Chapter Summaries

The Emperor expanded the Starry Sky Exploration Activity to students from the top twenty military academies after public backlash over the initial selection list. Once the exam results were announced, a liability waiver revealed the expedition’s lethal risks, leaving the selected students to reconsider what the opportunity might cost them.

• Jiang Sheng and Xia Chujian learned that 380 external students would join the Starry Sky Exploration Activity, while students at other academies protested that the initial list favored average scorers.
• After his Attendant warned that the selection could alienate future military officers, Emperor Tantai Hongyuan ordered an exam open to freshmen at the top twenty military academies.
• The Cabinet Academic Department announced that each school’s top twenty exam scorers would qualify, and the exam results showed that strong students and military-experienced noble students generally outperformed those on the rumored list.
• The selected students learned they had to sign a waiver accepting responsibility for injuries or death, and realized the expedition into an Unknown Star System could cost far more than its stipend and academic credits.

Xia Chujian defended the Beichen Empire’s noble students from mockery, prompting students to reconsider the dangerous exploration and some to withdraw. A week later, she boarded a Starry Sky Exploration Ship with the remaining participants, where Deputy Commander Hui Gu announced their destination was an unknown star system designated X.

• Eight noble students in the Interstellar Joint Class transferred to the Starry Sky Mothership Major to avoid withdrawing from the activity, while Qian Changxin mocked them on the School Forum.
• Xia Chujian replied that the noble students had known their limits, and students across the academy backed her post; the eight transfer students felt newly accepted by the school community.
• Students who feared the risks withdrew, while the remaining participants signed liability waivers and prepared to depart for the exploration ships.
• Xia Chujian encountered Qiu Zijun aboard the Space Shuttle, asked about her relationship with Qiu Shenxing, and received an apology for her cousin’s actions.
• More than four hundred students and thousands of accompanying personnel boarded two Space Shuttles and reached the Starry Sky Exploration Ships.
• Hui Gu welcomed the students aboard Treasure No. 1 and announced that the two ships would travel together to an unknown star system temporarily designated X.

As Deputy Commander Hui Gu began assigning teams for the voyage to an Unknown Star System, Xia Chujian argued that exploration required trusted teammates and won permission for students to choose their own groups. Her team formed around familiar classmates and then gained two unexpected members, Mai Aotuo and Fan Ruisi, who believed her marksmanship would make the expedition safer.

• Hui Gu warned the students about the voyage and their responsibility under the Liability Waiver, and Qiu Zijun reminded him that the authorities could also be at fault.
• When Xia Chujian requested that students from her major form a team together, other students complained and Qiu Zijun supported the original mixed grouping.
• Xia Chujian explained that exploration required teammates who knew and trusted one another, persuading students to wait for Hui Gu's decision.
• Hui Gu returned with approval for students to form teams of ten to twenty after signing an agreement waiving the assigned grouping method.
• Chen Yanjun and several classmates joined Xia Chujian, while Gu Demao and Pan Nanjie went to join Shi Miler and Wei Ke.
• Mai Aotuo and Fan Ruisi asked to join Xia Chujian's team, and Mai Aotuo praised her fast, accurate shooting.

Xia Chujian formed her team cautiously, moved into her suite aboard the Starry Sky Exploration Ship, and discovered surveillance cameras throughout it, including beside the bathroom shower. After finding the same cameras in Chen Yanjun’s suite, she reported that the surveillance was not limited to her room and warned him not to use his bathroom.

• Xia Chujian required mutual interviews before accepting new teammates, and Mai Aotuo and Fan Ruisi agreed to attend after the rooms were assigned.
• Deputy Commander Hui Gu sent students their room numbers and directed them to assemble in the elevators for the ride to the third floor.
• Xia Chujian found a surveillance camera beside her bathroom shower and had Seven Lù scan her suite, locating six more cameras in the Living Room, bedroom, and small kitchen.
• Xia Chujian photographed the cameras and messaged Meng Guanghui, then checked Chen Yanjun’s suite and found cameras in identical locations.
• Xia Chujian warned Chen Yanjun not to use his bathroom and sent Meng Guanghui more messages explaining that the cameras were present in another suite as well.

Xia Chujian alerted the Special Security Bureau to hidden surveillance in the Starry Sky Exploration Ship’s private rooms, and Huo Yushen ordered his agents to remove the unauthorized devices. After the rooms were cleared, Xia began interviewing Mai Aotuo and Fan Ruisi, who described their families’ joint hunting trips on a primitive Habitable Planet.

• Xia Chujian reported that surveillance devices appeared to be installed in the bathrooms, and Meng Guanghui forwarded her messages to Huo Yushen and Kang Shanxing.
• Kang Shanxing confirmed that the Special Security Bureau had not installed surveillance in bedrooms or bathrooms, so Huo Yushen ordered agents aboard the ship to remove unauthorized devices under the guise of preventive maintenance.
• Xia Chujian had Seven Lù scan her room, confirmed the bathroom, bedroom, and kitchenette were clear, and told Chen Yanjun to arrange the interviews.
• Xia Chujian and the others questioned Mai Aotuo about the Southern Cross Star Kingdom’s education system and learned that noble status and elite recommendations heavily influenced university admissions.
• Mai Aotuo told Xia Chujian that he and Fan Ruisi often joined other young members of their families on hunting trips to a primitive Habitable Planet.

Xia Chujian’s group accepted Mai Aotuo and Fan Ruisi, officially forming the ten-person Treasure Hunt 1st Squad. Before the expedition ship’s seven-day voyage began, its pilots announced that passengers would be confined to their rooms during five days of electromagnetic silence, prompting Qiu Zijun to demand an explanation from Commander-in-Chief Tantai.

• Mai Aotuo and Fan Ruisi described their hunting teamwork, and Xia Chujian praised Mai Aotuo for killing a teammate who had betrayed the group.
• Xia Chujian’s classmates agreed to recruit Mai Aotuo and Fan Ruisi, and Xia Chujian said the newcomers would protect the technical personnel while she scouted ahead.
• Xia Chujian’s group signed recruitment agreements and became the ten-person Treasure Hunt 1st Squad, while the other Beichen First Military Academy students formed two more squads.
• The ship’s pilots announced a seven-day voyage, including five days in a Large Wormhole when rooms would be locked and anyone who left would be executed by Security Robots.
• Qiu Zijun asked Commander-in-Chief Tantai why leaving a cabin would result in execution, while Xia Chujian wondered about Tantai’s status and imperial lineage.

Xia Chujian and the other students traveled through a Wormhole to an Unknown Star System, where they learned the environment could improve Mental Strength and possibly trigger Gene Evolution. As the teams prepared to explore a planet, Xia Chujian found their ammunition allotment far too small and hinted that the dangers ahead might demand much more.

• Tan Tai Raoming explained that students had to remain in their cabins during Wormhole transit to avoid being trapped, and Qiu Zijun agreed to follow the rules.
• The ships passed through the Wormhole, and Xia Chujian saw an azure-blue nebula before they entered the Unknown Star System.
• The crew announced that the system could help students train Mental Strength and might allow Gene Evolution, exciting the students as they prepared to land.
• Xia Chujian boarded Treasure Hunt No. 1 with her team and asked Tan Tai Raoming how to collect supplies; the teachers decided teams would gather their own food, weapons, and ammunition.
• Xia Chujian's team loaded three months of supplies, and she complained that their fifty thousand rounds of ammunition were not enough before asking what the most frightening thing about an Unknown Planet was.

Xia Chujian argued for more ammunition at No. 5 Warehouse, and Zong Ruoning intervened so her squad and the other squads could collect bullets for free. Zong Ruoning then went to the command area to ask how soon they would reach their coordinates, while the destination planet remained uncertain.

• Xia Chujian persuaded the warehouse teacher to issue ammunition by arguing that the squad’s original supply was insufficient, and Zong Ruoning ordered the teacher to give them whatever they needed.
• Xia Chujian requested one million machine-gun bullets, twenty thousand Sniper Rifle rounds, and one hundred thousand rounds of every other type, then had warehouse Robots transport them to her Storage Room.
• Zong Ruoning’s intervention led to a notice allowing every squad to collect extra ammunition from No. 5 Warehouse for free.
• Zong Ruoning asked Captain Kong when they would reach their coordinates, and Captain Kong said it would take two hours at full speed but they might not find the planet.

Zong Ruoning and Captain Kong found Green Radiance Star and confirmed it matched the planet recorded nineteen years earlier, despite its changed surface data. Concerned by signs of intelligent life and unusual terrain, Zong Ruoning ordered drone scans before risking the students’ landing.

• Captain Kong led the exploration ships to the recorded coordinates and discovered that Green Radiance Star had reappeared.
• Zong Ruoning compared the planet’s scans with historical records and confirmed its core magnetic field matched data from both one thousand years ago and nineteen years ago.
• Zong Ruoning identified signs of intelligent life, black energy fields at both poles, and abnormal surface readings on Green Radiance Star.
• Zong Ruoning found a location whose magnetic field matched the map from nineteen years earlier and selected several sites for closer investigation.
• Zong Ruoning ordered Captain Kong to send Drones to scan the sites before sending the students down.

After reconnaissance drones vanished over Green Radiance Star, Zong Ruoning warned the students that an expedition there nineteen years earlier had ended in disaster, then assigned their exploration missions. Xia Chujian prepared weapons for the landing as the students learned the risks and rewards of the expedition.

• Captain Kong reported that all fifty thousand reconnaissance drones had lost contact, and Zong Ruoning decided to send the Starry Sky Exploration Force and students down in flying vehicles.
• Zong Ruoning told the students Green Radiance Star had reappeared after vanishing nineteen years earlier and warned that the earlier expedition had suffered a catastrophe with no survivors returning.
• After students asked for more details, Zong Ruoning explained that the earlier expedition’s vehicles, weapons, Mecha, and ships had rusted unusable, though escape pods had managed to call for help.
• Xia Chujian considered the danger and selected grenades, heavy weapons, and basic firearms to take down, while leaving other guns behind.
• Zong Ruoning warned students about going outside at night and announced missions to collect plants and minerals and search for lost civilizations, with prizes for the top three teams.

Xia Chujian’s team descended toward Green Radiance Star, where their radar failed and an exploration robot named Xiao Fei joined them. The first vehicles landed on apparently solid ground that collapsed like a sponge, leaving Xia Chujian cautious about descending.

• Xia Chujian joined the expedition teams as they launched toward Green Radiance Star, intending to claim first place with Seven Lù.
• Xia Chujian discovered that her vehicle’s radar could not scan the planet, and Xiao Fei identified the atmosphere’s corrosive substances as the cause.
• Xia Chujian had her team remain in midair while the vehicles ahead descended toward a visible open plain.
• The first ten vehicles landed and sank into the soft ground, prompting their passengers to warn everyone over the communication channel.
• Xia Chujian refused to descend after hearing the warning.

Xia Chujian used her Second Generation Mecha to descend toward Green Radiance Star after corrosive atmospheric substances forced the other teams to retreat. She discovered that the strange ground might be living skin and went to help Tao Pao’s trapped team, while the fate of the students in the landed vehicles remained unresolved.

• Xia Chujian revealed her Second Generation Mecha, descended from the flying vehicle, and sent Xiao Fei back after it detected that the air was corroding its metal parts.
• The Starry Sky Exploration Force and the Military Academy teams returned to the Starry Sky Exploration Ship, while Xia Chujian ordered her teammates to leave and continued scouting alone.
• Chen Yanjun apologized to Mai Aotuo for questioning Xia Chujian’s command, and Seven Lù complained that it was jealous of Xiao Fei.
• Xia Chujian saw that the island beneath her was slowly moving and wondered whether its strange, tough surface was the skin of a gigantic Haidagong.
• After students in the landed vehicles reported being trapped, Xia Chujian offered help and flew to Tao Pao’s coordinates, where she found a Black Iron Flying Vehicle stuck in a groove filled with a plasticine-like substance.

Xia Chujian used her Shao Siming Black Silver Mecha to free the damaged flying vehicle and investigate the strange, soft ground in the Mountain Hollow. After she dispersed traces of abnormal energy, the land sank into the sea, and she and the students escaped aboard the flying vehicle.

• Xia Chujian straightened the flying vehicle with her mecha, allowing Tao Pao and the other students to climb out.
• Xia Chujian showed the students her Second Generation Mecha and suggested they test the unusual ground with machine-gun fire and grenades.
• As the ground shook and black smoke appeared, Xia Chujian used her mecha's sensors to locate energy traces and fired at them with submachine guns.
• The shaking stopped and the air cleared, but the ground suddenly sank and the mountains began collapsing as seawater surged in.
• Xia Chujian ordered the students aboard the flying vehicle, and they took off as the island sank beneath the sea.

Xia Chujian helped the students free their damaged Flying Vehicles, then reached the school’s designated camp and arranged for the vehicles to return beyond the atmosphere for repairs. The team landed beside an eerie village, unloaded supplies, and prepared to explore it.

• Xia Chujian told the stranded students to check for Kayaks and explained how to use energy traces to free their Flying Vehicles from the sinking islands.
• Xia Chujian returned to Treasure No. 1, and the team flew to the school-designated camp ahead of the others.
• Xia Chujian asked Zong Ruoning to have the Flying Vehicles return beyond the atmosphere so Mechanical Repairers could replace rust-prone components, and Commander-in-Chief Tan Tai Raoming issued the order.
• Xia Chujian and her teammates landed beside an ancient altar near a village, then unloaded weapons, ammunition, and other supplies before Xiao Fei flew back for repairs.
• Xia Chujian said she and Chen Yanjun would enter the village to investigate while the others waited outside.

Xia Chujian and Chen Yanjun entered Darkness Village, where Zong Ruoning let their team stay in the Ancient Castle despite the expected drop to minus twenty degrees. After settling in, Xia Chujian shot at a figure hiding near the woods, then reunited with Xiao Fei, whose repairs were complete; Xiao Fei agreed to stay with her.

• Xia Chujian split the team into two groups and led Chen Yanjun into Darkness Village, where they met Zong Ruoning and learned the temperature would drop to minus twenty degrees.
• Xia Chujian asked to stay in the Ancient Castle, and Zong Ruoning agreed; the assistant assigned the ten teammates five rooms on the second floor.
• Xia Chujian and Fan Ruisi cleaned their room and prepared to use sleeping bags and a fireplace, while the team moved its supplies inside.
• As the wind strengthened, Xia Chujian spotted a green shadow in the woods, fired at it, and found footprints and drops of black blood near the village.
• Chen Yanjun arrived with Xiao Fei, whose parts had been replaced or repaired; Xiao Fei agreed to stay with Xia Chujian in the Ancient Castle.

Xia Chujian discovered that the village’s nighttime conditions were dangerously abnormal, with temperatures soaring beneath a dark red moon. Wearing her Second Generation Mecha, she left the Ancient Castle to investigate the nearby woods, where she suspected an injured creature she had seen earlier might be hiding.

• Xia Chujian told her teammates that shooting the Green Mist made it retreat, and she suspected that whatever created it was conscious.
• The other teams arrived at the Ancient Castle after escaping the Green Mist by firing at it, and Xia Chujian advised them to shoot first if they encountered another strange phenomenon.
• After drinking High-Grade Nutrient Solution, Xia Chujian noticed that the room, the window, and the outside air were growing dangerously hot beneath a dark red moon.
• Xia Chujian found Chen Yanjun and other students sheltering on the cooler first floor, then stepped outside in her Shao Siming Mecha to check the temperature.
• Xia Chujian spoke with Zong Ruoning about the abnormal weather and learned that Starry Sky Exploration Force personnel were still modifying Drones aboard their ship.
• Xia Chujian told Zong Ruoning she would investigate the nearby woods alone, recalling that she had shot and possibly injured a familiar creature there earlier.

Xia Chujian investigated the rising heat on the island and killed a Ba that had emerged beneath the red moon. She returned to the Ancient Castle dragging the creature, where Zong Ruoning recognized it and deduced that she had killed the Ba in Mulan City last year.

• Xia Chujian flew into the forest to investigate the heat and followed bloodstains to the mountaintop.
• She fired at the dark red moon, revealing a Ba that demanded her body.
• Xia Chujian blinded the Ba, shot the heart on its back, then destroyed its spirit when it tried to attack her.
• A huge presence stirred beneath the sea, but it retreated when Xia Chujian aimed her rifle toward the water.
• She dragged the Ba down the mountain and brought it to the Ancient Castle, where Zong Ruoning identified it and guessed she had killed the Ba in Mulan City.

Xia Chujian explained that the Ba she killed was linked to Remnants and warned her team not to go outside at night. The next morning, after the team slept safely through the falling temperatures, Chen Yanjun caught Xia Chujian eating meat buns.

• Xia Chujian told Chen Yanjun that the creature she killed was a Ba, and warned that Remnants might be nearby and night travel was dangerous.
• Zong Ruoning ordered his team to put the Ba’s corpse in cold storage and send it to the Starry Sky Exploration Ship.
• Xia Chujian showed her team a picture of the Ba, explained its effects and possible mental control, and told them to avoid going out at night.
• Xia Chujian warned her teammates not to hold the team back, then ended the meeting and told them to scout the area in the morning.
• Xia Chujian woke early and heated two meat buns, and Chen Yanjun came to her door after smelling them.

As seven suns appeared over Green Radiance Star and temperatures climbed to deadly levels, Xia Chujian studied the phenomenon while the team struggled to cope. After the group lost contact with the Starry Sky Exploration Ship, Xia Chujian came to the shore and challenged her classmates to stop passively waiting in the water.

• Chen Yanjun ate one of Xia Chujian’s Wild Rhinoceros Pig Meat buns, and she promised to cook a meal for the team after the mission.
• Xia Chujian noticed the temperature rising again, found two suns in the sky, and photographed them before returning to the Ancient Castle.
• Over the next six days, five more suns appeared, the island scorched under extreme heat, and the team began cooling off in the seawater.
• Tan Tai Raoming learned that trace elements had corroded the Temporary Base Station’s hardware, leaving the team unable to contact the Starry Sky Exploration Ship.
• On the seventh evening, Xia Chujian went to the shore and asked the students why they were doing nothing but soaking in the sea.

Xia Chujian realized the seven suns were illusions created by Bas and destroyed two of the disguised monsters with her sniper rifle. As the remaining Bas fled and multiplied their illusions, she called on the Gene Evolvers to join the fight, and the students rushed to retrieve their weapons.

• Xia Chujian told everyone that six of the seven suns were illusions and flew toward them to test her theory.
• Xia Chujian shot the cyan core of the nearest false sun, destroying the Ba hidden inside it.
• Xia Chujian destroyed a second Ba, prompting four more Bas to reveal themselves and flee in different directions.
• Xia Chujian pursued the Bas but struggled to distinguish their illusions, so she called on the Gene Evolvers to help shoot them down.
• The students agreed to join the fight and ran into the ancient castle to retrieve their weapons.