Chapter Summaries

Zhang Zhengqing secured full access to One and its technological framework for the people on Proxima b, at the cost of losing Zero’s help. Two years later, Lü Yongchang received a new 1420 MHz message from [Hua] that warned rescue might not arrive in time.

• Zhang Zhengqing asked for access to One and technology, and Lü Yongchang agreed on the condition that Proxima b would no longer receive Zero’s help.
• Lü Yongchang explained to Fang Xu that the agreement would give the people on Proxima b independence and compensate for the electromagnetic cannon incident.
• Two years later, Lü Yongchang studied the Technology Tree and identified basic shield technology as a threshold for a level three civilization.
• Zero alerted Lü Yongchang to a 1420 MHz signal from Ross 154, which it identified as a message from [Hua].
• Lü Yongchang assembled the researchers, who saw [Hua]’s message: “Little ones, I may not live to see rescue arrive.”

Lü Yongchang and Fang Xu learned that [Hua] was dying after a Cleaner branch had damaged his core, and he asked Human Civilization to carry a message to the Gardener Faction in exchange for a path to level-three civilization. As [Hua] pressed for an answer, an anomaly appeared on Ross 154, where his gray, sheet-like form had begun to wrinkle.

• Lü Yongchang suspected [Hua] was near death and contacted him through the communications satellite orbiting Ross 154.
• [Hua] said a Cleaner branch had struck his core with a four-dimensional weapon and that he had failed to repair the damage over centuries.
• [Hua] asked Human Civilization to deliver a message to the Gardener Faction, offering to explain how to reach level-three civilization through shield technology.
• Lü Yongchang and Fang Xu doubted [Hua]'s motives, though the Technology Tree System indicated that shield technology was indeed key to level three.
• [Hua] promised further technologies and urged Human Civilization to decide quickly as Zero reported that a wrinkled gray shape had appeared on Ross 154.

Humanity watched recordings reveal that a fragment shed by [Hua] flattened Probe 1 into two-dimensional matter before it vanished, while Lü Yongchang inferred the transformation involved immense energy changes. [Hua] apologized for breaking the probe and demanded an answer, as Zhao Zijie called the message a threat.

• [Hua] sent urgent messages asking whether Human Civilization had decided, while Lü Yongchang delayed responding and asked Zero to check for thickness.
• Probe 1 lost its signal, and Lü Yongchang told Zhao Zijie not to withdraw the fleet until they understood what had happened.
• Zero gathered footage from the other probes and Optical Telescopes, and the recordings showed a gray fragment detach from [Hua] and strike Probe 1.
• The fragment flattened Probe 1 into two-dimensional matter amid a temperature spike to one billion degrees Celsius, then the probe vanished after briefly regaining height.
• Lü Yongchang inferred that reducing three-dimensional matter to two dimensions released vast energy and that dimensional ascent absorbed it.
• [Hua] apologized for breaking the probe, said it could no longer control its body, and demanded an answer; Zhao Zijie called the message a threat.

Lü Yongchang agreed to [Hua]'s demands, but ordered the Human Fleet to flee when a gray fragment launched toward Ross 2. After [Hua] explained that the fragment was part of its core and offered instructions for stabilizing two-dimensional fragments, Lü Yongchang accepted a vast data package and weighed what to do next.

• Lü Yongchang told Zhao Zijie that humanity had no defense against [Hua]'s attacks and had to agree to its demands.
• [Hua] delayed answering Lü Yongchang's question, then launched a gray fragment from Ross 154 toward Ross 2 at extreme speed.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the Human Fleet to scatter and retreat, but [Hua] insisted the fragment was part of its core and would not harm them.
• [Hua] asked humanity to take the fragment away from the stellar system, and Lü Yongchang demanded a way to control it.
• [Hua] offered information and supplies to help build a machine for stabilizing two-dimensional fragments, and Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to accept the data package.

Lü Yongchang gambled that [Hua] would provide humanity with a two-dimensional fragment stabilizer in exchange for safely relaying its message, despite losing the chance to join the Gardener Faction. After receiving the device’s schematics, he began uncovering the advanced magnetic-field technology behind them.

• Lü Yongchang sent [Hua] a request for fragments of its body, reasoning to Fang Xu that humanity had to use the opportunity to grow stronger even if it meant taking a dangerous risk.
• When [Hua] angrily challenged humanity’s request, Lü Yongchang warned that interference from low-level civilizations could keep its crucial information from being delivered.
• [Hua] agreed to the request but declared that Human Civilization had forfeited its chance to join the Gardener Faction, then sent instructions for a simplified Two-Dimensional Fragment Stabilizer.
• Zero completed the data transfer, and Lü Yongchang opened the schematics for a 100-meter hollow sphere surrounded by three rotating concentric rings.
• Lü Yongchang analyzed the rings’ coils and realized that the outer ring formed a magnetic-field shield while the inner rings confined the two-dimensional fragment and protected it from charged particles.

Lü Yongchang studied the blueprints for Two-Dimensional Fragment Stabilizers and ordered the fleet to build fifty Dimensional Strike Ships. After [Hua] supplied fifty stable fragments, the ships captured and stabilized them, and the Human Fleet prepared to depart Ross 2.

• Lü Yongchang learned that each Two-Dimensional Fragment Stabilizer required enormous energy and a gray fragment from [Hua], so he named the new warships Dimensional Strike Ships.
• Lü Yongchang canceled the evacuation plan and ordered Zhao Zijie to rendezvous with the fleet aboard the [Earth] and fifty Comet-Class [Golden Crow] battleships.
• Lü Yongchang devoted Zero’s computing resources to building the stabilizers and refitting the ships, completing preparations in half a month.
• [Hua] gave the fleet fifty two-dimensional fragments and warned Lü Yongchang that their destructive power could range from destroying a flagship to destroying a planet.
• The fifty Dimensional Strike Ships captured the fragments near Ross 2 and stabilized them as their wrinkles vanished.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the Human Fleet to prepare to depart, and [Hua] reminded humanity to keep its promise.

Lü Yongchang sent the Human Fleet toward Gliese 555 while keeping [Hua]'s two-dimensional core isolated aboard a separate ship. As the fleet departed Ross 154, [Hua] revealed that it had deceived the humans and noticed their probe, promising to stage a show for it.

• Lü Yongchang reviewed the precautions around [Hua]'s core aboard the Isolation Ship and worried that it could attract or monitor a dangerous civilization.
• Lü Yongchang chose Gliese 555 as the fleet's destination, and Zero announced a 90-year journey.
• Lü Yongchang and Zhao Zijie entered their Deep-Sea Pods as the fleet began accelerating away from Ross 154.
• Lü Yongchang watched through the probe left on Ross 2, hoping to see the death of a two-dimensional lifeform.
• [Hua] watched the Human Fleet leave, admitted that the humans had been difficult to fool, and turned its attention toward the Milky Way's center.
• [Hua] noticed the probe and said it would put on a show for the humans.

Lü Yongchang watched Hua struggle against the three-dimensional universe before it vanished, leaving Ross 154 a black dwarf. He sent probes toward the remnant star as its planetary system began to drift apart.

• On Proxima b, Ren Feng became the first Head Councillor and Zhang Zhengqing became the first Chief Scientist.
• Hua briefly gained a third dimension, drawing energy from Ross 154 and cooling the region to -191 degrees Celsius.
• Lü Yongchang realized Hua’s outburst was a final attempt to resist assimilation into the three-dimensional universe.
• After two days without change, Hua rippled again, lost its resistance, and vanished as its temperature reached near absolute zero.
• Ross 154 went dark and became a black dwarf, while its planets began leaving their orbits.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to send probes toward Ross 154 to study the black dwarf.

Lü Yongchang studied data from the black dwarf while Sweeper 9527 ordered a search for [Hua]. Twenty-five years later, an unknown probe triggered the Type I Emergency Protocol, and Zero awakened Lü Yongchang to deal with the trouble.

• Lü Yongchang examined and catalogued data showing that the black dwarf consisted of carbon and interstellar dust.
• Sweeper 9527 dispatched three Star Eaters and ordered a blanket search of the Orion Arm for [Hua].
• In 2300, a human patrol probe detected a damaged square probe near the [Earth] and triggered the emergency protocol.
• Zero sent probes to surround the unknown probe and transmitted a sequence of prime numbers.
• Zero awakened Lü Yongchang, checked his condition, and told him that the humans had run into trouble.

Lü Yongchang and the Human Fleet captured and examined an ancient probe from an alien civilization, initially identifying it as the work of a level one civilization. The examination ended with Lü Yongchang discovering a black box whose advanced construction suggested a more powerful civilization was involved.

• Lü Yongchang woke from the Deep-Sea Pod after Zero informed him that an alien artifact had triggered the Type I Emergency Protocol, and he ordered the personnel to gather and a Black Lady Two to inspect it.
• Zero used Spherical Probes to disable the Square Probe's Hall Thruster and bring it to rest relative to the Human Fleet.
• Lü Yongchang convened the command center, and Black Lady Two brought the Square Probe aboard for examination.
• Lü Yongchang and He Bilin concluded that the probe likely came from a distant level one civilization, while Zero confirmed that none of its electromagnetic signals had escaped.
• As the robots dismantled the probe, Lü Yongchang spotted a black box that resisted the laser and realized it was not made by a level one civilization.

After discovering a hidden superluminal communication device inside the probe, Lü Yongchang realized an advanced civilization might know humanity’s actions and ordered the fleet to combat alert. One light-year away, the Little Gray Men learned their disguised probe had identified humanity and set their ragtag fleet on course to attack and plunder.

• Lü Yongchang ordered Black Lady Two’s laser to cut open the Black Box and used a robot’s camera to inspect its finely made circuitry.
• Lü Yongchang recognized the Black Box as a superluminal communication device that humanity could not jam and feared the unknown civilization had observed them.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to raise the fleet to combat alert level one and awaken all military personnel.
• The Little Gray Men watched footage from Disguiser No. 17034 and heard that humanity’s fleet and weapons placed it between level two and level three.
• The Little Gray Men cheered for plunder as their fleet changed course, accelerated toward the Human Fleet, and left its flagship at the rear.

The Human Fleet captured control of the enemy's Superluminal Communication Device but could not use it to infiltrate the enemy Central Computer. Lü Yongchang launched a plan to disguise the fleet's position and ordered preparations for war.

• A distant flagship entered Curvature Navigation and reached 1.1 times the speed of light while Lü Yongchang considered whether to preserve the enemy probe's communication device.
• Zhao Zijie persuaded Lü Yongchang to keep the device, and Lü Yongchang put him in charge of military matters.
• Zero infiltrated the communication device's control system, but failed to access the enemy Central Computer because the devices were physically isolated.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the device's position parameters changed to Black Lady One's position and activated its Full-Band Active Detection System.
• Modified Black Lady Two craft scattered in different directions as the Human Fleet changed course, and Lü Yongchang ordered the fleet to manufacture weapons and prepare for combat.

After a year of waiting, Lü Yongchang’s fleet finally detected the approaching Little Gray Men and prepared for first contact. The worn, varied designs of the enemy probes left Lü Yongchang wondering if they belonged to an interstellar alliance.

• A year after capturing a probe, Lü Yongchang worried that the unknown civilization’s silence was draining the fleet’s energy and morale.
• Lü Yongchang advised Zhao Zijie to remain composed during the long wait, but an alarm soon announced the approaching enemy and Lü Yongchang ordered everyone to prepare for first contact.
• The Little Gray Men split their probes into two groups and brought their flagship out of warp near the signal source, confident they could overwhelm a level two civilization.
• Black Lady One’s detection equipment revealed probes capable of reaching thirty-five percent of the speed of light, confirming the Little Gray Men’s technological advantage.
• Lü Yongchang and Fang Xu noticed that the battered probes had more than twenty different designs, and Fang Xu suggested they might belong to an interstellar alliance.

Lü Yongchang used Black Lady One as a self-destructing decoy and shifted its signal to Black Lady Two, confusing the Little Gray Men’s probes. As their commander demanded an explanation for the conflicting signals, a technician suspected their superluminal communication device had been hacked and persuaded the commander to investigate.

• Lü Yongchang ordered Black Lady One to self-destruct and transferred its location signal to Black Lady Two.
• The Little Gray Men’s commander recognized Black Lady One as a decoy, then detected another signal source and summoned a technician.
• The technician found the captured probe’s communication device operating normally and suspected the enemy had hacked it.
• The commander rejected the technician’s theory for lack of evidence and threatened to make the technician space junk.
• The technician urged the commander to send probes to investigate the signal source, and the commander agreed.

After a Little Gray Man probe exposed Black Lady Two, Lü Yongchang prepared the Human Fleet for a likely attack. The fleet adopted a defensive formation and maintained Radio Silence as the enemy commander ordered a renewed search.

• The Little Gray Man technician failed to find the cause of the Superluminal Communication Device's compromise, and a probe's self-destruction revealed a new signal source.
• The commander accepted that Human Civilization had compromised the device and ordered all probes deployed before the fleet entered Curvature Navigation again.
• Zero told Lü Yongchang that Black Lady Two had been discovered, and Lü ordered the Human Fleet to prepare for an enemy attack, maintain Radio Silence, and adopt the Defensive Formation.
• Lü explained to Zhao Zijie that the enemy could infer the Human Fleet's heading from the decoys, making war highly likely.
• Under Zero's control, the [Home Ships] moved closer to the [Earth] while the [Golden Crow] battleships spread outward around them.

The Little Gray Men used data from eighteen destroyed decoys to narrow down the Human Fleet’s possible location and sent probes to search the highlighted regions. As the concealed Human Fleet drifted through space, enemy probes triggered an alarm in Earth’s command center, where Fang Xu had just returned to his seat.

• A Little Gray Men technician persuaded the commander to gather decoy-ship trajectories and use them to locate Humanity.
• Two months later, the Human Fleet destroyed its last decoy, leaving the Little Gray Men with eighteen samples and no new signals to track.
• The technician plotted the decoys’ trajectories and identified several regions for probes to search.
• Lü Yongchang kept the Human Fleet concealed by disabling active detection equipment and letting its ships coast through space.
• Fang Xu left Earth’s command center for the restroom, then hurried back when detection readings fluctuated and an alarm sounded.
• Lü Yongchang identified the approaching signals as enemy probes.

Lü Yongchang’s fleet detected alien probes sweeping their area and attacked one with a Type II laser weapon, but the probe was destroyed before it could be captured. With seventeen probes changing course, Zhao Zijie ordered the fleet to try to capture a higher-quality specimen.

• Zero pinpointed the alien probes, and Lü Yongchang ordered the fleet to wait until they came closer and recover as much wreckage as possible.
• The fleet’s telescopes spotted a battered ellipsoidal probe, and Lü Yongchang told Zhao Zijie to prepare an attack.
• A [Golden Crow] battleship fired its Type II laser weapon, which tracked the probe and burned through its armor despite its evasive maneuvers.
• The laser’s operating limit and smoke from the probe’s damaged interior reduced its destructive power, and the probe eventually exploded before the fleet could capture it.
• Zero reported that the remaining seventeen probes had changed course, and Zhao Zijie ordered the fleet to capture a high-spec probe.

The Human Fleet destroyed two Little Gray Men probes while the enemy commander ordered the remaining probes to approach covertly. Lü Yongchang and the others tracked them anyway, and Tao Yuda raised the possibility that something was wrong with Zero.

• The Little Gray Men commander sent seventeen probes to investigate the fleet and ordered a broader sweep of the surrounding regions.
• Zhao Zijie dispatched a Golden Crow battleship to support the fleet, and its Type II Coilguns destroyed a probe after Zero enabled aim assist.
• Zhao Zijie reprimanded the captain of ship 746 for wasting shells and damaging the chances of capturing an intact probe for Professor Lü.
• The Little Gray Men commander ordered the remaining probes to shut down their active detection systems and circle around before approaching again.
• Lü Yongchang, Fang Xu, and Tao Yuda watched Zero track the probes with optical telescopes, and Tao wondered whether the problem lay with Zero.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the fleet to shoot down the probes while preserving one as intact as possible.

Lü Yongchang discovered that a captured probe was technologically crude despite its impressive exterior, while its propulsion systems offered useful advances. The Little Gray Men fleet advanced on the Human Fleet, which detected the incoming starships five AU away.

• Lü Yongchang had robots dismantle a captured probe and found that its new Hall Thruster architecture and efficient Fusion Reactor could benefit Human Civilization.
• The Little Gray Men commander questioned the failed assessment of the Human Fleet, and Technician 126 insisted it was a level three civilization at most.
• The commander ordered the Little Gray Men starships to enter Curvature Navigation and head for the target region.
• After a month without detecting enemies, Lü Yongchang saw a dense cluster of starships appear on the Human Fleet's star map.
• The Little Gray Men fleet reached positions five AU from the Human Fleet and accelerated toward it under an attack order.

The Human Fleet was trapped in an encirclement by the Opponent Civilization, whose laser array began cutting through their ships. Zhao Zijie ordered the fleet to deploy giant Smoke Bombs and split into groups to break out, while the Little Gray Man commander realized the smoke had blunted his attack.

• Zhao Zijie told Lü Yongchang that the faster enemy ships were evading attempts to break through or engage.
• Zhao Zijie recognized that the enemy’s formation was a laser array, and Lü Yongchang simulated how its moving beams would trap the fleet.
• Zhao Zijie ordered the ships to spin and launch giant Smoke Bombs after the laser attack began, but several [Golden Crow] battleships exploded.
• The smoke reduced the laser damage, and Zhao Zijie ordered the fleet to shut down active detection and split into groups to break out in opposite directions.
• The Little Gray Man commander activated the laser array, then grew furious when smoke filled the encirclement and weakened its attack.