Chapter One: The Fat Sheep Comes Knocking

The sweltering heat of midsummer, paired with a weekend holiday, and an air conditioner fan blowing cool air—who could resist the temptation of sleeping in?

The clock had just struck eleven, the sound barely eking out from the dying, swaying wall clock, urging the high school student Ethan Brooks lying in bed to get up.

But the power of the clock was still no match for the lure of sleep. Ethan Brooks rolled over in bed, pulled the blanket over his head, and planned to doze off a little longer.

"Business is getting harder and harder... Xiao Liuzi, still sleeping? You need to go back to the hospital for a checkup, and you should also visit the East Suburb Forest Farm."

With a voice as rough as a broken gong, the old security door creaked and groaned, letting the person outside come in.

"Let me sleep a bit more... Ow!"

Ethan Brooks wrapped himself even tighter in the blanket, when suddenly something icy cold slipped inside, making him jump up from the bed. The drowsiness that had enveloped him was instantly driven away by the chill.

"Ice cream again? So unoriginal." Ethan Brooks pouted, glaring at the ice cream tossed into his blanket, then shot a dissatisfied look at his father Ethan Bruce. He peeled off the wrapper and popped the ice cream into his mouth to wake himself up.

"If not ice cream, then what? A big girl? A little girl?" The forty-something Ethan Bruce took off his sweat-soaked Taoist robe, stood in front of the air conditioner fan enjoying the cool breeze, and said, "Do you have a girlfriend? Pathetic single dog. When I was your age..."

"You were already a heartthrob, I know, I know." Ethan Brooks slipped on his slippers and headed straight for the bathroom, not wanting to hear any more tall tales from his father.

"After you wash up, remember to go to the hospital." Ethan Bruce pulled out a sweat-dampened yellow talisman from his pocket and complained as he fanned it in front of the air conditioner: "Ah... I really miss the past couple of years! Business is just getting harder and harder..."

The past couple of years? Ethan Brooks shook his head and sighed while sitting on the toilet. Shouldn't it be three years ago?

Three years ago, Earth's only satellite, the moon, lost a quarter of itself, as if a piece had been sliced off like a cake.

That moon, which had hung high in the sky for thousands of years, circling the earth like a bee around a flower, seemed to have finally had enough of this endless orbiting and flattery. One day, it chose to shed a quarter of its body, crashing straight into Earth's embrace.

That's right! Three years ago, a quarter of the moon fell into Earth's Pacific Ocean. The moon in the sky looked as if a chunk had been cut out of a cake.

What would happen if the moon fell into the Pacific Ocean? Many scientists had already said that the impact would cause a massive explosion, crustal shifts, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, and earthquakes—worse than the extinction of the dinosaurs.

But this time, when the moon fell into the Pacific, it seemed to have made a gentle, soft landing. There were no tsunamis, no crustal shifts, no volcanic eruptions, and not even the Pacific's water overflowed into other cities around the world despite such a huge rock being dropped in.

Faced with this, all scientists could say was: This is unscientific.

After the moon landed on Earth, the only anomaly was that as soon as it arrived, the entire planet was shrouded in thick fog for three days—so dense you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. Just as people began to panic, the fog suddenly vanished overnight.

After that, warships from various countries sailed to the moon's new location, and then... scientists from all over the world, calling it a treasure for all humanity, flocked to this miraculous land to conduct research.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the moon had been a guest on Earth for three years. People went from initial panic to curiosity, and gradually to complete adaptation.

With nothing more than an extra moon in the Pacific, people cared more about whether they could eat well, dress well, and live well.

With the attention gone, those amateur scientists who once appeared on TV because of the moon's arrival lost their chance at fame again. Now, they could only scrape by on short videos and public accounts, or don Taoist robes and scam people by pretending to be mystics.

For example: Benefactor, I see your brow is dark—things haven't been going well lately, have they? No worries, just recently I broke into the moon, which is sealed off by governments worldwide, and actually found the Moon Palace of the fairy Chang'e! There, the fairy herself bestowed upon me this spiritual talisman!

You say I'm a fraud? The government says there's nothing on the moon? Then why don't they open it up for everyone to visit? Didn't they say the moon is a gift to all humanity? I was invited by the state to investigate and signed a confidentiality agreement! If not for your dire situation, I wouldn't dare reveal the truth.