Chapter Summaries

On August 17, 2045, the Gamma-ray Burst struck Earth, and the Kunlun Mirror shielded the planet while the Skybearers held it back from crashing. The plan worked, but the Skybearers were being sacrificed in shifts, and their ships began to fail as new crews launched to replace them.

• Wingbroken Golden Crow explained that Hua Country placed the Kunlun Mirror beyond lunar orbit to avoid public panic and leave the Skybearers room to catch it if the Burst accelerated it toward Earth.
• A Gamma-ray Burst hit Earth, disabling electronics and scorching exposed people, while the Kunlun Mirror weakened the radiation before it reached the ground.
• Ten thousand Skybearer ships supported the descending Kunlun Mirror and halted it beyond the atmosphere, blocking most of the Burst from Earth.
• Nifita learned that the Skybearers were not expected to survive the radiation, and Wingbroken Golden Crow confirmed that crews would have to be replaced as they died.
• Several Skybearer ships broke apart or lost control, and their commanders destroyed them to protect the Kunlun Mirror as another batch of Skybearers launched to take their places.

Yu Mo Shuo chose to keep atmospheric repairs at their optimal level despite the risk of mass species extinction, trusting that humanity could make a technological breakthrough. After two months of disaster and social collapse, Hua Country helped establish a unified Earth Civilization on October 18, 2045.

• Gu Feng reported that Earth had lost its Ozone Layer and would need seven months of atmospheric repairs, while existing supplies could last only three months.
• Yu Mo Shuo rejected the Advisory Group’s recommendation to reduce atmospheric repairs, deciding to pursue the best outcome and give humanity time to advance its technology.
• Radiation and social collapse devastated Earth, and war and crime killed six hundred million people over two months.
• Hua Country deployed forces to restore order, gathered resources, and helped bring the surviving countries and ungoverned regions under the Earth Civilization Council.
• Earth Civilization was established with Hua Country as its leading power, a shared legal system, and RMB as its sole circulating currency.

At Kunlun Base, Fang Ye forced the Jellyfish Pirate to reveal himself, and the pirate began helping Earth’s wounded while warning of a mysterious signal reaching Earth. On Proxima Centauri b, Mo Yun broke into an observer’s ship and sent the signal, prompting the Star Alliance to consider Earth eligible to join before Huang Ji arrived and welcomed her with the Straw Hat Overlord as a doll.

• Yu Mo Shuo heard Fang Ye’s claim that the Jellyfish Pirate still lived inside him and reluctantly let him test it by risking his life in a cremation furnace.
• Fang Ye’s heart surged with blood as the Jellyfish Pirate took control to save him, revealing that the pirate had hidden his inner brain inside Fang Ye and had survived for decades.
• The Jellyfish Pirate agreed to help repair Earth’s atmosphere and treat its wounded, then detected an unusual microwave signal that the Great Silence Barrier had not erased.
• Mo Yun used her mathematical insight to find an invisible observer ship near Proxima Centauri b, broke into it, and sent a technology package to Earth.
• The Star Alliance representatives recognized that Mo Yun had sent the signal from an observer ship and began to declare Earth eligible to join the Star Alliance.
• Huang Ji arrived with the Faction Lords, was greeted as the Great Emperor, and gave Mo Yun the Straw Hat Overlord as a doll.

Huang Ji arranged for Mo Yun to be excluded from Earth’s assessment, while her impossible transmission sparked a scientific revolution that led humanity to build its own technological framework. Earth’s science reached only the Nano Flourishing Stage, but Huang Ji welcomed its independent path as the foundation for humanity’s future in interstellar society.

• Mo Yun met Huang Ji, accepted the Straw Hat Overlord, and learned that Earth still had to pass the Star Alliance’s reproduction test.
• Wingbroken Golden Crow ruled that Mo Yun’s gift removed her from the assessment, leaving Liu Zhurui to continue Earth’s mission on Proxima Centauri b.
• Huang Ji told the assembled Civilization Lords that Earth had only recently gained the conditions for a technological explosion, and that Mo Yun’s unprecedented transmission had lit its fuse.
• Scientists at Kunlun Base questioned the interstellar account and scientific framework Huang Ji had left behind, beginning to verify its ideas independently.
• Over the next five months, Earth’s scientists developed a distinct scientific framework that reached the Nano Flourishing Stage and helped restore society.
• Huang Ji welcomed humanity’s independent path, believing Earth could enter interstellar society without relying on him as its source of truth.

Huang Ji explained how his long-planned actions had helped trigger Earth’s technological explosion and the end of humanity’s dependence on a savior. Seven months after the disaster, Earth’s scientific progress surged alongside famine and social breakdown, as the civilization prepared for contact with extraterrestrials.

• Huang Ji told the delegations that he was an Earthling and that civilization, not its supposed savior, deserved the credit for its achievements.
• Huang Ji explained that the technological explosion had depended on precise timing and a chain of actions he had set in motion decades earlier, and he directed interested observers to study his Ziwei Divination model.
• By March 15, 2046, ordinary people across Earth were contributing small improvements that collectively accelerated scientific and industrial progress.
• Earth’s government struggled to distribute food as famine worsened, crop yields collapsed, and armed groups and local factions resisted reconstruction.
• The united government abandoned the supply-on-demand system and prioritized regions that had resumed production, while disorder deepened elsewhere.
• Earth Civilization faced a major new event as it made contact with extraterrestrial civilization.

Earth’s leaders debated the Star Alliance invitation and decided to engage with aliens while publicly treating them as a single civilization, not trusting claims they could not verify. Huang Ji explained that Earth’s suspicion was only the surface: he wanted humanity to develop a strong independent identity and the will to take responsibility for other civilizations.

• Earth’s representatives debated whether the Star Alliance was real and agreed to cooperate with aliens while reporting only confirmed facts to the public.
• The United Government of Earth Civilization voted to adopt the principle of “pretending to join the Star Alliance.”
• The wing-broken Lord of the Golden Crow and the other envoys learned that Earth had held a meeting and become wary of their invitation.
• Lin Li asked Huang Ji why he had created circumstances that made Earth suspicious, and Huang Ji said vigilance was not the key.
• Huang Ji explained that Earth’s strong sense of identity and responsibility could make it a great civilization that would think of itself first when others needed help.

Earth’s leaders and people prepared for humanity’s first contact with extraterrestrials, then watched advanced civilizations arrive and transform the East China Sea landing site. At the negotiations, Huang Ji explained the guide-selection rules and disqualified Ziwei, while Lusa offered Earth’s leaders five advanced spacecraft as a greeting gift.

• The Earth Civilization Government announced the approaching alien contact, and public anxiety grew as media speculated about the visitors’ motives.
• On April 1, an enormous spacecraft appeared and removed the Betelgeuse radiation storm, turning its energy into snowflakes that expanded the East China Sea platform into a vast steel continent.
• Lusa and envoys from numerous civilizations arrived, and Ji Heng warned Earth about the Civilization of Light’s history of exploitation.
• Huang Ji arrived aboard the Kunlun Ship and told the human representatives that Earth could choose only one guide, while Ziwei was ineligible because he had given Mo Yun a gift that violated the rules.
• Lusa offered five Civilization Overlord spacecraft with medical systems and Longevity Elixir production lines, claiming they cost exactly One Lang and prompting other envoys to accuse him of exploiting a loophole.

Huang Ji challenged Lusa’s claim that the Civilization of Light had offered the best gift, prompting Earth’s representatives to compare all the bids before choosing a guide. Ji Heng then presented the Dragon Race’s research-ready Coiling Dragon Space Station and defended its low stated cost, leaving the scientists impressed and the contest unresolved.

• Huang Ji argued that Lusa’s spacecraft and Longevity Elixir would serve powerful individuals more than Earth’s development, and the human representatives postponed their choice for a scientific review.
• Earth’s Advisory Group concluded that the five Civilization Overlord vessels would be difficult to reverse-engineer and offer little practical near-term benefit.
• Ji Heng presented the Dragon Race’s Coiling Dragon Space Station, engineering machines, and renewable Dragon Crystal as a gift suited to scientific research and space exploration.
• Lusa accused Ji Heng of undervaluing the station, but Ji Heng showed that its design was open source and that mass production made it inexpensive.
• Ji Heng explained that humans could adapt the station for their needs, and Earth’s scientists praised its potential while the final choice remained pending.

Humanity weighed alien gifts as Huang Ji challenged its assumptions about slavery and revealed how practical needs shaped its choices. The Shacha Civilization offered medical technology for Earth's radiation victims, but Huang Ji suggested Han Bi had prepared too little, while Han Bi noticed the Nomu Civilization might also have developed treatments for humans.

• Lusa asked Huang Ji to judge the Dragon Race's gift, and Huang Ji said its scientific appeal would not win over humanity as a whole.
• The Dark Wing Race offered Vegetable People as slaves, prompting human representatives to question the practice and Huang Ji to argue that humanity had only abolished enslaving its own kind.
• After Huang Ji exposed humanity's interest in controlling intelligent artificial beings, other civilizations began offering slave species, while Lusa promised access to the Golden Crow Race's extensive slave trade.
• Da Luo presented ten thousand advanced quantum computers, the Heavenly Heart Civilization offered eight kilograms of Antimatter, and Lusa countered that Earth could buy Antimatter through the Civilization of Light.
• Han Bi and Leqi King presented production lines for Intelligent Antibodies and Gene Repair Fluid tailored to human needs, drawing strong interest from the representatives.
• Huang Ji told Han Bi that one production line would have been enough, and Han Bi realized he had missed an opportunity to include more gifts before noticing Nifita of the Nomu Civilization.

Nifita presented Earth with a vast supply of practical goods, including nanosteel, high-temperature superconductors, and nutritious star taro fungus, which the human representatives valued far more immediately than exotic alien technology. The Kunlun Empress also offered humanity prolific meat-producing worms, though scientists worried about their environmental impact.

• Nifita gave the human representatives an optical computer containing a list of her gifts, then summoned a hundred thousand tungsten-steel containers weighing ten thousand tonnes each.
• Nifita explained that she had brought a hundred million tonnes of specialized nanosteel, which Earth’s representatives recognized as a valuable strategic resource.
• Nifita revealed ten thousand tonnes of high-temperature superconductors, delighting Earth’s scientists because Earth could barely produce them.
• Nifita offered ten million tonnes of nutritious star taro fungus and described how it could be cultivated for high yields, prompting the humans to celebrate its potential to ease Earth’s food crisis.
• Bone Fan, the Kunlun Empress, offered a hundred thousand sauce worms capable of producing enormous quantities of meat grubs, but scientists worried that the worms would damage the environment.

Huang Ji explained the interstellar currency system and negotiated a transitional Earth currency that Guides would accept for trade. Humanity agreed to peg Earth Coin to energy, leaving the meeting with a route into interstellar commerce but strict limits on how much currency it could issue.

• Nifita presented medicines, gold, and rare elements, while Lusa explained that Lang and Fusion Coins were the accepted currencies of interstellar trade.
• Huang Ji revealed that the Lan Tian Order had imposed a unified currency system and that Earth could not use its own money in interstellar society without a special arrangement.
• Nifita described how the Nomu Civilization had relied on labor abroad and political concessions to obtain foreign currency, alarming the human representatives about Earth's economic weakness.
• Huang Ji proposed creating Earth Coin as a subsidiary currency of Fusion Coin, backed by an equivalent commodity and printed on durable Nano Silk.
• Huang Ji warned that Guides could redeem excessive Earth Coin by extracting energy from Earth's power systems, then confirmed that energy transfers to human grids would be free.
• The human representatives and the Guides agreed that one Fusion Coin would equal one billion Earth Coins and that one Earth Coin would be pegged to six hundred kilowatt-hours of energy.

Lusa tried to preserve his chance of becoming humanity’s guide, but Nifita’s practical gifts and Qingchan Civilization’s candid offer of intelligence changed the humans’ attention. Qingchan withdrew from the competition after sharing its account of interstellar hardship, leaving humanity to reconsider the advanced civilizations’ proposals.

• Lusa tried to cast doubt on Nifita’s leadership, but humanity focused on her earthquake and weather forecasting instruments.
• Lusa told the Firebird envoy to abandon a copied gift scheme, then learned its original offering was a lottery ticket bought to guarantee a prize.
• The Qingchan envoy introduced his civilization as a struggling society that had joined the Star Alliance sixty years before humanity and gave humanity an optical computer containing intelligence and advice.
• Lusa warned humanity that browsing more than half the Qingchan material would count as choosing Qingchan, so the humans paused their reading.
• The Qingchan envoy withdrew from the guide competition, saying his civilization wanted friendship with humanity and could not safely take responsibility for guiding it.
• Humanity read about Qingchan’s civil war and social upheaval, including the “Humanity Croaking Plan,” which aimed to thwart advanced civilizations’ bids and build ties with humanity.

Humanity learned that advanced civilizations were competing intensely to become its guide, likely because of Huang Ji’s influence. The Light Chaser Civilization then offered its complete history and culture, leaving humanity moved by its legacy and its plea to be remembered.

• The Qingchan Civilization exposed its own shame to undermine advanced civilizations competing to guide humanity, and the Advisory Group concluded that the aliens took Earth seriously because of Huang Ji’s power and influence.
• Humanity’s representatives debated whether the technological advances inspired by Huang Ji’s writings rested on mistaken assumptions, while a young scientist insisted Huang Ji was an Earthling but that experiments alone could validate scientific theories.
• The Light Chaser Civilization gave humanity an optical computer containing its entire history, culture, and records, and explained that its Bitter Rift species prized the sacrifice and inheritance known as “breaking away.”
• Lusa argued that the records exceeded the permitted gift value because they included protected Homeworld information, but the envoy insisted its civilization’s history was priceless and above all its wealth.
• The Light Chaser envoy said the Light Chasers had come only to be remembered and hoped humanity would become the next generation to carry their civilization’s history forward.

Humanity debated which civilization should guide it, ultimately exploiting a loophole to keep the Light Chaser Civilization’s history and the other envoys’ gifts. Huang Ji then removed Ziwei from the Milky Way’s five leading powers, while the envoys recognized that he had become a force beyond the Milky Way.

• Humanity considered the Nomu Civilization, the Kunlun Skyworm Empress, and other candidates, but rejected the Skyworms and struggled to give up the Light Chaser Civilization’s historical records.
• The Chasing Light envoy refused to sell his civilization’s history or become humanity’s Guide, insisting that its history was priceless.
• Mo Yun argued that humanity could keep gifts from civilizations that broke the rules, and Huang Ji agreed, prompting the envoys to confess violations and leave their gifts with humanity.
• Huang Ji declared that he had abused the Milky Way’s order and removed Ziwei from the five leading powers, despite protests from Lusa, Ji Heng, and the other envoys.
• Huang Ji declined to reconsider, and the envoys realized that his influence now extended across the Local Group.

Humanity entered the interstellar age as it began developing Proxima Centauri b and learning about Nomu and Chasing Light civilizations. Public fascination with the Nomu Race and Nifita grew as Earth’s economy, laws, and industries changed, leaving Earth Civilization moving into a new era.

• Humanity leased a million-square-kilometer plateau on Proxima Centauri b to Nomu Civilization, while Liu Zhurui oversaw Proxima City and the second wave of settlers traveled there aboard the Civilization Overlord.
• Earth Civilization gradually revealed information about Nomu and Chasing Light, and the public became especially fascinated with Nomu and its head of state, Nifita.
• Earth Civilization Government cracked down on unauthorized commercial uses of Nifita’s likeness and advanced new laws governing interstellar relations and copyrights.
• People adopted Nomu-inspired fashions, while researchers explored the unfamiliar biology and society of the Light Chasers.
• Countries outside Hua Country adopted RMB and Earth Coin, as Nomu Civilization invested in Earth businesses and helped bring high-tech goods into circulation.
• Nomu Enterprises expanded across industries, and Earth Civilization continued replacing old industries with new ones as it entered a new era.

Twenty years after Earth became an interstellar civilization, Huang Ji lived quietly as a doctor while humanity transformed through advanced technology and education. Lin Li brought Huang Ji and Grandpa to Luoyang for his comedy show, where Huang Ji hoped to get Grandpa to accept the Longevity Elixir before turning back to the wider galactic situation.

• Earth developed a system that paid people to study, while intelligent technology reshaped agriculture and everyday life.
• Huang Ji met Lin Li, who told him that Taiwei Hua planned a Star Group Conclave after the Phoenix Overlord took the Sombrero Star Cluster; Huang Ji said the meeting would wait until next year so they could await the Phoenix Overlord.
• Lin Li invited Huang Ji to his first solo comedy show in Luoyang, sponsored by Zhang Junwei, and Huang Ji agreed to bring Grandpa along.
• Huang Ji and Lin Li discussed the Longevity Elixir, which Grandpa had repeatedly refused despite reaching the age of 105.
• Grandpa complained about modern technology and worried about Mo Yun marrying, while Huang Ji let him express his views without pressing him to take the elixir.

Lin Li drove Huang Ji and Grandpa through Luoyang, showing them how Earth had changed through superconducting technology, vast underground cities, and optical projection filters. At the Nomu Grand Theater, Huang Ji discovered that Zhang Junwei had booked the venue and canceled Lin Li’s performance, so they went to catch up with him instead.

• Lin Li explained Luoyang’s towering Skyline Giant Tower, expensive surface housing, and the underground city where most residents lived.
• Lin Li described how underground farming and city development had freed Earth’s surface for forests and nature reserves.
• Lin Li demonstrated optical filters that let people change their apparent faces and bodies, and explained how some regions had developed into cyberpunk city-states.
• Huang Ji noticed twelve Hermes flying saucers above the Nomu Grand Theater and told Lin Li that someone had canceled his booked performance.
• Lin Li learned that Zhang Junwei had booked the theater, accepted that the show was canceled, and followed Huang Ji and Grandpa to catch up with old friends.

Lin Li, Huang Ji, and Huang Ji’s grandfather went to the Nomu Grand Theater for Lin Li’s performance, only to find it canceled because Tree of Life Pharmaceutical Group had rented the entire venue. There, Huang Ji reunited with Zhang Junwei after fifty-five years, and Xiao Zha hurried back to meet him when he heard he had returned.

• Lin Li learned that the theater had canceled his show, then Zhang Junwei called and sent Zhang Hua to bring Lin Li and his companions inside.
• Zhang Junwei recognized Huang Ji, tearfully greeted his long-lost friend, and introduced Zhang Hua to him as his granduncle.
• Zhang Junwei revealed that he had built a company worth fifty billion using money Huang Ji had entrusted to him, while Huang Ji said he had spent the past twenty years running a clinic.
• Zhang Hua and An Huixing entered the domed hall and discovered that Tree of Life Pharmaceutical Group had taken over the theater for an event.
• General Zhao ordered the theater staff to clear out unauthorized people, and Xiao Zha left after learning that Huang Ji had returned and immediately ran back to meet him.

Lin Li refused to give up the theater hall reserved for his performance, even after General Zhao of Life Tree Group offered compensation and Longevity Elixir. Huang Ji and the others confronted Zhao, and the chapter ended with Lin Li destroying the case of elixir as An Huixing cried.

• Zhang Junwei told Lin Li that Life Tree Group had booked the theater, but Lin Li insisted on keeping South Pole Hall Six and paid the manager two hundred million.
• The theater manager ordered security to remove the group, and Lin Li, Zhang Junwei, and Xiao Zha fought back before Huang Ji's grandfather stopped a guard from attacking Huang Ji.
• Zhang Junwei worried that defying Life Tree Group could hurt his son's construction business, but Lin Li persuaded him to meet General Zhao and revealed that Huang Ji's daughter was the renowned scientist Huang Mo Yun.
• General Zhao offered everyone a dose of Longevity Elixir if they left, and An Huixing eagerly accepted the offer despite Zhang Hua's protests.
• Huang Ji declared that nobody was leaving, and An Huixing broke free from Zhang Hua and rushed toward the elixir after Zhao promised her two doses.
• Lin Li kicked the case across the hall, shattering every dose of Longevity Elixir, and An Huixing fell to her knees sobbing.

An Huixing broke down after the Longevity Elixir serum was destroyed, explaining that she wanted enough doses to keep her whole family together, while Grandpa reconsidered his acceptance of death. General Zhao turned on An Huixing and the others, but Huang Ji and Lin Li defeated his enhanced guards and confronted him.

• An Huixing shattered the serum while trying to obtain immortality, and Huang Ji stopped Grandpa from intervening as she pleaded for multiple doses for her parents.
• An Huixing explained that she feared being left alone when her parents died, prompting Grandpa to reconsider the consequences of accepting his own mortality.
• General Zhao rejected An Huixing's pleas, slapped her, and summoned twenty guards enhanced with the War God Serum.
• General Zhao revealed that he and his guards were superhumans designated S1, but Lin Li laughed at his claim and the guards attacked.
• Huang Ji appeared beside General Zhao after the guards fell, and Lin Li beat General Zhao with his advanced abilities despite injuring his leg.