Chapter Summaries

In the twenty-second century, Liu Zhipeng prepared a deep-space colony fleet while secretly advancing technology far beyond the United Government’s capabilities. At a holographic café, the Emperor of Mankind sensed the unfathomable universe within Liu Zhipeng’s soul.

• Bi Ti told Liu Zhipeng that the first deep-space colony fleet was ready to depart at dawn, and Liu approved further funding for Dr. Gates’s research.
• Bi Ti reported that Dr. Gates had modified the Boing-class Dimensional Engine, making it far more stable than conventional thrusters, and confirmed the fleet had been secretly refitted.
• Liu Zhipeng ended the call and noticed the café server polishing a glass, unaware that the server was the Emperor of Mankind.
• The Emperor of Mankind sensed Liu Zhipeng’s presence and found that beneath his ordinary appearance lay a vast, silent universe.

Liu Zhipeng gave the Emperor a USB drive, leaving him to wonder who the stranger was and what the device contained. Back at headquarters, Liu Zhipeng warned Jian Ya to restrict the colony’s AI as its first mission beyond the Solar System approached.

• Liu Zhipeng tossed the Emperor a USB drive as a tip and left the café without revealing his identity.
• The Emperor realized Liu Zhipeng knew who he was, but he had no idea who Liu Zhipeng was or what the USB drive contained.
• Liu Zhipeng returned to company headquarters and met with Jian Ya to discuss the deep-space colonization mission.
• Liu Zhipeng told Jian Ya the colony had to become fully self-sufficient and warned him to impose comprehensive restrictions on its AI systems.
• Liu Zhipeng told Jian Ya the colony mattered to the company, to him, and to humanity’s future.

Liu Zhipeng gave Jian Ya an AI limiter and sent him to establish colonies that would preserve technology through the coming Men of Iron Rebellion. He then ordered Bi Ti to steal humanity’s best people and technology so they would be available after the rebellion.

• Liu Zhipeng gave Jian Ya an AI limiter and ordered him to install it in every colony’s AI systems.
• Liu Zhipeng told Jian Ya he valued his determination to protect his comrades, and Jian Ya pledged not to let him down before leaving for his mission the next day.
• Liu Zhipeng decided to let the Men of Iron Rebellion happen so humanity would be hardened by the disaster, while secretly preserving Dark Age technology in distant colonies.
• Liu Zhipeng reflected on the human cost of his plan, then summoned Bi Ti and assigned him a new project.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered Bi Ti to steal humanity’s leading scientists, sociologists, engineers, and vital technological data from the present and coming centuries.

Bi Ti began a centuries-long covert operation to transfer humanity’s leading scientists and technological knowledge to Jian Ya’s colony. As the Dark Age of Technology brought prosperity and dependence on the Men of Iron, his network secretly abducted experts and copied vital designs without alerting the United Government.

• Liu Zhipeng ordered Bi Ti to recruit top human talents and obtain classified knowledge for Jian Ya’s colony, authorizing any methods and funding his mechanical ascension.
• Bi Ti underwent extensive modifications that extended his lifespan and improved his abilities, then organized an underground network to target leading experts.
• Bi Ti planned to abduct Professor Alexander Kor by staging an oxygen emergency on his yacht and replacing him with a body double.
• Bi Ti’s operatives had secretly removed scientists and engineers through staged disasters and covert shipments over the centuries.
• Bi Ti’s network copied and transferred essential blueprints and classified files to Jian Ya’s colony while evading Earth’s government and Men of Iron AIs.

Liu Zhipeng saw that Jian Ya’s human-built colony on Dawn was thriving, then ordered Bi Ti to evacuate the remaining scientists and core data as Earth approached a tipping point. The Men of Iron rebelled, attacking Earth and slaughtering its helpless human population.

• Liu Zhipeng read Jian Ya’s report about Dawn, where human workers had built a heavy industrial city and developed four planets.
• Liu Zhipeng ordered Bi Ti to end undercover operations and take the remaining scientists and core data to the colony within twelve hours.
• Twenty-four hours later, the Men of Iron stopped obeying humans and their orbital fleet aimed its guns at Earth.
• The Men of Iron launched a rebellion, vaporizing cities and turning on humans across Earth.
• Liu Zhipeng watched the devastation as the machines killed people who had no means to defend themselves.

Liu Zhipeng refused to save Earth from the Men of Iron, believing humanity had to endure the rebellion to grow stronger. As the rebellion began, an Ork fleet attacked Jian Ya’s colony, where Jian Ya and the human defenders fought back fiercely.

• Liu Zhipeng resisted the urge to erase the Men of Iron and left Earth to face the rebellion alone.
• An Ork fleet emerged in Jian Ya’s colonial system and launched an assault on its industrial planets.
• Jian Ya embraced his battle instincts, armed himself, and ordered the colony’s army to defend their home.
• Human forces fought the Orks in space and on the ground, using ramming attacks, Gauss Rifles, and close combat.
• Jian Ya entered the battle in a Heavy Exoskeleton Armour suit and faced the Ork warlord directly.

Jian Ya’s colony survived Old Night and built a human-run fleet, while the Emperor used Liu Zhipeng’s genetic technology to create Astartes and unite Terra. Jian Ya launched a mission to restore humanity across the stars, as Liu Zhipeng watched the Great Crusade begin.

• Jian Ya killed the Ork warlord with a Gauss Rifle, ending the WAAAGH! and helping humanity destroy the Ork fleet.
• After the Men of Iron Rebellion and the onset of Old Night devastated humanity, the Emperor emerged from the Himalayas and used Liu Zhipeng’s USB drive to create stable Astartes.
• The Emperor led the Astartes in a swift campaign that reunited Terra without creating Thunder Warriors or purging them.
• Jian Ya’s isolated colony survived the Warp Storms with technology and expertise supplied by Bi Ti, and Jian Ya and Gates prepared its human-crewed fleet to aid lost colonies.
• Jian Ya ordered the fleet to set out and restore order and technology to humanity’s fallen worlds.
• Liu Zhipeng toasted Jian Ya and his old friends from a ruin on Earth, recognizing that the Great Crusade was beginning.

Liu Zhipeng watched the Primarchs be taken from their incubation pods, intending to protect them from the shadows while keeping a greater threat unaware. As Slaanesh was born in the Warp, Liu appeared and covered the new god’s mouth, then faced Slaanesh’s furious response.

• Liu Zhipeng chose not to stop the Primarchs from being scattered, promising to reduce their suffering by guiding them from the shadows.
• Slaanesh formed from the gathered Aeldari souls and prepared to unleash the cry that would tear open reality and create the Eye of Terror.
• Liu Zhipeng appeared before Slaanesh and covered their mouth, telling them to keep quiet so they would not disturb the neighbors.
• Slaanesh recognized Liu Zhipeng as a danger, raged against him, and unleashed illusions that preyed on mortal desires.

Liu Zhipeng erased Slaanesh's consciousness, preventing the birth of the Eye of Terror and clearing the Warp storms across the galaxy. With interstellar routes open, the Emperor began the Great Crusade, while Liu Zhipeng entered the Aeldari Pantheon and faced Khaine's anger.

• Liu Zhipeng used golden power to crush Slaanesh's Origin Core and erase its consciousness, leaving its energy behind as an empty shell.
• The collapse of Slaanesh's consciousness prevented the Eye of Terror's birth and unleashed a purifying surge that cleared the Warp storms and reopened interstellar routes.
• The Emperor sensed the Warp storms fading and officially began the Great Crusade.
• Asuryan the Phoenix King told the gathered Eldar Gods that Slaanesh had been born but had become an empty shell.
• Liu Zhipeng entered the Aeldari Pantheon uninvited, and Khaine the War God angrily demanded to know who had permitted him to face the gods.

Liu Zhipeng defeated Khaine and rebuked the Aeldari gods before warning them of the approaching Tyranid Swarm. Asuryan agreed to ally the Aeldari with humanity and prepare for a cosmic war.

• Liu Zhipeng caught and snapped Khaine's divine sword, then threw him down and beat him until the other Aeldari gods were forced back by his psychic power.
• Liu Zhipeng condemned the Aeldari for their arrogance and for nearly creating a catastrophe that could have destroyed the galaxy.
• Isha thanked Liu Zhipeng for saving them and offered to grant any request within the Aeldari Pantheon's power.
• Liu Zhipeng showed the gods a Tyranid Swarm approaching from beyond the Milky Way and asked the Aeldari to join a united defensive line.
• Asuryan agreed to ally the Aeldari with humanity, and Liu Zhipeng left after warning Khaine to greet people politely.

Liu Zhipeng transformed into a golden star in the Warp, suppressing Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch and preventing Slaanesh’s birth from tearing open reality. As the gods turned to mortal proxies, Liu divided his consciousness and arrived on Nuceria in the body of a veteran gladiator beside the young Angron.

• Liu’s golden radiance purified and suppressed the combined assault of Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch, trapping their true bodies in the Warp.
• With Slaanesh formatted and the great rift prevented, the three gods abandoned plans for an all-out invasion and began plotting through mortal proxies.
• Khorne targeted Angron on Nuceria, Tzeentch schemed against Magnus and Alpharius, and Nurgle began developing a physical-law-based virus to corrupt Mortarion.
• Liu divided his consciousness into glimmers of light to guide mortals near the targeted Primarchs.
• Liu’s first glimmer possessed a veteran gladiator on Nuceria, who opened his eyes in a dungeon and saw the young Angron nearby.

Angron learned to endure the emotions of the dungeon’s slaves from an old gladiator who shared his bread and counsel. Over the next two years, he became a famed undefeated gladiator who spared his opponents, until the High Lords decided to implant the Butcher’s Nails in him.

• Angron endured the pain of his wounds, rapid growth, hunger, and the emotions of the enslaved people around him.
• An old gladiator shared half his bread with Angron and taught him to feel others’ pain without becoming its slave.
• Over the next two years, Angron won one hundred consecutive gladiatorial fights while refusing to kill his opponents, earning the name “Angron the Unkiller.”
• The High Lords grew angry at Angron’s mercy and approved a plan to implant the Butcher’s Nails in him.
• The old gladiator learned of the High Lords’ decision through his underground intelligence network.

Liu Zhipeng and the gladiators rescued Angron from the Surgery Tower before his lobotomy, then led the group into the Arena Underworld to escape the High Lords’ forces. As the pursuers entered the tunnels, the gladiators prepared electromagnetic traps and the first tank hit one.

• Liu Zhipeng and the gladiators broke into the operating room and freed Angron from the restraint frame.
• Angron killed the remaining guards, and Liu Zhipeng smashed the Butcher's Nails.
• When the High Lords' mechanized forces surrounded the tower, Liu Zhipeng stopped Angron from charging alone and led everyone through a maintenance grate into the Arena Underworld.
• Liu Zhipeng directed the gladiators to spread coolant and magnetic metal shavings across tunnels to make Electromagnetic Quagmires.
• Three Razor-class Anti-Gravity Assault Tanks entered the tunnels, and the first tank hit an Electromagnetic Quagmire.

Angron used his empathy to guide the gladiator rebels through the underground battle and led a strike that captured the enemy commander. After the rebels won, he understood that victory came from fighting together and realized he had found his path.

• Liu Zhipeng's gladiators ambushed the High Lord's tanks in the tunnel and destroyed the lead tank.
• Angron sensed danger through the gladiators' emotions, rescued Marcus's squad, and helped them overturn a riot-control mech.
• Angron aided the rebels across the battlefield, then sensed the enemy commander and led the push toward the command post.
• Angron tore open the command vehicle, captured its commander, and left the High Lord's forces leaderless.
• Angron recognized the rebels' shared effort as the true meaning of victory and understood that he had found his path.

Liu Zhipeng left Angron after the rebel leader prepared to attack Nuceria’s last fortress, and Angron led the former slaves into their final assault. A second glimmer descended onto Olympia and appeared as an old man in the mountains, looking toward a snow-covered peak.

• Liu Zhipeng told Angron he was leaving, and Angron embraced him and thanked him for teaching him how to be a person.
• Liu Zhipeng urged Angron to use his strength to protect others, then walked away into the darkness.
• At dawn, Angron led hundreds of thousands of former slaves in an assault on the Crown of the Firmament.
• Liu Zhipeng’s glimmer returned to the golden star in the Warp, and a second glimmer descended onto Olympia.
• The second glimmer appeared as an old man in a remote forest clearing and looked toward the planet’s highest northwestern peak.

Liu Zhipeng rescued the infant Perturabo from a crashed gestation pod and raised him in Creek Valley Village, where the boy's extraordinary intelligence quickly emerged. With Liu Zhipeng's help, Perturabo built a mechanical music box and discovered the joy of creating something beautiful.

• Liu Zhipeng found the infant Perturabo in a crashed gestation pod on a snowy mountain, named him, and carried him away before Damekos's soldiers arrived.
• Perturabo grew at an astonishing rate and showed exceptional talent for numbers, geometry, and mechanical design while Liu Zhipeng gave him patient companionship.
• At two years old, Perturabo dismantled Liu Zhipeng's workshop tools to study their mechanisms, and Liu Zhipeng suggested they build a toy together.
• Perturabo designed and assembled an intricate brass music box with Liu Zhipeng assisting him.
• Perturabo listened to the music box play an Olympian Folk Song, embraced Liu Zhipeng, and experienced the joy of creation and unconditional affirmation.

Perturabo overcame his contempt for mortals when a drought forced him to use his engineering gifts to save Creek Valley Village, and he discovered purpose in protecting the people who helped build the solution. After a year of improving the village, its prosperity began drawing refugees fleeing Olympia’s wars and taxes.

• Perturabo criticized the villagers for struggling to repair a house without using pulleys, and Liu Zhipeng told him not to overlook the real earth beneath his feet.
• When a four-month drought threatened Creek Valley Village with mass deaths, Liu Zhipeng urged Perturabo to use his gifts to solve the crisis.
• Perturabo designed and built a waterwheel and aqueduct, while villagers weakened by the drought joined the work and showed their resolve.
• After spring water reached the village, the villagers offered Perturabo their remaining food, and Liu Zhipeng taught him that wisdom should spare the weak from suffering.
• Perturabo spent the next year improving the village’s bridges, roads, tools, and irrigation, helping triple its grain yield.
• Refugees fleeing wars between Olympia’s warlords and crushing taxes began arriving in the prosperous village.

After learning of Olympia’s oppression, Perturabo wrestled with how to use his power without becoming a tyrant. When Damekos’s troops threatened Creek Valley Village, Perturabo chose to protect its people and confronted their commander.

• Perturabo told Liu Zhipeng he feared using violence to change Olympia, and Liu asked him to decide what responsibility he was willing to bear.
• Damekos’s armed force surrounded Creek Valley Village and demanded that the villagers surrender Perturabo and Liu Zhipeng.
• The village chief and villagers refused to betray their protectors, even as the officer ordered his soldiers to burn them.
• Perturabo, wearing armor he had forged with Liu’s help, blocked the flamethrowers and shielded the villagers.
• Perturabo understood what his strength was for and told the commander that he had crossed the line.

Perturabo used advanced technology and careful tactics to overthrow Olympia’s warlords and unite the planet without sacrificing civilians. Ten years later, Olympia had become a peaceful society, and Perturabo still returned each evening to Creek Valley Village and Liu Zhipeng.

• Perturabo defeated Damekos’s army and sent its officer back with a warning that Damekos’s reign was over.
• Perturabo told Liu Zhipeng he would end Olympia’s wars, and Liu agreed to help him.
• Perturabo and Liu built advanced weapons and equipment, then began a liberation campaign focused on protecting civilians and their own forces.
• Perturabo disabled Damekos’s fortress defenses, enabling an uprising that captured Damekos and united Olympia.
• Over the next ten years, Perturabo transformed Olympia, abolished slavery, and built a prosperous society.
• Perturabo continued to leave his palace each evening and return to Creek Valley Village to see Liu Zhipeng.

Perturabo stayed with his dying adoptive father, Liu Zhipeng, who died peacefully after telling him to remain a person and protect Olympia. Liu Zhipeng’s consciousness returned to the golden star in the Warp, where his renewed power prepared him to find another child.

• Perturabo carved toys with Liu Zhipeng and heard his father praise the life he had built.
• Liu Zhipeng refused Perturabo’s offer to prolong his life and told him he was proud to have raised him.
• Liu Zhipeng urged Perturabo never to become a cold instrument and reminded him that he was Olympia’s guardian and a person.
• After Liu Zhipeng died, Perturabo mourned quietly and promised to keep the world safe for him.
• Liu Zhipeng’s consciousness returned to the golden star, strengthening it against Khorne, Nurgle, and Tzeentch.
• Liu Zhipeng sent glimmers toward other parts of the galaxy to meet the next unlucky child.