In the early morning, Tower Guardian Ge Lin awakens to the low hum of mechanical devices. Sunlight pours into the room through the crystal glass windows on one side of the tower’s lounge, casting alternating light and shadow patterns from the decorative ironwork on the window frame across the floor. The distant sky is vast and cloudless, and the mechanical antenna dish atop the Lu’an Hub is angling slightly, its jagged alloy frame slowly moving past the window, slicing the sky into intricate geometric patterns.
"Not bad, it’s good weather... The Mages’ weather forecasts are getting more accurate."
The Tower Guardian squints at the sky outside, murmuring softly before taking a deep breath. He then puts on a loose, airy shirt, tidies his appearance briefly, and leaves the room—accompanied by the comforting, low sounds from the mechanical turrets and linkage mechanisms in the upper area, familiar sounds he’s grown accustomed to. He traverses a short corridor and a small set of stairs to a nearby equipment room. A blond young man in a brown shirt is sitting there at the Magic Web Terminal, fully focused on the numbers dancing on the holographic display. Nearby, neatly cut stacks of the latest newspapers are piled up beside the printing device.
The young man is named Ron, a colleague of Ge Lin’s, and the other Tower Guardian of this tower. He was transferred here not long ago, but his earnest and pleasant personality has already left a deep and positive impression on the tower’s "senior employees."
"Ah, Mr. Ge Lin," the blond youth at the Magic Web Terminal hears the sound from the doorway and smiles as he recognizes the visitor. "Shift change hasn’t happened yet, why are you up so early?"
"A regular routine is good for the body—especially for a middle-aged man like me," Ge Lin replies with a smile, greeting the young man. "Viksen hasn’t returned yet?"
"He came back briefly but soon left again with two technicians—the readings from the secondary hub over at Kosentown are a bit off. A nearby factory reported that since yesterday they’ve been unable to receive signals from Lu’an. Viksen thinks yesterday’s thunderstorm might have damaged the secondary hub, so he’s gone to check it himself. Oh, he drove off in that gray Magic-guided Vehicle."
"Looks like yesterday’s thunderstorm was more intense than we imagined," Ge Lin says casually as he approaches the Magic Web Terminal. He notices the neatly cut newspapers printed by the network printer have already been perused, and someone has made marks on one of the pages with a red pen. "Did you find anything interesting in the newspapers, Ron?"
"Ah, I was just about to mention," the young man named Ron displays a smile mixed with pleasure and mystery, "Do you remember that ’listening project’ Viksen is always interested in? It’s the project where every major hub has a listening station. Recently, it seems there’s been a remarkable development—they say they’ve received a mysterious signal and scholars have dedicated significant space to discussing this matter. The news isn’t just in one issue of the newspaper..."
Ge Lin honestly hasn’t paid much attention to that listening project. But now, Ron’s excitement is infectious, intriguing him enough to pick up the stack of freshly printed papers emitting a faint ink scent.
What first catches his eye is a bold headline: "Among the Vast Stars, Could There Be Creatures Capable of Rational Thought Like Us?"
What kind of question is this?
The Tower Guardian’s gaze is immediately drawn to this peculiar title. From his youthful days working as an aristocratic scribe to his middle-aged transition to Tower Guardian of the Magic Web Nexus, he has witnessed and experienced quite a bit throughout his life. But he’s never heard such things before, never heard anyone ask such questions... Among the stars... Why would someone view happenings among the stars this way? And why have they gone to such lengths to discuss it seriously?
According to the priests’ beliefs... among the stars, that should be the kingdom’s direction, shouldn’t it?
Ge Lin instinctively furrows his brows, puzzled, as he continues reading and finds that the entire newspaper is exploring similar topics. In subsequent pages, there’s an even more striking and intriguing title: "From Caves to Plains, From Underfoot to the Distant—Royal Astrologer Morgan Hugo Guides You to Understand the ’Breadth’ of the World."
Ron’s voice comes from beside him: "These are very interesting—although they appear to be dry academic discussion articles, they’re surprisingly easy to understand. I’ve never seen anything like them in any issue of newspaper or magazine discussing theories about the stars above, but I did hear from my teacher that the land under our feet is actually a planet, we revolve around the sun, and the sun revolves around ’Ao.’ Each flickering point in the universe could be a similar celestial system..."
Ge Lin listens to Ron’s exuberant narration, only able to respond perfunctorily—what the young man focuses on seems indeed different from what concerns him as a middle-aged man. Though he’s had complete general education and literacy courses, his attention to these ’far from daily life’ topics is naturally lesser than that of Ron, who’s just over twenty years old. Keeping up with such topics becomes naturally challenging.
Meanwhile, his gaze swiftly sweeps over unrelated reports, advertisements, and trivialities on subsequent pages. Underneath, he spots the "Cecil Weekly" catching his eye. Expectedly, he sees titles resembling the earlier articles: "The Celestial Scale in Master Kamel’s Eyes—Knowledge and Wisdom from the Gondor Era." In the follow-up part of the article, there’s a mention of a promotion indicating that to further improve national literacy and enrich citizens’ reading enjoyment, the Empire High Council has authorized the release of a new journal focusing on astrology knowledge dissemination...
Looking at the sharp, clear letters, an idea suddenly strikes Ge Lin as he quickly lays out the newspapers on the table, rapidly skimming through their primary pages and bold titles. A myriad of articles seem distinct, but their actual content maintains a high level of consistency in their academic, entertainingly educational, or discussion-oriented nature, entering his view.
The Tower Guardian looks at these newspapers, smiles, and with experience, judges—looks like the Supreme Administration Office has some "major plan," and these newspapers should be just the first step of preparation. Soon, Magic Web broadcasts might introduce related new programs, right?
Ordinary people might find it hard to feel this "wind direction" from the limited media they touch daily, but a Tower Guardian stationed at a regional information hub can very sensitively perceive certain signals releasing in advance. Of course, that premise requires sufficient work experience; Ge Lin himself is quite an experienced Tower Guardian, whereas young Ron... clearly hasn’t thought that far.
"Mr. Ge Lin," Ron notices his senior’s sudden move, and slightly startled, couldn’t help but ask, "Has something happened?"
"It’s nothing, it’s not a bad thing anyway. You’ll understand after working here for a couple of years," Green laughed, casually saying while casting his gaze back on the marked page of the newspaper. It was then that he realized this page was not an academic or knowledge dissemination article, but a special news piece and a folk recruitment announcement.
"Soren Listening Station Receives Unknown Mysterious Signal" and "Nationwide Call for Solutions to the Following Symbol Decryption."
He saw the patterns attached to the article, which looked nothing like common alphabets nor like southern hieroglyph symbols. The series of arcs and the short lines connected to them appeared mysterious and hard to decipher, and beside the symbols, Ron had already drawn many seemingly pointless strings of letters with a pen.
"Don’t tell me you’re planning to decrypt these symbols—the ones that even expert scholars are baffled by." Green couldn’t help lifting his head to glance at the young Ron.
"Why not?" the young blond replied immediately, "Don’t you think it’s a very challenging and prideful task, as if participating in history? Plus, there’s a high reward—if we unravel their meaning, the bounty is even enough for us to buy a whole estate in Lu An City!"
Green was not influenced by the young man’s immature joy and enthusiasm; he just worriedly looked at the reports and symbols that bore no resemblance to any known writings in this world. Anxiety arose in his heart, but it was quickly suppressed, turning into a query: "After studying so much, did you discern any patterns?"
"Not at all—they appear almost like encrypted graffiti, far from being cracked through simple letter substitution or structural rearrangement," Ron shook his head with some regret. "In fact, I’ve decided to treat this as something of a diversion after work... getting rich overnight may not be so easy to achieve, but the process of decrypting these symbols is somewhat entertaining. And I believe most people who take interest in these symbols will ultimately have a similar mindset as mine, as you said, these things have left imperial capital’s expert scholars stumped..."