Chapter Summaries

Song He rushed to Alien Zoo after its guards armed themselves against police investigating an illegal website, then arranged for only two officers to enter under confidentiality rules. He led the stunned officers toward Orange Juice’s residence, where they encountered the zoo’s intelligent apes and gorillas, but the arrest had not yet begun.

• Zhao Yiyi told Song He that police had arrived at Alien Zoo and its cleaner guards were blocking them with assault rifles, so Song He called Deputy Director Shang and hurried there with Lou Jinghui.
• General Wang told Song He to let only two officers inspect the crime scene and confiscate the server, and Shang agreed to proceed with Song He and Officer Liu.
• Song He and Zhao Yiyi explained that Orange Juice, rather than keeper Yu An, was suspected of setting up the illegal website, and a Black Chimpanzee drove them by tricycle toward Orange Juice’s building.
• Shang and Liu saw apes and monkeys conducting everyday business throughout the commercial street and residential complex, leaving both officers astonished.
• In the elevator, a Red-haired Gorilla asked which suspect the officers had come to arrest, and Song He told the gorillas not to pry.

Song He rapidly completed two Gaokao mathematics papers with the help of Mental Arithmetic Capsules, improving his score but still missing his goal of 140 points. He then agreed to tutor Zhuang Qiyan, drawing jealousy from nearby students as she sat beside him with a problem.

• Song He used Mental Arithmetic Capsules to finish his first Gaokao mathematics paper in one hour and fourteen minutes, reaching Bronze Level 41 and scoring 135.
• Song He completed a second paper in one hour and twelve minutes and scored 137, then decided to study Linear Algebra instead of continuing to grind papers.
• Zhuang Qiyan took Song He's scrap paper and asked him to explain a problem to her.
• Song He introduced himself to Zhuang Qiyan, shook her hand, and made nearby students jealous.
• Zhuang Qiyan moved her chair beside Song He and showed him a problem from her book of wrong answers.

Song He became determined to surpass Chu Long, then solved an exceptionally difficult math problem for Zhuang Qiyan. Zhuang Qiyan planned to share his solution with her class, while her friend accused her of worshiping him blindly.

• Song He met Chu Long, learned that the award-winning senior was aiming for a national gold medal, and used his Combat Power Detector to see Chu Long’s Gold Level 28 rating.
• Inspired to catch up with Chu Long, Song He studied until his mathematics level rose from Silver Level 01 to Silver Level 03.
• Zhuang Qiyan asked Song He to solve a difficult problem that had stumped her teachers, and he worked through it while she and a friend doubted he could manage it.
• Song He solved the problem, wrote out a full solution, and gave it to Zhuang Qiyan after she brought him bread and yogurt.
• Zhuang Qiyan decided to show Song He’s solution to her teacher, and she defended his mathematical ability when her friend called her admiration blind worship.

Song He solved the difficult DeWitt Dinner problem overnight, advanced his mathematics level, and left hints for the scholars who had struggled with it. At dawn, a white-haired figure in a wheelchair emerged from a room.

• Xie Kefu told Lou Jinghui that Katerina had sent him away to keep working on the summit problem, and they discussed the problem's difficulty and the scholars' desperation.
• Song He woke at four in the morning, wandered through the buildings, and wrote answers on several problems he passed.
• Song He found the DeWitt Dinner problem on the top floor and worked through it while the remaining scholars gave up and left.
• Song He solved the problem, advanced from Grandmaster Level 20 to Grandmaster Level 21, and wrote five lines of hints beneath it.
• At dawn, a disheveled white-haired figure wheeled himself out of a room.

At Chenghuang’s press conference, Wei Liqun explained the Rejuvenation Drug’s claimed mechanism and announced that a standard dose could make people about eight years younger. The presentation ended with details on dosing and efficacy decline, just before Wei Liqun revealed the price.

• Wei Liqun described how extracellular vesicles from young mice’s serum helped damaged muscles recover and introduced the first beneficial component of the Rejuvenation Drug.
• Wei Liqun presented a protein image captured by Frontier Technology University’s cryo-electron microscope, whose 0.38-angstrom resolution astonished specialists and generated Resentment Value for Song He.
• Song He told Xiang Xiaotong that the press conference’s technical explanations were vague or deliberately misleading, so competitors who copied them would fail.
• Wei Liqun announced the drug’s estimated rejuvenation effects, including an average eight-year reduction in age from a standard dose.
• Wei Liqun explained that the standard dose was 50 milliliters monthly, while an enhanced dose every two weeks could yield about nine years of rejuvenation, and described how the effects declined over time.
• Wei Liqun said the next topic was the price, leaving the audience waiting for the announcement.

The Mushroom Person explained how higher-dimensional civilizations shape a peaceful interstellar order and how civilizations repeatedly ascend and leave their home universes. The chapter ended with the revelation that the Milky Way’s leader was the Probability Machine, a vast network of computers built by civilizations.

• The Mushroom Person said civilizations avoided wars because higher-dimensional powers could erase them and explained how ascended humanity might protect Earth’s apes and monkeys.
• The Mushroom Person said Earth’s Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence resembled the wider interstellar order and that the Mushroom People had contacted humanity first for that reason.
• Song He and the Mushroom Person explained that many interstellar civilizations had predecessors who ascended to higher dimensions, leaving later civilizations to inherit their worlds.
• Xiang Xiaotong and Qi Feng compared hidden higher-dimensional protection and mutual suspicion to concealed backgrounds at the Chenghuang Hibernation Center.
• The Mushroom Person said interstellar civilizations formed coalitions for peacekeeping and fines, then revealed that the Milky Way had no leader civilization but was governed by the Probability Machine.

Song He presented a new geometric topology conjecture to Dean Cai and Wang Taichu, who judged it a valuable achievement and urged him to submit it to Peking Mathematical Journal. He and Kong Gaojie began writing the paper together, and Song He received an exciting message just as he thought about expanding Chenghuang Company.

• Dean Cai worried that the Mathematics Department would lose an annual advanced-unit award to the Computer Science Department by one world-class achievement.
• Song He showed Dean Cai and Wang Taichu a geometric topology conjecture based on the 11/8 Conjecture and said he planned to publish it jointly with Kong Gaojie.
• Wang Taichu praised the conjecture, and Dean Cai and Wang Taichu recommended submitting the paper to Peking Mathematical Journal.
• Song He called Kong Gaojie, and they began writing and polishing the paper together over video chat.
• Kong Gaojie noticed Song He using the Oxygen Generator and compared his intense concentration to that of chess saint Nie Weiping.
• Song He received a message on his phone and reacted with wild joy.

After Song He exposed errors in the competition paper, the test question teachers searched for evidence to defend themselves while Liu Lu tried to claim a share of Song He’s credit. The principal left the library with Song He, and the school summoned all competition students and teachers to an emergency meeting, where students expected Song He to be publicly punished.

• Liu Lu asked Song He to say she had checked and approved his corrections, promising him a reward if he helped bring down the test question teacher.
• Ruan Qian, Tong Xuan, and Cha Jingye argued over responsibility for the paper’s error, then searched journals for a contradictory conclusion to counter Song He’s evidence.
• Yuan Guang arranged lunch deliveries for the students gathering on the library’s fifth floor and earned more than five hundred yuan.
• The principal left the library with Song He, and the school broadcast ordered all competition students to attend an immediate meeting and all competition teachers to attend at two o’clock.
• The competition students gathered in the auditorium and mocked Song He, assuming he had been removed from the team and summoned for public criticism.
• Song He and the principal sat in the Principal’s Office eating lunch.

The Mushroom People explained that humanity’s future mission was to build a logistics hub near Proxima Centauri and described the interstellar trade and technologies that could help. The humans learned that even basic technology could cost enormous amounts by Earth’s standards, and the Mushroom People left detailed bargaining for a later meeting with trade representatives.

• The Mushroom People told Xiang Xiaotong and the others that humanity would eventually build an interstellar logistics hub near Proxima Centauri to earn resources and technology.
• Song He warned that reaching Proxima Centauri and building a hub would be far beyond humanity’s current capabilities, and the Mushroom People said humanity could develop or import the necessary technology.
• The Mushroom People described the Milky Way’s vast trade network and said humanity could barter for basic technologies until it could use Entropy Coins or Time Coins.
• Xiang Xiaotong asked the price of technology for a spaceship traveling at ten percent of light speed, and the Mushroom People estimated it would cost five hundred million tons of gold.
• Qi Feng questioned whether gold was commonplace, and the Mushroom People explained that it remained valuable but could be mined in huge quantities with mantle and core-mining technology.
• Song He asked to buy mantle-mining technology, but the Mushroom People said trade representatives would discuss prices at a later official meeting.

Song He announced a three-day marathon test that would help select Space Researchers at the Former University of Science and Technology. After students speculated about the space opportunity, he clarified eligibility, benefits, and plans to select three to five thousand researchers, leaving the campus forum abuzz.

• Song He posted a voluntary three-day marathon test notice for four departments, assigning Teacher Bai to accompany each participant and verify results.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong read the campus forum as students debated whether the marathon was a selection run for space travel.
• Song He posted a supplementary notice stating that marathon results would be one selection criterion and that tests would expand to other departments.
• Song He clarified that new students and exchange students could participate, expenses would be covered, and the first group would number about three to five thousand.
• Students celebrated the announcement and discussed their chances of joining the Space Researchers.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong were caught on a living-room camera by Song He's mother, then discussed how they had arranged secure homes for their parents. They left for Former University of Science and Technology, where Xiang Xiaotong revealed her parents had ten secret residences and offered to add one nearby.

• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong greeted Song He's parents through a camera, then Song He unplugged the living-room and hidden hallway cameras so they could talk privately.
• Xiang Xiaotong worried Song He's parents might disapprove of their age difference, while Song He reassured her and admitted he was nervous about meeting her parents.
• Song He explained that he had replicated his parents' former villa in a secluded compound and planned to place trusted personnel in the surrounding homes for security.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong left the compound in a convoy of sedans, and Song He described how he used decoy vehicles to mislead outsiders during the Press Conference.
• Xiang Xiaotong revealed that she had arranged twenty-six decoy villas and ten secret residences for her parents, and said they could establish another real residence in Song He's compound.

Song He planned a record-breaking fireworks display while the Double-Brain Mouse experiment continued through the holiday. As midterms arrived, the team finally achieved a long-awaited breakthrough.

• Song He asked Liuyang's fireworks factory owners to plan a million-shell display, and they estimated it would require at least two or three months of preparation.
• Song He postponed the fireworks display until a major future occasion, such as Chenghuang's anniversary or next year's Spring Festival.
• Song He found researchers working through the Lunar New Year and Lantern Festival, and he gave the team a 20,000-yuan holiday red envelope.
• The Double-Brain Mouse experiment continued through its long research cycle until midterm examinations arrived and a breakthrough appeared.

The School of Pharmacy disciplined hundreds of students for thesis misconduct, including students who bought theses and those who fabricated or manipulated data. As the panic spread to the Brain Science Institute, students wondered how the school had uncovered so many violations so quickly, while Song He watched the forum discussion.

• Students in the School of Pharmacy cinema received warnings for academic misconduct, and nearly half the audience hurried out as notifications spread across campus.
• Students across the School of Pharmacy panicked over warnings for fabricated data, ghostwritten theses, and buying or selling theses.
• Brain Science Institute students discovered that theses they had sold to Pharmacy students had also been flagged, including genuine work labeled as not original.
• Song He ate lunch in the School of Pharmacy dean's office while students debated the mass disciplinary actions on the School Forum.
• Forum users speculated that a mole had exposed the thesis deals, but one commenter insisted there had been no mole.

After Song He recovered from his last battle, he challenged Tyrannosaurus Battle God for extra points and entered a second match. Song He’s aggressive airstrip strategy met a disciplined defense, leaving the battle locked in attrition as Dong Chong held the line.

• Song He woke from a deep sleep, ignored Tyrannosaurus Battle God’s repeated demands for a rematch, and taunted him instead.
• Song He demanded two hundred extra points if he won again, and Tyrannosaurus Battle God agreed to matching terms before accepting the challenge.
• Song He began the new match on a swampy forest map, using Airstrip Flow to spread air support and calculate the battlefield’s changing threats.
• Song He realized his opponent was building a defensive and electronic warfare network rather than being drawn into his opening assault, and the battle became a stalemate.
• Chao Gai cheered Dong Chong for holding the line, while Dong Chong said he expected a long fight and promised to restore Chao Gai’s honor.

Song He led the students’ final thesis defense and offered several graduates jobs and research opportunities at Chenghuang based on their work and plans after graduation. After helping a student arrange a possible advisor at Stanford, he left the defense panel and the waiting graduates stunned.

• Song He explained that the Second Defense was the final chance to pass, then questioned the first student about his plans after graduation and offered him a laboratory assistant position at Chenghuang.
• Song He praised the second student’s thesis as suitable for a Major Sub-Journal, offered her a research and development position, and said she had passed.
• Song He learned that the third student planned to study at Tsinghua and Stanford, then contacted Nobel laureate Professor Fitzgerald about advising him.
• Song He told the third student that Professor Fitzgerald should be available, leaving him and the other graduates in disbelief.

Ye Qian tried to regain his standing with a 6,500-intersection road network, but Song He surpassed him with a larger, less congested city and earned An Yulong’s praise. As An Yulong set the students to work on his 8,000-intersection theory, he examined Song He’s own model and recognized that it was different.

• Ye Qian showed An Yulong his 6,500-intersection city with 10% congestion, and An Yulong called it not bad.
• Song He revealed a 7,000-intersection city with 9% congestion, leaving Ye Qian devastated as An Yulong praised Song He’s work.
• An Yulong told Song He that his competition victory over Jiang Xiaoping, An Yulong’s wife, had revealed their relative strengths.
• An Yulong gave Song He and Ye Qian his 8,000-intersection theory and urged them to contribute to the mathematical field he planned to establish.
• An Yulong quickly dismissed Ye Qian’s theory, then studied Song He’s model closely before he and Song He agreed that it was different.

Katerina told Xie Kefu how she made more than 1.4 million by investing in companies connected to Chenghuang. At the research team’s victory banquet, Song He and Xiang Xiaotong announced that the project had supposedly failed again and ordered everyone back to work, leaving the banquet suspended.

• Katerina explained to Xie Kefu that stocks related to Chenghuang tended to rise after the company launched new products.
• The research team gathered at the Mining Hotel and debated the Brain Strengthening Beverage’s likely sales and their bonuses.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong arrived with documents, locked the banquet hall, and warned the team that the room was monitored.
• The researchers read scripted complaints about the project’s supposed failure after discovering instructions on their papers.
• Song He claimed the Engineered Bacteria’s decline and changing medicinal properties made the results unstable, and Xiang Xiaotong suspended the banquet and sent the team back to the laboratory.

Song He and Xiang Xiaotong unveiled the Space Artificial Heart at Chenghuang Company and Neuron Company’s joint launch event. They announced that all 600 surgeries performed so far had been successful.

• Song He released a preview poster that prompted widespread speculation about the companies’ new product.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong opened the April 1 launch event at the former University of Science and Technology School of Pharmacy gymnasium.
• Song He and Xiang Xiaotong revealed an animation showing Space Artificial Heart recipients and announced that 600 surgeries had succeeded.
• Xiang Xiaotong introduced the Space Artificial Heart, jointly developed by Neuron Company and Chenghuang Company.

Song He, Xiang Xiaotong, and Xie Yuanxun held a ceremony to distribute Space City work permits and answer students’ questions. Song He and Xie Yuanxun clarified that Mars Researchers were not being selected yet, but the first group would be chosen within the next few years as plans for Mars exploration advanced.

• Song He joked about Space Water before announcing that the ceremony would begin without an opening song.
• The Teacher Bais handed out Space City work permits while students took photos and shared the news.
• Song He tossed a table-tennis ball into the crowd, and a student in red-framed glasses caught it and asked whether Moon Researchers would be selected to become Mars Researchers.
• Song He said there were no current plans to select Mars Researchers but that the first group would be chosen within the next few years, with strong Moon work records improving candidates’ chances.
• Xie Yuanxun announced plans to send 150 probes to Mars the following week and said further probe launches and rapid development could create opportunities for students to go to Mars.
• The student thanked the deans and threw the ball into the crowd, where a girl with twin ponytails caught it.

Xiang Xiaotong tested the first Brain-like Chip prototypes and discovered that her Xiang 01 Core scored poorly on the software’s tasks but still outperformed the strongest AI chip on the market. She began testing Song He's design and waited to see how it compared.

• The Courier delivered a locked box of chip samples and a benchmarking program to Xiang Xiaotong.
• Xiang Xiaotong installed the 270 GB testing program and ran the Xiang 01 Core through its four tests.
• The Xiang 01 Core scored 5 in Basic Mathematics, 3 in Image Recognition, 2 in Pioneering Game, and 0 in Text Comprehension.
• The program gave Xiang 01 Core a comprehensive score of 13 and reported that it benchmarked about 3.2 times higher than the strongest AI Chip on the market.
• Xiang Xiaotong replaced the Xiang 01 Core with Song 01 Core and began testing Song He's design.