Underworld Apocalypse 2: Stardust

Lu Chuan passed through a star gate and arrived on a planet covered in Chinese characters. Those characters were signposts left behind two thousand years ago, pointing to the "Civilization Archive" underground, a legacy the ancients left to Earth. Opening it required a key, hidden among the Juyan Han bamboo slips and the Houmuwu Ding.

The moment the key turned, guardians who had slept for a thousand years began to awaken: Sha Wujing, Zhu Bajie, Sun Wukong, and Tang Sanzang stood once more in the form of civilization's memories.

On the other side of the archive lay the "Underworld," which devoured memories. The Shadow Council watched from the dark, the Mechanical Tribunal declared the archive "unqualified," and the Void Remnants were closing in.

He did not grip his weapon. He walked down to the archive's lowest level, sat down, and began copying the things that were on the verge of being forgotten. Zhuge Liang had spent three hundred years drawing a star map. Du Fu had spent three hundred years writing a journal. Zheng He had recorded a journey of thirty thousand li. They had not vanished; they had simply been forgotten for too long.

As the galaxy was about to be devoured, he made memory shine again. The spark of civilization does not live in stone tablets, but wherever someone remembers.

Writing down the way back is harder than finding the way through.

☞ Click to read "Stardust" and see how the guardians rekindle the flame of civilization across the galaxy.