501: Chapter 501 Distributing Tasks

As her voice fell, she lightly raised her hand and tapped on the Void Realm in front of her.

Instantly, everyone's gaze locked onto the giant ring of the Star Bridge.

At first, nothing happened.

Then, at approximately the one-quarter mark of the ring's body, a point lit up without warning with a soft, pale golden light. The light was not dazzling, yet it carried an indescribable weight.

Immediately after, the light seemed to be infused with life, racing along the pre-set conduits on the ring toward both sides.

The scene was like two pale golden rivers of light, roaring forward through the cold steel gullies with a strange and fluid beauty.

The streams of light sped across the ring, lighting up complex structures in sequence as they passed, emitting a low resonance. In just over ten seconds, the two streams of light met on the opposite side of the ring, completing the energy infusion of the entire giant ring.

The entire giant ring, thousands of kilometers in diameter, seemed to come alive at this moment, flowing with a pale golden radiance.

All the light streams eventually converged and surged toward the center of the ring.

The space at the center of the ring began to warp and churn, as if a giant stone had been thrown into a calm water surface. Pale golden energy swirled and compressed frantically there, its brightness increasing sharply until finally—

"Vrrrrm——————!"

A low, thick hum, seemingly coming from the structure of space itself, shook everyone's eardrums and vibrated through every Soul.

Amidst the humming, at the center of the ring, a pale golden vortex light gate hundreds of kilometers in diameter swung wide open!

Inside the light gate was a slowly rotating nebula-like vortex, deep and serene. At the edges of the gate, pale golden electric arcs leaped and flickered like living things.

The Star Bridge was connected.

At this moment, the platform was silent. Even the most excited Blue Star nobles held their breath.

After a brief silence, a reconnaissance ship painted with the Interstellar Peace Corporation emblem quietly slid out from the port attached to the anchoring station. It adjusted its posture, its bow steadily aiming at the pale golden light gate.

Under everyone's gaze, the reconnaissance ship began to accelerate, heading toward the light gate.

The moment the hull touched the light gate, the pale golden energy vortex rippled, softly enveloping the ship.

The reconnaissance ship underwent no deformation or strange phenomena, simply sliding smoothly into the interior of the light gate, its figure quickly swallowed by the rotating nebula and disappearing.

A few seconds later, the voice of the reconnaissance ship's captain rang out in the hall: "Passed through the Star Bridge node. Space parameters are stable, navigation status is good. Proceeding to pre-set coordinates. Over."

"Received. Continue the mission." The response from the control center was concise and clear.

The first ship had successfully achieved Transmigration.

But it wasn't over yet.

Next, a massive and ruggedly structured heavy engineering ship sailed out from the port.

Fixed to its hull was a ring-shaped device scaled down hundreds of times but with a vaguely similar structure; that was the core component for the second Star Bridge anchoring station.

The engineering ship also headed toward the light gate, sinking into it amidst the same ripples.

The wait this time was a bit longer.

About an hour later, a new report came from the control center.

"Confirmed that the Andromeda node anchoring component has been successfully delivered. Remote activation sequence initiated, anchoring successful. Space coordinates locked. Bi-directional lane stabilization program running..."

Following the report, everyone saw that the brightness of the pale golden light gate seemed to slightly increase by one Rank, and the electric arcs leaping at the edges became more stable and orderly.

"Reporting, bi-directional stable lane connection complete. The Star Bridge lane between 'Pierpoint Node' and 'Andromeda Node' has been established."

Two brief sentences, yet they marked the complete rewriting of history.

A space highway spanning 2.5 million light-years was officially open for traffic.

On the viewing platform, enthusiastic gasps and discussions finally broke out.

Eastern Federation Scholars' fingers flew across their portable terminals recording data, Blue Star nobles whispered excitedly to each other, and the Zemuria representatives had varied expressions, lost in deeper thought.

As for the representatives of civilizations in the early planetary era, they were almost ready to kneel in worship.

Jade said nothing more, only nodding slightly to the guests again before turning to leave.

The ceremony itself had fulfilled all its purposes.

The real decisions and actions began after the ceremony ended.

In the same meeting room, General Jing Yuan stood in the center, before him an expanded star map of part of the Andromeda Galaxy and a schematic light band of the Star Bridge lane.

General Feixiao stood behind him to the side with her arms crossed, like a sword about to be unsheathed. Fuhuan's phantom was projected nearby, a divination Formation Plate floating before her. General Huaiyan sat in a side seat, with thick material lists and engineering blueprints spread out before him. Jade and Aventurine were also there, pondering and calculating something.

"Everyone," General Jing Yuan spoke, "according to the previous plan, the 'Intergalactic Expeditionary Command' is now officially established. I, General Jing Yuan, will serve as the Commander-in-Chief of the headquarters, responsible for all strategic planning and overall coordination of this expedition."

He looked at General Feixiao: "General Feixiao, you are appointed as the Expeditionary Fleet Commander, commanding all frontline military forces, responsible for combat command, regional control, military strikes, and frontline base defense."

General Feixiao took a step forward, clenched her right fist, and lightly struck her left chest: "Orders received."

General Jing Yuan then looked at General Huaiyan: "General General Huaiyan, you are appointed as the Logistics Chief of the expeditionary force, coordinating all military actions, base construction, material transport, equipment maintenance, and technical support matters. The lifeblood of the expeditionary force is in your hands."

General Huaiyan patted the armrest, his voice booming like a bell: "Rest assured, these old bones won't hold you back!"

"Fuhuan," General Jing Yuan looked at the projection of the Divination Commission, "you are appointed as the Chief Strategic Advisor and Director of Intelligence for the headquarters, responsible for celestial calculations and risk warnings."

Fuhuan's phantom bowed slightly: "I shall do my utmost to live up to the trust placed in me."

Finally, he looked at Jade and Aventurine: "The Strategic Investment Department will be responsible for coordinating all departments of the Corporation to fully guarantee the supply of resources and various supports for the expeditionary force's rear, and simultaneously carry out potential value assessments and preliminary contact plans for the target Star Domain."

Jade smiled and nodded, while Aventurine made a 'don't worry' gesture.

"At the current stage, the core tasks of the expeditionary force are as follows." General Jing Yuan's finger pointed to a spot on the outer edge of Andromeda on the star map. "First, establish a solid forward base to serve as the fundamental pivot for the expeditionary operations."

"Second, using the forward base as a support, conduct reconnaissance in the surrounding Star Domains. The primary goal is to locate the source of the The Swarm threat and ascertain its scale and distribution."

"Third, comprehensively assess the threat Rank. If confirmed to exist, the frontline Commander is authorized to handle it at their discretion. Methods of disposal include, but are not limited to, blockades, extermination, and even purification and removal."

"That is all. Does anyone have any questions?"

"Understood!" everyone responded in unison.

"Then," General Jing Yuan slowly exhaled, a hint of relaxation appearing on his face, "begin preparations according to plan. The first batch of the vanguard fleet and engineering units will depart in ten days."

"Let's go see what kind of scenery lies on the other side of the bridge."