Chapter Summaries

After returning to the dorm, Xia Chujian learned how Chu Qingjuan, Sang Yadi, and Mao Yonggui had enlisted under Huo Yushen and how his reforms had opened the Fifth Interstellar Fleet to Commoners. The conversation ended with Xia Chujian boasting that her talent had won her the Fourth Interstellar Fleet’s sole Special Training slot.

• The four returned to the dorm with supplies and shared bedding to keep warm through the freezing night.
• Chu Qingjuan told Xia Chujian that someone had switched her university grades, costing her a commission and pushing her to enlist.
• Chu Qingjuan, Sang Yadi, and Mao Yonggui explained that Huo Yushen had recruited Commoners into the Fifth Interstellar Fleet and given them opportunities to become officers and pilots.
• The three described how Huo Yushen’s victories and departure had left Commoner officers facing pressure to retire and make way for nobles.
• Xia Chujian reassured them about the fleet’s future, then claimed her talent had earned her the Fourth Interstellar Fleet’s only Special Training slot.

Xia Chujian learned that the Fourth Interstellar Fleet had lost all its Special Training slots because of its poor tournament results, and she resolved to earn more for the fleet through her assessments. After helping Xiao Lin escape a locked dorm room, Xia Chujian arrived at assembly just before time ran out, where four trainees who were late were ordered to leave the base.

• Mao Yonggui and Chu Qingjuan told Xia Chujian that the Fourth Interstellar Fleet had no slots this year because it had performed poorly in last year's tournament, and Mao said strong assessment results could earn it slots next year.
• Xia Chujian learned that her roommates had relied on their escorts to fight the Remnant Species Infected, then discovered the base cut off its internet and electricity after nine at night.
• Mao Yonggui woke the dormitory at four, and Xia Chujian learned that the breakfast line was long and heard others say Xiao Lin was being treated like a servant by her Noble Lady roommates.
• Xia Chujian found Xiao Lin trapped behind a door locked from the outside, removed the door card, and took a picture of it and the room number.
• Running late for five o'clock assembly, Xia Chujian jumped from a stairwell window and arrived as the whistle blew; the Instructor ordered four late trainees to leave the base.

Xia Chujian defended Lin Xiaoxiao after she was locked inside her dorm, but the Instructor punished her and Ji Nabi for violating discipline. Xia Chujian completed a secret twenty-kilometer weighted run instead of the announced fifty kilometers and discovered the base had run out of Remnant Species Infected.

• Lin Xiaoxiao begged the Instructor to let her stay, and Xia Chujian confirmed that someone had locked her in the dorm and suggested checking the corridor surveillance.
• Xia Chujian challenged Ji Nabi's accusation of false testimony, and the Instructor ordered both trainees to carry twenty kilograms and run fifty kilometers on the mountain road.
• Ji Nabi left to see a medic, while the Instructor secretly told his adjutant to give Xia Chujian ten kilograms and require only twenty kilometers.
• The adjutant told Xia Chujian that a new trainee had wiped out the base's Remnant Species Infected, and Xia Chujian felt proud to learn she had caused it.
• Xia Chujian ran twenty kilometers with the adjutant, stretched afterward, and saw that her Smart Bracelet recorded the distance.

Xia Chujian completed a shortened weighted mountain run after being punished for defending Lin Xiaoxiao, and Vice-Captain Chen recorded the full punishment as an excellent score. Back at the dorm, she learned Lin Xiaoxiao had been moved, reassured her roommates that she did not blame Lin, and secretly added Ji Nabi to her Villain List.

• Xia Chujian asked Vice-Captain Chen for proof of her run, carried the backpack back, and discovered he had recorded a fifty-kilometer, twenty-kilogram run as excellent.
• Vice-Captain Chen learned Xia Chujian flew a Ghost-Class fighter and promised to find her an accomplished pilot as a teacher.
• Xia Chujian returned to the dorm, where Mao Yonggui, Chu Qingjuan, and Sang Yadi gave her water and candy and revealed they had also been sent on weighted runs.
• Xia Chujian watched Lin Xiaoxiao move into the neighboring dorm and heard a trainee disparage her, while Mao Yonggui distracted the trainee.
• Xia Chujian told Chu Qingjuan she did not resent Lin Xiaoxiao for staying silent during her punishment, and Lin Xiaoxiao overheard her kindness.
• Xia Chujian secretly added Ji Nabi to the Villain List in her Notebook.

At the Flight Training Base, Pei Zijing announced that the eight-week Special Training would include real combat with a survival rate of no more than seventy percent, while trainees who joined the Special Military Operation and returned alive would receive a direct promotion to Field Grade. Xia Chujian was alarmed by the danger but put on a confident front as the other trainees grew eager to compete for the opportunity.

• Pei Zijing gathered all trainees and explained the eight-week program, its examinations, and the thirty-percent casualty rate expected in real combat.
• Pei Zijing announced that only the top twenty trainees could qualify for the Special Military Operation and that survivors would be promoted directly to Field Grade.
• Mao Yonggui, Sang Yadi, and Chu Qingjuan reacted excitedly to the unprecedented promotion, while Xia Chujian learned that earlier trainees had received no rank increase.
• Pei Zijing warned that the unusually generous reward matched the greater danger facing this class and said trainees could withdraw without being branded Deserters.
• Chu Qingjuan and Sang Yadi said frontline service had accustomed them to high casualty rates, while Xia Chujian worried about the challenge and considered asking Meng Guanghui about her own Military Rank.
• Xia Chujian declared that she would not disgrace the Fourth Interstellar Fleet and imagined returning home as a Major, while Mao Yonggui, Sang Yadi, and Chu Qingjuan resolved to compete.

Xia Chujian learned that her Second Lieutenant rank and benefits were real, then began studying the trainees and fighter aircraft at the Flight Training Base. The chapter ended with her criticizing Huo Yushen’s Bat-style Fighter Jet while Chu Qingjuan warned her that Special Security Bureau spies might overhear.

• Xia Chujian asked Meng Guanghui about her rank, learned that she had been promoted to Second Lieutenant, and demanded her monthly Advanced Nutrient Solution benefits.
• Meng Guanghui promised to issue Xia Chujian’s benefits and urged her to outperform the noble trainees, while Huo Yushen told him to lead his soldiers properly.
• Chu Qingjuan and Mao Yonggui explained that military merit had become essential for Field Grade promotion, even for most nobles, after Huo Yushen’s campaigns changed the Interstellar Legion.
• Xia Chujian checked the trainee roster and learned she was the only representative of the Fourth Interstellar Fleet among the 200 original trainees.
• Xia Chujian studied fighter aircraft and examined a Bat-style Fighter Jet, which Chu Qingjuan identified as unable to fight in outer space.
• Xia Chujian called the Bat-style Fighter Jet garbage, and Chu Qingjuan warned her that Special Security Bureau spies might hear her insult Huo Yushen’s aircraft.

Xia Chujian began intensive Fighter theory and flight training at the Special Training Base, where the complex lessons initially overwhelmed her. During her first Harrier-type Fighter session, she recognized similarities to a flying vehicle she had studied and began taking the controls, leaving her actual ability to be tested.

• Instructor Yang Ling taught the trainees about Harrier-type, Owl-Class, and Eagle-type Ground Fighters and assigned them textbook study.
• Xia Chujian found the technical lecture difficult, but realized that her roommates and most trainees were equally confused.
• The trainees moved to the training room, where Xia Chujian's dormitory shared a Harrier-type Fighter and chose Sang Yadi, Chu Qingjuan, and Mao Yonggui to fly before her.
• Sang Yadi, Chu Qingjuan, and Mao Yonggui quickly learned the Harrier-type Fighter with help from their previous piloting experience.
• Xia Chujian studied the young Instructor's demonstration and asked questions he struggled to answer before taking the controls herself.

Xia Chujian demonstrated extraordinary skill in her first Harrier-type fighter flight, pushing YA02 beyond its long-unreached speed record while her Instructor Yu Fei panicked. Ground Chief Instructor Pei Zijing contacted the aircraft, and Xia Chujian argued that the fighter could safely go faster, leaving the speed test ongoing.

• Xia Chujian mastered the Harrier-type fighter quickly, impressed Yu Fei, and began testing how fast it could fly.
• As YA02 neared the fighter’s historic maximum speed, Yu Fei warned Xia Chujian to slow down and tried to eject, but she disabled the rear-seat controls and continued accelerating.
• Xia Chujian pushed YA02 past its recorded maximum speed, triggering Ground Control’s highest-level alert across the base.
• Pei Zijing contacted YA02, and Yu Fei reported that Xia Chujian had disobeyed orders and requested that she return.
• Pei Zijing checked the flight data, confirmed there were no signs of malfunction, and asked Xia Chujian whether she believed the engine could safely go faster; she said it had not reached its critical threshold.

Xia Chujian pushed the Harrier-type fighter beyond its recorded top speed before learning that an engine failure had killed the previous test pilot. With the engine smoking and Pei Zijing still urging her onward, she staged a desperate escape that exposed the fighter’s flaw and left the aircraft exploding over the base.

• Pei Zijing dismissed Yu Fei and ordered Xia Chujian to keep testing the fighter’s top speed, hoping the record would advance his career.
• After the engine’s output became unstable, Yu Fei told Xia Chujian that the previous test pilot had died when the engine exploded while holding top speed.
• Xia Chujian decided to return to base, but the engine began smoking and vibrating more violently as she slowed down.
• Xia Chujian asked Yu Fei to destroy the training recorder, then accelerated the fighter while pretending over the communicator that she was losing control.
• Xia Chujian and Yu Fei ejected over the base, and the fighter’s engine exploded, setting the aircraft ablaze as it fell.

Xia Chujian and Yu Fei survived after their training fighter crashed, and Xia Chujian blamed Pei Zijing’s orders while crediting Yu Fei with warning and saving her. Pei Zijing kept Yu Fei on staff and promised both of them commendations, while Xia Chujian and Yu Fei privately understood they would keep her scheme secret.

• Mao Yonggui, Chu Qingjuan, and Sang Yadi learned that the burning fighter belonged to Xia Chujian, then saw her and Yu Fei descend safely by parachute.
• Xia Chujian confronted Pei Zijing, insisting she had followed his order to accelerate until the engine exploded.
• Xia Chujian thanked Yu Fei for warning her about the fighter’s limits and begged Pei Zijing not to dismiss him.
• Pei Zijing kept Yu Fei in his position, sent him and Xia Chujian for medical examinations, and promised to apply for commendations.
• Yu Fei assured Xia Chujian in the ambulance that he would not expose her, while both trainees pretended to need oxygen and medical care.

After surviving the fighter’s explosion and parachuting to safety, Xia Chujian was denied proper care by Doctor Wang, who resented her criticism of Pei Zijing. Her roommates and Pei Zijing backed her, and the chief physician found and treated a fracture in her shoulder.

• Mao Yonggui, Chu Qingjuan, and Sang Yadi asked Pei Zijing to visit Xia Chujian and Yu Fei, and he took them to the medical room.
• Doctor Wang examined Xia Chujian superficially, refused her request for a Medical Cabin examination, and spoke to her harshly.
• Xia Chujian waited outside the Emergency Room, then publicly described Doctor Wang’s treatment after he challenged her, drawing the crowd’s condemnation.
• Pei Zijing took Xia Chujian to the chief physician, who found a shoulder fracture caused by the parachute pack and treated it in a first-class Medical Cabin.
• Yu Fei recovered from his twisted ankle and joined Pei Zijing, Xia Chujian, and her roommates while they waited.

After recovering from a cracked shoulder, Xia Chujian prepared to repeat her Harrier-type fighter speed test with Pei Zijing recording the results. She learned that Ji Nabi had powerful family backing and warned herself to be more cautious, then insisted she had never trained on Harrier-type fighters when Pei Zijing asked about her skill.

• Pei Zijing confirmed that Xia Chujian's cracked shoulder had healed and granted her two hours to rest before another test flight.
• Sang Yadi advised Xia Chujian to be careful around Nobility, and Xia Chujian admitted she had broken the Harrier-type fighter's top-speed record before her aircraft exploded.
• Lin Xiaoxiao thanked Xia Chujian for helping her and warned that Ji Nabi and her associates were targeting her because Ji Nabi had a powerful Lieutenant General relative.
• Xia Chujian ate lunch and slept until two-thirty, then went to the Harrier-type Fighter training room for her test flight.
• Pei Zijing asked whether Xia Chujian had studied Harrier-type fighters, and she said she had not but could fly Flying Vehicles and Starry Sky Fighters.

Xia Chujian broke the Owl-Class Fighter’s speed record and then pushed the Eagle-type Fighter far beyond its listed limits during training. Pei Zijing watched as she reached seventy-two kilometers per minute, doubling the Eagle’s former actual top speed.

• Xia Chujian flew the Harrier-type Fighter at a stable forty-nine point five kilometers per minute, and Pei Zijing confirmed her new record.
• Yu Fei told Xia Chujian that she would train on the Owl-Class Fighter and Eagle-type Fighter, while she celebrated her record with her roommates and struggled with textbook study.
• Xia Chujian exceeded the Owl-Class Fighter’s theoretical top speed, reaching fifty kilometers per minute, and Pei Zijing verified her achievement.
• Pei Zijing demonstrated the Eagle-type Fighter and then let Xia Chujian pilot it; she accelerated past its fifty-four-kilometer-per-minute theoretical top speed.
• Xia Chujian reached seventy-two kilometers per minute in the Eagle-type Fighter, while Pei Zijing asked her to check whether its engine was behaving normally.

Xia Chujian broke speed records for three Ground Fighter models, prompting the training base to report her achievements to the Military Department and her fleet. Worried the investigation would expose her false identity, she contacted Meng Guanghui, who discussed her feats with Huo Yushen and Kang Shanxing before learning what troubled her.

• Xia Chujian returned to base after holding the Eagle-type Fighter at seventy-two kilometers per minute for three minutes, breaking its actual and theoretical top-speed records.
• Pei Zijing told Xia Chujian that he would submit her records for review and that she should prepare for an assessment and questions from the Eagle-type Fighter's Chief Engineer.
• Xia Chujian asked Pei Zijing about a material reward, then hurried back to her dorm to contact Meng Guanghui.
• Xia Chujian told Meng Guanghui she had broken actual and theoretical speed records for the Owl-Class and Eagle-type Fighters, the Harrier-type Fighter's actual record, and had previously escaped a Harrier-type Fighter that exploded.
• Meng Guanghui shared Xia Chujian's achievements with Huo Yushen and Kang Shanxing, who were astonished that she had broken long-standing records despite having no fighter-piloting experience.
• Xia Chujian explained that she feared the Military Department or the Fourth Interstellar Fleet would investigate her background and expose her identity.

After Xia Chujian broke several fighter speed records, Meng Guanghui and Huo Yushen worried that her achievements would expose her undercover identity, while Su Buyan learned she had exposed problems with the fighters’ engines. Su Buyan came up with an idea to prevent the engineers from discovering her identity, though the chapter ended before he explained it.

• Xia Chujian told Meng Guanghui that Military Department officials and the Eagle-type Fighter’s chief engineer might question her, and he promised to handle the attention her records had attracted.
• Huo Yushen warned Meng Guanghui and Kang Shanxing that Xia Chujian might expose her identity if she kept breaking records, and told Meng Guanghui to urge her to hold back.
• Meng Guanghui asked Xia Chujian to keep a low profile, but she explained that she needed to rank in the top twenty to join a Special Military Operation; he eventually told her to proceed as she wished.
• Xia Chujian asked Meng Guanghui about the Remnants at the base, but he ignored the question because she lacked clearance.
• Huo Yushen told Su Buyan that Xia Chujian had broken several fighter speed records and that the Harrier-type Fighter’s engine had exploded; Su Buyan became alarmed and said the engineers must not meet her.
• After Huo Yushen said the chief engineers for all three fighters would visit by morning, Su Buyan declared that he had an idea.

Su Buyan’s announcement about fixing the Harrier-type fighter engine flaws diverted the Military’s attention from Xia Chujian’s record, easing scrutiny of her past. Xia Chujian then displayed an uncanny talent for repairing Ground Fighters, but struggled with book study before securing private time to call her family.

• Su Buyan announced a seminar on improving Harrier-type fighter engines, prompting the Military to cancel its visit to Kanli Star and reduce its review of Xia Chujian’s record.
• Huo Yushen and Meng Guanghui passed the news to Xia Chujian, who thanked Su Buyan; Pei Zijing told her to submit the record and decided not to investigate her Fourth Interstellar Fleet history further.
• During Ground Fighter maintenance training, Xia Chujian intuitively learned from watching repair technicians and repaired a fighter so thoroughly that its service life increased by at least five years.
• A repair technician gave Xia Chujian full credits and excused her from the next maintenance class, but she worried about the upcoming book-knowledge exam and returned to studying.
• After the base system warned Xia Chujian not to send classified textbook material outside, Meng Guanghui explained that the Special Security Bureau knew her identity and that she could apply for unmonitored family calls.
• Xia Chujian received approval for half an hour of private call time and began a Video Call with her family in Mulan City.

Xia Chujian reunited with her family over a virtual call and caught up with them about life at home and her training on Kanli Star. She revealed that she had become a Second Lieutenant, leaving Xia Yuanfang upset to learn that joining the Special Security Bureau meant Xia Chujian had enlisted in the military.

• Xia Chujian greeted her family on the Virtual Display Screen, teased Liushun and the pets, and promised Wufu White Phoenix Eggs when she returned.
• Xia Chujian reassured Zhu Yingying that her request for base videos had only been returned because the base regulated messages, then chatted with her about hunting after she came home.
• Xia Yuanfang sent Aunt Chen, Zhu Yingying, San Zong, and Sixi away so she could speak privately with Xia Chujian.
• Xia Chujian told Xia Yuanfang that she was a Second Lieutenant in the Special Security Bureau, and Xia Yuanfang realized that she had enlisted in the military.
• Xia Yuanfang admitted she had thought the Bureau was a civilian job, while Xia Chujian said she liked the Bureau and its work.

Xia Chujian defended her decision to remain in the military after Xia Yuanfang warned her about the horrors of war, and the two later reconciled through messages. After struggling on the book-knowledge exam, Xia Chujian placed tenth in the weekly rankings while Lin Xiaoxiao unexpectedly took first place, prompting trainees to demand a score review.

• Xia Chujian told Xia Yuanfang she wanted to serve in the military to protect their family and refused to rely on someone else to rescue her.
• Xia Yuanfang ended their call, then privately recalled painful memories and wondered whether she had disgraced her parents and colleagues.
• Xia Chujian asked Meng Guanghui to help if Xia Yuanfang tried to make her quit, and he assured her that no one could decide for her.
• Xia Yuanfang apologized for frightening Xia Chujian, explained that her descriptions of mass wars were hypothetical, and urged her to value her life.
• Xia Chujian performed poorly on the book-knowledge exam, but she and her three roommates all placed in the top ten, with Xia Chujian ranking tenth.
• The trainees were shocked that Lin Xiaoxiao ranked first and demanded that her scores be reviewed.

After the trainees’ detailed scores were released, Xia Chujian learned she had ranked tenth while Lin Xiaoxiao took first place. At lunch, Lin Xiaoxiao fired at Ji Nabi after hearing her insult Lin’s family, but a plant infected by a Remnant Species mutated in the private room, and Xia Chujian shot it before it could attack Ji Nabi; Pei Zijing called the laboratory to investigate the new kind of infection.

• The base intranet published the trainees’ detailed results, revealing that Xia Chujian ranked tenth despite earning ninety bonus points and Lin Xiaoxiao ranked first.
• Xia Chujian saw that Ji Nabi had ranked fourteenth and heard objects being smashed in Ji Nabi’s dormitory as she passed.
• At lunch, Ji Nabi publicly spread degrading rumors about Lin Xiaoxiao and her family, and Lin Xiaoxiao responded by firing into the private room.
• Xia Chujian restrained Lin Xiaoxiao and took her pistol, then noticed a potted plant mutate into a huge flower with tentacles and shot it before it could attack Ji Nabi.
• Xia Chujian told the Base Guard that a Remnant Species had infected the plant, and Pei Zijing called the laboratory to examine the new infection.

Xia Chujian used a false connection to the Zong family to discourage Ji Nabi after killing a plant-infected Remnant, which Pei Zijing identified as a new kind of threat. The cadets were then sent into live combat against Rebels in Posuo City, and Xia Chujian questioned whether they had enough preparation.

• Laboratory technicians recovered the Remnant Species Core from the infected potted plant, and Lin Xiaoxiao said Xia Chujian had fired the three shots that killed it.
• Xia Chujian told Ji Nabi that the Zong family had supported her shooting practice, making Ji Nabi back down.
• Pei Zijing ordered the infected plant taken away and announced that Remnants had begun infecting plants.
• Back in the dormitory, Xia Chujian's roommates discussed her confrontation with Ji Nabi and her marksmanship.
• Pei Zijing announced that the second training phase would be live combat against Rebels in Posuo City, and cadets boarded fighters according to their rankings.
• Xia Chujian put on the Shao Siming Black Silver Mecha, boarded her fighter, and asked Mao Yonggui why they had no apparent pre-battle plan.