"Ah, I'm so sleepy. I feel like the bed is hard and a bit pointy. Wasn't I staying in my room on my pioneer spaceship?"
"That shouldn't be right. I just bought the 479th generation neutron star ultra-soft material sleep bed from the furniture store. How could it be so hard and a bit pointy?"
For a moment, Noah was bewildered, unable to understand what had happened.
Why was he sleeping on a hard bed? He had just spent a day's salary on a super luxurious bed.
The next second, Noah groggily came to. The pungent smell of decay and metallic rust instantly filled his nasal cavity. Unprepared, he choked and coughed violently.
He struggled to open his eyelids, but his vision was fragmented by a thick yellow haze.
When his blurry vision finally focused, his pupils suddenly constricted—
Twisted rebar was pressing against his waist, beneath him was a collapsed hill of polymers, and purple-black viscous liquid seeped from the rusted remains of some machine.
Three hundred meters away, a spire made of discarded aircraft was slowly collapsing in the acid rain. The faded double headed eagle emblem on its body was corroded until only half a wing remained.
"This... this is impossible..." Noah's fingers sank into the blackened foam plastic; the sensation was like rotten skin.
"What the hell is this place? Surely no one sent me outside the Federation's control, right?"
Noah looked at the scene before him, finding it hard to believe what he was seeing.
He was a pioneer in the Terran Federation, usually responsible for wandering the star sea, searching for star systems outside the Federation's control.
His main task was to identify any star systems worth occupying.
As a pioneer, he had seen many things.
He had witnessed all sorts of sights, but this was the first time he had seen a scene like this.
Although pioneers generally operated outside the Federation's control.
Given the Terran Federation's reach and the combat power of various nations in the star sea.
And most importantly, their civilian infrastructure.
Even the slums of a fringe colony world couldn't possibly look like this... this industrial hell that seemed deliberately pieced together.
Even if that civilization was the least particular necroid civilization, it couldn't look like this.
(Necroids are a type of stellaris civilization 100% inspired from w40k)
Necroids would at most create a large number of tombs; he could understand a graveyard economy.
But he completely couldn't comprehend this kind of industrial wasteland economy.
It was simply too absurd.
However, as a pioneer who was always exploring.
Noah quickly regained his composure after the initial shock.
Compared to observing this landscape, which was almost unseen within Federation territory, it was more important for him to find his exploration vessel.
After all, from the current scene, it could be determined that he was definitely not on any planet of the Terran Federation, and he couldn't seek assistance from the Federation.
In such a situation, his best option was to find his exploration vessel and try to start it.
He needed to see if he could pilot the ship back to the Human Federation's controlled area on his own.
Noah thought this, and he acted accordingly.
"Alexander, are you there?" To search for his exploration vessel, he naturally didn't need to do it himself.
Federation technology was highly advanced. Under such powerful technological might, the Federation could naturally provide services to all citizens through powerful AI.
An ordinary citizen, upon birth, would not only inherit the powerful psionic abilities possessed by all federation citizens.
They would also be given a smart bracelet prepared by the federation for every citizen.
The smart bracelet was as light as a feather in everyday use, clinging tightly to one's wrist.
It integrated almost all civilian technology of the entire Terran Federation.
It could provide any federation citizen who lost contact in the star sea with manufacturing methods for all civilian technologies in the Federation, as well as some civilian self-defense weapons.
To facilitate effective use of the bracelet by federation citizens, an intelligent AI was installed inside every Federation citizen's bracelet.
The AI's name could be chosen by the user. Noah named his AI Alexander.
"I'm here."
"Alexander, immediately search for my exploration vessel. Where is it?
Also, cross-reference with the Federation star map and tell me which region of the Milky Way I am currently in.
Or which location in the universe, and try to contact the Human Federation government."
"Warning: Signal retrieval failed."
Alexander's mechanical female voice sounded in Noah's mind, but her tone carried a rare hint of fluctuation.
"No federation quantum communication network detected, no psionic beacon detected, no stargate anchor detected."
Noah frowned. This wasn't right. The Human Federation's quantum communication network covered the entire galaxy. Even the most remote, savage planets couldn't be without a signal, and certainly not without a stargate.
"Scanning current star sector..."
Alexander's holographic projection unfolded before Noah. The image was very clear, but there were no labels, only a very simple map of planet distribution and star system distribution.
"Error: Star map data mismatch."
"Error: The current stellar arrangement does not match any known star systems in the Federation database."
"Error: Your exploration vessel has not been detected within a 200 light-year radius."
"Conclusion: You are no longer within Federation territory, nor even near it, within any star system within 50,000 light-years."
"Congratulations! Through your exploration, you have successfully illuminated a new star system for the federation. You may choose to notify the federation fleet for acquisition or proceed with substantive occupation of this star sector."
"Static—Unable to connect to the federation quantum communication network. This is impossible. Please wait a moment; I will attempt to reconnect..."
"Static—Connection failed. Unable to connect to the federation network. Your current location may be farther than I anticipated, likely exceeding 200 million light-years, otherwise, connection to the federation network should not be an issue. Emergency protocol initiated."
"Esteemed federation citizen, all your civilian technology systems have been unlocked. You can utilize the technology within and your existing resources to create everything necessary for your survival."
"Emergency Protocol Initiated."
On Noah's wrist, the smart bracelet's holographic projection suddenly flashed with a dazzling red light, then unfolded a brand new interface — "Federation Citizen Emergency Survival Guide."
"Detected extreme anomalous environment. Automatically switched to offline mode."
"Scanning available resources..."
Alexander's mechanical female voice remained calm, but her speaking speed noticeably accelerated, as if even the AI recognized the gravity of the situation.
"Scan complete:"
Atmospheric composition: Oxygen content 18.3%, Nitrogen 61.2%, the rest are toxic industrial waste gases. Some toxic gases pose no threat to your body and can be ignored.
Surface temperature: -5℃ to 45℃ (extreme day-night temperature difference)
Biological signals: A large number of unknown life forms detected. After scanning, they are judged to be humanoid life forms, but whether they are human remains to be verified. Please proceed with caution.
Noah's head was full of question marks.
Where did this bring me? Where did the Terran Federation go?
Who is playing a joke on me? At least 200 million light-years away from the Federation?
The words "at least" directly shattered Noah's last illusion, because it was at least 200 million light-years away; as for the exact distance, no one knew.
Noah hadn't yet considered the most terrifying conclusion: that he had traveled to another universe.