Published: February 13, 2025
In the All Races of the Universe, there exists a widely accepted hypothesis that has not been verified: the universe is not infinite, but it is expanding at an astonishing speed every moment. No life form's spacecraft can match this speed, hence no life has ever reached the true boundary of the universe. Perhaps one day, this speed will slow down, but that is a matter of trillions of years.
From this hypothesis have emerged various theories, such as the notion that our universe is not the only one; that there are other universes beyond our own, and that numerous universes constitute an even larger space.
Zhao Xiangxue wiped her dry lips, which had begun to bleed at the cracks.
For a powerful evolver, this was an unusual occurrence.
However, Zhao Xiangxue was in a very poor state.
Since joining Cloud Summit, she had been working in avoidance, and after Gao Yi ascended, Xia Lei's tasks increased, essentially leaving Zhao Xiangxue to take full charge of this organization.
After the unification of Earth, the focus of avoidance shifted to intelligence gathering on new planets after opening secret realms. Naturally, someone like Zhao Xiangxue, who possessed extensive destructive skills, was often responsible for critical missions.
On Earth, there were not many secret realms opened by Cloud Summit, as the initial two had consumed too much energy. Therefore, after stabilizing these realms, Zhao Xiangxue decided to join the Long-Distance Expedition Fleet with sixty percent of the core personnel from avoidance.
She believed that the slave race problem would eventually be resolved. Once that great enemy disappeared from the universe, it would mark the beginning of a new round of competition among the races.
Finding one or even multiple sustainably developing bases for Cloud Summit became Zhao Xiangxue's new dream.
Even this dream, she had never confided to Ye Zhongming.
This is why she had an obsession with mapping the star chart that others could not understand.
However, it was precisely due to her persistent exploration of the stars that she led the expedition fleet into a place they should not have entered.
Naturally, Zhao Xiangxue was unaware of the impending crisis before entering.
Before them was a colorful cosmic light sphere so vast that it could engulf hundreds or thousands of Earths. After the second expedition fleet met up with them, the accompanying researchers concluded that this mass of light was "a door."
Zhao Xiangxue dismissed the majority's opinions. After conducting several rounds of exploratory tests without encountering any danger, she brought the entire fleet through the Light Gate.
Initially, the journey seemed smooth; it felt like a brand new star field. Everyone was excited, continually sending out exploration drones to map the stars. However, after five days of sailing and without any prior warning, the entire fleet suddenly lost its autonomous navigation capabilities, being drawn into a massive star system by some strange force.
Inside the starship, the members of the Long-Distance Expedition Fleet saw a massive elliptical nest. Its gray-brown, slime-covered exterior was alive, with something constantly writhing inside. Each bulge it made was larger than the entire fleet; this colossal entity occupied half the space of the star system, with all celestial bodies revolving around it.
Not to mention Zhao Xiangxue and the other humans, even a planet couldn't compare to the size of this nest. It was the largest object they had ever seen.
It was… presumably a living, unidentified creature.
The bone-deep sense of dread shattered everyone's spirit in that moment.
By the time they regained their senses, the fleet had already reached the other side of this colossal entity, where a celestial body was slowly rotating. At the north pole of this celestial body, there was a massive cyclone that allowed many advanced evolvers to gaze directly at the surface.
They saw a towering, gigantic turntable standing upright.
Around the turntable, there was an area that was evidently man-made, which the people from Cloud Summit viewed as an entire metallic tomb.