Chapter Summaries

Xi Xiu’s team investigated the Children’s Affairs Bureau and uncovered evidence that someone there had deleted the Orphanage’s report. While traveling to the forest, they noticed their Hovercar’s robot had been altered and seemed unable to scan them accurately.

• Arel restored shredded files from the Children’s Affairs Bureau website, confirming that the Orphanage’s inquiry had been deliberately removed, and Xi Xiu ordered the team to investigate every staff member, including Dora.
• The Central Brain’s behavioral analysis identified some Huovian infiltrators, but many had avoided the Virtual Network and remained difficult to find.
• Xi Xiu, A Xian, and their guards took a rented Hovercar toward the forest after Su Jinbao confirmed no one was tracking them.
• Su Jinbao questioned the driving robot and found that its knowledge of Ningkui Star was shallow, its answers were flawed, and it had likely been recently altered.
• When A Xian insisted on visiting the forest, the robot warned that it was dangerous, then failed to accurately scan Xi Xiu and the others.

Xi Xiu and her companions uncovered a surveillance plot involving a Ningkui Star travel robot, then discovered that evolved Parasites were buried beneath the forest soil. They withdrew from the danger and began investigating while waiting for more information.

• Liang Jingxian traced the robot's data transmission while Aona and Su Jinbao used a planted device to access its database, revealing that it had reported A Xian's identity to an unresponsive handler.
• Xi Xiu considered whether the Huovian people or Qin Hongjun were behind the robots, while the Alliance learned that Qin Jian had been secretly rescued and the transmission channel destroyed.
• After the robot planted code in a traveler's terminal and left, Xi Xiu sent Nide, Yang Jiuqing, and Hu Yingyi to follow it as she and the others entered the forest.
• Xi Xiu and A Xian recognized a familiar presence beneath the changed soil, and Xi Xiu ordered everyone to activate six layers of protection and their armored suits.
• Xi Xiu identified the buried creatures as an upgraded form of the Parasites and chose to retreat while sending robots deeper into the forest to gather information.
• A Xian sensed that the Parasites remained deep underground and had not awakened, while Xi Xiu, Su Jinbao, and Aona scanned the soil with instruments.

Xi Xiu discovered juvenile Parasites beneath Ningkui Star’s forest and warned the authorities that adults might already have infected residents. As the Elder Council ordered Leisiren confined, Basia resisted before reluctantly agreeing, while Xi Xiu’s team investigated vanished birds and tourists who might have encountered the Parasites.

• Xi Xiu found bone-bearing juvenile Parasites throughout the forest soil, sent warnings and evidence to the authorities, and suspected adult Parasites had entered Ningkui Star residents.
• The Elder Council ordered Basia to keep Leisiren out of public and replace his guards, but Basia initially refused because he feared losing control of the Eastern District.
• After Runell warned that Leisiren could endanger Liuning Fortress if infected, Basia agreed to confine him and sent Carlton to take over his work.
• Qing Zhixun isolated Leisiren in his office and barred Carlton from seeing him, while Leisiren dismissed the confinement as ineffective.
• Wu Yuan and Qi Mang found bird bones stripped bare in a silent forest, and Su Jinbao found no related abnormalities in Ningkui Star’s recent online information.
• Xi Xiu ordered the team to locate recent tourists, observe them without approaching, and bring back sealed bird bones.

Xi Xiu and the Alliance discovered that Parasites could infiltrate living hosts without changing their Genetic Information, suggesting Leisiren and people across many star systems might already be compromised. As the Alliance prepared a wide investigation, Wu Yuan and Qi Mang began drilling underground to capture Parasites for study.

• Arivik and Liang Jingxian found that Degu and Teli's Mental Power matched the anomaly Xi Xiu had detected, even though their Genetic Information remained unchanged.
• Xi Xiu warned Qing Zhixun, Chu Xuliang, and Basia, while the Elder Council ordered Ningkui Star to list recent visitors and mobilized officials and warriors across the Alliance.
• Xi Xiu suspected Leisiren had been compromised on arrival, and Qing Wenxu and Chu Xuliang estimated that sixteen of the Alliance's twenty star systems might be affected.
• Wu Yuan and Qi Mang found human footprints and an oval machine impression in the forest, while surveillance gaps left Degu and Teli's movements unaccounted for.
• Wu Yuan and Qi Mang began drilling underground with sealed containers as Su Jinbao and Aona established a shielding zone for capturing Parasites.

Xi Xiu and Wu Yuan contained the dormant Parasites beneath the forest while Ningkui Star mobilized to prevent the infection from spreading. The forest and potentially exposed citizens were isolated as they awaited biomedical experts to assess the threat.

• Wu Yuan captured several juvenile Parasites in an oxygenated container while Qi Mang sealed the underground entrance and Xi Xiu and A Xian maintained the barrier.
• Soren arrived with the Ningkui Star support team, recognized Xi Xiu, and heard her explain the danger.
• Xi Xiu and Soren arranged to seal off the forest, track people who had visited it or contacted the Nutrient Paste factory managers, and bring in robots to build a wall.
• Song Jing'an ordered planetary departments to cooperate, warned citizens to avoid the forest and unknown food, and recalled the factory's Nutrient Paste while arranging temporary housing and medical screening for people who had consumed it.
• Xi Xiu explained how to identify parasitized citizens, and she and A Xian offered to screen those who had eaten the recalled food.
• Xi Xiu advised Soren to leave the Parasites beneath the forest for biologists to handle because they had been heavily dosed with inhibitor and would remain asleep for now.

Xi Xiu and the arriving biologists began studying the Parasites in a newly built laboratory on Ningkui Star. The creatures woke after brief sedation, revealed their deceptive behavior, and tried to escape, while Xi Xiu’s teams continued investigating their spread and the erased records.

• Xi Xiu and Soren’s teams built a laboratory on Ningkui Star, while Liang Jingxian began recovering deleted records about Leisiren and other investigators pursued leads.
• Eric and Marianne arrived from Gaia, and Xi Xiu showed them the sleeping Parasites and shared the existing research data.
• Xi Xiu entered the sealed laboratory with Marianne, while Arivik, A Xian, and Soren’s teams took on separate investigations and security duties.
• The Parasites woke when Wu Yuan and Marianne’s assistants released them from their container, briefly showing emerald eyes before acting harmless and cute.
• Marianne sedated the Parasites and collected cells, but they slept for only three minutes before waking and ramming the container.
• Wu Yuan reinforced the container as the Parasites tried to escape, and they switched from snarling at the robot to acting pitiful.

Arivik brought Degu and Teli to Xi Xiu’s laboratory to investigate whether they had been parasitized, while Aileen’s movements raised suspicions that she might be a Huovian agent. Under observation, Degu denied ever visiting the forest, despite the traces and records linking him to it.

• Marianne learned that two citizens on Ningkui Star had Mental Power wavelengths matching the Parasites, and Arivik decided to bring Degu and Teli in for examination.
• Aileen denied taking photographs of travelers and accused Arivik’s group of fabricating evidence, while Degu accepted being taken away and told her to stop talking.
• Arivik and Liang Jingxian took Degu and Teli through official procedures; Julie quietly packed Teli’s luggage and seemed relieved when he left.
• Arivik ordered Aileen and Julie watched after their reactions made him suspect they knew about their partners’ activities, and the Central Brain tracked Aileen to the starport transfer station.
• Xi Xiu questioned Degu and Teli in the laboratory, where Degu denied visiting the forest and claimed anyone could imitate the traces found there.

Xi Xiu and Marianne investigated how Parasites could coexist with their hosts’ consciousnesses and discovered a way to expose them through confinement. Their findings offered the Alliance a possible means to identify infected citizens, though the wider threat remained urgent.

• Xi Xiu brought Degu and Teli to Marianne and Eric, who confirmed that both men had no memories of visiting the forest and had unchanged Mental Power frequencies.
• Marianne’s experiments showed that Parasite and host Mental Power could fuse, making the two consciousnesses difficult to distinguish.
• As the Elder Council coordinated a crisis response, Qing Wenxu and Chu Xuliang ordered urgent research while the Council removed Basia from his post and restricted Leisiren to Liuning Fortress.
• After ten hours of testing, Marianne and Eric isolated a small segment of Parasite Mental Power frequency from Degu and Teli.
• Xi Xiu suggested confining Degu and Teli in sealed rooms, where the Parasites took control of their bodies and revealed detectable changes that Marianne’s team recorded.

Xi Xiu sent Marianne and Eric’s Parasite-identification method to the Alliance, which began screening citizens and isolating suspected hosts while soldiers cleared Parasites from Ningkui Star. Xi Xiu pursued clues about the Huovian people through Aileen, as Degu and Teli confronted the truth about Julie’s deception.

• Xi Xiu sent the identification method to the Alliance, and Qing Wenxu, Chu Xuliang, and Chu Zekuan distributed it across the star systems and set up public detection devices.
• Qing Zhixun returned from Basia with Leisiren, and the soldiers who had served with him were confined and monitored; Marianne concluded that Parasites needed a wounded host and a medium to enter.
• Xi Xiu and Soren organized soldiers to clear underground Parasites on Ningkui Star while Arivik and others monitored citizens who had entered the forest.
• Xi Xiu and Arivik went to Ningkui Star’s central district to search for the Huovian people, and Xi Xiu asked Liang Jingxian to obtain Aileen and Degu’s partnership contract.
• Degu and Teli chose to remain sealed away until their Parasite consciousnesses could be separated, and Teli told Degu that Julie had repeatedly delayed having children and was preparing to leave him.

After Teli lost hope and surrendered his body to the Parasites, Degu fought back and showed Marianne and Eric that a strong will could resist them. Meanwhile, Xi Xiu’s investigation on Ningkui Star narrowed Julie’s connections to two Children’s Affairs Bureau employees, Mel and Moffas.

• Teli and Degu failed to suppress the Parasites’ consciousness, and Teli fell asleep wishing not to wake again.
• Degu gradually regained control of his body after a fierce struggle, while Marianne and Eric recorded his changing expressions and Mental Power.
• Degu separated Teli from himself when he realized the Parasite still controlled Teli, and the researchers reported that Teli’s Mental Power had disappeared.
• Xi Xiu organized an investigation across Ningkui Star and sent the list of residents who had traveled to other star systems to the Elder Council for follow-up.
• Liang Jingxian linked Julie’s frequent visits to the Children’s Affairs Bureau to Mel and Moffas, whose records showed they had come from orphanages in other star systems.

Xi Xiu returned to the Orphanage on Ningkui Star to reunite with Vivian, Corinne, Shally, and Su Xiangyu, then asked them to help prepare disguises for approaching Mel. The disguise data was being recorded when Liang Jingxian struggled to keep up with the women’s lively movements and conversation.

• The Central Brain gave Xi Xiu the problematic data, including her birth records, then destroyed her file before returning to the network.
• Xi Xiu brought A Xian and Su Jinbao to the Orphanage and reunited with Vivian for the first time in twelve years.
• Xi Xiu explained her plan to use Orphanage staff identities to approach Mel, and Vivian agreed to help.
• Vivian called Corinne, Shally, and Su Xiangyu to discuss the children’s expedition and meet Xi Xiu.
• Xi Xiu explained that Alliance disguise equipment could reproduce the staff members’ speech and movements, then sent Liang Jingxian to record Corinne and Shally.
• Liang Jingxian recorded the women discussing Xi Xiu and her match, but their shifting expressions and movements overwhelmed him, so he asked Xi Xiu to send another person.

Xi Xiu and Jiang Li'an disguised themselves as Orphanage staff to deliver children’s records to the Children’s Affairs Bureau and investigate the Huovian people. The Bureau’s robot secretly observed them and transmitted data, while Liang Jingxian tracked the signal and Xi Xiu planted a monitor on the robot.

• Xi Xiu prepared to impersonate Su Xiangyu, while Jiang Li'an would pose as Corinne, so they could enter the Children's Affairs Bureau without alerting the Huovian people.
• Xi Xiu and Jiang Li'an stayed at the Orphanage, then left with Shally early the next morning carrying sealed paper records for the Bureau.
• Shally helped calm Jiang Li'an during the trip, and Xi Xiu reassured her that they should follow their training and act naturally.
• At the Bureau, Xi Xiu copied Su Xiangyu's mannerisms and used her own water cup instead of drinking the beverage brought by a robot.
• The robot compared their behavior with past visits and sent its observations to a machine inside the Bureau, while Liang Jingxian tracked its transmission and Xi Xiu planted a monitor on it.

Xi Xiu and Jiang Li'an accompanied Shally to the office to arrange a trip for the Ningkui Star Orphanage children, while Xi Xiu discovered that Mel and Moffas were Huovian impostors. Shally noticed a flaw in Mel’s signature, but Mel concealed her unease as the procedures were completed.

• Dora arrived early, questioned the night-duty robot about Mel and Moffas, and began investigating their schedules and records.
• Xi Xiu, Jiang Li'an, and Shally met Mel and Moffas to arrange the children’s travel, while Moffas entered their information into his terminal.
• Xi Xiu and Jiang Li'an noticed that Moffas’s wrist mark was wrong and realized that he was a fake; Xi Xiu suspected Mel was one too.
• Xi Xiu found that the office surveillance had been tampered with and placed a tiny device on Mel’s work clothes.
• Mel signed Shally’s travel documents, and Shally noticed she had omitted the tiny dots in her usual flower signature.

Jiang Li'an, disguised as Corinne, planted a monitoring device in Mel's restroom, allowing Liang Jingxian and the others to trace Mel's terminal and learn that the Huovian people were forging identities for Orphanage children. Dora became suspicious of Mel and Moffas, and the chapter ended with her accessing surveillance footage of Moffas processing data.

• Jiang Li'an planted a monitoring device in Mel's restroom and used it to trace the network connection to Mel's terminal.
• Mel and Moffas discussed their plan to use Orphanage children's identities to bring Huovian children into Jing Su star systems, while Moffas altered the database and processed the files.
• Xi Xiu's surveillance device and Jiang Li'an's monitor sent information to Liang Jingxian, who learned more about the Huovian operation and Arivik's investigation into the Nine Stars.
• Dora visited Mel's office unexpectedly, noticed that the files were missing, and asked Mel to arrange a Starship.
• Dora returned to her office and accessed the surveillance feed in Moffas's office, where she saw him processing data.

Xi Xiu, Dora, and the government office prepared to use the Orphanage children’s scheduled trip to expose the Huovian people’s plan to steal a Starship. As Ningkui Star went on alert, Mel and Moffas doubted the plan but decided to proceed.

• Dora discovered that Moffas had copied the Orphanage children’s identity data and sent surveillance footage to the government office.
• Xi Xiu and Arivik concluded that the Huovian people planned to use children to seize the government office’s Starship and travel to another star system.
• Xi Xiu, Dora, the Orphanage, and government managers kept the trip on schedule and planned to switch the children at the starport while Xi Xiu’s teams waited for the Huovian Starship.
• Xi Xiu told Dora that Mel’s Genetic Information contained genes from another human, suggesting the Huovian people used a cruel method to disguise themselves as Alliance humans.
• Ningkui Star went on alert and barred departures without official certification, but Shally told Mel that the children’s trip would proceed, so Mel and Moffas chose to take the risk.

Xi Xiu's group uncovered evidence of Huovian infiltration on Ningkui Star and investigated the Xiwen and Wang Families' roles, while the Alliance prepared for wider infiltration. As the children departed, Mel and Moffas watched from the shadows, planning to abduct them and return to Huovian, though Mel privately mocked Moffas.

• Song Jing'an used the Star Eye to identify nearly a thousand people with altered terminal marks, then investigated how they had entered Ningkui Star and where the citizens they replaced had gone.
• Xi Xiu and Qing Zhixun's evidence led the Elder Council to blame the Xiwen Family for security failures, while Basia realized the Wang Family had manipulated him over Liuning.
• Bian Linchun arrived on Ningkui Star to study the Parasites, and Wang Zichun and Fan Zhengan sent Xi Xiu data about Huovian transmission energy fluctuations that could help predict Qin Hongjun's future arrival coordinates.
• Xi Xiu, Jiang Li'an, and Shally saw the children off as Mel and Moffas arrived at the starport and secretly watched them depart.
• Mel and Moffas discussed returning to Huovian with enough energy to live comfortably, and Mel privately called Moffas a fool.

Mel and Moffas’s covert mission to steal energy on Ningkui Star was uncovered when Xi Xiu and the others moved to capture the Huovian operatives. Mel tried to escape by detonating a modified Space Locket at the starport, but Xi Xiu intercepted it and Qi Mang carried it skyward before it exploded.

• Mel and Moffas traveled to Ningkui Star to extract energy after Huovian operatives found promising energy deposits.
• Su Jinbao, Nan Hejia, and the others separated Mel and Moffas amid a starport alert and began capturing the Huovian operatives.
• Buhete stopped Moffas as he tried to reach a blind spot and took him to the temporary detention area.
• Mel hid among the waiting-hall crowd and repeatedly changed her disguise, but Nan Hejia tracked her down.
• Mel activated a modified Space Locket, but Xi Xiu snatched it away and Qi Mang carried it into the sky, where it exploded.

Nan Hejia captured Mel during the battle at the starport, and Xi Xiu questioned her about her choices and Julie’s death. Xi Xiu identified Mel as the Shixi Family head’s daughter, leaving Mel shocked and questioning how she knew.

• Nan Hejia fought Mel inside a Protective Shield, overpowered her with her spheres, and captured her after Mel signaled a truce.
• Nan Hejia brought Mel to Xi Xiu, while Ningkui Star officials prepared Starships to transport the captured Huovian people to detention.
• Xi Xiu asked Mel why she had not fought to the end, and Mel explained that she had chosen to preserve her life.
• Xi Xiu asked where Julie was, and Mel said Julie was dead because she had become useless after Teli was exposed.
• Xi Xiu told Mel that the Shixi Family had treated her as a discarded pawn and revealed that Mel was the family head’s daughter, shocking her.

Xi Xiu exposed Yueye Shixi’s identity and questioned her about the Jingsu people her team had replaced. Yueye offered a lead on a Shixi Family contact but was taken aboard the Starship for interrogation, where she began to suspect Xi Xiu was the woman her father had warned her about.

• Xi Xiu revealed that she knew Yueye was the Shixi Family head’s favored illegitimate daughter, and Yueye decided to surrender after her mission failed.
• Xi Xiu asked where the people Yueye’s team had replaced had gone, but Yueye claimed she did not know.
• Yueye offered the name Wang Si as bait, believing Xi Xiu wanted information about Jingsu traitors.
• Xi Xiu concealed how much she already knew and kept Yueye talking until Yueye stopped offering information.
• Xi Xiu escorted Yueye aboard the Starship, and Yueye remembered her father’s warning to avoid a woman surnamed Hong.

Xi Xiu’s group contained the Parasite outbreak on Ningkui Star as attacks by Huovian robotic forces spread across Jingsu. After Xu Fengxiang warned Xi Xiu that Tianwei Star was under attack and someone was investigating the Nine Stars, the war appeared to have begun in earnest.

• Xi Xiu’s group captured Yue Ye and her companions, while investigators screened Ningkui Star’s citizens for Parasite infection and reported that the outbreak remained controllable.
• Huovian robotic fleets attacked inhabited planets, forcing evacuations as Alliance forces mobilized against the spreading assault.
• Bian Linchun failed in another attempt to separate the Parasite consciousness from Degu, while Arivik learned that the Huovian people were assembling.
• The Alliance ordered Xi Xiu to remain stationed on Ningkui Star as Qing Zhixun questioned the captured Huovians and Li Yuanting handled the mission on Liuzhao Star.
• Xu Fengxiang told Xi Xiu that Tianwei Star had been attacked and that a force was investigating information about the Nine Stars before he and Feng Yueci departed for battle.