Chapter Summaries

Lin Fan correctly predicted Zhang Hu would defeat Li Cangqiong, who lacked real combat experience, and the individual competition’s top eight were decided. The finalists then learned how overwhelmingly strong Lin Fan was before their upcoming eight-versus-one challenge.

• Lin Fan explained that Li Cangqiong’s inexperience would make him hesitate, giving Zhang Hu the advantage if the fight lasted more than ten minutes.
• Li Cangqiong hesitated when Zhang Hu charged while shielding his vital points, then struggled through the fight as Zhang Hu pressed his advantage.
• Zhang Hu struck Li Cangqiong’s vital point in the thirteenth minute, winning the final and securing first place among the eight Federation Ace Pilots.
• The host announced that the eight finalists would challenge Lieutenant General Lin Fan as a team, and viewers reacted with excitement.
• Xia Tina asked whether Lin Fan was truly that strong, and Zhang Hu and Xisai said they had lasted only two minutes and thirty seconds against him in sparring.

Lin Fan began his one-versus-eight mech battle at full speed and used carefully calculated maneuvers to evade the squad’s attacks. He eliminated four opponents, leaving Li Cangqiong and three others facing him as the fight continued.

• Lin Fan assured Saunders that he was ready, then entered his mech and charged into the battlefield at full speed.
• Zhang Hu organized the eight pilots into a formation, pairing with Li Cangqiong to engage Lin Fan while the others prepared to surround him.
• Lin Fan used planetary debris to block the squad’s covering fire and shot Rogue and Wang Luo, eliminating both pilots.
• Lin Fan calculated the trajectories of the squad’s next volley, dodged the laser beams, and eliminated Xisai and Zhang Zhiwei.

Lin Fan defeated all eight ace pilots in the individual mech match and then watched the legion battle begin. The First Fleet’s Guard Mech Squadron launched a flanking charge against the advancing Fourth Fleet, targeting Rogue.

• Zhang Hu and three surviving pilots hid among planetary debris, but Lin Fan used fragments as cover to break their ambush and eliminate them.
• Lin Fan won the individual match, leaving the livestream audience stunned by his piloting skill.
• Li Fulai learned that Lin Fan could also pilot starships, though Lin Fan said he was only excellent at it.
• The legion battle began, and the Fourth Fleet gained the early advantage against the First Fleet.
• The First Fleet’s Guard Mech Squadron emerged from planetary debris in a triangular formation and charged into the Fourth Fleet’s ranks to decapitate Rogue.

After the First Fleet won the mech competition, it began rotating and refitting its forces while Lin Fan visited the Interstellar Military Academy to recruit promising graduates. The chapter ended with Lin Fan asking Li Cangqiong, Zhang Zhiwei, and Xia Tina to join the First Fleet.

• Zhang Hu led a counterattack that broke the Fourth Fleet's formation, and the First Fleet won the mech competition.
• Seven months later, the Fourth Fleet completed its refit and Liang Xingchen took command of the War God.
• Lin Fan handed over command to Liang Xingchen and returned with the First Fleet to Mars Base for its refit.
• Lin Fan, Liang Xue, and Emma attended the Interstellar Military Academy's graduation ceremony.
• After the ceremony, Lin Fan asked Li Cangqiong, Zhang Zhiwei, and Xia Tina to join the First Fleet.

Lin Fan recruited three mech pilots for the First Fleet, then traveled to Earth with Liang Xue and Emma to meet his father, visit his mother’s grave, and find Chris Rhode. They met Chris at his home, where he recognized Lin Fan as the reason his daughter Ava had stopped following celebrities.

• Lin Fan invited Li Cangqiong and two other mech pilots to join the First Fleet, and they accepted.
• Lin Fan traveled to Earth with Liang Xue and Emma to meet his father, visit his mother’s grave, and recruit Chris Rhode.
• Liang Xue explained that Chris had been framed by Horn Sterling and expelled from military service, which had spared him from the destruction of the Second Fleet.
• Lin Fan and the women visited Chris’s home and met his wife, Alice.
• Chris recognized Lin Fan and explained that his daughter Ava had stopped chasing celebrities because she now followed Lin Fan.

Lin Fan persuaded Chris Rhode to return to the Federal Fleet, appointed him a major general, and placed him in command of the First Division Fleet. After months of preparation, the First Fleet began Operation Dawn's Light to reclaim human star systems from the Oakes Empire and rescue survivors.

• Lin Fan invited Chris Rhode to rejoin the Federal Fleet, and Alice encouraged Chris to accept the offer.
• Chris agreed, and Lin Fan recalled him to active service as a major general and appointed him commander of the First Division Fleet.
• Seven days later, Chris reported aboard the First Fleet shuttle, where Lin Fan explained the fleet's new ships and capabilities.
• After more than half a year of refits and drills, Lin Fan led the First Fleet to Neptune to join the Fourth Fleet.
• Lin Fan and the Federal Fleet launched Operation Dawn's Light, with the First Fleet assigned to reclaim Proxima and the Fourth Fleet assigned to reclaim Barnard's Star.

The Federal First Fleet returned to the Proxima Star System and launched a surprise attack on the Oakes forces occupying it. As the Oakes commander sought to surrender, Federal mechs descended on the Resource Stars and the enslaved humans rose against their overseers.

• On a Proxima Resource Star, human slaves endured forced labor under overseers including Lance Sterling, while Horn Sterling begged Oakes commander Lancer to spare him from slave duty.
• Lancer learned that the Fourth Imperial Guard Legion's vanguard was expected soon, unaware that the Third Imperial Guard Legion had already been destroyed.
• The Federal First Fleet annihilated the Oakes ships guarding the Star Path entrance and split its forces to defend the route, seize the Resource Stars, and attack the Life Planet.
• Lancer's fleet engaged the eight thousand Federal warships, but he ordered a surrender after seeing their Energy Shields.
• Federal mechs descended on the Resource Stars, and the human laborers recognized them and attacked their overseers.

The Fifteenth Subfleet’s forces landed on Proxima’s Resource Stars and discovered hundreds of millions of enslaved human survivors. Lin Fan arranged emergency relief while ordering the Oakes fleet destroyed despite its surrender signal, leaving its fortress intact for intelligence.

• Chu Zihang told the mech pilots that Resource Star Seven held more than thirty million human compatriots and made their safety a priority.
• Luo Fei collapsed from exhaustion as mechs descended, and Lance prepared to whip him before the Federal Fleet arrived.
• The field commander ordered the mechs to suppress armed humans while protecting those in ankle shackles, and Federal soldiers took control of the work zone.
• Chu Zihang requested food and medical personnel, and Lin Fan directed Liang Xue to send supplies and arrange relief ships.
• Lancer sent a surrender signal, but Lin Fan ordered the fleet to destroy the Oakes warships and leave the fortress intact for intelligence.

Lin Fan’s First Fleet defeated the Oakes Empire forces at Proxima A and began seizing their fortress, while Chris pursued a fleeing ship he identified as Horn Sterling’s. Meanwhile, a huge Oakes fleet emerged from the Star Path near Epsilon Eridani, and Lin Fan ordered reinforcements to assemble as the defenders fell back.

• Lancer’s fleet continued fighting despite repeated surrender signals, and Lin Fan’s First Fleet destroyed it before surrounding the fortress.
• Lancer refused Lin Fan’s offer to surrender, so Lin Fan sent the Guard Mech Squadron, the First Division Fleet’s mech corps, and Assault Ships to capture the fortress intact.
• Chris identified a fleeing warship as Horn Sterling’s personal ship, and Lin Fan assigned the First Division Fleet to capture him alive.
• Donnie and Eric’s detachments attacked the Oakes warships emerging from the Star Path near Epsilon Eridani, but the enemy fleet kept growing.
• Lin Fan ordered the Nineteenth and 20th Detachment Fleets to retreat and summoned the 9th to 18th Detachment Fleets as reinforcements.

Sola’s Oakes Empire fleet arrived at Proxima and was caught in Lin Fan’s trap as it tried to flee through the Star Path. Lin Fan’s forces annihilated the entire fleet, leaving no Oakes warships in the Proxima Star System.

• Sola arrived at Proxima and learned from Lancer that human forces had destroyed the Third Imperial Guard Legion’s fleet and trapped Lancer inside the fortress.
• After Lancer’s communication was cut off, Sola ordered his fleet to retreat through the Star Path to Epsilon Eridani.
• Lin Fan ordered Donnie and Eric to lure Sola’s forces into pursuit while ten human fleets warped behind the stretched-out Oakes formation and attacked from ten directions.
• Sola turned his fleet toward the Star Path, but Lin Fan sent eight more fleets to block the route with 7,200 Battlecruisers.
• Lin Fan’s forces destroyed Sola’s central and rear fleets, then surrounded and annihilated his remaining vanguard warships.

Lin Zhen and Ed decided to publicize the traitors’ crimes and present Lin Fan as a hero while exposing the Sterling Family. As relief operations struggled to help hundreds of millions of survivors, Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen chose to advance on Epsilon Eridani without waiting for more support.

• Ed persuaded Lin Zhen’s staff to reveal the Proxima traitors’ crimes, publicly try Horn Sterling’s group, and promote Lin Fan as a hero.
• Lin Zhen approved Ed’s plan and assigned him responsibility for carrying it out.
• Lin Fan’s fleet began moving survivors to Proxima A, where food and medical care were stretched across hundreds of millions of people.
• After learning that the Fourth Fleet had retaken Barnard’s Star and that Liang Xingchen was rescuing over 200 million survivors, Lin Fan proposed sending 10,000 warships from each fleet toward Epsilon Eridani while leaving forces behind for relief work.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen agreed to coordinate their departure, and Lin Fan ordered the First Fleet’s ten subfleets to activate their Warp Drive Engines.

Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen launched their assault on Epsilon Eridani, quickly destroying its unprepared Oakes fleet and capturing its orbital fortress and starports. Liang Xingchen began arranging temporary settlement for more than three hundred million people as the campaign continued.

• On Oakes, Ross warned Ramiro that Adams had been missing for over a year and that the Empire could lose several star systems if Adams’s fleet had fallen.
• Ramiro demanded more troops for the human front, but Ross explained that the Fourth Imperial Guard Legion would take nearly ten years to arrive and other forces were tied up in the war with the Kabart Empire.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen arrived in Epsilon Eridani with fleets of ten thousand warships each, then split up to attack the system and secure its resources.
• Lin Fan’s fleet caught ten thousand Oakes warships docked in the starports and destroyed them in under five minutes, while Chris’s forces captured the orbital fortress after its commander committed suicide.
• Lin Fan’s troops took control of the starports, and Liang Xingchen asked him to send Assault Ships to help transport more than three hundred million people to the captured facilities for temporary settlement.

The Federation adopted a five-year plan to defend Epsilon Eridani, develop its new systems, expand its fleet, and accelerate technological progress before confronting the Oakes Empire. Lin Fan also arranged further training for Li Cangqiong and considered how to develop Emma’s command talent without promoting her beyond her experience.

• The Federation decided to assign the First and Fourth Fleets to defend Epsilon Eridani, develop Proxima, Barnard's Star, and Epsilon Eridani, rebuild the Second and Third Fleets, and distribute enhancement potions.
• Lin Fan concluded that the Federation needed time to improve its technology and military strength before launching a campaign against the Oakes Empire.
• Lin Fan recognized Li Cangqiong’s fleet-command talent and offered to arrange special training for him at the Interstellar Military Academy, which Li accepted.
• Xia Tina and Zhang Zhiwei continued training under Lin Fan, while Emma served as a squad commander and learned fleet command from Chris.
• Chris argued that Emma was talented enough to command a division fleet, but Lin Fan refused because she lacked the rank and military achievements for the post.

After learning that humanity had captured Epsilon Eridani, Ross gathered forces to defend Rao while Lin Fan received a secret mission to deceive the Kabart Empire into fighting the Oakes Empire. Lin Fan departed with his First Fleet and ten thousand Energy Shield devices for the Kabart Empire.

• Ross learned that humanity had taken Epsilon Eridani and ordered nearby garrisons to assemble at Rao while he sought a truce with the Kabart Empire.
• Ed told Lin Fan that interrogation of Lancer revealed Rao's defenses and that the Oakes Empire's main forces were fighting the Kabart Empire.
• Ed assigned Lin Fan's First Fleet a secret mission to impersonate a Level 4 Civilization and persuade the Kabart Empire to fight the Oakes Empire.
• Lin Fan requested Energy Shield devices with hidden backdoors, and Ed arranged for ten thousand devices to be sent to Epsilon Eridani.
• Lin Fan verified the Kabart Empire's coordinates, then departed with his fleet and two hundred Bull-class Supply Ships under the cover of combat training.
• Lin Fan briefed his squadron commanders and led the fleet and supply ships in a space jump toward the Kabart Empire.

Aboard the Uranus, Lin Fan studied intelligence revealing the Oakes Empire’s overwhelming military strength and the scale of its war with the Kabart Empire. After forty-nine days of travel, the ship neared its target, and Lin Fan headed for the bridge.

• Lin Fan reviewed intelligence showing that the Oakes Empire had roughly five million warships, including a powerful Imperial Guard Legion equipped with Babawi warships.
• Lin Fan learned that the Oakes Empire had committed nearly four million warships to its decades-long war with the Kabart Empire, while another legion was expected to arrive near the Solar System in just over eight years.
• Lin Fan recognized why the Presidential Palace had given the Kabart Empire 10,000 Energy Shield devices: it wanted the Kabart Empire to weaken the Oakes Empire without leaving itself as the Federation’s next overwhelming rival.
• Lin Fan lamented the Warp Drive Engine’s limited speed and spent the journey training and relaxing aboard the Uranus.
• Liang Xue told Lin Fan that the Uranus would reach its target location in one hour, and he set off for the bridge.

The Human Federation fleet arrived in the Kabart capital system, where Lin Fan convinced Emperor Farhale that they were a Level 4 Civilization and offered Energy Shield equipment in exchange for destroying the Oakes Empire. Farhale accepted, and Lin Fan said his fleet would deliver the equipment to the front line in only twenty days.

• An unknown fleet of 20,000 ships appeared near the Kabart capital, and Supreme Commander Hamid ordered the Guard Fleet to intercept it.
• Lin Fan identified his fleet as part of the Level 4 Civilization Human Federation and demanded to speak with Emperor Farhale.
• Lin Fan told Farhale that the Federation wanted the Kabart Empire to destroy the Oakes Empire to avoid provoking the Babawi Empire.
• Lin Fan offered Farhale 10,000 sets of Energy Shield equipment upfront and promised greater rewards after the Oakes Empire was destroyed.
• Farhale accepted the offer, and Lin Fan said his fleet would deliver the equipment to the front line in twenty days, astonishing Farhale with its speed.

Hamid arrived at the Kabart Empire’s Cecil front with a Human Federation fleet and announced that it had supplied ten thousand Energy Shield systems. After three months of refitting, Faris prepared to use the shield-equipped warships to break the stalemate at Vite.

• Hamid spent twenty-nine days aboard the Uranus, reflecting on the Human Federation’s overwhelming fleet and technology.
• The Human Federation fleet arrived at the Cecil Star System, where Hamid told Faris that the Federation had supplied ten thousand Energy Shield systems under agreements with Farhale.
• Hamid ordered Faris to prepare ten thousand warships for refitting and to arrange for the cargo to be unloaded.
• Lin Fan’s fleet left the Energy Shield crates floating in space, sent Hamid away in a shuttle, and warped toward Epsilon Eridani.
• After three months, Faris completed the refitting of eight thousand Battlecruisers and two thousand battleships, each able to withstand at least seven main-cannon shots.

Faris led Kabart's two-million-warship force through the Star Path to attack the Vite Star System, using a shielded Vanguard Fleet of capital ships to break the Oakes Empire's defenses. The Vanguard Fleet punched through the first defensive line and charged toward the Oakes fleet assembling at the second line.

• Faris ordered Kabart's fleets into the Star Path, and Supreme Commander Hamid trusted his plan to take Vite.
• Kabart's forces arrived at Vite and caught the Oakes garrison by surprise with a vanguard of battleships and battlecruisers.
• The Vanguard Fleet's Energy Shields let it withstand the Oakes defenders' fire while its capital ships inflicted heavy damage.
• Faris's Vanguard Fleet broke through the first defensive line as Kabart's follow-up fleets poured into the system.
• The Vanguard Fleet left the melee to the follow-up forces and charged toward the Oakes fleet gathering at the second defensive line.

The Kabart Empire captured Vite after destroying most of its defenders, giving it routes to threaten Russell and Reo as well as the Oakes Empire’s rear. Three months later, Ramiro learned that Vite had fallen and was stunned to hear that shield-equipped Vanguard ships had broken through its defenses.

• The Kabart Empire overwhelmed the Oakes Empire at Vite, losing nearly 500,000 warships while destroying 1.2 million Oakes ships and seizing the star system.
• Faris and Hamid decided to send 300,000 Kabart warships into the Oakes Empire’s rear while keeping 1.2 million ships at Vite to threaten Russell and Reo.
• Lin Fan and Liang Xingchen discussed how Vite’s fall endangered Russell and Reo and considered whether Ramiro would make a rational decision.
• Three months later, Imperial Uncle Ross told Ramiro that Vite had fallen, and explained that more than ten thousand shield-equipped Kabart Vanguard warships had broken through its defenses.

Ramiro learned that the Kabart Empire had ten thousand warships with light-blue Energy Shields, suggesting it had found a new Level 4 supplier, and Ross persuaded him to prioritize the Empire over avenging Duolun. A month later, Commander Aisa received orders to turn the Fourth Imperial Guard Legion back toward Horton and intercept Kabart’s forces after Vite fell.

• Ramiro concluded that Kabart’s light-blue Energy Shields did not come from the Babawi Empire and might indicate another Level 4 supplier.
• Ross urged Ramiro to recall the Fourth Imperial Guard Legion and protect the Empire’s rear, warning that Kabart could devastate its territories.
• Ramiro regained his composure and ordered the Fourth Imperial Guard Legion to intercept Kabart’s surprise attack fleet.
• A month later, Ross ordered Commander Aisa to turn the legion around after Vite had fallen four months earlier.
• Aisa read the top-secret report about Kabart’s ten thousand shielded warships and ordered the fleet to head for Horton.