The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

We ascended the stone steps to the first floating palace.

The steps are wide. Each step is about the same height as ancient buildings on Earth. The material is a white stone with fine texture. There is no dust when walking on it.

Yang Wanqing ran his hand over the handrail of the steps. It was clean.

"How many years has this place been abandoned? How come there's not a speck of dust?"

"The function of the barrier," Chen Siyao said as they walked. "To create a sealed environment. No foreign objects can enter."

After she finished speaking, she suddenly noticed something.

A barrier protected the area, preventing anyone from seeing inside. Before she entered, there was nothing on the hill. But after she came in...

She turned to look inside the barrier.

You can see outside.

The moon's gray surface. The distant blue planet. The pitch-black space. Everything is clearly visible.

One-sided perspective.

From the outside, it appears to be empty. From the inside, the blue star hangs above the eaves of the palace.

Light shone in from the direction of Blue Star. The blue-white light fell on the palace eaves, on the white stone steps, and on every suspended stone bridge.

Chen Siyao stood in the side corridor of the palace. She turned around.

Blue Star.

Looking out from between the eaves, the planet hangs above the roof. The corners are curved by the upturned eaves.

The blue ocean, the white cloud bands, and the brownish-yellow of the continent are all nestled among the ancient, upturned eaves.

She took out her phone.

I took a picture.

Yang Wanqing ran up from behind. "Did Yaoyao take the photos? Remember to send them to me!"

Chen Siyao rolled her eyes at her.

But he still steadily pointed his hand in the direction of the blue star and took three more pictures.

Different angles. Different compositions.

Every single one is so beautiful it doesn't seem real.

Yang Wanqing had already hopped to the other side; she was touching the pillars and the window frames.

Touching a string of unidentified ornaments hanging under the eaves, it looked like a wind chime, but there was no wind and it didn't ring.

Chen Siyao followed behind, taking notes.

The barrage of comments about the "photo crystal" finally calmed down.

"Was this magnificent palace really built by the ancients?"

"I don't care anymore, this is a million times more beautiful than the Forbidden City."

"The view of Earth from this angle is absolutely stunning. Anyone have a screenshot to use as wallpaper?"

"Chen Siyao, could you please take a few more pictures?!"

Chen Siyao had lost interest in reading the comments.

She's taking pictures. With her phone. With a photo crystal. She doesn't want to miss a single angle.

The main hall is located on the largest floating palace.

When the palace door was pushed open, the hinges could still turn. The door opened very smoothly.

Without rust, the ancient craftsmanship was preserved for countless years under the protection of the barrier.

The hall was very spacious. The floor was made of solid white stone. The ceiling was extremely high, at least eight meters high by my estimation. There were no murals on the four walls, only evenly distributed bases of spirit stones.

The spirit stone on the base was still emitting a faint white light, enough to provide illumination.

Then, the two girls saw what was in the center of the hall.

Yang Wanqing called out first.

"Wow, what is this? It's huge!"

In the center of the hall.

One instrument.

It's not the kind of metal equipment we see today. It's bronze-colored. To be precise, it's cast in bronze.

How big is it?

The base was estimated to be fifteen meters in diameter. The overall height... Chen Siyao looked up... at least six meters. Almost reaching the ceiling.

The structure is extremely complex. Dozens of ring-shaped components of varying sizes are nested layer upon layer. Some of the ring-shaped components are engraved with graduations.

Some of them can rotate... Chen Siyao saw gear meshing marks on several rings.

At the very top is a spherical object, the surface of which is covered with countless tiny holes.

The entire surface of the instrument is covered with inscriptions. Ancient script. Densely packed.

Chen Siyao circled around it halfway.

"This thing is made of bronze."

Her fingers lightly touched the surface of the base. Cool. Metallic. It was definitely bronze.

"Such sophisticated bronze artifacts existed in ancient times?"

She crouched down to examine the inscription on the base. The meshing precision between the gears was astonishingly small upon closer inspection. The shape and size of each tooth were almost perfectly identical.

The crystal took a picture of the device.

Professionals immediately appeared in the live chat.

A user with the ID "Old Zhou from the Bronze Restoration Group of the Chinese Academy of Sciences" posted a long comment: "The precision of this gear, in modern technology, requires a CNC machine tool with precision molds. It was impossible in ancient times. Unless there was spiritual energy assisting in the casting."

Another professor-level user commented, "Look at the concentricity of those ring-shaped components. Even in modern precision casting workshops, achieving this level would require numerous calibration processes. The maker of this instrument... has a far greater understanding of metallurgy and mechanics than we imagined."

"Were there such sophisticated bronze artifacts in ancient times?"

"It's not just precise. It's so precise it's unreasonable."

Chen Siyao moved around to the side of the instrument.

"Huh?"

She stopped.

There are words on the side of the base.

It's not like inscriptions with densely packed small characters. It's large characters carved separately. The font is upright, and the strokes are vigorous.

Four words.

Chen Siyao recognized her.

She read those four words aloud.

"Yutu-1"

Crystal faithfully transmitted her reading aloud to the live broadcast room.

The live chat froze for a second.

And then... it was all question marks.

"??????"

"Yutu-1???"

"Jade Rabbit??? That Jade Rabbit???"

"The legendary Jade Rabbit—is this it???"

"Isn't the Jade Rabbit a rabbit???"

"The Jade Rabbit is actually a bronze instrument???"

"My childhood... is shattered..."

"Wait... Number One? Number One means... there's also Number Two?"

Chen Siyao ignored the comments.

She continued searching for clues on the instrument. When she reached the other side, she discovered a flat surface embedded in the middle of the instrument.

It is rectangular, and the material is not bronze, but a transparent substance.

Glass.

Or rather... something like glass. More transparent than glass. The surface is completely free of scratches.

There are scale lines behind the glass mirror. It looks like some kind of display interface.

There is another protruding component next to it. It is cylindrical. There is a spherical handle at the top.

Chen Siyao stared at that thing for two seconds.

Joystick.

This is a joystick.

She took a step back and re-examined the entire instrument.

Ring-shaped component... celestial orbit model. Gear... linkage calculation system. Display mirror... data reading interface. Joystick... manual control device.

This is not just for show.

This is a... machine.

A fully functional, operable, precision instrument cast in bronze.

"Yutu-1" is not a rabbit.

It is the equipment number.

"Yaoyao...come and see quickly..."

Yang Wanqing's shout came from a room next to the main hall.

Chen Siyao put down the photographic crystal she was studying and walked towards the sound.

The room was small, quite different from the spaciousness of the main hall.

It's more like... an office.