The creatures in this space all possess incredible powers, with outstanding individual abilities. A very small number of especially powerful beings even have the ability to operate in cosmic space, and can freely enter and exit planets between the stars relying solely on their own strength. However, the creatures of this space have not formed a complete social system and are still in tribal forms where races gather together.

　　Upon first entering this space, extremely aggressive and powerful creatures launched xenophobic attacks against humans. The entire exploration team that entered at that time was wiped out, and subsequently, enemies invaded the First Space through the breached spatial entrance. Humanity paid a heavy price to repel the invaders. If not for the discovery of the Fifth Space, humanity might have faced total extinction in the second wave of attacks from the Fourth Space, all for the sake of their greatest discovery.

　　Since then, whenever the Fourth Space is mentioned, people refer to it as the "Demon Realm," and there has always been a large military presence stationed at the entrance to the Fourth Space to defend against invasions from "Demon Realm" creatures.

　　The Fifth Space—actually, over the years, humanity has discovered countless alternate-dimensional spaces. But since each space contains vast regions, and humans have not even fully explored their own First Space, let alone others, only those spaces where signs of life are found attract attention. The Fifth Space, however, is an exception.

　　There are no signs of life in the Fifth Space, yet there are relics of an advanced civilization. Research shows that this space, structurally identical to the First and Fourth Spaces, once hosted an extremely prosperous and highly developed civilization. But perhaps due to decline after reaching its peak, or war, or some unfathomable disaster, all species were completely wiped out.

　　Current explorations indicate that this civilization once established a vast empire radiating from its home planet to dozens of star systems. As of now, the technological development of the Fifth Space is the highest among all discovered spaces, at least a billion years ahead of current human civilization. It was precisely the discovery of the Fifth Space that allowed humanity to obtain technology passed down from an ancient civilization of another dimension, dramatically advancing human technology in a short period of time. This greatly increased humanity’s military power, enabling them to defeat repeated invasions from the "Demon Realm."

　　From then on, relying on the acquired relics of civilization, humanity developed its own technology, propelling human history forward by a great leap.

　　"The Future Realm" is the popular name among the public. Some also call it the "Phantom Realm."

　　The Sixth and Seventh Spaces were discovered simultaneously. In fact, the Seventh Space was not discovered by humans; rather, when humans found the Sixth Space, they also detected another spatial interface within it—this interface leads to the Seventh Space.

　　The creatures living in the Sixth Space have a standard of living roughly equivalent to humanity’s primitive era. However, the civilization of the Seventh Space developed slightly faster than humanity’s, and established contact with the Sixth Space several thousand years ago, even promoting its development, though always maintaining a policy of minimal interference.

　　The Seventh Space has never been visited by humans.

Chapter One: Parasitic Beasts

　　Originally, it was considered an era of world peace, but as dimensional spaces were continuously discovered, external threats became increasingly severe. By the 40th century AD, social systems had changed dramatically compared to two thousand years before.

　　When the Fourth Space was discovered, the demon realm creatures’ innate aggression led them to launch a devastating attack on the exploration fleet. The contact between the two different civilizations was extremely unfriendly. A brutal war across alternate dimensions made humanity realize its own insignificance and arrogance. Although humans ultimately preserved the gate to their own space, keeping the demon realm creatures out of the human world, this war brought profound reflection to all of human society.

　　After the Demon Realm War, the functions of governments in various countries underwent tremendous changes. Government powers were gradually weakened, while international integration in economic life and social activities was strengthened. In the areas of military, education, healthcare, and foreign cooperation, integration was greatly enhanced.

　　The most obvious example is China’s university district system. Two thousand years ago, attending a nearby school was for the convenience of students, so the coverage of schools was very important. Every neighborhood had elementary and middle schools. But now, with highly developed transportation, the issue of attending nearby schools is no longer a concern.

　　The original school system required extensive coverage of residential areas, resulting in the repeated construction of many simple, single-function schools, causing severe resource waste. Well-funded schools often had teaching facilities that sat idle and unused, while underfunded schools could not even acquire essential teaching equipment.

　　The quality of schools varied greatly, resulting in significant disparities in educational standards, and the high cost of education meant that many outstanding talents could not even complete their final education.