The alarm box was still flashing, a glaring red.

Chen Hao finished chewing the last bite of the biscuit, feeling a bit choked as he swallowed. He didn't drink any water, just stared at the purple light screen. Susan's hand was still on the emergency light; the light was no longer needed, but she didn't let go. Carl slowly stood up from the box, walked to the edge of the control panel, and traced a path prediction chart on the panel.

“The detour will add fourteen days to the journey,” he said, “not counting potential spatial disturbances along the way.”

"Then let's not go around it," Chen Hao said. "We just repaired the boat; we can't just turn around and run away as soon as we see a glowing mosquito net, can we?"

Susan glanced at him: "This isn't a mosquito net."

"Pretty much." Chen Hao shrugged. "Isn't it just a barrier? It can stop people, but they can also get through."

Nana ignored them; the data stream on the screen was scrolling rapidly. She activated the deep scan protocol, breaking down the energy waveform into three frequency segments, which were then superimposed on the ring structure model. A few seconds later, a faint fluctuation point was highlighted in red.

“Found it,” she said. “The barrier has a low-frequency oscillation zone, with an energy drop every eleven minutes, lasting for forty-seven seconds. That might be where the connection node is loose.”

“What do you mean?” Carl asked.

“It means we can give it a try,” Chen Hao grinned. “We’ll sneak over when it’s ‘dozing off’.”

"That is, if it actually does nap," Susan whispered.

Nana retrieved information from the robot's knowledge base. A text message popped up on the screen: **"A toroidal energy field appeared in ancient space stabilization engineering simulations, serving to isolate regions of high-dimensional disturbance."**

“It’s not a weapon,” she explained. “It’s more like… a seal.”

"What are you sealing off?" Chen Hao asked.

"I don't know. But since it's sealed, there must be something wrong with it."

“The outside environment isn’t very friendly either.” Karl pointed to the sensor readings. “After getting closer, the shield has started to absorb trace amounts of radiation. Although it hasn’t exceeded the limit yet, the system will have to automatically reduce the frequency when it gets any closer, about 20,000 kilometers away.”

Chen Hao touched the control lever; his palms were a little sweaty. He wiped his pants and then put his hand back down.

“That’s what we’ll do,” he said. “I’ll slowly inch forward, and you guys keep an eye on things. If the boat suddenly starts shaking, I’ll back up.”

“It doesn’t start shaking suddenly,” Nana corrected. “It’s when the vibration frequency is synchronized with the barrier pulse that a resonance effect occurs, which may lead to structural fatigue fracture.”

"Oh." Chen Hao nodded. "So that means a little shaking is fine, but if you're shaken like a sieve, you have to run."

"correct."

Susan took a deep breath: "I'll go get the dashcam."

“No need,” Nana said. “I’ve already activated full-band monitoring, and all data is archived in real time. You just need to pay attention to sensory abnormalities—such as distorted light, tinnitus, or numbness in the skin—these are things the instruments might not detect.”

Susan nodded and stood to Chen Hao's right. Carl walked to the power reserve area, opened the manual control valve, and was ready to reverse-engine accelerate at any time.

The spaceship moved forward slowly.

At a distance of 80,000 kilometers from the barrier, the purple light curtain suddenly lit up for a moment. Six spiral light bands unfolded from the edges, as if some mechanism had been activated. The lights in the main control room flickered briefly before returning to normal.

“The shield frequency is off by 0.6 Hz,” Nana said. “It’s automatically correcting itself.”

"Has it spotted us?" Susan asked.

“I’m not sure,” Nana said, staring at the waveform. “But it did react to the approach of external forces.”

Chen Hao stopped advancing. "Let's stay put and see what it means."

One minute later, the light curtain's rotation speed returned to normal, and the spiral band retracted to the edge.

"It seems it won't bother us as long as we don't move," Chen Hao laughed. "It's quite polite."

“Don’t mess with it,” Carl said. “We only have one ship, and it has a hundred ways to kill us.”

“I know.” Chen Hao raised his hand. “I won’t touch it. I’ll just watch when it blinks.”

Nana continued analyzing the data. She drew three possible infiltration paths on the 3D model and finally identified one—located in the southeast quadrant of the barrier, where the energy fluctuations were weakest and the path was significantly misaligned with the pulse cycle.

“Here,” she pointed to the crowd, “the next low-frequency window will open in nine minutes and twenty-three seconds. If we can get through the initial contact layer within forty-seven seconds, we’ll have a chance to enter the buffer zone.”

"And then?" Susan asked.

"Then see if there's a road inside," Chen Hao said. "If not, we'll come back. Anyway, we have electricity now, so we don't have to worry about the engine stalling halfway."

"That is, the ship is still movable," Carl cautioned. "Once it is locked, the propulsion system may be forcibly shut off."

“Then we’ll remove the stitches manually.” Chen Hao patted his pocket. “I still have pliers.”

No one laughed.

Nana started the countdown program. A set of numbers appeared on the screen: **553 seconds**.

For the next while, none of the four moved. Chen Hao rested his hands on the joystick, his eyes fixed on the main screen. Susan stood beside him, her fingers tapping her thigh slowly. Carl stood guard in front of the emergency button, his knees slightly bent, as if ready to pounce at any moment. Nana's data stream kept updating, occasionally a warning popped up, which she quickly dealt with.

Five minutes later, the alarm sounded softly once.

“Shield resonance warning,” Nana said. “There are still two levels to go before the critical value. I suggest adjusting the attitude angle by three degrees to avoid the current interference band.”

Chen Hao made a slight adjustment to the steering stick. The boat swayed gently before stabilizing again.

“Okay,” he said. “Now you’re like a good boy.”

Three minutes later, with ten seconds left on the countdown, Nana spoke: "Prepare to cut in. Keep the speed at seventy percent of the rated value to avoid an excessive impact."

"Understood." Chen Hao gripped the control stick tightly.

"Six, five, four..." Susan counted softly.

“Don’t count,” Carl said. “What if you miscount?”

"Three, two..."

Chen Hao putts the ball.

The spaceship slowly glided forward.

As they approached 78,000 kilometers, the purple light curtain changed again. This time, the spiral bands at the edges did not fully unfold, but fluctuated in a slow, contracting manner, like breathing. The air in the main control room seemed to become heavier, and a slight buzzing sound came from their ears.

"Resonance frequency matching successful," Nana said. "The shield has shifted away from the interference band and is currently stable."

"Are we going in?" Susan asked.

“It’s still outside,” Nana said, pointing to the data, “but it’s already on the surface.”

The ship shuddered slightly.

"What was that just now?" Chen Hao asked.

“Contact feedback,” Nana replied. “The barrier surface has a dynamic defense mechanism that is scanning the properties of foreign objects.”

Is it checking ID cards?

"That's one way to understand it. If it's deemed a threat, a repulsive force field will be triggered within three seconds."

"So, are we law-abiding citizens?"

"Currently rated as 'Unknown individual', not marked as hostile."

"That's good, at least they didn't block me on the spot."

The tremor lasted for less than a second before disappearing. The rotation rhythm of the light screen remained unchanged.

"Looks like it's giving us a second look," Chen Hao breathed a sigh of relief. "Does that mean we can come here often?"

“That doesn’t mean crossing over is allowed,” Nana said. “The next step is crucial—once it enters a low-frequency period, we must break through the first layer of the interface within forty-seven seconds. Otherwise, we’ll be ejected along the same path, which could even trigger a chain reaction.”

"What is a chain reaction?" Susan asked.

“For example, the entire barrier suddenly closes,” Carl continued, “leaving us trapped in the middle.”

"Ah," Chen Hao nodded, "That's indeed not a good idea."

The countdown has restarted: **10 minutes and 18 seconds**.

This time, no one spoke. The atmosphere was even more tense than before. The veins on the back of Chen Hao's hands were faintly visible, but he didn't wipe the sweat or change his posture. Susan stood against the wall, her breathing slow and deliberate. Carl's hand remained on the emergency button, his knuckles white. Nana's screen kept refreshing parameters, a new message popping up every few seconds, which she quickly confirmed and closed.

Nine minutes later, the countdown entered its final thirty seconds.

Nana looked up: "Ready. Attitude calibration complete, shield frequency locked, data logging activated."

Chen Hao nodded.

"Ten, nine, eight..." Susan started counting again.

“I told you not to count.” Carl frowned.

"Seven, six..."

Chen Hao's finger hovered above the push rod.

"May 4th..."

The spiral bands at the edge of the light curtain began to shrink, and the purple brightness decreased.

"Low-frequency window open!" Nana said.

Chen Hao pushed the ball all the way to the bottom.

The spacecraft lunged forward a short distance and instantly crashed into an invisible membrane. The entire cabin shook violently, the lights flickered twice, and the navigation system lost contact for 0.7 seconds.

"We made it through!" Nana shouted. "Breaking through the first layer!"

The distance reading on the dashboard jumped: **kilometers**.

“We’ve entered the buffer zone,” she said, “but we’re not out of the danger zone yet.”

Chen Hao relaxed a little, but continued pushing forward. "What's next?"

“Wait for the next window.” Nana looked at the newly generated data. “If the model is correct, there is a second barrier inside, which is stronger, but it also has periodic fluctuations.”

"So we have to wait for it to blink?"

"right."

“Okay.” Chen Hao leaned back in his chair. “Then let’s wait here and see if it yawns.”

Susan let out a long sigh of relief; her legs felt a little weak. Carl finally took his hand off the button and rubbed his wrist.

Nana continued modeling. A new 3D structure unfolded on the main screen, more complex than the outer layer, with a blurry energy cluster in the central region whose properties were unidentifiable.

Chen Hao stared at that spot for a long time.

"What do you think is locked up in there?" he asked.

Nana shook her head: "There is no match in the database."

"Shall we go in and take a look?"

"It's possible they won't be able to get out."

“But we’re already at the door.” Chen Hao smiled. “We’re already here, it would be too embarrassing to turn around and leave.”

He reached for the joystick and tapped the metal casing with his knuckles.

How long until the next window?