Chapter Summaries

Chen Mengchuan opened Tenzhi Technology’s lavish global press conference by recounting the company’s rapid rise and breakthroughs in technology, energy, space travel, and medicine. The gathered world leaders and media listened as he concluded with Tenzhi’s new research direction for treating leukemia without bone marrow transplants.

• Zhao Wanyu confirmed the press conference venue, a gravity-built plaza designed to accommodate more than 50,000 spectators.
• Thousands of media outlets and online influencers livestreamed as business and political leaders from around the world arrived at Tenzhi Technology’s industrial park.
• Chen Mengchuan entered the venue with his colleagues and began the press conference before the assembled crowd.
• Chen Mengchuan described Tenzhi’s growth from wireless phone chargers to gravity technology, space-time research, particle communications, and cancer treatment.
• Chen Mengchuan announced that Tenzhi’s graphene department had begun researching a treatment for leukemia that did not require bone marrow transplantation.

Chen Mengchuan revealed Tenzhi Technology’s enormous gravitational spaceship, Tiansuo, at a global press conference, stunning audiences and governments around the world. He and Zhao Wanyu began leading the guests on a tour of the ship, where Zhao started explaining its seven decks.

• Chen Mengchuan declared that Tenzhi Technology aimed to expand into space and invited the attendees to witness its achievement.
• A 3,000-meter-long silver-white spaceship rose into view as the solar panels of the Silver Fish Graphene Solar Photovoltaic Power Station dispersed.
• Audiences at the venue and around the world reacted with shock, while defense departments and Chinese officials watched the reveal with alarm and excitement.
• Chen Mengchuan identified the ship as Tenzhi Technology’s cosmic exploration spaceship, Tiansuo.
• Chen Mengchuan instructed the guests to hold the handrails as the gravitational platform lifted them into Tiansuo.
• Zhao Wanyu introduced Tiansuo’s seven decks and explained that the guests had entered its fourth intermediate deck zone.

Zhao Wanyu guided visitors through Tiansuo’s vast green zones as the world reacted with shock to the ship’s scale and technology. Governments convened an emergency defense conference, where Huaxia said it knew no more about Tiansuo than other nations, leaving its weapons systems an unanswered concern.

• Zhao Wanyu stopped the gravity platform and explained that Tiansuo had forty-eight plant zones supplying oxygen for the ship.
• Elon Musk admitted to Chen Mengchuan that seeing Tiansuo had humbled him, while Bob Swan joined their conversation.
• Television programs worldwide discussed Tiansuo, and nations convened an emergency United Nations defense video conference.
• Defense officials questioned whether Tiansuo carried weapons, while Huaxia insisted it had no special knowledge of the ship.
• Zhao Wanyu led the visitors to a fruit and vegetable zone, where they saw thriving plants and what appeared to be birds, butterflies, and bees.
• Online viewers around the world watched footage of Tiansuo’s enormous interior and its greenery zones.

Chen Mengchuan spoke with Elon Musk aboard Tiansuo, where Musk warned that governments would demand inspections and surveillance of the spacecraft. Musk recounted how the United States Department of Defense had pressured SpaceX, leaving Chen concerned about what Tenzhi Technology might face.

• Chen Mengchuan discussed Tenzhi Technology's plans to establish a base on Mars with Elon Musk, who warned that the United States and Russia would not let Tiansuo depart without scrutiny.
• Musk predicted that governments would demand a full inspection of Tiansuo and place intelligence agents aboard, and Chen confirmed that the ship had no firearms.
• Musk described how the United States Department of Defense supervised SpaceX launches, installed mysterious devices on rockets and satellites, and threatened to make rockets self-destruct unless he complied.
• Musk said he had protested to Congress without success and ultimately accepted the Department of Defense's demands in exchange for payment.
• Musk joked that he had merely been drinking and bragging, while Bob Swan advised him to say less.

After Tenzhi Technology’s press conference, Chen Mengchuan and Zhao Wanyu prepared for international pressure as the United States Seventh Fleet and South Korean Navy moved toward Huaxia in international waters. The chapter ended with officials from several countries discussing how to intensify pressure on Tenzhi Technology.

• Zhao Wanyu invited industry giants to cooperate with Tenzhi Technology, and more than half declined before returning home.
• Chen Mengchuan told Tenzhi’s core members that numerous countries were protesting the Tiansuo and demanding that it be grounded and destroyed.
• Chen Mengchuan showed that the United States Seventh Fleet, led by the USS Ronald Reagan, was sailing toward them in international waters.
• Huaxia military personnel reported that the South Korean Navy had also deployed thirty-nine ships, and ordered close monitoring of both fleets.
• News of the fleets spread online, provoking worldwide debate about whether war was imminent and whether the Tiansuo could launch.
• Madam Heather and other officials in a multinational video conference argued that they should give Huaxia little time to respond and apply more direct pressure.

Chen Mengchuan issued Tenzhi Technology’s final statement, affirming the company’s commitment to peaceful space exploration while its industrial park remained locked down. He then spoke with senior officials, reaffirmed Tenzhi’s plans to explore Mars and establish a human survival base, and left the authorities to consider their response.

• Chen Mengchuan sent a statement to Tenzhi Technology’s employees and partners declaring that the company opposed Earth’s conflicts and was dedicated to exploring space.
• Tenzhi employees shared the statement online and voiced their support for the company’s mission.
• Tenzhi Technology locked down its industrial park and activated its high-intensity anti-gravity defense field while a massive craft hovered nearby.
• Zhao Wanyu connected Chen Mengchuan with military and administrative senior officials after Xu Shuwei urged him to hear them out.
• Chen Mengchuan reaffirmed his opposition to war and described Tenzhi’s long-term plans for Mars exploration and a human survival base.
• After the call ended, the elderly official at the Xiajīng City command center sighed and became resolute.

Sailors aboard the USS Styx learned that Tenzhi Technology’s enormous anti-gravity ship, the Tiansuo, had launched, then watched it emerge from a blue portal in front of the Seventh Fleet. Captain Hannifin received orders from American Parent Donald TLP to negotiate while preparing for war, and the fleet aimed its weapons at the Tiansuo.

• Noel told Kevin and the other sailors that Tenzhi Technology’s Tiansuo was reportedly hundreds of times larger than the Styx.
• The fleet received word that the Tiansuo had taken off, and a vast blue aperture appeared in the sky ahead of the Styx.
• The Tiansuo passed through the aperture and appeared above the sea in front of the Seventh Fleet.
• Captain Hannifin ordered the fleet to hold fire without orders and contacted American Parent Donald TLP for instructions.
• Donald TLP told Hannifin to seek negotiations while preparing for war and authorized all attack methods, including nuclear weapons, if the Tiansuo showed aggression.
• Hannifin put the fleet on combat alert, and its ships and submarines locked missiles and weapons onto the Tiansuo.

Aboard the Tiansuo, Zhao Wanyu ordered the Seventh Fleet to withdraw or face detention, but its commanders ignored the warning and attacked. After the Tiansuo effortlessly intercepted the first missiles, the fleet ordered every vessel to open fire, leaving the confrontation underway.

• The Tiansuo appeared above the high seas near the Seventh Fleet, and Zhao Wanyu ordered the fleet to withdraw within ten minutes or be detained.
• The Seventh Fleet’s commanders rejected the warning and launched aircraft to reconnoiter and probe the Tiansuo.
• Zhao Wanyu issued a second warning, giving the fleet four minutes to withdraw.
• Night Hawk helicopters fired missiles at the Tiansuo, but the missiles exploded in midair without reaching it.
• The Seventh Fleet’s commanders ordered all vessels to open fire on the Tiansuo.

The Tiansuo repelled the fleet’s attacks without taking damage, and Chen Mengchuan demanded the fleet surrender or face destruction. The fleet lowered white flags, ending its resistance.

• The fleet fired missiles and shells at the Tiansuo, but its defensive field intercepted every attack before it came within 800 meters.
• The commander aboard the Lanling ordered fighter jets and helicopters to attack from multiple angles, but the Tiansuo remained unharmed.
• After the ten-minute deadline expired, Chen Mengchuan authorized a devastating strike unless the fleet surrendered.
• The Tiansuo broadcast its demand for surrender, prompting a fierce argument among the Lanling’s commanders.
• The lieutenant general aboard the Lanling called headquarters to report their defeat, and ten minutes later every ship raised a white flag.

On the ninth day of the Tiansuo’s journey to Mars, Chen Mengchuan learned the ship was expected to arrive in about six days and followed Tenzhi Technology’s work on Earth. The chapter left the company beginning trial treatments for ten leukemia patients using two newly developed plans.

• After America gave up resisting, Tenzhi Technology negotiated with multiple parties and departed Earth aboard the Tiansuo, leaving Zhao Wanyu, Sun Zhongyong, Gu Xiaoxiao, and others behind.
• Chen Mengchuan shared raspberries with Toni and asked how long the Tiansuo would take to reach Mars; Toni estimated another six days.
• Chen Mengchuan checked on the graphene biological device department, where Andre and the two Island Nation men’s team were developing treatments for leukemia.
• Zhao Wanyu coordinated experts who refined eleven proposals into two non-bone-marrow-transplant treatment plans using DNA recombination editing technology.
• With the patients’ families’ consent and approval from Huaxia medical authorities, Tenzhi Technology began trial treatments for ten leukemia patients in Su City.

Chen Mengchuan and Zhao Wanyu discussed the successful first phase of trial treatment and progress toward Lingkong 4.0, which would enable Huaxia to replace conventional power transmission. They also discussed plans for Mars and interstellar immigration, leaving Chen favoring the search for habitable planets over transforming barren Mars.

• Zhao Wanyu reported that all ten trial surgeries had gone smoothly and that Xu Mingsheng had requested approval for further research; Chen Mengchuan agreed to let the team continue.
• Zhao Wanyu reported that Lingkong 4.0 was nearing its first sample production test and that Huaxia Electric Grid was preparing to expand wireless power transmission nationwide.
• Zhao Wanyu said Huaxia Electric Grid was recalling overseas workers and planned to dismantle redundant transmission towers, which Tianzhi would recycle for materials useful to the Mars development plan.
• Chen Mengchuan and Zhao Wanyu discussed bringing family and colleagues to Mars, while acknowledging the planet's harsh conditions and the challenges of making it habitable.
• Chen Mengchuan said Mars could potentially be transformed but argued that finding more suitable habitable planets was more important for true interstellar immigration.

Chen Mengchuan led experts aboard the Tiansuo in developing a rapid Mars terraforming plan, using technology and cyanobacteria to warm the planet, retain its atmosphere, and prepare it for human settlement. After Yue'er calculated the plan's components, Chen ordered a comprehensive simulation, which would take about seven hours.

• Chen Mengchuan invited Xu Shuwei, Toni, and the experts to discuss terraforming Mars.
• Bordeaux proposed using cyanobacteria to absorb carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, while Toni warned that a magnetic shield was needed to protect Mars's atmosphere from the Solar Wind.
• The group outlined a plan to block the Solar Wind, use Solar Reflectors to raise Mars's average temperature to 11 degrees Celsius, install 108 Giant Gravity Systems, thaw polar ice, and introduce cyanobacteria, Sand-fixing Fungi, and plants.
• Simba suggested using Gravity Thrusters to move Mars closer to the Sun, but the group rejected the idea because it could destabilize the Solar System's planetary orbits.
• With Yue'er's calculations, the group completed detailed designs and material estimates for the terraforming plan.
• Chen Mengchuan ordered Yue'er to devote 50% of her computing capacity to simulating the plan, and Yue'er estimated that the simulation would take seven hours.

As the Tiansuo approached Mars, Chen Mengchuan explained the robots and industrial systems prepared to survey and develop the planet. He left the group ready to begin a detailed Mars exploration and search for resources, including uranium for nuclear power.

• Chen Mengchuan and Xu Shuwei discussed the thirty-three-year terraforming estimate as the Tiansuo neared Mars.
• Chen Mengchuan introduced 128 L7332 Multi-Arm Crabs that would weave across Mars to map its surface in three dimensions.
• Chen Mengchuan explained that QS10086 mining robots would identify minerals and excavate promising sites, while the mission also sought uranium deposits for nuclear plants.
• Chen Mengchuan described the prepared electrothermal smelting technology and the JS001 gravity-accelerated drill bits, which Toni said could likely drill through Mars.

Chen Mengchuan and the Tiansuo crew discussed Huaxia’s new spatial transport network and Sun Zhongyong’s coastal cleanup program with Tenzhi’s executives. As the ship reached Mars’s outer orbit, Chen Mengchuan greeted the planet, leaving the expedition at the start of its journey beyond Earth.

• Chen Mengchuan met with Toni, Xu Shuwei, and Tenzhi’s executives in the Tiansuo’s main control room and discussed life aboard the ship and Mars’s harsh climate.
• Zhao Wanyu reported that Huaxia had approved six pilot sites for the Plan: Gate of Another Dimension, with a broader network of 119 spatial transit stations planned before the Spring Festival travel rush.
• Zhao Wanyu praised Sun Zhongyong for arranging coastal waste cleanup with Gravity Multi-Arm Crabs, a project expected to clear 99% of offshore waste in four months.
• Möbius served breakfast, and the group talked about Earth, Mars, the Solar System, and aliens while Chen Mengchuan considered the coming battle against alien forces.
• A staff member announced that the Tiansuo would reach Mars’s outer orbit in five minutes, and Chen Mengchuan greeted Mars as it appeared on the screen.

Chen Mengchuan and the crew arrived in Mars orbit, deployed 128 Exploration-type L7332 Multi-Arm Crabs to survey the planet, and organized the work for building their first Martian base. After two days of planning, the crew prepared for a months-long mission to establish a foothold on Mars.

• Chen Mengchuan ordered the observation window opened, and the crew gazed at Mars from orbit.
• Chen Mengchuan directed the deployment of the Exploration-type L7332 Multi-Arm Crabs, which spread out to map Mars from 128 orbital positions.
• Chen Mengchuan said the crew would remain in orbit for three days while the Crabs gathered data to help select a crater for the first base.
• Chen Mengchuan outlined a seven-zone base design with a central management area, three living zones, and three research zones.
• Chen Mengchuan assigned teams to the nuclear power plant, mineral exploration, metal smelting, asteroid capture, and glacier capture projects.
• After two days of meetings, the crew completed its initial Mars work plan and prepared for a mission lasting several months.

Zhao Wanyu reviewed A-Chen’s Mars exploration system and arranged for Ji Dong and Sun Zhongyong to integrate it into Tenzhi’s network, where Ji discovered a hidden Earth setting. That evening, game reviewer Li Tao tried the system and was stunned to learn its Mars environment had a maximum realism level of 32%.

• A-Chen showed Zhao Wanyu the completed web and mobile versions of the Mars planetary exploration system, which let users explore areas mapped by the Exploration Multi-Arm Crabs.
• Zhao Wanyu asked Ji Dong and Sun Zhongyong to prepare the system for integration into Tenzhi’s network and promotion.
• Ji Dong found a hidden setting that could switch the viewpoint to Earth and lock it there.
• Li Tao opened an email from Chen Mengchuan, logged into Tenzhi’s Future Exploration site, and entered a Mars exploration scene.
• Li Tao saw a prompt stating that the full-scale six-dimensional 3D Mars environment had a maximum adjustable realism level of 32%.

Li Tao explored Tenzhi Mars, a realistic Mars-development game that ended with a hostile spaceship destroying everything after ten years. As players discovered multiplayer rooms and joined forces, they still could not survive the attack.

• Li Tao asked Achen about the game's realism settings, learned it could reach 95%, and burned his mouth on a spicy fish tail.
• Li Tao explored Mars's fog-of-war map and learned to use resources, blueprints, mining, and time acceleration to develop the planet.
• Li Tao repeatedly reached the tenth year, when a giant spaceship destroyed his buildings and ended the game.
• Reports about Tenzhi Mars spread online, and players discovered they could create multiplayer rooms and cooperate on Mars's development.
• Hundreds of players joined forces to build weapons and structures, but the spaceship still defeated every group at the ten-year mark.

Chen Mengchuan and the Tiansuo crew selected Luoyu Crater and built a sealed, Earthlike primary base on Mars. After the first crew members arrived, supplies and several thousand people began transferring from the Tiansuo to the base.

• Yue'er identified more than a hundred possible Martian base sites, and Chen Mengchuan and the others chose Luoyu Crater.
• The Multi-Arm Crabs surveyed the crater, prepared a site southeast of its center, and rapidly built the base’s foundations, structure, and roof.
• The crew installed planting areas and sealed chambers, adjusted the base’s air and gravity, and confirmed it met basic conditions for human survival.
• Chen Mengchuan invited the Tiansuo crew to go to Mars, then ordered Yue'er to switch the ship to automatic control and dock with the base.
• Chen Mengchuan and a small group entered the base and toured it, while the Multi-Arm Crabs began transporting plants, food, equipment, and supplies.
• The remaining researchers and several thousand people transferred from the Tiansuo, becoming the first group of humans to set foot on Mars.

Tenzhi Technology revealed its completed Martian base, Six Flames Palace, and NASA confirmed the landing. At the base, Chen Mengchuan argued that humanity would have to destroy any extraterrestrial civilization it discovered if that was necessary for survival.

• Tenzhi Technology announced it had built a Martian survival base and released footage of its construction and crew entering it.
• NASA compared a new orbital photograph of Mars with an image from seven months earlier and confirmed the base was real.
• Tenzhi Technology released further images and data, naming the hexagonal base Six Flames Palace.
• Toni asked Chen Mengchuan whether players had solved the Mars exploration system’s war game, and Chen said no one had cleared its first level or left the Solar System.
• Toni and Xu Shuwei questioned Chen Mengchuan about humanity’s weapons and its response to extraterrestrial civilizations, and Chen said humans should strike first to protect themselves.
• Chen Mengchuan recalled a dreamlike vision of mechanical lifeforms exterminating humanity as casually as people killing flies.

Chen Mengchuan proposed establishing an armed division to defend humanity, directing Xu Shuwei to build a far-reaching early-warning system and Toni and Simba to advance source-point ring displacement technology for spatial-cutting weapons. He then told Zhao Wanyu about the plan, and she questioned whether it was too early to form the division before the technology was achieved.

• Chen Mengchuan told Xu Shuwei, Toni, and Simba that Tiansuo needed an armed division to protect humanity from potential alien threats.
• Chen Mengchuan tasked Xu Shuwei with forming an independent team to develop an early-warning defense system, beginning with coverage of the Solar System and eventually extending across the Milky Way Galaxy.
• Chen Mengchuan assigned Toni and Simba to join research into source-point ring displacement technology, which he hoped to turn into giant spatial-cutting weapons.
• Chen Mengchuan called Zhao Wanyu and explained that he planned to establish an armed division and begin developing giant spatial-cutting rings.
• Zhao Wanyu questioned whether it was too early to establish the division before source-point ring displacement technology had been achieved, and Chen Mengchuan said humanity was running out of time.