Chapter 394: The Star of Humanity

Four days later.

In lunar orbit, a landing module resembling a spider with six legs detached from the work module and began its orbit around the moon following a vast arc. After several adjustments in angle, the landing module was captured by the moon's gravity, gradually stabilizing its descent trajectory. Then, the cover in front of the camera opened, and for the first time, the module caught sight of that desolate celestial body.

Protected by a magic isolation coating on the external armor enchantment, the high-speed camera and advanced chip stably transmitted data to the work module, which then relayed it back to Earth via a high-power laser communication device.

Two seconds later, the lunar landing command center on Earth saw that image as well.

It was a view of the near side of the moon.

A cheer erupted in the command center. At this point, the mission was considered essentially complete. The three items for verification: the usability of the Floating Charm during launch, the reliability of the Seamless Expansion Charm for long-distance travel, and the stability of communication, had all achieved successful results.

From then on, every second the exploration satellite remained operational was an extra gain.

Everyone relaxed, with some people moving around and patting each other on the shoulders.

Murphy, however, was still waiting. The landing module's orbital position was too high; at the moment, it could only see ring-shaped mountains and the like.

It needed to get closer.

"According to our latest calculations, the location of those prime materials should be right at the center of the moon's far side. The landing module can land there after two decelerations."

More than ten hours later, after circling the moon once, the module decelerated again, gradually descending towards the lunar surface, and finally lowered to a sufficiently low position. It swiftly flew over the lunar surface from the near side to the far side.

It swiftly passed over the Jules Verne crater, decelerated once more, adjusted its landing position, then passed over the Tsiolkovsky crater. Ahead lay the designated landing site in the center of the moon's far side, in a valley within the Soviet mountain range.

The position of the sun was just right, providing a very clear view. The high-speed camera clearly transmitted the scenery of the moon's far side back to the control room.

A magnificent mountain range appeared in the module's view. The range was very irregular, dotted with towering cliffs and abyss-like valleys. The module further reduced its speed, the landing engine ignited, and after the third attitude adjustment from about 15 kilometers above, it began to slowly descend.

Below was an area enclosed by towering lunar rocks, but deeper within, it was shrouded in darkness due to the angle of sunlight.

"They look like... man-made structures..." someone suddenly remarked.

Murphy also noticed the shapes of those lunar rocks; indeed, compared to the odd shapes elsewhere or the impact craters formed by meteorites, these lunar rocks seemed too regular in shape. They formed a circle but didn't seem like the result of a meteorite impact. They had roughly similar contours, almost as if several ring-shaped stones were stacked to form a well.

"Something's not right with these," someone exclaimed in surprise. "Although there haven't been probes observing from this altitude, photos from higher altitudes have been taken before. If it looked like this, it should have been discovered a long time ago..."

Murphy frowned, suddenly remembering the term "magic noticeability effect."

At that moment, the high-speed camera seemed to malfunction, flickering constantly. A few glimpses revealed the shadows of numerous columns with irregular outlines below.

But before they could get a clearer view, a blazing red glow suddenly lit up from below.

---

In the gloomy depths enclosed by the ring-shaped lunar rocks, numerous tall stone statues stood in the valley. They were in various poses, most severely damaged, some even lying on the ground, shattered into pieces. Yet many statues looked as if they were newly carved, seemingly untouched by time or weather.

In the eternal silence of the space, a tiny starlight suddenly appeared in the abyss-like sky above, slowly falling.

Suddenly, one of the statues trembled, cracking into numerous fissures.

Soon, more statues began to shake, "crackling" as if countless debris fell with their movements.

"Star..." 

"The Star of Humanity..."

"The time has come..."

With a whoosh, a giant crack opened on the head of one statue, revealing an eye burning with scarlet fire.

The next moment, a red beam shot into the sky.

However, an invisible barrier suddenly appeared in mid-air, reflecting the beam back down, carving a massive trench in the valley.

In the control room, the flickering images suddenly became a blur of static...

The signal was lost, but the landing module didn't crash. Instead, it continued to descend, stirring the statues below into motion. One statue crouched down and then, with a roar, leaped up like a cannonball, seemingly about to make contact with the module. Just then, a chain appeared out of nowhere, pulling it back with a thud.

The module also stopped descending, hovering about a hundred meters above the valley as if it had landed on a glass surface.

"Its power..."

"Has weakened..."

The next moment, countless statues began to move, leaping up only to be restrained by chains in mid-air. New statues climbed the chains, reaching for the module, only to be captured by newly emerging chains.

The statues eventually stacked up like a pillar, bound by numerous chains like a wrapped dumpling.

Below, the statue that had emitted the red beam ran forward, breaking free from the chains with a blood-red spear in hand. As it reached the top of the pillar, a real chain appeared out of nowhere, pulling it back with such force that the entire valley trembled.

But the spear was thrown into the transparent dome above, piercing it and firmly sticking there.

The valley shook violently, the dome lighting up blindingly before snapping the spear in two, restoring its integrity.

However, the broken spear tip outside the dome twitched and then, like a worm, jumped into the landing module.

Immediately, the module's six metal legs came to life, crouching before leaping into the air, evading the chains that pursued it from below. The module then disappeared from mid-air, reappearing hundreds of meters higher, escaping the chains.

Simultaneously, the landing engine, which had run out of fuel, burst into blue flames, propelling the module at an astonishing speed back towards the work module orbiting the moon.

---

"What happened? The signal's gone..."

In the Earth's control room, people were perplexed, checking parameters to find the reason behind the landing module's signal loss.

At that moment, a researcher noticed the data on the screen and paused, "Director, our landing module wasn't scheduled to return, was it?"

"It seems to be returning to lunar orbit!"

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