Chapter Summaries

Yue Yuan’s Lyra warship group endured the Crimson Flame Civilization’s desperate close-range assault until Lyra activated its overload mode and began evading attacks with greatly increased agility. The enemy support fleet joined the battle, intensifying the threat to Lyra, while the Donghai (East Sea) Warship and West Sea warship groups continued crushing their opponents.

• Yue Yuan’s Lyra warship group intercepted the Crimson Flame Civilization’s suicidal formations, inflicting heavy losses as some attackers broke through to Lyra’s vicinity.
• Lyra endured repeated attacks from enemy formations that reached close range, then announced it would activate maximum-thrust overload combat mode.
• Lyra’s crew activated Human Body Overclocking, and Lyra used its overloaded thrusters to evade volleys of Electromagnetic Railgun shells.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization’s Great Commander learned of Lyra’s increased agility and ordered the newly arrived support fleet to charge and attack it.
• The support fleet’s arrival increased pressure on Lyra, while the Donghai (East Sea) Warship and West Sea warship groups destroyed two-thirds of their opposing 4.2 million warships at a loss of 460,000 vessels.

The Crimson Flame Civilization’s new warships inflicted heavy losses on the Lyra warship group, but they could not destroy the Lyra while it remained in overload mode. Yue Yuan judged that the group had survived long enough for reinforcements to arrive and ordered a coordinated breakout toward the Donghai (East Sea) Warship and the West Sea.

• The Crimson Flame Civilization’s new warships performed well against human ships, prompting the Great Commander to order an all-out attack on the Lyra.
• The Lyra’s speed and acceleration let it evade attacks, and the Great Commander abandoned his attempt to destroy it directly and targeted the rest of its warship group instead.
• By the fourteenth minute of overload mode, the Lyra warship group had lost nearly half its ships, and the Crimson Flame Civilization resumed sending small formations against the Lyra.
• Yue Yuan calculated that the Lyra could endure until reinforcements arrived and ordered the Strong Artificial Intelligence to coordinate a breakout toward the Donghai (East Sea) Warship and the West Sea.
• The Lyra’s escorts and the other human warships coordinated their fire and maneuvers to open a path through the encirclement.

After the Lyra escaped the encirclement, Yue Yuan assessed how the Crimson Flame Civilization’s new warships had changed the balance of the war. The enemy withdrew to its Second Planet base, and Yue Yuan decided to answer its production advantage by expanding humanity’s industrial capacity on Twelfth Planet.

• The Lyra broke out of the melee and joined the Donghai (East Sea) Warship and West Sea sub-fleets, leaving humanity with 2.9 million warships against the Crimson Flame Civilization’s 5.07 million.
• A military expert warned Yue Yuan that the enemy could replace its losses faster and that its new warships had narrowed humanity’s combat advantage.
• Yue Yuan considered whether the enemy’s population could sustain a long war and realized that Strong Artificial Intelligences could help humanity expand resource extraction and warship production.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization avoided a large-scale engagement and retreated toward its Second Planet base, where planetary defenses could protect its fleet.
• Yue Yuan ordered the fleet to stop pursuing and return, then set his sights on expanding the base and production facilities on Twelfth Planet.

Humanity expanded its resource extraction and warship production while fighting the Crimson Flame Civilization in a prolonged war of raids and sabotage. The Crimson Flame learned that humanity’s production had surpassed its own, but its leaders hoped miniaturized magnetic propulsion would enable a surprise attack within fifty years.

• Humanity authorized the Donghai (East Sea) Warship, West Sea, and North Sea to develop resources at new sites, while South Sea continued overseeing Planet Thirteen.
• After the First Fleet returned to Planet Thirteen for refitting, the Second Fleet took over offensive duties as both civilizations rebuilt and produced warships.
• Humanity and the Crimson Flame Civilization fought smaller engagements and repeatedly attacked each other’s resource sites as they developed the outer and inner regions of the Star System.
• Humanity discovered that the Crimson Flame Civilization used a Strong Artificial Intelligence for production at its Third, Fourth, and Fifth Planet bases, while expanding its own resource and warship output.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization’s Great Commander learned that humanity’s warship production had surpassed theirs and was told that miniaturized Magnetic Propulsion Thrusters could enable surprise attacks within fifty years.

Humanity and the Crimson Flame Civilization adapted their fleets and weapons to the ongoing war, while both pursued technologies that might change the balance of power. After twenty years, humanity had matched the enemy's ship numbers and forced it to retreat to its core region, where it hoped to hold out until magnetic propulsion miniaturization became possible.

• The Crimson Flame Civilization accelerated research into Magnetic Propulsion Miniaturization Technology and planned small assault ships to counter human flagships.
• Humanity redesigned its fleet with Engineering Motherships and disposable assault ships armed with armor-piercing hydrogen bomb warheads.
• Humanity produced seven million assault ships and four million Main Battleships over twenty years.
• The Second Fleet led a large-scale attack on the Crimson Flame Civilization's Second Planet base.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization achieved a one-to-one loss ratio but discovered humanity had matched its warship numbers.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization withdrew its defenses to the core star region and planned to hold out until its magnetic propulsion technology was ready.

Humanity resumed its campaign against the Crimson Flame Civilization, sending the First and Second Fleets after the Interstellar Transaction Market’s resource base and core region. As Yue Yuan’s First Fleet approached the enemy, Neutrino Detection revealed a vast cluster of ships, which the Science Officer judged to be residential spacecraft rather than combat vessels, leaving victory seemingly within humanity’s reach.

• Humanity’s leaders chose to continue the war after minor repairs, deploying eight million Assault Ships and six million Main Battleships with the First and Second Fleets.
• Yue Yuan ordered Man Yuemei to lead the Second Fleet against the First Orbital Planet’s resource extraction base while his First Fleet threatened the enemy’s core region.
• The First and Second Fleets separated, with Man Yuemei’s fleet engaging the First Planet’s defenses and Yue Yuan’s fleet reaching the enemy’s core region.
• Yue Yuan detected an enemy fleet of eight million ships and ordered the First Fleet into a long-range engagement formation to buy time for the Second Fleet.
• Neutrino Detection revealed more than seventy million objects beyond a Gaseous Planet, and the Science Officer assessed them as likely residential spacecraft rather than warships.
• Yue Yuan concluded that the Interstellar Transaction Market had been weakened by years of attrition and estimated that humanity could win within about a decade.

Yue Yuan’s First Fleet fought two Crimson Flame Civilization fleets, whose New Warships were destroyed by humanity’s armor-piercing weapons. Both sides achieved their immediate objectives by coincidence, and humanity only began to suspect something was wrong after the Second Fleet completed its mission and joined up with the First Fleet.

• A five-million-warship Crimson Flame fleet joined the battle, forcing Yue Yuan’s First Fleet to fight thirteen million enemy ships while trying to keep its distance.
• The Crimson Flame fleets lost over two million ships in the long-range exchange, while the First Fleet lost fewer than four hundred thousand Main Battleships.
• The Crimson Flame New Warships penetrated the human formation, but the Assault Ships met their charge and destroyed them with Electromagnetic Railguns that pierced their armor.
• Kexterlin and Keqierqin agreed to stop charging and draw out the fight to buy the Crimson Flame Main Civilization time to evacuate.
• Yue Yuan’s fleet cautiously followed the retreating enemy, unaware that its restraint had let the Crimson Flame fleets protect their hidden forces behind the Gaseous Planet.
• The Second Fleet destroyed the First Orbital Planet’s defenses, crippled the enemy resource sites, and rendezvoused with the First Fleet, prompting humanity to suspect something was wrong.

Humanity's fleets neared victory over the Crimson Flame Civilization, but Yue Yuan learned that the Interstellar Transaction Market's Great Fleet was fleeing and ordered an investigation of the enemy's core region. He also discovered that he had barely aged despite his Life Elixir expiring ten years earlier.

• As the First and Second Fleets prepared to finish the battle, Yue Yuan noticed that his crew had aged while his own appearance seemed unchanged.
• Yue Yuan asked his officers whether the fleets should attack the enemy's core region or return to base to refuel and repair.
• Man Yuemei interrupted the meeting to report that the Interstellar Transaction Market's Great Fleet was accelerating away from the Giant Gaseous Planet.
• Yue Yuan concluded that the enemy had delayed humanity to give its Main Civilization time to escape.
• After experts confirmed the fleet's flight, Yue Yuan ordered an investigation of the satellites around the Second Orbital Gaseous Planet.

Yue Yuan’s fleets destroyed the Crimson Flame Civilization’s remaining force and found its core worlds intact, leaving him uncertain whether to pursue the fleeing civilization. A probe then revealed that the enemy was heading toward humanity’s former rear base, and Yue Yuan resolved to chase it.

• Yue Yuan ordered the Strong Artificial Intelligence aboard the Lyra to attack the weakened enemy fleet and told Thirteenth Planet to prepare supplies for the First Fleet and Second Fleet.
• Humanity’s First Fleet and Second Fleet wiped out the enemy fleet’s main force in a month, then reached the Crimson Flame Civilization’s core region and found its three planets’ bases intact.
• The Second Mate advised Yue Yuan against pursuing the escaped Civilization Main Body because the chase could endanger humanity’s main civilization and outlast the crew.
• A probe from the Second Fleet returned with the enemy’s Magnetic Propulsion trail, showing that the Crimson Flame Civilization Main Body was heading toward humanity’s former rear base.
• Yue Yuan decided to pursue the fleeing enemy, believing humanity’s established rear base would give it the advantage.

Yue Yuan prepared the Third Fleet to ambush the approaching Interstellar Transaction Market fleet while humanity’s robots explored the Crimson Flame Civilization’s abandoned bases. The chapter left humanity with the bases’ mineral wealth and a few clues about their former inhabitants, but no useful records or technology.

• Yue Yuan ordered the Third Fleet on Thirteenth Planet to alert the Strong Artificial Intelligence and prepare for concealment, ambush, and battle.
• Yue Yuan let the other fleets continue exploring the planetary bases before pursuing the Crimson Flame Civilization.
• Humanity deployed millions of robots, using Neutrino Communication to coordinate the exploration across the planets.
• Yue Yuan examined Base No. 2 and learned that its moon held vast, easily accessible mineral reserves that the Crimson Flame Civilization had used to build warships.
• Humanity’s robots found that the base’s lifeforms entered through circular passages only sixty centimeters wide.
• Humanity discovered the name Crimson Flame Civilization in scattered records, but found the bases empty of useful data because the civilization had taken or destroyed its Central Computers.

Yue Yuan received the Third Fleet’s report on the Crimson Flame Civilization’s alien life-forms and their unusual biology. The exploration team then discovered what appeared to be industrialized breeding bases, offering an explanation for how the civilization produced enough individuals to crew its warships.

• Yue Yuan received Bu Guiyu’s recorded report and footage from the Third Fleet’s battlefield cleanup near Planet Thirteen.
• Bu Guiyu showed that the Crimson Flame Civilization’s individuals were small, soft-bodied creatures that wore egg-shaped spacesuits and lived in hot, humid conditions.
• Bu Guiyu reported that humans had found no clear reproductive organs or method of reproduction in the examined individuals, and experts suspected specialized Mother Bodies produced their offspring.
• Personnel aboard the Lyra discovered a hollow structure filled with more than a hundred thousand hemispherical devices.
• The reconnaissance specialist concluded that the devices likely held offspring in their egg stage and that the Crimson Flame Civilization used industrialized breeding.

After searching the Crimson Flame Civilization’s three planetary bases, Yue Yuan sent humanity’s three fleets in pursuit of the Crimson Flame Civilization Main Body fleet toward JM18756. The Great Fleet followed the enemy’s detectable propulsion trail, and the chapter explained how acceleration caused time dilation and length contraction during its journey.

• Humanity’s robots completed a six-month search of the three Crimson Flame Civilization bases, but the bases yielded no useful information.
• Yue Yuan ordered the First Fleet and Second Fleet to return to Planet Thirteen for supplies, fuel, and repairs before setting out again a year later.
• The First Fleet, Second Fleet, and Third Fleet formed a Great Fleet and departed for JM18756, taking nearly all their facilities and equipment with them.
• Humanity tracked the Crimson Flame Civilization Main Body fleet using advance warships and Probe Spaceships that scanned the trail left by its Magnetic Propulsion units.
• The Great Fleet pursued its target across twenty light-years, with the journey taking thirty-five years for humanity and forty years for outside observers because of acceleration and deceleration.

The Crimson Flame Civilization learned that the human fleet was pursuing them and planned to split up after resupplying at their destination. When they arrived, they discovered an unknown fleet already waiting in the star system.

• Yue Yuan entered hibernation with the rest of the human fleet after its acceleration ended.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization's leaders decided to continue researching Magnetic Propulsion Miniaturization Technology, send a million warships to check for pursuers, and split up only after reaching their destination.
• The human fleet annihilated the Crimson Flame scouting force, which managed to report that the humans were following them.
• The Crimson Flame fleet reached the target star system and began preparing to resupply before the human fleet arrived.
• The Great Commander ordered the fleet to use the nearest Rocky Planet, but a panicked crew member reported an Unknown Civilization fleet in the system.

The Crimson Flame Civilization tried to warn a newly detected fleet about Earth Civilization and asked to use a planet for resupply. When the fleet approached, the Crimson Flame Civilization recognized its warships as identical to Earth Civilization’s, realizing they had run into their pursuers.

• The Great Commander sent the Unknown Civilization a warning about Earth Civilization and asked to use a planet as a docking base.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization’s officers waited without receiving a reply, so the Great Commander ordered probes to observe the other fleet.
• The Great Commander directed his fleet toward a nearby Rocky Planet while avoiding the Unknown Civilization’s fleet and the Meteorite Belt.
• The Intelligence Officer reported that the Unknown Civilization fleet was moving toward them and that its warships resembled Earth Civilization’s.
• A senior official compared the ships’ images and confirmed that the supposedly Unknown Civilization was Earth Civilization.

The Crimson Flame Civilization’s Great Commander ordered its fleet to scatter and flee, but its remaining warships charged humanity’s vastly stronger fleet and were destroyed. Humanity’s Strong Artificial Intelligence then encircled the fleeing residential spaceships, urging them to surrender while pursuing those that continued to resist.

• The Great Commander ordered the Crimson Flame Civilization’s spaceships to flee, but hesitation cost many their chance to escape.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization’s remaining warships followed the Great Commander into a charge against humanity’s fleet.
• Humanity’s Strong Artificial Intelligence destroyed the charging warships and notified the humans who had not yet arrived.
• The Strong Artificial Intelligence activated Intelligent Programs and spread its warships out to encircle the fleeing residential spaceships.
• The Strong Artificial Intelligence broadcast demands for surrender, sparing spaceships that stopped fleeing and destroying or pursuing those that continued to run.

Humanity captured most of the Crimson Flame Civilization’s fleet and brought the prisoners home, gaining technologies that pushed Human civilization toward the pinnacle of Level 3. Yue Yuan considered how to combine the new technology with Humanity’s computer expertise to create a mining swarm he planned to call Grey Wind.

• Humanity’s fleets arrived after the battle, took control of the surrendered Crimson Flame ships, and incorporated the Strong Artificial Intelligence’s warships into their forces.
• Yue Yuan ordered the captured fleet to return with Humanity and had the Crimson Flame Civilization choose a Great Commander to lead a self-governing government under Human control.
• Humanity seized the Crimson Flame Civilization’s databases and obtained Super Micro Nanobots technology, miniaturized Magnetic Propulsion Technology, and production data for three types of Life Elixir.
• Yue Yuan concluded that the newly acquired technologies could enable Assault Motherships and greatly improve Humanity’s close-combat capabilities.
• Yue Yuan envisioned combining Super Micro Nanobots with Humanity’s computer technology to create mining swarms, which he planned to name the Grey Goo Storm, or Grey Wind.

Yue Yuan questioned the Crimson Flame Civilization’s new commander about the Interstellar Transaction Market and why the Crimson Flame Civilization had come to this star region. The answers revealed their search for Advanced Civilization Ruins and gaps in their history, leaving humanity with unresolved questions about their origins.

• Yue Yuan asked the Crimson Flame Civilization New Commander where the Interstellar Transaction Market came from, and the commander said it roamed the universe and traded fairly with civilizations it encountered.
• The commander said the Crimson Flame Civilization had used the market’s name to deceive weaker civilizations after learning this star region might contain Advanced Civilization Ruins.
• The commander admitted they had also sought Life Planets to gather data for creating stronger Life Elixirs.
• Yue Yuan asked about the Crimson Flame Civilization’s home planet, but the commander said he had never known one, and their database contained no records of it.
• Humanity found gaps in the Crimson Flame Civilization’s history and discovered that its mathematics inexplicably used a decimal system.

Yue Yuan planned how to integrate the surrendered Crimson Flame Civilization into humanity’s subordinate societies and make use of their research and population. He assigned their researchers to study whether their three Life Elixirs were suitable for humans and considered using Crimson Flame crews for Assault Ship fleets under strict control.

• Yue Yuan decided the Crimson Flame Civilization would have its own subordinate society, with less favorable status than the Nair People, Kuntai People, and Dog-Headed People.
• Yue Yuan learned that the Crimson Flame Civilization had three powerful Life Elixirs and more than one hundred thousand Life Science research groups or institutions.
• Yue Yuan noted that the Crimson Flame Civilization had Strong Artificial Intelligence but lacked Thought Imprint Technology, and humanity replaced its manufacturing AI while taking the original for study.
• Yue Yuan assigned the Crimson Flame Civilization’s researchers to test whether their Life Elixirs were suitable for humans, leaving the new commander responsible for securing their cooperation.
• Yue Yuan planned to use the Crimson Flame Civilization’s reproductive capacity to crew Assault Ships, with Mind Imprints required for fleet personnel.

After learning more about powerful Milky Way civilizations and their mysterious long-voyage goals, Yue Yuan awoke as the human fleet reached the Blue Giant Star where humanity’s main body was stationed. He saw that the Residential Spaceship Cluster and orbital industries remained in good condition after more than seven hundred years apart.

• Yue Yuan entered hibernation while the Crimson Flame Civilization researched the Life Elixirs and Magnetic Propulsion.
• Humanity reviewed the Crimson Flame Civilization’s records, which implicated a Level 5 Civilization in the destruction of the Solar System and the Centaurus Trinary Star System.
• Humanity learned about the Perseus Commonwealth, the Silver Heart Alliance, the Silicon-Based Collective, and the Harvesters, and considered whether the Awakeners also sought a long voyage.
• Yue Yuan awoke and gazed at the stars as the Great Fleet approached humanity’s destination after roughly three hundred and eight years of travel.
• The Lyra-led fleet returned to the Blue Giant Star, and Yue Yuan saw that the Residential Spaceship Cluster, transport vessels, and orbital factories were still operating.

Yue Yuan returned with the Lyra fleet to humanity’s main civilization, where the Strong Artificial Intelligence had built a vast force of warships during the centuries he was away. The Crimson Flame Civilization’s new leader saw humanity’s power and hoped it would honor its promise to treat his people well.

• The Lyra fleet approached the blue giant star and discovered that the Strong Artificial Intelligence had built more than eighty million Sea-Class warships, bringing humanity’s total fleet to roughly 120 million.
• Humanity’s hibernating population awoke to welcome the returning fleet and celebrated its victory, with some people shouting Yue Yuan’s name.
• Yue Yuan watched the blue giant star and considered humanity’s expanded fleet and the need to develop carriers, Assault Ships, and Engineering Repair Ships.
• The Crimson Flame Civilization’s new leader surveyed humanity’s fleet, concluded his civilization could never defeat a society with Strong Artificial Intelligence, and hoped humanity would keep its promise to treat his people well.