As the saying goes, "When you pause and think of retreating, you suddenly feel the vastness of the world."
Having grasped Elizabeth's style, Abraham seemed to have suddenly experienced an epiphany, and his whole being radiated with newfound confidence.
His original compassion for the beings of Garden of Eden and his various suspicions about Norton vanished. He no longer felt any pressure and spent his days happily immersing himself in the virtual world, or occasionally burning incense and brewing wine, traveling to scenic spots on various planets to enjoy the beauty of life.
These landscapes, which I had previously enjoyed while filled with worry, now seem to have taken on a whole new charm in my completely relaxed state of mind. Even the games I used to be tired of now feel incredibly exciting to play.
In comparison, the Human Federation and the regent Duoxia, who now believes Norton has sealed himself in the sun and Abraham is fighting against the stellar Aberration and the Adam Three Star System, are living in much more fear.
Humanity's frontal battlefields have reached a fever pitch, with the number of military personnel deployed each year almost equaling the number of newborns, even after mandatory birth control measures have drastically increased the birth rate.
Based on population ratios, it's almost possible that a generation would have to die every year to ensure supplies for the front lines.
This death rate is extremely alarming. During the entire First World War, the French population died by four percent, which was already difficult to reverse, let alone the current number of people in the Human Federation dying every year, which is equivalent to the death of a generation.
In other words, the Human Federation has a huge population, which provides a foundation for its continued existence; otherwise, it would have collapsed long ago, and the human defense line would have completely crumbled.
Even so, the sheer number of Aberration on the front lines had brought the entire defensive line to the brink of collapse.
The front-line star systems have all been invaded, and hundreds of planets are engulfed in war. Aberration descend from all directions, destroying cities and fighting against the Church knights, repeatedly vying for control of planets, with battles often involving hundreds of millions of planets.
It can be said that the Human Federation has been completely invaded by the Aberration.
After a thousand years of war, humanity is exhausted. Even today's spaceships and power armor are extremely simplified in structure, looking like flying iron boxes from the outside. Power armor has lost its futuristic appearance and is now only required to be practical.
Even so, the human battlefield is still on the verge of collapse, and human society is in imminent danger.
Another century passed amidst the flames of war.
Norton 4358.
A piece of devastating news swept through the Human Federation.
" The Adam One Star System is completely distorted, the Gracchus Star System is completely distorted, the Heavy Hammer Two Star System is completely distorted, and the Heavy Hammer Three Star System is completely distorted. These galaxies will soon evolve into Star System-Level Aberration. Humanity's front lines are nearly lost. The layout of these four Aberrant Star System is dangerous. Once they are fully distorted, when they move forward again, they will completely cover the travel paths of human-inhabited star systems..."
As the news spread, images from the front lines were also transmitted back to the rear.
The complete image of the planetary distortion was fully recorded in the galaxy observation equipment's recorder; the target was the Adam One Star System.
In the vast vacuum environment, the entire Adam One Star System, from its stars to the surrounding planets, had been completely distorted into a grotesque and disgusting fleshy planet with waving tentacles.
Countless small Aberration drifted through space, traversing the vacuum between planets, and surging towards the front lines.
After the small Aberration drifted away, the previously empty vacuum suddenly began to distort in a way that was visible to the naked eye. These distortions resembled the writhing of tentacles, but because they were transparent, they appeared extremely bizarre.
This distortion continued to spread, reaching and connecting with the surrounding galaxies. In just one day, almost half of the galaxy had been occupied by these transparent tentacles. As far as the eye could see, the entire vacuum was in a disgusting state of writhing.
As the area expands, strands of flesh and blood begin to grow on these writhing bodies, extremely rapidly.
The growth of these tentacles and flesh is not limited to a single plane, but involves the entire vacuum of the galaxy.
Within the gravitational reach of the Adam One Star System, there was nothing but gradually growing flesh and tentacles, intertwining and writhing in a disgusting manner.
Within a short month, the entire Adam One Star System, within the range of gravity, gave rise to a gigantic, fleshy planet that appeared to be magnified countless times— the Aberrant Star System Entity.
This is quite in line with physical theory.
After all, Soul Particle can also be considered a kind of matter, and as long as it is matter, it will be affected by gravity. Therefore, the result of the distortion of a galaxy is a huge sphere, rather than some random product.
Leaving aside all the theories for now.
As the news spread, endless wailing and despair began to spread throughout the surviving territories of the Human Federation.
Panic began to spread in human society, but no one dared to do anything rebellious. After all, the Pale Church had demonstrated its cruelty to the fullest extent over the past thousand years, and all the troublemakers who jumped out had been eliminated many times. Those who survived were either those with a spirit of resistance or those who were obedient and honest, and almost all of them were devout believers.
After all, the cutting production line at the military base is still there.
Therefore, the internal pressure did not increase due to despair, but the external pressure had become overwhelming.
Resisting the plan to exterminate the human race through war is no longer feasible.
In such a desperate situation, Regent Duoxia, with no other choice, finally made a decision.
"Since Norton 4360, humanity has launched the Expedition Plan."
"Frontline personnel will no longer be increased; 50% will be reassigned to logistics. From this day forward, the Human Federation will focus all its efforts on extraterrestrial colonization and planetary development."
The news caused another uproar in the Human Federation, with public opinion instantly reaching a fever pitch online, and countless people discussing and attacking each other on various platforms.
Within just a few days, various factions sprang up.
There were those who opposed the war, those who supported it, conservatives, and old-fashioned factions who seized the opportunity to ridicule and attack the past Pale Church that forbade the rich to escape, but now allowed the entire population to escape. There were also two-faced factions who supported both sides, and even traitors who mocked the inevitable extinction of humanity and the inevitable victory of the Aberration.
But in today's society, the Pale Church is in power, and the then Regent Duoxia has long abandoned his former compassion for the future of mankind, transforming into a ruthless political figure like His Majesty Adam of the Holy Lord Empire. Therefore, no matter how fierce the noise or how great the public opinion is on the internet, the progress in the real world is still advancing rapidly step by step according to the Pale Church's requirements.
In the year Norton 4360, as the appointed time arrived, amidst widespread panic, the Human Federation began withdrawing a significant number of troops from the front lines and redeploying them to the rear to conduct Great Crusade using space jump technology.
It was called Great Crusade, but in reality it was nothing more than a last resort compromise after the front-line battlefield was routed.
Its main purpose is to use space jump technology to travel to other star systems at extremely far distances, develop and build planets, create a simple settlement, and then relocate people there to escape the increasingly invading frontline battlefield.