(The chapter numbering was wrong for Chapter 912. I can't be bothered to change it.)
The universe was vast and boundless, its size seemingly infinite. The Milky Way Galaxy alone, excluding its halo and outer matter, was more than 100,000 light-years in diameter.
Even traveling at the speed of light, a Cosmic Battleship would never make it out of the Milky Way Galaxy in a lifetime, let alone reach other civilizations to communicate with them.
So, after studying the universe, scientists from the major civilizations discovered that it had a periodic, honeycomb-like structure. This inevitably created countless Space Nodes, which ships could use as shortcuts to make Space Jumps, instantly crossing vast distances and enabling long-range space travel.
Space Nodes were well suited to long-distance travel, but using them required ships to have strong structural integrity and passengers to be physically fit.
When passing through a Space Node, for example, passengers' bodies were repeatedly subjected to the pull and repulsion of spatial gravity with each jump, leaving them gasping for breath. To travel through one, you either needed special equipment or a powerful body.
There was, in fact, a safer way to jump, one that could cover even greater distances: Space Gates, Space Bridges, and Star Gates. Any of those names would do.
Unfortunately, although Hao Shuai could create Space Gates, he had never been to those places! He couldn't open a gate to another planet out of thin air, and he couldn't make one large enough to transport a four- or five-kilometer-wide interstellar carrier, either.
So after Hao Shuai and the others boarded the Genesis aboard a small spacecraft, they flew at light speed for nearly an hour before finally reaching the nearest Space Node to Earth.
"Prepare for a Space Jump!" Hao Shuai's voice, broadcast by Red Queen,