Chapter Summaries

Ronan tested his models for operating in the Evil Poison by sending Mud People into the Deep Trench while Doctor Tao Xian monitored their distance and contamination. He expanded the experiment into a broad field test and planned to return after installing sensors.

• Doctor Tao Xian reviewed Ronan's file, reflected on his unusual career prospects, and reminded him that seven hundred meters was the operating limit.
• Ronan sent a frozen Mud Person toward the Glacier Fortress while Tao Xian monitored it and its sensor feedback.
• Ronan used Ceremonial Ancient Script to enter Contemplation Time-Space and study the battlefield and star system through his constructed image.
• Ronan embedded Segmenters in dozens of Mud People and sent them into the Deep Trench to test information flow and operational conditions.
• Ronan explained that he had positioned other Mud People as an Immovable Formation on both sides of the cut face to test its responsive range, then planned to install sensors before heading back.

Ronan explained how he compensated for his limited mental range and interference abilities by using automated Configurations and clay figures to conduct battlefield reconnaissance. As the Glacier Fortress destroyed some of the figures, Ronan shared the monitoring links and approved Le Zuo’s formation plan, but Field Officer Fang’s arrival raised the question of how Ronan would leave his post.

• Ronan told Doctor Tao Xian that his broad technical skills compensated for his mental talents and the limitations imposed by the battlefield environment.
• A near-space craft attacked the Glacier Fortress, destroying some of Ronan’s clay figures while others advanced in organized formations.
• Ronan sent the clay figures’ monitoring link to Tao Xian and Le Zuo so they could use the reconnaissance results for preparations.
• Ronan explained that the Service Light Divine Bird could receive the figures’ battlefield data and use it to update its broader system.
• Ronan approved Le Zuo’s proposed formation and advised preparing supporting equipment and program modules for the engineering team.
• Le Zuo told Ronan that Field Officer Fang had arrived and asked whether he had an excuse for leaving his post.

Ronan learned that Mobile Fifth Company would likely be chosen to demonstrate engineering work under the Immovable Formation, so he prepared the unit by reviewing its equipment and ensuring the soldiers studied the rules. As the Main Base expanded the Foundation Module’s Configuration system, Ronan’s armor and the company’s equipment began responding to its changes.

• Ronan returned to camp and learned Field Officer Fang Shu had inspected the companies and taken over the live trial-and-error monitoring link.
• Sergeant Major Le Zuo told Ronan that Mobile Fifth Company was one of the few intact units and would likely lead the engineering work under the Immovable Formation.
• Ronan directed Doctor Tao Xian to monitor the Fire Seed nodes and joined Le Zuo in inspecting the company’s equipment.
• Ronan suspected that Le Zuo was testing whether he would leave the company, and he chose to remain cautious about the Dream Divine Abomination and its contamination of the Mental Ocean.
• The Main Base activated new Configuration properties in the Foundation Module, causing Ronan’s armor and nearby equipment to change; Ronan told Le Zuo to record the adjusted parameters for a report.

Ronan led Mobile Fifth Company into a rushed advance to push the Foundation Module line 150 kilometers toward a major crustal fault, handing installation data to the relief force as the frontline assault began. The operation initially progressed under overwhelming support from the Xuan Crystal Array and combat units, while hostile creatures attacked the forward teams.

• Ronan ordered the company to advance the Foundation Module Extension Augment 150 kilometers and transfer installation and maintenance data to the relief force after every two modules.
• Le Zuo assigned personnel their Immovable Formation positions, and the company departed while Ronan ordered everyone to fill vacancies and report breaks in formation.
• Ronan, Le Zuo, Tao Xian, and Lu Yi boarded their assigned vehicles, and Ronan urged the troops to move out under round-the-clock Xuan Crystal Array reinforcement.
• Ronan and Le Zuo observed the assault as Positioning Vehicles delivered the first twenty groups of Foundation Modules onto Glacier Fortress under heavy fire and the Service Light Divine Bird's coverage.
• Chun Great Lord's command center concentrated Blessing Power to purge toxins and reconstruct damaged modules, while frontline combat units fought off Extraterritorial Species and Karmic Poison Living Entities attacking the installations.

Ronan and Sergeant Major Le Zuo discussed how the battlefield’s layered Immovable Formation and equipment required precise coordination, while Ronan wondered whether the war was heading in the right direction. Lieutenant Dong Ye summoned Ronan to meet Field Officer Fang Shu at a Foundation Module, and Fang Shu’s vessel arrived to pick them up.

• Ronan and Le Zuo reviewed how Mobile Fifth Company’s formation fit into the wider battlefield system and why its teams had to adapt quickly.
• Le Zuo cursed the War Budget Committee for failing to fortify the asteroid, while Ronan speculated that the fortress might have deterred the Red Wheel Seven Demons from coming.
• Ronan questioned whether the Tian Yuan Remnants were moving in the right direction, since the future history he knew offered no certainty.
• Lieutenant Dong Ye told Ronan that Field Officer Fang Shu was heading to the Chong 051 Foundation Module.
• Fang Shu called Ronan aboard her arriving vessel, and Ronan and Le Zuo used their armor to leap up and board it.

Ronan and Sergeant Major Le Zuo reported Mobile Fifth Company’s positions and tactical situation to Lieutenant Dong Ye aboard the Short Bridge vessel. Lieutenant Dong Ye sent Ronan to meet Field Officer Fang Shu, who introduced him to Lieutenant Meng Xin, leaving Ronan in the vessel’s quiet command zone.

• Ronan and Le Zuo entered the Short Bridge vessel and met Lieutenant Dong Ye in its Central District.
• Ronan and Le Zuo reported their squads’ locations, tasks, and coordination with nearly thirty allied combat squads.
• Ronan described where Aerospace Force support would likely strike and explained how the Immovable Formation could funnel enemies into those attacks.
• Lieutenant Dong Ye told Ronan that Field Officer Fang Shu wanted to speak with him, so Ronan crossed into the Right Half Zone.
• Ronan reported to Field Officer Fang Shu, who introduced Lieutenant Meng Xin, commander of Third Battalion First Company.

Ronan and Meng Xin were transferred from their companies into the brigade headquarters’ wartime Command Sequence, where they received new duties and a warning about the dangers of operating across Karmic Poison environments. As they rushed to hand over their companies before departing, Ronan heard Meng Xin call out the name Liang Lu.

• Field Officer Fang Shu ordered Ronan and Meng Xin to join the Command Sequence, explaining that they would apply their skills across the frontline squads.
• Meng Xin described her experience with Physical Nature perception and Creation, and Fang Shu assigned her to assess battlefield conditions under Field Officer Hong Shuang.
• Ronan explained the risks of expanding his Service Demon Scroll connections, and Fang Shu ordered him to establish connections for the Command Sequence and report related matters directly to him.
• Fang Shu asked about Ronan’s two surviving clay men and instructed him to deploy more simulated Creations for sensing and feedback, coordinating with Meng Xin.
• Fang Shu ordered them to complete their company handovers and depart in one hundred breaths; Ronan called Sergeant Major Le Zuo as Meng Xin called out, “Liang Lu...”

Ronan returned to the Command Sequence after handing over the company and saw an Avalanche Tide surge against the defensive zone. While discussing frontline data with Lieutenant Meng Xin, he began considering how to extend the Immovable Formation beneath Pupil Ring Asteroid 28758, whose unstable structure made large-scale fortification risky.

• Ronan told Sergeant Major Le Zuo about his situation, and Le Zuo warned him to be careful in the Command Sequence and said Field Officer Fang was difficult to deal with.
• The Short Bridge-type vessel dropped Le Zuo at his ground battlefield and carried Ronan toward the rear as a powerful Avalanche Tide struck the defensive zone.
• Ronan and Lieutenant Meng Xin studied the battlefield situation while Field Officer Fang remained silent behind them.
• Ronan established a private connection with Meng Xin and sent her real-time scout intelligence to discuss possible applications of the Immovable Formation.
• Ronan and Meng Xin considered extending the Immovable Formation beneath the surface, and Ronan recalled that Pupil Ring Asteroid 28758 had a dense but unstable structure.

Ronan and Lieutenant Meng Xin considered how to transform Pupil Ring Asteroid 28758 into a demi-plane and realized the Main Base, frontline, and airborne headquarters could form an Immoveable Formation. At the Sky Carrier Changying, Ronan received a new assignment to develop a Fantasy Configuration Version Service Demon Scroll with a contamination-treatment specialist.

• Ronan told Lieutenant Meng Xin that transforming the asteroid’s Earth Core was essential, and they discussed what materials might be suitable.
• Ronan and Lieutenant Meng Xin recognized that the Main Base, frontline battlefield, and Sky Carrier could form an Immoveable Formation framework.
• Field Officer Fang Shu explained that the Sky Carrier Jin Du had been converted and renamed Changying, and that the Temporary Third Brigade had merged into the Frontline Command Committee Third Bureau.
• Field Officer Fang Shu directed Lieutenant Meng Xin to report to Field Officer Hong Shuang and assigned Ronan to consult Blue Arrow Doctor about the Fantasy Configuration Version Service Demon Scroll.
• Ronan understood that Blue Arrow Doctor’s medical role would help him carry out the assignment and went to the onboard Field Hospital.

Ronan organized interviews and risk assessments for the Forward Committee Third Bureau while learning about Blue Arrow Doctor’s background and the suspected Dream Divine Abomination. He went to meet Lieutenant Meng Xin about Liang Lu and material research, but a sharp gaze from elsewhere interrupted their encounter.

• Ronan proposed a plan to map the Command Sequence and identify high-risk personnel, which Blue Arrow Doctor and Field Officer Fang Shu approved.
• Ronan learned that Blue Arrow Doctor was Professor Lan Zhu, an academic who had remained on the asteroid battlefield after his student died, and that he also suspected the Dream Divine Abomination was active nearby.
• Ronan arranged to visit Field Officer Hong Shuang and planned to discuss Liang Lu with Lieutenant Meng Xin during a rare break in their work.
• Ronan exchanged ideas with Lieutenant Meng Xin about materials for enemy reconnaissance and arrived at her Tactical Intelligence Division office.
• Lieutenant Meng Xin turned toward Ronan as he touched the warning device, while a sharp gaze from another direction landed on him.

Ronan met Field Officer Hong Shuang to discuss the interview schedule and test materials for the Earth Core experiment, then worked with Lieutenant Meng Xin in the operating room. While shaping materials with his Segmenter, he learned that Meng Xin and Liang Lu had served together, leaving their work underway and their conversation cut short by their tasks.

• Ronan reported the survey and interview issues to Field Officer Hong Shuang, who moved the interviews to the second round and set a half-hour deadline for testing the selected materials.
• Field Officer Hong Shuang told Lieutenant Meng Xin to take Ronan to the operating room to test whether his methods could be replenished efficiently.
• Ronan used his Segmenter to shape malleable materials without applying a Configuration or Paradigm, surprising Lieutenant Meng Xin.
• Ronan mentioned Frontier 4, prompting Meng Xin to explain that her mentor, Professor Sheng Zhan, and her junior brother Liang Lu had fought in the battle there.
• Meng Xin said that she and Liang Lu had been partners in First Company, while Ronan shaped the materials into small humanoid figures for her to inspect.

Ronan tested his Clay Figure Scouts and proposed using a dust-like, quasi-living model for Earth Core reconnaissance, prompting Field Officer Hong Shuang to order further trials. As Ronan prepared to leave for a hospital conversation, Lieutenant Meng Xin suggested applying Sheng Zhan’s Zombie Ant research.

• Lieutenant Meng Xin tested Ronan’s Clay Figure Scouts and explained that the Tactical Intelligence Division wanted durable scouts with strong interconnected sensing and the ability to deform and reform.
• Ronan rejected most of the scout designs as too conspicuous and proposed adapting materials found in the Earth Core region.
• Ronan used Super Configuration Theory to make dust and grit move as a concealed, quasi-living form, and Lieutenant Meng Xin considered how embedded Segmenters could control it.
• Field Officer Hong Shuang arrived, praised Ronan’s experience, and ordered him to run more tests despite his limited time before a hospital conversation.
• Lieutenant Meng Xin suggested using Sheng Zhan’s Double Parasitism of Nibbling Void Bacteria results, and Field Officer Hong Shuang identified them as the Zombie Ants.

Ronan left the operating room and worked with Professor Lan Zhu to interview members of the Command Sequence for a Constellation Chart, assessing their mental states and relationships. After recommending that Su Heng be transferred for centralized management, Ronan learned that the Dream Net was a spiritual network linking the Han Guang Star System to the Sky Abyss Spirit Network and was shocked by its nature.

• Hong Shuang sent Ronan back to the Field Hospital and ordered him to return in five hours.
• Ronan and Professor Lan Zhu interviewed Command Sequence officers while Ronan sketched portraits and mapped their connections for the Constellation Chart.
• Ronan judged Su Heng's mental state dangerous and used a comparison of his Form and Spirit Framework to support his assessment.
• Professor Lan Zhu proposed transferring Su Heng to the Main Base, and the observers approved the recommendation.
• Xiang Chai and the other doctors explained the Dream Net to Ronan, and Professor Lan Zhu added questions about it to future interviews.
• Ronan found that the Dream Net used the Dream Divine Abomination to connect the Han Guang Star System to the external Sky Abyss Spirit Network and reacted with alarm.

Ronan learned that the Dream Net used the Dream Divine Abomination to connect the Han Guang Star System to the Sky Abyss Spirit Network, and he questioned why people there accepted its risks. After Professor Lan Zhou privately interviewed him and explained that the Net was filtered through Great Monarch Rong Jing, Ronan received materials about Zombie Ants and recognized something familiar in the images.

• Professor Lan Zhou and Doctor Xiang Chai incorporated Dream Net questions into the interviews, while Ronan learned how the network relied on the Dream Divine Abomination.
• Ronan worried that widespread Dream Net use could explain the Mobile Fifth Company's Karmic Poison readings and the command staff's dismissive attitude toward the threat.
• Professor Lan Zhou ended the group interviews and spoke privately with Ronan about his rejection of the Dream Net and why people relied on it.
• Ronan suggested that people longed for the Sky Abyss Spirit Network, and Professor Lan Zhou said Great Monarch Rong Jing filtered what entered the one-way Dream Net.
• Lieutenant Meng Xin sent Ronan materials about Zombie Ants, and Ronan froze when he saw their images because they looked familiar.

Ronan reviewed Lieutenant Meng Xin’s research on Zombie Ants, which used Nibbling Void Bacteria and Fire Hell Tyrant material to create heat-resistant reconnaissance organisms. As Field Officer Hong Shuang arrived to finalize the plan, Ronan realized the ants strongly resembled the Fire God Ants.

• Ronan left Professor Lan Zhu and headed to the Tactical Intelligence Division, reflecting on their conversation and the Empire’s records of everyone’s lives.
• Ronan studied Lieutenant Meng Xin’s materials and learned how Sheng Zhan’s team had created Zombie Ants by parasitizing red ants with Nibbling Void Bacteria.
• Ronan inspected the crawling Zombie Ants and asked Lieutenant Meng Xin how they had gained heat resistance.
• Lieutenant Meng Xin explained that the team used Double Parasitism with material from the Fire Hell Tyrant, which Ronan’s father and others had secured at Frontier 4 Relay Station.
• Ronan noticed the Zombie Ants shared several traits with the Fire God Ants, while Field Officer Hong Shuang arrived and asked about the plan’s applicability.

Ronan recognized possible links between the Zombie Ants and the Fire God Ant, but Field Officer Hong Shuang rejected his untested proposal and assigned him to produce Grease reconnaissance units instead. He reached the Third Processing Center and began seeking Snail’s help to meet the demanding deadline.

• Ronan connected the Zombie Ants to the Fire God Ant, while Field Officer Hong Shuang warned that an untested plan could not replace proven reconnaissance methods.
• Field Officer Hong Shuang ordered Ronan to prepare fifty units of the Grease plan within ten hours, and Ronan accepted the task.
• Ronan requested temporary access to the Processing Center and permission to speak directly with Snail, while Lieutenant Meng Xin warned he had only five hours.
• Ronan began questioning Snail about its capabilities, and Lieutenant Meng Xin left to coordinate the materials.
• Snail guided Ronan to the Third Processing Center, where Sergeant Major Cha Ku had been assigned to assist him.

Ronan arrived at his Exclusive Area in the Third Processing Center, where Sergeant Major Chaku explained the equipment, materials, and production requirements. Ronan asked Chaku to help record his personalized Clay Figure Scout production method in Snail’s database, and Chaku agreed while warning him not to neglect his deadline.

• Sergeant Major Chaku showed Ronan the reserved liquid metal materials, Processing Pool, furnace, and available equipment and energy support.
• Ronan considered why the military wanted his Clay Figure Scout method standardized and wondered whether its production line could eventually be replicated.
• Ronan observed Chaku’s prosthetic eyes and injuries, then speculated about the mental state of the Sky Abyss Remnants and the reach of Testing Time-Space.
• Ronan asked Chaku to help enter his personalized production plan into Snail’s database because he had little time to produce fifty batches.
• Chaku reviewed Ronan’s messy code interface, said the Inner Universe Simulator could connect to Snail and record the input, and advised him to narrow his designs.
• Chaku reminded Ronan to watch the time and not spend so long improving his tools that he failed to hunt.

Ronan began teaching Snail to reproduce his production process, following Sergeant Major Chaku’s guidance on recording and testing the steps in the Inner Universe Simulator. The first run produced fifty metal spheres, and Chaku assessed the result against Ronan’s task quota.

• Ronan followed Sergeant Major Chaku’s instructions to record his operating methods and have Snail evaluate and reproduce them.
• When Snail’s analysis failed because its environmental settings differed from the Inner Universe Simulator’s, Chaku showed Ronan how to reverse the import process and create a virtual plan.
• Snail arranged monitoring devices around the Exclusive Area and activated a Materialization Imprint Plate to observe and sample the production process.
• Ronan sent five cans of liquid metal into the Processing Pool and directed the Segmenters to begin the test run.
• The liquid metal formed fifty hardened silver-white spheres, and Chaku noted that the seven-minute run completed one-tenth of the task quota.

Ronan and Sergeant Major Chaku tested the temporary production line for the Grease plan, using a Materialization Imprint Plate to produce Grease Balls. The test revealed high defect and loss rates, while the process gave Ronan new insight into the plate’s capabilities.

• Ronan showed Sergeant Major Chaku the Grease Balls and asked him to inspect their quality in the environmental simulation laboratory.
• Chaku guided Ronan through reviewing the virtual plan, and Snail approved it and mobilized equipment for the temporary production line.
• Ronan and Chaku inspected the installed equipment, then started a test run using the Materialization Imprint Plate and Segmenters.
• The test run produced Grease Balls, but Chaku found a 17% loss rate and an 11% defect rate.
• Chaku told Ronan to expect forms and approval work, while Ronan praised the Materialization Imprint Plate and said he wanted to learn from it.

Ronan completed the automated production-line design for Grease Balls and considered sending the Materialization Imprint Plate blueprints to Earth Local Time-Space. His investigation led him to connect the plate’s inventor and the First Awareness Society to Dream Net, leaving him with new questions about how the legal network was used.

• Ronan studied the Materialization Imprint Plate and learned from Sergeant Major Chaku that it was adaptable enough for field use but lacked precision.
• Snail finished optimizing the Grease production line and synchronized its complete blueprint with the Inner Universe Simulator.
• Ronan considered whether the production-line blueprints could help him reconstruct Exoskeleton Armor technology or advance manufacturing in Earth Local Time-Space.
• Sergeant Major Chaku refused to approve a new Zombie Ants project, so Ronan set it aside and chose to keep studying the Materialization Imprint Plate.
• Ronan asked Sergeant Major Chaku about the First Awareness Society and realized its connection to Dream Net.
• Sergeant Major Chaku revealed that Po Ran, the Materialization Imprint Plate’s inventor, belonged to the First Awareness Society and had drawn inspiration from Dream Net, which could still be used for illegal acts.