Chapter Summaries

The Dog-Headed People's Commander tried to alert the approaching Kuntai People while negotiating under pressure with the Interstellar Transaction Market, which demanded sentient lives for Life Elixirs. After agreeing to trade five hundred thousand individuals, the Dog-Headed People received the elixirs and were unexpectedly allowed to leave; the Commander set out to deliver them to humanity.

• The Dog-Headed People's Commander ordered his fleet to broadcast a warning to the Kuntai People, but stopped the fleet's formation change when the Interstellar Transaction Market objected.
• The Dog-Headed People's Commander secretly sent a neutrino message, then claimed the fleet's actions were a misunderstanding when the market detected it and threatened countermeasures.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market demanded five hundred thousand sentient life individuals after the Dog-Headed People's Commander refused to sell warships.
• The Dog-Headed People's Commander agreed to the exchange and said his fleet needed time to select the individuals, and the market accepted the delay.
• The Dog-Headed People tested the Life Elixirs and found no problems, then prepared to leave the market and deliver them to humanity.

The Dog-Headed People Fleet left the Interstellar Transaction Market and began its return journey, only to encounter a Level 3 Civilization fleet that demanded its supplies and technological data. The pirates attacked, and their superior weapons and defenses turned the encounter into a one-sided slaughter.

• The Dog-Headed People Commander led the fleet away from the Interstellar Transaction Market and sent a report to the Kuntai People Fleet before entering inertial navigation.
• Decades later, the Dog-Headed People Fleet detected a larger fleet decelerating toward them and awakened its hibernating crew.
• The Dog-Headed People Commander ordered his fleet to change course and sent an inquiry, but the approaching fleet demanded all their supplies and technological data.
• The Dog-Headed People Commander tried to deter the pirates by invoking the Interstellar Transaction Market's protection and warning that his people were not helpless.
• The pirates maneuvered behind the Dog-Headed People's three thousand Lake-Class Warships and destroyed one with a Laser Energy Cannon.
• The Dog-Headed People Fleet's weapons failed against the pirates' Light Screens as the pirates continued their attack with undetectable Photon Beams.

The Interstellar Pirates ambushed the Dog-Headed People Fleet and overwhelmed it with their superior technology. As the fleet tried to broadcast its discoveries and escape with Life Elixir samples, the pirates blocked every breakout route and prepared to plunder the survivors and their home planet.

• The Dog-Headed People Commander realized the Interstellar Transaction Market had likely supplied the pirates with the fleet’s route and ordered the Dog-Headed People to transmit their suspicions to the nearest Kuntai People Fleet.
• The Commander ordered ships No. 100 through No. 200 to split into ten breakout columns, each carrying Life Elixir samples for the Main Civilization.
• The Interstellar Pirates sent ten groups of three warships to intercept the fleeing columns while their main fleet continued destroying the Dog-Headed People warships.
• The Interstellar Pirates’ Great Commander ordered his crews to begin harvesting the fleet, preserve its Central Computers, and prepare to exploit the resources of the Dog-Headed People’s Life Planet.

The Dog-Headed People Commander ordered his remaining fleet to erase its navigation data and charge the Interstellar Pirates, but their weapons and self-destruction could not overcome the pirates’ defenses. The entire fleet was annihilated, though its warning reached humanity centuries later.

• After the ten breakout columns were destroyed, the Dog-Headed People Commander ordered the remaining ships to delete their route data and prepare to self-destruct.
• The Dog-Headed People Commander rallied the fleet and led more than nine hundred surviving warships in a final charge against the Interstellar Pirates.
• Dog-Headed People warships activated their self-destruct procedures, but the resulting explosions did not stop the Interstellar Pirates.
• The Dog-Headed People Commander ordered his surviving ships to concentrate fire on enemy Ship No. 34-6, but the pirates’ Nanobots repaired the damage faster than the fleet could inflict it.
• The Interstellar Pirates annihilated all three thousand Dog-Headed People warships without losing a ship, and humanity received the transmitted news several hundred years later.

Yue Yuan and the awakened leaders discussed the destruction of the Dog-Headed People Fleet and concluded that the Interstellar Transaction Market might be connected to the Interstellar Pirates. They decided the attack could not go unanswered, leaving humanity poised to retaliate.

• The Kuntai People Fleet commander learned of the Dog-Headed People Fleet's destruction, turned the fleet around, and headed back to its departure system to await orders.
• Yue Yuan convened a meeting with senior leaders to discuss the news from both fleets.
• A standing committee member argued that the Interstellar Transaction Market was likely a trap designed to locate other civilizations' home planets and was connected to the pirates.
• Man Yuemei and Bu Guiyu argued that humanity should attack the market, while others raised concerns about the lack of proof and the possible Level 4 technology there.
• Yue Yuan agreed that the destruction of the Dog-Headed People Fleet had to be avenged.

Yue Yuan and the other leaders planned how to investigate and confront the Interstellar Transaction Market, using Wolf Planet’s coordinates to pose as customers and lure it into revealing its Level 4 Civilization creations. The discussion ended when Yu Nanfeng pointed out that humanity also possessed a Level 4 creation: the Warp Engine.

• Man Yuemei proposed approaching the Interstellar Transaction Market as customers and offering Wolf Planet’s coordinates to gain access to information about its Level 4 Civilization creations.
• Man Yuemei urged humanity to send intelligent probes to investigate nearby star systems and check whether the market was allied with the Interstellar Pirates.
• The leaders discussed the Voyager Hypothesis and why humanity had encountered other civilizations despite the universe’s vastness.
• Yu Nanfeng revealed that humanity had a Level 4 Civilization creation, and Gu Younian identified it as the Warp Engine.

Humanity’s leaders planned to approach the Interstellar Transaction Market while investigating the Interstellar Pirates, and Yue Yuan ordered the entire civilization to move out. The fleet set off with a rear base planned in the Kuntai People’s star system, leaving Humanity’s next encounter ahead.

• Yu Nanfeng proposed revealing Humanity’s Warp Engine to test whether the Interstellar Transaction Market possessed Level 4 Civilization technology.
• Yue Yuan rejected the committee members’ suggestions to send only some fleets and ordered all ships to join the expedition in separate groups.
• Yue Yuan planned for non-warships to establish a rear base in the Kuntai People’s star system while the three warship fleets advanced toward the market and searched for the Interstellar Pirates’ lair.
• Yue Yuan said Humanity could build warships to defend the Civilization Main Body under the command of Strong Artificial Intelligence.
• Humanity’s robots, space docks, warships, and other vessels regrouped, and the civilization set out toward the stars.

Humanity's fleet completed its long voyage to the Interstellar Transaction Market, leaving a rear base and an emergency warship along the way. As the First Fleet approached openly, the Second and Third Fleets moved in silently, and the Market welcomed the arriving civilization.

• More than twenty million human ships departed at Magnetic Propulsion, and Yue Yuan and the others entered hibernation for the journey.
• Humanity made two stops for resupply, and at a Star System about twenty light-years from the Interstellar Transaction Market, it developed resources and left a crewed warship as an emergency backup.
• After reaching the destination, the human fleet split into three, with the First Fleet approaching openly while the Second and Third Fleets maneuvered in silence.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market sent Flagship Lyra's First Fleet a welcome message, identifying itself as affiliated with the Crimson Flame Civilization and a member of the Merchant Alliance.

Humanity’s First Fleet contacted the Interstellar Transaction Market, which humanity suspected was a black market, and pretended to be short on supplies to test its intentions. After the market assigned humanity a reception area away from the planet where it had directed the Dog-Headed People, Yue Yuan and the others concluded that it wanted to control their access to supplies and likely had a powerful fleet.

• Humanity’s decision-makers judged that the Interstellar Transaction Market was probably a black market because it used lightspeed communication and lacked evidence of Hyperdistance Communication technology.
• Humanity’s First Fleet introduced Earth Civilization as a peaceful native civilization with two Life Planets and asked the market for supplies and repairs.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market requested information about the Life Planets and the fleet’s ship count, then sent humanity a star map and directed it to a Reception Area.
• Yue Yuan and the others noticed that the market had assigned the Dog-Headed People a reception area near a planet but directed humanity to empty space.
• Humanity concluded that the market had changed the reception location to gain leverage over the fleet and estimated that it had at least seven million warships or exceptional confidence in its combat strength.

Yue Yuan explained why the First Fleet would head to the Interstellar Transaction Market’s designated anchorage despite suspecting its operators had ill intentions. He planned to gather more environmental data there and, if conditions worsened, launch a surprise attack on the planet previously explored by the Dog-Headed People.

• Yue Yuan agreed to follow the Interstellar Transaction Market’s demands while ordering the fleet to prepare for conflict.
• Humanity’s probes mapped the star system, revealing a Yellow Dwarf Star and two Jupiter-like planets that military experts suspected concealed the market’s fleet.
• The fleet’s officers noted that the market had omitted its Level 4 Civilization trading locations and creations from the star map, suggesting it was hiding capabilities.
• Yue Yuan directed the First Fleet to collect environmental data at the designated location and strike first if the situation deteriorated.
• Yue Yuan identified the planet once used by the Dog-Headed People as a potential target where the First Fleet could gather minerals and establish a Space Dock.

Yue Yuan outlined humanity’s plan to capture planets and establish bases for a long war, while humanity negotiated with the Interstellar Transaction Market. The Market offered a Negative Mass Generator as a high-end trade item, leaving Lyra’s Command Center eager to learn more about it.

• Yue Yuan assigned the Third Fleet and Fourth Fleet to surprise-attack two planets while the First Fleet targeted the outermost planet.
• Yue Yuan explained how controlling the outermost and third-to-last planets could help humanity trap the second-to-last planet and expand inward.
• After the Interstellar Transaction Market requested more proof of humanity’s purchasing power, Yue Yuan ordered staff to send research papers on the Levorotatory DNA Life Planet and express interest in trading.
• Humanity told the Market that its initial trade list was not valuable enough for a Life Planet and asked for more sincere offers.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market replied with information about a Negative Mass Generator, and everyone in Lyra’s Command Center focused on the new technology.

Yue Yuan and the scientists debated the mysterious Negative Mass Generator, which Earth Civilization suspected was an incomplete device or a component of something larger. The Interstellar Transaction Market revealed it was the core of Hyperdistance Communication and offered its full documentation in exchange for Earth’s research data on the Life Planet.

• Yue Yuan suspected the Negative Mass Generator was incomplete or a core component, rather than a weapon.
• Earth Civilization challenged the Interstellar Transaction Market’s valuation and proposed scientific exchanges instead of trading a Life Planet for the unexplained device.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market explained that Level 4 Civilizations needed Hyperdistance Communication as well as faster-than-light travel.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market claimed the Negative Mass Generator was a complete core component of Hyperdistance Communication and that its documentation could help Earth reach Level 4.
• Earth Civilization asked for the full documentation, and the Interstellar Transaction Market demanded Earth’s research data on the Life Planet in return.

Humanity negotiated with the Interstellar Transaction Market for a Negative Mass Generator by offering false Life Planet coordinates, then discovered the supposed traders commanded at least thirty million warships. Yue Yuan concluded that humanity had roughly seven hundred years before the false coordinates could be exposed, though his generation would not live to see what happened.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market demanded Life Planet coordinates and an inspection before completing the trade, while humanity agreed to provide them in exchange for the Negative Mass Generator, its data, and a five-thousand-year Life Elixir.
• Humanity gave the Interstellar Transaction Market accurate research data about Wolf Planet but supplied fake coordinates roughly two hundred and fifty light-years away.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market revealed a fleet of at least thirty million warships emerging from behind two Gaseous Planets.
• Yue Yuan told humanity's military experts that the false coordinates bought them about seven hundred years of peace, and an expert noted their generation would not live long enough to see the outcome.

Yue Yuan decided humanity had to fight the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet and planned to secure two planets as a source of resources. He set a trap for an enemy subfleet and used a proposed Alloy No. 2 trade to gauge the enemy’s strength before committing to battle.

• Yue Yuan ruled out waiting, hibernation, and fleeing, concluding that humanity had to fight the Interstellar Transaction Market fleet.
• A senior officer explained that humanity first needed to occupy two planets and withstand the enemy’s opening attacks.
• Yue Yuan ordered Man Yuemei and Bu Guiyu’s Second and Third Fleets to advance and remain ready for battle.
• Yue Yuan assigned Donghai one million warships and planned to combine them with the Third Fleet to lure and destroy an enemy subfleet.
• Yue Yuan offered Alloy No. 2 manufacturing technology for the remaining three-thousand-year Life Elixir and samples, using the trade to test the enemy’s armor and combat strength.

Yue Yuan negotiated a trade with the Interstellar Transaction Market while preparing humanity’s fleets to attack it and seize two planets. The exchange for a three-thousand-year Life Elixir was completed smoothly, as humanity continued to conceal its plans.

• The Interstellar Transaction Market offered a three-thousand-year Life Elixir for humanity’s No. 2 Alloy Material technology and requested more warships for the expedition to the Life Planet’s coordinates.
• Yue Yuan inferred that the Market’s individual warships were weaker than humanity’s and mourned the loss of the Dog-Headed People Fleet.
• Humanity and the Market finalized their transaction and agreed that the Market would send six million warships while humanity sent one million.
• Yue Yuan briefed humanity’s commanders on a plan to seize the planets on the thirteenth and twelfth orbits and defend them while resource extraction began.
• Humanity completed the trade for the three-thousand-year Life Elixir while continuing to prepare for its planned assault.

Humanity launched its planned surprise attack on the Interstellar Transaction Market to seize two planets and prevent it from deploying No. 2 Alloy. The Market unexpectedly accepted humanity’s absurd excuse for advancing and offered a planet for its fleet to dock.

• Humanity completed its trade with the Interstellar Transaction Market, then sent a one-million-warship subfleet alongside the Market’s six-million-warship subfleet toward the Life Planet.
• Yue Yuan ordered the First Fleet to attack the Twelfth and Thirteenth Orbital Planets before the Donghai (East Sea) Warship could report an attack.
• The First Fleet split into two three-million-warship subfleets led by the Lyra and the South Sea and North Sea, then accelerated toward the target planets.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market issued three warnings demanding that humanity stop its fleet, and Yue Yuan replied that humanity urgently needed a planet to replenish supplies.
• The Interstellar Transaction Market accepted humanity’s explanation and offered a safe planetary orbit for docking and hibernation.

Humanity’s First Fleet revealed its hostile intentions and raced to seize the Interstellar Transaction Market’s Twelfth and Thirteenth Planets before the enemy fleet could arrive. Planet Thirteen fell without resistance, while Yue Yuan ordered the Lyra’s forces to destroy Planet Twelve’s defenses and bombard its surface.

• Humanity split its six-million-warship fleet between the Twelfth Planet and the Thirteenth Planet, prompting the Interstellar Transaction Market to accuse Humanity of deception.
• Humanity accused the Interstellar Transaction Market of plotting against Earth and asked whether they were Interstellar Pirates or the Crimson Flame Civilization; the Market denied neither identity outright and threatened Humanity.
• Humanity’s forces reached the planets first, with roughly a dozen hours remaining before the Market’s twenty-four million warships arrived.
• The North Sea and South Sea formations found Planet Thirteen undefended and began unmanned landings and resource extraction.
• The Lyra’s formation destroyed the Twelfth Planet’s small orbital defense force and prepared to attack the planet’s fortresses and surface defenses.
• Yue Yuan ordered the Lyra’s forces to clear the orbital fortresses and bombard the Twelfth Planet before the enemy fleet arrived.

Humanity’s fleet began bombarding the Twelfth Planet and weathered its laser fire, but enemy railgun shells carried Super Micro Nanobots that breached a Sea-Class Warship’s defenses. The nanobots spread over the ship as the Lyra’s monitoring systems filled with warnings.

• The Twelfth Planet’s railguns and laser cannons attacked the human fleet in orbit, while the warships’ Polarization Shields blocked the laser strikes.
• Humanity’s Close-In Weapon Systems intercepted incoming railgun shells, but one shell broke through and hit a Sea-Class Warship.
• The shell burst against the warship’s armor, releasing a cloud of silver mist instead of a hydrogen-bomb explosion.
• The Super Micro Nanobots spread over the warship like liquid metal as the Lyra’s Strong Artificial Intelligence displayed a stream of warning messages.

Yue Yuan watched Human Civilization’s Nanobots defeat an enemy Nanobot attack on Ship 2688, but realized the enemy’s nanotechnology was far superior. He ordered the fleet to avoid close combat and began an orbital bombardment of Planet Thirteen to cripple its defenses.

• Enemy Nanobots began decomposing Ship 2688’s armor, but Human Civilization’s repair swarms destroyed them and repaired the damage at the cost of 14.7% of the ship’s Nanobot inventory.
• Yue Yuan recognized the enemy’s nanotechnology as a serious threat and ordered the North Sea to keep its distance and use Positron Cannons in Close-In Weapon Systems to intercept Nanobot shells.
• Yue Yuan’s fleet completed its attitude adjustment and entered orbital bombardment mode, targeting Planet Thirteen’s defensive forces instead of attempting a landing.
• Three million Human Civilization warships bombarded the planet, blasting gaps through mountain ranges and shaking the surface as explosions and dust spread across the land.

Yue Yuan ordered humanity to devastate Twelfth Planet with orbital bombardment, then sent three asteroids crashing into it to destroy any remaining underground resistance. The impacts triggered widespread volcanic eruptions as magma surged through the planet’s fractured crust.

• Humanity’s three million warships bombarded Twelfth Planet with railgun shells and laser beams, destroying its surface defenses and settlements.
• Yue Yuan ordered the Lyra’s Strong Artificial Intelligence to send programmed thrusters to attack any underground bases that might have survived.
• Yue Yuan noticed three nearby asteroids and ordered humanity to push them onto precise impact trajectories around Twelfth Planet.
• Humanity adjusted the asteroids’ orbits with thrusters, then sent all three crashing into the planet.
• The impacts cracked the crust and mantle, released magma through fissures, and reawakened the planet’s dormant volcanoes.