Chapter Summaries

Li Qingsong successfully developed Super Distance Communication and Neural Chips, letting him issue commands to clones 30 million kilometers away with only a 0.1-second delay. He began improving the technology and planned to implant Neural Chips in every clone within ten years.

• Li Qingsong tested Super Distance Communication between spacecraft 30 million kilometers apart and confirmed that their messages matched.
• Li Qingsong devoted more research to the technology and rapidly improved its performance.
• Li Qingsong developed Neural Chips that translated brain activity into data.
• Li Qingsong used Neural Chips and Super Distance Communication to command a distant clone to stand up after only a 0.1-second delay.
• Li Qingsong began improving both technologies and planned to implant Neural Chips into every clone within ten years.

Li Qingsong pushed Super Distance Communication toward a ten-billion-kilometer limit while devoting vast resources to Quantum Mathematics research. As Flying Star’s deuterium ran low, he developed a Gluon Plasma Energy Shield and then achieved a breakthrough in Protium Fusion Reactor technology.

• Li Qingsong found that quantum communication became harder to decode over greater distances, and that relays could extend its range only to about ten billion kilometers with his current mathematics.
• Li Qingsong assigned one hundred million clones to research Quantum Mathematics and continued directing other consciousness-link slots toward major projects.
• Li Qingsong tested several Mercury-class Battleships against Test Platform One, whose thin Gluon Plasma Shield deflected their electromagnetic cannon shells.
• Li Qingsong revealed that he had reserved much of the fleet’s storage for protium, and Protium Fusion Reactor technology advanced after the Energy Shield breakthrough.

Li Qingsong achieved stable Protium Fusion and a tenfold increase in ion exhaust velocity, then began developing a Strong Nuclear Civilization warship. His first Energy Cannon test created a projectile equivalent to a one-ton TNT Micro Nuclear Bomb, but the projectile exploded and destroyed the experimental equipment.

• Li Qingsong achieved stable Protium Fusion, though the process initially ran at a loss, and began optimizing it.
• Li Qingsong increased the speed of ions from a new propulsion engine from roughly 2,000 to 20,000 kilometers per second.
• Li Qingsong recognized that Energy Shields were essential for high-speed interstellar travel and began developing a new warship while improving its technologies.
• Li Qingsong tested an Energy Cannon projectile in a Strong Nuclear Excited State, but it exploded and destroyed the experimental equipment.
• Li Qingsong's test showed that a one-gram projectile could release energy equivalent to roughly one ton of TNT.

Li Qingsong used breakthroughs in Strong Nuclear technology to drive decades of specialized research, then began a complete overhaul of his technology and infrastructure in space. With Flying Star’s vast reserves, he dismantled his old industrial facilities and ships to rebuild them at the Strong Nuclear Civilization level.

• Li Qingsong celebrated successfully placing a shell into the Strong Nuclear Excited State and developed new materials by manipulating atomic nuclei.
• Billions of clones and tens of millions of Blueprint Scientists used Flying Star’s resources to make thousands of specialized technological breakthroughs each day.
• Several decades passed without the Machina Calamity Fleet finding Li Qingsong, but his sense of danger grew as he accumulated enough technological foundations for a full overhaul.
• Li Qingsong began replacing his Electroweak Civilization technology with Strong Nuclear Civilization technology, using Flying Star’s remaining five hundred trillion tons of mass.
• Li Qingsong built new factories, dismantled the old industrial facilities, and began melting down his spaceships to produce new ones.

Li Qingsong completed his fleet’s upgrade, using the Flying Star to build a massive force of unmanned warships equipped with Strong Nuclear Civilization technology. He concluded that wars between peer civilizations would be decided by industrial strength, his greatest advantage.

• Li Qingsong devoted decades of labor to upgrading his fleet, consuming the Flying Star as material for its transformation.
• Li Qingsong completed a fleet of one million Mercury-class Battleships, sixty thousand Venus-class Battleships, and a thousand Earth-class Battleships.
• Li Qingsong made every warship unmanned so clones could control them remotely from behind the battlefield without suffering the ships’ extreme acceleration.
• Li Qingsong calculated that remote control would let clones transfer to reserve ships when their warships were destroyed.
• Li Qingsong concluded that wars between comparable Strong Nuclear Civilizations would become contests of industrial strength, where his manufacturing advantage could decide the outcome.

Li Qingsong upgraded his military and civilian spacecraft, then accelerated his main fleet to 50% of the speed of light while sending a decoy Garbage Fleet in another direction. At cruising speed, he observed the stars ahead shift blue and those behind shift red by roughly 70%.

• Li Qingsong and Wukong AI drilled with the upgraded war fleet without live fire, improving his coordination of the Strong Nuclear Civilization's military systems.
• Li Qingsong upgraded civilian spacecraft with deuterium fusion, high-speed Ion Thrusters, and Energy Shields, while turning hollowed-out old ships into garbage dumps.
• Li Qingsong sent the garbage-filled ships accelerating away from the main fleet as a final cover, then ordered the main fleet to accelerate at full power.
• After five years, the main fleet exceeded 100,000 kilometers per second, and after about three more years it reached its planned cruising speed of 50% of light speed.
• Li Qingsong observed that the stars ahead and behind the fleet had become roughly 70% bluer and redder, respectively.

After decades of travel at half the speed of light, Li Qingsong’s new gene-edited clones let him link all three billion awakened consciousnesses without reaching his limit. He redirected the fleet toward a resource-rich star system, only to receive a message that it was now a temporary base of the Havilah civilization.

• At 50% of light speed, Li Qingsong adjusted fleet timekeeping to account for increased time dilation and relied on energy shields against intense interstellar radiation.
• Li Qingsong focused on biotechnology and created 1,000 gene-edited clones after more than twenty years of research.
• Li Qingsong linked all three billion conscious clones and still felt capable of linking more, though he could not determine his maximum.
• With supplies running low, Li Qingsong decided to seek materials at a nearby star system and changed the fleet’s course toward it.
• As the fleet approached the star system, Li Qingsong received a message announcing that it was a temporary base of the Havilah civilization.

Li Qingsong received a warning from the Havilah Civilization that its star system was occupied and, judging the civilization to be technologically superior, turned his fleet away. After he sent a message agreeing to leave, Havilah announced it would vacate a planet for humanity, while a large Havilah fleet appeared on a course that could intersect with his.

• The Havilah Civilization sent Li Qingsong a message asking him to leave its star system and offering peaceful exchanges elsewhere.
• Li Qingsong judged the message’s powerful electromagnetic transmission to be a show of superior technology and ordered his fleet to turn away.
• At its closest point to the star, Li Qingsong sent Havilah a message confirming that humanity would depart and seek another place to settle.
• As his fleet moved away, Li Qingsong spotted a large fleet emerging from the star system on a course that might intersect with his in a few years.
• Havilah sent Li Qingsong another message saying it had decided to vacate a planet for humanity to settle on.

After the Havilah Civilization sent a fleet to rendezvous with Li Qingsong, he concluded they intended to trap him in the Star System and chose to enter it rather than risk being stranded in deep space. His probes then revealed vast industrial infrastructure and heavy space traffic across the system’s planets and moons.

• Li Qingsong read Havilah's offer of a planet and supplies, but interpreted its dispatched fleet as a threat that could leave his fleet without enough supplies to escape.
• Li Qingsong reconsidered why Havilah had suddenly changed its attitude and suspected his reply had provoked them, though he could find nothing unusual in its wording.
• Li Qingsong decided to change course toward the Star System and seize a planet rather than risk being trapped in deep space after a battle.
• Li Qingsong adjusted the fleet's course and sent probes ahead to survey the Star System.
• The probes reported enormous industrial facilities, spacecraft traffic, and Space Elevators across the system's planets and other celestial bodies.

Li Qingsong rejected the Havilah Civilization’s offer to send civilian ships to Planet Three while keeping his warships under supervision, and he steered his fleet toward the valuable Second Planet. He then used nonstop insults to provoke the Havilah into rash action, while Haimolan insisted on waiting defensively despite growing public and military anger.

• Li Qingsong saw the Havilah Civilization’s vast fleets and population, then asked which planet it had prepared for his arrival.
• The Havilah Civilization offered Planet Three for settlement but demanded that Li Qingsong keep his warships a hundred billion kilometers away under its supervision.
• Li Qingsong cursed the Havilah Civilization and redirected his fleet toward the Second Planet, the system’s most valuable planet.
• After the Havilah Civilization accused him of causing the coming war, Li Qingsong broadcast a stream of insults across the system to provoke its people.
• Haimolan reviewed another restrained diplomatic response and rejected calls to attack, ordering the Havilah military to defend its planets and wait for Li Qingsong’s fleet.
• After his secretary left, Haimolan cursed the Humans in private.

Li Qingsong’s fleet advanced on Second Planet after the Havilah Civilization refused to leave its defensive positions, forcing him into a direct battle. The fleets began a massive engagement, and Li Qingsong concluded that although Havilah’s technology was superior, its ability to field manned ships was limited by its supply of soldiers.

• Li Qingsong realized his attempt to provoke the Havilah Civilization into fighting away from the planets had failed, so he prepared to attack Second Planet directly.
• The Havilah Civilization redeployed its forces, raising Second Planet’s defenses to around 800,000 warships.
• Li Qingsong concentrated his non-combat ships in the rear and led 800,000 warships, along with extensive unmanned forces, toward Second Planet.
• The two fleets opened fire from millions of kilometers apart, while Li Qingsong and the Havilah Civilization directed their manned warships remotely from the rear.
• Li Qingsong recognized that Havilah’s warships and unmanned forces were technologically superior, but its limited supply of qualified soldiers restricted how many manned warships it could operate.

Li Qingsong’s clones coordinated an immense fleet against the Havilah Civilization, matching its superior ships through unified control and overwhelming numbers. As the battle continued, Havilah replenished every lost warship, leaving Li Qingsong humiliated and determined to respond.

• Li Qingsong used millions of linked clones to coordinate his warships with flawless teamwork despite Wukong AI’s relative lack of combat experience.
• Clones in control bases relayed battlefield intelligence and decisions while exhausted operators rested or died and replacements took their places.
• Havilah warriors fought through a more specialized command system, and the battle destroyed countless unmanned facilities and more than ten thousand manned spacecraft without killing any intelligent life-forms.
• Li Qingsong’s fleet fell from eight hundred thousand warships to seven hundred and fifty thousand while Havilah maintained its fleet of four hundred thousand by replacing every destroyed ship.
• Li Qingsong thought of himself as a Clone Calamity and felt humiliated that Havilah was suppressing him with numerical superiority.

As the Havilah Civilization expected time and supplies to give it victory, Li Qingsong faced dwindling resources and a worsening battlefield stalemate. He moved his rear fleet toward Second Planet and began deploying an experimental system, preparing to use two billion clones in the operation.

• Haimolan received reports that Havilah’s war production was strong, its losses were sustainable, and the enemy was expected to weaken within about a year.
• Haimolan told the leaders that capturing Human Civilization could help Havilah become a Gravity civilization, and they affirmed his resolve.
• Li Qingsong realized that his fleet was running low on supplies and could not replenish itself without taking Second Planet.
• Li Qingsong brought his mainly non-combat rear fleet to within ten million kilometers of Second Planet, drawing enemy attacks that his escorts and shields fought off.
• Li Qingsong used Divine Craftsman AI and Wukong to deploy at least a billion experimental devices and connect them to energy ships.
• Two billion clones entered modified Aerospace Carriers, where drug delivery systems were connected to their circulatory systems.

Li Qingsong developed the concept of a Unified Force Field that could activate the Strong Nuclear Force throughout a region, rather than targeting a single enemy ship. He used two billion clones to build a Life Intelligence Supercomputer capable of the required battlefield predictions, but coordination between different life-forms remained unsolved.

• Li Qingsong realized that placing a large spacecraft into a Strong Nuclear Excited State would make it explode immediately, so he considered targeting enemy ships instead.
• Li Qingsong abandoned direct targeting as impractical and proposed a field of X and Y Bosons that could activate the Strong Nuclear Force across a region of space.
• Li Qingsong found that deploying the Unified Force Field required precise predictions of changing battlefield conditions, beyond the capabilities of existing Quantum Supercomputers.
• Li Qingsong combined human brains with Quantum Supercomputers and built a Life Intelligence Supercomputer from two billion clones.
• Li Qingsong faced the remaining challenge of coordinating the different life-forms in the Life Intelligence Supercomputer.

Li Qingsong deployed the Unified Force Field, using billions of coordinated clones and an immense fleet-wide effort to launch a devastating attack. The force field reached the battlefield at tremendous cost: its devices and energy ships exploded, and two billion clones died from the computational strain.

• Li Qingsong decided to use the Unified Force Field despite its enormous cost, since the battle had reached a dead end.
• Special agents were injected into two billion clones, whose brains joined Quantum Supercomputers to predict the battlefield thirty-three seconds ahead.
• Li Qingsong coordinated more than a billion devices to unleash a battlefield-specific Unified Force Field attack.
• The devices and hundreds of energy ships exploded after generating the force field at maximum output.
• All two billion clones suffered brain death, leaving Li Qingsong with only a third of his clones.
• The attack began its roughly thirty-second journey to the battlefield.

Li Qingsong activated the Unified Force Field across the battlefield, causing millions of Havilah ships and installations to explode while his shield-protected forces survived. As the field dissipated and the Havilah warriors realized their fleets were gone, Li Qingsong prepared to press the attack.

• Li Qingsong used a special Energy Shield frequency to protect his own spacecraft and installations from the Unified Force Field.
• The field reached the battlefield around Second Planet and triggered explosions throughout the Havilah fleet, destroying ships, satellites, and other installations.
• Explosions aboard docked Havilah ships spread through their interstellar motherships, while Second Planet suffered immense heat, radiation, and hurricanes.
• Li Qingsong strengthened his defenses and put his spacecraft systems into safe mode to survive the blasts and their aftereffects.
• When the field dissipated, Havilah warriors lost contact with their warships and the surviving vessels were left stunned.
• Li Qingsong resolved to attack the weakened Havilah forces before they could recover.

Li Qingsong exploited the Havilah fleet’s shock and lack of command to launch an overwhelming assault, while Haimolan ordered a desperate defense and evacuation of Second Planet. The chapter ended with Haimolan reassuring his mother and arranging for her to leave the planet.

• Li Qingsong’s more than 600,000 warships attacked the stunned Havilah fleet, destroying more than a thousand ships within minutes.
• Li Qingsong committed his remaining forces to the offensive, leaving the Havilah fleet with fewer than 100,000 warships and a decisive disadvantage.
• Haimolan ordered the evacuation of Second Planet and the destruction of its industrial facilities, learning that evacuating its more than ten billion inhabitants would take three years.
• Haimolan ordered the garrison to hold out for at least nine days before carrying out a full nuclear cleansing of Second Planet.
• Haimolan spoke with his frightened mother and arranged for people to escort her off the planet.

As Second Planet descended into chaos, Haimolan ordered the destruction of facilities and personnel who could not be evacuated. Soldiers and civilians then revolted against the order, leaving the Havilah leadership facing a crisis they could no longer control.

• As evacuation efforts faltered, panic and violence spread across Second Planet while Havilah warships fought to protect escaping passenger ships.
• Haimolan learned that the passenger ship carrying his mother and many officials’ relatives had escaped and was heading to Planet Three.
• When the appointed deadline arrived, fewer than one hundred million of Second Planet’s ten billion people had evacuated, and Haimolan ordered hydrogen bombs and missiles to destroy remaining facilities and personnel.
• A secretary reported that twelve thousand soldiers at No. 665 Control Base had taken its managers hostage and refused to carry out the order, joined by more than a million civilians.
• After officials called for persuasion or forcibly dispersing the protesters, the secretary warned Haimolan that widespread opposition across Second Planet had put the situation out of control.

As Second Planet’s defenses neared collapse, Haimolan chose to purge its trapped population rather than let Human Civilization capture them and obtain their civilization’s secrets. He forced the evacuated Dragon Sky Passenger Ship, carrying his mother and other officials’ loved ones, to return to Second Planet, then ordered the purge as citizens watched.

• Haimolan ordered the First Conference Room broadcast live to the entire civilization.
• Haimolan told his mother that he could not save her and ordered her passenger ship to return to Second Planet.
• The Dragon Sky crew obeyed Haimolan’s order, and all spaceships were forbidden from leaving Second Planet.
• Haimolan told citizens that his loved ones had returned and announced that Second Planet must be purged to protect their civilization.
• Haimolan ordered the purge, and the grieving citizens watched as base operators began approaching the base again.

After Havilah Civilization lost Second Planet and its inhabitants in a cleansing, Haimolan rallied the surviving forces to seek revenge against Human Civilization. Li Qingsong watched the Havilah fleet retreat, pleased that Second Planet was now under his control despite its devastation.

• Haimolan's broadcast reached Havilah citizens across the star system, and people on Second Planet said their final goodbyes as the cleansing began.
• Hydrogen bomb explosions destroyed Second Planet's technological facilities and killed more than ten billion people, while Haimolan saw the tragedy unite Havilah Civilization.
• Haimolan ordered martial law, full industrial mobilization, and a fleet advance on Second Planet to avenge the dead.
• After completing their mission, the remaining Havilah warships broke through the encirclement and withdrew from Second Planet.
• Li Qingsong celebrated his capture of the devastated planet and vowed to destroy Havilah Civilization as the Clone Calamity.