Chapter 159

Clearly, she was a little worried that her willfulness would wear down Ai Yue's patience with her.

"Of course, we're here to have fun, so we should do whatever makes us happy."

Ai Yue nodded, showing no impatience whatsoever. "Anyway, there's no one else here, so you can be even more unrestrained."

On this open field, only Pardofelis and Ai Yue, along with a few drones responsible for exploration and navigation, were present. Aponia and Mobius had not followed.

Aponia was clearly more interested in the ruins of the previous civilization than in the gems, so she had already returned to join Eden. Mobius, on the other hand, after seeing so many research projects, could no longer control his soul that wanted to explore evolution, so he stayed at the research base to handle those projects related to genetics.

In contrast, Ai Yue didn't have much of an obsession with the moon. The most important task he entrusted to Su was to use a space exploration device that simulated the power of the "Herrscher of Void" to observe data from the moon in order to find any traces that the Cocoon of Finality might have left when it was active.

However, according to Su, he has not found any valuable information since he arrived on the moon. This means that either the equipment is not accurate enough and it is necessary to rely on the power of the Herrscher of the Void Core to capture traces, or the research direction itself is problematic.

Of course, even putting all that aside, he couldn't possibly leave Pardofelis to operate alone on the moon.

So in the end, only Ai Yue and Pardofelis were left to dig for gems.

Reassured by Ai Yue's assurance, Pardofelis excitedly ran forward again. "Let's go check out that crater up ahead, I have a feeling there might be something good inside!"

Ai Yue left behind a drone to continue surveying the mining area and to keep in touch with the main force before leisurely following behind.

They are now quite far from the Fifth Research Institute, and as they explore, the surrounding environment becomes increasingly chaotic.

Compared to the relatively flat area chosen by the Fifth Research Institute, the location where Ai Yue and his team are now is almost entirely covered by various craters, some connected in a series, and others stacked up like Russian nesting dolls, clearly a severely affected area by meteorites.

In places like these, the chances of finding something good are indeed much higher.

This time, Pardofelis had her eye on a small crater about three kilometers in diameter. The shape of this crater was not very standard and looked a bit strange, but Ai Yue couldn't quite put his finger on what was strange about it.

By the time he had just climbed to the edge of the crater, Pardofelis had already almost reached the center of the crater.

"Brother Yue, come quick!"

As Pardofelis stopped at the center of the crater, her excited shouts came through the communication system, "I... feel... there... is... something... in here!"

What happened? Is there a problem with the communication system?

The two were so close, yet the voices coming through the communication system were intermittent, which startled Ai Yue.

Then he realized something and rushed towards Pardofelis, shouting, "Pardo, get out of there!"

If the communication system is not malfunctioning, then something is interfering with its transmission!

"Huh?"

Pardofelis subconsciously stood up and looked at Ai Yue. The next second, she was grabbed by him and leaped up, returning to the edge of the crater in a few steps. "What's wrong, Brother Yue?"

She rarely saw Ai Yue show such a serious attitude. Although his words were intermittent, the emotions revealed in his tone made her hair stand on end.

Ai Yue didn't speak, but instead grabbed Pardofelis's hands and examined them repeatedly, while remotely activating the self-check system of Pardofelis's armor. "What did you just do?"

"Uh, you just dug up some dirt?"

Pardofelis was a little confused, but she still honestly said, "I hadn't even dug a few times before you caught me."

Soon, the armor's self-test system also provided feedback, finding no abnormalities, including the communication system, which was also normal.

But the interrupted communication just now was not Ai Yue's hallucination, because Pardofelis also heard it.

With a sigh of relief, Ai Yue turned his attention to the bottom center of the crater. "Let the drones do the digging. You stay here quietly for now."

Pardofelis nodded obediently.

At a time like this, she would absolutely not cause Ai Yue any trouble.

Soon, a tracked ground drone arrived at the location previously selected by Pardofelis, and began digging downwards, swinging its two pairs of robotic arms.

Everything seemed normal until, fifteen seconds later, the drone suddenly stopped moving—it shut down.

"Huh?"

Pardofelis was still watching the drone's every move when she saw this scene and was stunned for a moment. "What happened? Is it out of power?"

It couldn't possibly be a power outage; it must be due to interference from something—just like the communication system we just discussed.

Ai Yue didn't speak, but silently flew into the air, looking down at the ring mountain and the surrounding landscape from high above.

"Number One, scan the terrain map of this area."

Ai Yue said slowly, "Analyze the formation of these craters—I need to know where the things that created these craters came from."

After saying this, he raised his head and looked up at the starry sky.

From this angle, you can't see the Earth, but you can see another orange-red sphere that's "close at hand".

Mars.

29

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Cat Makes a Great Contribution.

After Ai Yue landed back on the ground, Pardofelis cautiously approached him. "Brother Yue, did I cause trouble again?"

Judging from Ai Yue's attitude just now, and the series of events that followed, even if Pardofelis is stupid, she should have realized something.

Besides, she's not stupid.

"Don't be nervous, it's not a big problem."

Although Ai Yue was also unsure about the situation at the moment, he immediately reassured Pardofelis, "It might even be a good thing."

"Huh?"

Pardofelis paused for a moment, then breathed a slight sigh of relief. "Really?"

Pardofelis was not stupid, but she was more willing to believe Ai Yue's words than her own judgment. Therefore, if Ai Yue's statement conflicted with her own judgment, she would lean more towards the former.

Since Brother Yue said everything is fine, then there's nothing to worry about, right?

"Real,"

Ai Yue's confident tone dispelled the last trace of doubt in Pardofelis's heart, and then he patted her head, "So don't worry, go play somewhere else—but don't go too far, okay?"

Pardofelis nodded, then ran back the way they had come—the already explored area was clearly safer than the unknown territory on the other side.

Ai Yue watched Pardofelis's figure and then breathed a sigh of relief.

He wasn't entirely without reason, though it was somewhat far-fetched—it was Pardofelis's luck.

If we consider Pardofelis's "strong luck" as an inherent characteristic, then the events triggered by her should not be malicious.

In other words, while this discovery may pose certain risks, it could also provide them with unexpected assistance.

Although from a rational perspective, Ai Yue would usually rule out this possibility, based on his personal experience, it is still difficult for him to ignore it.

After all, Pardofelis's good fortune had once helped him a great deal.

However, simply standing here and thinking wouldn't lead to any conclusions, so Ai Yue brought over a few more drones to tow the malfunctioning drones away from the center of the crater, trying to find some clues from them.

As for further investigation, we'll have to find out the cause of the drone crash before we can discuss that.

"Doctor Ai Yue, your command has been detected, suggesting a possible special situation."

At the same time, Queen's voice came through the communication system, "Should we notify Dr. Mobius and the others?"

"Not for now,"

Ai Yue thought for a moment, then shook his head. "There's nothing they can do about this, so it's better not to tell them to avoid worrying them."

"Understood."

Ai Yue then refocused his attention on the drone in front of him. "Number One, what was the result?"

"The core components have been damaged, presumably due to interference from strong radiation."

Prometheus One responded, "Furthermore, no information matching the residual radiation has been detected in existing databases."

There is no known data to match, which means, could it be a completely new radioactive substance?

Upon hearing this, Ai Yue frowned. Prometheus's database was enormous, encompassing all the information of human civilization. Yet, in this situation, no matching substance could be found. It could only be some entirely new substance that humans had not yet discovered, or even that Earth might not have ever possessed.

There are indeed things on the moon that do not exist on Earth, but judging from their location, they are probably not things that the moon itself possesses.

Ai Yue couldn't help but look up again. "Have the analysis results for the crater come out yet?"

"They're out."

Prometheus One projected a model in front of Ai Yue: "From the synchronous scanning and simulation of the crater's height, depth, angle, and related data from multiple other craters around it, we determined the generation process of this crater."

As she finished speaking, the model in front of Ai Yue came to life.

A meteoroid struck the lunar surface at a very subtle angle, creating a crater, but the result was quite different from the crater that Ai Yue saw before him.

This means that such an impact could not have created the crater we see today.

The next second, the change in the model answered Ai Yue's question—after a brief period of calm, the crater exploded.

The impact of the explosion is the real reason that created this crater.

"I see."

Ai Yue nodded, "No wonder I found this crater very strange at first."

Although the impact of an explosion and the impact of a collision may sound similar, their effects on the geographical environment are obviously quite different. However, Ai Yue felt that he had overlooked something.

He thought for a moment, then said, "Rewind and play it again."

The scene then begins to rewind, and the meteoroid rises from the ground, flying back in the direction it came from.

"Stop for a moment."

Ai Yue paused the video. "The trajectory of this meteoroid is quite subtle... From this angle, it doesn't seem to have come from outside the moon?"

Ai Yue knew very well that the Cocoon of Finality had flown to Earth along its trajectory after destroying the civilization on Mars, but for some reason it landed on the moon halfway, which led to the current situation.

Therefore, when he realized that the meteoroid that created this crater might hold a huge secret, his first reaction was that it might have come from Mars.

If it were a creation of Mars civilization, then it is indeed possible that there would be things that Ai Yue has never seen before. After all, even now, Ai Yue cannot confirm what state Mars civilization is in.

However, judging from the trajectory predicted by the model, this trajectory and impact force obviously could not have come directly from Mars. Instead, it seems more like something that fell from a near-Earth orbit.

But how could anything possibly fall from near-Earth orbit to the Moon? There aren't any satellites or similar objects around the Moon, and even if there were, this wouldn't happen without external intervention... wait a minute?

Ai Yue raised his head and suddenly thought of a possibility.

There is indeed something that could potentially land on the moon at a relatively close distance.

That was a fragment that separated from the Cocoon of Finality some reason during the event that caused it to fall to the moon.

30

Chapter Thirty: The moon is indeed full of treasures.

The Cocoon of Finality is not actually hidden on the moon, or rather, it does not exist in any corner of the real dimension.

Of course, this concept is quite complicated to explain. Therefore, it can be understood that the Cocoon of Finality is actually hidden in the gap between the Imaginary Space and the real space, and its position in the gap is mapped in the real dimension. The place closest to Earth is a certain place on the moon.

Although the original storyline did not provide much detail about the Cocoon of Finality, it is certain that the civilizations it influenced were not limited to Earth. Its influence extended to Mars, Mars Venus, and even the distant edge of the Solar System.

Given the Cocoon of the Cocoon of Finality's obsession with civilization, its footprints should obviously not stop on the moon. Rather, some unknown entity must have stopped it from extending its reach to Earth in some unknown way, leading to this situation.

To put it another way, the Cocoon of Finality was "shot down" onto the moon, and since it was "shot down," it would inevitably leave traces, or even some kind of fragments.

What lies before Ai Yue is very likely to be such a thing.

However, until we see its true form and make a specific analysis, everything is still unknown.

Perhaps what's buried here is just some unknown element brought from a distant galaxy by a meteoroid, or perhaps it's a fragment of debris left behind by some alien civilization, or even just a misunderstanding caused by some unknown reason... Before the dust and soil burying everything are unearthed, it's hard for Ai Yue to guess the truth.

Based on the residual radiation data from the drones, Ai Yue made some temporary modifications to the other drones, adding special protection to the core components to prevent them from being damaged by the radiation again.

At the same time, Ai Yue also sent out more drones to conduct reverse exploration along the trajectory of the meteorite that fell when the crater was formed, in an attempt to find more valuable clues.

With the protective gear in place, the second excavation went much more smoothly. The three drones worked in shifts, and after about half an hour, the results were finally in.

After confirming that Pardofelis hadn't noticed what was happening, Ai Yue quickly walked down the crater and arrived at the excavation site of the drones.

At this moment, a pit about ten meters deep and five meters wide had been dug out at the bottom of the crater. At the bottom of this pit, the drones found some irregular glassy substances. They were a strange light pink color and looked like some kind of natural gemstone with extremely high purity. However, before Ai Yue could get close, the armor's system issued an urgent and strong radiation alarm.

Clearly, this was what he was looking for—but it seemed somewhat different from what Ai Yue had hoped for.

What Ai Yue wanted was naturally a strongly related item that could directly point to the Cocoon of Finality, but the irregular crystals in front of him looked like substances that had been melted and condensed by the high temperature during that energy burst.

These crystals may still contain some clues from the original energy burst, but they are clearly not enough to satisfy Ai Yue. The difference between them is as great as the difference between evidence with the murderer's fingerprints at a murder scene and a photograph of the murder scene and a report written after interviewing witnesses.