Mechanical Cluster Great War

"Two mechanical clusters?"

Chen Yu opened the star map system and focused his gaze in the direction of the Andromeda Nebula.

The Andromeda Nebula is the largest celestial structure in the "Local Group" besides the Milky Way Galaxy. It is generally large and spiral-shaped, approximately 2.5 million light-years away from the Milky Way Galaxy, with a diameter of about 200,000 light-years.

The Local Group contains a total of about fifty galaxies, with the Andromeda Nebula and the Milky Way Galaxy as the main cores, divided into two subgroups: the Andromeda Galaxy Subgroup and the Milky Way Galaxy Subgroup.

Between the two subgroups, the Milky Way Galaxy and the Andromeda Nebula are attracting each other.

In about 4 billion years, the two galaxies will collide and tend to merge.

But now, the intersection of various cosmic crises has already bound the fates of the two galaxies together.

According to the previous strategic deployment plan, the strategic position for dealing with the "Hunter" threat is at the third level, while the strategic position of the Andromeda Nebula and other galaxies within the Local Group is at the second level.

Previously, several surrounding galactic nodes, including the Milky Way Galaxy, experienced "abnormal spacetime effects" caused by unknown reasons.

The source of the abnormal spacetime effects within the Milky Way Galaxy has now been determined, appearing near the supermassive black hole at the galactic center.

Personnel from the Federation's Research Department have been working tirelessly to investigate. The dimensional membrane that appeared in the central stellar region near the supermassive black hole at the galactic center has been almost completely analyzed, and it is rumored that significant progress has been made.

Now, with the intervention of Sidra's star regulation technology, there should be clear news soon.

Before this, Chen Yu had also instructed Gray Wind to launch the "Gray Gu Storm" towards several galaxies surrounding the Milky Way Galaxy.

The purpose was to conduct a probe.

On one hand, it was to try and ascertain the current situation in the galaxies near the Milky Way Galaxy, to guard against terrifying crises similar to the "Hunter."

On the other hand, if the threat in these galaxies was relatively small, forward bases could be established to prepare for the Federation's next major expedition.

In this universe, without the threat of the "Void Realm," the Federation's vision could not possibly remain confined to a small galaxy.

It is clearly infeasible to not adopt a grand cosmic perspective to survey one's civilization and observe surrounding opportunities and threats.

Relatively speaking, the pan-galactic cluster strategic deployment currently formulated by the Human Federation is still very conservative.

After all, compared to the vast known universe, the entire Local Group is but a drop in the ocean.

But there is no other way. The Federation's development time in this universe is currently too short.

The initial 500 galaxies and 30 trillion population, while appearing substantial on the surface, are truly meager in comparison to the vast cosmos.

Although the room for maneuver for Chen Yu and the entire Federation is much larger than in the previous universe, the difficulty has also increased significantly.

Currently, Chen Yu and the entire Human Federation are not lacking in resources. What is most scarce is not novel technology or strategic space, but time!

Time is forcing the entire Federation forward.

Every minute and every second is now incredibly precious.

Every usable resource must be applied within a specified time, otherwise, its utilization would be equivalent to a gratuitous waste.

Currently, most of the Federation's fleets are dispatched on missions, and even every engineering ship just rolling off the production line is immediately tasked with various busy engineering projects.

Simply put, the Federation's various military forces and manpower are stretched thin.

The "Gray Gu Storm" is a special method that allows the Federation to instantly acquire a large number of fleets for strategic deployment tasks without incurring significant costs or time.

Its main principle is to have Gray Wind release some of its nano-clusters, which then mimic the appearance of warships and form fleets.

The number of nano-clusters controlled by Gray Wind can theoretically reproduce infinitely, meaning as many as needed can be created.

However, this is only theoretical.

Any theory, when put into practice, must be compressed by the scale of reality.

Currently, the nano-clusters controlled by Gray Wind can only form about 300,000 Afang Palace-class Titan Warships. The conversion quantity would vary for warships of other specifications.

If the "Gray Gu Storm" is executed using the Federation's First Fleet as a template standard, Gray Wind could likely unleash seventy to eighty thousand fleet groups to sweep the cosmos!

Currently, the "Gray Gu Storm" formed by the nano-clusters deployed by Gray Wind has a total of 30,000 fleet groups entering the Andromeda Nebula.

There, Gray Wind's advance fleet groups encountered threats from two sides.

Both of these threats are gestalt mechanical intelligences, and the two mechanical clusters are engaged in a fierce battle within the Andromeda Nebula.

One side is almost impossible to communicate with; they are indiscriminately attacking Gray Wind's advance fleet groups.

The other side, Gray Wind is communicating with, but it also harbors a sense of vigilance towards Gray Wind's fleet groups.

In other words, there are currently three factions involved in the Andromeda Nebula, with the first two already locked in combat.

Gray Wind, representing the Human Federation's forces, has just intervened, and it seems difficult to eliminate these two threats solely through its own power.

If these two threats are not eliminated.

According to Gray Wind, if the Andromeda Nebula decays, it could potentially spread unknown disasters to the Milky Way Galaxy.

Once such a large-scale celestial structure like a galactic nebula undergoes a major change, the impact on surrounding galaxies would be minimal in the short term.

After all, the universe is vast, with distances measured in millions of light-years. If a major change were to occur, the actual impact would take at least several hundred million years to spread.

But what if the two threats in the Andromeda Nebula not only wreak havoc on the Andromeda Nebula but also come to the Milky Way Galaxy to cause trouble...

That hypothetical scenario was quite unpleasant to behold.

Now was a time of great turmoil.

The Federation hadn't even finished dealing with threats within the Milky Way Galaxy; no one wanted a more significant extraterrestrial threat at this juncture.

"Have you figured out why these two mechanical clusters are fighting?" Chen Yu asked.

On the star map of the Andromeda Nebula, Gray Wind had clearly marked two factions, one red and one blue, while Gray Wind's fleet was marked in silver-gray.

Due to prior anomalous spacetime effects and certain technological limitations, the Federation's sentinel arrays within the Milky Way Galaxy couldn't specifically investigate the actual situation inside the Andromeda Nebula.

Much of the practical information could only be obtained from Gray Wind's "Gray Gu Storm" fleet.

Currently, on Gray Wind's marked star map, the red and blue factions occupied nearly half of the Andromeda Nebula and were still continuously expanding.

In contrast, Gray Wind's "Gray Gu Storm" fleet, after entering the Andromeda Nebula, faced threats from both factions on a macro-strategic level.

Gray Wind's "Gray Gu Storm" fleet was currently being compressed into a small, marginal star sector, moving with difficulty in the space between the two sides.

"Reporting, Boss, one side calls itself 'Cyberlex,' and they refer to the other side as a corrupted entity of the 'Purification Protocol'..." Gray Wind responded meticulously:

"The other side claims that the 'Purification Protocol' has achieved full activation and is about to destroy the entire universe. Any civilization it encounters will be regarded as a threat and eradicated..."

"And 'Cyberlex' intends to prevent this from happening, thus a great war broke out between them and the 'Purification Protocol' in the Andromeda Nebula."

"This war cannot be ended peacefully; it can only temporarily conclude when one side completely falls within the galaxy!"