The broken stone disc atop the world's highest peak draws the sky closer to a dark gray with every 14.72-hertz resonance. After twenty years of single-minded effort, Zhao Changzhu finally proves it is no "fake archaeological hoax," but an "experimental acceptance key" left by an alien civilization. The five mass extinctions were precise purges; humanity is the sixth batch of "intelligent specimens," and the universe is a carefully designed laboratory.
When the stone gate behind a waterfall on the roof of the world slowly opens, they think they have uncovered the truth about their origins, but instead awaken an observational signal from Proxima Centauri b (plot twist). Global electromagnetic shielding is activated, and the countdown begins in silence: will they become the first sacrifices in an inter-universe invasion, or crack the stone disc's code and escape their manipulated fate? This desperate expedition, which began with a stone disc, will ultimately expose the universe's most suffocating rule: so-called "civilizational freedom" has always been a choice.
