Chapter Summaries

Lü Yongchang mourned carrying out the Tailed-Off Plan with Su Yutong, while the Cleaners Civilization used a Four-Dimensional Shock Bomb to drive back [Time] and [Thread]. The battle paused when both sides detected a powerful two-dimensional fluctuation coming from the Orion Arm.

• Zero told Lü Yongchang that the Tailed-Off Plan had succeeded, and Lü watched the distant stars in grief as the two-dimensionalization of Proxima b began.
• Su Yutong joined Lü Yongchang, comforted him, and watched the stars with him as he had once promised.
• At the Intergalactic Bridge, the Cleaners Civilization's Planetary Fortress used dark matter, gravity, and stellar attacks to hinder [Time] and [Thread].
• The Cleaners Civilization fired a Four-Dimensional Shock Bomb, damaging [Time]'s projection and forcing the two dimensional beings to retreat.
• [Time] and [Thread] detected a powerful two-dimensional fluctuation and traced it to the Orion Arm, while the Cleaners Civilization's fleet also sensed it.

[Time] and [Thread] followed the Cleaners Civilization through a wormhole to the Proxima Centauri System, where they discovered a two-dimensionalized Human Civilization. They began investigating the civilization and the warning [Hua] had left behind.

• [Time] and [Thread] realized the Cleaners Civilization was opening a wormhole and followed it, with [Time] stabilizing the passage as it began to dissipate.
• [Time] chose a route different from the Cleaners fleet and traveled with [Thread] to the Proxima Centauri System.
• [Time] identified the dim Proxima Centauri as a red dwarf nearly drained by a Cleaners Civilization Star Eater.
• [Time] and [Thread] found a vast two-dimensional scroll containing a planet and a likely level four civilization that had mastered the Antimatter Engine.
• [Time] recognized the scroll's civilization as Human Civilization, which [Hua] had announced before dying, and the two dimensional beings began reconstructing its history.

[Time] and [Thread] determined that Human Civilization had been destroyed when its research into [Hua]'s Two-Dimensional Fragments triggered a chain reaction. Sweeper 9527 arrived with the Cleaners Civilization, confirmed the painting held the remains of Human Civilization, and began a restrained battle with the Gardener Faction over it.

• [Time] and [Thread] reconstructed the destruction of Human Civilization and concluded that its researchers had caused the Two-Dimensional Fragments to erupt.
• [Time] warned [Thread] that the Cleaners Civilization was approaching and insisted they could not let it take the painting.
• Sweeper 9527 arrived in the system, recognized the red dwarf attacked by the Star Eater, and spotted the painting and the Gardener Faction beings.
• Sweeper 9527 ordered his subordinates to reconstruct the painting's contents and learned that Human Civilization had been two-dimensionalized after studying [Hua]'s fragments.
• Sweeper 9527 reported the discovery to the Parent Civilization and requested reinforcements, while confirming Human Civilization's extinction and canceling its warrant.
• The Gardener Faction and the Cleaners Civilization began fighting within a one-light-year area, restraining their attacks to protect the painting.

After waking in 2620 aboard the Human Fleet near Gliese 3929, Lü Yongchang reviewed 64 years of observations from the Proxima Centauri System. A recording revealed a brief, devastating flash linked to thirty Two-Dimensional Fragments, and anomalous gravitational-wave data caught his attention.

• The Human Fleet reached Gliese 3929, deployed Probes, and activated the Awakening Program.
• Zero woke Lü Yongchang from Cryosleep, and Lü Yongchang asked whether anything anomalous had happened near Proxima Centauri.
• Lü Yongchang watched a recording of a flash beside Proxima Centauri that peaked in three seconds and then faded.
• Lü Yongchang realized the flash came from thirty Two-Dimensional Fragments erupting at once and reflected on [Hua] and the Cleaners Civilization.
• Lü Yongchang spotted anomalous gravitational waves in the observations and ordered Zero to extract all such data from the past 64 years.

Lü Yongchang reviewed decades of astronomical observations and discovered that a war between advanced civilizations had devastated the region around Proxima Centauri. The fighting had ended, leaving the Solar System intact but Human Civilization painfully aware of its weakness.

• Lü Yongchang asked Zero to display telescope images covering fifty light-years around Proxima Centauri over sixty-four years.
• Lü Yongchang watched anomalous gravitational waves multiply and spread away from Proxima Centauri, where Proxima b had been reduced to two dimensions.
• Lü Yongchang saw a star explode and Gliese 555 collide with another star, confirming that advanced civilizations had fought a war.
• Lü Yongchang watched stars go dark and a vast nebula form as the gravitational waves dwindled and the war ended.
• Lü Yongchang saw that the Solar System remained intact and realized how weak Human Civilization was compared with advanced civilizations.

Lü Yongchang reviewed the probe survey of Gliese 3929 and assigned the fleet’s production and construction priorities, balancing urgent military needs against the system’s scarce resources. He entered hibernation after ordering the fleet to finish its work and then proceed toward the black hole while maintaining a safe distance.

• Zero reported that Gliese 3929 contained two barren solid planets and a gas giant suitable for collecting hydrogen and helium-3.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the fleet to rebuild the Dyson Cloud antimatter production and storage base as its highest priority.
• He ordered mining and starship manufacturing facilities near Gliese 3929b, then halved planned war-supply production because the system lacked enough star gold.
• Lü Yongchang sent [Stingray] to collect helium-3 and hydrogen from Gliese 3929d and ordered probes to establish an early-warning zone.
• He entered hibernation after instructing Zero to direct the fleet toward the black hole once construction was complete and to keep it beyond the minimum safe distance.
• Zero dispatched engineering ships to their assignments, bringing activity to the previously barren stellar system.

After fifty years of mining Gliese 3929, the Human Federation fleet completed its ninety-five-light-year voyage without encountering other civilizations. Lü Yongchang realized the Cleaners Civilization and Gardener Faction war had driven them into hiding, then Fang Xu showed him a black hole outside the fleet.

• The Human Federation fleet depleted Gliese 3929b’s resources, leaving an asteroid belt of silicate debris behind.
• Lü Yongchang awoke from cryosleep and learned the fleet had reached its destination after a remarkably uneventful voyage.
• Lü Yongchang wondered why they had encountered no civilizations and concluded that the Cleaners Civilization and Gardener Faction war had frightened nearby civilizations into hiding.
• Fang Xu dragged Lü Yongchang to a porthole and showed him a black hole surrounded by a bright accretion disk.

Lü Yongchang recognized the black hole’s accretion disk as a rare chance to observe a star being torn apart and ordered a probe survey. He and He Bilin addressed the risks of communication near the black hole, but the probes’ data could take decades or centuries to arrive.

• Lü Yongchang suspected the black hole had recently captured and destroyed a star, creating its enormous accretion disk.
• Lü Yongchang took Fang Xu to Laboratory One and ordered Zero to deploy probes and focus on areas of intense radiation.
• Lü Yongchang ordered some probes fitted with radiation shielding and sent into the accretion disk for an in-depth survey.
• He Bilin warned Lü Yongchang that a black hole’s distorted spacetime might disrupt quantum superluminal communication.
• Lü Yongchang ordered electromagnetic communication modules added to the probes, then acknowledged that gravitational time dilation could delay their data for decades or centuries.

Lü Yongchang and the researchers discovered a habitable planet orbiting a black hole and named it Lost Star, then continued studying probes approaching the black hole. They found that quantum communication still worked and observed increasing time dilation, so Lü Yongchang ordered the probes to move closer.

• Probe 9PL67 detected a planet with liquid water and vegetation orbiting beyond the black hole’s accretion disk.
• Lü Yongchang ordered a separate group of probes to attempt a landing and named the planet Lost Star.
• The first batch of black hole probes neared the accretion disk, and Mo Zeyang reported that the Superluminal Communication Device and entangled photons were operating normally.
• He Bilin suggested that entangled quantum pairs would be lost inside the event horizon, while Lü Yongchang focused on measuring time dilation.
• Lü Yongchang saw that the gravitational field was not yet strong enough for the tests and ordered Zero to send the probes closer to the black hole.

Lü Yongchang discovered that Lost Star had abundant forests and potentially habitable conditions, but its proximity to a black hole and lack of electromagnetic signals raised concerns. He aborted the probes’ landing and ordered a high-altitude survey, while an enormous arthropod on the planet fled from the probes before disappearing into the forest.

• Lü Yongchang examined Lost Star’s data and saw its high oxygen levels, forests, and seemingly habitable conditions.
• Lü Yongchang wondered how life survived the black hole’s radiation and asked Zero whether it had detected electromagnetic signals; Zero reported that the planet was quiet.
• Mao Zhengzhi noted that Lost Star’s oxygen and gravity could support enormous creatures, prompting Lü Yongchang to think of other giant life-forms.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to abort the landing and keep the probes hovering while they surveyed the planet from high altitude.
• An enormous arthropod watched the probes’ lights, fled when it sensed danger, and disappeared into the forest after an unseen presence struck.

Lü Yongchang and the scientists discovered that the planet was covered in unusually tall forests and found a colossal tree that absorbed radiation from the nearby black hole. Lü Yongchang saw the tree as a potential source of material for starship radiation shielding and ordered Zero to land.

• Zero controlled the Probes as they stabilized in the atmosphere and spread out to survey the planet.
• The scientists found that the planet was covered in dense forest, with trees averaging one hundred meters tall.
• A Probe detected a tree 12,037 meters tall, towering over the surrounding forest.
• Lü Yongchang and Mao Zhengzhi discovered that radiation levels were high outside the giant tree's crown but low beneath it.
• Mao Zhengzhi concluded that the tree absorbed gamma rays and X-rays, while Lü Yongchang recognized its potential as starship shielding material.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to land immediately.

Lü Yongchang’s team landed probes on the Lost Star and discovered evidence that its forests had been artificially planted. The probes began collecting samples, while the crew remained wary that an advanced civilization might be behind the planet’s strange environment.

• Zero sent probes toward predetermined landing sites, and the gamma-ray emissions caused the Lost Star’s leaves to briefly turn toward their trails.
• Mao Zhengzhi persuaded Lü Yongchang to land through gaps in the canopy rather than destroy trees to clear landing zones.
• Mao Zhengzhi used the probe footage and measurements to conclude that the forests across the planet had uniform spacing, contained only one tree species, and were likely artificially planted.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the probes to continue landing despite the possibility that another advanced civilization had shaped the planet.
• The probes landed on unusually soft soil beneath enormous trees and colorful fungi, then sent small robots to collect leaf samples.

Lü Yongchang’s team completed surface sampling on the Lost Star, but unexplained tremors led them to prepare a more cautious expedition with Planetary Explorers. After night fell, enormous arthropods emerged and discussed a dead creature buried in a mound.

• Mao Zhengzhi and Lü Yongchang noted the forest’s unnatural silence while Zero’s robots collected plant, soil, and fungal samples.
• The robots detected simultaneous ground tremors, raised their laser guns, and later concluded the disturbance was a minor earthquake despite its unusual frequency.
• Lü Yongchang ordered sample-carrying probes to return, others to monitor the Lost Star from low orbit, and the Second Awakening Plan to proceed with seasoned Planetary Explorers.
• After the probes departed, a root emerged beneath the canopy, touched the scorched landing area, then retreated into the soil as night brought colder air.
• Huge arthropods descended from the trees to feed and concluded that a creature in a loose-soil mound had died after foraging during the day.

A camouflaged arthropod reached Lost Star’s coastline and joined others of its kind, unaware that the changed skies signaled a long, peaceful breeding period. On the Human Fleet, Lü Yongchang and the scientists discovered the creatures’ tracks and used probe footage to identify their shifting camouflage, then asked Zero to simulate their basic form.

• An arthropod crossed the forest to the shore, drank the warm seawater, and observed the changed night sky and growing numbers of its kind.
• Zero delivered samples to the Human Fleet’s Biological Laboratory and reported that probes had found unidentified creatures along Lost Star’s coastline.
• Lü Yongchang and the scientists saw what appeared to be an empty beach marked with unusual tracks, while Zero revealed the hidden creatures with red circles.
• Zero rewound the probe footage, and Lü Yongchang realized the creatures changed their camouflage to match their surroundings.
• Lü Yongchang asked Zero to simulate the creatures’ basic form, and a rough model appeared in the Holographic Projection.

Lü Yongchang and the researchers examined samples from the Lost Star, discovering that its plants depended on radiation and could rapidly repair damage when exposed to intense radiation. The discovery convinced Lü Yongchang that the planet was too valuable to abandon, though its dangerous wildlife still made exploration uncertain.

• Zero's simulation depicted a five-meter-long woodlouse-like creature, and Mao Zhengzhi wondered what predator had driven it to evolve sophisticated camouflage.
• Lü Yongchang postponed plans to land on the Lost Star and prioritized examining the samples collected by robots.
• Tests found that the planet's soil was mostly ordinary, while its leaves and fungal samples had wilted after leaving the planet.
• Lü Yongchang and Mao Zhengzhi suspected the samples needed radiation, and Zero exposed them to radiation matching the Lost Star's surface conditions.
• The plants regained their vitality, and stronger radiation triggered visible self-repair in the leaves, bark, and fungal samples.
• Lü Yongchang realized the self-repairing material could be useful for starship radiation shielding and decided the Lost Star was too valuable to abandon.

Lü Yongchang and Mao Zhengzhi discovered that the highly radioactive fungi around the Lost Star’s giant trees shared nearly 99.9% cellular similarity with them, raising the possibility that they were predatory organs. As Lü weighed the dangers of exploring the planet, Zhu Ziwen asked to join the landing team because development of the second-generation Exoskeleton Armor was complete.

• Zero reported that fungi at the giant trees’ bases had radiation levels far higher than the trees’ leaves, bark, or trunks.
• Lü Yongchang ordered a cellular comparison, and Mao Zhengzhi suggested the fungi might be organs of the giant trees.
• Lü suspected the vivid fungi were predatory organs, and Zero reported a 99.9% similarity between the fungi and the trees.
• Lü considered the risks and potential gains of a Lost Star landing while debating whether to prioritize studying the black hole.
• Zhu Ziwen asked to join the Lost Star expedition and explained that the second-generation Exoskeleton Armor was complete.

Zhu Ziwen presented the heavily armed Second-Generation Exoskeleton Armor and asked to join the landing mission on the Lost Star to collect combat data. Lü Yongchang reluctantly approved, telling him to send the blueprints and measurements to Zero.

• Zhu Ziwen told Lü Yongchang that the Second-Generation Exoskeleton Armor used a carbyne shell and a Miniature Fusion Reactor.
• Zhu Ziwen described its weapons, including a Type III Laser Cannon, a Small Plasma Cannon, drones, Micro Personal Hydrogen Bombs, and Antimatter Gauss Rifle Ammunition.
• Zhu Ziwen revealed that Senior Yevgeny had advised him on the armor's upgrades, and Lü Yongchang wondered how the design had become so extreme.
• Zhu Ziwen requested permission to join the Lost Star landing mission to obtain firsthand combat data for the armor's development.
• Lü Yongchang scolded Zhu Ziwen for risking his life, then approved his participation and asked him to send the blueprints and measurements to Zero.

Planetary Explorer Xia Zhou woke from cryosleep in 2921 beside a black hole and feared the fleet might send him to investigate it. Su Pengfei told him that the Tailed-Off Plan had helped humanity survive a devastating war, forcing Xia Zhou to reconsider the fate of his father, who had been chosen for the plan.

• Xia Zhou woke from cryosleep, saw that the fleet was near a black hole, and was summoned to Conference Room Six.
• Su Pengfei arrived, and Xia Zhou asked whether they might be sent to investigate the black hole.
• Su Pengfei said he would follow such an order if it could advance Human Civilization, while Xia Zhou called him a blockhead.
• Su Pengfei told Xia Zhou that a war near Proxima Centauri had destroyed many stellar systems, including Gliese 555, but the Tailed-Off Plan had helped humanity survive.
• Su Pengfei reminded Xia Zhou that his father had been chosen for the plan and called him a hero; Xia Zhou left, uncertain and forlorn.

Zhu Ziwen briefed the explorers on the Lost Star’s dangers and their landing mission, then assigned Xia Zhou’s squad to protect him and test the new armor. Xia Zhou was stunned to learn that Zhu Ziwen would join the operation.

• Zhu Ziwen introduced the Lost Star, a habitable planet near a black hole, as the target of the landing and exploration mission.
• Zhu Ziwen told the explorers to wear Second-Generation Exoskeleton Armor and warned that the planet’s giant trees might lure and trap prey.
• Zhu Ziwen explained that a five-meter Lost Giant Insect could camouflage itself and that its behavior and appearance were still unknown.
• Zhu Ziwen assigned the explorers to survey the planet’s organisms, including a 12,037-meter-tall giant tree, and then began assigning squad duties.
• Zhu Ziwen asked Xia Zhou’s squad to protect him and report data on the armor, revealing that he would join the landing operation.

Zhu Ziwen joined the second landing operation on the Lost Star to gather battlefield data for improving the Exoskeleton Armor, despite Xia Zhou’s warnings. As the landing craft approached the planet, Zhu Ziwen explained that its habitable conditions would not last because its star was being consumed by a black hole.

• Zhu Ziwen told Xia Zhou that he wanted to join the landing mission to collect battlefield data for the next generation of Exoskeleton Armor, and Xia Zhou warned him to follow orders.
• A week later, the second-generation Exoskeleton Armor was completed, and Zero announced the second landing operation on the Lost Star.
• Black Lady Two craft carrying supplies set out for the Lost Star while Carrier-Based Drones flew ahead to clear a landing area.
• Xia Zhou reminded Zhu Ziwen that he could remotely shut down his armor if Zhu disobeyed, and Zhu agreed to follow his orders.
• During the journey, Su Pengfei tried to cheer up Zhu Ziwen, who explained that the Lost Star would eventually become lifeless when its accretion disk disappeared.