Chapter Summaries

Yue Yuan supported a second fleet expansion after humanity completed the Great Fleet Plan and its upgrades, reflecting on humanity’s apparent talent for war and the Awakeners’ praise of its racial talent. Meanwhile, the Awakeners discussed humanity’s origins and decided to let it develop independently, hoping it might one day help them on their own journey.

• Yue Yuan supported expanding the fleet after the Great Fleet Plan, while insisting humanity proceed step by step.
• Eight years later, humanity completed a larger Space Dock and its first prototype spacecraft equipped with a Magnetic Propulsion device.
• Yue Yuan considered how far humanity had advanced and recalled the Awakeners’ words that humans were very talented.
• An Awakener explained that it had rescued Human Civilization from the dangerous star region where Earth was destroyed and moved it to a Safe Star Region.
• The other Awakener decided not to bring humanity over, saying it should develop on its own and might help the Awakeners in the future.

Two Awakeners discussed their search for clues in the Milky Way Galaxy, a past battle with a Level Six fleet, and the danger posed by the Harvesters. After the captain left Huan in charge of the region, Huan wondered whether the ancient route they sought was real.

• The captain and Huan discussed the difficulty of finding clues and agreed to keep a low profile while exploring the Milky Way Galaxy.
• The captain told Huan that You had destroyed a fleet of over six thousand warships belonging to the Perseus Commonwealth in the Perseus Arm.
• The captain warned Huan not to underestimate the Milky Way’s Level Six factions and said they must report the Harvesters and avoid conflict with them.
• The captain told Huan that headquarters had rewarded him for encountering Human Civilization with a new-generation Sensing Enhancer.
• The captain left Huan to explore the star region, and Huan questioned whether the ancient route they sought had ever existed.

The Awakeners reflected on the dangers of traveling beyond the Milky Way, which they viewed as only a relay station on the long journey toward a distant destination. Meanwhile, Human Civilization successfully tested Magnetic Propulsion at 50% light speed and began exploring its possible future uses in weapons and antimatter production.

• Huan and the Awakeners recognized that reaching the destination suggested by the Previous Generation Voyager would be an immense undertaking, and that other powerful civilizations could make the journey dangerous.
• The Awakeners remained cautious in the Milky Way, knowing that their presence would eventually be discovered by civilizations such as the Perseus Commonwealth.
• Human Civilization declared Magnetic Propulsion Technology a success after a prototype spacecraft reached 50% light speed, with clock comparisons confirming time dilation.
• Scientists considered using Magnetic Propulsion in weapons, but engineers set aside early designs because the devices were too large and required miniaturization.
• Researchers imagined that a future compact system might enable Sub-Light-Speed kinetic weapons, while recognizing that near-light-speed spacecraft and star-destroying weapons remained beyond their capabilities.
• Scientists across multiple fields began investigating Magnetic Propulsion, and antimatter researchers proposed that the Alice Ring could support large-scale antimatter production.

Humanity’s Great Fleet Plan used Strong Artificial Intelligence to automate resource extraction and mass-produce warships throughout the Solar System. Watching the fleet take shape, Yue Yuan understood how technological civilizations could counter machine civilizations, while human military experts began preparing strategies for future star-system wars.

• Humanity deployed automated factories, mining equipment, Space Elevators, and orbital shipyards to support the Great Fleet Plan.
• The Strong Artificial Intelligence aboard the Lyra coordinated automated warship construction using finalized blueprints and manufactured supercomputers.
• Yue Yuan saw the growing fleets and realized that technological civilizations could match machine civilizations in production and combat.
• Military experts proposed that Level 3 wars would revolve around Star Systems, resource-rich planets, and locating enemy command centers and life-forms.
• Human military experts began studying Star System Conquest Strategy and Tactics as humanity prepared for the possibility of being the aggressor in future conflicts.

Humanity expanded its space industry and introduced enormous Sea-Class warships and Residential Spaceships, with the new Lyra planned as its future flagship. The chapter leaves humanity still building and upgrading its fleet in the Red Dwarf Star system before it can set out.

• Humanity's expanding space facilities produced larger ships and warships after Magnetic Propulsion Technology made them practical.
• The military introduced standard Sea-Class warships, roughly ten kilometers long, with upgraded systems and facilities.
• Designers enlarged Residential Spaceships, widening their streets and arranging living areas according to gravity conditions.
• Humanity designed a new Lyra, larger and more heavily armored than standard Sea-Class warships, and planned to complete it in one hundred years.
• Humanity planned to replace and upgrade its ships before departing, while retaining old Lake-Class warships and retired Residential Spaceships for future use with transport platforms.

Humanity’s Level 3 technology transformed its warships, weapons, defenses, and industrial capacity. After five hundred years of rebuilding, humanity moved into new spacecraft and relocated its government and military command to the new Lyra, ending with the ability to produce ten million warships.

• Human scientists developed stronger Magnetic Shields, Polarization Shields, upgraded Electromagnetic Railguns, and Nanobot shell and repair systems for the new warships.
• Humanity spent five hundred years building Sea-Class Warships, Residential Spaceships, and other spacecraft throughout the Red Dwarf Star system.
• Humanity’s population grew from 200 million to 5 billion, and residents moved into the new spacecraft.
• The administrative center and military Command Center of Human Civilization relocated from the old Lyra to the new Lyra.
• Humanity’s new industrial capacity made producing ten million warships possible.

With no new Life Elixir breakthroughs, humans began dying of old age, and one elderly survivor’s final wish led to a red dwarf being renamed Sunset Glow Star. Five years later, Doctor Yi Kai suffered pulmonary failure, while Yue Yuan realized he had only a little over two hundred years left.

• An elderly man nearing death rejected mechanical organ replacement because his brain cells were also failing and asked for his ashes to be scattered in the star system where he had lived for five hundred years.
• The old man asked his family to petition the New Government to rename the red dwarf HD45996S56 Sunset Glow, and the government approved the name before he died.
• More humans died from cellular aging as the lack of new Life Elixirs brought birth, aging, illness, and death back into society.
• Five years later, Zhu Pete told Yue Yuan that Doctor Yi Kai had fainted from pulmonary failure.
• Yue Yuan noted that he still showed no signs of aging but had only a little over two hundred years of life remaining.

Yue Yuan ordered Zhu Pete to put the dying Yi Kai into hibernation under the Eighth Law, then urged Zhu Pete to hibernate too. Zhu Pete argued that society needed the Security Department to contain growing unrest over death and the prospect of humanity’s coming voyage, leaving Yue Yuan to weigh the risk of losing his chief of security.

• Yue Yuan decided to invoke the Eighth Law to place Yi Kai in hibernation after learning that Yi Kai was nearing the end of his life.
• Yue Yuan called Zhu Pete back and told him to enter hibernation after arranging Yi Kai’s.
• Zhu Pete refused, explaining that public anxiety over aging and death was growing, especially among the younger generation.
• Zhu Pete warned that calls to expand hibernation to everyone and to launch the Great Fleet could fuel unrest, while research institutions would partially hibernate during the voyage.
• Zhu Pete argued that the Security Department was needed to preserve order, and Yue Yuan listened in silence, aware of the danger but still weighing other concerns.

Yue Yuan planned for the possibility that he would die before humanity developed a new Life Elixir, fearing a struggle over the dictator’s position. He arranged to preserve Zhu Pete, Man Yuemei, and several fleet captains in hibernation so they could help stabilize Human Civilization after his death.

• Yue Yuan ordered Zhu Pete to enter hibernation after Doctor Yi Kai, claiming it would preserve his aging body for future service.
• Zhu Pete accepted the order, while Yue Yuan privately planned to awaken him only when Yue Yuan was close to dying.
• Yue Yuan planned to send several captains into hibernation and leave orders with the Lyra’s comprehensive Artificial Intelligence so they could support Zhu Pete.
• Yue Yuan planned to freeze Man Yuemei when her Life Elixir failed, then have her help Zhu Pete stabilize Human Civilization until a new leader emerged.

Yue Yuan prepared for humanity’s future leadership while overseeing the expansion and reorganization of its fleets. Decades later, humanity had completed its warships and new legions, but the Life Elixir remained stalled and society continued to age.

• Yue Yuan reviewed fleet commanders and captains as potential successors, favoring candidates such as Bu Guiyu and Gu Younian while keeping his plans private.
• Humanity completed ten million Sea-Class Warships, reorganized them into fleet clusters, and later began building the Dog-Headed People and Kuntai legions.
• Yue Yuan delayed humanity’s planned departure because the Life Elixir research had not produced a breakthrough and wanted everyone awake if the project failed.
• Humanity’s people continued to die of old age as mechanical life extension remained limited by the inability to replace the brain or upload consciousness.
• Humanity completed both legions and placed Mind Imprints on them while advancing Level 3 technologies, but the Life Elixir research remained stagnant.

Yue Yuan received an unfamiliar broadcast from an intelligent civilization and went to Lyra's Command Center as specialists began deciphering it. Humanity waited to learn what the message said, while Yue Yuan suspected they had left the Safe Star Region during their pursuit of the Artificial Intelligence Consciousness.

• Yue Yuan's Built-in Chip received an unknown message while he considered how much longer he had to live.
• Yue Yuan went to Lyra's Command Center, where specialists and Strong Artificial Intelligence were analyzing the broadcast.
• A communications expert told Yue Yuan that the message used an unfamiliar information frequency, was repetitive, and was likely a Clear Code broadcast.
• Yue Yuan ruled out the Milky Way Galaxy Axis Alliance and suspected humanity had left the Safe Star Region while chasing the Artificial Intelligence Consciousness.
• Humanity waited for the specialists to finish deciphering the message, which had been received by probes outside the red dwarf system.

Humanity received a broadcast inviting civilizations to an Interstellar Transaction Market allegedly backed by the Crimson Flame Civilization, and Yue Yuan’s advisers debated whether it was genuine. The message’s coordinates appeared consistent with its source, but the chapter ended with a young man urging Humanity to investigate.

• Human experts translated a broadcast that claimed the Interstellar Transaction Market traded technology, life, and information on behalf of the Crimson Flame Civilization.
• Yue Yuan asked whether the signal’s source matched the coordinates given in the message, and communications experts estimated it was about 173 light-years away, close to the stated location.
• A Think Tank member said the market might truly be backed by a Level 5 Civilization or might be falsely invoking its name, and considered the first possibility more likely.
• Yue Yuan and the assembled staff weighed the danger of encountering other civilizations or falling into a trap against the possible benefits of visiting the market.
• A young man said Humanity should go and investigate.

A Think Tank member argued that Human Civilization should investigate the Interstellar Transaction Market to seek Life Elixir, information about its enemies, and insight into cosmic civilizations, while testing its safety first. Yue Yuan approved the investigation, leaving the departments to plan the mission and prepare for deep hibernation.

• A Think Tank member proposed sending loyal Dog-Headed People or Kuntai People to test the Interstellar Transaction Market while the Great Fleet relocated.
• He argued the market might provide Life Elixir samples, clues about the destruction of the Solar System and Alpha Centauri Three Stars, and information about the Silver Mist Consciousness and Level Six Civilizations.
• He assessed that the market was likely operated by a Level 3 Civilization, though it could be Level 4, and said its operators would probably remain long enough for a test mission.
• Experts objected that testing the market could take centuries and delay the urgent search for New Life Elixir, prompting discussion in Lyra's Command Center.
• Yue Yuan decided Human Civilization would investigate, ordering the Think Tank to draft regulations, the Command Department to arrange the fleet and tests, and relevant departments to prepare for deep hibernation.

Humanity sent the Dog-Headed People and Kuntai People fleets toward the rumored Interstellar Transaction Market while relocating its own fleet to a Blue Giant Star System and entering deep hibernation. More than 500 years later, humanity remained asleep in orbit around a Rocky Planet, waiting for news from the scouting fleets.

• Humanity built thousands of Lake-Class Warships and dispatched the Dog-Headed People and Kuntai People fleets along separate routes to investigate the Interstellar Transaction Market.
• Humanity prepared a fleet of more than 13 million ships and headed for a Blue Giant Star System, choosing the destination to conceal itself from distant observers.
• After the fleet accelerated, Yue Yuan and 99 percent of humanity entered long-term hibernation, while the two scouting fleets continued toward their destination.
• Humanity reached the Blue Giant Star System, anchored near a Rocky Planet, and spent more than 400 years in hibernation as occasional resource ships supplied the fleet.

The Dog-Headed People Fleet reached the Interstellar Transaction Market and learned about its Merchant Alliance, trading zones, and payment rules. After docking in the Reception Area, the fleet asked for a list of information products, leaving its first trade yet to begin.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market sent the Dog-Headed People Fleet a star map and guided it toward the Reception Area.
• The market claimed to belong to the Merchant Alliance, described its peaceful trading principles, and said two civilizations had visited before.
• The Dog-Headed People Commander asked about those civilizations, but the market refused to reveal customer information.
• The Dog-Headed People Fleet arrived at the Reception Area and learned the market's trading rules and Transaction Points system.
• The Dog-Headed People Fleet asked the Interstellar Transaction Market for a list of information-related products.

The Dog-Headed People Fleet negotiated with the Interstellar Transaction Market over intelligence purchases and reviewed its intelligence catalog. The market offered sparse information on several major civilizations for free, including details about the Harvesters’ pursuit of advanced technologies.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market proposed that the Dog-Headed People name the intelligence they wanted and negotiate a price, but the Dog-Headed People demanded a catalog instead.
• The Dog-Headed People presented their tradable goods, mainly biological resources, conventional Level 2 Civilization technologies, and cold nuclear fusion fuel.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market provided a catalog covering dangerous regions, civilizations, ruins and cosmic phenomena, and life planets, but it contained no Milky Way force-distribution information.
• The Dog-Head Commander asked about the Milky Way Galaxy Axis Alliance, and the market described it as a Level Six Civilization alliance that recruited civilizations in the name of justice.
• The Dog-Head Commander asked about the Harvesters, and the market explained that they sought the characteristic technologies of the Milky Way’s major Level Six Civilizations, making them a common enemy of advanced civilizations.

The Dog-Headed People Commander learned what little the Interstellar Transaction Market knew about major civilizations and negotiated for information about the star destroyed in the Gould Belt. The Dog-Headed People chose to prioritize buying Life Elixir and headed for the Level 2 Civilization Trading Zone, still believing the market was legitimate.

• The spokesman explained that the Silicon-Based Collective was led by a Level Six silicon-based civilization and that the Perseus Commonwealth included three Level Six and several Level Five Civilizations.
• The Commander learned that information about a Life Planet had already been sold, then asked for records of major events in the Orion Arm and clarified that humanity sought information about anomalous stellar destruction.
• The spokesman offered details about the destruction of two Gould Belt star systems for all the Dog-Headed People Fleet’s listed animal and plant species, and suggested they could trade scientists or other individuals instead.
• The Dog-Headed People decided to purchase Life Elixir first and arranged to negotiate with the spokesman in the Level 2 Civilization Trading Zone.
• The Commander left resource equipment and transport spacecraft on the Reception Area planet, then led the fleet toward another planet, hopeful that success would earn his fleet Alloy No. 1 armor.

The Dog-Headed People Commander reviewed the Interstellar Transaction Market’s Life Elixir offerings and learned that a five-thousand-year elixir from a Level 3 Civilization could not be priced in ordinary Energy Units. He asked how his fleet could obtain it, leaving the exchange unresolved.

• The Dog-Headed People Fleet reached the designated trading location in a planet’s outer orbit and communicated with the Interstellar Transaction Market without meeting its personnel in person.
• The Market sent the Commander descriptions of three Life Elixirs, including their compatible life forms and lifespan extensions.
• The Commander learned that some elixirs could affect both carbon-based and silicon-based life, though the Market had none of these universal products.
• The Commander recognized that the information could help humanity investigate the Red Gas absorbed by Yue Yuan and Lu Xiaofen.
• The Commander asked why the five-thousand-year Life Elixir had no listed price, and the Market explained that it was exceptionally rare and could not be measured in Energy Units.
• The Commander asked how the Dog-Headed People could obtain the five-thousand-year elixir.

The Dog-Headed People Fleet negotiated with the Interstellar Transaction Market, trading its Biosphere Resources for information about the abnormal stellar explosions in the Gould Belt. The market revealed that four stars were destroyed in an incident linked to a defecting Level 5 Civilization from the Perseus Commonwealth.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market demanded scientists or ordinary lifeforms for Life Elixir, but the Dog-Headed People Commander said the fleet could not provide them.
• The Dog-Headed People Commander declined the Life Elixir deal and agreed to buy information by handing over all the Biosphere Resources on the fleet’s list.
• The Dog-Headed People Fleet and the Interstellar Transaction Market exchanged survival requirements and prepared their respective shipments.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market reported that four Gould Belt stars had undergone abnormal explosions years earlier, likely due to a conflict involving a Level 5 Civilization from the Perseus Arm.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market said the civilization may have defected from the Perseus Commonwealth after acquiring Characteristic Technology or information about a Previous Generation Voyager.

The Dog-Headed People Commander traded biological resources for a clue about the destruction of the Solar System, giving humanity a lead in its search for the culprit. When the Interstellar Transaction Market pressed him to trade sentient individuals for Life Elixirs, he refused to commit and claimed he needed approval from his civilization.

• Humanity resolved to pursue the civilization responsible for destroying the Solar System, despite the danger and the possibility that the destruction had been accidental.
• The Dog-Headed People handed over their biological resources in exchange for information about the destruction of the Solar System and the Triple Star System.
• The Dog-Headed People postponed trading five hundred thousand sentient individuals for Life Elixirs, expecting the Kuntai People to make the purchase with their No. 1 Alloy Material technology.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market pressured the Dog-Headed People Commander to trade sentient individuals and cited its Level 4 creations and Level 5 backing.
• The Dog-Headed People Commander said he needed to consult his civilization and falsely claimed the fleet's combat personnel could not do other work.