Earth's calendar years.

It has been 81 years since the Cleaners civilization activated the Ring Cosmic Particle Accelerator.

Similarly.

It has been 81 years since the combined human and neutral fleet was attacked by the [membrane].

The sudden high-dimensional attack that struck 81 years ago dealt a devastating blow to the Combined Fleet!

The size of the human fleet has been reduced from one billion to one hundred million, a reduction of 90%.

Although the losses were primarily to conventional warships, human civilization still paid the price with the lives of over 3 billion people.

Compared to warships, the lives of these 3 billion people are even more unacceptable.

As for neutral civilizations...

The high-dimensional attack 81 years ago completely crushed the neutral faction.

The neutral fleet was reduced in size by 95%, and countless weaker level eight civilizations perished in that attack.

The number of intelligent beings that died reached an extremely terrifying level.

Neutral factions like the Tenth Empire, while not suffering such severe losses, have also lost their combat capabilities due to the lack of advanced artificial intelligence.

It is no exaggeration to say that after that high-dimensional attack, the neutral faction completely lost its qualification to compete for the universe.

Although the neutral faction leaders were unwilling, they quietly withdrew from the Shapley Supercluster at Lü Yongchang's suggestion and entered the Boötes Void under the escort of the human fleet.

At this moment, the preservation of advanced warships and fully automated factories has become the last straw that the neutral faction can rely on.

The surviving neutral civilization, under the direction of the Neutrality Supreme Council, is doing its utmost to gather resources for human civilization in the Boötes Nebula and the Shapley Nebula.

Yes, it is indeed the Boötes Nebula and the Shapley Nebula!

The fifth-dimensional attacks have affected not only various civilizations, but also a large number of stars and planets.

Under the shockwaves of the five-dimensional space, countless celestial bodies turned into dust, which spread throughout interstellar space under the impetus of energy comparable to supernova explosions.

The original Boötes Void and Shapley Supercluster have also changed dramatically as a result.

The Boötes Hollow is completely shrouded by a massive nebula.

The Shapley Supercluster has also lost 60% of its original structure, and in a sense, the region of the Boötes Hollow has even expanded considerably.

...

The heavy losses inflicted on the neutral faction and the human alliance fleet did not stop the spread of the war.

On the contrary, as time went on, the war began to escalate.

The flames of war spread along the Great Wall of Space until they reached the entire universe!

Whether it's a cosmic accelerator or a large-scale war covering the entire universe, there's no doubt that they are real energy consumers!

At this moment, the extraction of zero-point energy from the vacuum reached an unprecedented scale!

Intense spacetime fluctuations and explosive flashes appeared in the central black hole region of every galaxy, constantly turbulent this already somewhat fragile cosmic bubble.

...

Earth Command Center.

In the vast star map of the entire universe, dazzling red light flashes everywhere.

"Currently, the cleaners have completely stabilized the battle line."

Fang Xu explained the current situation to Lü Yongchang, who had just stepped out of the laboratory: "The war between the Cleaners and the Pastoralists is mainly concentrated in the Laniakea Supercluster region."

“It should be related to the Ring Cosmic Accelerator.” Lu Yongchang looked at the star map of the entire universe in front of him and murmured thoughtfully, “Laniakea Supercluster…”

"I remember the area where the Lost Giant Worm first discovered the acceleration node anomaly was over there, right?"

"Yes," Fang Xu replied succinctly. "To be precise, it's the Centaurus Supercluster."

"That makes sense."

A faint glint of light flashed in Lü Yongchang's eyes: "If I'm not mistaken, that's probably the starting and ending point of the Ring Cosmic Particle Acceleration Experiment."

"According to the model projections of the Academy of Sciences, the Cleaner's Ring Cosmic Particle Acceleration Experiment will take approximately 90 to 110 years."

"It's the 81st year now."

In other words...

"I'm afraid the cleaners will be able to complete this experiment very soon!"

"So...you mean, human civilization should rejoin the battle?" Fang Xu asked hesitantly, "to help the Pastoral Faction destroy the Cleaners' civilization's Ring-Cosmic Acceleration Experiment?"

"No!"

To Fang Xu's surprise, Lü Yongchang rejected the proposal without hesitation: "Not only can we not disrupt the Cleaners' ring-universe acceleration experiment, but if necessary, we should also deploy our fleet to help the Cleaners overcome this difficulty."

Fang Xu stared at Lü Yongchang in front of him with a look of horror: "Yongchang, you..."

"What?" Lü Yongchang chuckled. "Shouldn't we express our gratitude to the sanitation workers for their civility?"

"If it weren't for the Cleaners civilization, we'd probably be part of the Boötes Nebula by now."

If the Cleaners civilization hadn't activated the Ring-Cosmic Acceleration Device, forcing the [brane] to leave the Boötes Void prematurely, the fate of human civilization would probably have been no different from those fragmented nebula materials.

With the indirect assistance of the Cleaners civilization, although human civilization suffered heavy losses, its core strengths were still properly preserved.

At the same time, the cleaners successfully attracted all the attention of the pastoralists, buying precious time for human civilization.

81 years! That's 81 years of continuous troop production!

Without external interference, Zero can devote all its computing power to production and manufacturing without reservation!

Today, the size of human civilization's fleet even exceeds 30 billion!

Give them a few more years, and Zero could even expand the human fleet to hundreds of billions!

What? Not enough humans to operate the warships?

Although the neutral faction suffered heavy losses, with so many level-eight civilizations, it would still be easy to gather thousands or even trillions of intelligent beings.

Therefore, in a sense, Lü Yongchang was not wrong.

Despite saying that, Fang Xu's expression became increasingly strange: "Yongchang, listen to yourself, is this even human language?"

"..." Lu Yongchang looked at Fang Xu beside him with some helplessness, "Alright, I'll confess."

"I gave [Nus] the order to invade."

"Invasion? Invade whom?" Fang Xu was completely confused. "Those lost giant insects can do invasion work?"

"Of course, it's the ring accelerator node of the Cleaner civilization that was invaded."

Lu Yongchang's lips curled up slightly as he turned to look at the holographic star map in front of him.

"Whether human civilization can become a Level 9 civilization might depend on the Cleaner civilization's accelerated experiments..."

P.S.: Bonus chapter! Still asking for free gifts!