The soldiers escorted him and many other people in groups that went down the streets.
The town was quiet compared to the usual liveliness. Cars were parked by the sidewalks and the roads were clear.
Approaching a street corner, the group stretching down the street which Qin Hong was mixed in with came to a stop. It seemed like the military had shut down the barriers preventing people from entering moving traffic. Installed in the middle of each intersection was a portal.
They were oval-shaped with the event horizon blocked by a metallic-black archway. Right beside the portal was a hexagon-shaped pillar with a square-shaped key in the side. On both sides of the archway were two heavily armed soldiers.
The soldiers guiding people stopped near the edge of the sidewalks a little distance away, preventing the groups from mixing up.
[Last names starting with 'A' step out onto the road and line up! Press your console in the keyhole before being cleared! Green light means you are clear to enter!]
A few people starting with 'A' as their last name stepped out near the road and lined up. Each time they inserted the console into the keyhole, the pillar lit up green. They walked past the guards nervously before entering the portal, where you could see the people.
Qin Hong's turn was early, as they called the letter 'C' which the owners original name had.
Getting in line, he happened to see when the hexagonal pillar turned red instead of green. A seemingly normal middle-aged man had the console inserted.
The middle-aged man quickly panicked and activated a flight module to flee. He only got two feet before his body shook from electric shock, falling to the ground. A taser-like weapon had rose from a port in one of the guard's shoulder. The weapon vanished into the port before closing up like nothing happened.
The soldier on standby walked over as an invisible cuff tied his hands behind his back. He pressed his console against the tied-man's console, allowing information to be transferred over.
[To all those who think they can get away with drug and human trafficking! I suggest making sure you can escape military scanning sensors! The United Federation and the people do not stand for this!]
The tied man's console flashed as a tied up child appeared on the ground. It was a half-naked boy with a pale body and brown hair who was sleeping. The console had been forcibly removed as could be seen by some horrible scars on the right wrist.
While the United Federation may look Utopian, free of conflicts and great peace, that is only on the surface. There are some grey spots in the mining wastelands that they thrive.
Even this far into the tech tree, the criminal world always adapts to technology, and will always find new ways to get around these hindrances. Human traffickers have their ways of removing consoles from their victims without alerting authorities. They still manage to hack things and steal information. Space-pirates are a thing.
Despite it being extremely difficult to die thanks to a perfected medical system combined with bio-engineered nanobots, are still some substances that are highly illegal and highly addictive which spread like wildfires through hidden sources.
Humanity does not only have this issue as robots are intelligent and free. Robots are a race of their own and there are criminals within their groups.
Sending a report to others on the other side of the portal, some soldiers came from the other side and apprehended the middle-aged man, before taking the child inside as well.
Order returned as people put in their consoles and passed through the portal.
Qin Hong's last name initial for his other name was called, and he got in line. After an unknown amount of time, it was his turn and he inserted his console into the key hole. The pillar flashed green, meaning he was clear to go. Even though he already knew he was clear, he was still a little worried.
He walked past the two guards standing on both sides of the portal and entered with a calm face.
Upon entering, a strange feeling swept over him as if his body and mind were being exposed to unknown equipment. But considering the stance the UF has on souls, it probably just looks like he has a very large quantum field. Either way, it felt a little uncomfortable.
On the other side of the portal, was a giant station far larger than he had ever seen.
All of the portals were stationed up against a metal wall stretching high for miles. The ones above the ground had semi-transparent flooring for people to step on.
Left, right, and forward stretched for hundreds of miles without looking like there's an end in sight. People in the trillions were crammed together and it looked like a sea of people. There was the constant boom of voices and commotion everywhere. Too many people were breathing and it felt like there was a shortage of oxygen.
Qin Hong was forced to join the crowds that seemingly had no end in sight. Despite this, he retained his calm and did not panic.
Looking down, the floor was made out of some transparent glass-like material that viewed the space below.
The station seemed to be stationed beside the Great Barrier above a barred-spiral galaxy below, so it was in full sight. However, Qin Hong quickly realized that it was the Milky Way!
Besides Andromeda and the Bullet Galaxy, the Milky Way is the most taken care of place. At the cost of other galaxies, humanity has expanded their home galaxy a few times its original size to the edge of the Great Barrier horizontally.
The galaxy in full view was the most beautiful thing Qin Hong had even seen throughout his entire life. Gas, dust, and stars were present inside and outside the rings. Nebulae and star clusters were barely visible from this height. The center was brightly lit enough that it looked like a star.
On opposite sides of the Milky Way galaxy was Andromeda and the Bullet Galaxy of equal size. Their galactic arms nearly touching the Milky Way. They were using some technique to block off the gravitational pull from the other galaxies while eliminating the Great Barriers.