Chapter Summaries

After the Century Trial, Yun Xinghe recruited Luo Xin as the Flying Heaven’s diplomat and decided to leave the Third Spiral Arm to explore the Second Spiral Arm. Three years later, the ship had reported five habitable star systems and prepared to cross the dangerous Black Matter Belt.

• Lan Li chose to return to middle school as a physics teacher, while Yun Xinghe offered Luo Xin a full-time diplomat position aboard the Flying Heaven.
• Luo Xin accepted after Lan Li encouraged him, asking Yun Xinghe about his salary and benefits; the crew welcomed him, bringing the ship’s crew count to 1,000,011.
• Two months later, Yun Xinghe rejected staying for centuries to develop uninhabited star systems and decided to cross the Black Matter Belt to the Second Spiral Arm.
• Three years later, the Flying Heaven discovered and reported five habitable star systems to the Starry Sky Exploration Bureau, then announced its plan to travel to the Second Spiral Arm.
• A Bureau official supported Yun Xinghe’s plan and encouraged the crew to contact the advanced civilizations there.

While the Flying Heaven traveled toward the Second Spiral Arm, Zhou Ming’s ventures prospered in reality, from the success of Land of Glory and his novels to the Technology Tree Website’s growing influence. He ended the chapter sharing a meal with his heavily pregnant wife, Su Yuxiang, as an international storm gathered around the website.

• The Flying Heaven entered automatic navigation, and its crew entered hibernation for the long journey while the Three-Eyed People continued their research.
• Zhou Ming learned that the No. 1 Nutrient Solution production line had begun mass production and saw Land of Glory surge in popularity despite Leixun Company’s smear campaign.
• Song Haoyuan’s anti-addiction system helped Land of Glory overcome criticism, and its registered players grew to 500 million as LoL lost market share.
• Zhou Ming earned substantial income from twelve novels, while the Technology Tree Website accumulated 2,773 bound users, 7,898 data-package sales, and more than 550 billion in remittances.
• A special department monitored the website’s bound users, and foreign intelligence agencies began investigating it as Zhou Ming cooked dinner for Su Yuxiang, who was more than seven months pregnant.

Zhou Ming and Su Yuxiang watched Source Yi livestreaming games and creating videos before settling in to watch a drama together. The next morning, Zhou Ming went to the Magic Liquid Research Institute, where Yi Yi Assistant reported three troublesome incidents on the Technology Tree Website.

• Source Yi told Zhou Ming and Su Yuxiang she had spent the day livestreaming games and described her success as a Bilibili celebrity.
• Zhou Ming urged Source Yi to spend less time on Bilibili, but Su Yuxiang reassured her and allowed her to continue.
• Su Yuxiang asked Source Yi to play the fifth season of Pandora's Love, and she and Zhou Ming watched it together.
• Zhou Ming went to the Magic Liquid Research Institute the next morning and opened Yi Yi Assistant on his computer.
• Yi Yi Assistant told Zhou Ming that three troublesome incidents had recently occurred on the Technology Tree Website and asked him to decide how to handle them.

Tang Tianqiang used the Technology Tree Website to transform Longshan Steel Factory, then fought to stay as its director and clashed with the new director, Dwarf Liu. After Tang beat Dwarf Liu over a sabotaged smelting operation, Zhou Ming instructed Yi Yi to warn enterprises that obstructed their bound users.

• Tang Tianqiang saved Longshan Steel Factory from collapse by using the Technology Tree Website to successfully smelt alloy steel and turn the factory profitable.
• When city leaders tried to transfer Tang, he revealed that the website was bound to him and kept his post as deputy director under the newly appointed Dwarf Liu.
• Dwarf Liu built a faction within the factory and repeatedly obstructed Tang’s alloy research, eventually causing a costly smelting failure by moving the rare earth powder without telling him.
• Tang stormed into Dwarf Liu’s office and beat him so badly that an ambulance took him to the hospital.
• Yi Yi told Zhou Ming that other enterprises were also obstructing bound users, and Zhou ordered a push notification warning that such enterprises could lose their bindings and be passed over in favor of private enterprises.

Zheng Weiliang, the womanizing president of Spark Engine, was killed by his partners after bringing three new women home, and Zhou Ming reclaimed his Technology Tree Website binding. Zhou Ming then ordered Yi Yi to revoke bindings from users whose promiscuity threatened their families, and the mass removals made the remaining users rein in their behavior.

• Zheng Weiliang rose to lead Spark Engine and gained more women after the successful launch of the Spark 9a engine.
• Zheng Weiliang brought three new women home, and his partners hacked him to death in his office.
• Yi Yi’s camera recorded Zheng Weiliang’s death, and Zhou Ming recovered the binding rights from his computer.
• Zhou Ming told Yi Yi to warn all bound users that immoral private lives could cost them their bindings.
• Yi Yi revoked more than thirty bindings in less than a week after identifying users who continued pursuing women, prompting the others to restrain themselves.

Zhao Renhao used the Technology Tree Website to obtain 10nm wafer production technology and tried to sell it to foreign companies rather than develop Li Xin International. After National Security Bureau agents detained him and kept the materials in Z Country, Zhou Ming recognized that preventing future technology leaks would be increasingly difficult.

• Zhao Renhao grew discouraged by Li Xin International's losses and prepared to accept a job offer from Samsung Company.
• Zhao Renhao rejected Samsung's offer, bought the 10nm Process technology from the Technology Tree Website, and began selling technology to wafer companies.
• Zhao Renhao copied the complete 10nm technical materials and planned to fly to South Korea for a deal, but his assistant Yi Yi detected his travel.
• National Security Bureau agents took Zhao Renhao into custody, and the technical materials remained in Z Country.
• Zhou Ming realized that stopping people from leaking the website's technologies overseas had become a serious problem.

Zhou Ming arranged a ten-year effort to keep the Technology Bomb’s data within Z Country, and the government signed an agreement and began building systems to prevent leaks. The Technology Tree Website introduced Yi Yi Assistant, which helped bound users access data securely and connect with one another, ending with users exchanging business in lively industry groups.

• Zhou Ming decided that the Technology Tree Website’s data could not be exposed globally without risking a war, so he had Source Yi approach Z Country’s leadership with a fabricated story about O-Xing People seeking a spaceship.
• Source Yi persuaded the leadership that Z Country could surpass every other nation if it absorbed the technology safely for ten years, and they signed the Ten-Year Non-Proliferation Agreement.
• The National Security Bureau established the Dragon Shield Bureau with sixty thousand personnel and began building the nationwide Skynet surveillance system.
• The Technology Tree Website canceled data package downloads and launched Yi Yi Assistant, which let bound users access cloud data across devices while removing sensitive data after logout.
• Bound users used Yi Yi Assistant’s chat groups to find old acquaintances and secure large business orders, making the Materials Group lively before users flocked to other industry groups.

Zhou Ming visited the Magic Liquid Research Institute’s beverage factory as its No. 3 Nutrient Solution line prepared to start production, and he named the drink Brute Dragon Beverage. The line began producing cans, and Zhou Ming and the staff celebrated its launch.

• Zhou Ming toured the factory, rewarded Du Ze and his team for their work, and learned that the military had ordered 600,000 liters of No. 1 Nutrient Solution.
• Ma Li explained that sales were growing through military, space agency, and medical interest, and Zhou Ming offered her a 200,000-yuan bonus.
• Zhou Ming discussed No. 3 Nutrient Solution’s production costs and pricing with Song Wenhui and Tian Yuanhao, then ordered Du Ze to start the line.
• Du Ze and the engineers activated the automated production line, which filled and packaged the first cans of Brute Dragon Beverage.
• Zhou Ming tasted Brute Dragon Beverage, praised its refreshing effect, and celebrated with Song Wenhui, Tian Yuanhao, Du Ze, and the others.

Zhou Ming invited Zhang Wenhai to work at his research institute after learning that Zhang’s father had stomach cancer, and he reassured him about getting through the family’s difficulties. He discussed his doctoral dissertation on conquering cancer with Professor Zhao Qiyu, hoping to earn his doctorate early so he could expand his Medical Empire.

• Zhang Wenhai asked Zhou Ming whether his company was hiring, and Zhou offered him a part-time researcher position with a path to full-time work after graduation.
• Zhang Wenhai told Zhou Ming that his father had stomach cancer and that he could not afford the surgery; Zhou offered to help, but Zhang said Professor Zhao Qiyu had already advanced the money.
• Chen Xianxin and Hao Yuqing greeted Zhou Ming, and he promised Hao six months of fully paid maternity leave while telling her to stop working soon.
• Chen Xianxin questioned Zhou Ming’s plan to earn his doctorate within a year, and Zhang Wenhai praised Zhou’s record of publishing top-tier papers.
• Zhao Qiyu arrived, and Zhou Ming showed him his doctoral dissertation on conquering cancer and asked him to check it for flaws.

Yun Xinghe awoke early when the Flying Heaven was thrown into a dangerous spin inside an unknown Black Matter Belt and discovered that the ship was lost with limited fuel. He used Probability Cards to identify a promising escape route, and the Flying Heaven began following it through the darkness.

• Yun Xinghe awoke from hibernation after the Flying Heaven entered a violent spiral, and he recovered some memories after treating his injuries.
• Xiao Kong told Yun Xinghe that strange spatial turbulence and an antigravity field had disabled the ship's instruments and left it lost in the Black Matter Belt with only eight light-years of range.
• Yun Xinghe called Zhou Ming for Probability Cards, then asked Xiao Kong to model an escape plan using four 1% cards and one 10% card; Xiao Kong calculated a 96% chance of escape.
• Yun Xinghe used a 1% Probability Card, which changed the star map to show ninety-nine favored routes, and selected the central route.
• Yun Xinghe ordered Xiao Kong to load the route, and the Flying Heaven continued through the Black Matter Belt along it.

Yun Xinghe led Flying Heaven through the black matter belt, but dark energy lifeforms invaded the ship and took control of him and four crew members. The story left Zhou Ming with a system prompt asking whether to destroy the lifeforms.

• Yun Xinghe woke the crew, defended his chosen course against Bieliekov's objections, and gained the crew's support.
• After ten years and four uses of the 1% Probability Card, Flying Heaven reached the edge of the black matter belt.
• As Flying Heaven neared the belt's exit, strange electromagnetic noises intensified, and Old Grandpa warned Yun Xinghe about the legend of a ghost ship.
• Dark energy bodies swarmed over Flying Heaven, damaged its engine, and entered through the tail engine port despite the ship's attempt to escape.
• Energy bodies possessed Yun Xinghe, Su Jialu, Yun Qiaoqiao, Uehara Aika, and Xia Xingkong, and Zhou Ming received a prompt asking whether to activate the defense mechanism.

Zhou Ming’s system saved Yun Xinghe from a Special Energy Lifeform, but the Flying Heaven was soon overwhelmed by more Ghost Energy Bodies in the Black Matter Belt. Yun Xinghe and the crew survived the three-day assault and escaped into the Second Spiral Arm, then resumed their journey in hibernation.

• Zhou Ming ordered the system to eliminate the lifeform controlling Yun Xinghe, and Yun Xinghe found the crew attacking one another in the control room.
• Yun Xinghe called the Three-Eyed People for rope and helped restrain the possessed crew before more Ghost Energy Bodies entered the ship.
• Yun Xinghe remained unbound as the Ghost Energy Bodies possessed the others, and his system erased the entities that tried to enter his body.
• The Flying Heaven endured three days in the Black Matter Belt before breaking free, while the remaining entities aboard gradually dispersed.
• Yun Xinghe and the crew recovered from the ordeal, accelerated the Flying Heaven, and entered their Hibernation Pods for the journey onward.

After 150 years in hibernation, the Flying Heaven reached the Second Spiral Arm and discovered signs of life in a supposedly barren star system. As the crew prepared to resupply, billions of Zerg launched from Planet No. 4 and raced toward the ship, leaving Yun Xinghe to send three Water Drops to intercept them.

• Yun Xinghe spoke with a Federation scientist, learned the Federation had prospered, and heard that Pandora Star and most of its Floating Stone had been preserved.
• The Flying Heaven entered a star system where Xiao Kong AI detected mysterious, densely packed holes on Planet No. 4.
• Yun Xinghe ordered the crew to investigate the holes while the Flying Heaven continued toward Planet No. 5 to replenish fuel and supplies.
• Du Xiaopang reported that billions of insectoid creatures had launched from Planet No. 4 and were heading toward the Flying Heaven.
• Yun Xinghe ordered all three Water Drops deployed to intercept the approaching Zerg.

Yun Xinghe and the Flying Heaven destroyed the Zerg in their system, killed the Mother Insect, and collected enough Energy Cores to power their ship for a thousand years. They traveled to system 2k01 seeking a chance to trade for a larger spacecraft, only to arrive in the middle of a war where Jialai People faced a massive Zerg assault.

• Three giant Water Drops disrupted the Zerg swarm, killing about one billion and delaying its arrival at Planet 5.
• The Flying Heaven stayed in the system for a year, built seven more giant Water Drops, and exterminated the Zerg forces.
• Yun Xinghe used ten giant Water Drops and Nuclear Missiles to kill the Mother Insect, causing the Zerg to fall into chaos and destroy themselves.
• Gu Fan found the Energy Cores, and Yun Xinghe moved them aboard the Flying Heaven in two Storage Compartments.
• Lan Xiulong and Luo Xin identified a nearby civilization that the Zerg might attack, and Yun Xinghe set course for system 2k01 to seek a trade for a larger spacecraft.
• The Flying Heaven arrived as more than ten million Zerg attacked a Jialai People fortress, leaving it close to collapse.

The Flying Heaven crew rescued Fortress 17 by killing the Zerg commander, then met Yi Muluo and learned about the Jialai Civilization’s war and its six-level civilization ranking. The crew concluded that Jialai was a small nation compared with the Blue Star Federation.

• The Zerg overwhelmed Fortress 17, and Yi Muluo’s request for reinforcements was rejected by his superiors.
• Yun Xinghe ordered the Water Drop to destroy the Zerg commander, causing the attacking Zerg to turn on one another and saving the fortress’s remaining defenders.
• Several days later, Yi Muluo watched footage of the rescue aboard the Flying Heaven and thanked Yun Xinghe and his crew.
• Yun Xinghe told Yi Muluo that the Blue Star Federation had destroyed a Zerg Home Nest, and Yi Muluo explained the local civilization rankings and Jialai’s level-two status.
• Yi Muluo described Jialai’s 101 star systems and the enormous losses it had suffered to hold the Karol Star System.
• Yun Xinghe and the crew compared Jialai’s limited territory with the Blue Star Federation’s access to millions of unclaimed star systems.

Yun Xinghe learned about the Second Spiral Arm from Yi Muluo and rewarded him with valuable Energy Cores and a laser gun. After Yi Muluo warned him about the Jialai Civilization’s nobles, Yun Xinghe decided to test how useful the civilization could be while seeking contact with its leaders.

• Yi Muluo described the Second Spiral Arm’s countries, dangerous regions, and powerful civilizations, including the Level Five Miao Ya Civilization.
• Yun Xinghe offered Yi Muluo gold, a powerful laser gun, and fifty Zerg Energy Cores; Yi Muluo recognized the cores as exceptionally valuable and accepted them along with a secure case and the gun.
• Yi Muluo explained that Energy Cores came only from elite Zerg and served as valuable currency and spacecraft power sources in the Jialai Civilization.
• Yun Xinghe asked Yi Muluo to inform Karol Planet’s highest-ranking Jialai defense officer that the Flying Heaven wanted to contact the civilization’s upper ranks and make a deal.
• Yi Muluo warned Yun Xinghe that the Jialai nobles were greedy and incompetent, while Yun Xinghe planned to use the encounter to assess the civilization and learn how best to deal with others.

The Flying Heaven helped the Jialai Civilization destroy the Zerg Mother Insect on Karol Planet, but the Jialai nobles punished the victorious soldiers and seized their rewards. The Jialai president then plotted to capture the Blue Star Civilization’s visitors and steal their technology when they arrived at Siwa Star.

• Luo Xin offered Si Dasi a plan to kill the Mother Insect, with the Flying Heaven providing intelligence and air support while Jialai soldiers carried Nuclear Warheads into the nest.
• Three months later, the operation killed the Mother Insect in under ten hours, with fewer than five hundred casualties and more than ten thousand Energy Cores recovered.
• Jialai nobles punished officers who criticized their leadership, canceled the participating soldiers’ rewards, and took the spoils for themselves.
• The Blue Star Civilization’s help prompted a Jialai leadership meeting, where Rang Jiaduo objected to diplomatic relations and the president revealed plans to exploit the visitors’ technology.
• The president and senior officials agreed to welcome the Blue Star Civilization at Siwa Star while planning to keep its people there and extract technology from their spacecraft.

The Flying Heaven tricked the Jialai Civilization into providing extensive information about nearby powers and cultures, then passed through the Siwa Star System without stopping. Yun Xinghe and his crew headed for Thousand Stars City, a free-trade hub where they hoped to explore and trade.

• The Jialai Civilization gathered detailed information for the Flying Heaven while expecting to receive Matter Reactor and Ion Engine technology in return.
• The Jialai leadership celebrated as the Flying Heaven entered the Siwa Star System’s Oort Cloud, but its astronomers discovered the ship was only passing through.
• The president ordered the fleet to pursue the Flying Heaven, but General Rang Jiaduo explained that their ships could not catch it, and the president collapsed after cursing his officers.
• Aboard the Flying Heaven, Yun Xinghe defended the deception, while Luo Xin said their response followed the principle of diplomatic reciprocity.
• Yun Xinghe and the crew set course for Thousand Stars City, a prosperous free-trade system, carrying Zerg Energy Cores and extensive technical data to trade.

Yun Xinghe and the Flying Heaven crew reached Thousand Stars City, registered their civilization and three species, and explored the city until their gifted Star Coins ran low. Yun Xinghe proposed that the crew become Interstellar Merchants to earn money and extend their stay.

• The Flying Heaven arrived at Thousand Stars City, where Yun Xinghe registered the Blue Star Humans, Three-Eyed People, and Erqi People while keeping their civilization’s arrival confidential.
• The Three-Eyed People angrily defended their intelligence after visitors mocked their tiny size, and their registration was approved.
• The crew spent half a month exploring Thousand Stars City and used nearly all of their gifted Star Coins.
• Yun Xinghe and the crew discussed ways to earn money, including selling their Energy Cores, and Yun Xinghe proposed becoming Interstellar Merchants.

Yun Xinghe and the crew established Flying Heaven Trading Co., Ltd. in Thousand Stars City to sell their Zerg Energy Cores. After they advertised a supply of over one million cores, merchants across the city began discussing the company and considering purchases.

• Yun Xinghe and his companions chose the energy trade and rented a warehouse, using their Energy Cores as collateral for a 100,000-Star-Coin loan.
• Lan Xiulong registered Flying Heaven Trading Co., Ltd., while Luo Xin and the other crew members prepared its office and sales operations.
• Yun Xinghe gave Luo Xin 80,000 Star Coins to advertise the company and attract customers.
• Merchants around Thousand Stars City discussed Flying Heaven Trading Co., Ltd.'s claim that it could supply more than one million Zerg Energy Cores.
• Several Interstellar Merchants planned to visit the company and buy cores, including one who expected the Green Immortal Civilization to need them for a war against the Zerg.