Yun Wanlan stood where she was, her hand still held in the position it had been in when Yang Wanqing was holding it.
Yang Wanqing waved to her.
"Lanlan... wait for me!"
Yun Wanlan raised her hand.
As the three of them passed through the domed Barrier, Yang Wanqing was still looking back. The membrane of light closed behind them. Beyond the Barrier, the warm lights of the Floating Island Archipelago grew hazy.
When she turned back around, she sniffled.
Chen Siyao walked beside her. She offered no words of comfort, just nudged her with her arm.
Yang Wanqing wiped her face. "I'm fine."
"Mm."
"Really, I'm fine."
"Mm."
"It's just a little hard to leave."
"I know."
Chen Hao was up ahead. He kept walking. He had already raised a Spiritual Energy Shield, enclosing both girls within it. The vacuum and radiation on the lunar surface were shut out.
They had left the Sushen Tribe.
The lunar surface swept past beneath their feet.
Gray. Monotonous. Crater after crater, large and small, deep and shallow, as though something had battered it countless times. There was no color. No sign of life.
Chen Hao flew low over the moon with the two girls, about fifty meters above the surface. They were moving fast. The Spiritual Energy Shield formed a transparent sphere around them, giving the girls inside a clear view of the terrain below.
Yang Wanqing was excited at first. She leaned against the edge of the shield and looked down, saying "Wow!" over and over.
But ten minutes later, she fell quiet.
Because—everything looked the same.
Gray soil. Gray rocks. Gray pits. Gray mountains.
"The moon is so boring," she muttered. "It's just like that quarry back home."
Chen Siyao looked a little longer. She was studying the patterns in