Ch. 12 - Mars

"Don't talk nonsense. The bronze coffin flipped over, and the lid didn't settle properly. That sound must have been caused by a shift in position," Lin Jia said calmly, trying to steady everyone’s nerves.

The nine massive dragon corpses, each over a hundred meters long, covered in scales and faint dark luster, lay not far away.

The bronze coffin was at least twenty meters long, resting on the five-colored altar, radiating a strong sense of unease.

"I think we should all go together to explore that weird glow up ahead."

"I agree, we should act as a group."

Many people made this suggestion, clearly they were afraid.

Hardly anyone wanted to stay behind.

Eventually, everyone agreed to go explore the source of the light together.

This land was composed entirely of reddish-brown soil and gravel, vast and empty.

Only a few massive rocks dotted the landscape here and there.

As they passed the giant boulder they had previously climbed to get a better view, Liu Yunzhi exclaimed in surprise, "There’s writing on that rock!"

Circling around to the side of the boulder facing the light source, they clearly saw two enormous ancient characters carved into the stone.

Each character was five or six meters tall, with strokes like iron hooks and silver cuts, powerful and majestic, like two coiling dragons.

The script was much more complex than modern writing, clearly carved in ancient times, no one knew how many years it had been there.

Everyone gathered before the stone wall, staring at the bold characters.

Many furrowed their brows, unable to understand their meaning.

"This seems to be in bronze-inscription script. The first character is probably ‘Ying’ (荧)," Zhou Yi said, frowning and murmuring, "Where on earth have we ended up..."

"It’s definitely bronze script. These two characters spell ‘Fire Star’ (荧惑)," Ye Fan identified them casually.

Though he appeared calm, the meaning behind the words shook him deeply.

Fire Star, how could it be Fire Star?

He could hardly believe it and instinctively looked up at the sky.

Although it was dim, only a few stars were visible.

"Fire Star, what does that mean?"

"Is Fire Star a place?"

Many people were confused, unable to grasp the meaning of the words.

Upon hearing “Fire Star,” Zhou Yi also turned pale, just like Ye Fan.

"Flickering firelight... disorder and confusion. We really... have no way back," he said.

"What do you mean? Where are we?" the crowd asked anxiously, unsure.

When Wang Ziwen heard the word "Fire Star," he too understood its meaning and explained to everyone:

"I'm afraid we're no longer on Earth. Fire Star, flickering like fire, is an ancient name, used to refer to Mars, considered a bad omen."

Thousands of years ago, the ancients noticed that Mars appeared red and its brightness changed frequently.

It glowed like fire and moved unpredictably across the sky, sometimes west to east, sometimes east to west.

It was confusing and mysterious.

"Flickering firelight, chaotic and uncertain", the ancients called it Fire Star.

In ancient times, emperors feared this “star of calamity,” believing it foretold misfortune.

Whenever it appeared, it was said a prime minister would be dismissed or an emperor would die.

Of course, modern people no longer believe such superstitions.

"Oh my god!" Cade, beside Li Xiaoman, finally understood the meaning of "Fire Star" in Chinese.

He started grabbing the reddish soil, knocking on rocks, closely examining the geology, and gasping in shock.

"How is this possible?" many people were dumbfounded, completely unable to believe what they were hearing.

"This reddish-brown land beneath our feet... is Mars? We’re not on Earth anymore?!"

Anyone hearing this conclusion would be stunned, it made no sense.

Half an hour ago, they had still been on Mount Tai.

Half an hour later, they were now standing on the ancient star Fire Star, Mars.

It was like something out of a fantasy tale.

Lin Jia, tall and graceful, now had a slightly pale face.

Her phoenix-shaped eyes swept across the group as she said,

"For now, all we’ve seen is this stone inscription, we can’t yet be sure this really is Mars."

"But... they say Mars has red soil and gravel everywhere. Isn’t that exactly what we’re seeing here?" a female student asked through tears.

Humanity had launched probes to explore Mars as early as the 1960s.

In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder even successfully landed on the Martian surface.

Thanks to decades of exploration, humans were no longer ignorant about Mars and had gathered vast amounts of valuable data.

"Martian soil contains large amounts of iron oxide, and due to long-term UV exposure, the whole planet looks like it’s rusted. That matches exactly what we’re seeing. Could it be... we really left Earth, and are now standing on another planet?!" a male student clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned blue.

"If we’re really on Mars, I don’t think we could survive, there’s not enough oxygen, and the temperature isn’t suitable..." Li Xiaoman said.

Though her face was very pale, her words still gave some people a glimmer of hope.

Throughout all this, Ye Fan, Pang Bo, and a few others remained calm.

They were convinced they were no longer on Earth.

And really, what could be worse than this?

Whatever happened next, nothing would shock them anymore.

The group lingered in front of the stone for a long time, then moved on, heading toward the faint light in the distance.

It didn’t seem far away, but even after walking over 500 meters, they hadn’t reached it.

It looked like they still had at least the same distance to go again.

Everyone was burdened with heavy thoughts.

Few spoke, and the mood was grim, afraid that even this last hope would vanish.

Bang!

Pang Bo kicked a stone hard, sending up a cloud of dust.

Then his expression changed, he realized the stone he had kicked was a tile.

"It really is a roof tile!" he said, picking up the broken piece.

He immediately confirmed, it was a man-made ceramic tile.

At once, everyone gathered around to look at it.

Many showed signs of excitement.

"If there are roof tiles, there must be buildings.

That means there are people living on this land, it’s not just the five-colored altar!"

"We’re saved!"

"We’ll definitely get out of this!"

The group’s pessimism lessened.

Joy grew in their hearts.

They now saw hope for survival.

By this time, night had fully fallen.

The sky was full of stars.

Ye Fan looked up and noticed a faint disc hanging in the sky.

It was about half the size of the moon as seen from Earth, clear evidence they weren’t on Earth anymore.

In another direction, there was also a bright star, about the size of a fist.

It was much brighter than most stars, but dimmer than the smaller moon.

Too bright to be called a star, too small and dim to be called a moon.

Zhou Yi, Wang Ziwen, and Liu Yunzhi stood nearby.

They noticed Ye Fan’s gaze, looked up too, and when they saw the two small moons hanging in the sky, their expressions instantly changed.

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