Chapter Summaries

Qu Jianlei’s team accepted the cooperative tree as a member and named it Wind Forgotten, then discovered contaminated Space Stones in the remains of two Alien Race trees. After Tian Yin used Light Seal to remove much of the contamination, Wind Forgotten pointed out that the process had also wasted some of the stones’ Spatial Rules.

• Jia Shuiqing questioned the tree about Nascent Soul Locusts, and it explained its hatred of the Locusts and its lack of resources to raise them.
• The Ruler arranged for the tree to show the team how other Tree Race members absorbed Space Stones, while Jia Shuiqing warned that the First One valued them.
• After the energy beam stopped expanding, Qu Jianlei rejected Sunset Glow and Yi He’s idea of exploring beyond it and proposed waiting to see what the eruption revealed.
• Qu Jianlei’s team accepted the tree as a member and agreed to call it Wind Forgotten, then found traces of Space Stone absorption in the remains of two large trees.
• Tian Yin used Light Seal three times to remove most of the dark aura from a Space Stone, and Wind Forgotten warned that the process had diminished its Spatial Rules.

Qu Jianlei and the fleet assessed the Space Point after defeating the Locusts, weighing whether to destroy it or wait for another eruption. A secret divination let Qu Jianlei accelerate the predicted eruption, and the fleet decided to stay for several more months.

• Qu Jianlei collected contaminated Space Stones and tree fragments, while Wind Forgotten explained how the Tree Race used Spatial Rules to teleport Locusts.
• The breach closed after twenty-one days, and Digital Phantom and the military divided the thousands of Space Stones they had found.
• Qu Jianlei and the others weighed destroying the Space Point against defending it from the arriving Alien Race Forests of Trees, then chose to wait for another eruption.
• Jing Yuexin approved a divination, and Xiao Hu spent twelve days calculating the most promising way to trigger the Space Ripple.
• Qu Jianlei secretly divined how to adjust the plan, bringing the predicted eruption forward from six months to three months, and So Hua Xiezhi told the colonel they would stay four or five months.

Qu Jianlei and Digital Phantom successfully triggered an Energy Gap at the Space Wave Point, gathered its harvest, and decided to leave after divining that it would not erupt again for six years. Their fleet returned toward the Channel Entrance, where an Alliance Patrol Ship recognized Digital Phantom and fled.

• Qu Jianlei and Xiao Hu spent months refining a plan and setting nearly a hundred thousand Detonation Points while Imperial forces held off the enemy and watched.
• Qu Jianlei detonated the devices, and abnormal energy fluctuations appeared five days later, confirming that they had triggered the Space Wave Point.
• The induced eruption lasted eleven days and yielded slightly fewer Space Stones than the previous one; Qu Jianlei left the smaller stones for the military.
• Qu Jianlei performed a final divination, learned that the Space Point would not erupt again for six years, and ordered the fleet to return to the Channel Entrance.
• The fleet reached the Blockade Zone and encountered an Alliance Patrol Ship, which recognized Digital Phantom and detoured away.

Digital Phantom returned to the Channel Entrance with Wind Forgotten, an Alien Race tree who wanted to surrender, and the Imperial military cautiously received them. Fourth Boss explained that Wind Forgotten was restrained but that they could not guarantee how much trouble it might cause before dying.

• Qu Jianlei ordered the fleet to bypass the Alien Race Forest of Trees so it would not provoke an attack on the Channel Entrance.
• The Imperial patrol discovered Wind Forgotten beneath the Battalion-Class Ship and required Digital Phantom to verify the fleet before approaching.
• Fourth Boss brought the Division Level Ship forward, and the Top Leader of the Forward Headquarters welcomed Digital Phantom back as legends.
• Fourth Boss told the Top Leader that Wind Forgotten intended to surrender and had provided useful intelligence.
• The Top Leader asked whether Wind Forgotten could be trusted, and Fourth Boss explained that a restriction would kill it if it caused trouble but might not prevent chaos beforehand.

Digital Phantom returned from the Occupied Area with Wind Forgotten, an Alien Race defector, and the military assessed the fleet’s discoveries and achievements. Xiao Hu found that Voidstone and Alien Race tree remains might create temporal differential speed, while the military refused to let Digital Phantom take Wind Forgotten back to the Empire for now.

• The Top Leader agreed to let Digital Phantom station outside the war zone and delayed deciding Wind Forgotten’s fate until after observation.
• Xiao Hu merged the fleet’s data and told Qu Jianlei that Voidstone and Alien Race tree remains might produce temporal differential speed.
• Digital Phantom returned with Wind Forgotten and its captured ships, while Qu Jianlei put away one Division Level Ship and gave four usable ships to the Imperial military.
• The military reviewed the fleet’s harassment campaign, deep incursions into the Occupied Area, seizure of Sihe Star’s Space Point, and method of triggering a Space Point eruption.
• Fourth Boss shared information Wind Forgotten had revealed, but told the military they could not learn how to make Alien Race members serve them.
• The military declined Digital Phantom’s request to take Wind Forgotten back to the Empire, pending risk assessment and negotiations with the government.

Qu Jianlei checked his team’s cultivation progress, handled plans to expand the Abode’s spiritual qi conversion, and returned to the Channel Entrance to test Xiao Hu’s improved Locust Qi Gathering Array. The new array showed promise against the Alien Race, though the military said it could not decide Digital Phantom’s rewards.

• Qu Jianlei assessed Rhine, Xiang Xue, Zi Jiuxian, Kefu, and Xiao Moshan’s cultivation, then privately warned Xiao Moshan about Xiao Qin’s slower progress.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin collected Gold Digger from the Celestial Hook Mystic Mansion, where the Artifact Spirit requested more Transformation Arrays to speed the Abode’s conversion.
• Qu Jianlei arranged for materials and Energy Block transport, then learned that Luo Hanshuang had asked Xiao Moshan about Ran Bingluan and Primal Warriors.
• Bentley reported that Xiao Hu had improved the Locust corpse conversion rate, so Qu Jianlei went to the Experimental Platform and installed version 2.0 of the Locust Qi Gathering Array.
• After several days of testing showed improved energy use and reduced Yin Cold Qi, Hua Xiezhi contacted the military, which praised the breakthrough but said it could not decide Digital Phantom’s rewards.

Qu Jianlei checked that Wind Forgotten remained loyal, then Digital Phantom used its achievements to pressure the authorities over the unresolved Alien Race defector. Military officials met Fourth Boss with news of Major General Paster’s death and tried to negotiate, but Fourth Boss rejected military merit as a motive and objected to their request to use fragments of the team’s artificial intelligence.

• Qu Jianlei asked Wind Forgotten whether its world had spirit stones, and Wind Forgotten described sensing similar auras from members of the Tree Race and the Mother Tree.
• Qu Jianlei returned to the Experimental Platform and teleported to Pan Rock Star, where Fourth Boss had arrived to collect materials and handle team affairs.
• Fourth Boss urged the Rock Military District to press for the Locust Qi Gathering Array rewards to be finalized, prompting the district to report upward about Digital Phantom’s dissatisfaction.
• A general and Pute arrived at Pan Rock Star and told Fourth Boss that Major General Paster had died by suicide after his corruption was exposed.
• The general said the military could support Wind Forgotten’s temporary entry if Digital Phantom earned more military merit, but Fourth Boss said the team sought a clear conscience, not merit.
• The general asked to use fragments of Digital Phantom’s artificial intelligence, and Fourth Boss objected that the team had already made its position clear.

Fourth Boss secured military approval to lend the Empire a customized artificial intelligence fragment with a two-year limit and a backdoor, as the military sought an edge against the Federation. He stayed on Pan Rock Star while Qu Jianlei prepared an avatar core and Xiao Hu researched temporal rate differences, and Jing Yuexin and Yuanyuan arrived with the Artifact Spirit urging them to gather materials for the Transformation Array.

• The general explained that the Federation had intensified its attacks and asked Digital Phantom to lend artificial intelligence fragments for the Empire's warships.
• Fourth Boss contacted First One, and Xiao Hu agreed to send a fragment with backdoors it had designed.
• Fourth Boss told the general that the Empire could use the fragment for two years and would have to delete it afterward.
• The military requested a customized fragment, and Qu Jianlei welcomed the chance to make its deployment easier to control.
• Fourth Boss delivered the fragment for encryption, then stayed on Pan Rock Star while he bought materials for a core and Xiao Hu researched temporal rate differences.
• Jing Yuexin and Yuanyuan teleported over as the Artifact Spirit urged them to obtain materials for the Transformation Array.

Yuanyuan took the Transformation Array materials while Jing Yuexin and Qu Jianlei went shopping with Shui Xisheng on Pan Rock Star. At a nature park, the three overheard visitors debating Digital Phantom, and the chapter ended with someone dismissing the team as publicity.

• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin drew the city guards' attention when they tried to pay for jewelry with large-denomination Unregistered Silver Notes.
• Shui Xisheng arrived, identified the pair as his relatives, and paid the store by transfer after the guards dropped their inquiry.
• Shui Xisheng took Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin to a high-end custom clothing shop and later brought them to a nature park.
• Visitors at the park discussed Digital Phantom's recent battles and losses, while Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin listened.
• Someone nearby called Digital Phantom mere publicity, and Shui Xisheng looked to the pair to see whether they wanted him to respond.

Shui Xisheng confronted a man who accused Digital Phantom of seizing his Energy Stone Mine, then brought him before Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin. Jing Yuexin demanded that he state his real purpose and asked whether he could wield Digital Phantom as a weapon.

• A group of people argued over Digital Phantom, and Shui Xisheng stepped in when one man accused it of exploiting the Empire.
• The man claimed that Digital Phantom had seized his mine, so Shui Xisheng had his attendants surround the gathering and sent the bystanders away.
• After questioning the man, Shui Xisheng learned he had tried repeatedly to meet him about the mine.
• Jing Yuexin introduced herself, warned the man about publicly damaging Digital Phantom's reputation, and asked whether he meant to use the team as a blade.

Kailesi explained how a mine had used Digital Phantom’s name to evade taxes, and Jing Yuexin ordered him to identify other mines doing the same. Three days after Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin left, Fourth Boss reported that Kailesi had died suddenly in a luxury hotel.

• Kailesi told Jing Yuexin and Qu Jianlei that he had been forced to sell his mine shares cheaply, after which the new owners claimed the mine belonged to Digital Phantom and refused to pay taxes.
• Kailesi admitted he had made an unverified accusation against Digital Phantom while trying to bring the mine dispute to Shui Xisheng’s attention.
• Jing Yuexin gave Kailesi half a month to find every mine in the Great Wave Star Region using Digital Phantom’s name and report them to Shui Corporation.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin ended their outing and agreed that they lacked the people and time to investigate all their other businesses.
• Three days later, Fourth Boss reported that Kailesi had died in a luxury hotel, with food poisoning and an acute heart attack listed as the preliminary cause.

After Kailesi’s suspicious poisoning death, Shui Xisheng opposed closing the case, and Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin treated it as an attack on Digital Phantom. Jing Yuexin arranged killings across the Great Wave Star Region, and after Qu Jianlei urged her to target those behind the murders as well, she agreed to continue the retaliation.

• Shui Xisheng contacted the authorities to object to closing Kailesi’s poisoning case, and Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin concluded that the authorities were disregarding Digital Phantom.
• Two days later, Digital Phantom’s operation left dozens of people dead in apparent murders across the Great Wave Star Region, while the authorities halted efforts to merge the cases.
• A well-dressed man confronted Young Master and Jack about Kailesi’s death, then ordered Young Master to leave for the Maiden Star Region as news of the killings arrived.
• Qu Jianlei asked Jing Yuexin whether she had arranged the Great Wave killings, and she confirmed that the victims had been connected to the matter.
• Qu Jianlei urged Jing Yuexin to go after the people behind the killings and their beneficiaries, and she agreed to kill them gradually.

Jing Yuexin left to handle a matter personally while Qu Jianlei stayed on Pan Rock Star, where he warned the Mine Management Department’s Top Leader that those impersonating Digital Phantom would face bloodshed. The warning became real when Young Master Qiao’s family was massacred, and the chapter ended with an old colleague calling the Top Leader in fear.

• Jing Yuexin refused Qu Jianlei’s offer to accompany her and asked him to activate her AI permissions so she could gather intelligence.
• The Mine Management Department’s Top Leader met Qu Jianlei and Shui Xisheng to ask whether Digital Phantom would accept compensation from people who had impersonated the group.
• Qu Jianlei demanded a list of everyone using Digital Phantom’s name and warned that there would be a great deal of bloodshed.
• The Top Leader left, relieved to have survived the meeting, and hoped his friends could avoid punishment by offering wealth.
• The next day, the Top Leader learned that Young Master Qiao’s family had been killed execution-style, and an old colleague called to plead that he was sincere.

Shui Xisheng questioned the Mine Management Department head about mines being operated under the Digital Phantom’s name and learned that several powerful families were involved. After rejecting a settlement of one artifact, Qu Jianlei told Shui Xisheng to identify the other offenders and see whether they would apologize and offer compensation.

• Shui Xisheng received the Mine Management Department head, who revealed that five mines had been taken over under the Digital Phantom’s banner and promised a list of other offenders within four days.
• The Mine Management Department head said three families wanted to offer their entire fortunes for mercy, while Young Master Qiao’s grandfather proposed one artifact to settle the matter.
• Shui Xisheng rejected the one-artifact offer and relayed the conversation to Qu Jianlei.
• Qu Jianlei said one artifact was not enough and told Shui Xisheng to investigate those still arranging takeovers and see whether they knew how to behave.
• Shui Xisheng agreed to track the offenders and suggested settling accounts with those who had already completed their crimes.

Qu Jianlei authorized Shui Xisheng to build an intelligence network for Digital Phantom, paying him fifty million a month. As others watched to see how far Digital Phantom’s retaliation would go, news arrived that Young Master Qiao’s grandfather had committed suicide.

• Qu Jianlei assigned Shui Xisheng to investigate attacks on Digital Phantom’s reputation and offered him a monthly fee of fifty million.
• Shui Xisheng gathered more than eighty friends and guests at Shui Corporation to celebrate and discuss helping with the work.
• Keli asked Shui Xisheng whether an old man would survive and offered fifty billion to discuss a privately operated mine, but Shui Xisheng refused to negotiate at the gathering.
• Keli advised his contact to wait and see how Digital Phantom acted, while a fat man feared his family would abandon him if the retaliation stopped with Young Master Qiao.
• News arrived the next day that Young Master Qiao’s grandfather had committed suicide.

After Jing Yuexin’s actions led Young Master Qiao’s grandfather to suicide, she demanded four trillion in compensation from his family. A mine-owning force then sought to appease Digital Phantom, and Keli revealed that his client employed Keros and Korona before invoking Rhine and the Protection Card.

• Imperial investigators questioned whether Young Master Qiao’s grandfather had truly killed himself over two artifacts, then confirmed he had tried and failed to buy them.
• Jing Yuexin explained that she had demanded two artifacts from the grandfather and, after he died without providing them, ordered his family to pay four trillion to Shui Xisheng within a month.
• Qu Jianlei accepted Jing Yuexin’s decision, while she explained that she had left the family’s fortune vulnerable to other forces so Digital Phantom would not stand out.
• Keli met Shui Xisheng and offered to transfer his client’s mine shares and repay extracted resources in exchange for being spared, but Qu Jianlei rejected the mine.
• Keli told Shui Xisheng that his client employed Keros and Korona, whom Jing Yuexin had once rescued, prompting Qu Jianlei to ask why Keli had mentioned Hongjingtian.
• Keli said he would mention Rhine and the Protection Card.

Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin confronted Keli over a Protection Card tied to Hongjingtian and ordered his client to return it, pay the mine’s earnings to Shui Corporation, and stop using Digital Phantom’s name. They later considered recruiting Poison Attribute users to fight the Alien Race, while a report revealed that numerous Mines were impersonating Digital Phantom.

• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin met Keli, who explained that his client had bought the starship holding Hongjingtian’s Protection Card without coercion.
• Qu Jianlei ordered Keli to surrender the Protection Card, deliver the mined Energy Blocks to Shui Corporation, and pay the proper taxes without using Digital Phantom’s name.
• Keli explained how the Keros siblings had come to work for his client, and Jing Yuexin declined their request to thank her in person.
• Qu Jianlei and Jing Yuexin discussed whether to recruit Korona for her rare Poison Attribute, but Qu Jianlei hesitated because they had previously let the siblings leave.
• The Pan Rock Mine Management Department reported that eight Mines were already impersonating Digital Phantom and twelve more were being prepared, prompting Qu Jianlei to condemn the copycats.

Qu Jianlei refused Mine Management Headquarters’ request to drop the case against the mines that had impersonated Digital Phantom, but agreed to a settlement that protected the Empire’s interests. The chapter ended with the settlements and investigations proceeding smoothly.

• The head of the Pan Rock Mine Management Department asked Qu Jianlei to cover up the scandal in exchange for certifying Digital Phantom’s Energy Stone Mines, but Qu refused to abandon the pursuit.
• The department head explained that the government feared both the pressure that had driven a high-ranking official to suicide and the consequences of eliminating Digital Phantom, so it wanted a compromise.
• Jing Yuexin proposed that each of the five mines pay One Hundred Billion and expose another mine planning a similar scheme, and Qu accepted those terms.
• The government approved the compensation and disclosure requirements, and decided to impose additional fines on the offending mines.
• Shui Xisheng set Fifty Billion as compensation for mines that had been exposed before completing their schemes, and the remaining proceedings went smoothly.

Shui Xisheng dismissed a scheme that had failed when its perpetrators could not pay compensation, while Keros and Korona joined Digital Phantom. Qu Jianlei brought Wind Forgotten to Dawn Base under strict Imperial restrictions, where its arrival left Korona awestruck.

• A family that could not afford the compensation asked Shui Xisheng if killing its targets would count as punishment, and he dismissed their overconfidence.
• Keli told Shui Xisheng that Keros and Korona had disappeared, and Shui warned that keeping them had crossed a taboo.
• Keros and Korona agreed to join Digital Phantom after Claire warned them about the dangers of the Alien Race battlefield.
• Qu Jianlei escorted Wind Forgotten to Dawn Base after negotiating restrictions with the Empire, and Wind Forgotten detected the planet's spiritual aura but agreed not to absorb it.
• Keros and Korona watched Wind Forgotten land, and Korona declared that this was the kind of life she wanted.

After Wind Forgotten arrived at Dawn Base, the team put it through experiments while welcoming the Keros siblings into Digital Phantom. The military and government monitored the alien tree from afar, and Qu Jianlei left to help the military with testing in the Federation War Zone.

• Qinghu, Mu Guang, and Tian Yin began testing Wind Forgotten, which asked Qu Jianlei for Space Stone in exchange for cooperating.
• Qu Jianlei met Keros and Korona, and Digital Phantom held a welcome banquet for the siblings that night.
• Paranoid suggested Korona study Wood Attribute poisons on Wind Forgotten, while the alien tree repeatedly asked Qu Jianlei whether it could withdraw.
• The military intensified its surveillance of Dawn Base, and the government sent a Science Starship to observe Wind Forgotten from ten million kilometers away.
• Korona found that Paraquat had little effect on Wind Forgotten, while Paranoid's Gallium Element experiments caused the tree considerable damage.
• Paranoid told Wind Forgotten that Qu Jianlei had gone to help the military with testing in the Federation War Zone.