Within the Human Alliance Consciousness, the overwhelming hatred and the thrill of revenge had receded like the tide.
In its place was not the emptiness of victory, but a brand-new, burning sense of mission.
The scenes Luo Ji shared—those "compatriots" struggling, roaring, and never giving up across different universes—acted as the most potent stimulant, injected into this ocean of consciousness built by billions of ascended beings.
They no longer needed enemies.
They no longer needed expansion.
They had found something far more meaningful than immortality and invincibility.
"Help other humans."
A single will echoed within the sea of consciousness.
"Agreed."
"Agreed."
"Unanimously passed."
Billions of wills reached an absolute consensus in a thousandth of a split second.
There was no debate, no hesitation.
This was the purest form of efficiency, achievable only when a civilization had evolved to its ultimate peak.
The [Aetherophasic Engine], situated in the former location of the Solar System, was activated once more.
But this time, it was not for ascension, but for a distant journey.
The entire engine was like a universe unto itself.
Countless celestial bodies, along with innumerable asteroids and cosmic dust, altered their physical forms under the drive of Aether energy, beginning to rearrange and combine in a profound, mystical pattern.
They were no longer cold celestial bodies, but rather the components of an unprecedentedly magnificent creation—a cross-dimensional portal.
Endless Aether energy was frantically siphoned from the Imperium of Man's vast territory spanning thousands of light-years.
Stars that once served as outposts, resource nodes, and colonies began to dim at a visible rate.
Their light, their heat, their everything—all of it was unsparingly poured into the beacon.
It was as if the entire galaxy was sacrificing everything it had for this grand projection.
All its brilliance existed solely to illuminate the door leading to a new world.
...
Time: 2250 AD.
Earth, Navigator International Space Station.
The cold metal bulkheads constantly transmitted the low hum of the life support systems.
Outside the porthole was Jupiter, dragging its massive tail, and further away, the dying sun.
Everything here was filled with a suffocating sense of order under the apocalypse.
"Report, MOSS. The power of the steering engine for the thruster in Sector C-7 is stable. Parameters are normal."
"Received." The emotionless electronic voice of the artificial intelligence, MOSS, echoed in the main control room.
Everything was the same as usual—calm and desperate.
However.
In the next second.
"Beep—! Beep—! Beep—!"
A sharp, piercing alarm blared throughout the entire space station.
"What's going on!"
"Did the solar helium flash happen early?!"
"MOSS! MOSS! What happened? Give us a report immediately!"
However, MOSS did not respond.
Right in the center of the main console, the red indicator light representing MOSS was flashing frantically at an unprecedented frequency, as if it were overloading.
Its underlying system logic seemed to have encountered an unprecedented shock.
"Anomaly source... locked on!" An operator pulled up an image on the main screen. "Look near Jupiter's orbit!"
Everyone looked up at the screen.
Then, everyone's breathing completely stopped in that moment.
On the screen, an object that far surpassed human technology had appeared out of thin air.
It didn't seem to be a warship.
Because it had no weapons, nor any menacing structures.
It looked more like a work of art straight out of a myth.
A geometric construct composed of pure, flowing radiance and crystalline bodies hovered silently beside Jupiter's massive red storm.
Its lines were smooth to the extreme, as if they were perfect arcs sketched by the laws of the universe themselves.
It was gentle yet dazzling, completely eclipsing the massive gas giant.
"What... what is this..."
"Aliens?"
"How is that possible! Our surveillance network covers the entire Solar System! How... how did it just appear?!"
"Could spatial jump technology actually be viable?"
This news was quickly transmitted back to Earth.
The United Earth Government, upon receiving the report, immediately entered the highest state of emergency.
Countless missile silos buried deep underground slowly slid open their heavy covers amidst deep rumbles, revealing the warheads gleaming with cold light below.
Militaries across the globe mobilized in an instant.
Humanity, a civilization that had struggled through a century of the apocalypse, once again bared its final fangs.
However.
The mysterious ship made no hostile moves.
It didn't advance, it didn't retreat, and it didn't emit any probing signals.
It merely hovered there in silence.
Like a mute observer, it looked down upon this blue cradle struggling to survive in the freezing universe with a compassionate and gentle posture.
Yet, its silence only made humanity even more terrified.
Inside the United Earth Government's supreme conference room, the arguments were loud enough to blow the roof off.
"We must initiate contact immediately! We need to figure out their intentions!"
"Contact? How? What are you going to use to make contact? What if they're hostile? We can't afford to gamble!"
"We can't just sit here and wait either! This thing is hanging right in front of us. Are we supposed to just ignore it?"
Just as the higher-ups were arguing until they were red in the face over a response plan.
A voice descended without any warning.
It didn't come through any equipment.
It rang out simultaneously in the minds of every single human on Earth.
This voice transcended language.
It was neither male nor female, neither old nor young. It was gentle and vast, yet carried an irresistible majesty.
Every syllable felt like a resonance from the deepest depths of their bloodlines, allowing everyone to instantly understand its full meaning the moment it echoed.
On the surface.
In Beijing No. 3 District, Lieutenant Colonel Liu Peiqiang, who was in the middle of a handover ceremony, had his expression instantly freeze as he abruptly looked up at the sky.
In the underground city.
A worker who had just slipped out of his exoskeleton and was leaning against a railing, watching the bustling crowd below, stiffened violently. The half-eaten meat skewer dangling from his mouth dropped to the ground.
This voice, which had crossed the barriers of the universe to descend here, delivered a single sentence.
But this one sentence caused the minds of every human on the wandering Earth to short-circuit.
The red indicator light representing MOSS reached its peak flashing frequency at this moment, and then, with a pop, completely extinguished.
Clearly, MOSS had overloaded as well.
The voice said—
"Don't be afraid. We are humanity, and we are here to help you."