Voyage of the Stars.

Chapter 1469 The Returnee

What is good, and what is evil?

The warship of this unknown civilization suddenly appeared, then rushed here and launched an attack that wiped out most of the civilizations that had just emerged from the Great Hollow of Boötes. It was so ferocious and so ruthless. Before the attack, they hadn't paid any attention to any shouts, but now it seemed to be able to speak properly again.

However, even after this call, the Galactic Heart Civilization did not stop its rapid advance.

This annoyed the unknown civilization, so the silver warship continued broadcasting: "The civilization that ran the fastest, let me say it again, we were just cleaning up unnecessary trash before. If you don't stop, we're going to get serious."

Upon hearing this, the Galactic Heart Civilization fleet ceased its frantic advance, but instead of returning to the destroyed Xuyu Galaxy, they used their detection technology to observe the situation of various civilizations there.

A scan revealed that the situation was indeed as the unknown civilization had described: many civilizations had not been destroyed, and those civilizations happened to be those that autonomously controlled their own rules and shields.

Could it be that our previous guess was correct, and this warship was actually here to pick us up?

But soon, the Galactic Heart Civilization realized something was wrong, because they discovered that the Human Civilization, the Awakener Civilization, and the Daya Civilization had all disappeared.

Were they wiped out by that attack?

It shouldn’t be!

Just as the Galactic Heart Civilization was filled with doubt, the Divine Matrix Civilization broadcast a message. Upon hearing the other side say "getting serious," they realized that the previous attack was probably not at full strength, likely just "cleaning up the trash." Their two thousand-plus neutron warstars were probably seen as a provocation and were targeted for attack. With this in mind, the Divine Matrix stopped worrying and first introduced themselves, then asked several questions in succession: "Are you an ancient cosmic-level civilization? Did you come here to eliminate 'trash' and then take us away?"

Tens of thousands of light-years is nothing to a cosmic civilization; they can not only detect each other's existence through advanced detection methods, but also broadcast communications in real time.

"God's Judgment Civilization, very good." The silver warship remained motionless. They replied, "An ancient cosmic-level civilization, huh? Well, you could say that to you! You are very clever. We did come for you, and cleaning up the trash was just a side effect. You should know that the commotion you've caused is too great. The universe is deteriorating, and a civilization that does not help the universe has no reason to exist. What we are doing is to extend the lifespan of the universe, and I'm sure you understand that as well."

Before the Divine Matrix Civilization could reply, the Galactic Heart Civilization, located 80,000 light-years away, sent them a private message: "See? Those who don't heed the advice of elders suffer the consequences. We were almost killed by those damned civilizations. If they had listened to us and followed our plan, none of this would have happened. Now look what's happened—we've attracted the attention of an ancient cosmic-level civilization and even killed human civilization and the Awakener Civilization. Tsk, human civilization once said that hesitation leads to defeat, but those guys wouldn't listen. Now we can't even escape. We've been terribly harmed by your bunch of incompetent teammates!"

The leaders of the Divine Matrix civilization ignored the Galactic Heart civilization's incessant chatter and broadcast to the unknown civilization: "Has the universe really degenerated to this extent? Even a few more universe-level civilizations can't solve this?"

An unknown civilization said, "If there are a few more in the Boötes Great Void, and a few more in other Great Voids, and so many Great Voids in this tree-like structure region of the Sloan Great Wall, with dozens of extra cosmic-level civilizations in each one, do you still think there's no problem?" The Divine Matrix civilization didn't respond, but the Abyss civilization on another part of space responded first via broadcast: "But your judgment is too hasty. Those civilizations also went through countless hardships to reach the level of cosmic-level civilizations. If given enough time, they will definitely be able to master the rule-shield technology, and they can also contribute to the fight against cosmic catastrophes!"

"Are you questioning our beliefs?" the unknown civilization retorted.

However, the Abyss Civilization responded with silence, and the other civilizations remained silent as well. They felt that it was best to just listen quietly to this conversation between powerful figures.

Seeing that the surviving civilizations remained silent, the unknown civilization continued broadcasting: "Alright, let's assume you're not yet aware of the extent of the devastation caused by the cosmic catastrophe, after all, you've only recently advanced to a cosmic-level civilization."

"Let me put it this way: the Laniakea Supercluster only has about 100 million years left. The KBC Great Void has been mostly destroyed, and the fourth phase transition here has a range of over 2 billion light-years. It is currently spreading towards the Sloan Great Wall, while the vacuum decay region is spreading towards your star field from another three-dimensional direction, encircling it. When the two meet, everything in the Laniakea Supercluster will cease to exist."

"As for escaping the cosmic catastrophe, there are currently two paths. Well, if we're too slow, going through the Sloan Great Wall is probably too late. We have to go towards the Hercules Great Wall in the Coronavirus, but there are many vast two-dimensional and one-dimensional space regions there, and dimensional reduction is spreading. Although there is a civilization in a higher-dimensional space trying its best to maintain it, it can only keep the star passage temporarily open. Once the fourth phase transition and the vacuum decay region surround it, there will be no way to escape."

"Oh, I almost forgot, the fast world over the Sloan Wall has completely collapsed, making that direction even more difficult to traverse. So, the best way to leave the KBC Great Void before the cosmic catastrophe encircles us is the second way, which is to leave through the super stargate left by the Voidwalkers."

"Since you all guessed that we're here to pick you up, you must be wondering why we were able to get here so quickly. It's not really a secret; we came here through the Super Stargate. As for how we knew you'd made such a big commotion, we don't need to explain that, do we?"

With various cosmic disasters spreading, a super stargate appearing, and a previously unheard-of being, the Void Returner, the leaders of each civilization naturally understood the implication.

The leader of the Divine Principle Civilization, who also understood immediately, asked, "The Return to the Void?"

“Yes, the Returning Void Ones!” the unknown civilization replied. “Dark matter originally wouldn’t have affected a Level 6 civilization’s exploration of vacuum zero-point energy. However, as the number of cosmic-level civilizations increases, the probability of cosmic vacuum decay also increases. In order to delay the demise of the universe, god-level civilizations devised some methods, and the reason why dark matter has this characteristic is the work of the Returning Void Ones.”

"They can reduce the generation of 'garbage' and prolong the lifespan of the universe by doing this, but they don't want all civilizations to be unable to advance, because they know that they are not omnipotent, and they don't know if their method of saving the universe will work. So they placed some detection anchors near various voids."

"And we are the gatekeepers of the Return to the Void Project. We believe that the Return to the Void will succeed and lead us to a new universe. As for you, you should also become part of the Return to the Void Project and work with us to contribute to its development."

"This is why we exist, this is why we eliminate those 'trash'. We have cleaned up a lot of 'trash' like this. We only spared you because you were unaware of the big picture of the universe. Otherwise, given your behavior of leading a group of trash to advance to a cosmic-level civilization, the Returning to the Void Project would not allow you to exist."

(End of this chapter)