Chapter Summaries

Qin Su reviewed Class 6’s successful operation against Bado and sent out sixty-six more students, prompting panic and speculation across the Federation. As Osmond and the other threatened targets debated how to protect themselves, Andrew revealed that he had sent people to seize Class 6 students’ families and discovered that the others had secretly done the same.

• Qin Su recorded the equipment and methods shown in Lin Yin’s team’s video, then revised the target list to speed up Class 6’s operations.
• Class 6 watched the video and debated the new plan to send out a larger group, praising the first team’s preparation and speculating that Qin Su had anticipated their mission.
• Sixty-six Class 6 students left the academy, and StarNet users speculated about who would be targeted next as Osmond and the others feared Qin Su’s campaign.
• Osmond and the others discussed their lack of evidence and possible defenses, while Andrew proposed using Class 6 students’ families as leverage.
• Andrew admitted that his people had already set out to seize families, then realized from the others’ reactions that they had secretly done the same.

After Class 6’s anonymous executions spread fear across the planets, Qin Su used the turmoil to expand his influence while sparing Greyliff and other powerful figures for strategic reasons. At term’s end, Class 6 departed for a joint military exercise without using the Fourth Military Academy’s weapons, leaving Xu Zhen suspicious that Qin Su was hiding something.

• Andrew and the others discussed how Qin Su had protected Class 6 students’ families, but they could find no safe way to investigate or challenge him.
• Over the next two months, similar executions spread across the planets, and Qin Su planted people in many places as Class 6’s students remained absent.
• Greyliff convened another private meeting after Class 6 reappeared, while Qin Su kept him alive to preserve the existing power structure until Sophia and the others were ready.
• Class 6 questioned why Qin Su had crossed Greyliff and other influential people off the kill list, but Qin Su pretended not to hear them and kept them training.
• At the end of term, Class 6 boarded a spaceship for the joint exercise without taking Fourth Military Academy weapons or equipment.
• After the spaceship departed, Aiseboer told Xu Zhen he did not know what it carried, and Xu Zhen worried that Qin Su was hiding something.

Xu Zhen warned Aiseboer that Qin Su’s ties to other planets could put the Federation at risk, and Aiseboer affirmed that he would stand with the Federation. When the Fourth Military Academy arrived for the joint exercises, Qin Su paused the spaceship above the landing site and told Class 6 to observe the situation below for ten minutes.

• Xu Zhen told Aiseboer that people across several planets were asking about Qin Su’s connections and urged him to remember that he and the Fourth Military Academy belonged to the Federation.
• Aiseboer agreed that he would choose the Federation if Qin Su’s interests came into conflict with it.
• Xu Zhen left Aiseboer alone on the platform, while observers debated whether Qin Su might use Class 6 to advance his influence across other planets.
• Ten hours later, the Fourth Military Academy’s spaceship arrived above the exercise site on Saiweiyala, where representatives from the other academies waited to see Qin Su.
• Qin Su kept the spaceship hovering high above the landing site and told Class 6 to study the situation below for ten minutes.

Qin Su brought Class 6 to Balenman, where they carefully surveyed the exercise grounds before landing in the Fourth Military Academy’s assigned area. Their arrival unnerved the students from the other 49 military academies, who began to suspect that Qin Su had already taken control of the place.

• Qin Su checked the identities of the people below while Class 6 gathered at the Spaceship hatch and photographed Balenman’s layout.
• Class 6’s careful inspection made students from the other academies wonder whether Qin Su claimed Balenman, and some anxiously contacted their academies and the planet’s administrators.
• Class 6 discussed the city’s appearance and looked forward to confronting the Modified Humans with weapons designed to target them.
• Qin Su landed the Spaceship in the Fourth Military Academy’s assigned area after imagining Class 6 swaggering behind him.
• Class 6 lined up behind Qin Su with their heads high and chests out as the hatch opened and the watching students faced them.

Qin Su led Class 6 into Balenman while the other academies grew alarmed by the weapons he brought and debated whether to recall their Modified Humans. At Y-27 Base, Qin Su ordered Class 6 to hibernate and assemble that night, leaving them to suspect an operation against the forty-nine academies and wonder whether they should try to stop him.

• Qin Su walked past the forty-nine academies with Class 6, whose members hid their nerves while quietly assessing the Modified Humans’ weaknesses.
• The other academies failed to photograph the Fourth Military Academy’s weapons, but their analysis suggested the weapons were designed to target Modified Humans.
• Representatives from the forty-nine academies debated recalling their classes, then chose to keep them in Balenman and wait until after the exercise.
• Qin Su took control of Y-27 Base, ordered Class 6 to eat, hibernate, and reassemble at twenty-one hundred, then left them to discuss the likely operation.
• Class 6 members suspected Qin Su planned to attack the other academies and questioned whether they should try to talk him out of killing their Modified Humans.

Class 6 prepared for Qin Su’s operation by studying their targets and gathering supplies, while Qin Su kept his plan and the identities of special Modified Humans to himself. He issued each group a target list and outfitted the class in unmarked Combat Suits, leaving them to realize they would be acting as Qin Su’s own soldiers.

• He Muzhi argued that not all Modified Humans were puppets, but Class 6 could not find a reliable way to distinguish willing participants from those who had suffered modification.
• Qin Su monitored Class 6 and decided not to reveal which Modified Humans might be exceptions, believing uncertainty would prevent his classmates from hesitating during a confrontation.
• At eight in the evening, Class 6 woke, reviewed information about Balenman, ate, and surveyed Y-27 Base before assembling again at 8:59.
• Qin Su assigned Class 6 to forty-nine action groups and gave each student a list of Modified Humans and their equipment to memorize.
• Qin Su led the class to sealed crates of unmarked Combat Suits and ordered them to suit up, prompting Class 6 to realize they were joining Qin Su rather than representing the Fourth Military Academy.
• In the changing rooms, the students silently inspected their Combat Suits for an “S” emblem.

Qin Su equipped Class 6 with top-grade Combat Suits and weapons, then sent its 999 students to confront the forty-nine military academy classes across Balenman. The chapter ended as Class 1 of the First Military Academy prepared for a fight after Raymond announced that they were surrounded.

• Class 6 discovered that none of their Combat Suits bore an “S,” and Qin Su explained to himself why he had provided them with high-grade protection while wearing ordinary clothes.
• Qin Su gave Class 6 twenty minutes to collect their assigned weapons and ammunition while he tracked the other classes’ locations across Balenman.
• At ten at night, Qin Su paralyzed Balenman’s external communications, shared the classes’ positions and destinations with Class 6, and ordered the students to move out in warships.
• Class 6 students headed to their assigned targets, while viewers debated whether Qin Su intended to spare cooperative Modified Humans and attack the rest.
• At E-26 Base, Class 1 of the First Military Academy heard an explosion and Raymond announce that they were surrounded, then readied themselves for battle.

Class 6 confronted Class 1 at its base, where Raymond targeted Ulysses with a weapon while He Muzhi gave the Modified Humans a chance to get away. After Philomena ordered Class 1 to retreat, Ulysses unleashed his pheromones and attacked everyone indiscriminately, leaving both classes scrambling to dodge.

• Philomena organized Class 1 for Class 6’s arrival and denied opening the base’s door to them.
• Raymond led Class 6 into the base and fixed his attention on Ulysses, while He Muzhi explained that only twenty Class 6 members had come.
• Raymond aimed his weapon at Ulysses, and He Muzhi warned Class 1 to move away within five seconds or face the consequences.
• Philomena ordered Class 1 to retreat, and He Muzhi ordered Class 6 to scatter, leaving Raymond and Ulysses alone together.
• Ulysses released powerful Alpha pheromones and opened his weapons, attacking members of both classes as they dodged.

Raymond defeated Ulysses by targeting and destroying his modified parts, then killed him despite his pleas. Class 1 saw that Class 6's weapons could threaten modified humans and that Class 6 was working with Qin Su.

• Raymond piloted his warship through Ulysses's attacks and patiently struck his modified parts while Class 6 members took cover and Class 1 moved toward them.
• Ulysses's damaged parts began to fail, and he fell to the ground as Raymond's attacks stopped his barrage.
• Class 1 recognized that Class 6's weapons were designed to target modified parts and noticed the class wore Combat Suits associated with Qin Su.
• Raymond fired on the parts protecting Ulysses, ignored his plea, and blasted away everything above his neck.

He Muzhi forced Class 1 to follow Class 6 to the A-a1 Exercise Ground, where Qin Su had gathered cadets from all fifty military academies. As Qin Su appeared on the platform, the uneasy crowd waited to learn what he wanted.

• He Muzhi surrounded Class 1 with Class 6 and persuaded Philomena to lead most of her classmates to the A-a1 Exercise Ground.
• Philomena organized Class 1 under a one-minute countdown, and Ulysses and the holdouts joined the line when nearly everyone else followed her.
• He Muzhi led Class 1 to the exercise ground, where groups from other military academies had already gathered.
• Cadets from the different academies speculated about Qin Su’s intentions while remaining wary of one another and unable to communicate across the grounds.
• Within an hour, Class 6 had brought together cadets from fifty military academies, and Qin Su appeared on the raised platform.

Qin Su sealed Balenman inside its upgraded defenses and offered the gathered students a chance to leave on the Fourth Military Academy’s Spaceship. As the countdown began, he intended to keep those who stayed under his control and eventually put them to work.

• Qin Su activated Balenman’s defenses, closing its barriers around the city and trapping the gathered classes inside.
• The students from the other forty-nine academies hesitated to resist, while Class 6 concealed its surprise behind a calm facade.
• Qin Su reassured the crowd that he wanted their opinions, then brought the Fourth Military Academy’s Spaceship before them.
• Qin Su gave everyone sixty seconds to board the Spaceship and leave Balenman, warning that anyone who stayed would be unable to leave without his permission.
• Qin Su began the countdown as the trapped students weighed the threat of boarding the Spaceship against remaining in Balenman.

Qin Su had Class 6 escort selected Modified Humans onto the Fourth Military Academy's spaceship, then sent it away from Balenman while leaving everyone else behind. He told the remaining people to meet again the following evening, and Aiseboer woke from a nightmare with Qin Su on his mind.

• When the countdown ended without anyone leaving, Qin Su sent Class 6 the revised blacklist and ordered them to escort its members onto the Fourth Military Academy's spaceship.
• Sophia forced Croft to board the ship, while Hong Yuanzhou felt relieved to be separated from him.
• At one in the morning, Class 6 finished escorting everyone on the list aboard, and Qin Su launched the spaceship from Balenman.
• Qin Su told the remaining Modified Humans to meet at eight the next evening, wished them good night, and left them bewildered.
• Qin Su watched the spaceship from Y-27 Base and hoped Aiseboer would appreciate the people he had sent as a gift.
• Aiseboer woke from a nightmare in the early morning, felt uneasy about Qin Su, and tried to reassure himself that nothing could have happened overnight.

Qin Su sealed Balenman off from outside contact, drawing attention to the exercise ground while preparing for new arrivals. Aiseboer learned that Qin Su had sent him a gift aboard a returning Fourth Military Academy spaceship and hurried to intercept it, ordering the staff not to open it first.

• Balenman's class monitors failed to acknowledge the exercise instructions, and a patrol fleet found its defenses active but withdrew under orders.
• Qin Su used the shutdown to direct attention toward Balenman and make matters easier for incoming new members.
• Greyliff questioned the Fourth Military Academy about Qin Su, then ordered Norian to monitor Balenman from outside.
• Aiseboer received inquiries about Balenman and contacted Qin Su, who told him to sign for a gift and dispose of it as he pleased.
• Aiseboer learned that Qin Su's spaceship was returning to the Fourth Military Academy and ordered staff not to open its cargo before he arrived.

Aiseboer opened the returned spaceship and discovered that Qin Su had sent him a group of powerful Modified Humans from influential families as a supposed gift. He began negotiating from a position of unexpected leverage, while the people at the Fourth Military Academy wondered what had happened to the rest of the Modified Humans on Balenman.

• Aiseboer dispatched extra patrol teams and hurried to the Jump Point after the spaceship returned from Balenman.
• The Modified Humans aboard crowded away from the hatch, while Aiseboer told the gathering that Qin Su had sent him a gift.
• Aiseboer connected to the spaceship and recognized its passengers as Modified Humans with powerful military and academy connections.
• Aiseboer regretted doubting Qin Su, donned protective Combat Suit, and approached the hatch as his colleagues envied his apparent windfall.
• Aiseboer opened the hatch, introduced himself, and told the armed passengers that Qin Su had left them in his care and he did not intend to kill them.
• The Fourth Military Academy staff recognized the passengers and speculated about what had happened to the other Modified Humans on Balenman.

Aiseboer registered the people Qin Su sent from Balenman and used their arrival to draw attention to the suppressed situation there. On Balenman, Qin Su brought Class 6 to issue gray Combat Suits to the remaining people from the 49 military academies, leaving them wondering what he planned next.

• Aiseboer used Wu Ke and the other people pushed out of the Spaceship to persuade those inside to register, then arranged for them to contact their families.
• News that something might have happened on Balenman spread, and rumors escalated until Greyliff was hospitalized from anger.
• Aiseboer ignored most inquiries and calls while bargaining with contacts and planning to serve the detainees small meals on discarded tableware at inflated prices.
• At eight that evening, Qin Su arrived at the A-a1 Exercise Ground with Class 6 and boxes of Combat Suits.
• Class 6 put on the gray suits, and the remaining people from the 49 military academies were told the suits were for them, leaving them anxious about Qin Su’s plans.

Qin Su equipped the Modified Humans from 49 military academies and organized them into groups led by Class 6 for an upcoming mission. As the groups boarded their assigned spaceships and began training with weapons, the newcomers started to see the trust and camaraderie between Qin Su and Class 6, then cautiously asked Sophia whether Qin Su was listening.

• Sophia and Anthony claimed that black Combat Suits were superior, and their remarks led the Modified Humans to speculate that Qin Su favored Class 6.
• Qin Su assigned the Modified Humans to groups led by Class 6, ordered them to board numbered spaceships within thirty minutes, and told them to learn the weapons during the jump.
• The Modified Humans were surprised that Qin Su trusted them with the mission and the weapons that could kill them, while Class 6 hurried them along and competed over group rankings.
• On the spaceships, Sophia and the other Class 6 members joked while distributing weapons and training the newcomers, who began to reconsider their assumptions about Qin Su and Class 6.
• Sophia asked her new group members what they wanted to say, and they quietly asked whether Qin Su was in the communication channel.

Class 6 trained the newly recruited Modified Humans to use weapons designed to disable their own body components, while the newcomers grew envious of Class 6 and considered joining them. After their Spaceships exited the Jump Channel, Group 16 found itself facing a vast Cyborg Army.

• Sophia and the other Class 6 members taught the new recruits how to operate weapons and target vulnerable Modified Human components.
• Class 6 members competed to train their groups quickly, while the newcomers resented their superior equipment and wondered how to join them.
• The new members discussed the Modified Humans who had left with the vice principal and speculated about what Qin Su intended for them.
• Sophia warned Group 16 to equip its assigned weapons before the Spaceship left the Jump Channel.
• Group 16's Spaceship exited the Jump Channel, its hatch opened, and the new members found a vast Cyborg Army outside.

Sophia’s group met the Modified Humans who had chosen to defect to Qin Su, and escorted them aboard their spaceship without a fight. As the ship departed, Sophia suspected the military districts still had no idea Qin Su was removing their Modified Humans.

• Qin Su ordered Sophia’s group to open compartments E2 through E19 and bring the waiting Modified Humans aboard.
• Sophia arranged her members and introduced herself to the Modified Humans, explaining that Qin Su had sent her to meet them.
• The Modified Humans said they understood Qin Su’s intentions and boarded the spaceship, eager to leave their confinement behind.
• As the group spread rumors about the benefits of joining Qin Su, Group 16’s new members wondered why the mission had gone so smoothly.
• Sophia told her group to watch their assigned compartment and suspected the targeted military districts had not yet noticed the defections.

Group 16 returned to Balenman with the first rescued Modified Humans, and Qin Su used hidden weapons and strict orders to keep them contained as more groups arrived. By sunrise, every spaceship had returned, while Qin Su’s operation to erase records at the emptied military districts was exposed.

• Sophia led Group 16’s Modified Humans out of the spaceship and guarded them in Balenman, which they realized was an enormous enclosed cage.
• Qin Su ordered Sophia to distribute weapons and maintain order, while warships and concealed gun barrels appeared throughout Balenman.
• Sophia assigned the newcomers to designated areas, where they discussed the weapons they could not use and compared their status with Class 6’s earlier arrivals.
• As more spaceships arrived, Qin Su kept each group separate, and the newcomers complied with orders under the threat of overwhelming weapons.
• Before sunrise, all the spaceships had returned, and the military districts’ discovery of Qin Su’s records-erasing operation became public.

Qin Su’s operation left several military districts scrambling after their modification records were destroyed, while the Modified Humans who had chosen to stay refused to testify against him. After exposing the districts’ abuses and arranging to send rescued Modified Humans beyond Federation space, Qin Su left Sophia wondering where their ship was headed and whether she should tell her classmates.

• Leaders at the 26th Military District blamed Qin Su for the theft and data destruction, but the remaining Modified Humans refused to accuse him.
• Valkyrie pressured the Modified Humans to testify while the district’s leaders threatened him with consequences if he failed to recover their losses.
• Qin Su broadcast footage of the districts questioning those who stayed, then released horrifying experiment records to build momentum for exposing Body Modification.
• Qin Su ordered Sophia to take the first group from the 26th Military District to a destination outside the Federation, where they could be settled safely.
• Sophia saw the ship’s unfamiliar Hyperspace Jump destination and hesitated over whether to tell her classmates, who were bombarding her with messages.