its back, white feathers on its chest, a long beak, and a red and white checkered tie below its neck.

"..."

The penguin floated in the void, looking around, and soon found its target in the vast starry sky.

A deep-space probe manufactured in the 1970s, using a radioisotope thermoelectric generator, with a mass of 815 kilograms.

Voyager 1.

This probe had seen the aurora on the dark side of Jupiter, photographed the colorful photos of Saturn, and looked back from 6 billion kilometers away from Earth, taking a group photo of the planets of the solar system - the Earth, which carries countless lives, gave birth to a brilliant civilization, and was given various sacred meanings by mankind, was just an inconspicuous pale blue dot shrouded in the light of the stars.

Voyager 1's plasma subsystem stopped operating thirteen years ago, and the planetary radio astronomy experiment stagnated twelve years ago. Its data tape drive, gyroscope, and various scientific instruments have also stopped running due to lack of energy.

If there are no accidents, in five years it will fall into irreversible sleep because it does not have the power to supply any single instrument, and will be permanently out of contact with humans.

Like a drifting bottle, it will move forward alone into the depths of the universe until it is picked up by the next "person".

A penguin named Akili silently floated in the void and took out a strangely shaped pocket watch.

His calculations were accurate,

This door appeared in front of Voyager 1's trajectory,

The numbers on the pocket watch jumped wildly, clearly showing the real-time distance between the two sides.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and the probe that once carried human hope and ambition continued to approach and gradually enlarge.

Finally, it sped past fifty meters to the side of the door.

No human noticed that the pocket watch was filled with huge and gentle electrical energy,

At the moment Voyager 1 passed by, electricity poured into the sleeping ancient astronomical probe.

The instrument was reactivated, data began to be transmitted, and all the artificial information carried by Voyager 1 was clearly projected onto Akili's spacesuit mask.

Among them, there was the copper-plated gold record, which recorded greetings in 55 human languages and various kinds of music.

"This is a gift from a small, distant world, bearing our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours..."

Akili recited the greeting on the record in clear and fluent English.

A faint sadness flashed in the depths of his black eyes. He gently closed the pink wooden door, opened it again, and the starry sky outside the door changed again, just as if this door could freely travel through the star field and land at any location.

Akili walked through the door and closed it again.

————

Moon surface, Sea of Tranquility, Cloud Palace.

The *Shenlong* head formed by clouds silently gazed at the deep starry sky.

The *Hanba* (drought demon) sitting cross-legged on the dragon's head seemed to sense something and said lightly: "He has arrived."

Hearing this, the *Shenlong* head slowly descended, carrying the *Hanba* to the bottom of the clouds, and rapidly dived, close to the ground of the Sea of Tranquility.

There, a pink door had appeared at some unknown time, standing quietly on the lunar soil.

Akili, standing outside the door, looked up at the huge dragon head diving down, without any panic on his face.

Boom!

The giant dragon formed by solidified clouds landed on the ground, the ground trembled, and cracks opened.

The dragon head drooped slightly, the *Hanba* slid down along the scales and landed on the ground, looking at the penguin in the spacesuit in front of him expressionlessly.

The muscles at the edge of Akili's beak twitched, forming a smile, and he gave a flamboyant bow in his chubby spacesuit, "Hello, the strongest in the Crystal Wall System.

I travel through the Void Sea for peace."

"..."

The *Hanba* folded her arms in front of her, looked Akili up and down, and said lightly: "I am not the strongest, you have found the wrong person."

"At the present when other great beings have either died and disappeared, or have fallen asleep and have not fully awakened, you are the strongest in the Crystal Wall."

Akili smiled gently, "The Doorway War is about to begin. I would like to know if you have chosen your proxy yet.

If not, I can recommend a few for you..."

"She has already chosen."

A voice came from behind. A middle-aged man in a suit, with a gentle expression and almost no characteristics, walked on the lunar soil. It was Professor of the Syndicate.

An expression of disgust appeared on *Hanba*'s face, and *Shenlong* also narrowed its eyes unkindly, and two long mists spewed out of its nostrils.

Professor stopped in time, and raised his hand somewhat helplessly to indicate that he had no hostility.

Akili looked at Professor with some surprise. There was a special rhythm in the other party, which was very similar to Akili.

A native who has broken through the Crystal Wall System?

No, although the aura is very weak, this man in a suit should be another traveler, but he has been on Earth for too long, so that he has lost most of his aura as a traveler.

"The long-lived species on this planet who are still awake have already chosen their proxies."

Professor smiled at Akili: "I would like to take the liberty to ask, is the Crystal Wall Contract of the previous session still valid?"

Hu Die Lan