Inside the observation cabin of the Tyrannosaurus Rex mech, the buzzing of the astrolabe was more piercing than the roar of the thrusters.
Xuanmingzi's withered fingers gripped the armrest, the star chart beneath his Taoist robe burning his skin through the fabric, dark purple patterns crawling out along the seams of the hem like a venomous snake gnawing at the gold embroidery on the robe.
"Stop!" he suddenly shouted, and the holographic screen in the observation cabin went dark. "Young friend, take a look at the real-time battle report—" He pulled a roll of star chart from his sleeve, on which countless red dots were converging on the far side of the moon. "The invaders have already laid three spatial anchors. Your attempt to force your way in with Long Wu is no different from suicide."
Lin Yi's space-time fighter maintained a five-meter distance from the Tyrannosaurus Mech, and the space-time rift monitor on the fighter's control panel was jumping wildly.
He stared at the approaching lunar shadow outside the porthole, his Adam's apple bobbing. "You said the intruder's anchor core only completes an energy convergence every three hours." He pulled up the tactics panel, his fingertip tracing the blue dots representing his forces. "There are still 72 minutes until the next convergence, enough time for us to destroy the main anchor and cut off their interdimensional teleportation."
"Enough to send them to their deaths!" Xuan Mingzi's palm, slamming against the star chart, bulged with veins. The star-fixing coin slipped from his sleeve, and silver hair from its hole coiled around his wrist. "Three years ago, in the Martian rings, it was this kind of 'enough' that left me and my thirty-seven astrologers barely clinging to life—" He suddenly stopped, a broken cough escaping his throat. The beeping of the star chart abruptly rose. "Young friend, you are the master of time and space, but you are not a god."
The communicator exploded with Long Wu's roar: "You old bastard, you're bringing up old grievances again!"
Back when we were on Mars, I was still digging through permafrost in Siberia! "The Tyrannosaurus Rex mech's mechanical arm slammed heavily against the bulkhead. "Can the situation be the same now?"
Lao Tzu's electromagnetic sword was tempered with three tons of antimatter, and Lin Yi's spacetime rift can block the main anchor's energy flow. The three of us joining forces—"
"Join forces my ass!" Xuan Mingzi suddenly ripped off his Taoist robe, revealing the star chart wrapped around his waist.
Dark purple patterns have covered the surface of the bronze plate, and the engravings that originally represented the Twenty-Eight Mansions are now oozing a liquid like black blood. "Do you see that?"
This lousy plate started going crazy as soon as it entered Earth-Moon orbit!
What did the invaders' flagship do on the far side of the moon? Even my astrological calculations can't predict it!
Lin Yi's pupils suddenly contracted.
He had seen Xuanmingzi's star chart three years ago at the Dunhuang ruins; that thing had accurately calculated the coordinates of an interdimensional wormhole.
The sudden change on the screen felt like an ice pick piercing the back of his neck—a warning more dangerous than any battle report.
"Then we absolutely must go." His voice softened, and the blue light emanating from the fighter jet's thrusters suddenly surged. "If the main anchor is interfering with your astrological magic, it means it's crucial to the invaders." He pulled up the battlefield thermal imaging Chu Yao had just sent; a blinding red patch appeared in the shadows of the moon's far side. "The core area marked by Chu Yao has a temperature 180 degrees lower than the surrounding area—" He curled the corner of his mouth into a smile, "That's a characteristic of the spacetime rift stabilizer."
Xuanmingzi's fingers gripped the edge of the star chart tightly.
A dark purple liquid clung to his fingertips, emitting a putrid metallic smell.
He suddenly remembered the unread message Su Qing had sent him three days ago, and her words, "The astronomical chart is an intruder's..." The metallic taste in his throat surged even more fiercely.
"You have no idea what you're gambling on!" He grabbed the star-fixing coin, his silver hair flying wildly in the airflow of the observation cabin. "Back then, my master gave his life to the astrolabe to break this kind of trap—"
"That's why I'm going to gamble," Lin Yi interrupted him.
The countdown on the fighter jet's instrument panel jumped to 69 minutes. He unbuckled his seatbelt and stood up. The spacetime emblem beneath his combat suit glowed golden. "Three years ago, you led thirty-seven Astrologers to safety. Now, we have me, Long Wu, and the entire Spacetime Legion." He knocked on the porthole; the cratered surface of the moon was clearly visible. "You protected the Astrologers and brought them to life. I'll protect you and bring you to life."
Chu Yao's voice suddenly came through the communicator, clear yet with static: "Everyone, connect to the tactical meeting projection."
Holographic screens lit up simultaneously inside the cockpits of the three fighter jets, with Chu Yao's projection standing in the center.
Her eyes were still red, but her hair remained perfectly styled. Her fingertips tapped the floating tactical map: "Lin Shuai's offensive plan has a risk index of 7.3; Senior Xuanming's defensive plan has a risk index of 6.8." She compared the two sets of data. "However, the defensive plan will allow the invaders to complete the second phase of deployment within 48 hours, at which point the main anchor's energy intensity will increase by 300%."
Long Wu leaned closer to the holographic screen: "Um, Yao Yao, what did you want to say?"
"A compromise." Chu Yao drew a third blue light with her fingertips. "Allocate 20% of our forces to reinforce Earth's defenses—the Xuanxiao Guards and the Mechanical Legion will be responsible; their defense modules can be deployed within 12 minutes." She looked at Lin Yi. "The remaining 80% will proceed with the original plan, but..." She pulled up an encrypted file sent by the shadowy figure. "There's new intelligence here."
A dark purple document suddenly unfolded in the center of the holographic screen, revealing an area on the eastern side of the far side of the moon with unusually gentle spatial fluctuations.
Xuanmingzi's star chart suddenly fell silent, and the dark purple patterns on the chart quickly retreated into the gaps in the bronze, as if splashed with cold water.
"This is..." He reached out his hand, trembling, his fingertips almost touching the holographic image. "The spatial disturbance frequency is 0.03 Hz—just like the ancient teleportation array I saw at Buzhou Mountain back then." He suddenly looked up at Lin Yi, "Young friend, this place can open a stargate!"
Lin Yi's breathing became heavy.
He remembered the star gate at the Buzhou Mountain ruins, a passage connecting ancient Earth civilizations with other dimensions, which had collapsed in a war ten thousand years ago.
If there really are similar spatial nodes on the far side of the moon...
"The shadowy figure said that the invading forces defending this area consist only of regular troops." Chu Yao quickly operated the terminal. "They've moved their main force to the core area—because there's a stabilizer there." She looked at Xuan Mingzi, "The reason your star chart malfunctioned, senior, was because it was interfered with by the stabilizer; but the spatial node on the east side doesn't have a stabilizer, so your star chart technique can be used to its full potential there."
Long Wu slapped his thigh and laughed: "So the old man's precious plate wasn't possessed by an evil spirit, but rather its mouth was covered!"
"Then let's head east and use the star gate to get behind the main anchor—" He suddenly stopped, looking at Xuan Mingzi, "Old man, can your astrological magic still open star gates?"
Xuanmingzi stared at the spatial fluctuation data on the holographic screen, and the silver hair on the Dingxing coin moved automatically without wind.
He recalled the second half of Su Qing's unread message, and the resonance the astrolabe emitted when it touched the remains of the intruder three days ago in the laboratory.
The dark purple on the chart has faded, and the markings of the Twenty-Eight Mansions are shining with starlight again, as if responding to something.
"It can be opened." He suddenly laughed, his smile widening the wrinkles around his eyes. "The Star Gate Technique my master couldn't complete back then, I'll try it today." He grabbed the astrolabe and placed it on the control panel of the observation cabin. "Young friend, adjust the course. 17 degrees east longitude, 33 minutes north latitude on the far side of the moon."
Lin Yi's fighter jet immediately turned around.
He gazed at the star map that had lit up again on the holographic screen, and the spacetime emblem burned in his chest—a familiar, searing sensation of impending truth.
"Chu Yao, notify the Xuanxiao Guards to take over the defense line." His fingers flew across the control panel. "Long Wu, check the antimatter charging of the electromagnetic sword." He looked at Xuan Mingzi, who was pressing the Star-Fixing Coin into the center of the astronomical disk, his silver hair and bronze markings intertwined into a rope of light. "Senior, how long will it take?"
"The star gate will take eight minutes to form." Cold sweat beaded on Xuan Mingzi's forehead as the star chart began to rotate counter-clockwise. "But..." he suddenly frowned, "the energy fluctuations of this spatial node... how come they're so similar to Su Qing's bloodline resonance?"
Chu Yao's fingertips suddenly paused on the terminal.
She stared at Su Qing's call log on the holographic screen, and finally pressed the replay button for the sentence, "Xuan Mingzi's astrological chart is an intruder's..."
Amidst the static, Su Qing's rapid breathing could be heard: "...It's a relic of the invaders. Back then, they used these astrolabes to locate the spacetime nodes of ancient civilizations—"
\"bite--\"
Chu Yao's terminal suddenly displayed a new message from "Shadow": [The Moon's Far Side Space Node shares the same bloodline as Su Qing. Be careful.]
She looked up at the three people on the holographic screen.
Lin Yi was adjusting the opening parameters of the spacetime rift, Long Wu was patting the bulkhead of the Tyrannosaurus Mech and humming a tune, and Xuan Mingzi's star chart was already showing a dazzling starlight.
In the shadows on the far side of the moon, a being disturbed by the Stargate Technique opened its dark purple eyes.
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