Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei’s reunited group fled the Transit Star after Old Lady Jia arranged their supplies and escape, then jumped into the Iron Hammer Star Region with a huge cluster of wreckage. As they sped away, Big Head Butterfly detected a spatial detector nearby.

• Claire explained that the group had rented and renovated a storefront on the Transit Star as a cover while they hid.
• Old Lady Jia had anticipated danger after hearing that Hongjingtian was active and led the group away from Tianfeng before Qu Jianlei expected.
• Old Lady Jia ruled out returning to the Asteroid Belt and arranged a rapid purchase of supplies before the group chose to head for Warhammer.
• Claire told the storefront workers the group was going hunting, giving them a cover for leaving aboard the Unlucky Starship.
• Qu Jianlei’s group jumped into the Iron Hammer Star Region with a massive cluster of starship wreckage and hurried away from the jump point.
• After more than half a day of travel, Big Head Butterfly detected a spatial detector.

Qu Jianlei and his group established a hidden repair base on Lost Star, then settled on Homestead Star under fake identities and leased farmland to conceal their activities. With their cultivation arrays set up, Qu Jianlei left with Paranoid and Hua Xiezhi to transport repair materials to Lost Star.

• Xiao Hu detected several probes, so the group destroyed one and circled around the others before reaching Lost Star in the Tianpeng system.
• The group dug a deep, wide tunnel on Lost Star and built a hidden base before departing for Homestead Star.
• Homestead Star officials inspected the group, but their Skyhook Star Region identities drew less scrutiny than identities from the Edge Star Domain would have.
• Old Lady Jia arranged professional fake identities, and Qu Jianlei had each team member obtain three in batches.
• Qu Jianlei leased more than a hundred square kilometers of farmland, hired workers, bought robots and industrial materials, and explained the purchases as farming equipment.
• The group set up the Qi Gathering Array and Gathering Spirit Array underground, while Qu Jianlei traveled with Paranoid and Hua Xiezhi to deliver raw materials to Lost Star.

Qu Jianlei's group settled into life on Homestead Star, where their reputation deterred local thieves and Qu Jianlei completed his calculations for a standard Gathering Spirit Array. At a Milton family birthday party, the youngest son rode his new motorcycle beyond the farm boundary at a classmate's urging, and the classmate warned that they were all in trouble.

• Qu Jianlei's group learned that Homestead Star's native farmers received subsidies, while local idlers often got away with petty theft and fraud.
• Claire stripped three young men who tried to steal construction materials and hung them upside down at the gate; You You and Fourth Boss deterred a town guard from intervening.
• Qu Jianlei finished calculating the standard Gathering Spirit Array and accepted the Miltons' invitation to their youngest son's fifteenth birthday party.
• Qu Jianlei's group gave the birthday boy a new off-road motorcycle, and an acne-faced classmate challenged him to ride it beyond the farm.
• The Milton boy rode past the farm boundary with his classmates following in vehicles, and the acne-faced boy told them they were all in huge trouble.

Milton's youngest son learned that the authorities planned to requisition land, and the Miltons warned Qu Jianlei's group. When officials later ordered the group to leave without compensation, Qu Jianlei and Fourth Boss made clear they would not accept the demand without resistance.

• Acne warned Milton's youngest son that the authorities planned to requisition land, then wrecked the boy's new motorcycle.
• The Miltons told Bentley about the possible requisition, and Qu Jianlei's group decided to wait for official action.
• A city guard informed Xiao Qin that the requisition was coming, but the group chose not to approach City Hall first.
• The Town Chief and Sheriff delivered an order terminating the group's lease without compensation and allowing only one month to harvest and move.
• Fourth Boss demanded compensation, and Qu Jianlei warned the Town Chief not to threaten him before Fourth Boss reinforced the warning.

Qu Jianlei's group faced escalating pressure from City Hall to surrender their farm, but they refused to sign the consent form or leave. After officials delivered a final warning and withdrew, the group suspected they were being watched and had no local connections to help them.

• Qu Jianlei had Xiao Hu trace the Town Chief's report and monitor City Hall contacts while he continued his research and avoided traveling.
• The Town Chief returned with city guards and demanded Bentley sign a consent form, but Bentley refused, and Fourth Boss warned them not to threaten the group.
• Five days later, a large city guard force arrived and ordered the residents to move out by dawn, but Bentley, Fourth Boss, and Xiao Qin stood their ground.
• The city guard announced that demolition equipment would come the next day, then the visitors drove away after leaving a drone to watch the property.
• Xiao Qin and Claire concluded that City Hall was giving the group time to use their connections, while Qu Jianlei noted that the officials would also have to consider the consequences of acting against them.

Qu Jianlei's group faced a threatened forced demolition, but the officials' plans unraveled after covert retaliation in town. As the demolition was postponed and the officials withdrew, Claire learned that the C-rank city guard had been beaten and left in a basement.

• Neighbors gathered at Qu Jianlei's farm to discuss the land requisition, and Claire dismissed their suggestion that the group use connections to lobby.
• Hua Xiezhi asked Qu Jianlei whether they could act, and he sent her and Lao Ben on a trip after giving them information.
• Claire served breakfast to a crowd of nearby farmers waiting outside the farm for the demolition team.
• Officials discovered that the C-rank city guard had been bound in a basement with his arms and legs broken, while the City Hall deputy's family had been robbed and shaved bald.
• The deputy postponed the forced demolition, and the two B-rank Awakened Ones chose to leave town with the others.
• Claire heard that the city guard had been beaten and said he deserved it.

Claire and her neighbors celebrated a setback to the land acquisition campaign while City Hall’s Top Leader realized Qu Jianlei’s group was behind the events and abandoned plans to confront them. The authorities suspended the campaign, and Claire prepared to keep building her foundation before a planned trip to Paradise Star.

• Claire told the neighbors that drones had handled the incident, and they cheered when they heard the city guards had left.
• The Top Leader learned that his grandson had vanished, his deputy’s family had been shaved bald, and adviser Adams had died; he connected the events to the land acquisition plan.
• The Top Leader began preparing to visit Small Town, but his grandson contacted home after being released from a sealed mine, so he canceled the trip.
• A notice announced that land acquisition would be temporarily suspended, and Xiao Qin told Claire the matter was effectively over.
• Qu Jianlei warned Claire that officials might cause trouble if given the chance, then encouraged her to focus on building her foundation.
• Claire asked to advance through cultivation, but after hearing about the planned trip to Paradise Star, she agreed to strengthen her foundation first.

Qu Jianlei traveled to Paradise Star with his companions, where the planet’s pervasive surveillance complicated his efforts to buy materials. On his way to meet the others, he caught an electric-skateboard rider trying to steal his bag and took the unconscious thief to a restroom to question her.

• Qu Jianlei and his companions arrived on Paradise Star, passed inspection, and spent two days sightseeing while Qu Jianlei began purchasing materials.
• Qu Jianlei spent six days collecting the materials, slowed by the planet’s extensive surveillance, and drove to meet his companions.
• A helmeted rider on an electric skateboard tried to snatch Qu Jianlei’s backpack during a traffic jam, but he knocked the rider unconscious and concealed what had happened from onlookers.
• Qu Jianlei drove to an underground parking garage, brought the unconscious rider into a restroom, and discovered the thief was a woman wearing makeup.
• Qu Jianlei prepared to interrogate the woman to find out whether her attempted theft was a test related to his recent purchases.

Qu Jianlei interrogated a starving young woman who revealed she was Tian Yin, a B-rank Light Attribute user from Chaoyang Ability Warrior Academy seeking escape from Paradise and the Divine Script Society. When she mentioned Mu Yu’s injuries and freezing, Paranoid arrived and demanded to know what had happened to her.

• Qu Jianlei restrained the young woman, questioned her about her identity, and gave her two thousand-denomination silver notes after she said she had been betrayed and lost her identity card.
• The woman revealed her Light Attribute and B-rank cultivation, then identified herself as Tian Yin from Chaoyang Ability Warrior Academy and said her troubles were connected to the Divine Script Society.
• Qu Jianlei tested Tian Yin’s knowledge of Chaoyang and learned that Mu Yu was still frozen after suffering severe injuries.
• Paranoid opened the locked restroom door with his control over metal and angrily asked Tian Yin how Mu Yu had been mistreated and how long her freezing expenses could last.

Qu Jianlei’s group took Tian Yin in after Paranoid decided not to kill her, and Xiang Xue learned that she was a junior apprentice from Chaoyang Academy fleeing trouble involving the Divine Script Society. The group agreed to help her leave Paradise Star after handling their own business, while Tian Yin offered gold-mine shares but refused to reveal her A-rank Light Attribute cultivation technique.

• Paranoid emerged from the mall with Tian Yin, and the group changed their appearances before separating and returning to the hotel.
• Paranoid handed Tian Yin over to Xiang Xue, who learned that she had fled with her younger cousin after her aunt’s family ran into serious trouble.
• Tian Yin offered repayment for help leaving Paradise Star, and Xiang Xue asked whether she had an A-rank Light Attribute cultivation technique.
• Tian Yin said the Divine Script Society had interfered in her troubles and offered shares in a gold mine, but she refused to disclose her cultivation technique.
• Xiang Xue consulted Qu Jianlei and Paranoid, and Paranoid agreed to help Tian Yin leave after the group finished its own business.

Tian Yin asked Xiang Xue and her allies to help rescue her missing cousin, but they found his hiding place watched and returned without him. On the way back, Tian Yin explained how the Iron Blood Society had seized control of her uncle’s mine and driven her family into danger, leaving her unsure whether her cousin had escaped or been captured.

• Tian Yin asked Xiang Xue to help bring her younger cousin to safety, and Hua Xiezhi and Bentley joined them.
• The group reached the cousin’s hiding place, but Hua Xiezhi sensed he was gone and detected people lying in ambush, so Qu Jianlei ordered them to return.
• Tian Yin told the group that the Iron Blood Society had demanded her uncle’s gold-rich mine for an unfair price and defeated the A-ranks sent to oppose it.
• Tian Yin explained that her family had been attacked and that her uncle had sent her to Paradise Star with his youngest son to seek a Supreme’s help.
• Tian Yin said she had fled with her cousin after seeing someone infiltrate her room, but now she feared he had been captured or gone into hiding.
• Xiang Xue reassured Tian Yin that they might investigate her cousin’s disappearance when it was convenient.

Qu Jianlei’s group traced Tian Yin’s cousin to his murder, while Tian Yin learned that her estranged relatives were all she had left. She asked Paranoid to help her take revenge, and Qu Jianlei agreed to protect her in exchange for her Light Attribute cultivation method, leaving revenge for later.

• Xiao Hu traced Tian Yin’s cousin from a street arrest to a shantytown courtyard, and Paranoid later confirmed that the cousin had been murdered and his remains destroyed.
• Qu Jianlei and Old Lady Jia chose to open a homestay on Paradise Star instead of taking on the dangerous gold mine business.
• Tian Yin learned her cousin was dead and explained how her blended family had taken her inheritance, leaving her with no relatives besides Uncle’s family.
• Tian Yin offered Paranoid her future service in exchange for revenge, but he warned that the enemy had at least one Supreme and that she could not pay the necessary price.
• Paranoid consulted Qu Jianlei, who agreed to provide Tian Yin protection in exchange for her cultivation method and said they could discuss revenge later.

Qu Jianlei’s team bought a plot at Cloud Mist Mountain after Paranoid killed five people tied to a coercive land-buying scheme. The landowner sold after Qu Jianlei and Claire pressured him, then spread a rumor linking the buyers to the murders.

• Tian Yin worried about Qu Jianlei’s conditions, and Xiang Xue told her to trust him and accept the risks of her chosen path.
• Qu Jianlei sent Hua Xiezhi and Xiang Xue to investigate a plot at Cloud Mist Mountain and learned that a powerful local organization was pressuring its owner to sell cheaply.
• Paranoid killed the organization’s two A-ranks, a B-rank, and two C-ranks in one night, leaving the landowner under investigation but not implicated.
• When the landowner tried to back out of selling, Qu Jianlei and Claire warned him that the murders could bring retaliation and suspicion, so he agreed to negotiate.
• Bentley paid fifty-four million for the land, and Claire and Bentley began overseeing construction while Qu Jianlei’s group stayed at a hotel.
• Before leaving, the dissatisfied landowner secretly spread a rumor that Qu Jianlei’s group was connected to the murders.

Qu Jianlei let rumors about his group spread so the association would investigate them before any conflict, while his team settled into their new residence on Paradise Star. When two B-ranks from the association arrived to test their strength under the guise of investing, Bentley rejected their overture and challenged them to bring real money.

• Hua Xiezhi reported the former owner’s rumors to First One, but Qu Jianlei told the scouts to keep monitoring and let the rumors spread.
• Xiang Xue explained that the rumors would prompt the association to investigate Qu Jianlei’s group, and the association chose to avoid a fight after learning of their strength and past actions on Homestead Star.
• Qu Jianlei and the others moved into the cleaned residence, installed surveillance and alarm systems in the backyard, and began renovations to the front and middle courtyards.
• Qu Jianlei planned to return to Homestead Star with Paranoid, Hua Xiezhi, and Claire, leaving Old Lady Jia to handle matters on Paradise Star.
• Two B-ranks from the association visited, claiming they wanted to invest in the guesthouse, but Bentley demanded two hundred million for a twenty-percent share and refused to treat them as acquaintances without money.

Bentley drove off two B-rank gang members who tried to pressure the farm, while Qu Jianlei’s group continued expanding their base and repairing ships despite mounting costs. After returning to Paradise Star to check the guesthouse, Qu Jianlei learned of mass arrests in the Sky Hook Star Region and remembered the supplies on the Abandoned Mining Planet.

• Bentley threatened two B-rank gang members after they tried to claim the group’s business, and they left without retaliating.
• Qu Jianlei completed a standard Gathering Spirit Array and developed a B-rank Light Attribute cultivation method before Fourth Boss and You You returned to the farm.
• Qu Jianlei agreed to repair an Escort Ship and an Aerospace Carrier, despite the group’s heavy spending and difficulty selling an Armed Merchant Ship.
• Qu Jianlei returned to Paradise Star with Paranoid and Hua Xiezhi, where inspectors scrutinized their starship and he found that the guesthouse had barely covered its expenses.
• Big Head Butterfly reported that the Department of Anomalous Affairs had arrested three wanted Supremes in the Sky Hook Star Region, prompting Qu Jianlei to worry about supplies on the Abandoned Mining Planet.

Qu Jianlei learned that Mu Yu’s mental damage might be treatable and promised to keep any remedy secret, though he did not guarantee he could cure her. The discussion also left Old Lady Jia wondering whether Qu Jianlei might possess the longevity medicine she needed to attempt another breakthrough.

• Qu Jianlei set aside Tian Yin’s enemy investigation and went to ask Paranoid about Mu Yu.
• Paranoid explained that Mu Yu had suffered mental damage from an Anomalous Ray and had been frozen for two hundred years because the Empire could not treat her condition.
• Qu Jianlei asked whether strengthening Mu Yu’s Mental Strength could cure her, and Paranoid offered to recruit her and accept any terms if Qu Jianlei succeeded.
• Qu Jianlei required Paranoid to keep the matter secret and warned him that exposure would bring serious trouble.
• Old Lady Jia considered whether Qu Jianlei might also have longevity medicine and wondered if she should visit Chaoyang Academy.

Paranoid, Qu Jianlei, Hua Xiezhi, and Tian Yin traveled to the Thorn Star Region after arranging Tian Yin’s identity and bringing her to Homestead Star. At Chaoyang Academy’s research center, Paranoid tried to visit the frozen Mu Yu, but attacked an official who demanded genetic testing.

• Qu Jianlei took Tian Yin to Homestead Star, gave her an improved cultivation technique, and agreed to bring her along to Thorn after she asked to go.
• The group traveled through Fertile Soil Star to Blessing Star, where Tian Yin passed a lengthy identity inspection by proving her connection to Chaoyang Academy.
• Paranoid led the group to the research center where Mu Yu had been frozen and presented documents to request a visit.
• A B-rank Awakened One demanded Paranoid’s identification and a genetic profile test under changed rules, but Paranoid refused because his body had belonged to an Empire wanted criminal.
• Paranoid released his Above Supreme pressure, then grabbed the B-rank Awakened One by the throat and lifted him into the air.

Paranoid and Qu Jianlei confronted the Chaoyang research center after Paranoid was challenged over his identity, then learned that Mu Yu had been awakened twenty-two years earlier and sent to live with her grandnephew. Paranoid left with Hua Xiezhi to find her while Qu Jianlei stayed behind to keep the center’s staff from warning anyone.

• Paranoid choked a B-rank Awakened One until a stationed Supreme arrived, then verified his identity and apologized after recognizing Paranoid as a senior alumnus.
• Paranoid demanded to know why the center had tried to inspect his genetic profile, then forced the B-rank Awakened One to explain what had happened to Mu Yu.
• The B-rank Awakened One revealed that Mu Yu had been awakened twenty-two years earlier and was living with her grandnephew, Zheng Tianwen, in Clearwater Town.
• Qu Jianlei restrained Paranoid and urged him to learn Mu Yu’s whereabouts before pursuing anyone responsible.
• Paranoid went with Hua Xiezhi to find Mu Yu, while Qu Jianlei stayed with the B-rank Awakened One and receptionist to prevent them from sending information.
• Tian Yin remarked that the stationed Supreme had been a rare Chaoyang genius, and the B-rank Awakened One asked whether she was also a graduate.

Tian Yin and Qu Jianlei learned why the research center had awakened Mu Yu early and how she had been cared for afterward. Qu Jianlei then confronted the middle-aged man who had returned to spy on them, and the chapter ended as the man asked what would happen if he insisted on leaving.

• The B-rank Awakened One explained that Chaoyang research center had awakened Mu Yu to reuse the equipment associated with her unusually successful freezing, and that she had not objected after learning how much time had passed.
• The B-rank said the center had arranged for Mu Yu to enter a nursing home and had watched over her until her grandnephew took her in.
• Tian Yin suggested that few people knew about Mu Yu's awakening and that Mu Yu's pride may have kept her from building close ties with her junior apprentices.
• Qu Jianlei warned the returning middle-aged man to stop spying, rejected his offer to communicate amicably, and said the person who replaced Mu Yu was still inside.
• The middle-aged man warned Qu Jianlei that he might not be able to provoke the person involved, but Qu Jianlei dismissed him and told him not to leave.
• The middle-aged man asked what Qu Jianlei would do if he insisted on leaving.

Zheng Xuewen struggled to protect his home and care for Mu Yu, his mentally impaired Supreme grand-aunt, while a bully pressured him to surrender his courtyard. After someone outside attacked the bully and asked to see Zheng Xuewen, Mu Yu began to cry, leaving Zheng Xuewen wondering whether to open the door.

• Tian Yin advised the middle-aged man to stay out of trouble, and he agreed to call her Senior.
• Zheng Tianwen reflected on the hardships of caring for Mu Yu and regretted that she could not help him secure a better life.
• A bully threatened Zheng Xuewen and demanded that he trade away his military-assigned courtyard, but Zheng Xuewen refused.
• The bully threatened to use military connections and keep Zheng Xuewen from leaving his home, while Zheng Xuewen worried about losing Mu Yu if she hurt someone again.
• Someone outside struck the bully and demanded to know what he had said about a Supreme, then called Zheng Xuewen a friend and asked him to open the door.
• Zheng Xuewen saw tears in Mu Yu's eyes and asked whether he should open the door.