Strange

The shadow that appeared on the moon brought many tasks, including construction, to a standstill, and a tense atmosphere hung over the Forward Base.

Faced with such a change, it's hard to concentrate on work, and many people choose to return home and stay with their families.

Compared to the army, which at least had some ability to fight back, ordinary people had no control over their own destiny and could only pray silently in their hearts.

It's only because Lu Bai was keeping things under control that chaos would have already erupted.

A full hour had passed since the shadow appeared.

The imagined horrific attack did not occur; the Mona people seemed to simply cast a shadow on the moon to indicate their imminent arrival.

But it's hard to say whether this is a good thing.

If the Mona people don't take any further action and instead keep the humans on the defensive, they can't just keep waiting, can they?

It's like if you knew tomorrow was the end of the world, you definitely wouldn't be in the mood to go to work today.

Therefore, even if the people at the Forward Base were forced to resume work and production, it was not very efficient.

Combat Command Center.

The young staff officer's patience finally ran out, and he couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Lü? What do we do now?"

Before Lu Bai could give a reply, the elderly man in military uniform standing next to him interrupted, "Shut up! The probe has already been launched. What we need to do now is wait for the results to come back."

With current human technology, and disregarding the supernatural powers of the Deathmatchers, landing on the moon is indeed no easy feat.

It takes several hours for a probe launched into space to reach the moon.

However, in front of the neatly arranged computers, the technicians were still methodically analyzing the various parameters they had collected.

It's clear that even though they haven't obtained any valuable information so far, these technicians remain undeterred.

Incidentally, due to human nature, the more comfortable the job, the better the pay. These jobs often don't require high-level skills, and it's very difficult for ordinary people to get in. This is what's known as class stratification.

However, the situation in the shelters is quite different from historical trends.

The regime in the refuge probably knew that the crisis was always there, and it had been firmly preventing the corrupt tentacles from reaching the military. At least it ensured that the personnel that Lu Bai took over were still considered elites, and could be used as soon as they were transferred to their posts without the need for reorganization.

Therefore, Lu Bai did not urge them, after all, he could see that these technicians had already done their best.

After watching the images on the central screen quietly for a while, Lu Bai suddenly turned to the elderly man in military uniform sitting beside him and asked softly, "Have you noticed that this shadow seems to have gotten bigger?"

"It's gotten bigger?"

Upon hearing Lu Bai's words, the old man in military uniform was startled at first, then abruptly turned to look at the screen, his brows gradually furrowing. "It seems there's been no change, has there?"

The technician who was answering questions added, "Mr. Lü, staring at the same object for a long time may cause changes in visual perception, which is a normal phenomenon."

"No, that's not right..."

However, another technician said hesitantly, "The shadow does seem to have expanded a bit."

If only one person feels they've gotten bigger, that could be explained as an illusion.

Now that more than one person feels this way, we need to take it seriously.

The technician responsible for answering questions looked down into his headset and said, "Monitoring team, did you all hear that? Re-verify the optical parameters."

"According to real-time monitoring results, the size of the shadow has not changed."

A middle-aged man wearing glasses stood up and responded irritably.

Clearly, the monitoring team wasn't just sitting idly by.

In such situations, if the instruments detect any changes, they will definitely report them immediately.

"Team leader, something's not right. I compared the images from the beginning and the current time period, and the overlap is less than 100%."

One of the technicians working for the middle-aged man looked slightly alarmed. "The shadow has really grown bigger."

"How much larger has it become? Why didn't the instruments detect it?"

Upon hearing this report, the bespectacled monitoring team leader was so angry he wanted to curse. He quickly strode over to his subordinate. "Quickly check if the instruments are malfunctioning, confirm the rate of shadow expansion as soon as possible, and immediately transmit the results to the Combat Command Center."

The Combat Command Center received the message quickly.

Fortunately, no negative impacts have been found from the expansion of this shadow so far, so everyone present is able to remain calm for the time being.

"It really has gotten bigger." Lu Bai stroked his chin with his right hand, seemingly lost in thought.

He didn't mean to blame the technicians.

In fact, current human astronomical observation technology is still in a very primitive stage, and it is quite normal for laser measurement to be subject to interference.

Lu Bai silently activated the [Mindstream Network] and reassured everyone, "Just do your job, don't panic. I'll step in if necessary."

In the blink of an eye, another three hours have passed.

The instrument's monitoring results showed that the parameters of the shadow were the same as when it first appeared.

However, after a few hours, anyone with eyes could tell that the monitoring results were problematic.

After all, the shadow that appeared on the moon had now expanded to cover nearly half of the moon's near side.

It is clearly visible to the naked eye without the aid of any optical instruments.

"Won't this shadow keep expanding?"

The uneasy whispers among the crowd reached Lu Bai's ears.

But he remained seated calmly, not in a hurry to prove anything to the crowd.

The elderly man in military uniform stared intently at the numbers on the tablet. Feeling it was about time, he leaned over to Lu Bai and reminded him, "The probe is expected to reach the lunar surface in ten minutes."

"You can keep an eye on this."

Lu Bai waved his hand and turned to switch [Mindstream Network] to [Spider Sense].

This crisis-awareness effect, combined with the [Flash Time] ability that can be activated at any time, ensures that you will not be attacked by any sudden attacks.

The Mona people probably wouldn't stand idly by and let them explore at will.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye.

Unexpectedly, everything remained calm during this period. No changes occurred at the Forward Base, and a report of the probe's safe landing was received.

The whole process went so smoothly it was almost unsettling.

Soon, the images transmitted back by the detector were displayed on the main screen in the hall.

The image quality isn't very good, and the picture quality is a bit choppy.

However, it can still be determined that the shadow is simply a shadow.

As soon as the shadow appeared, the technicians confirmed that there was nothing blocking the light source in the direction the shadow was facing.

"That's strange, how did this shadow appear?"