145: Chapter 145 Something on the far side of the moon? Wasteland ruins?

"Hiss—" The sound of the airlock depressurizing drilled clearly into everyone's eardrums through their bone-conduction headsets.

As the heavy alloy airlock door slowly slid open.

A realm of absolute silence was revealed before them without reservation.

No wind. No insect chirps. Only endless darkness and the gray-white land beneath their feet, desolate to the extreme.

This was the Far Side of the Moon.

It was the land of shadow that Earth could never peer into, a forbidden zone that had only existed in human imagination for billions of years.

"Boss... are we really going out?" Zhao Gang's voice sounded in the channel, carrying a hint of obvious trembling.

He looked down at the "protective suit" on his body, which was as thin as sportswear, and then at the vacuum environment outside that was cold enough to freeze an elephant, his heart pounding.

"Isn't this too thin? Can it protect against radiation? What if it leaks?"

"Don't worry, it won't leak." Jiang Chen took the first step, his specialized magnetic combat boots pressing into the lunar soil, leaving a silent ripple of dust.

He turned his head, and through the transparent visor, rolled his eyes at Zhao Gang:

"This is the 'Nano Environmental Adaptation Suit' from the Wasteland. Don't look at how thin it is; its radiation protection is thicker than tank armor."

"Besides, if it really leaks, don't bother struggling." Jiang Chen pointed to the deep starry sky above:

"Just take a deep breath and enjoy your last three seconds on Earth."

Zhao Gang: "..." This boss never had anything good to say!

"Alright, stop joking around." Academician Chen Shuyin carried the silver toolbox and followed closely behind.

Compared to Zhao Gang's nervousness, this female academician was as excited as a child who had just entered an amusement park.

She completely ignored the darkness surrounding them, which was enough to cause thalassophobia, her eyes fixed intently on the multi-functional detector in her hand, the data on the screen jumping wildly.

"The magnetic field response here... is too abnormal!" Academician Chen Shuyin's voice turned sharp with excitement:

"It's tens of thousands of times stronger than Earth's surface! And it has a rhythmic pulse! It's like..."

She suddenly raised her head and looked at the huge crater in the distance: "It's like something is breathing down there!"

"It's right ahead." Jiang Chen narrowed his eyes; on his retina, the system's red arrow pointed the way.

That "high-energy reaction source" that had troubled the system for so long and even triggered a plane oscillation was at the bottom of that crater.

"Let's go!" The three of them hesitated no longer, leaping forward like kangaroos in the low-gravity environment.

A few minutes later, they stood at the edge of the massive crater, which was several kilometers in diameter.

The searchlight's beam pierced straight toward the crater floor along the steep walls. In that instant, everyone's breathing stopped.

There were no rocks or dust there. On a patch of ground that had been cleared clean, stood a metal pyramid, full of geometric beauty and entirely silver-white.

Only its apex was exposed above ground, while the majority of its body was buried deep within the moon.

That material, that luster, and those ghostly blue runes flowing endlessly on the tower's body.

"This... this definitely wasn't formed by Nature!" Zhao Gang couldn't even steady the gun in his hand. "Is this an alien base? The lair of the Transformers?"

Academician Chen Shuyin didn't speak. She seemed to be drawn by some kind of magic, leaping into the crater regardless of the danger, and rushing to the front of the metal tower.

She reached out, trembling as she touched the cold, smooth wall through her glove. Then, she suddenly pulled a portable spectrometer from the toolbox and scanned the wall.

"Beep—" The moment the analysis results came out, Academician Chen Shuyin's pupils contracted sharply.

"Jiang Chen! Come look at this!" She held up the analyzer, her voice filled with unbelievable shock: "This material... this molecular arrangement structure..."

"It's exactly the same as the skeleton of that maid, Ikaros!" "And it's exactly the same as the warship you brought back from the Wasteland!"

Academician Chen Shuyin turned her head abruptly, staring fixedly at Jiang Chen as if she had discovered a shocking secret: "This isn't an alien!"

"Or rather... this is the 'Gaia Civilization'!" "That super civilization that created the Wasteland technology had already built a base on the Far Side of the Moon... tens of thousands of years ago?!"

Jiang Chen stood behind her, watching the towering structure. In fact, he had known it for a long time.

From the moment the system indicated a "homologous signal," he had guessed it. However, seeing this thing standing on the moon with his own eyes, the visual impact still made his heart palpitate.

"It seems our neighbor is an old acquaintance." Jiang Chen rubbed his chin, a playful arc appearing on the corner of his mouth. "Since it's an old acquaintance, let's not be polite."

He walked to the tightly closed door, which was engraved with a complex spiral emblem. There was no doorbell, nor any door handle. Obviously, this door was not intended to welcome uninvited guests.

"Boss, how do we get in?" Zhao Gang held his gun and knocked on the smooth door panel. "How about... I go find some explosives? I just happened to bring a case of C4 down from the elevator."

"Rude." Jiang Chen rolled his eyes at him. "This is a high-tech relic; using explosives is so impolite."

Saying that, he pulled out from his pocket the high-frequency laser cutter he had brought back from the Wasteland, specifically designed for cutting through warship armor.

"Zzz—!" The red laser beam spewed out instantly. "This is what we call... technical lock-picking."

Jiang Chen chuckled and cut directly into the gap of the door. "Click—Boom!"

No matter how hard the alloy was, it couldn't withstand this unreasonable, violent cracking method. With a spray of sparks, the door, which had been sealed for hundreds of millions of years, collapsed with a teeth-grinding metallic groan.

A stale airflow with a faint scent of ozone surged out from behind the door. "Move in!" Jiang Chen took the lead and stepped into this unknown territory.

The space behind the door was huge. And it wasn't dark. The moment they stepped into the hall, the lights on the surrounding walls seemed to sense something, lighting up one by one, illuminating the entire space like daylight.

This place was still operational. Even after countless centuries, the energy core here was still beating.

"That is..." Academician Chen Shuyin's gaze was instantly drawn to something in the center of the hall.

It was a circular platform. Floating on the platform was a semi-transparent, oval-shaped capsule emitting a soft white light.

Its shape, its streamlines, it was just like a giant crystal egg. And inside that "egg," a small, curled-up figure was vaguely visible.

"A stasis pod?" Jiang Chen raised his eyebrows. He had seen this thing in that ruin in the Wasteland; at that time, it contained Ikaros.

Could it be... that there was also a mechanical maid inside? "Old Zhao, keep watch." Jiang Chen made a gesture, then lightened his footsteps and walked over slowly.

He leaned close to the semi-transparent capsule, squinting, trying to see what was inside. It wasn't a robot. At least, it didn't look like one.

It was a little girl who looked only seven or eight years old. She had long, silver-white hair floating like a waterfall in the pale blue nutrient solution. Her skin was so fair it was almost transparent, and her features were as exquisite as if drawn with the finest paintbrush. But the most eye-catching thing was her ears. They were...