This kind of all-out war wouldn't be able to rescue all citizens.
Those who chose to defend from strategically important locations would simply be mercilessly crushed by the war.
After the evacuation ended, the war officially began.
A three-headed giant dragon descended from the heavens. A massive chamber in its belly contained plasma, capable of converting matter into pure plasma, providing the dragon with an endless energy supply.
The dragon's left head breathed fire, its right head exhaled freezing air, and its center head emitted sonic waves.
Powerful external technological augmentation amplified its abilities tenfold, even a hundredfold.
Massive skyscrapers, thousands of meters high, collapsed under its attacks.
Then, from the city, a laser beam shot out, striking the dragon. Its entire body rapidly carbonized from the point of impact, and it died.
Such scenes played out across the city.
In the distance, a colossal centipede, several kilometers long, emerged from the city, biting a key from the sky. The key shimmered with a golden light, its radiance carrying terrifying radiation that enveloped the land. The moment it was bitten, the light dimmed.
Crack!
It shattered.
A person in power armor soared from the ground, punching a monstrous creature covered in countless tentacles. The creature was blasted into outer space by the immense force. The person in the armor then swiped at the air in front of them, compressing a massive amount of air, condensing it into a high-density projectile many thousands of times its original volume and slamming it into the creature. The air instantly dispersed, creating an explosion that tore the monster to shreds.
Even the Federation Commander observing this battle was astonished.
"I never imagined ground warfare would be like this."
"This isn't a human war; it's a war of gods and demons. Technology has drastically altered the capabilities and even the appearance of combatants."
As he spoke, he saw a golden giant Buddha deliver a single blow, shattering a path through the city.
Then, a small serpent, several meters long, suddenly opened its enormous mouth—a ridiculously large maw of over ten thousand meters—and swallowed the Buddha whole.
The Buddha was compressed into a thumb-sized ball of flesh within the small serpent's body.
"What in the world are these mythical creatures?"
"Order the soldiers to retreat; the first batch of Swarm insects has hatched."
In ground battles, the best option wasn't sending soldiers to fight directly, but using countless Swarm insects to overwhelm an area.
They hadn't used the Swarm initially for two reasons: the Swarm needed time to hatch, and they needed to evacuate the citizens. Deploying soldiers first created pressure, encouraging Homage star nation citizens to evacuate, while simultaneously hindering the enemy's advance.
The Federation soldiers began to retreat, the Swarm swarms clearing the way.
The Commander witnessed this overwhelming scene: "It's truly like a river of carp—more accurately, a sweep."
Faced with such a massive Swarm assault, the Homage star nation soldiers who had been hiding were forced to reveal themselves, transforming into gene pools, donning power armor, or raising their weapons. Countless attacks rained down on the scattered Swarm.
The nature of urban warfare prevented the use of large-scale, high-damage weaponry; only single-target strikes were feasible.
Ten thousand!
One hundred thousand!
One million!
Ten million!
Countless insects died, yet countless more filled their place.
These insects were themselves gene pools, but lacking technological enhancement, they were far weaker than true gene pools.
Concentrated acid insects flew through the air, spraying concentrated acid in a torrential downpour. The molar concentration of these acids was extremely high, with AG values exceeding 1000, translating to a pH value of -507. This was a type of super-strong acid from advanced Federation industry; even the insects themselves couldn't withstand it. They possessed specialized acid-resistant organs to contain and produce these acids.
The acid rain even corroded the energy shields. The atoms themselves were hyperactive; this strong acid, due to its inherent instability, could only maintain its acidity for less than six hours.
But six hours was sufficient for close-range attacks.
Star City gradually became a desolate wasteland. The soldiers who retreated rested for only a few days before heading to another Star City, repeating the process.
The battlefield was far from enjoyable or interesting; it was not only monotonous but also a constant risk to one's life.
"Damn this war!"
This was the most frequently uttered phrase on the battlefield, averaging three times per soldier per day.
While the Homage star nation was nearly crushed by the Federation, they weren't without resistance.
In the distance, as a squad of soldiers landed on a Star City, the city exploded, burying over a million Federation soldiers.
"Next time, deploy robots first to scout for any remaining civilians."
Each failure was a lesson learned; Federation soldiers were being forged in this crucible.
This was but a microcosm of the entire battlefield.
This time, the Federation deployed over 200 billion soldiers and 170,000 warships.
Their enemy, however, due to widespread cloning and population encouragement among the star nations, wasn't significantly less numerous.
The Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant had a total population exceeding 429 trillion, with 21 trillion soldiers.
In just the first hundred years of warfare, casualties on both sides exceeded 1 trillion, including soldiers and a massive number of civilians. As mentioned before, civilian casualties in this war were unavoidable.
Kedez star nation, the smallest nation within the Twenty-Eight Nations Covenant, was annihilated in the first hundred years. A large number of its soldiers transitioned to guerrilla warfare, attacking Federation Star Cities and inflicting significant casualties on Federation citizens.
In the second hundred years, the war escalated.
Truces became less frequent; more civilians died in the conflict.
Brutal!
Countless witnessed the war's savagery.
Only when the families of soldiers died in the war did they truly understand what real war meant.
Bloodlust was ignited.
But this also meant the war had to have a victor. Before a victor emerged, neither side would end the conflict.
...
"External war, internal conflict; the flames have been ignited. It's time to add some spice."
Luna observed the war reports in Free Star City. She hoped to introduce other conquered civilizations at this point, exacerbating conflicts and adding another layer of conflict.
Cultural conflict and armed conflict would merge.
"Luna, the war simulation results are in. Estimated casualties are between 700 and 1000 trillion."
Massive casualties, even reaching the scale of the Olive Branch Civilization's genocide plan against the former Federation.
At that time, humanity's population wasn't even that large.
Luna's expression remained unchanged. At this moment, she truly didn't know whether others were the demons or she herself was the demon.
...
Flyer Civilization.
Bill didn't know the Federation's current state. He had his mission, and this mission had lasted far too long.
If he hadn't looked at the calendar, he wouldn't even remember how long he'd been carrying out this task.
This caused him immense pain.
Operating within Flyer Civilization territory—a civilization far stronger than the Federation—Bill couldn't employ any subtle tactics. Any minor misstep would be immediately detected and used as a pretext by the Flyer Civilization.
Therefore, for thousands of years, he had been unable to do anything else; he could only maintain this plan.
He had barely taken the first step.
As the final ambassador and supreme commander, he had only achieved this much, feeling ashamed of the Federation's expectations and the waiting of his subordinates.
He was waiting for the establishment of a trading outpost. Now, he didn't even have time to relax in a virtual world; his anxiety was driving him nearly mad.
The officials accompanying him felt similarly. Even without a sense of responsibility, such a long wait was exhausting. All that remained was the desire to complete the originally intended mission.
Bill knew that they were secretly discussing whether their plan was too fragmented, perhaps suggesting an alternative.
He considered this utter nonsense. If there were other plans, why hadn't his subordinates proposed them? Were they just here for a paycheck?
Clearly, implementing other plans was extremely difficult.
Furthermore, they were already this far.
Bill genuinely couldn't bear to give up like this.
Bill also considered this, even beginning to question his own judgment.
Was there only one Flyer Civilization being here? Was this not actually a Flyer Civilization settlement?
Or was the Flyer Civilization, like the Olive Branch Civilization, a highly centralized civilization?
He spent decades living like this.
While patrolling the trading post as he had countless times before, he spotted a massive creature—a Flyer Civilization being—within the outpost.
Bill suppressed his elation and approached the Flyer Civilization being.
"Good day, esteemed guest."
Bill didn't know the Flyer Civilization language; he could only communicate in English.
The Flyer Civilization being turned, facing the tiny Bill.
"I'm not a guest. I believe my predecessor spoke with you. I am his successor."
This Flyer Civilization being also understood English.
Bill said, "Welcome. You can call me Bill."
The Flyer Civilization being grunted.
"I know, Mr. Bill. Perhaps we can discuss the trading station. For segregation purposes, I intend to enclose this trading station in a cage. What are your thoughts?"
What thoughts? This creature was even more concise than the previous one.
It seemed even more troublesome than the previous Flyer Civilization being.
Bill couldn't be forceful. He said, "This is your territory; you naturally have the authority to decide."
He was clearly talking nonsense.
The Flyer Civilization being, however, seemed relaxed and calm.
"While this is my territory, it has become a symbol of friendship between our civilizations, and it's an area you've been granted access to. Naturally, I must consult with you."
"Rest assured, this cage will only block certain things; you will still be able to enter and exit freely."
"Farewell, Mr. Bill. I have much work to do."
Bill escorted the being to the exit. He watched as it shrank to an imperceptible size and departed. Only then did Bill relax.
The cage was undoubtedly intended to block pheromones, meaning this place truly housed Flyer Civilization citizens.
This rekindled some of his hope.
That hope had lasted for over a century, but it dwindled again. The trading post once more became desolate, dreary, and monotonous.
"How long must this wait continue?"
"We can't do anything here; we're at their mercy."
"We should provoke them into attacking us."
Bill heard his colleagues complain, and he sighed.
It wasn't that easy. They didn't even understand this civilization. It was excessively restrained, showing no weaknesses. Was it really possible to provoke a successful response simply by trying?
He thought this way.
Suddenly, an alert appeared: a trading post visitor—or perhaps, a lifeline.
Bill accessed the surveillance feed and saw another Flyer Civilization being.
He approached. "Is there something else? You…"
He didn't know how to address the being.
But this time, the being didn't even react to him, walking past him and carefully selecting items from the containers in the trading post.
Bill first frowned, then a look of joy spread across his face.
This reaction could only mean that this being was not the same Flyer Civilization individual as before.
The being selected a few items, threw a sphere towards Bill, and then left.
There was no communication, but Bill was delighted.
This was a massive leap forward.
"Indeed, this is a test of endurance."
"Or perhaps a change in management is an opportunity. Like in the Federation, a previous manager would leave behind a mess, and the successor couldn't manage it."
The seeds planted thousands of years ago were finally sprouting.
This was the longest wait.
If there's one, there will be two, and then three. Bill decided to invest heavily in products, using these pheromones to create a large quantity of related goods.
The last time was a test of the pheromones' attractiveness to the Flyer Civilization being; this time, it was the products themselves.
At the same time, Bill studied the small sphere the Flyer Civilization being had given him.
While called a sphere, it was the size of a small ball. A vibrant, iridescent liquid flowed within, similar to what the Iridescents seemed to enjoy.
Bill tested it. The sphere contained an unknown high-energy element—possibly the Flyer Civilization's currency.
He carefully analyzed this element and encrypted the data, sending it back to the Federation.
Only after all this was done did he finally exhale.
His first harvest in thousands of years!
From nothing to something.
He hadn't failed.
...
This was the largest spaceship a Cassian had ever seen.
Their civilization's largest spaceship, he recalled, was a 158-meter interplanetary vessel developed only 17 years ago; that had already been incredibly large.
But compared to this one?
Insignificant.
It was larger than the scale of their largest plated creatures, which were normally their snacks.
Indeed, they originally didn't have concepts like "years" or "meters." They shouldn't even use "he," but rather "it."
Ten years ago, everything changed with the arrival of the Federation and a single 500-meter spaceship that pierced through all their defenses.
When a weak civilization confronts a powerful one, there's virtually no chance of resistance.
They had once wondered if other civilizations existed in the vast universe. If so, why hadn't they ever encountered any?
According to their calculations, the universe had existed for over 26.7 billion years. Among that immense span, any arbitrarily chosen 100 million years would be enough time for a civilization to conquer the entire Milky Way galaxy.
If the Milky Way truly had a dominant power, why hadn't they been discovered?
Through thousands of years of astronomical observation, they had indeed observed some unusual stellar explosions, but these could be explained scientifically.
Could it be that the universe was truly empty, or perhaps their galaxy lacked other civilizations, or perhaps other powerful civilizations?
They had fantasized about such possibilities.
But all those thoughts were shattered ten years ago.
Before that spaceship arrived, they hadn't even detected its presence. Only when it appeared in their skies did everyone realize that an extraterrestrial civilization had arrived.
Indeed!
Humans!
That was the name of the beings of that civilization. They weren't a single race but belonged to the same civilization.
And they bestowed this name upon their own lives, a kind of honor. But according to their own nomenclature, everyone knew that nothing came without a price; receiving something meant giving something in return.
They just didn't know what they were paying yet.
Cassian didn't really care about any of this. He hadn't reached that level; he was just an insignificant individual in his original civilization, awaiting death.
He was old. According to Federation years, he was approximately 36. Their species' lifespan limit was around 42-45 years, with variations due to individual differences.
Just like some people are born intelligent, others are born less so; some are born with various illnesses and die young.
Cassian thought his lifespan limit would be around 40 years—at most.
A mere 4 years left!
However, with the arrival of the Federation and his joining as a human, everything changed.
He received a much longer lifespan.
According to current Federation policy, every citizen, regardless of race, had a lifespan limit of 1500 years; moreover, they could live three lifetimes, resulting in a total lifespan of 4500 years.
This was a 100-fold increase compared to their original lifespan.
No…
Based on information gleaned from Federation soldiers, there were many star nations surrounding the Federation, some without lifespan limits—theoretically, they could live forever.
He set his sights on this, so he specifically studied English.
Many shared Cassian's thoughts.
The Federation soldiers on the ship were well aware of their thoughts. They weren't housed on the same level as these other beings; they were segregated.
"These creatures, should we call them Pineapple people? They really do look like some kind of simulated pineapple from a game. I heard it was a type of fruit from the early days of human civilization."
"Their skin is more like scaly fruit, their whole bodies covered in scales. Those scales are too small, not imposing enough. It feels like cheap imitation stockings from the human side."
"Their barrel-shaped bodies are honestly quite disproportionate, especially their arms and legs, which look like they're made of plant-like roots. I'd say there are several thousand of them."
"I think it's between 800 and 900."
"I bet it's around 500."
Several people started chatting and gambling, putting down some Energy Credits as stakes.
It was just incredibly boring.
"Damn it, they even destroyed the ship's main server. With just a small computer, we can only create a crappy virtual reality world. There's nothing fun to do."
They were gambling, then suddenly began to curse.
This was purely a transport ship. Its size had actually reached warship-level, exceeding 100,000 meters, but since it lacked any weaponry, it could only be called a transport vessel.
"Why not let the guys on board enter the virtual world? Even though it's just a small computer, it can easily handle millions of people online."
"Anyway, these guys inside the ship are unlikely to survive until they reach the Federation. This journey is 2200 light-years long. Even if this ship's power system is running at full capacity, it would take over 11,000 years to return to the Federation."
"What? Don't mention the time! We've already spent so much time here, and the return journey is even longer. I really want to die!"
A feeling of depression spread through the ship's hold.
"But we really could put those guys in. A game, more people equals more fun."
"This ship doesn't even have cryosleep chambers for them. I suspect it was intentional. The Federation doesn't need the original natives. These people still carry the marks of their original civilization. It's perfect. Let them live out their lives in blissful ignorance within the virtual world."
And so they did.
Cassian was given a connection code. When he connected to the virtual world, he was completely overwhelmed by what he saw.
It was truly a perfect world; everything felt so real. He could even see tens of thousands of meters into the distance. This world didn't have any of the usual limitations of a simulated environment.
He couldn't believe it. In his civilization, even the best simulation equipment was still in the realm of fantasy; they hadn't developed in this direction at all.
Cassian felt it was a profoundly foolish decision, wishing they had possessed such technology sooner.
But it didn't matter.
He could play here freely, with his enormously extended lifespan.
After his lifespan increased, he even felt his mind had become exceptionally sharp, with a strong desire to experience everything new.
And this was just one of the many transport ships.
Hundreds of such transport ships were underway, escorted by a warship at the front.
The Pineapple Civilization was just one among 27 civilizations being relocated. These civilizations had a collective name: Lambs.
The Pineapple Civilization's transport ship arrived surprisingly quickly.
This civilization is actually a newly developed one. The Federation discovered their planet over 20,000 years ago, but at that time, no civilization existed.
Subsequently, they sent several Subluminal Flight Vehicles to survey the planet and confirm the initial form of their civilization. Then, a human civil war erupted, and Luna retrieved the files from the archives. They sent the wrong people initially, only to discover later that this civilization had grown into a Type 1 civilization.
The Federation's lifespan seems long to weaker civilizations. In its exploration zone, civilizations might appear where none existed before; this is quite common.
However, such civilizations are still in the minority.
Most civilizations are located outside a 5000-light-year radius. It takes them much longer to arrive, averaging around 33,000 years.
Therefore, this human civil war will last an extremely long time.
Luna didn't want it to end so quickly.
Luna's ideal was to prolong it for at least 50,000 years, even until the true beginning of dimensional warfare.
What does "war to feed war" mean?
Of course, the Milky Way is not currently in a state of war, so let's wage war on ourselves.
But in reality, compared to dimensional exploration, 50,000 years is incredibly short.
Since the creation of the two-way physical connection exploration device, Mukong has been busy. To see the plan succeed in his lifetime, he frantically cultivates his psionic abilities.
The lifespan mechanism of the New Federation is slightly different from the old one.
Not only is the lifespan of all beings, regardless of race, fixed at 1500 years, but psionic abilities also have a diminishing effect on lifespan extension.
Each level of psionic advancement only adds 500 years to one's lifespan.
The Federation's psionic level has already reached the upper limit of 10, meaning a total lifespan extension of 5000 years, reaching a total lifespan of 6500 years.
Level 10 psionic individuals are essentially Thunder Gods. At psionic level 7, organisms can store excess electromagnetic energy within their bodies. Level 7 can store approximately 10 kilowatt-hours, while level 8 can store over 300 kilowatt-hours. Level 9 breaks through 10,000 kilowatt-hours, and level 10 exceeds 500,000 kilowatt-hours.
This level of electrical energy allows them to easily lift objects weighing over hundreds of tons.
The maximum psionic level is currently the highest lifespan that Federation lifeforms can achieve under natural conditions.
However, achieving high psionic levels is incredibly difficult.
Each breakthrough is tremendously challenging.
Therefore, many individuals within the Federation attempt to cheat, using technology to artificially enhance their psionic abilities.
The Federation has even enacted laws against this; such individuals are imprisoned.
The Federation's punishment isn't lenient. The imprisoned individuals' consciousnesses are sent to a simulated world as maintenance personnel, constantly navigating various simulated worlds, yet unable to truly enter these worlds.
It's like a programmer debugging code. The debugging process isn't within the game itself, but rather facing countless data signals, driving themselves mad.
Any violation of Federation law results in a minimum imprisonment of 1000 years.
For previous offenders who induced others into dream states, sentences ranged from 100,000 years, with the longest reaching 710,000 years.
These aren't symbolic sentences; they are actual, prolonged incarcerations.
The Federation preserves the bodies of these criminals, categorizing punishments as follows: 1000 to 10,000 years is the first tier; 10,000 to 100,000 years is the second tier; and 100,000 to 1,000,000 years is the third tier.
These punishments aren't limited to imprisonment in simulated worlds; they also involve the deprivation of a certain amount of physical lifespan.
The first tier compresses the lifespan to 100 years. If the offender's lifespan is under 300 years, it's compressed to 50 years. If the offender's lifespan is under 100 years, it's compressed to 20 years.
The second tier constitutes serious crimes.
Lifespan is compressed to under 10 years. If the offender's natural lifespan is less than 150 years, the death penalty is imposed, along with the deprivation of a lineage; the first generation is directly sent to reincarnation.
The third tier directly compresses the lifespan to one year. The death penalty isn't imposed, but all otherworldly rights are revoked, leaving only this one year. During this year, the offender is constantly monitored by the Federation in reality, wearing a specific device in a designated area.
Of course, these are all theoretical punishments.
In reality, meeting these criteria is extremely difficult.
The first tier requires murder, and not accidental murder; it must be intentional homicide.
The remaining offenses violate Federation laws, and these individuals are dealt with accordingly under these laws.
Federation law simply involves physical imprisonment, with a maximum sentence of 1000 years.
In reality, the Federation has a fourth tier, but it's for the extremely high-ranking. No one knows how they're punished; it's only described as extremely cruel, with one line above: "Federation science can guarantee immortality…"
…experiencing pain in immortality.
This kind of suffering is unimaginable.
A few in the Federation have wanted to try it, but they weren't intelligent enough. Lack of intelligence means they couldn't reach that level of crime, so no one has yet received this particular honor.
Mukong's psionic level has reached level 6.
This is a very high level. Although the maximum is level 10, in Federation history only one individual has ever reached it—a brain-worm, possessing inherent natural talent.
It's worth mentioning that while brain-worms have a maximum lifespan of 1500 years, their easy psionic advancement means their average lifespan is generally over 3000 years.
However, no one wants to be a brain-worm, because their appearance is utterly repulsive.
Internal discrimination within the Federation has largely been eliminated, but it isn't completely gone. Subtle forms of discrimination still persist, but discrimination is different from ordinary things.
As long as the individual themselves aren't self-conscious, this discrimination is essentially invalid; it's merely teasing.
Now, each race in the Federation is supremely confident. "You say my appearance is…ugh…I'm going to live longer than you, you soon-to-be-dead worm…"
Everyone gradually realized they didn't need to care about other races' judgments, because every race finds each other ugly.
The New Federation, after so many years, went through initial unification and subsequent fragmentation. The reason was the vast differences in appearance, making it difficult to establish a unified aesthetic.
Humans might find a cat cute.
But these beings are inherently related to humans; cats are close relatives, sharing over 10% similar genes.
However, interspecies differences are vast. Their structures are completely different. A Warbeast might be handsome, but it's a body. When the eye moves to the head, even a human would say it's grotesquely ugly.
Although Mukong was a level 6 psionic with a lifespan of 4500 years, the project's long duration meant he was over 4000 years old when it finally launched.
...
"Prepare!"
"Launch!"
Mukong's heart pounded. He was personally overseeing this launch.
Watching the giant array of probes, equipped for Bidirectional detection device, fire into space, Mukong finally relaxed.
His initial plan sounded simple, but the hardships involved were known only to him.
Given the Federation's current efficiency, coupled with their attention to this project, it had taken over a thousand years—no, closer to 2000 years—to prepare for this plan. One could imagine the difficulties.
After all, they were exploring a black hole. First, the equipment itself had to remain stable within the dimensional gateway. Achieving that was incredibly challenging.
Then there was the positioning problem.
The space within the dimensional gateway is chaotic. After years of simulating the gateway's interior, everyone now understands that this chaos isn't just simple stretching and contraction; it also includes twisting, rotation, fracturing, and overlapping phenomena occurring simultaneously.
This is why even so many Swarms failed to reach the fourth dimension.
It's like flying through a 1cm hole, then trying to find another 1cm hole within a space of millions of kilometers. It's not as simple as it sounds; it's an immense challenge.
Currently, whether it's the Federation or other civilizations, other-dimensional civilizations must be facing this predicament.
The Federation needs to create a tear in this fabric.
The core of this plan is to probe the conditions within the dimensional gateway. To increase the chances of success, another step was necessary: creating markers to guide the launched equipment back.
Markers within a black hole?
Insanity.
That's all Mukong could say.
But he knew that without markers, his plan was doomed to fail. What was the point of all his years of effort?
The launched rockets resembled rockets from a previous era, but square-shaped. A rear thruster accelerated this square box, while various shrinking instruments were placed at the front.
It was somewhat like launching fireworks underground.
Once these rockets reached the dimensional gateway, they would stop, and the instruments at the front would begin deploying.
The front instruments would deploy first; a steel cable would then connect them to the rear section. The front instruments would then pull the rear section, with two possible distances between them.
One was 100,000 kilometers, the other 200,000 kilometers.
The conditions inside the dimensional gateway were unknown, so they needed to prepare for both possibilities.
Entry.
At this point, Mukong and the others could do nothing. The dimensional gateway, acting like a black hole, blocked signals. Once inside the black hole, except for the two openings, no light could escape from anywhere else.
Waiting.
All they could do was wait for good news.
But in reality, these pieces of equipment weren't entirely uncontrolled; they weren't controlled by lifeforms, but by robots.
hegs-9273ggs28836-fg287392b0-A01~...Z98
These are the serial numbers of these robots, also their names.
Each front and rear section of the equipment contained a robot.
After the front equipment entered, it began "punctuation marking." The rear equipment would then identify these marks upon its arrival, and subsequently perform its own punctuation marking.
The two punctuation methods differed. The front section used energy punctuation—that is, using particles to create markers at specific locations. The rear section would analyze the dispersion of these particles and perform physical punctuation.
These were small, bee-sized negative energy devices used to resist the surrounding gravitational pull and spacetime warping.
C28 was a participant in this operation. Odd numbers typically represented the front section, while even numbers represented the rear. Upon entering the dimensional gateway, it detected a slight tremor, which it recorded.
Then came darkness. It barely sensed anything, as if traveling through a deep, dark void.
However, through its camera, it knew that it wasn't in normal space because this place was overwhelmingly dark, devoid of any light, or perhaps any matter.
It found no corresponding information in its database.
It soon detected some particles—primarily neutrons and nuclei, with some larger atoms mixed in.
Each punctuation mark used a fixed number of particles: 10 quintillion neutrons, 10 quintillion nuclei, and 10 quadrillion hydrogen atoms.
This wasn't much; even a single cell contained more particles.
But it was sufficient.
Its onboard detectors could detect a single fundamental particle within a 100-meter radius.
It currently observed 2.8 billion neutrons, 1.3 billion nuclei, and 980,000 hydrogen atoms at the first punctuation mark.
The equipment traveled the 100,000-kilometer distance in just 3.47 seconds. Theoretically, within those 3.47 seconds, only one ten-millionth of the particles remained within the 100-meter radius.
Given this dispersion rate, C28 estimated that within two seconds at most, the original punctuation mark would leave no trace.
This space was rife with turbulent currents.
It recorded this information and began to create a physical punctuation mark.
It hoped this punctuation mark would remain in place.
That was just a hope.
After releasing the first punctuation mark, it began scanning the surrounding area.
Its primary focus was gravity, since nothing else existed here besides gravity—or so it thought.
But when the information returned for processing, C28 froze.
There was no gravity here!
No gravitational force was detected.
It rapidly performed calculations, ultimately concluding that the dimensional gateway itself blocked gravity.
This was a pure space devoid of even gravity.
So how did those particles move?
If there was no gravity, how could matter move?
There was only one explanation: While this space lacked gravity, the space within the dimensional gateway was connected to the black hole's space. The black hole's gravitational pull warped the external space, simultaneously causing extreme chaos within the dimensional gateway's space.
So what about time?
C28 continued its scan.
Time, after all, is the movement of particles. If there was nothing here, then time essentially wouldn't exist.
Soon, C28 detected something new.
Time, in reality, is intangible; it can be affected by many things, such as gravity.
Could space do the same?
Because space is a conductor of time; time exists because of space.
And the answer C28 received was... precisely that.