At the aerospace base in the Yandu Suburb.
Hundreds of large shipping containers were piled together, their surfaces marked with conspicuous serial numbers.
Thirty astronauts had suited up in their spacesuits inside specially designed tents. All that remained was for them to put on their helmets and turn on their oxygen valves. Even though everything had long been prepared and the procedure repeated dozens of times, they were still discussing their post-lunar-landing tasks.
"The person taking us up this time is different from the ones who did the previous two lunar landings. According to their estimates, the trip to the Moon will take between six and seven hours."
"Besides the oxygen built into the spacesuits, everyone has a portable oxygen tank that can sustain normal breathing for ten hours."
"Upon landing, our first priority is to open Container One. It holds a small outdoor oxygen generator that will replenish our oxygen supply."
"Containers One through Three hold the temporary base equipment. Apart from the compact oxygen generator, there are spare spacesuits, miniature space modules, and specially prepared food to support our temporary encampment."
"We need to set up the temporary base within ten hours before moving on to the official base construction."
"Our goal is to complete the Moon Base over the next two months."
"The entire Moon Base can be assembled modularly, and with the help of engineering machinery, we have more than enough time. We might even find time to start conducting experiments."
"The photovoltaic panels will collect solar energy, so there won’t be a shortage of electricity."
"Once we set up the communication system, we’ll even be able to call our families at any time. Of course, there will definitely be a two- or three-second delay."
As the group chatted, a streak of light shot through the sky and landed at the main entrance of the aerospace base.
Yunyang was very polite. He first took out his phone to confirm the location, then greeted the dumbfounded security guards staring at him. "I have an appointment with Dean Li. I’m here to pick up the personnel and equipment for the Moon."
The guards, of course, knew about this. While opening the main gates to let Yunyang in, one of them pulled out a walkie-talkie to report, "There is a Taoist Master at the front gate who says he has an appointment with Dean Li. I’m escorting him to the rear warehouse."
The streak of light Yunyang left in his wake as he flew over had been seen by everyone around the base. Dean Li of the aerospace base hurriedly brought a team to the main gate to welcome the smiling Yunyang.
After exchanging greetings, Dean Li led Yunyang to the warehouse at the back of the base, where Yunyang saw the hundreds of containers and the thirty fully prepared astronauts. Along the way, Dean Li had briefed Yunyang on the relevant equipment and their preparatory work.
"They won’t need to use oxygen on the way. Although there is another space inside my Storage Gourd, it connects to the outside world, so there is air," Yunyang said. "I’ll let them know before I let them out."
"However, the journey is quite long, and they won’t be able to use the bathroom. This needs to be clarified in advance." Speaking of this, Yunyang felt a bit embarrassed; his strength was still lacking.
"Please rest assured, we have already prepared for that," Dean Li quickly replied.
"I can help with the temporary base. It shouldn’t take ten hours, but you’ll have to rely on yourselves for the official base." Looking at the hundreds of containers, Yunyang also felt a little intimidated.
Dean Li brought out the thirty astronauts and introduced their leader, Professor Wang, to Yunyang.
Yunyang took out his gourd and aimed it first at the expanse of containers. The crowd watched as the containers flew one by one toward the mouth of the gourd, visibly shrinking in mid-air before disappearing inside, triggering a chorus of awe-struck gasps.
"Is this space compression or spatial overlapping? Why do they appear to shrink within our visible range?"
"If we stood near the mouth of the gourd right now, would we maintain our original size or shrink as well? Would we be sucked in along with it?"
"Does this count as a Subspace? But it feels somewhat different from the Subspace theories in theoretical physics."
"It’s not a Subspace. Didn’t you hear Yunyang Master say that the space inside is connected to the outside and has air?"
"This is truly a brand-new physical phenomenon. I feel like this gourd has more research value than the Moon itself."
"Why don’t you go ask to test it out?"
"I wouldn’t dare."
Then, they saw Yunyang aim the gourd at them. Even though they knew what was about to happen and had seen videos of Taoist Masters using gourds to suck in and release tens of thousands of people from telecom fraud compounds, they still couldn’t help but feel a knot of tension in their chests.
Suddenly, their bodies felt light. Involuntarily lifting into the air, they flew toward the mouth of the gourd. During the flight, everything in their line of sight seemed to grow larger and larger. The mouth of the gourd in front of them expanded until it looked like a pitch-black sky, swallowing them whole.
"This is amazing!"
"I’m floating in mid-air, but this isn’t a vacuum. It feels like I’m being supported by some force, like cotton or soft rubber. The pressure is evenly distributed across my whole body, but I can’t see or touch anything."
"Hello, hello, can anyone hear me?"
"We can hear you. Inside the gourd’s space, we can still communicate via electromagnetic waves."
"We can breathe, too. The air composition here is the same as outside."
"It’s just pitch black; I can’t see anything."
"Can we turn on the built-in lights on our spacesuits? I really want to know what it looks like inside this gourd."
"Is that a good idea? We haven’t gotten permission from Yunyang Master, and he might have other personal belongings in here."
Then, they heard Yunyang’s voice echoing through the space. "I have refined this gourd, and everything within this space is under my control. I haven’t bound you or blocked your communications, which is why you can still move and speak.
"This is the internal space of the gourd. The material is unique, and after being refined with True Qi, it forms a space drastically different in size from the outside world.
"Turn on your lights if you want to. Apart from the inner walls looking a bit different, the inside of the gourd is essentially just a giant warehouse, surrounded by your shipping containers."
Realizing that Yunyang could hear their conversation, a few people couldn’t help but stick out their tongues in slight embarrassment. However, upon hearing his permission, someone else loudly thanked him and immediately turned on their spacesuit’s lighting equipment.
A few light sources flickered on within the endless darkness. But since they were floating in mid-air and unable to move, the lights couldn’t reach very far. They could only see the surrounding containers and the distant darkness, which actually created a rather eerie effect.
Considering that Yunyang was currently flying them to the Moon, they didn’t ask to be allowed to move freely. Instead, they just looked around curiously with their lights.
Suddenly, a woman spotted a faint, looming shadow in the distant darkness and jumped in fright.
"What is that?" the woman exclaimed.
The others shined their lights in that direction and also saw the shadow. "It looks like a giant snake?"
The next moment, the shadow slowly approached. Under their terrified gazes, its true form was revealed—it was a patterned python as thick as a water bucket.
"AHHHH!" the crowd shrieked in horror. "Yunyang Master, there’s a snake in your gourd!"
The giant python stopped not far away as Yunyang’s laughter rang in their ears. "It’s just a Snake Demon with barely thirty or fifty years of Dao Practice that hadn’t even reached Transformation. I killed it and took its gallbladder to infuse in wine. I haven’t thrown out the body yet. Since you happened to spot it, I brought it closer for you to have a look."
Thirty to fifty years of Dao Practice? Transformation? A Snake Demon? These astronauts didn’t know anything about the Otherworld. At most, they might have guessed it was a Grotto Heaven Blessed Land or associated the Storage Gourd with an Alternate Space. Hearing Yunyang’s words so suddenly, they were overwhelmed by an indescribable sense of shock.
"Ahem, ahem. I might have said a bit too much. Your superiors are aware of this, but it’s probably not necessary for you to know yet." Yunyang coughed dryly, moving the python’s corpse away and sending it back into the darkness. "Um, just pretend what just happened never occurred, okay!"
"Okay, okay!"
"Understood, understood!"
"It’s pitch black inside the gourd space; we didn’t see anything at all."
The group voluntarily turned off their spacesuits’ lights, plunging themselves back into total darkness, but their minds were churning in absolute turmoil. They realized that Demons actually existed in this world. Had the Taoist Masters been protecting them all along?