Earth Calendar year 15803.
Eighty-one years had passed since the Cleaners Civilization activated the Cosmic Particle Accelerator.
Likewise.
Eighty-one years had passed since the combined fleet of humanity and the Neutral Faction came under attack by [Membrane].
The sudden higher-dimensional attack eighty-one years earlier had dealt the combined fleet a catastrophic blow!
The Human Fleet had plummeted from a billion ships to a hundred million, a reduction of 90%.
Although the losses had consisted mostly of conventional warships, Human Civilization had still paid for them with more than three billion human lives.
Compared with the warships, the loss of those three billion lives was far harder to accept.
As for the Neutral Faction Civilization...
That higher-dimensional attack eighty-one years earlier had utterly crushed the Neutral Faction.
The Neutral Faction's total fleet strength had fallen by 95%, and countless weaker level eight civilizations had perished in the attack.
The number of sapient beings killed had reached a truly horrific figure.
Although the losses suffered by the Neutral Faction's strongest powers, such as the Tenth Empire, had been less severe, they too had lost their ability to fight without advanced artificial intelligence.
It was no exaggeration to say that after that higher-dimensional strike, the Neutral Faction had completely lost its standing as a contender for the universe.
Although the Neutral Faction's leaders were unwilling to accept it, they had quietly withdrawn from the Shapley Supercluster at Lü Yongchang's suggestion and entered the Boötes Void under the protection of the Human Fleet.
Now, having preserved as many of its high-end warships and fully automated factories as possible, Human Civilization had become the Neutral Faction's last lifeline.
Under instructions from the Neutral Faction Supreme Conference, the surviving Neutral Faction civilizations were doing everything they could to gather resources for Human Civilization in the Boötes