The story takes place in the 2040s, when humanity has entered its "Second Space Age." Unlike the independent exploration efforts of individual nations in the early 21st century, the China National Space Administration, NASA, and the European Space Agency now lead the Deep Space Exploration Alliance, working together to investigate the outer reaches of the solar system. Society is steeped in contradiction. On one hand, the public is excited by a steady stream of deep-space discoveries, such as possible signs of primordial life in the Oort Cloud, and science news is full of optimistic predictions about the future. On the other, a tightly controlled anxiety pervades the space agencies. Ever since the Kunlun disappeared at the edge of the Oort Cloud twenty years ago, a string of accidents resembling "ghost missions" has led officials to realize that some kind of "interference source" exists in deep space, one that cannot be explained by current physics. The official explanation is equipment failure or cosmic rays. Behind the scenes, however, officials have launched the top-secret Abyss Files research project, and the cryptography center where Lin Mo works is a key part of it. The era's central conflict lies between the apparent glory of technological progress and the hidden fear of the unknown, as well as the truth that institutions must conceal to preserve stability.
