Humanity had left, but the purpose Human Civilization had spoken of on this journey remained engraved in the hearts of the Lort People. They would never forget that almost dreamlike goal: chasing the Universe's First Ray of Light.
And at the moment humanity entered the Star Gate, somewhere beyond the First Ray of Light.
This was a place the Great Evolution Civilization had once reached, and it also held some equipment the Great Evolution Civilization had placed to measure the universe.
It had originally lain quietly hidden in the interlayers of the Void. If nothing unexpected happened, it would be activated again by the Great Evolution Civilization at some suitable time, then link up with other similar devices, and ultimately help the Great Evolution Civilization complete the Universe Measuring Project.
If someone could see them, they would discover that these so-called devices had already broken free from the impression people had of "equipment," because they truly were not made of conventional matter. Instead, they resembled segments of ethereal, intangible lines.
Or rather, things shaped like line segments.
They drifted through the Void like microorganisms, occasionally trembling according to the programs set by the Great Evolution Civilization, then vibrating information out of the Cosmic Membrane and exchanging it with other devices of the same form.
These line segments had been hidden here for a very, very long time. Judging by the Great Evolution Civilization's current progress, it was estimated that the Universe Measuring Project could be completed in less than another hundred million years.
In truth, for beings at the level of the Great Evolution Civilization, existences that had already mastered countless secrets, circling the universe once was something they could do, and something they should have completed long ago. But they clearly had not gone merely to circle the universe;