"Holy shit!"
Someone in the office couldn’t hold it in any longer and finally cursed.
"In just over an hour, Mr. Gu built a palace on the Moon?"
"The palace gates are open. Look, there’s even a statue inside."
"Cradling a Jade Rabbit, stepping on clouds to rush to the Moon... that’s Chang’e!"
"What a total flex!"
"I really wish we could launch a manned mission to the Moon right now, livestream the whole thing, and have our astronauts ’discover’ this structure, hahaha!"
"You can tell Mr. Gu made a hasty decision. The palace is still a bit crude, with no decorations."
"Should we ask some experts to design some decorations and aesthetic improvements based on this palace and then give the materials to the research institute?" someone asked. "If Mr. Gu goes to the Moon again, he could renovate the palace to make it better."
That person said grimly, "Taoist Masters can cultivate, and Otherworlds exist... what if Chang’e is real, too?"
Everyone fell silent.
Zheng Hongsheng, his face expressionless, looked at the person in charge and said, "Take a note of that."
...
"WTF!"
Ever since Gu Zhao last revealed his Extraordinary power—tossing Aaron, who had tried to steal from him, onto the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and then taking a trip to the other side of the ocean to issue a warning—his social media account had been closely watched by interested parties.
So, when he updated his social media account for the first time in over two years, the people on the other side of the ocean immediately knew who had just landed on the Moon.
"It’s Gu Zhao!"
"He went to the Moon and built a palace!"
"He’s doing it to prove that the Moon has been Celestial Xia’s inherent territory since ancient times!"
"This is shameless!"
Inside a secret underground base, a group of white elites was in an uproar, seething with anger.
"We were clearly the first to land on the Moon!"
"The first person to set foot on the Moon was a citizen of our Huaqi Country, of the Angsa Race! The Moon should belong to us by right!"
"We didn’t declare sovereignty over the Moon’s territory and allowed them to land on it. They should be thanking us! How dare they try to snatch territory that belongs to us?"
"We must return to the Moon as soon as possible and plant the flag of Huaqi Country on its soil."
"How much longer is the Artemis Plan going to be delayed?"
Dylan Rockefeller sat at the head of the table, quietly watching the Huaqi Country elites on his left and right argue. He then turned to Eric, the representative of the Grand Commander.
"What are the Grand Commander’s thoughts on this matter?"
"The Grand Commander hopes you will offer your opinions. If the other side goes public with this, how should we respond?"
Eric felt helpless. Fortunately, the Taoist Masters on the other side didn’t reveal their Extraordinary powers often and largely ignored the verbal sparring from his side. Otherwise, he really didn’t know how much longer they could keep up appearances.
Frank snorted coldly from the side. "Since when does the Grand Commander need to ask for our opinion on how to respond?"
Eric said flatly, "He’s asking for your opinion, but whether he listens or not is up to him."
Lawrence, sitting across from Frank, was scrolling through his phone.
"Lawrence, we’re in a meeting!" Frank reminded him.
"I know." Lawrence held up his phone. "Now we can discuss it."
"Discuss what?"
"Our response," Lawrence said calmly. "Before, we didn’t know if they would publicize this matter, or how they would do it. How could we discuss a response then?"
Everyone turned to look at Lawrence. "They went public?"
"The Celestial Xia National Research Institute has opened an application channel for Moon Rock and Moon Soil on its official website." Lawrence turned his phone screen toward them.
Everyone was stunned for a moment. Then, the moderator immediately operated the computer and projected the official website onto the big screen.
[Lantern Festival and Moon Appreciation, with blessings from the Taoist Masters.
During the recent Lantern Festival, to celebrate the holiday with the entire nation, the Taoist Masters of our country, after consulting with our aerospace scientists, landed on the Moon and brought back some Moon Rock and Moon Soil.
The list below details the lunar locations from which the Moon Rock and Moon Soil were collected on this trip.
[List Contents]
The application channel is now open to all domestic scientific research institutes and aerospace exhibition halls. Applications can be made for Moon Rock or Moon Soil from the various locations and depths listed.
Scientific research institutes must provide a description of their research project. Aerospace exhibition halls must provide a description of their exhibition preparations.]
"Bad news, they really did go public."
Eric licked his lips. "Good news is, they only posted the news on the research institute’s official website. They didn’t make a big deal out of it at a press conference."
Lawrence shrugged. "This is the internet age. Do you think news like an Extraordinary Being landing on the Moon won’t get traction?"
Eric fell silent.
...
Just as Lawrence had said, a mere half a day after the research institute opened the application channel, the news of the Taoist Masters landing on the Moon was trending on every major platform.
It ignited fervent discussion among the general public.
Of course, not many people were focused on the actual business of being able to see Moon Rock and Moon Soil in aerospace exhibition halls. Most were discussing the Taoist Masters setting foot on the Moon.
"The Masters landed on the Moon?"
"This news hit me out of nowhere!"
"Weren’t they saying it would still be a few more years? How did they suddenly land on the Moon with no warning?"
"Bro, it was the Taoist Masters who landed on the Moon. Who’s gonna give you a heads-up?!"
"No, but how did they get to the Moon?"
"They flew, duh."
"What about spacesuits? Can they breathe in a vacuum?"
"How fast can they fly? How long would it take to fly to the Moon?"
"Holy shit, if they can survive in a vacuum, doesn’t that mean they can explore outer space and traverse the galaxy with their physical bodies?"
Even though the Taoist Masters had already revealed their Extraordinary powers before—with feats like Soaring Clouds and Mist, Calling the Wind and Summoning the Rain, shattering mountains to destroy temples, and creating Pot Worlds—which were shocking enough.
This time, however, landing directly on the Moon was still beyond the imagination of ordinary people.
This was because in all the various Taoist Scriptures and ancient texts, there were no records of outer space or the lunar surface. Whether it was the Moon Palace, Guanghan, or the Thirty-Three Heavens, they all seemed to be products of ancient imagination.
What’s more, those Taoist Masters looked like they needed to breathe, too.
In other words, anyone who’s human needs to breathe!
So people subconsciously assumed they could only operate within Blue Star’s atmosphere and never imagined they could survive in outer space.
"They must have used spacesuits, right?"
"But there’s no atmosphere in space, no friction. How did they fly? What did they use for propulsion?"
"As if you know how they fly in the atmosphere."
A group of people in the trending topic’s comment section started discussing scientific questions, such as the intensity of their internal energy, the thrust and friction released during flight, and so on.
At the same time, they posted videos and pictures of Taoist Shen Hao piloting the Floating Island and Yunyang creating a long contrail as supporting evidence.
Gu Zhao was stunned as he watched, because all this research looked quite reasonable. ’Well, not that he could understand any of it.’