Chapter Summaries

Ye Zhenwei recovered in the medical pod and was transferred to the Tianning Star System garrison as a major general, while secretly planning revenge against the Qing Family. She rejected the posting and accused the Chu Family of making the decision, but Chu Zekuan told her she had no right to choose her assignment.

• Ye Zhenwei remembered her old resentment toward Qing Zhixun and vowed to destroy the family that had humiliated her.
• After two hours in the medical pod, Ye Zhenwei recovered her strength and Mental Power compatibility, though she noticed her Mental Power had stopped developing.
• Ye Zhenwei decided to contact Yuan Chuhong about dealing with Hong Xixiu, unaware that Yuan Chuhong had little authority in his faction.
• Qing Wenxu followed Qing Zhixun's suggestion and appointed Ye Zhenwei a major general in the Tianning Star System garrison.
• Ye Zhenwei learned of the posting from Chu Zekuan and angrily insisted that her merits entitled her to choose where she served.
• Chu Zekuan told Ye Zhenwei that her merits did not qualify her to choose her posting.

Chu Zekuan informed Ye Zhenwei that the Elder Council had transferred her to Tianning to manage the star system’s reconstruction, but she rejected the assignment and resented the Council’s treatment of her. She concluded that the Alliance had abandoned her first, leaving her poised to resist the transfer.

• Ye Zhenwei demanded to speak with Chen Huan, and Chu Zekuan told her Chen had retired and sent her transfer order to Tianning.
• Chu Zekuan explained that the Elder Council had assigned Ye Zhenwei to clean up Tianning because the Ye Family had caused its current chaos.
• Ye Zhenwei insisted that the Ye Family’s troubles had nothing to do with her and accused Chu Zekuan of dismissing her past achievements.
• Chu Zekuan described the Elder Council’s reasoning and urged Ye Zhenwei to consider Tianning’s importance to the Alliance.
• Ye Zhenwei judged the assignment a punishment that would harm her future and decided the Alliance had abandoned her first.

Ye Zhenwei reviewed the Alliance’s changes after waking and sought Chris’s help advancing Hong Xixiu’s career. When Chris accepted her call, she saw that he had moved on and was serving with his partner, Su Yina.

• Ye Zhenwei recalled agreeing to spy for Yuan Chuhong and realized the Alliance had purged its internal personnel while she slept.
• Ye Zhenwei learned that Xilo had taken a partner, the Tang Family had disappeared, and Hong Xixiu had risen to major while remaining on missions.
• Ye Zhenwei considered asking Chris and the Boyuan Family for help with Hong Xixiu’s career, then called Chris.
• Chris accepted the call but treated Ye Zhenwei like a stranger, and she saw his partner, Su Yina, beside him aboard a patrol ship.
• Su Yina recognized Ye Zhenwei and recalled how Chris had once devoted himself to her before their engagement ended.

Ye Zhenwei tried to get Chris’s help after the Elder Council demoted her, but he rejected her and stood by Su Yina. As Ye Zhenwei’s Mental Power began to regress, she sought help from her former teacher Xue Zixian, who gave her the contacts of her other teachers while doubting they would get involved.

• Ye Zhenwei congratulated Chris on his partnership and asked him to help her avoid returning to Tianning Star for garrison duty.
• Chris refused Ye Zhenwei’s request, reminded her that her coquettish expression was only appropriate for her partner, and reassured Su Yina.
• Ye Zhenwei ended the call in anger, then noticed that her Mental Power was regressing.
• Ye Zhenwei carefully contacted her former teacher Xue Zixian and eventually asked him for the contact information of her other teachers.
• Xue Zixian gave Ye Zhenwei the three teachers’ numbers and messaged them about her situation, expecting them to stay out of it.

Ye Zhenwei was abandoned by the people she had once relied on and waited in isolation for Yuan Chuhong to contact her. Near Moda Star, Xi Xiu and Li Yuanting prepared the reinforcements to attack the creatures, whose leader ordered a desperate breakout.

• Ye Zhenwei received no replies to her friend requests and realized she had no one on Gaia to turn to while she waited for Yuan Chuhong.
• Li Yuanting arrived near Moda Star with reinforcements, and Xi Xiu explained the battle plan she had developed with Asik and Moda's Star Lord.
• Li Yuanting divided his soldiers into teams of four, combining heavy and agile fighters to herd the creatures together and exhaust them.
• Qi Mang and Wu Yuan distributed Moda's weapons and demonstrated their use before the soldiers advanced into the desert.
• The Moda People exploited the desert heat, which slowed the creatures and drained their stamina as their protective mucus evaporated.
• The creatures' leader ordered a breakout, accepting casualties in the hope that some King-class leaders would emerge.

The Tentacled Creatures fused in groups of four, becoming enormous Behemoths with a mysterious third eye. Xi Xiu and A Xian approached the desert to scout while Jiu Dan and Sida gathered data on the transformed enemies.

• The Tentacled Creatures' leader secretly communicated a plan to its clan through tentacle gestures and resolved to force the Moda People into a direct fight.
• Xi Xiu and the others arrived and watched the Tentacled Creatures link tentacles and merge into larger Behemoths, while their comrades shielded the transformations from attack.
• Xi Xiu warned the warriors to avoid the Behemoths' extra eyes and halted the advance while she, A Xian, and Qi Mang went ahead to scout.
• Xi Xiu instructed Jiu Dan to observe and record the Behemoths, while Sida's team scanned them and compared their Genetic Information with earlier samples.
• Jiu Dan sent modified Micro-robots toward the Behemoths, and they attached themselves to the creatures unnoticed.

The Moda People confronted the enlarged creatures as Xi Xiu, A Xian, Jiu Dan, Shi Ding, and Sida fought them near the desert. Sida discovered that the creatures’ merged consciousnesses made them slow and indecisive, and he waited for his opponent to tire before striking.

• The creatures’ leader ordered an attack, while Xi Xiu and Sida arranged aerial defenses, traps, and support positions to prevent the creatures from escaping through Transmission Channels.
• Xi Xiu and A Xian met the creatures near the desert, and Jiu Dan, Shi Ding, and Sida joined the battle.
• Sida stabbed a detector into a creature, gathered data on its body and genes, and sent the findings to the garrison warriors and Moda researchers.
• Sida found that the creature’s four consciousnesses argued over how to move and attack, making its movements slow and inconsistent.
• Sida kept evading the creature’s tentacles and waited for it to become exhausted before attempting a fatal blow.

Xi Xiu and the arriving soldiers fought the adaptable Tentacled Creatures while the creatures struggled with hunger and competing consciousnesses. Xi Xiu managed to plant tiny weapons on her opponent, but the battle remained evenly matched.

• The Tentacled Creatures grew hungry and their leader planned to claim whichever fused body became strongest so it could attain King-class strength.
• Xi Xiu and A Xian warned Xie Qingzhu about the creatures’ confusion and told the teams to join the fight according to their assigned areas.
• Xi Xiu sent Su Jinbao instructions to repair and resupply damaged robots, then shared Jiu Dan’s data and warned the soldiers to watch the creatures’ closed eyes.
• Qiu Shaorong’s group reached the battlefield and joined Xi Xiu’s forces as the soldiers fought to kill the creatures before they could cooperate.
• The consciousnesses inside Xi Xiu’s opponent agreed to let the one with the highest Mental Power control its body, improving its accuracy and grazing her several times.
• Ebony bound a creature with its vines and struggled against its tentacles, while Xi Xiu planted tiny weapons on her opponent and kept fighting to wear it down.

Xi Xiu used the Alliance’s new anti-regeneration weapon and her wearable mech to wound a creature with a third eye. As the creature’s strongest consciousness took control, Xi Xiu accelerated to attack again from its right side.

• Xi Xiu used the specially made blade to cut the creature’s back, and its wounds failed to heal.
• Xi Xiu deepened the wound while dodging the creature’s tentacles, then recorded its opened third eye through her terminal instead of looking at it directly.
• Xi Xiu concealed her presence with Mental Power as the creature searched for her, then planned a speed contest against its all-seeing gaze.
• The creature’s strongest consciousness devoured the others, while Xi Xiu activated two acceleration boosters and vanished from its sight.
• Xi Xiu attacked from the creature’s right side with her blade and struck its existing wound with her other weapon, reopening it and making blood spurt out.

Xi Xiu fought a regenerating creature whose hidden Mental Power could infiltrate its enemies, then defeated it and sent its captured mental entity and battle data to Sida for the Moda researchers to study. After A Xian also preserved her opponent’s Mental Power, Xi Xiu noticed her unusual caution and began collecting the creatures’ mental entities for A Xian to examine.

• Xi Xiu used exploding weapons to damage the creature, which formed a smaller body from countless miniature Tentacled Creatures.
• Xi Xiu detected the creature’s invisible Mental Power, trapped part of it, and warned her teammates to watch for mental entities hidden in the air.
• Xi Xiu sent the captured mental entity to Sida for the Moda People's neurology experts and prevented the creature from feeding on nutritional meals.
• The creature released all its mental entities in a final attack, but Xi Xiu detected and defeated it; she sent the battle data to Sida for the Moda researchers to study its regeneration.
• A Xian preserved her opponent’s Mental Power, and Xi Xiu noticed her changed fighting style and began collecting her own opponents’ mental entities for A Xian.

Xi Xiu and the other soldiers contained a wave of troops controlled by the evolved Tentacled Creatures, using Ebony to disable mechs and sedatives to restrain the affected soldiers. As night approached, most forces withdrew to safety, but Xi Xiu and A Xian stayed behind to hunt the fused creatures and capture their mental bodies.

• Xi Xiu rushed to stop soldiers who had turned on their comrades, restrained them with Ebony, and ordered Wu Yuan to return and help.
• Xi Xiu joined Wang Zichun's battle zone, where Ebony disabled tens of thousands of mechs and the soldiers recorded the affected troops in the base system.
• Xi Xiu, Wang Zichun, and other teams captured controlled soldiers and had rescue robots sedate and move them into temporary tents while the fighting continued.
• Xi Xiu learned that some controlled Moda People alternated between their own consciousness and that of the Tentacled Creatures, while Sida's people struggled to contain them.
• With night approaching, Xi Xiu arranged for most forces to retreat, then stayed with A Xian and others to eliminate fused creatures and capture their mental bodies for return to Anvile.

The Alliance forces continued fighting the Tentacled Creatures while the Moda People introduced helmets that could intercept their psychic entities. Xi Xiu and A Xian reached the enemy leader, whose unusual connection to Anvile became apparent when it confronted A Xian.

• Xi Xiu ordered Jiu Dan to capture suspicious psychic entities and store them for A Xian, while Jiu Dan and Shi Ding discovered something was wrong with the creatures’ psychic entities.
• The Moda People sent soldiers back to battle wearing emergency helmets that intercepted and devoured biological psychic entities, while controlled soldiers remained sedated and isolated.
• Xi Xiu and A Xian collected suspicious psychic entities, then joined Xie Qingzhu and the others in charging toward the creatures’ central area.
• The creatures’ leader questioned why A Xian, an Anvile person, had joined the Alliance, and A Xian asked what that had to do with it.
• The leader’s psychic entity attacked A Xian as a bolt of lightning, but she caught it and recognized that its method resembled Anvile’s Mental Power.

A Xian fought the creature leader, wearing it down while it fed on its fallen kin and unleashed thousands of hidden tentacles. After sensing a strange connection in its sorrowful expression, she changed weapons and plunged in to cut through its outer skin.

• A Xian battled the creature leader with her halberd, blocking its tentacle attacks and steadily wearing it down.
• The creature leader used tiny tentacles to consume the brains of its fallen kin, and A Xian fired at them to destroy the brains before it could feed.
• After eating, the creature leader attacked with a vast number of underground tentacles, but A Xian sensed them and rose into the air to escape.
• A Xian sensed sorrow in the creature leader and searched it for a familiar aura, but found nothing and decided to strip away its consciousness for answers.
• A Xian switched to an Alliance blade that could dissolve the creature’s outer skin, then descended and cut it open while her other weapons struck its body.

A Xian defeated the creature leader by stripping away its consciousness, and its final expression left her with a lingering sense of loss. At dawn, the battle ended, the surviving creatures no longer posed a threat, and the exhausted warriors gathered at the base while the Moda People began cleanup.

• A Xian fought the creature leader as it used increasingly structured Martial Skills and attacked with a weapon and its hands.
• A Xian wounded the leader repeatedly, attached the consciousness-stripping device, and activated it; the leader smiled in relief, appeared to say “Thank you,” and melted into gleaming water.
• A Xian collected the leader's consciousness to send back to Wu Jingyang and left the battlefield as the other warriors finished their fights.
• The half-day-and-night battle ended at dawn, with ninety-seven percent of the creatures dead and the rest severely wounded and no longer dangerous.
• The exhausted warriors returned to the rest area for energy restoration while the Moda People began battlefield cleanup.
• Li Yuanting joined Xi Xiu and the others in a hastily erected tent, and Asik arrived with Moda's top researchers to assist Sida and the others.

After the battle, Asik and the surviving warriors mourned Unit 909's dead while the Moda People promised compensation for their families. A Xian explained how Anvile had survived its crisis, and Asik shared Moda's predictions about the star region before leaving to check on the research.

• Asik thanked Xi Xiu, A Xian, and the other warriors, then recognized that they needed rest and still had problems to resolve.
• Li Yuanting tended to the casualties as Su Jinbao, Qiu Shaorong, and others grieved for Unit 909's fallen warriors; Asik promised support for their families, and Xi Xiu offered compensation from her own account.
• Asik asked A Xian how Anvile had overcome its crisis, and she said she had nearly exhausted her Mental Power while serving as a source of replenishment for her people.
• A Xian withheld Xi Xiu's involvement and told Asik that Anvile's ancestors had taught them to calm the Star Domain Gate in a crisis.
• Asik told A Xian that Moda's calculations saw hope for the star region if Anvile survived, and A Xian thanked him for his guidance.
• Asik left to check the research progress, troubled that Moda's request for reinforcements had led to deaths even though it had saved the Moda People.

After the battle on Moda, Xi Xiu checked on the sleeping and wounded soldiers while the Moda researchers explained that the Tentacled Creatures had been engineered from countless old and newly discovered genes. Xi Xiu and her companions arranged the aftermath and rested, leaving the soldiers to recover and the creatures' origins under investigation.

• Xi Xiu visited the sleeping soldiers and learned that the Tentacled Creatures' invading Mental Power would be difficult to remove, while the Doctor assured her the soldiers would recover safely.
• Sida explained that the Tentacled Creatures had more than a thousand kinds of genes, added over two hundred years of laboratory experiments, and no Anvile genes.
• A Xian sent the genetic data to Wu Jingyang, who confirmed the creatures included previously undiscovered Star Beasts from beyond the Star Domain Gate.
• Xi Xiu and Li Yuanting reviewed casualties, arranged for the fallen soldiers' bodies to be returned to base, and decided to remain near Moda for five stellar days.
• Xi Xiu, A Xian, and Xie Qingzhu treated one another's wounds and finally lay down to rest.

Xi Xiu learned that the Tentacled Creatures’ consciousnesses were linked to those that had vanished in Anvile and reviewed reports on Huovian’s plans to seize Ningkui Star. As the Alliance strengthened its defenses and Enweit held Aura’s border against the Hanhai People, Musar grew frustrated by their failed attacks.

• Xi Xiu and A Xian concluded that the Tentacled Creatures’ consciousnesses were connected to the missing consciousnesses in Anvile, and A Xian said she had informed Wu Jingyang.
• Xi Xiu reviewed Ming Weiman’s findings that Huovian had traced missing planetary mass to energy mining and planned to capture Ningkui Star after the Alliance was drawn into war elsewhere.
• The Alliance began reinforcing Ningkui Star’s defenses while Ming Weiman sent investigators to monitor Huovian’s border and situation.
• Enweit and his people repelled two Hanhai attacks on Aura’s sealed borders, while Musar objected because the failed assaults had prevented its planned advance toward Aura Star.

The Musar People changed their plans after seeing Aura's improved battle tactics and decided to approach Aura through Tianwei without informing Hanhai. Meanwhile, Xi Xiu and her companions reviewed the Alliance-wide crisis caused by star-pirate raids and unidentified lifeforms, ending with the revelation that pirates had abducted talented children from attacked planets.

• The Musar People judged Aura's new fighting methods dangerous and secretly planned to bypass Hanhai's defenses through Tianwei.
• Xi Xiu warned Enweit to watch Aura's surroundings, and Enweit sent warriors to patrol every direction, including areas beyond Star Net coverage.
• Xi Xiu reviewed reports of star-pirate attacks and unidentified lifeforms while Nine Stars personnel joined Alliance garrisons to help intercept the pirates.
• Xie Qingzhu reported that the Moda battlefield had been cleared and that the star-pirate raids were spreading across barren planets.
• Xi Xiu explained that former pirate lieutenants had formed new crews that cooperated to scatter patrol forces, retreating after attacks and abducting children.
• Xie Qingzhu told A Xian that some abducted children had been rescued, but the pirates had taken others who were especially talented.

Long Xingxue redirected her team to help the Alliance search for the star pirates and abducted children, while Xi Xiu and the others remained on Moda. After researchers removed the enemy Mental Power from the controlled warriors, many woke in distress over their actions and faced the choice of memory erasure or another way to cope.

• Xi Xiu asked Long Xingxue to help pursue the star pirates, and Long Xingxue turned her team around after deciding not to enter the Snowy Region.
• Xu Jiusong sent Long Xingxue information about the pirates and abducted children, and she set off to search for them.
• Xie Qingzhu noticed Xi Xiu had issued an order using the Nine Stars insignia, but Xi Xiu did not explain it.
• After the researchers found a way to extract the enemy Mental Power, Sida arranged surgeries that took four days to complete.
• The freed warriors awoke traumatized, and Moda's psychology Doctor found that many might need memory-erasure surgery.
• Sida told Xi Xiu that the warriors' memories could instead be blocked and documented in their terminals so they could choose to revisit them later.

Xi Xiu and the base arranged psychological care for the controlled soldiers, then prepared to leave Moda after the border stayed calm. The base left an elite unit behind and established temporary rescue teams as Asik worried about the uncertain future of the starfield.

• Xu Hesong ordered the base to respect the soldiers’ choices about memory erasure and monitor those who refused it.
• Xi Xiu arranged psychological assessments and ongoing care for the soldiers who chose to keep their memories, while they struggled with guilt over their actions.
• After five days on the planet, Xi Xiu reported that the Moda border remained calm, and the base ordered most soldiers to return while an elite unit stayed behind.
• Asik and the Moda People gave the Yuanri base weapons and equipment and solemnly saluted the departing soldiers.
• Xu Hesong established temporary rescue teams to monitor regions around the planets and respond quickly to emerging crises.
• Asik concealed his fear about the starfield’s future and bade Xi Xiu farewell as she boarded the Starship.