Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei and his crew left the Tree Sea after testing the Locust and studying its remains, then traveled into Alliance territory while posing as merchants and bounty hunters. They reached the Vault Star Region near the front and passed another military inspection, intending to gather intelligence before making a move against the Alliance.

• Qu Jianlei ended the attack on the Tree Sea after confirming that their weapons had destroyed many trees but killed few Locust, and the crew examined the Locust and wood for possible uses and hazards.
• Xiao Hu made Locust meat non-toxic, but the process cost too much energy, so Qu Jianlei told Xiao Hu to keep working on making the corpses more valuable.
• The crew left in the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship and passed an Alliance Patrol Team's inspection by explaining that they planned to hunt Alien Races for bounties.
• Qu Jianlei's group chose to gather intelligence rather than seize Space Stones, and they traveled to the Vault Star Region near the Occupied Area.
• The crew passed a second military inspection near Jade Waves after claiming they were bounty hunting and assessing business prospects in the region.

Qu Jianlei and Sunset Glow stole supplies from an Alliance military warehouse and detonated one ammunition depot, prompting a clash over who should control Bi Tao Star’s weapons. The Alliance offered a compromise that left the local military and authorities dissatisfied.

• Qu Jianlei and his companions spent several days on Bi Tao Star but learned almost nothing about the Alien Race because information remained tightly restricted.
• Qu Jianlei and Sunset Glow infiltrated a directly commanded military warehouse to steal ammunition, then agreed with Yi He to blow up a medium-sized depot.
• The explosion put Bi Tao Star on alert, and the authorities and military began strict inspections while Qu Jianlei’s group watched from their ship.
• The local military used the blast to demand greater access to weapons and ammunition, arguing that the existing storage arrangements were unsafe and inadequate for the coming invasion.
• The Alliance offered to distribute up to twenty percent of the reserves among a limited number of sites guarded by Alliance personnel, but the local military and authorities rejected the offer as insufficient.

Bi Tao Star’s residents challenged the military over its secrecy and ammunition controls, while Qu Jianlei’s crew decided to head toward Baozhi Star to investigate the Alien Race. Their jump dropped the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship into a dangerous cluster of Forest Seas, leaving them to flee after narrowly escaping a three-way attack.

• Bi Tao Star’s residents spread rumors and demanded weapons and information, prompting the military to announce that volunteers could enlist to support Baozhi Star.
• Qu Jianlei shared Xiao Hu’s findings, and Yi He, Jing Yuexin, and Duo Gan agreed to head toward Baozhi Star aboard the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship.
• Three days after the ship left, Bi Tao Star learned that Baozhi Star had lost contact.
• After jumping, the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship appeared between two Forest Seas and used its shield and Xiao Hu’s evasive piloting to escape their black-thread attacks.
• A third, larger Forest Sea appeared, but the ship eventually shook off all three pursuers, and the crew discussed the danger of the region.

Qu Jianlei’s crew circled Baozhi Star, refused military requisitions, and destroyed two warships that attacked them. After Sunset Glow returned with a teleportation array, Qu Jianlei’s group reached the planet and found its once-lush landscape reduced to rubble.

• Qu Jianlei refused to let the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship be requisitioned by a fleeing military fleet and turned down its request to transport wounded personnel.
• After two Company-level Warships tried to requisition them, one fired on the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship, and Qu Jianlei ordered both ships and their survivors destroyed.
• Qu Jianlei gave Energy Blocks to an Assault Ship seeking help rescuing the Deputy Commander of the Baozhi Military Region, then watched it accelerate away.
• Sunset Glow returned after setting up a Teleportation Array on Baozhi Star and reported that the planet was close to falling.
• Qu Jianlei, Claire, and Tian Yin teleported to Baozhi Star and found rubble where its vast forests had once stood.

Qu Jianlei’s group surveyed Baozhi Star and rescued ten children hiding in a Stone Cave. With the planet cut off from outside contact, they reached a Settlement by radio and tried to persuade its residents to admit the children; the chapter ended with the Settlement agreeing to arrange their entry.

• Qu Jianlei and the others surveyed Baozhi Star, finding barren land, Alien Race tree trunks guarded by Locusts, and six Settlements resisting attacks.
• Qu Jianlei removed the Teleportation Array Disc and led the group toward the nearest Settlement, where they discovered ten children hidden in a Stone Cave.
• Qu Jianlei asked the oldest girl whether she wanted to stay or go to a Settlement, and she chose to leave with the group.
• Qu Jianlei’s group approached Bacon Shelter and contacted its residents by radio, but they refused to send rescuers and questioned his identity.
• The girl gave her name and background, then pleaded for the shelter to admit the three nursing infants, prompting the residents to agree to arrange a time and place.

Qu Jianlei's team charged through the Locust siege and delivered the children to Fort No. 4 at Bacon Shelter. After demanding an explanation for why the Alien Race had not overwhelmed the shelter, Qu Jianlei was urged to come inside and talk.

• A Supreme at Bacon Shelter verified Qu Jianlei's team with Raindrop Reconnaissance Devices and ordered the defenders to keep watch.
• Qu Jianlei's team approached the shelter with the children, used Instant Flash to cover the final distance, and fought through the Locusts.
• Jing Yuexin ordered the Electromagnetic Belt at Fort No. 4 activated, allowing the team to reach the stronghold while Electric Arcs struck the pursuing Locusts.
• Yuanyuan and the others passed the children through a firing port, and the first infant's genetic test confirmed Alliance origin.
• Qu Jianlei asked why the Locusts had not taken the shelter in one push, and the Supreme on the external speakers invited the team inside to talk.

Qu Jianlei’s team entered the shelter and met Supreme Wu Zhen, who explained the desperate situation on Baozhi Star. Qu Jianlei learned that the Locusts’ energy-rich meat could be detoxified, but the process was still too costly for widespread use.

• Qu Jianlei and his team entered the shelter after helping rescue the children, and Wu Zhen welcomed them inside.
• Yuanyuan returned the girl’s belongings in an Item-Storing Talisman, and Qu Jianlei refused Wu Zhen’s offer to let the team rest apart from one another.
• Wu Zhen explained that the shelter had enough Energy Blocks for about half a year but that the Alien Race’s assault had shattered the Baozhi Military Region.
• Qu Jianlei asked why the Locusts had not captured the shelter and learned that they occupied only about one-tenth of Baozhi Star and needed to preserve their forces.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen that Locust meat could be detoxified, prompting Wu Zhen to ask about buying the patent.
• Qu Jianlei clarified that he was not selling a patent and that detoxification remained too expensive for widespread use.

Qu Jianlei negotiated with Wu Zhen to process Locust meat and learned more about the Alien Race, including the threat posed by its enormous Mother Trees. After Wu Zhen failed to answer his question about Higgins, Qu Jianlei began testing the meat while Wu Zhen admitted he opposed Higgins and explained why.

• Wu Zhen asked Qu Jianlei to make Locust meat non-toxic for the shelter’s survivors, and Qu Jianlei agreed to process it for a price.
• Wu Zhen described the Locust spores, the dark attributes of the Black Lines, and a rumor that conquered planets developed Mother Trees over a thousand meters wide.
• Qu Jianlei asked how many Mother Trees existed in the Alliance, then demanded to know where Higgins was and ordered the Locust corpses brought in when Wu Zhen did not answer.
• Qu Jianlei set up a shielded laboratory and began processing meat from five damaged Locust corpses while Wu Zhen waited outside with the team.
• Wu Zhen told Jing Yuexin and the others that he opposed rescuing Higgins because Higgins had delayed Baozhi’s evacuation and misjudged the danger.

Wu Zhen tried to persuade Jing Yuexin’s group to help evacuate everyone in his shelter, but they demanded a practical plan before discussing payment. He revealed that Baozhi Star’s Military Factory could take off, leaving Qu Jianlei stunned as the story ended with Wu Zhen explaining how he had secretly completed the project.

• Wu Zhen argued that an early Alliance evacuation could have saved most of Baozhi Star’s population and admitted he wanted to take everyone in his shelter away.
• Jing Yuexin and Duo Gan doubted Wu Zhen’s motives and rejected his offers of cash and Alliance Contribution Points.
• Qu Jianlei emerged from the laboratory, learned Wu Zhen wanted to evacuate more than forty thousand people, and asked to hear his plan.
• Wu Zhen revealed that the Military Factory could take off under a secret Mobile Fortress Preparedness Project.
• Wu Zhen explained that he had secretly completed the project more than ten years earlier, after the Alliance ordered similar projects scrapped.

Wu Zhen asked Qu Jianlei and his companions to help the people at his shelter escape Baozhi Star, offering twelve starships to draw away the Alien Race. Qu Jianlei agreed to help for payment, but Wu Zhen could not provide the three complete artifacts he demanded.

• Wu Zhen explained that the Alien Race had blockaded space and asked Qu Jianlei's group to draw its forces away so the shelter could take off.
• Bentley and Duo Gan rejected Wu Zhen's attempt to make them feel responsible, and Qu Jianlei said they would need practical compensation to help.
• Wu Zhen revealed that his Military Factory had twelve usable starships in an outer-space supply depot, though they were unmanned and most belonged to clients.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen the Alien Race's encirclement stretched more than thirty million kilometers, then agreed to help without promising the escape would succeed.
• Qu Jianlei demanded two billion in cash and three complete artifacts; Wu Zhen agreed to the cash but said he had no artifacts available.

Qu Jianlei and his group observed the Alien Race’s assault on Wu Zhen’s shelter while the Alliance tested whether Locust meat could be safely eaten. Qu Jianlei argued that selling the meat as a hunted reward could make war against the Alien Race profitable, then prepared to leave as the attack eased.

• Wu Zhen showed Qu Jianlei’s group the Locust assault, explaining that the trees’ Black Line attacks consumed too much energy and that the night attack would eventually retreat.
• The battle continued through dawn, and Qu Jianlei’s group watched the shelter struggle against shuttle-shaped Locust while Wu Zhen reported that sixty people had eaten Locust meat without toxic reactions.
• Qu Jianlei learned the meat tasted tough, dry, sour, and fishy, then proposed selling it at a high price as a hunted reward to make large-scale war sustainable.
• Wu Zhen explained that the shelter had tried burning Alien Race corpses for energy but found the approach impractical, and Qu Jianlei processed ten more Locust corpses for the experiment.
• As the Locust attack weakened near nightfall, Qu Jianlei’s group prepared to break out, while the people who knew they were leaving looked at them despairingly.

Wu Zhen offered Qu Jianlei’s team artifact information, a Divine Script Treasure, and gathered funds in exchange for a chance to escape Baozhi Star. After the team agreed to help and planned their operation, Bentley and Duo Gan retrieved a Military Factory warehouse and discovered additional hidden warehouses stocked with starships.

• Wu Zhen gathered the locations of four artifacts, promised a Divine Script Treasure, and collected 1.5 billion in cash and gold worth about one billion from the shelter’s residents.
• Qu Jianlei’s team discussed the risks, accepted Wu Zhen’s offer, and questioned him about the Mobile Fortress before devising a battle plan.
• Bentley and Duo Gan left the shelter, escaped the Locusts, and teleported back to the Heavy-Load Merchant Ship.
• Xiao Hu entered the Military Factory’s space warehouse, where it found twelve usable starships, more than fifty million Energy Blocks, and ammunition, then took control of the ships.
• Duo Gan discovered five more warehouses on the asteroid, including two stocked with twenty-six intact starships, Energy Blocks, and ammunition.

Duo Gan and Bentley brought thirty-eight starships to Baozhi Star while Qu Jianlei's group prepared to break out of Bacon Shelter aboard its Mobile Fortress. The breakout began under cover of a diversion, and the fortress rose into the sky as nearby shelters watched.

• Duo Gan and Bentley loaded thirty-eight starships with supplies and towed them toward Baozhi Star, detouring around pursuing Alien Races.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen to complete Bacon Shelter's final preparations, and Wu Zhen paid the agreed price and shared the magical-artifact information.
• Wu Zhen killed several dozen people who refused to obey and informed the shelter residents how they would depart.
• At eleven that night, sixteen starships launched from Baozhi Star and attacked nearby Alien Races to draw the Locusts away from Bacon Shelter.
• Xiao Hu maneuvered a starship to shield its partner from Black Lines before it crashed, distracting Locusts that might have attacked the shelter.
• Wu Zhen ordered the Mobile Fortress not to return fire as it rose through Locust attacks, while observers identified it as Bacon Military Factory's fortress.

Qu Jianlei commanded the Mobile Fortress through the Forest Sea encirclement while starships drew away the Alien Races and the fortress endured Black Line attacks. After escaping the encirclement, the battered fortress reached a sparser stretch of space, where Qu Jianlei revealed that additional starships from another warehouse had helped escort them.

• Twenty-two starships attacked in waves and carved a passage through the thirty-million-kilometer encirclement as the Mobile Fortress rose toward it.
• Wu Zhen ordered the Electromagnetic Belt and Laser Weapons to clear the Locusts clinging to the fortress, and the fortress charged upward.
• Qu Jianlei took command and guided the fortress through Black Line attacks while Higgins demanded that it turn back to evacuate the Command Center.
• The fortress survived the encirclement and continued through the thinning Forest Sea, while additional starships drew attacks away from its route.
• Qu Jianlei told Wu Zhen that they had found another warehouse beside Wu Zhen's, which supplied more starships for the escape.

Qu Jianlei’s fortress jettisoned its damaged outer shell and fought through the Tree Sea, where Tian Yin’s Light Attribute spells proved effective against Black Lines and Locusts. Her attacks provoked a furious response, and the escape was further threatened when two enormous, apparently Supreme-level Locusts appeared.

• Qu Jianlei ordered the fortress to jettison its outer shell after Jing Yuexin and Tian Yin inspected the damage, and the intact inner fortress emerged and charged ahead.
• Qu Jianlei sent Yuanyuan, Hua Xiezhi, and Tian Yin to the front to support the fortress with talismans.
• Tian Yin used Radiance Art to counter Black Line energy and Light Bullet Art to destroy Locusts, revealing the powerful effects of Light Attribute spells.
• The Tree Sea responded to Tian Yin’s Light Bullet Art by multiplying its Black Line attacks and sending trees into a reckless pursuit.
• An apparent Space Ripple revealed two enormous Locusts that cast powerful, tracking spells, and Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin recognized them as possible Supreme-level threats.
• Jing Yuexin used Fireball and Ice Cone Talismans to counter the Locusts’ spells, but the results differed from their earlier tests.

Jing Yuexin and Tian Yin helped Qu Jianlei’s fortress escape the Alien Race encirclement, but two Nascent Soul Locusts pursued them. Qu Jianlei slowed the fortress to lure the Locusts toward a concealed starship and began testing their defenses while gathering combat data.

• Jing Yuexin struggled to counter the Locusts’ spells with her talismans, and Tian Yin arrived to help intercept them with Light Bullet Art.
• Qu Jianlei ordered Jing Yuexin and Tian Yin to let the fortress share the defensive burden, then led the fortress through the encirclement.
• The fortress escaped beyond fifty million kilometers from Baozhi Star, while the two Nascent Soul Locusts continued to pursue it.
• Qu Jianlei ordered the fortress to fake a power-system shutdown and reduce its speed, intending to attack the pursuing Locusts with reinforcements.
• A disguised starship revealed itself and fired its Laser Cannons at the Locusts’ wing seams, but they evaded the shots as Qu Jianlei and Big Head Butterfly gathered combat data.

Qu Jianlei’s group helped the fortress destroy two Nascent Soul Locusts, then departed after collecting some remains for research. Wu Zhen prepared to evacuate to Bi Tao Star, stunned by the damaged starships Qu Jianlei’s group had left behind.

• Xiao Hu’s starship destroyed the Ice Cone Locust with precise laser fire, and Duo Gan used a Vacuum Door to counter the Fireball Locust’s attacks.
• Qu Jianlei ordered the fortress to turn back and join the starship in attacking the Fireball Locust, which fled before its energy reserves fell and it was destroyed.
• Wu Zhen asked to keep the Fireball Locust’s remains, and Qu Jianlei agreed to let his group collect some fragments for analysis.
• Qu Jianlei’s group left, and Wu Zhen directed the fortress to the warehouse to prepare starships for departure.
• Wu Zhen discovered that the eight starships in the warehouse were badly damaged, then chose Bi Tao Star in the Vault Star Region as their destination.

Wu Zhen brought Baozhi Star’s battered fleet to Bi Tao Star and refused to let the Alliance military silence the survivors or seize what they had brought back. As the fleet traveled under military escort, news of Baozhi Star’s fall spread, revealing deep civilian resentment that the military feared could weaken the Alliance before the coming war.

• Wu Zhen led his damaged fortress and three escorting starships toward Bi Tao Star, forced two Patrol Ships aside, and let civilians hear that Baozhi Star had fallen and the fleet had fought the Alien Race.
• Civilian starships spread the survivors’ account, and a day later a large mixed fleet arrived under a Major General from the Directly Subordinate Troops.
• The Major General demanded that Wu Zhen lower his defenses and follow military orders, but Wu Zhen rejected his authority and insisted the military could not take the fleet’s gains.
• Wu Zhen angrily vowed to tell everyone the truth about the battle and the Alliance’s information blockade, while the Major General softened his approach and escorted the fleet onward.
• More civilian starships gathered to watch and contact Wu Zhen’s fleet as it neared Bi Tao, and the Major General worried that suppressing their growing resentment could destabilize the Alliance.

Wu Zhen’s return brought the Alliance and Imperial militaries vital intelligence about the Locusts, while Qu Jianlei’s team exchanged samples for an Experimental Platform and prepared to reenter the Alliance. The team teleported to Bi Tao to check on the aftermath of the Baozhi Star rescue and found the planet’s atmosphere unchanged.

• Wu Zhen refused to divert his battered fortress, and the Major General landed it at a military dock before the rescued people were settled under limited supervision.
• Wu Zhen briefed the Alliance military on the Locusts’ Above Supreme fighters and the Light Attribute’s ability to restrain them, while he could not explain how the rescue team had breached Baozhi Star’s blockade.
• The Alliance military investigated the mysterious team, and some officers suspected it might be Digital Phantom.
• Qu Jianlei’s group returned to the Channel Entrance with ships, samples, and intelligence, then traded their findings to the Imperial Military for an Experimental Platform.
• Big Head Butterfly celebrated the new platform and hinted that it had made progress on processing Locusts, while Qu Jianlei’s team finished resting and set out for Bi Tao.
• Qu Jianlei’s team teleported to Bi Tao and saw that people there still sang, danced, and drank as before.

Qu Jianlei and his companions found that Wu Zhen was under military protection on Bi Tao, preventing them from obtaining the Divine Script Treasure, and they left the planet aboard a luxury starship. On Tianyu Star, they began searching for new magical artifacts and learned of an anonymous bankruptcy auction.

• Qu Jianlei learned that Wu Zhen was staying in a military camp and that the military was inspecting Baozhi civilians for possible Alien Race parasitism.
• Jing Yuexin proposed finding another magical artifact, and the group decided they needed a starship to leave Bi Tao.
• Qu Jianlei discovered a wealthy heir trying to mortgage a luxury starship, and the heir announced that he would take it to Tianyu Star with a crowd of fleeing locals.
• Qu Jianlei and his companions boarded the starship unnoticed and landed on Tianyu Star eight days later.
• Qu Jianlei asked Big Head Butterfly to find someone worth targeting, and it reported an anonymous bankruptcy auction with a 10 million deposit.