Chapter Summaries

Xia Chujian reunited with her family, gave San Zong a special permit, and shared a warm day at home before receiving an urgent order to return to Kanli Star. She contacted Huo Yushen and insisted she still wanted to join the Cangge Star rescue operation, then began getting dressed while awaiting news.

• Xia Chujian returned home, where Sixi had suddenly grown larger, and reunited with Wufu and the rest of the family.
• Xia Chujian shared stories from training and ate wontons while catching up with her family.
• Xia Chujian gave San Zong a special permit and promised to help him change his Humanoid Slave status someday.
• Xia Chujian chatted with Liushun about its recommendations for Star Network Serials and gave it Mei Jiangli's autographed napkin.
• Xia Chujian received an urgent message from her roommates saying the training had been voided and they had to return to Kanli Star because rescue efforts were underway in the Asteroid Belt.
• Xia Chujian messaged Huo Yushen that she still wanted to join the Cangge Star search-and-rescue operation, and began getting dressed after he said he would investigate.

Xia Chujian prepared to join the military’s accelerated search-and-rescue operation in the Asteroid Belt, while Seven Lù warned her that Huo Yushen’s Mental Strength exceeded its measuring program. After Huo brought her to Cangge Star, he transferred her into the Fourth Interstellar Fleet and asked her to use her star map to guide its rescue mission, though she insisted the map had disappeared.

• Xia Chujian asked Seven Lù to privately display a route through its Asteroid Belt star map, and Seven Lù warned that Huo Yushen’s Mental Strength could damage its measuring program.
• Huo Yushen told Xia Chujian that the power struggle at Kanli Star Base had been resolved and that the rescue operation would begin the next morning.
• Xia Chujian left her family home in a hurry and rejoined Huo Yushen aboard his Bat-style Fighter Jet within twelve hours.
• Xia Chujian complained that the base might cancel her training results for using a newly formed Wormhole, but Huo Yushen told her to appeal to the base herself.
• Huo Yushen brought Xia Chujian to a Falcon-class Cruiser and gave her documents confirming her transfer as a Second Lieutenant and Starry Sky Fighter pilot in the Fourth Interstellar Fleet.
• Huo Yushen asked Xia Chujian to use her star map to guide the rescue mission, and she denied having it even though it was hidden in her Other Shore Flower Necklace.

Xia Chujian was assigned to captain a Starry Sky Cruiser for a search and rescue operation, while Huo Yushen used the assignment to test whether she was hiding a secret. She took command of the cruiser and ordered it to depart just after midnight on Sunday, leaving the crew preparing to enter the Asteroid Belt.

• Huo Yushen offered to accompany Xia Chujian after she pretended she could not pilot a Starry Sky Cruiser, and she hurried away to avoid revealing herself.
• Kang Shanxing sent Xia Chujian to a Fourth Interstellar Fleet cruiser, where she realized a crew operated it and the captain coordinated rather than piloted.
• Huo Yushen watched Xia Chujian leave and concluded that she really did have another secret.
• Xia Chujian met the ten servicemen aboard the cruiser, learned their roles, and took the captain's seat.
• Xia Chujian ordered the crew to prepare for departure in half an hour, reasoning that the time would then be Sunday and would comply with the Military Department's revised schedule.

Xia Chujian inspected the Starry Sky Marines aboard the cruiser and learned that the five hundred men had transferred from the Fifth Interstellar Fleet four years earlier. After earning their respect, she asked their squad captains whether they had transferred before the fleet’s disastrous battle.

• Xia Chujian reviewed the Marines’ records and noticed they had all transferred from the Fifth Interstellar Fleet four years ago.
• A guard guided Xia Chujian to the fourth level and explained its unusually high ceiling and the Marines’ role aboard the cruiser.
• The Marines initially doubted Xia Chujian because of her age, but her battle-hardened presence earned their respect.
• Xia Chujian addressed the Marines, introduced the rescue mission, and summoned the five squad captains to discuss it.
• Xia Chujian asked the captains whether they had transferred before the Fifth Interstellar Fleet was reduced to three survivors, and they were surprised by her question.

Xia Chujian learned that five hundred Starry Sky Marines had suffered devastating losses in the Fifth Interstellar Fleet battle and were later punished despite Marshal Huo saving them. After confirming their history with Huo Yushen and resolving her concerns, she began planning the search for missing fighters and airships in the Asteroid Belt.

• Sun Jiahao and Li Dali explained that Starry Sky Marines were excluded from casualty rates and described how Marshal Huo had saved the survivors of the Fifth Interstellar Fleet while protecting their retreat.
• Li Dali told Xia Chujian that the Military Department had stripped the Marines of merit and punished them, but Marshal Huo arranged their transfer to the Fourth Interstellar Fleet.
• Xia Chujian told the five squad leaders to perform their duties during the search-and-rescue mission, and they saluted her as she left the council chamber.
• Xia Chujian asked Huo Yushen about the Marines, objected to the casualty-rate rule, and received his assurance that they would not betray her.
• Xia Chujian ordered the Falcon D1's Mechanical Intelligence to display the missing fighters' last distress-signal locations, and more than a hundred red dots appeared on the Asteroid Belt map.

Xia Chujian secretly worked with Seven Lù to reconstruct the cadet fighters’ positions while avoiding surveillance aboard the Starry Sky Cruiser. Their calculations suggested the rescue airships should have been able to retrieve the fighters, so Xia Chujian considered whether an unknown force had attacked them.

• Seven Lù warned Xia Chujian that the office and its systems were under surveillance, so she moved to the washroom and communicated by typing.
• Seven Lù suspected Inspector Huo was behind the sophisticated surveillance, and Xia Chujian decided to avoid exposing Seven Lù or relying on it to control the Cruiser.
• Xia Chujian instructed the Cruiser’s Mechanical Intelligence to calculate the fighters’ past positions, but it estimated the task would take thirty days and twenty hours.
• Seven Lù completed the calculations in ten minutes and reported that the rescue airships should have been able to escort the cadet fighters back.
• Xia Chujian considered the possibility that the Remnant monsters had attacked, then wrote a new conjecture asking whether an unknown force was responsible.

Xia Chujian used Seven Lù to trace ten missing Interstellar Airships to a shared destination in the Asteroid Belt, where she discovered eighteen unidentified Starry Sky Cruisers had appeared. Realizing the missing trainees might be prisoners, she prepared for a rescue despite having only herself as a qualified fighter pilot, and summoned the Starry Sky Marine squad leaders.

• Xia Chujian ordered the Starry Sky Cruiser into the Asteroid Belt and noticed a newly forming Wormhole whose position was shifting.
• Seven Lù mapped the energy decay trajectories of ten missing Interstellar Airships and found that they converged at one location, which Xia Chujian ordered the Cruiser to approach.
• Seven Lù detected eighteen large vessels along the route and determined that they likely did not belong to the Beichen Empire.
• Xia Chujian concluded the missing trainees might be held by the enemy and checked the Cruiser’s weapons, personnel, and lack of qualified fighter pilots.
• Xia Chujian summoned the five Starry Sky Marine squad leaders, who reported to her Captain’s Room: Sun Jiahao, Wang Hu, Li Dali, Wu Shanfeng, and Yang Jianchang.

Xia Chujian had the Starry Sky Marines learn to operate Mecha before their rescue mission, then tested their combat skills in a live exercise. Li Dali was eliminated in less than a minute, while his team continued the fight.

• Xia Chujian learned that the five captains and their Marines had experience with Military Exoskeletons but had never piloted Mecha or Starry Sky Fighters.
• Xia Chujian brought the Marines to the Fifth Layer, demonstrated a Regular Mecha, and told them to practice before attacking her.
• The Marines quickly learned the Mecha controls, and Xia Chujian gave them instructions for communicating with the Mecha's Mechanical Intelligence.
• Xia Chujian set rules for a Marking Bullet exercise and faced Li Dali's hundred-person Team 3.
• Li Dali tried to attack Xia Chujian under cover of his team, but she hit the back of his Mecha's head and eliminated him in under a minute.

Xia Chujian defeated the Starry Sky Marines’ Mecha teams, won their trust, and began intensive training for the five hundred Marines. She ended the chapter preparing to teach the strongest Mecha-and-shooting trainees how to mount conventional weapons and fire quickly.

• Xia Chujian maneuvered through the Starry Sky Marines’ squads and eliminated nearly all of them, using their Marking Bullets and tight formation against one another.
• Xia Chujian spent an hour teaching the last two squads to pilot their Mechas before defeating them; six Marines pledged to become her Guards, but she told them they must first beat her.
• Xia Chujian demonstrated rapid, precise Sniper Rifle fire by hitting the bullseye on all one hundred Moving Targets, prompting the Marines to ask her to teach them.
• Xia Chujian divided the five hundred Marines into Mecha, shooting, and combined-training groups, then taught the shooting group how to coordinate with their Sniper Rifles’ Mechanical Intelligence.
• Xia Chujian refereed Mecha melee practice and corrected the trainees’ movements before telling the combined-training group she would teach them to mount conventional weapons on Mechas and fire quickly.

Xia Chujian pushed the Starry Sky Marines to train with the virtual systems and confronted two navigators who challenged her authority. She had both navigators confined and secured the room, leaving the Cruiser without its navigators as the ship continued toward its destination.

• Xia Chujian persuaded the Starry Sky Marines to use the virtual training systems by claiming she was familiar with the Zong Clan and the Quan Family.
• The Marines trained with Mecha and Space Weapons, and Xia Chujian saw their skills improve before leaving the squad captains to supervise.
• Navigator A1 Qi Hongsheng objected to the Marines using the Mechas, so Xia Chujian relieved him of duty and ordered him to confinement.
• Navigator A2 also refused Xia Chujian's order, so she shot open the Navigation System room's lock and forced both navigators out.
• Xia Chujian ordered Gu Zhongjin to search and confine the navigators, then set the room's fingerprint lock to admit only her.

Xia Chujian secured control of the Cruiser’s navigation and surveillance systems with Seven Lù, then disguised its messages on her Eyepiece. After sleeping during the journey, she woke before the destination and refused to tell Seven Lù why she had gotten up.

• Xia Chujian locked the two navigators in the Confinement Room and had Seven Lù take over the Cruiser’s navigation system.
• Seven Lù repaired the navigation room door lock and took control of the Cruiser’s surveillance system, preventing it from recording sensitive content.
• After a guard noticed her Eyepiece seemed faulty, Xia Chujian hid the Mecha Eyepiece and wore Black Goggles that Seven Lù made it resemble.
• Xia Chujian decided not to let Seven Lù double the Cruiser’s speed and ordered it to wake her an hour before reaching their destination.
• Seven Lù rejected Xia Chujian’s new rule against unapproved actions because it could endanger her safety, then followed her wake-up instruction literally.
• Xia Chujian woke ten minutes before Seven Lù’s alarm and told it she did not have to report every little thing to it.

Xia Chujian had Seven Lù create a terrifying mask and help her prepare to leave the Cruiser unseen. After gathering weapons, she reached an airlock passageway to venture into space and inspect their destination.

• Xia Chujian ordered Seven Lù to recognize her as its master, learned it was less than a month old, and let it speak in a childish voice.
• Seven Lù formed a Yellow Feather Blue Horns, Leopard Face Tiger Teeth mask over Xia Chujian's helmet, and offered brain sensors, which she refused.
• Xia Chujian had Seven Lù block surveillance and simulate her presence in the Captain's Room, then used her mecha to reach the fifth-level Weapon Warehouse.
• Xia Chujian took a Destroyer 800 Fully Automatic Submachine Gun, a Xia Zhi 085 Assault Rifle, a Qu Zhong 110 Hand Cannon, ammunition, and a Chunjun Tactical Dagger.
• Xia Chujian went to the upper deck, admired the surrounding stars, and followed Seven Lù's directions toward an outer-space passageway.

Xia Chujian left the Falcon-class Star Cruiser in the Shao Siming Black Silver Mecha and followed the coordinates to a gathering of eighteen Bodhi Leaf pirate vessels surrounding the Flying Base’s airships and trainee fighters. She prepared to confront the pirates, while questioning whether the trainees had hidden weapons.

• Xia Chujian passed through the cruiser’s outer door and accelerated through space in her mecha.
• She found eighteen massive vessels at the coordinates and identified their flags as belonging to the notorious Bodhi Leaf space pirates.
• Xia Chujian spotted ten Flying Base Interstellar Airships shielding the trainees’ Starry Sky Fighters, and reproached the trainees for hiding instead of fighting.
• She wondered whether the trainees’ fighters had been secretly equipped with Space Weapons and noted that the pirates’ position had let her catch up.
• Xia Chujian asked Seven Lù whether the pirates’ Radar could detect her, and Seven Lù said the Asteroid Belt rendered Radar useless.

Xia Chujian infiltrated a Bodhi Leaf pirate ship while investigating why the pirates had surrounded the base cadets without attacking. She discovered the pirates were exchanging signals with the cadets and found a hall where kidnapped women had been abused, leaving her to question what was happening aboard the ship.

• Xia Chujian learned from Seven Lù that stealth during combat would consume too much energy, so she kept stealth active and went to investigate the pirate ships.
• Xia Chujian hid on a pillar as a battered Mecha emerged, then watched it launch red, green, and yellow signal flares that the surrounded cadets answered with white, blue, and purple flares.
• Xia Chujian followed the Mecha inside the starship and found a crowded, drunken hall resembling a rundown bar.
• Xia Chujian saw two gravely injured young women among the apparent captives and challenged Seven Lù's claim that the pirates still followed their principle of taking money rather than lives.

Xia Chujian discovered that the Bodhi Leaf space pirates preyed on ordinary passengers and brutally abused their captives. After witnessing a mother’s death and the pirates’ attack on her daughter, Xia Chujian ordered Seven Lù to seize the ship’s systems and killed all 373 pirates in the hall, then stayed alert for further threats.

• Old Lei dragged a badly wounded woman out of a private room and threw her into space, while other pirates discussed how they targeted ships carrying Commoners and Citizens rather than Nobility.
• Xia Chujian recognized the torn uniforms on two captive girls as those of Mulan City No. 1 High School and realized the pirates had robbed a ship departing from Mulan City.
• A pirate kicked the girls’ mother into a wall, where an iron nail pierced her temple and killed her.
• Enraged, Xia Chujian ordered Seven Lù to take over the ship’s primitive Mechanical Intelligence and shut down the Circuit Systems.
• Using night vision and the Chunjun Tactical Dagger, Xia Chujian killed all 373 Space Pirates in the hall within three minutes while avoiding the captives.
• Xia Chujian remained on guard, wary that Gene Evolvers might attack or that pirates elsewhere on the ships might be alerted.

Xia Chujian cleared the Space Pirates from the starship’s second level and confronted the captain’s daughter to learn why Bodhi Leaf had targeted the Kanli Star Flying Base Trainees. The woman revealed that Bodhi Leaf’s leader had promised the pirates they could return to the Beichen Empire, but Xia Chujian was still demanding an explanation for the planned siege.

• Xia Chujian learned from Seven Lù that 752 Space Pirates were aboard and ordered it to guide her to the second level, where she killed the pirates she encountered.
• After counting 751 bodies, Xia Chujian found the captain’s daughter in a reinforced room and shot through her palm when she suspected the woman was lying.
• The captain’s daughter said her father, Lai Baoxue, was on the third level speaking with a Bodhi Leaf higher-up, and described Bodhi Leaf’s combat and transport starships.
• Under threat, the woman revealed that Bodhi Leaf’s leader had summoned eight captains and promised they could clear their names and return to the Beichen Empire after the mission.
• The woman said the pirates planned to surround the Kanli Star Flying Base Trainees for seven days without fighting them, and Xia Chujian demanded to know why.

Xia Chujian interrogated a female Space Pirate, killed her after learning what she knew, and discovered the woman’s crimes through Seven Lù. She then revealed herself as a Beichen Empire Interstellar Fleet Second Lieutenant to the rescued captives and promised to find a way to send them home.

• Xia Chujian questioned the woman about the eighteen starships’ weapons, and Seven Lù recorded her answers for later verification.
• Xia Chujian shot the woman after the interrogation, then learned from Seven Lù that she had murdered women and stolen parts of their faces and bodies.
• Xia Chujian had Seven Lù seal away the disturbing evidence, delete an unsent message, and rescan the vessel’s systems.
• Xia Chujian restored the hall’s power, and the surviving captives recognized the dead Space Pirates and vented their rage against the bodies.
• Xia Chujian introduced herself to the captives as a Second Lieutenant in the Beichen Empire Interstellar Fleet and promised to help send them home.

Xia Chujian learned that the surviving victims planned to die because their insurance would pay their families far more than the compensation for surviving, and their medical treatment was unaffordable. Though Seven Lù urged her to let them choose freely, Xia Chujian resolved to find another way for the thirty-eight survivors and asked Chang Shengnan for help.

• Xia Chujian stopped a mother from taking her own life and persuaded the survivors not to kill themselves because of the Space Pirates.
• Chang Shengnan explained that the survivors faced two years of costly treatment, while their families would receive much larger insurance payouts if they died.
• Seven Lù advised Xia Chujian to let the victims choose freely, but she insisted that she would help those she could save.
• Seven Lù counted thirty-eight survivors among the original three hundred seventy-eight victims, and Xia Chujian vowed to think of a solution.
• Xia Chujian asked Chang Shengnan whether the survivors could change their names and offered to discuss the details after asking her for help.

Xia Chujian rescued the women held aboard a converted shuttle, concealed their survival, and prepared to confront the Bodhi Leaf Star Pirates’ three Cruiser-class ships. With Seven Lù’s help, she weakened the ships’ defenses and altered the charging systems of their working Space Ion Beam Cannons, leaving the consequences of those changes unknown.

• Xia Chujian told Chang Shengnan to stabilize the shuttle, keep the pirates’ deaths secret, and search the second floor for medical supplies, clothing, necessities, and looted valuables.
• After the survivors went upstairs, Xia Chujian gathered the pirates’ corpses and dissolved them with one Shao Siming Black Silver Bullet, then left the shuttle.
• Xia Chujian learned that the three Cruiser-converted starships had disconnected from the internal network and flew toward the largest one, which Seven Lù identified as a Falcon B1-class vessel.
• Seven Lù cracked the largest ship’s Gravity Field warning system, allowing Xia Chujian to enter unseen and confirm that only two of its five Space Ion Beam Cannons worked normally.
• Unable to quickly tamper with the cannons themselves, Seven Lù agreed to lengthen the Energy Storage Time of the operational cannons on all three ships.

Xia Chujian prepared to lead a battle against the Space Pirates, while Seven Lù uncovered a debate among the trapped trainees and rescue pilots about installing Brain-Computer Interfaces and Chips. After learning the rescue airships had a plausible reason to carry the equipment, Xia Chujian began revising her plan and prepared to give orders to the Starry Sky Marines.

• Seven Lù tampered with the charging programs for Space Ion Beam Cannons on three pirate ships and returned with Xia Chujian to her Cruiser.
• Xia Chujian weighed the pirate captain's daughter's claims against the possibility of a mole and planned to base her battle strategy on her own judgment.
• Seven Lù revealed it had connected to the trapped Flying Base fighters' and airships' network and found that someone wanted to install Brain-Computer Interfaces and Chips in the trainees.
• Seven Lù explained that one rescue airship had recently completed a Brain-Computer Interface installation mission, easing Xia Chujian's suspicion that the equipment proved the base had a mole.
• Xia Chujian decided to try using her Cruiser's stored communication channel and prepare assignments for the five hundred Starry Sky Marines, while two insubordinate navigators remained in confinement.