Swallowing a Nuclear Explosion

Russell's brow twitched almost imperceptibly. "Lift the whole planet into ascension?"

Those four words instantly energized Li Xiangyang. He stepped closer and lowered his voice, as if afraid someone might overhear.

"I don't mean literally lifting Earth into the sky. I mean raising the level of Earth's entire civilization. You know the Kardashev Civilization Index, right?"

Russell shot him a sidelong glance. "Plain English."

"Earth is only a Type 0.7 civilization right now. We haven't even reached the threshold of a Type I planetary civilization," Li Xiangyang explained quickly.

"The Milky Way's three great empires—the Kree, the Skrull, and the Shi'ar—are all Type IV or Type V galactic civilizations. They can sweep across the Milky Way unopposed, while we can't even fully explore the Solar System. The gap is enormous."

Russell stood with his hands in his pockets. He said nothing, but he did not leave either, tacitly allowing Li Xiangyang to continue.

"The South Heaven Gate Project's core objective is to drag Earth from a vulnerable Type 0.7 civilization to a Type V cosmic civilization or higher."

Li Xiangyang spoke faster as he laid out the plan piece by piece.

"The Thirty-Three Heavens aren't a mythical realm. They're thirty-three vast space-network clusters surrounding Earth. Each spans a major region of space, with top-tier artificial intelligences handling research, production, and interstellar defense.

"The Four-Dimensional Heavenly Gates are four enormous interstellar Portals positioned at Earth's Lagrange points. Each connects to one of the Milky Way's four spiral arms.

"The Fifth-Dimensional Fleet is the designation for our fifth-generation interstellar combat fleet. Its ultimate goal is to surpass four dimensions and enter the fifth."

He took a deep breath and added, "There's also the concept of the Book of Life and Death. Using quantum entanglement, we'll give every participant a unique quantum-state marker.