Chapter Summaries

Yang Bo pressed Kalaya Province's ministers to recruit battleship crews, legalize battleship imports and exports, and find energy-engine suppliers while secretly planning to develop engines himself. After the ministers plotted to exploit Li John's fleet and eventually force him out, Yang Bo returned to March Star, investigated Red Earl's armor-eating insects, and went to his company's headquarters.

• Yang Bo met Kalaya Province's ministers and asked them to address the fleet's staffing shortage and secure permission to import and export battleships.
• Yang Bo invited the ministers to connect him with energy-engine manufacturers, while intending to conceal his own plans by making it appear that he would buy engines from them.
• The ministers met privately and planned to fill the fleet with personnel, infiltrate Li John's circle, finish his battleship dock, and eventually make him take responsibility for conflict with Central State.
• Yang Bo examined the mutated insects in his underground laboratory and wondered whether Red Earl's faction controlled a planet where such creatures lived.
• Yang Bo continued monitoring the Golden Oak Grand Duke, then traveled through a storm to his company's headquarters and was greeted by its employees.

Yang Bo met the staff at his new company and outlined its work in research publishing and white-hat hacking. He discovered that Li Qiubai was a double agent, planted a Mental Seed in her, and remained unaware of her own covert approach as she left after declaring she liked him.

• Yang Bo greeted Liu Jingxiang, Zhou Kexin, Yulia, and Li Qiubai, and watched Li Qiubai test him during their handshake.
• Yang Bo told the staff the company would publish his research, manage his white-hat hacker account, and take on related work.
• Yang Bo promised to lend money to Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin, and advised Zhou Kexin to watch warship-related stocks.
• Li Qiubai asked Yang Bo for an autograph and deliberately dropped her notebook, giving Yang Bo a chance to plant a Mental Seed in her.
• Li Qiubai told Yang Bo she liked him and left; Yang Bo recognized that she was a double agent.

Li Qiubai joined Yang Bo’s company as a spy for the Kolun Research Institute and the Imperial Sword Association, while Yang Bo considered how to use her and searched the Cosmic Center for a place to build a base. When pirates attacked Prince Holden’s territory, Yang Bo appeared as Prince Holden and led the players in a fierce naval battle, leaving the pirates defeated and the territory victorious.

• Li Qiubai misread Yang Bo’s behavior and planned to contact him after a couple of days, while Yang Bo considered feeding her organizations false information.
• Yang Bo bought gifts and flowers, cooked for Su Wei and the other two women, and spent time with them at the villa.
• Yang Bo searched the Cosmic Center for an undiscovered planet on which to build a base, left an Energy Stone Space Beacon, and later returned to Bart’s manor before visiting Ning Xue and the others.
• Yang Bo learned that pirates were attacking Prince Holden’s territory, disguised himself as Prince Holden, and rallied the players to defend the port.
• Prince Holden led his guards and players aboard his ship, boarded the pirates’ vessels, and killed pirates while livestreaming players watched.
• Prince Holden ordered the players to leave no pirates alive and clean up the battlefield after they defeated the attackers.

Prince Holden rewarded the players who helped defeat the pirates with knighthoods, gold, and a chance to join his navy, making his domain popular among players. Later, Yang Bo investigated strange energy beneath his Green Devil Star territory and found Energy Stones in an underground reservoir, where an unknown flying creature killed his scout.

• Prince Holden’s forces defeated the pirates, and Yang Bo gained Sailing skills for each pirate killed.
• Prince Holden knighted the twenty-six surviving players, gave them gold and the spoils, and promised compensation for the dead and recruitment into his navy.
• The newly invested knights returned to port, where Prince Holden held a formal ceremony and gave each a red cloak; his domain’s forces grew by 286 knights and retainers.
• Yang Bo returned to March Star, met secretly with Wang Muxue, then traveled to the Cosmic Center and noticed unusual energy beneath his Green Devil Star territory through Tie Niu’s memories.
• Yang Bo followed the energy fluctuations into the Underground World and found Energy Stones beneath a steaming reservoir.
• A fast, unidentified flying creature killed the rock lizard Yang Bo had controlled to scout the reservoir, so he decided to send other Strange Beasts to investigate.

Yang Bo discovered a fire-and-metal Mutated Spider guarding Energy Stones in an underground reservoir, learned that its species lived near magma, and removed the stones to keep his territory safe. He brought the Spider to March Star to study its heat-resistant fur and investigate whether similar creatures could be cultivated.

• Yang Bo controlled a Mutated Rat and sent it toward the reservoir, where a black Spider killed it before it reached the water.
• Yang Bo used Stealth to approach the reservoir and found that an earthquake had exposed a fractured Energy Stone vein beneath it.
• Yang Bo controlled another Mutated Rat as bait, and the Spider surfaced and jumped ashore to attack it.
• Yang Bo planted a Mental Seed in the Spider and learned that it ate metal ores, lived near magma, and belonged to a group whose nests contained many Energy Stones.
• Yang Bo removed the Energy Stones to reduce the energy fluctuations and prevent other creatures or outsiders from threatening his territory.
• Yang Bo took the Spider to March Star to study its insulating fur as a potential Super Fireproof Material.

Yang Bo studied a lava-dwelling Spider and explored the Mutated Creatures in the Underground World before returning to his territory on Green Devil Star. After checking on the Tie Niu Tribe and searching unsuccessfully for a suitable place in the Center of the Universe, he met Li Yong on Sky Cloud Star.

• Yang Bo collected samples from a Spider, released it, and used his Mental Seed to learn about its unusual body, speed, and energy conversion.
• Yang Bo examined the Spiders’ unstable lava habitat and left its Energy Stone vein untouched.
• Yang Bo returned to his territory, greeted the Tie Niu brothers and their young, and decided to study the Spider’s energy conversion later.
• Yang Bo searched for a suitable place in the Center of the Universe for several days but found none.
• Yang Bo met Li Yong in an Underground City bar on Sky Cloud Star and asked how things had been going.

Yang Bo pressured Li Yong to provide military intelligence in exchange for help against his rivals and promised a scandal implicating major Alliance financial conglomerates. Li Yong and his father considered the offer, with his father agreeing to think it over for a couple of days.

• Yang Bo demanded warships from Li Yong, then clarified that he wanted intelligence about Li Yong's military rivals and access to information on special missions.
• Yang Bo argued that helping pirates attack Alliance targets could earn Li Yong military merit and promised to frame or eliminate his opponents.
• Yang Bo told Li Yong that he knew of a scandal involving Alliance conglomerates colluding with foreign powers and gave him three days to decide whether to cooperate.
• Li Yong returned to his father and explained Yang Bo's proposal, including his suspicion that others were helping Yang Bo operate in the Capital Star Region.
• Li Yong's father said treason allegations could ruin the conglomerates and agreed to consider the matter for a couple of days.

Yang Bo learned from Li Yong about Zombie Planet, a world contaminated by an Energy Virus and monitored by a classified Federation Military laboratory. He gave Li Yong a message for his father, hoping to use the intelligence to pursue a larger opportunity and protect his informant.

• Yang Bo reassured Lin Yue that he would eventually give her a new identity and let her withdraw from her role.
• Li Yong told Yang Bo that his father would not help pirates target the Alliance Regular Army, but offered intelligence about Zombie Planet instead.
• Li Yong explained that the planet’s Energy Virus had killed its humans, mutated humans and animals, and drawn a military laboratory that was cultivating plants to remove the virus.
• Yang Bo declined to claim the planet outright, suspecting Li Yong’s family had ulterior motives, and asked for ten percent of a separate business’s profits and protection for his informant.
• Yang Bo gave Li Yong a sheet of paper to take to his father, and Li Yong’s father widened his eyes after reading it.

Li Yong’s father identified Sophie Pierre and her family as likely tied to the Red Earl Organization, then planned to exploit the intelligence while deceiving Yang Bo. Yang Bo traveled to the Pierre Family’s Rose complex and suspected Sophie’s daughter might be connected to Red Earl, leaving him disturbed by the possibility.

• Li Yong’s father explained that Golden Oak Grand Duke had fled to the Alliance and that the Empire would deny his identity, then connected the Red Earl Organization to Sophie’s family.
• Li Yong’s father told Li Yong to give Yang Bo one-tenth of the promised reward but planned to trick him into exposing pirate groups and potentially destroy his warship.
• Yang Bo learned that Sophie Pierre was a senator and that the Pierre Family’s conglomerate dominated several industries and funded women’s organizations.
• Yang Bo used Stealth to travel to Tianze Star and visited the Pierre Family’s Rose complex, where Sophie was expected to address a crowd of women.
• Yang Bo suspected that Sophie’s daughter might be Red Earl’s child and imagined a disturbing connection between Red Earl and Sophie’s family.

Yang Bo planted a Mental Seed in Senator Sophie and discovered that she belonged to the Pierre Family’s line of Countesses, which secretly operated the Wild Rose Pirate Group for the Red Earl. After Sophie's bodyguard detected an unexplained energy fluctuation, Yang Bo investigated the bodyguards’ heavily monitored residence and learned they had recorded the anomaly with a compact Energy Detector.

• Yang Bo used the crowd at Sophie's speech to plant a Mental Seed while remaining in Stealth, but one of her bodyguards sensed an abnormality.
• Yang Bo read Sophie's memories and learned that she and her female descendants served as successive Countesses, while the Pierre Family secretly maintained the Wild Rose Pirate Group for the Red Earl.
• Yang Bo discovered that the Wild Rose Pirate Group had more than a hundred thousand people, multiple battleships and bases, and housed the Red Earl's training base.
• Yang Bo went to the bodyguards' secure residential area and overheard Sophie ask what had happened at the speech.
• Sophie's bodyguard said an Energy Detector had recorded a brief, faint abnormal fluctuation, leaving Yang Bo surprised by the device's capabilities.

Yang Bo used Sophie's memories to move through the Pierre Family base, then planted a Mental Seed in Shirley to learn about her background and abilities. He suspected the Red Earl had ties to the Empire and decided to investigate Umor Province.

• Yang Bo noted that the Red Earl's Small Energy Detector could detect Mental Power fluctuations but could not detect him while he remained Stealth.
• Sophie finished her speech, instructed her assistants to promote the women's stories and create publicity, and returned to her residence.
• Yang Bo followed Shirley to the bodyguards' quarters and released a Mental Seed while she showered.
• Yang Bo learned that Shirley was an A-rank Superpower User from Umor Province with an enhanced sense of smell and extensive combat and piloting skills.
• Yang Bo recalled that the company operating the Umor Province base seemed to have imperial connections and decided to investigate there.

Yang Bo discovered that Shirley’s visualization painting encoded an energy-circulation method and showed the pattern to Catherine. Catherine recognized the method and began recalling knowledge, leaving Yang Bo wondering whether it had been implanted in their DNA.

• Yang Bo avoided approaching the Golden Oak Grand Duke directly because he lacked evidence that the duke was the Red Earl and did not know his strength.
• While Shirley cultivated before a painting, Yang Bo combined the mountain lines with her posture and deciphered the secret method’s energy circuit.
• Yang Bo returned to Bart's Private Laboratory and asked Catherine whether she had learned a secret method.
• Catherine said she had seen a different knight painting before but could not remember its details, then recognized the method when Yang Bo demonstrated Shirley’s painting.
• Catherine said she thought she understood, and Yang Bo wondered whether the knowledge had been implanted directly into DNA.

Yang Bo discovered that the secret art drew energy from beyond the body and realized he had mistakenly cultivated a method intended for women. He transferred the energy to Catherine, whose physique rapidly strengthened, then planned to investigate the male cultivation method and use Li Yong’s coming move against the Golden Oak Grand Duke as cover.

• Catherine cultivated the visualization under Yang Bo’s watch and began gathering heat into the secret art’s nodes.
• By sharing Catherine’s experience, Yang Bo realized the nodes projected onto the body and that the method absorbed energy from another dimension.
• Yang Bo recognized the energy as Yin Attribute Energy and transferred what he had absorbed into Catherine, filling her nodes through repeated cycles.
• Catherine’s physique strengthened by a tenth, and Yang Bo decided to monitor her for aftereffects before letting anyone else try the secret art.
• Yang Bo planned to find the male cultivation method on Tianze Star and wait for Li Yong’s group to attack the Golden Oak Grand Duke so he could act unnoticed.

Yang Bo published a paper proposing an intermediate life form between interstellar creatures and carbon-based life, then traveled to Kalaya Province to join the Pirate Alliance’s planned attack on Central State’s mineral stars. After departing in a B-Class battleship, he remotely controlled the Interstellar Creature Puppet to Bart's Private Laboratory to begin manufacturing a battleship engine.

• Yang Bo published a paper hypothesizing an intermediate form of life between interstellar creatures and carbon-based lifeforms.
• Yang Bo ignored Li Qiubai’s messages while playing a game and later told her he was busy.
• Yang Bo traveled to Kalaya Province and told Lisa he would take her on an expedition once she had assembled her battleship crew.
• Yang Bo left Kalaya Province aboard a B-Class battleship, prompting the Pirate Alliance and Central State to receive news of his departure.
• Yang Bo remotely controlled the Interstellar Creature Puppet to Bart's Private Laboratory and began manufacturing a battleship engine.

Yang Bo built intelligent production robots while preparing to exploit backdoors in pirate battleships and ambush the Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang after its attack on the Federation Central State’s Mineral Stars. In the Second World, Catherine said her memories were returning and suggested she might have been deceived or abducted into the Red Earl Organization.

• Yang Bo manufactured a first-generation robot, which began producing second-generation robots, while experts publicly refuted his paper and submissions piled up on his academic website.
• The Pirate Alliance planned an attack on fifty-four Federation Central State Mineral Stars, sending thirteen Pirate Groups along independent routes to limit intelligence leaks.
• Yang Bo used informants and battleship backdoors to track pirate plans, and chose to ambush the Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang, whose hidden fleet and Imperial ties he had uncovered.
• After twenty days, Yang Bo reached his ambush position with twenty first-generation robots and more than a hundred second-generation robots, while the Pirate Groups were still converging on their targets.
• Yang Bo visited Catherine in the Second World, where she said the secret technique had changed her constitution and that she was beginning to remember her parents and a possible abduction into the Red Earl Organization.

Yang Bo advised Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin to invest in warship-material futures, then watched the Pirate Alliance devastate the Federal Central State’s mineral stars while the Federation failed to respond effectively. The women made a fortune and insisted on giving Yang Bo a share, drawing him back to the company.

• Yang Bo told Liu Jingxiang to ignore criticism of the academic website, hire legal staff, and buy warship-material stocks or futures; he also urged Zhou Kexin to join her.
• Sixteen Pirate Groups attacked eight Federation mineral stars and two patrol fleets, sending material prices soaring as the Federal Central State struggled to organize a defense.
• Over the next half month, the Pirate Alliance destroyed the Central State Consortium’s mineral stars while the Federation fleets largely stayed back and two support detachments arrived too late to help.
• Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin’s leveraged futures trades paid off their debts and left them with a large surplus, so they transferred some of their profits to Yang Bo despite his refusal.
• Yang Bo went to the company, where Li Qiubai watched him resentfully and Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin insisted that he accept their money.

Yang Bo advised Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin to sell their investments, then navigated his complicated relationships with them and his household. While hunting the Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang, he discovered a hidden support battleship and prepared to capture it as well as his original target.

• Yang Bo explained that the stock rally would soon reverse, and Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin sold their stocks and futures after agreeing to his advice.
• Li Qiubai tried to get close to Yang Bo in his office, but Liu Jingxiang interrupted, and Yang Bo later joined his household for dinner with Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin.
• After Liu Jingxiang and Zhou Kexin left, Annie and Siya warned Yang Bo that they might be pursuing him, and Su Wei said any woman joining their family would need all three women's approval.
• Yang Bo returned to his warship and detected a concealed B-Class Battleship on a nearby small planet while searching for the Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang.
• Yang Bo identified the hidden ship as the Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang's support vessel and prepared to capture it alongside his original target.

Yang Bo used a powered-down orbital approach to infiltrate a Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang battleship and seize control of its systems. He announced that the warship now belonged to Li John and gave its crew ten minutes to surrender or leave.

• Yang Bo recorded himself explaining his plan to reach the target warship by using gravity to travel between asteroids without detectable energy emissions.
• After six hours in powered-down flight, Yang Bo landed in the crater beside the warship and used his mecha to smash its deployed defensive cannons.
• Yang Bo entered through the cannon passage, connected a Quantum Communication Module to a maintenance-tunnel controller, and attacked the warship’s systems.
• Yang Bo deployed an Energy Bomb and guarded the maintenance-tunnel control node as the warship’s systems failed.
• Yang Bo introduced himself as Li John, claimed the battleship as his private property, and gave the crew ten minutes to leave or surrender.

Yang Bo took control of a Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang battleship and captured its Second Deputy Regiment Commander while arranging for Li Yong’s Alliance fleet to be sent to the gang’s base. He then set out to seize more pirate ships and met the captured commander as the Alliance fleet prepared to intervene.

• Yang Bo disabled the battleship’s systems, forcing its crew and pirates to evacuate into Liaison Boats that he kept under his control.
• The Second Deputy Regiment Commander speculated that Li John was targeting the returning fleet and considered how the attack might benefit his position.
• Yang Bo returned to Sky Cloud Star, had Lin Yue send Li Yong the pirate base’s coordinates, then went back to the Space Mecha to pursue more Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang ships.
• Yang Bo revealed that he had taken control of the battleship within thirty seconds and told its trapped occupants to wait while he completed his mission.
• Li Yong’s father trusted the report about the pirate base and sent an Alliance fleet detachment on an emergency drill mission toward it.
• Yang Bo met the Second Deputy Regiment Commander, mocked him, and kept him under guard with armed robots.

Yang Bo exploited the Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang’s hidden strength and ambushed the fleet led by its First Deputy Regiment Commander. He gave the pirates ten minutes to surrender their battleships, leaving the gang’s Regiment Commander furious and trapped in a crisis.

• Yang Bo defeated the Fierce Dragon Pirate Gang’s Second Deputy Regiment Commander, planted a Mental Seed, and left the Liaison Boat.
• Yang Bo learned from the Second Deputy Regiment Commander’s memories that the gang had five bases and hundreds of thousands of people, and he expected the Pirate Alliance Council to move against it.
• After waiting three and a half days, Yang Bo used two B-Class Battleships to ambush the First Deputy Regiment Commander’s fleet as it traveled under Silent Navigation.
• Yang Bo destroyed a D-Class Battleship and announced that the fleet had ten minutes to surrender its B-Class Battleships and C-Class Battleship.
• The First Deputy Regiment Commander struggled to respond after missing the chance to power the engines, while the Regiment Commander realized Li John had seized the Second Deputy Regiment Commander’s B-Class Battleship.