The United Empire planets that required Bai Zhongqi to use a celestial propulsor for rescue were indeed not too many since, although the First Universe Galaxy had a diameter of 120,000 light-years, the matter was relatively sparse, and the vast planets of the Iridium Star United Empire were far apart from one another.
In the past few days, Bai Zhongqi had been incredibly busy; he was constantly arranging how Iridium Star should respond to various situations, and now he was reviewing the predictions made by the Strategic Astronomical Bureau regarding the movements and changes of the First Universe Galaxy.
"So, you're saying that a stellar system could eventually be condensed into a Great Star Zone?" Bai Zhongqi held the information tablet, somewhat incredulously.
Linyin nodded very seriously and said, "The new universe is actually a stellar system, which will be slightly larger than any original galaxy. The First Universe Galaxy has already shown a clear 'slimming' trend in these days, evolving from a massive barred spiral system into a single spiral arm. After the new universe completely stabilizes, we assess that the First Universe Galaxy will become the second largest spiral arm in the new river system."
Linyin continued, pointing to the situation in the holographic star map, "As for the Second Universe Galaxy, the situation might be even worse because the Second Universe is the one among the three stellar universes with the most matter and the greatest interplay of mutual forces. Hence, to form a new celestial system, roughly the entirety of the Second Universe Galaxy is beginning to tear and reorganize. All previous spiral arms will be rearranged, and many planets may even be destroyed in the process of this river system formation. Civilizations that might not have been adjacent before are now neighbors, while a civilization that might have been in the same star region has been transported to a new region tens of thousands of light-years apart."
Bai Zhongqi remarked reflectively, "It seems that our Iridium Star United Empire is relatively lucky. At least our empire remains highly unified, though there have been some changes in the territorial map."
Linyin also spoke about the Snow Dragon Galaxy in the Third Universe, "The Snow Dragon Galaxy is almost as unfortunate as the Second Universe. Originally, they had a chance to form a complete celestial system structure like the First Galaxy. However, due to spatial interferences from the Second Galaxy, it ultimately fractured, causing the Third Universe to be torn into two parts, one part joining the New Southern Cross Arm and the other joining the New Centaur Arm."
As a general of the Empire Army, Xu Lanzhou now raised a concern within his professional scope, "The tearing apart of the Snow Dragon Galaxy is not good news for the United Empire. Originally, His Majesty has gradually established control over the civilizations in the Snow Dragon Galaxy by defeating the Spiral Mosquito Civilization, but once these civilizations drift towards the powerful civilizations of the High Council in the original Second Galaxy, they will inevitably turn their backs on the United Empire and become vassals of the majors."
Bai Zhongqi said helplessly, "There's no helping it; these civilizations now only have a verbal subordination to us, our control over them is insufficient, and now even stellar mergers are occurring, making it even more unlikely they will continue to belong to Iridium Star. We might as well forget about these civilizations, but the fleet we left in Nuoye Star is something the United Empire absolutely cannot give up. Any civilization that attempts to threaten our presence there will become the enemy of the United Empire."
In the subsequent meeting, Bai Zhongqi discussed and arranged with his knights and key officials about the resettlement conditions for the new regions and various planets within the United Empire.
Almost all planets experienced very negative impacts due to more planets appearing nearby, even more stars casting light upon them. However, Iridium Star is already striding forward to become a powerful high-level civilization approaching level 30, equipped with various impressive technologies from the Elder Race led by Bai Zhongqi, addressing these crises isn't impossible.
For the situation where some planets were exposed to excessive irradiation due to the massive amount of stars, in addition to organizing some planets to move away from the stars, the Iridium Stars also used light-blocking Dyson sphere devices to shield some "surplus" planets entirely.
The main energy technology of Iridium Star is the antimatter route, and the cost-effectiveness of the Dyson spheres is relatively low, so Iridium Star only has some experimental Dyson sphere facilities. Even now, proposing the use of Dyson spheres in the scientific community of Iridium Star was not for collecting energy but for providing light protection.
Luckily, among the piles of Crimson God Stones unearthed by Bai Zhongqi on Taoran Star, he found something that could help.
He was holding the detector given by a muscular man and was carefully reading the instructions on it.
"Drinker Stone, can extract hydrogen and helium material from up to 100 million supergiant stars, serving as power cells for various equipment."
When Bai Zhongqi saw this instruction, he felt that the original intent of the Elder Race, regarded as stonemasons in creating the Drinker Stone, might be somewhat similar to the celestial collectors who used suns encased in glass beads for energy supply.
Although Bai Zhongqi was no longer able to use glass beads for stellar collections, at least the Drinker Stone could in a very short period, drain all the hydrogen and helium inside a star. With such a sun-eating tool, at least Bai Zhongqi need not worry that the excessive stars in the newly formed spiral arm would unduly negatively impact the planets of the United Empire.
Apart from managing the distance between planets and the stars, Iridium Star people also had to adjust the composition and thickness of the atmosphere on some planets and thereby the entire ecosystem, all of which are massive engineering endeavors. However, Iridium Stars could achieve a relatively high level of automation, and within one to three years, these planets could stabilize. However, it's very likely that they'd be quite different from the planets before.
Currently, what deeply concerned Bai Zhongqi was that while the Iridium Star United Empire could stabilize, after the merger of the Second and Third Universes, what new situations would emerge? He worried that the event of galaxy mergers could become a spark leading to a series of chaotic situations. Powerful civilizations might decline, weaker civilizations might find opportunities, and what troubled Bai Zhongqi even more was that in such a brand-new situation, the Pilgrims, who actually triggered the galaxy merger event, might play what role in a series of changes.
"The major stage I am to face next is one I cannot escape, only confront directly. Within the New Milky Way, the Iridium Star United Empire will occupy one large spiral arm, while how the other seven spiral arms will be divided is something that cannot be ignored," Bai Zhongqi started to ponder.
Originally, as a civilization without rivals and the most powerful among them, Iridium Star stood proudly in the First Universe Galaxy. Yet now, Iridium Star will be directly adjacent to many more powerful civilizations, and the battle for supremacy in the galaxy seems about to begin.