Collective Civilizational Will

United Star.

Grand Marshal's Office.

After Chen Yu had laid out the basic strategy for the Galactic Grand Expedition, he handed all the related plans over to the Federation officials at every level below him to carry out.

With the entire Federation's operating system and its sheer scale, their civilization would become an unstoppable war machine, surging forward irreversibly and crushing everything in its path.

There was no need for Chen Yu to worry too much about the rest.

For now, he was devoting more of his attention to matters of greater urgency, such as overseeing the design and construction of the Sky Burning Divine Weapon and setting up the Aether Phase Engine.

The Federation currently had five newly built Sky Burning Divine Weapons, which Chen Yu had designated as Return to Void Class.

Setting up the Aether Phase Engine in full would require an astronomical investment of Dark Matter.

The purpose of these Sky Burning Divine Weapons was to mine enough Dark Matter for its construction.

Chen Yu didn't need to worry about where to mine the Dark Matter, either. The officials in the Armed Forces Department would handle that.

For now, only the rudimentary framework of the Aether Phase Engine had been set up.

But even just the framework was enough to leave anyone awestruck.

Standing in his office, Chen Yu gazed down through a projection at the monumental engineering marvel, which seemed to have reached the pinnacle of creation itself. He fell into deep thought.

Gray Wind stood by his side. Her long, moonlight-silver hair fell smoothly over her shoulders, each strand light and flowing, with an almost dreamlike quality.

Her eyes were clear and bright, like the most dazzling stars in the night sky, and held a liveliness and innocence that seemed impossible for a mechanical life-form.

"Boss."

The soft, lilting call brought Chen Yu's thoughts back to reality.

"What's wrong, Boss? You look like something's weighing on your mind..."

A sweet, lovely face appeared before him.

Looking at Gray Wind as she hugged his arm and gently shook it, Chen Yu smiled faintly, shook his head, and patted her little head before casually replying:

"It's nothing... I just had a fleeting glimpse of humanity's future."

"The future?" Gray Wind tilted her head, puzzled.

"Yes—the future is without equal."

Chen Yu spoke softly, golden ripples rising in his eyes.

Within them seemed to lie the weathered traces left behind by countless millennia.

Ever since construction of the Aether Phase Engine had begun, an indescribable tremor had welled up inside him.

In a flash, it had shown him the moment human civilization began, along with a hazy vision of its future.

From the first sprouts of life beneath the water...

Humanity's ancestors had set out as primitive, uncivilized tribes. Step by step, they evolved, built civilizations, advanced their technology, and finally left their home planet, developing bit by bit into what they were today.

The hardships and tribulations along the way were a true reflection of the turbulent fate of their entire species.

As Grand Marshal of the Human Federation, he bore the future of the entire species on his shoulders.

Every speck of dust from the age became a mountain when it landed on any one individual.

But now, Chen Yu felt as though the burden of the entire age rested almost entirely on him, leaving him nearly unable to breathe.

Alongside his position as the Federation's supreme commander, Chen Yu held many other identities.

He was, for instance, the Human Federation's most distinguished honorary scientist, its finest starship designer, and its most decorated warship commander...

On top of that, he was the most powerful Psionic in the history of the Human Federation!

The Psionic index Chen Yu had attained had long since remade him, elevating him beyond ordinary mortals.

He possessed a truly undying power, like a Void God walking among mortals.

Ever since he had brought about the great awakening of Psionic Ascension for all Federal Citizens, Chen Yu had felt a real change come over him.

He had discovered some unspeakable secrets within himself.

For instance, he could send his subjective will to any Federal Citizen at will, exerting a precise degree of mental control over that individual, no matter where the citizen was.

This control was as easy as controlling a cell or organ in his own body.

He seemed to have gained some kind of dominion!

Through this dominion, he could make his will influence the wills of countless Federation citizens!

But in turn, the wills of countless Federation citizens were influencing him at every moment.

It was like the saying, "He who wears the crown must bear its weight"!

The civilization will of the Human Federation had chosen him, and he had gained the authority to wield that will.

The matter was mysterious beyond comprehension, yet it truly existed.

Often, Chen Yu felt that he was not simply himself. Instead, he was more like the vessel carrying the collective will of an entire civilization!

His body was merely a container for that vessel, an irreplaceable and vital anchor.

He did not exist to perpetuate himself, but to more easily carry out the civilization's will and preserve that vast collective civilization.

Once he had clearly recognized this, Chen Yu had grown accustomed to acting in accordance with the civilization's will.

That allowed him to say, "My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror; all I do is just."

And that was exactly how things had turned out.

The events of history had proven that Chen Yu's way of acting was right.

For example, when the Federation's citizens collectively developed extreme emotions of disgust, hatred, and rejection toward an alien species...

As long as it brought sufficient benefits to the Human Federation, Chen Yu would go along with it and issue an extermination order, wiping out the entire species.

He himself felt no stir of emotion for those slaughtered. In his eyes, there was nothing wrong with what he had done.

And when this collective hatred had been fully discharged, the cohesion of the Federation's citizens would rise significantly.

That, in turn, would strengthen the civilization will of the Federation.

The stronger the civilization will, the stronger their civilization.

This would also indirectly affect all the Psionics within the Federation, benefiting them in turn and granting them a kind of blessing that made the Spirit Medium powers wielded by each Psionic stronger.

It sounded unbelievable, but that was simply how unbelievable the power of idealism could be.

There were many more events of that sort.

But the situation before him now was different.

The strange, inexplicable anxiety Chen Yu felt at that moment was a novel experience unlike anything he had ever known.

At that very moment,

the vast collective civilizational will representing all the citizens of the Human Federation seemed uneasy about the Federation's ongoing construction of the Aether Phase Engine.

Countless indistinct voices were making an almost pleading request of Chen Yu—

"Wait a little longer. A little longer. Please, wait..."

The voices were faint, yet everywhere, rising in a restless din.

If Chen Yu's own will had not been strong and steadfast enough, he might have been driven mad by them.

Wait?

Wait for what?

Was there anything in this universe that they needed to wait for?

Was there anything worth delaying the construction of the Aether Phase Engine for?

Chen Yu felt confused. A trace of bewilderment, unlike anything he had ever felt before, appeared in his eyes.

There were two reasons he was in such a hurry to build the Aether Phase Engine.

The first and most important was to prevent certain unforeseen events.

The Federation had crossed over into the Super God Universe, a universe without the threat of the Void Realm.

That most likely meant the Void God who had once signed a fifty-year contract with the Federation would be unable to come knocking to collect the debt.

If they were lucky, that was probably what would happen.

But Chen Yu would never gamble the future of the Federation on something as uncertain as "getting lucky."

Even with the threat of the Void Realm temporarily gone, the most urgent task was to set up the Aether Phase Engine as quickly as possible and complete it to its final stage!

When the time came, even if the engine did not need to be activated immediately to usher the entire universe into its end,

Chen Yu still had to ensure that the Human Federation could press the button at any time.

Some costs had to be paid.

Otherwise, if the contract ran out before they had finished setting up the Aether Phase Engine,

and their creditor happened to find them by a method similar to the way they themselves had "crossed over," then they would have no control over what happened next!

Having a gun and not using it was one thing; having no gun at all was another. Chen Yu had to ensure the Human Federation was in the former position.