Chapter Summaries

Wei struggled to make sense of the Black Hole Energy data while Lin Fan worried that Purgatory could use Black Hole Channels to strike anywhere in Federation space. The chapter revealed that Galon was recovering from the cost of opening a channel and could not launch another invasion for years.

• The Federation gathered its scientists and research assistants aboard the Bailan super research ship to study the remaining Black Hole Energy.
• Wei reviewed the collected data but found Black Hole Channels beyond her current understanding, and she continued working rather than giving up.
• Lin Fan's human-insect forces retook the Sasar Starfield and captured more than ten starfields in three days.
• Lin Fan worried that Purgatory might cross Superclusters and attack the Federation's core region without warning.
• Galon slept to recover from its injuries and would need at least two or three years before it could use its Black Hole Channel ability again.

Lin Fan warned the Federation that Aliya and the insectoid race could evolve into an overwhelming threat, but argued that they still had to serve as the Federation’s defense against Purgatory. The leadership was left unsure whether he supported preserving or exterminating them.

• Lin Fan and Lin Yu joined the Federation’s leadership meeting to discuss the insectoid race’s fate.
• Lin Fan explained how the insectoid race had resisted Hypnos’s much stronger Purgatory Legion through its varied war bugs and abilities.
• Lin Fan warned that Aliya could use captured powerful creatures’ genes to perfect her race and become far more dangerous.
• The leaders shifted toward exterminating the insectoid race after hearing Lin Fan’s warning.
• Lin Fan argued that the Federation could not exterminate the insectoids yet because they were needed to hold off and test the Purgatory Legion.
• The leaders were left confused by Lin Fan’s opposing arguments for exterminating the insectoids and keeping them as a defense.

Lin Fan persuaded the Federation to postpone exterminating the Zerg for up to fifteen years while humanity prepared for a possible Purgatory invasion and researched Black Hole Energy. Three years later, Galon learned that humans had killed Heg, and he warned Hypnos not to confront humanity after hearing that they could wield Dark Energy.

• Lin Fan presented Wei’s reports, which predicted Aliya could become an eighth-order Royal Bug and warned that Black Hole Energy research would take at least ten years.
• Lin Fan proposed using the Zerg to buy humanity time, with their extermination required within fifteen years.
• Lin Zhen put the proposal to a vote, and all nineteen senior officials approved it unanimously.
• Three years later, Galon awoke in Holy Land Helawei and asked Hypnos about Heg.
• Hypnos told Galon that humans had killed Heg and taken his remains for research.
• After hearing that humanity could wield Dark Energy, Galon told Hypnos to leave the matter to others rather than risk his life.

Rasti saw humanity’s defeat of Hegel and Purgatory’s legions as a chance to free the technological civilizations from Galon’s control. He ordered the Sels Empire and Sallamo Republic to mobilize their fleets, leaving humanity in the path of his scheme.

• Rasti questioned Lawrence and Esek, who reported that they had brought more than ninety percent of their civilizations under control, with only scattered resistance remaining.
• Rasti told Lawrence and Esek that humanity, an Eighth Order Civilization in the Laniakea Supercluster, had destroyed Purgatory’s Second Legion, repelled its First Legion, and killed Hegel.
• Rasti argued that humanity must possess a weapon or technology capable of defeating Biological Civilizations and that acquiring it could help the technological civilizations escape Galon’s rule.
• Rasti ordered the Sels Empire and Sallamo Republic to mobilize their fleets and prepare to deploy everything against humanity.

Lin Fan fortified the Sasar Starfield while preparing to contain Purgatory and eradicate the insect race. Meanwhile, Zi Ling advanced rapidly as a Dark Energy Manipulator and asked Lin Yu to return with her to Lancer someday.

• Rasty ordered Lawrence and Esek to mobilize their Ninth Order Civilizations for an expedition, redirecting most production toward war preparations.
• Lin Fan secured Aliya's agreement to station Federation troops in the Viers Supercluster and take control of the Sasar Starfield and Current Node Chers.
• Over three years, Lin Fan turned the Sasar Starfield into a heavily defended fortress as the insect race reclaimed territory and bred war insects in its Minor Universe.
• Zi Ling, whom Lin Yu had rescued from the insect race's Minor Universe, reached B-Class and neared A-Class after three years at the Interstellar Military Academy.
• In Federation Year 157, Zi Ling told Lin Yu she expected to become an A-Class Dark Energy Manipulator that year and asked him to return with her to Lancer when she became an S-Class; Lin Yu agreed.

Zi Ling committed herself to training so she could become an S-Class Dark Energy Manipulator and eventually return to Rasser. Meanwhile, the Tarak Civilization prepared to defend Rasser from an insect swarm, and Commander Zi Luo ordered the swarm let inside the defense network so the fleet could trap it in a pincer attack.

• Zi Ling ended her leisure time and returned to her studies, determined to advance to S-Class and help the Tarak Clan leave the Minor Universe.
• An insect swarm reached Rasser after exterminating more than ninety percent of the Minor Universe’s primitive civilizations.
• The Tarak Civilization, which had secretly developed to near the fifth technological level, prepared its fleets and defenses to protect Rasser.
• Zi Luo learned the swarm consisted of one fifth-level, one million fourth-level, and nine million third-level war insects.
• Zi Luo ordered the Starry Sky Defense Network shut down so the swarm would enter before the fleet attacked from the front and the network struck from behind.

Ebol led a swarm of ten million war bugs toward Planet Lancer, where the Tarak Civilization fleet ambushed them. As the swarm advanced, Zi Luo ordered Lancer’s hidden defenses revealed and two fleets prepared to block the bugs’ retreat.

• Ebol brought his swarm toward Lancer, the last target in his assigned territory.
• The Tarak Civilization fleet struck the approaching bugs with a saturation attack, and Ebol judged that its weapons belonged to a Tier 4 civilization.
• Ebol ordered the swarm to press forward, believing it could overwhelm the fleet in close combat.
• Ebol failed to notice the unusual number of asteroid belts along the swarm’s route through the otherwise nearly empty Minor Universe.
• Zi Luo ordered the Starry Sky Defense Network’s camouflage removed, its platforms to charge their weapons, and the Sixth and Seventh Fleets to prepare short-range jumps to block the bugs’ retreat.

Zi Luo’s Lancer Defense Network trapped Ebol and devastated his bug swarm, forcing the fifth-tier king bug to prepare an escape through a Bug Nest Channel. Zi Luo ordered the Star Cannon fired at Ebol, revealing the weapon beneath the planet’s surface as the chapter ended.

• The camouflage on millions of Defense Platforms across the Lancer Starry Sky Defense Network shattered, exposing the weapons surrounding Ebol.
• Zi Luo ordered the Defense Platforms to attack, and their first volley destroyed nearly a tenth of Ebol’s bug swarm.
• Ebol decided to shield himself with war bugs and open a Bug Nest Channel to escape.
• The Tarak Civilization detected the channel’s abnormal energy, and Zi Luo ordered the Star Cannon to target Ebol.
• A hidden door opened in Lancer’s surface, revealing the Star Cannon built beneath the planet.

Zi Luo ordered the Star Cannon to kill Ebol before it could escape or report the Starry Sky Defense Network, then led the Tarak forces in destroying the uncontrolled swarm. The first Tarak-Zerg war ended in victory, but Zi Ling was still at least ten thousand years from returning.

• Zi Luo ordered the Star Cannon to fire at 75% power as Ebol opened a Bug Nest Channel to escape.
• The Star Cannon beam destroyed Ebol and approximately 1.5 million ordinary battle bugs.
• Zi Luo warned that the remaining bugs would charge Rasser without their King Bug and ordered the fleets and Lan Feng's surface troops to prepare defenses.
• The orbital fleets and Starry Sky Defense Network slaughtered most of the charging swarm, while the Tarak forces annihilated the bugs that reached their formation.
• The Tarak Civilization won its first war against the Zerg, losing more than 1,200 warships and nearly ten thousand space fighters.

After twelve years of preparation, the Federation was ready to confront the Insect Race, which had grown stronger as Aliya advanced to the eighth order. Zi Ling, now an S-Class Dark Energy Manipulator, reached the hidden entrance to the Insect Race’s Minor Universe aboard the Lancer to protect the Tarak Civilization.

• Lin Fan prepared to strike the Insect Race after intelligence revealed new war insects and Aliya’s breakthrough to the eighth order.
• The Federation made major advances in technology and dark energy, including Zi Ling’s rise to S-Class and the refit of the Dauntless Fleet.
• Zi Ling asked Lin Yu to let her enter the Insect Race’s Minor Universe ahead of the coming war to protect the Tarak Clan, and the Federation approved her request.
• Zi Ling arrived at the Minor Universe’s hidden entrance aboard the Lancer and prepared to open a passage without alerting the Insect Race.

The chapter recounted how the Tarak Civilization’s Saintess Zi Luo led her people against the bug race, was critically wounded, and was placed in stasis as her civilization was nearly destroyed. Ten thousand years later, with the bug race closing on the last surviving city, a warning from the Human Federation appeared in the sky.

• Zi Luo became the Tarak Civilization’s fleet commander and led it to victory over Queen Bug Ebol.
• After sensing Dark Energy, Zi Luo became the civilization’s second Saintess and guided her people for two thousand years.
• Yalance led a massive bug-race invasion of Lancer, destroying the Tarak Civilization’s defenses and most of its population.
• Zi Luo was mortally wounded, so the Tarak leadership placed her in a Stasis Pod for ten thousand years.
• As bugs approached the last surviving city, a device preserved in the central cathedral projected a warning that Lancer was Human Federation territory.

After the insect race confined the Tarak Civilization to its last city for ten thousand years, Zi Ling returned to Lancer and discovered signs of a devastating battle. She rushed toward the planet as the Tarak Civilization and the insect race detected her advanced warship.

• Aliya ordered Yalance to stop attacking the Tarak Civilization but confine it to its final city, ban its military development, and station war bugs on Lancer.
• Ten thousand years passed, and the Tarak Civilization struggled to decide whether to unseal Zi Luo before her hibernation pod damaged her permanently.
• Zi Ling arrived near Lancer and saw its scorched surface and the wreckage of millions of Tarak warships and other defenses.
• Zi Ling recognized the Tarak Clan's emblem among the wreckage and ordered her warship to make a planetary landing.
• The Tarak Civilization detected Zi Ling's warship and watched in disbelief as it accelerated to extreme speed before rapidly decelerating near Lancer.

Zi Ling discovered Tarak Civilization survivors on Lancer and launched to confront a King Insect as the warship faced an enormous swarm. The Great Elder recognized the ship’s emblem and ordered the secretive Saintess Guard, led by Zi Lian, to deploy and protect it.

• Zi Ling learned that insects were massing on Lancer and that Tarak Civilization survivors remained, then ordered her Bifang prepared to fight the fifth-tier King Insect at the North Pole.
• The Great Elder identified the warship’s emblem as the gods’ vehicle and ordered the previously hidden Saintess Guard to prepare for deployment.
• The Great Elder showed Zi Lian the warship, and she agreed to send the Saintess Guard out to protect it even if they died in battle.
• The warship blasted a path through the encircling insects, and Zi Ling deployed Bifang while a team of Dark Energy Manipulators prepared to attack.

Zi Ling returned to the Tarak Civilization after fifteen thousand years, while the Lancer and her Bifang Mech swiftly destroyed the insect swarm and its King Bug. The chapter ended with the Tarak people welcoming their returned Saintess as she declared, “I'm back!”

• The Lancer unleashed Dark Energy attacks that rapidly annihilated the insect swarm surrounding the ship, astonishing Opes and Zi Lian.
• Zi Ling flew the Bifang Mech to the North Pole, located Oakes beneath the ice, and killed the fifth-tier King Bug with a beam.
• Zi Ling returned to the central city and landed, drawing the Tarak people and the Saintess Guard to the square.
• Zi Lian and the Great Elder recognized Zi Ling as the Saintess, and the Great Elder knelt and wept as the crowd fell silent.
• Zi Ling stepped before the Great Elder and announced that she had returned.

Zi Ling revived Zi Luo and restored her health, while the Federation prepared a final campaign to eliminate the insect race. Lin Fan assigned fleets their roles as the operation approached.

• Zi Ling used her Dark Energy Auxiliary Computing Device to heal Zi Luo after the Stasis Pod opened.
• Zi Luo’s recovery sparked celebrations as Tarak Civilization welcomed Zi Ling’s return and the end of its fear of the insect race.
• Lin Fan gathered the Federation’s senior commanders in the Sasar Starfield and announced a full-scale campaign against the insect race.
• Lin Fan ordered Lin Tian to split the Dauntless Fleet and guard passages to the Nilkenia and Sanniya Super Galaxy Clusters against fleeing insects and Purgatory forces.
• Lin Fan tasked Lin Yu’s Nether Fleet with killing every King Bug and disrupting the insect race’s command chain.
• Lin Fan appointed Liang Xingchen deputy overall commander and ordered the conventional fleets to follow the Nether Fleet and destroy all remaining insect forces.

Lin Fan deployed the Three-Eyed, Angel, and Elf fleets to guard key positions while the Nether Fleet launched a surprise attack against the bugs in the Sasar Starfield. Wang Hai’s First Legion killed Esias and several nearby Queen Bugs, then began coordinating strikes against the remaining targets in the Crete Starfield.

• Lin Fan assigned Mu’s Three-Eyed fleet to guard Chers and tasked Aierfei’s Angel fleet and Alwin’s Elf fleet with defending the Sasar Starfield as reserves.
• The Nether Fleet entered the Sasar Starfield, catching Aliya’s unprepared Queen Bugs by surprise.
• Esias mistook Wang Hai’s First Legion for another human fleet merely passing through the Crete Starfield.
• Wang Hai ordered a Dark Energy Particle Compression Stream attack that killed Esias along with two Tier 2 and five Tier 3 Queen Bugs nearby.
• Wang Hai sent division fleets to hunt the remaining Queen Bugs and clear safe zones for the follow-up fleets.

The Federation's forces captured twenty-seven Zerg starfields while Aliya prepared to deploy the battle bugs she had cultivated. Meanwhile, the Sels Empire and Sallamo Republic sent most of their fleets toward Vilsert, and Lin Fan's forces fortified a route into the Nilkenia Super Galaxy Cluster as Aliya's evolution into an eighth-order Imperial Bug was revealed.

• Wang Hai's Nether Fleet cleared the surrounding bug swarms, then handed the safe zone to Shangguan Yunting's conventional fleets before departing for the next starfield.
• The Federation seized twenty-seven Zerg starfields, and Aliya learned of the offensive after more than twenty starfields had fallen.
• Latis sent the Sels Empire and Sallamo Republic's fleets to fight the Federation while Zilun Empire forces suppressed resistance within their territories.
• Lin Kexin oversaw construction of a Starry Sky Defense Network at the Heres Current Node to strengthen the Dauntless Fleet's defenses.
• Aliya was revealed in the Boötes Void as an eighth-order Imperial Bug whose evolution had made her nearly human-sized and humanlike.

Aliya gathered the Zerg at the Neumann Star Cluster as the Federation prepared for a decisive battle. At Heres, Lin Kexin’s forces attacked an unknown fleet emerging from the Current and discovered that its ships used Dark Energy Shields.

• Aliya ordered the Zerg to assemble in the Neumann Star Cluster because scattered garrisons could not stop the Federation’s advance.
• The Federal Fleet captured three Star Clusters in a month and gathered more than eighty formations in Wesserlo ahead of the battle at Neumann.
• Lin Kexin ordered a level-one combat alert at Heres and commanded her forces to fire on the fleet emerging from the Current.
• The Federation’s barrage destroyed the first wave of enemy ships, but each vessel endured several Dark Energy hits before being destroyed.
• Lin Kexin learned that the unknown fleet used Dark Energy Shields and might belong to a Ninth Order Civilization.

Lin Kexin struggled to hold the Heres defensive line against an unknown Ninth Order Civilization emerging from the Cosmic Current, while Lin Fan sent major reinforcements. The first line fell, and the Federation’s forces prepared to make their stand at the second.

• Lin Kexin requested two Nether Legions as reinforcements after realizing the enemy fleet at Heres was growing.
• The Sels Empire and Sallamo Republic fleets emerged from the Current confused by the Federation’s powerful defenses and unable to contact their command center.
• Lin Fan ordered Lin Tian to send three Nether Legions to Heres and redirected the Angel and Elf fleets there.
• Alwin welcomed the chance to take the Elf fleets into battle, while Aierfei prepared to lead the Angel fleet.
• Wang Hai’s Nether First through Third Legions approached Heres, while the Angel and Elf fleets lagged behind by ten hours.
• Lin Kexin reported that the first defensive line had fallen and that the Dauntless Fleet had lost 107,000 warships.

The Dauntless Fleet struggled to hold back the Silas Empire as its bridgehead at the Current Mouth grew, forcing Lin Kexin to shift her defenses and launch Zero-Point Missiles. The missiles destroyed at least twenty million enemy warships, while Willvis recognized that his failure to prepare had cost the Silas Empire dearly.

• Lin Kexin pulled the first defensive line back and committed the remaining reserve clusters to suppress the Silas Empire’s expanding bridgehead.
• Lin Kexin ordered ten Zero-Point Missiles launched despite doubts about their effectiveness against Dark Energy Shields.
• Willvis detected the missiles’ Hyperspace Windows and ordered most of his ships to switch from Dark Energy Shields to Phase Shields.
• The missiles detonated in the Silas Empire fleet, destroying ships caught between shield changes and shattering the Dark Energy Shields of outer ships.
• Willvis blamed himself for failing to prepare against a weapon his forces already knew humanity possessed.