Chapter Summaries

After the battle on Tianyu Star, Qu Jianlei’s team withdrew into space rather than pursue another enemy fleet. A soul search revealed that the Alliance was preparing Warp Jammers to counter their teleportation, leaving the team to reconsider how safely they could use their trump cards.

• Fourth Boss rejected the soldiers’ proposal to attack the last detached fleet, and Qu Jianlei’s team left Tianyu Star behind.
• Qu Jianlei discovered that Fourth Boss had rescued a colonel-level regiment commander, then ordered a soul search to prevent the Alliance from learning how they had escaped the artillery barrage.
• The search revealed that the Alliance was secretly buying Warp Jammers to counter Digital Phantom’s suspected Near-Earth Jump ability.
• Paranoid warned that teleportation had been crucial to their recent victories, while Qu Jianlei said the team should avoid using it and worried about the arrays on their planets.
• Jing Yuexin suggested asking Evening Glow Senior to bury the Teleportation Arrays deeper, and Ruler enthusiastically thanked her.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet returned to the main force, then launched a series of surprise attacks across the Zhongliang Star Region and Taigu Star, capturing multiple Alliance formations. Near Taigu, the leading Battalion-Class Ship spotted a fleet escorting two luxury starships and an Electronic Ship.

• Bentley returned in the Battalion-Class Ship, and Qu Jianlei’s group transferred aboard before sending prisoners, wounded soldiers, and damaged warships back with the Division Level Ship.
• Hua Xiezhi announced Taihe as the fleet’s next target, and the Imperial colonel accepted the plan to strike the Zhongliang Star Region.
• The fleet jumped to Taihe, disguised its Battalion-Class Ship, and captured several Alliance formations and their subordinate warships through surprise attacks.
• Hua Xiezhi shifted operations to Taigu Star, where the fleet captured two more regiment-level fleets and numerous cargo starships while leaving passenger starships alone.
• More than forty million kilometers from Taigu Star, the leading Battalion-Class Ship discovered two luxury starships and an Electronic Ship escorted by three Company-level Warships.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet attacked Alliance forces near Taigu, prompting an emergency military mobilization and costly reconnaissance battles. After withdrawing from Taigu, his people captured senior officials and researchers who revealed what the Alliance knew about teleportation, while Sunset Glow returned with the Teleportation Arrays modified.

• Hua Xiezhi ordered an attack on a privileged fleet, and Qu Jianlei shifted the battle away from Taigu after Big Head Butterfly detected a powerful distress signal.
• Taigu’s military declared emergency martial law, mobilized its defenses, and sent fleets to search for Digital Phantom’s forces.
• Over three days, Qu Jianlei’s fleet attacked Alliance warships, while Taigu’s military lost several ships and sent divisions to sweep the enemy’s approximate location.
• Paranoid and Qinghu subdued five Supremes aboard captured luxury starships, and the prisoners revealed that the Alliance’s Extraordinary Affairs Research Institute had linked the Stone Chamber to teleportation.
• Qu Jianlei grew curious about the Research Institute and resolved to visit when conditions allowed, and Sunset Glow returned to report that it had modified all the Teleportation Arrays.

Qu Jianlei’s Digital Phantom left the Alliance’s damaged ships and stranded soldiers behind, then returned to the Imperial frontline with prisoners, equipment, and wounded personnel. A secret military meeting examined Digital Phantom’s artificial intelligence, magical artifacts, and mysterious travel abilities, while the Top Leader shut down speculation about the stolen Invisibility Cloak.

• Qu Jianlei’s team left powerless Alliance warships and their crews in space, and the Alliance later found survivors aboard the damaged vessels, including soldiers who had been presumed dead at a memorial service.
• The Alliance recovered increasingly wrecked ships over the following days, with many soldiers dead or injured, and blamed Digital Phantom for the cruel treatment of the crews.
• Qu Jianlei’s Division Level Ship returned to the Alliance Frontline with captured equipment and prisoners, wounded personnel, and a vice admiral who reported on the infiltration and battles.
• Imperial military leaders discussed the fleet’s use of artificial intelligence implants and inferred that Digital Phantom’s ability to transport living people might come from a magical artifact.
• The Top Leader ended speculation about Digital Phantom’s concealed travel abilities and revealed that Jing Yuexin’s people had approached Versailles about the Broken Small Pagoda before Versailles’s museum was burgled and several artifacts disappeared.

After Digital Phantom’s victories, Fourth Boss negotiated repairs, ships, and reinforcements with the military while protecting the colonel’s command. Qu Jianlei’s fleet then headed for the Blockade Zone, where the colonel eagerly backed a plan to open a gap in the Alliance’s defenses.

• Versailles abandoned his investigation into Digital Phantom after his military classmates warned him against provoking Jing Yuexin and her organization.
• The military exchanged Digital Phantom’s captured warships for new vessels, arranged repairs for its Division Level Ship, and offered a Battalion-Class Ship.
• Fourth Boss demanded Small Ship pilots and rejected changes to the colonel’s command, prompting the military to send additional soldiers and ships in a supporting role.
• After five days of preparations, Qu Jianlei and the fleet departed, and Digital Phantom had the new soldiers enter Life Support Pods before jumping to the Blockade Zone.
• Qu Jianlei proposed tearing open a gap in the Blockade Zone, and the colonel and fleet’s officers enthusiastically supported the plan.

Digital Phantom tested the Alliance blockade, uncovered a concealed Warp Jammer, and fought Alliance forces while concealing Xiao Hu’s full capabilities. Qu Jianlei revealed reinforcements to stop the Alliance fleet from retreating, leaving the pursuit to Small Ships.

• Qu Jianlei sent an unmanned Company-level Warship through the monitor-filled belt, where Alliance Small Ships identified and destroyed it.
• Digital Phantom cleared monitors for days, recovered a tiny concealed Warp Jammer, and studied it after its self-destruct damaged a Company-level Warship.
• Xiao Hu fought Alliance Small Ships while deliberately holding back and locating the enemy main warships.
• Qu Jianlei fled the battle in a Small Ship, then released hidden Alliance-standard Battalion-Class Ships to overwhelm the Alliance fleet.
• The Alliance fleet ordered a retreat, and Qu Jianlei prepared to pursue it using Small Ships.

After returning captured ships and prisoners, Digital Phantom learned that the Alliance’s Extraordinary Affairs Research Institute had identified their suspected teleportation ability. Qu Jianlei received news and jump coordinates leading to Sihe Star, and the Imperial fleet chose to join Digital Phantom in the dangerous mission against the Alien Race.

• Qu Jianlei sent five captured starships and their prisoners back to the Channel Entrance, where the Imperial Military debated increasing its infiltration forces and received Jia Shuiqing’s refusal to split up Digital Phantom.
• The military told Jia Shuiqing that the Zhongliang Branch of the Extraordinary Affairs Research Institute had suspected Digital Phantom of using teleportation, and she warned that they had been too kind to their prisoners.
• Jia Shuiqing rejoined Qu Jianlei’s main force and suggested attacking Taiqing Star, but Qu Jianlei said they had received news and jump coordinates for Sihe Star.
• Qu Jianlei informed the Imperial infiltration fleet that Digital Phantom would stop harassing the Alliance and head toward Sihe Star to fight the Alien Race.
• The Imperial colonel consulted his officers, then told Fourth Boss that the entire fleet wanted to join the mission and proposed seizing more Alliance warships along the way.

Qu Jianlei and the Imperial fleets agreed to attack Ke Qi Star together, with Digital Phantom providing Xiao Hu as a safety net for the Empire’s digital combat tests. They began preparing a discreet route and coordinated drills while the military repaired another Division Level Ship.

• Fourth Boss and Qu Jianlei chose Ke Qi Star as their target and decided to notify only the fleet commanders.
• The five other fleet commanders proposed joining the assault, and Qu Jianlei agreed after the fleets requested Xiao Hu alongside their own digital combat system.
• Fourth Boss revealed that Digital Phantom had found a safe jump point behind Alien Race lines, prompting the other commanders to ask for another Division Level Ship to join the operation.
• Qu Jianlei agreed to wait for the other Division Level Ship to be repaired, while Sunset Glow proposed entering Bi Tao Star and traveling covertly to Ke Qi Star.
• Qu Jianlei gathered the fleets for drills near the Blockade Zone and urged the military to speed up the repairs, while Fourth Boss refused to reveal their plans.

Qu Jianlei’s fleets left the Blockade Zone and secretly moved toward Ke Qi Star, where Xiao Hu infiltrated military systems ahead of an attack. As the Imperial Fleet struck Alliance patrols, Ke Qi’s forces mobilized three Division Level fleets and raised defenses.

• The Alliance sent more forces into the Blockade Zone, but Xiao Hu-equipped Imperial warships defeated Alliance ships and revealed that many Imperial warships used artificial intelligence.
• Qu Jianlei suspected the Alliance would not abandon the Blockade Zone and secretly departed with six fleets before a massive Imperial Fleet arrived.
• Qu Jianlei’s fleets jumped without encountering Warp Jammers, captured Alliance patrol ships along their route, and rendezvoused with two Digital Phantom Division Level Ships.
• Qu Jianlei learned that the Space Wave Point on Sihe Star was guarded by thousands of Forest of Trees Clan trees and decided to focus on the immediate battle.
• Sunset Glow reported that Bi Tao Star’s Teleportation Arrays remained intact, while Qu Jianlei’s group used Xiao Hu to infiltrate Ke Qi Star’s military networks and prepare attacks on its supplies and control systems.
• The Imperial Fleet split into smaller groups and attacked Alliance patrols; after detecting the threat, Ke Qi dispatched three Division Level fleets and raised defensive barriers.

The Alliance fought Digital Phantom’s invading fleets near Ke Qi Star, where captured warships, artificial intelligence, and Alliance prisoners used as shields weakened its forces. The Alliance retreated toward the Sky Curtain, only to discover a Digital Phantom Battalion-Class Ship among the pursuing enemy, while its commanders debated whether to reveal the Space Fortress’s capabilities.

• The Alliance central fleet engaged unmanned Small Ships and captured warships, but suffered heavy damage despite bringing in reinforcements.
• The Alliance destroyed a damaged Battalion-Class Ship and found bound Alliance soldiers in its Escape Pods, which the Imperial forces had used as shields.
• After an enemy Small Ship dragged away a destroyed Alliance warship, the Alliance commander contacted the enemy and an Imperial colonel accused the Alliance of trying to lure the Alien Race into the Empire.
• The Alliance learned that enemy fleets were pressuring both flanks, so its central commander ordered an orderly retreat to the Sky Curtain.
• After the Alliance withdrew for a day, a Digital Phantom Battalion-Class Ship appeared among the pursuing central forces, and Alliance commanders debated whether the Space Fortress should attack.

The Alliance prepared Ke Qi Star’s formidable defenses for an Imperial attack, but Digital Phantom’s forces disrupted the battle and crippled the Space Fortresses. The chapter ended with the Alliance commander realizing the enemy had infiltrated the fortresses.

• The Alliance held its central line while its flanking fleets moved to encircle the Imperial forces, only to find the enemy’s flanks heavily defended.
• Explosions erupted on Ke Qi Star, and more than a hundred Imperial ships—including a ship bearing Digital Phantom’s mark—joined the battle.
• The Alliance commander ordered a retreat toward the Space Fortresses, then learned that two Digital Phantom Division Level Ships had appeared on the enemy’s wings.
• As attention focused on the space battle, explosions destroyed the Space Fortresses’ power and fire-control systems, sharply reducing their combat strength.
• The Alliance commander ordered another withdrawal and wondered how the enemy had infiltrated the Space Fortresses.

Qu Jianlei and the others used Xiao Hu to sabotage Ke Qi Star’s military systems and seize its reserve warships, turning them against the Alliance fleet. As the Alliance suffered growing losses and its defenses failed, the Alliance Commander ordered a retreat beneath the planetary shield.

• Xiao Hu’s infiltration disrupted Space Fortress systems, and explosions struck the Backup Military Ports as reserve warships began launching.
• The Alliance Commander ordered ground artillery and Permanent Fortresses to attack, but infiltrated fire-control and communications systems made the defenses difficult to operate.
• Alliance forces and controlled reserve warships exchanged fire across Ke Qi Star and in space, while the attackers infiltrated more Alliance ships.
• The Alliance Commander ordered the fleet to retreat inside the planetary shield and continue resisting.

The Kochi Star Alliance Commander ordered a global mobilization as Alliance ships retreated beneath the planetary shield, then tried to rally resistance by confronting Hua Xiezhi in a live broadcast. Hua exposed the Alliance’s crimes and revealed that Digital Phantom had rescued children during the Baozhi Star breakout, leaving both fleets stunned as the Imperial fleet withdrew.

• The Alliance Commander ordered a global emergency mobilization and pulled the remaining warships beneath Kochi Star’s planetary shield.
• After Digital Phantom attacked the damaged Space Fortresses, the Commander demanded a live broadcast and accused Hua Xiezhi’s side of aiding the Alien Race.
• Hua Xiezhi exposed Alliance crimes on Hope Fourth Star and Tianfeng Star, then revealed that Digital Phantom had helped Wu Zhen’s breakout on Baozhi Star and rescued ten children.
• The Commander froze when he realized Digital Phantom was the mysterious team from Baozhi Star, while Alliance soldiers questioned what their own forces had done there.
• The Alliance issued orders forbidding discussion of Baozhi Star, and the Imperial and Alliance fleets reacted with disbelief to the revelation that Alliance people might belong to Digital Phantom.
• The Imperial fleet withdrew, and Hua Xiezhi later told a colonel that her team had rescued the children in exchange for money and magical artifacts.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet divided the spoils from its victory, then headed into the Alien Race rear area and fought two Forest Sea formations. The fleet improved its tactics and continued toward the Space Wave Point on Sihe Star, where another vast Alien Race Forest Sea awaited.

• Digital Phantom agreed to let Xiao Hu’s fragments remain temporarily aboard Imperial warships, provided the military destroyed them when the fleets returned.
• Qu Jianlei’s fleet fought a Forest Sea formation of more than seven hundred trees, losing over two hundred Small Ships and more than ten Company-level Warships before wiping out the Alien Race and its fleeing Locusts.
• Xiao Hu reported that the destroyed Alien Race corpses and fragments had lost their energy properties after an Antimatter Annihilation Bomb was used on them.
• Qu Jianlei’s fleet encountered another Forest Sea formation and defeated it in seven hours, losing fewer than two hundred Small Ships while improving its combat performance.
• Fourth Boss told the colonel that the fleet was headed for the Space Wave Point on Sihe Star, where a vast Alien Race Forest Sea was also located.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet lured a huge Alien Race Forest of Trees away from the protective ring around the Space Wave Point, then ambushed and destroyed it. The fleet quietly surveyed the unstable Wave Point and its dangerous energy field.

• During eighteen days of travel, Qu Jianlei’s fleet encountered seventeen more Alien Race Forests of Trees, avoided several dangerous battles, and suffered heavy ship losses while destroying more than sixteen thousand trees.
• On the nineteenth day, Qu Jianlei’s fleet reached the Space Wave Point and found a vast Forest Sea protected by nearby forces; after monitoring yielded little, he chose to lure the enemy away rather than attack head-on.
• Qu Jianlei sent Alliance ships to provoke the Forest Sea, then used concealed reinforcements and Small Ships to draw its forces out and open a gap in the protective ring.
• As the Alien Race force pursued the decoy fleet, Qinghu and Tian Yin helped spring an ambush; Qu Jianlei’s forces destroyed the pursuing enemy before it could return.
• Over the next two days, the fleet quietly surveyed the Space Wave Point, measuring its intense energy fluctuations and identifying a bright-red danger zone around its core.

Qu Jianlei’s fleet observed a dangerous Space Point, then wiped out many outer Alien Race forests while waiting for its energy eruption. After the opening spewed energy and the Alien Race began collecting its contents, Qu Jianlei chose to let them gather the goods first, leaving open the possibility of taking them later.

• Qu Jianlei observed the Alien Race forces around the Space Point and concluded that the Inner Circle Forest Sea guarded it from the outer forests.
• After the Big Head Butterfly detected abnormal fluctuations, Qu Jianlei sent Qinghu, Tian Yin, Paranoid, and Yuanyuan to destroy outer Alien Race forests while keeping the fleet near the suspected eruption point.
• Over eleven days, the two groups destroyed six forests, and the military fleet later joined the campaign, bringing the total to thirty forests and more than twenty thousand trees.
• The Space Point shook for over three days, then erupted in a vast energy beam that expanded to more than two thousand kilometers across.
• As the energy discharge weakened, Alien Race trees moved closer to collect items, but Qu Jianlei decided to let them gather the goods before considering taking them.

Qu Jianlei’s team waited through another Space Ripple eruption while the Outer Circle forces adapted their tactics and gathered more information about the Alien Race. When the next eruption began earlier and more violently than expected, the Alliance launched its general offensive, and the battle was still raging around the Alien Race’s largest gathering point.

• After an eruption destroyed many trees, Qu Jianlei chose to wait and study the Space Ripple cycle, and divination predicted another eruption in two and a half to four months.
• Mu Guang arrived to ask about Rhine’s breakthrough, but Jing Yuexin told him to wait, and Qu Jianlei warned him not to teleport during the approaching eruption.
• Paranoid and the colonel’s forces resumed attacks in the Outer Circle, splitting their fleets into twenty teams when the Space Ripple erupted ahead of schedule.
• As the Energy Beams’ breach stopped expanding, the Alliance fleets launched a coordinated general offensive against the Alien Race Forest Sea.
• Qinghu led the defense of a Division Level Ship against a Nascent Soul Locust ambush, while Qu Jianlei held back his forces.
• The Big Head Butterfly warned Qu Jianlei that a tree more than seven hundred meters thick felt abnormal.

Qu Jianlei let a strangely behaving Alien Race tree escape the fleet’s attacks after Senior Yi He identified its unusual trajectory as a Cultivation World gesture of submission. The battle ended with the tree in custody, leaving the team to question it while the military cleaned up the battlefield.

• Qu Jianlei noticed that one tree was weaving through space and attacking Small Ships, and he suspected it was trying to flee.
• Senior Yi He recognized the tree’s trajectory as a pattern of submission, so Qu Jianlei ordered the fleet to leave an escape route and hold its fire.
• The tree took the opening but kept moving strangely and attacking Small Ships, prompting Qu Jianlei to tell a Battalion-Class Ship to spare it.
• The soldiers and Qu Jianlei’s team discussed the tree’s behavior, and Paranoid worried it might know a route to the Cultivation World.
• The battle ended two hours later, and the Alien Race tree stopped advancing and was held for questioning as the fleet began cleanup and deployed monitors.

Qu Jianlei questioned a captured tree that had betrayed the Alien Race Forest of Trees, and learned that it wanted to join the Cultivators to survive. The tree revealed that only one Mother Tree had come to Sihai Star and that Space Stones were essential to a tree becoming a Mother Tree.

• Qu Jianlei and his companions confronted the tree with magic artifacts, and it recognized them as Cultivators from their artifacts and Qinghu’s Light Element.
• The tree explained that its inherited memories came from a Mother Tree killed by Cultivators, who had taught it to flee from them and survive by staying cautious.
• After admitting that it had been bullied and ostracized by its own race, the tree offered to serve Qu Jianlei and share secrets in exchange for being spared.
• Jing Yuexin welcomed the chance to learn about the Alien Races, and Qu Jianlei asked the tree how many Mother Trees had come to their world.
• The tree identified a planet on a star map of Sihai Star and said that Mother Trees needed resources including Rule Items such as Space Stones, which were essential for becoming a Mother Tree.

A resentful Alien Race tree offered to defect to Digital Phantom and revealed that it knew the locations of two Mother Trees. Qu Jianlei’s team accepted it under an oath, while the military agreed to conceal the defection until the Space Wave Point’s eruption ended; Jia Shuiqing then ordered the tree to destroy all spores inside itself.

• The tree explained that it had been denied a share of the Space Wave Point and claimed it joined the Human Race’s camp after losing a war.
• The tree offered to cooperate with Digital Phantom, identify two Mother Trees, and help counterattack its world, and Jia Shuiqing detected no lies.
• Qu Jianlei’s team decided not to kill the tree, and Sunset Glow made it swear the Oath of the Heavenly Dao eight times.
• Qu Jianlei returned to the ship, where Jing Yuexin questioned his decision to take in the tree and he worried about explaining it to the military.
• Hua Xiezhi told the senior colonel that Digital Phantom intended to take in the tree, and he agreed to seal the information until the Space Wave Point’s eruption ended.
• The tree said two others had absorbed the Space Stones, and Jia Shuiqing ordered it to destroy every spore inside its body.