Recaps

After the Battle of Shanhai Pass, the Federation announced that 50 million people had died and began distributing compensation payments. Lin Zhen discovered that every payment had gone to an immediate family member, and Ed later confirmed his suspicion of widespread fraud.

• Lin Zhen and the officials judged that Lin Fan had performed well despite the Federation's heavy losses, and Lin Zhen told Saunders to oversee the compensation payments carefully.
• At a press conference, Lin Zhen announced the 50 million casualties, and Lin Fan said compensation payments would begin in three days and urged citizens to supervise them.
• After a month of oversight uncovered no evidence of tampering, Lin Zhen noticed that none of the 50 million payments had gone to secondary heirs, unlike in previous rounds.
• Lin Zhen shared the anomaly with Ed, and the two discussed it privately for two hours.
• Three days later, Ed returned and told Lin Zhen that his suspicion had been confirmed.

Lin Zhen uncovered a vast conspiracy to steal compensation from fallen soldiers and ordered mass arrests across the Federation. As anger and disorder spread among the troops at Shanhai Pass, Lin Fan persuaded Lin Zhen to hold Haorwen’s execution there.

• Ed reported that Federation officials had falsified records to divert compensation meant for 1.6 million fallen soldiers, and identified Deputy Minister Haorwen as the organizer.
• Lin Zhen ordered Ed to close the investigation within three days and have the Federal Central Guard cooperate.
• The Central Guard arrested more than 3,000 people on the first day and 1.6 million more on the second, prompting Lin Zhen to explain the scandal at a press conference.
• Soldiers at Shanhai Pass grew enraged over their fallen comrades’ stolen compensation, and Lin Fan saw reports that disorder was spreading.
• Lin Fan asked Lin Zhen to hand Haorwen’s execution over to the Shanhai Pass War Zone, and Lin Zhen agreed.

Half a year after the compensation case was exposed, the thirty-two principal offenders were brought to Shanhai Pass for execution. Lin Fan ordered the prisoners to be executed by being thrown into space, leaving the soldiers and Federation citizens watching the livestream.

• The Federation sentenced Haorwen, thirty-one other principal offenders, and their accomplices for stealing compensation meant for fallen soldiers.
• Lin Zhen asked the chief justice to send the thirty-two death row prisoners to Shanhai Pass for execution, and the request was approved.
• A prison transport ship arrived at Virallas Star, and Lin Fan and Liang Xue took custody of the thirty-two prisoners.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xue led the prisoners into an empty chamber, where the Shanhai Pass soldiers and Federation citizens watched through a livestream.
• Lin Fan checked the time and ordered the prisoners executed.

The Federation strengthened its forces and continued its campaign to unify the Minor Arm, while Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen prepared for a future advance into the main arm. Babania, unable to learn what happened to Babarot's fleet, was ordered by Emperor Babareya to continue toward Taylor, leaving six years until the Second Battle of Shanhai Pass.

• The Federation graduated more than 600 million military academy students and planned to establish the Sixth and Seventh Fleets at Shanhai Pass.
• The subordinate civilizations' allied forces grew to 15 million warships, bringing the total force in Liang Xingchen's Minor Arm campaign to nearly 22 million warships.
• Liang Xingchen projected that the campaign to unify the Minor Arm would finish within two years, after which his forces could meet Lin Fan at Shanhai Pass.
• Babania concluded that Babarot's ten corps had likely been destroyed but remained unable to determine how the enemy had defeated them or blocked communications.
• Emperor Babareya rejected Babania's concerns and ordered him to proceed to Taylor and then seize Virallas through the Star Path.
• Babania's army remained three years from Taylor, with another three years of travel through the Star Path, leaving six years until the Second Battle of Shanhai Pass.

With the Vera Alliance’s defenses against the Freedom Alliance nearing collapse and its forces locked against the Zola Alliance, Xis offered Verto a plan to lure both enemies to the Satchers Defense Line and destroy their main forces. Verto saw the plan’s potential for a major comeback, but the chapter ended before he accepted or acted on it.

• The Zola Alliance and Vera Alliance amassed roughly 90 billion and 100 billion warships, respectively, at the Satchers Defense Line, while the Vera Alliance’s defenses against the Freedom Alliance dwindled to fewer than 50 billion ships against 100 billion.
• Verto received a communication from Xis and angrily blamed him for allowing the Zola Alliance to advance.
• Xis said the Freedom and Zola Alliances would likely join forces against the Xio Alliance after defeating Vera, so he wanted to help Verto.
• Xis proposed that Verto withdraw his remaining Galactic Core forces to lure the Freedom Alliance to the Satchers Defense Line, where 100 billion Xio Alliance warships could trap the enemy between them and Vera’s forces.
• Verto calculated that the plan could bring 250 billion warships against 190 billion and considered that the Vera Alliance might stage a major comeback.

Verto ordered the Vera Alliance to launch a full counterattack after the Xio Alliance secretly positioned 100 billion warships behind the Freedom and Zola Alliances. As the Vera fleet advanced and the Xio forces appeared, the enemy commander realized the two movements might be part of an encirclement.

• The Vera Alliance's 50 billion retreating warships reached the Satchers Defense Line, where they joined 100 billion defenders as the Freedom and Zola Alliances arrived with 190 billion warships.
• During the third month of battle, Verto received Xis's message that everything was in position and ordered a counterattack across the line.
• Angus and General Alfred learned that the Xio Alliance had positioned 100 billion warships behind the enemy and prepared to join the counterattack.
• One hour later, the Vera Alliance's 150 billion warships surged out from the Satchers Defense Line in fifteen groups.
• The Freedom and Zola commander learned that 100 billion Xio Alliance warships had appeared behind his forces and suspected the Vera and Xio movements were coordinated.

The Xio Alliance launched a surprise attack on a Zola Alliance supply fleet and then joined the battle at the Satchers Defense Line, turning the conflict into a full-scale galactic war. As the two alliances suffered heavier losses and fell behind in numbers, their commanders began considering retreat.

• The Xio Alliance commander ordered the destruction of a Zola Alliance supply fleet, and five billion warships ambushed and wiped out its one hundred million transports and thirty million escorts.
• The two alliances deployed fifty billion warships to guard against the approaching Xio Alliance fleet, weakening their forces facing the Vera Alliance.
• The Xio Alliance opened fire on the fifty billion warships, overwhelming them with its one hundred billion ships in open space.
• The battle split between the Xio Alliance and the two alliances' rear force, and the Vera Alliance and the two alliances' main forces at the Satchers Defense Line.
• The two alliances lost their numerical advantage and struggled on both fronts, prompting their commanders to consider retreating.

With the Freedom Alliance and Zola Alliance fleets trapped, Hussein negotiated with Xis and Verto to secure their surrender and return. After Hussein left, Xis revealed to Verto that he intended to exploit the surrender and gestured toward his next move.

• Moros warned Hussein that more than 180 billion Freedom Alliance and Zola Alliance warships faced encirclement and destruction.
• Hussein, Xis, and Verto met, and Xis explained that he had intervened to prevent the Freedom Alliance and Zola Alliance from destroying the Vera Alliance and threatening the Xio Alliance afterward.
• Hussein agreed to stop attacking the Vera Alliance in exchange for letting his trapped fleet return, and Xis demanded that the fleet surrender first.
• Verto reluctantly agreed to accept the surrender after Xis warned that the Xio Alliance would withdraw if he refused.
• After Hussein left, Xis told Verto to surround the surrendered fleets and order them to shut down their systems, then made a sinister gesture that stunned Viers.

After Zora and Freedom's fleets surrendered and disarmed, Verto's hidden order led Alfred to launch a surprise attack that massacred their forces. The news reached Hussein, who learned that the combined fleet had been wiped out.

• Zora and Freedom's 160 billion warships ceased fire, shut down their systems, and surrendered to Vera and Xio's forces.
• Alfred received Verto's secret order and learned that the surrender was a ruse to disarm the enemy before destroying it.
• Alfred ordered the surrounded fleet attacked, and more than 100 billion warships were destroyed immediately.
• The Vera and Xio fleets continued firing until no one survived from Zora and Freedom's combined fleet.
• A guard told Hussein that the surrendered fleet had been slaughtered, and Hussein dropped his cup.

After the Xio and Vera Alliances destroyed the Zola and Freedom Alliances’ main forces at the Satchers Defense Line, Xis and Verto prepared to advance into the Fourth Main Arm. News of the victory stirred the Xio Alliance, while Lin Zhen and Ed reacted with shock to the report.

• General Alfred reported that the combined Zola and Freedom Alliance forces had been wiped out at the Satchers Defense Line.
• Xis and Verto agreed to send their fleets toward the Fourth Main Arm and attack the weakened Freedom Alliance, while Xis kept 80 billion warships in the Galactic Core Channel to deter Hussein.
• The Xio Alliance announced that 187.5 billion enemy warships had been destroyed, with losses of 14.8 billion for the Vera Alliance and 2.3 billion for the Xio Alliance.
• Xio Alliance members discussed the Freedom Alliance’s collapse and the possibility that the Milky Way’s four-alliance order would become a three- or two-alliance order.
• Lin Zhen and Ed read the report at Earth’s Presidential Palace and looked shocked.

Lin Zhen and Ed planned to expand humanity’s power beyond the Orion Arm by taking advantage of the galactic war and targeting the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies. A breakthrough in spatial teleportation technology made the plan possible, while Lin Fan and Liang Xue arrived to witness Bai Zixuan test a Spatial Teleportation Gate.

• Lin Zhen told Ed that humanity could not rival the Four Major Spiral Arms by conquering the Orion Arm alone, so he proposed a strategy of expanding into smaller, neglected regions.
• Lin Zhen revealed that he also intended to target more than a dozen Milky Way satellite galaxies, and Ed pointed out the enormous distances involved.
• Lin Zhen showed Ed a document about Bai Zixuan’s spatial teleportation technology, which could be tested on a warship scale within ten years.
• Ed agreed that humanity could secretly develop in the satellite galaxies while maintaining its apparent position as a Level 4 Civilization and the Orion Arm’s new overlord.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xue arrived at Bai Zixuan’s laboratory in Shanhai Pass as the first Spatial Teleportation Gate test was about to begin.

Lin Fan watched Bai Zixuan test the Gate of Space, a teleportation device that could connect to a receiving gate up to 380,000 light-years away in seven minutes. The first human test succeeded when the tester emerged safely at the secondary gate on Virallas Star.

• Bai Zixuan showed Lin Fan the Gate of Space and began preparations for its first human test.
• The team powered up both gates, locked onto the secondary gate on Virallas Star, and established a stable spatial passage.
• Bai Zixuan explained the device's seven-minute transmission time, limited range, and high energy costs.
• The tester entered the Gate of Space as the team monitored the passage and prepared emergency rescue procedures.
• The tester emerged from the secondary gate on Virallas Star, and the observation room erupted in cheers.

The Federation’s Star Gate Network transformed interstellar travel and drove growth in tourism and immigration. Meanwhile, Vera and Xio broke through the Freedom Alliance’s defensive line, but Moros’s forces withdrew to a second line after a rearguard delayed pursuit.

• Lin Zhen proposed the Star Gate System, and the Federation deployed Interstellar Gates across its territory, reducing travel from Earth to Shanhai Pass to seven minutes.
• Star Gates made remote planets accessible, spurring interstellar tourism and encouraging people to immigrate to distant star regions.
• Moros mobilized the Freedom Alliance and assembled 100 billion warships to defend the Galactic Core Channel against Vera and Xio’s 230 billion-strong joint fleet.
• After half a year of fighting and losing more than 20 billion warships, the Freedom Alliance’s defenses began to falter.
• Vera and Xio’s fleet broke through the defensive line, and the Freedom Alliance commander ordered a retreat to the second line.
• The commander stayed behind with 5 billion warships to cover the retreat; after three days of fighting, Vera and Xio destroyed the rearguard, but 70 billion Freedom Alliance warships escaped.

The Zola Alliance attacked the Xio Alliance to draw its forces away from the First Main Arm while the Freedom Alliance struggled to replace its losses. In the Lasor Federation's Deo system, an undetectable crack appeared in space and began releasing asteroids, leaving Baltra's fleet facing an ominous anomaly.

• Hussein ordered the Zola Alliance to attack the Xio Alliance with 100 billion warships, while Xis relied on its defenses to hold until the First Main Arm battle ended.
• The Freedom Alliance began full mobilization and built warships at a rapid pace, but remained outmatched by the 230 billion enemy ships advancing on it.
• A vast, invisible crack opened near Deo VII in the Lasor Federation and began releasing asteroids.
• Wayne showed Governor Cruz scans revealing asteroids appearing where none had been detected, and Cruz ordered Baltra to investigate.
• Baltra led the 50,000-warship Deo Special Fleet toward the anomaly and saw a massive crack with more than a thousand asteroids gathered around it.

Baltra discovered that the asteroids emerging from a rift were packed with billions of spacefaring insects and ordered the Deo Special Fleet to attack. The swarm overwhelmed the fleet’s firepower and began tearing into its warships, leaving the battle underway as insects breached a vessel.

• Baltra sent two fighters to investigate the asteroid cluster, and a life-sign scan revealed at least one billion creatures inside a single asteroid.
• A swarm of enormous insects attacked the fighters and killed both pilots before they could retreat.
• Baltra ordered the 50,000-ship fleet to destroy the asteroids, but the attacks failed to stop the insects from pouring out in overwhelming numbers.
• The swarm crossed the fleet’s engagement zone, and Baltra ordered all warships to use their anti-air systems against the insects.
• More than a dozen insects slashed through a warship’s armor, and several crawled through the breach into its interior.

Insects overwhelmed Baltra’s Lasso Empire fleet and turned toward the crowded planet Deo VII. Governor Cruz ordered Dru’s worlds evacuated, then prepared to leave his orbital fortress and direct operations from the Dru Special Fleet’s flagship.

• Insects breached a Lasso Empire warship, killed its soldiers, and spread through the ship and nearby vessels.
• Baltra ordered his fleet to retreat, but the insects caught and destroyed forty thousand warships; his faster flagship and Guard Fleet escaped.
• The insects sensed the population on Deo VII and rushed toward the planet.
• Baltra reported the attack to Governor Cruz, who ordered the evacuation of Dru’s inhabited planets through the Star Path.
• Cruz arranged to transfer to the Dru Special Fleet’s flagship, claiming he needed a better position to command the evacuation.

Deo VII was overwhelmed by a vast swarm of insects that slaughtered Lasorians across the planet and destroyed civilian spacecraft fleeing into orbit. Hasso, the Triangle Empire’s Fourth Prince, escaped with his warship escort and ordered a test engagement to learn whether the insects could break through Level 4 Civilization defenses.

• Lasorians on Deo VII fought over escape shuttles as the descending insect swarm became visible and began attacking the planet.
• The insects breached buildings, including Deo VII’s heavily fortified luxury hotel, and devoured the Lasorians inside.
• The swarm caught and destroyed most civilian spacecraft fleeing into orbit, while Hasso escaped with a fleet of Triangle Empire warships.
• Hasso contacted Cruz and obtained intelligence about the insects’ attack on Deo VII and the destruction of the Deo Special Fleet.
• Hasso ordered ten warships to engage a swarm of roughly one million insects and gather data on their strength.

Hasso led ten Triangle Empire battleships into a direct engagement with an insect swarm to gather combat data. The ships’ Energy Shields initially held, but the insects used a blue-glowing attack to break them, leaving all ten battleships exposed.

• Hasso ordered the ten battleships to attack a swarm of more than a million insects while holding position to collect data.
• The battleships and their fighters killed large numbers of insects, but the swarm overwhelmed the fighters and reached the ships.
• The insects could not initially penetrate the battleships’ Energy Shields, so Hasso ordered the fleet to withdraw.
• The insects gathered a faint blue glow around their forelegs and used it to destroy the ships’ shields more than a hundred times faster.
• The remaining eight battleships lost their shields and were invaded before Hasso’s withdrawal order could save them.

After Hasso witnessed the insects overwhelm Deo VII, he warned the Vera Alliance and reinforced the Triangle Empire’s border, while the alliance planned a delayed punitive campaign. A queen insect began expanding the swarm through warp travel just as humanity’s fleets gathered at Shanhai Pass to face Babania’s thirty million warships.

• Hasso ordered his fleet to retreat from Deo VII and sent the Vera Alliance intelligence showing that the insects had destroyed the soldiers aboard ten warships.
• Verto organized a punitive campaign against the insects, but Hasso gathered ten million Triangle Empire warships near the Lasor Federation in case the swarm spread.
• A queen insect arrived on Deo VII, fed on prey brought by the swarm, and laid eggs before ordering the insects to seek more territory and food.
• The insect nests began warping outward from Drou as the swarm spread into surrounding regions.
• Lin Fan reported that Babania’s thirty million warships were headed for Shanhai Pass, and Lin Zhen sent Liang Xingchen’s legions, Io Federation forces, and allied fleets to prepare for battle.

Shanhai Pass assembled a vast allied defense force, and the Federation appointed Lin Fan supreme commander for the coming battle against the Babawi Empire. The chapter ended with the Empire’s 30 million warships nearing Virallas through the Star Path.

• The defenders gathered 35.88 million warships at Shanhai Pass, including the Federation’s new warp-capable battle star, Mars.
• Liang Xingchen read the order appointing Lin Fan supreme commander and himself deputy commander for the operation.
• The officers accepted Lin Fan’s appointment without objection, and Liang Xingchen handed him control of the operational conference.
• Seven days later, the Babawi Empire’s 30 million main-force warships traveled through the Star Path, with the foremost fleet ten minutes from Virallas.

Lin Fan prepared to use Bai Zixuan’s newly built Super Star Gate to send the Babawi fleet into the insect race’s occupied territory. The Star Gate activated at Shanhai Pass, leaving the plan ready as the enemy fleet approached.

• Babania learned that the Babawi forward fleet would reach Virallas in five minutes and ordered it to scan and report intelligence as soon as it emerged.
• Lin Fan prepared to destroy the Babawi fleet at the Star Path’s exit rather than let it pass into Shanhai Pass.
• Bai Zixuan completed the first fleet-class Super Star Gate, which required one million Lyca Crystals to activate and ten thousand more per minute to operate.
• Lin Fan ordered Bai Zixuan to lock onto coordinates in the insect race’s occupied territory and activate the Star Gate.
• The Super Star Gate formed a passage aimed at the center of the insect race’s thousand-light-year occupied zone, where the Babawi fleet would arrive despite possible transmission error.

Lin Fan’s plan sent Babawi warships through a Super Star Gate, concealing its existence and isolating the ships from their fleet. The first five thousand arrived in an unknown region, while Marshal Babania still had no word from the earlier batches.

• Lin Fan explained that the Super Star Gate could operate for fifteen hours, enough to divert millions of Babawi warships, and Liang Xingchen confirmed that the second batch of gifts had been sent ahead.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen watched surveillance feeds showing Zerg battle insects ignoring lifeless devices, while Liang Xue reported that the Babawi fleet was about to arrive.
• Babania’s densely packed batches of warships emerged from the Star Path and entered the hidden Super Star Gate without realizing it, leaving him increasingly worried when no reports came back.
• The first five thousand warships arrived in an unfamiliar region, and their mainframes flagged their location data as abnormal.
• A Babawi captain ordered his crew to analyze the surrounding star charts and contact Babania.

Babania’s fleet emerged from the Star Path in Deo instead of Virallas and discovered that hundreds of billions of insect race creatures were approaching. Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen watched as the Babawi Empire’s warships began fighting the swarm, intending to gather combat intelligence.

• Babania learned that his first fleet had emerged in the Deo Star System, far from Virallas, and that the later fleets had arrived there too.
• The fleet detected hundreds of billions of living creatures closing in, and Babania recognized them as the insect race and ordered the warships to form up and intercept them.
• Seventy thousand warships assembled as the swarm approached within firing range, and the commander ordered them to attack at full force.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen watched the battle begin, hoping to observe the insect race and collect detailed combat data.

Babania’s fleet became trapped at Deao when Lin Fan’s Warp Interruption Devices disabled its Warp Drives, forcing the ships to break through the insect swarm at heavy cost. The Babawi forces escaped the Stargate exit and began assembling elsewhere while kiting the bugs.

• Babania realized that the Deao Star System was occupied by at least 500 billion Combat Bugs, far more than the force Prince Hasso had faced.
• Babania assembled 200,000 warships and planned to warp away from the approaching swarm, but Lin Fan’s Warp Interruption Devices disabled their Warp Drives.
• Babania ordered the fleet to deploy carrier-based craft and intercept the bugs, but the swarm overwhelmed the formation and swallowed many warships.
• Babania ordered the warships to break out at full speed and directed later arrivals to leave the Stargate exit immediately.
• The first 200,000 warships escaped after losing half their number, while later ships suffered lighter casualties and the fleet assembled away from the exit as it kited the bugs.

Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen observed the Babawi Empire encounter the Sprayers, a long-range insect type, and watched as Socrates directed them against a test fleet. Babadiila lost nearly seven hundred warships but concluded that the Sprayers’ range was limited to five hundred thousand kilometers, leaving him confident in continuing his tactics.

• Lin Fan showed Liang Xingchen footage of the Sprayers and explained that their attacks rivaled Level 4 Civilization secondary cannons.
• Babadiila learned that a swarm of one hundred million Sprayers was approaching and reported the discovery to Babania.
• Babania ordered Babadiila to draw the insects away from the fleet assembly area and test the Sprayers’ attack range.
• Socrates recognized Babadiila’s plan and ordered the Sprayers to wait until the test fleet came within five hundred thousand kilometers.
• The Sprayers attacked the fifth-class fleet, destroying nearly seven hundred warships before Babadiila ordered the survivors back to the main fleet.