Many times, Yu Lian couldn't help thinking that the existence of the Abyss Nebula was incredibly subtle. It was as though the creator of this universe had deliberately placed a barrier around its rich and prosperous star clusters.
Yes, even the Spiral Nebula, vaster, more mysterious, and more legendary, had two stable routes crossing like a pair of intersecting lines. Those routes formed the most prosperous trade lanes in the entire universe—and gave rise to the most lawless outlaws.
But this mysterious Abyss alone seemed to form an impassable divide between galactic civilizations.
And it had to be said: this barrier had appeared at a very convenient time.
Without the Abyss Nebula and its surrounding regions—which many people considered appendages of the Abyss—the Blue Star Commonwealth would have had no chance of breaking away from the Empire.
No, not just a small commonwealth. The Grand Ocean Star Domain, the nations of the Three-Pronged Star Domain, and even Cherk, Minlan, and the Iron Army Coalition would probably have been unable to survive the Tirillo people's uncontrollable hunger for conquest.
Of course, a full-scale war between the Empire and the Alliance might also have unfolded in a way nobody wanted to see.
A hegemonic war between two human powers with completely different ideologies would have dragged on for ages and torn the galaxy apart. There would have been no rise of the Airo Empire, no later intelligent species rising and establishing themselves in the gaps between the two great powers, and certainly no Galactic Civilization Council.
This was probably the geographical determinism of civilization and history.
Whatever the case, the existence of the Abyss Nebula was a good thing. In another timeline, long ago, it had sheltered him when both great factions had placed him on their wanted lists. Now, it would