Chapter Summaries

The Black Hole Probes restored radio communications, confirming that strong gravity could disrupt quantum superluminal communication. After a second gravitational-field experiment succeeded, Lü Yongchang launched Warp Drive research aboard the mobile laboratory Kunpeng, while he and He Bilin waited for more probe data to investigate anomalous readings.

• Zero reported that all three Black Hole Probes had switched to their radio communication modules, and Lü Yongchang concluded that strong gravity could cause entangled quantum pairs to be lost.
• He Bilin said he had a hypothesis about earlier anomalous readings but needed more data to test it, so Lü Yongchang waited for the second batch to transmit.
• The second gravitational-field control experiment succeeded, and Lü Yongchang officially began Warp Drive research.
• Lü Yongchang watched the Kunpeng mobile Warp Drive laboratory leave the factory and hoped it would lead humanity into a new era.
• Fang Xu told Lü Yongchang that the Gravitational Field Generator could not create a uniform field or prevent it from spreading beyond a starship, and Lü Yongchang said the anomalous readings might hold the answer.

Lü Yongchang and the academicians aboard the [Kunpeng] tested whether moving gravitational fields could create spacetime waves for curvature navigation. Their second experiment made a test ball accelerate but then shattered it, leaving Lü Yongchang to investigate how spacetime waves reinforced or canceled one another.

• Zero controlled the first experiment, using a gravitational field to pull a test ball forward, but Lü Yongchang stopped the test and said it would not achieve curvature navigation.
• Lü Yongchang proposed that a moving gravitational field whose strength changed rapidly could produce spacetime waves to push an object forward.
• Zero created alternating strong and weak gravitational fields, and the resulting spacetime waves accelerated the test ball.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the gravitational field to move, but the ball's motion became unstable and it broke into fragments.
• Lü Yongchang suspected spacetime-wave reinforcement and cancellation might involve resonance, and began building a simple model.

Lü Yongchang developed a preliminary spacetime model explaining how fluctuating gravity tore apart the experimental sphere, but his calculations showed that curvature navigation might require a black-hole-strength gravitational field. After repeated experiments failed, a new batch of observation data arrived, and Lü hurried to the Laboratory to examine it with He Bilin.

• Lü Yongchang presented a preliminary spacetime model in which overlapping waves in fluctuating spacetime created tides that tore the sphere apart.
• He Bilin explained that spacetime tides might be a major obstacle to curvature navigation, while Lü added that entering curvature navigation could require spacetime curvature as powerful as a black hole’s.
• Lü ordered the researchers to repeat the second experiment and use its results to refine the spacetime model.
• At the Kunpeng mobile Laboratory, Zero continued experiments, but no sphere survived intact, and Lü remained unable to break through the problem despite seeking help from the Technology Tree.
• Zero reported that the second batch of observation data had arrived, so Lü ordered it decompressed and rushed to the Laboratory, telling Zero to take him there and summoning He Bilin.

Lü Yongchang and He Bilin analyzed the Black Hole Probe’s second dataset and concluded that its anomalous readings resembled anti-gravitons. They left the cause uncertain, with Lü Yongchang wondering whether black holes could make gravitons temporarily behave differently.

• Lü Yongchang rode a mechanical-arm robot to the laboratory and learned that He Bilin was taking the day off.
• Lü Yongchang told the academicians that the Black Hole Probe’s second dataset had arrived, and He Bilin hurried to the laboratory.
• Zero displayed the filtered observations, which contained a substantial amount of anomalous data.
• After more than an hour of analysis, Lü Yongchang and He Bilin independently identified anti-gravitons as the likely source of the anomalous readings.
• Lü Yongchang suggested black holes might cause gravitons to exhibit opposite properties but admitted he did not know the cause.

Lü Yongchang proposed that anti-gravitons could create anti-gravitational fields and used the technology tree to develop a Warp Drive model. He presented its operating principle to the academicians and introduced a ring-shaped accelerator as the proposed way to create a micro black hole.

• Lü Yongchang theorized that anti-gravitons could produce anti-gravitational fields and declared that they would build a black hole.
• Lü Yongchang used the technology tree system to develop a model for curvature navigation.
• Lü Yongchang explained to the academicians how a Warp Drive could move a region of spacetime to achieve faster-than-light travel.
• Lü Yongchang revealed that the first step toward creating an anti-gravitational field was making a micro black hole, and presented a ring-shaped black hole super-large particle accelerator.

Lü Yongchang and He Bilin proposed a way to build a black-hole-encircling particle accelerator quickly using Carrier-Based Drones. Lü then revealed that a gravitational field generator could briefly stabilize the Micro Black Hole the accelerator produced.

• Lü Yongchang explained that a black-hole-encircling accelerator could produce a Micro Black Hole, but the fleet's limited resources and 150-year deadline led the academicians to question whether construction was possible.
• Lü Yongchang said the accelerator could be assembled within a year and assigned He Bilin responsibility for its construction.
• He Bilin proposed replacing the accelerator's material-intensive acceleration chamber with Carrier-Based Drones that generated magnetic fields, while using particle capture devices to screen particles for collision.
• The plan passed preliminary verification, and Zero began manufacturing and modifying the required devices, though construction of the collision region had not started.
• He Bilin asked how they could stabilize a Micro Black Hole, and Lü Yongchang said a gravitational field generator could extend its lifespan to 0.01 seconds.

Lü Yongchang and He Bilin planned how to feed and control a micro black hole, then three years of work brought the Ring Black Hole Particle Accelerator to its first test. The experiment began aboard the [Earth], with the particle capture system screening for particles that met the energy requirement.

• Lü Yongchang explained the spacetime-based calculations to He Bilin and agreed to use Deflection Magnetic Fields to bombard a newly formed micro black hole with captured high-energy particles.
• Lü Yongchang warned He Bilin not to let the black hole exceed its mass threshold, and assigned Zero to manage its feeding while He Bilin served as a second safeguard.
• Three years later, the Particle Capture Device and Black Hole Stabilization Device were complete, and the Ring Black Hole Particle Accelerator entered testing.
• Lü Yongchang announced the first particle acceleration experiment, and Zero calibrated the Carrier-Based Drones and activated the Magnetic Field Generator Units.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the experimental particles released, while the Particle Capture Device began screening for particles that met the required energy level.

Lü Yongchang and the researchers waited as the Ring Black Hole Particle Accelerator completed its year-long acceleration run. The first batch of high-energy electrons passed the screening and reached the Buffer Zone, bringing the experiment halfway to success.

• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to check the Particle Capture Devices as the countdown approached the end of acceleration.
• Zero announced that the electron groups had entered the final accelerating magnetic field and that the capture devices were ready.
• The electrons completed their journey, with most lost to collisions along the way, and the screening device filtered out particles that fell short of the required speed.
• The Particle Capture Devices detected the first batch of qualifying high-energy electrons and confirmed that they had entered the Buffer Zone.
• The Laboratory erupted in celebration as Zero began counting down to the second batch's arrival.

Lü Yongchang’s team successfully created a micro black hole and stabilized it inside a mobile laboratory, advancing the Warp Drive project. When they tested the black hole with detection equipment, they detected gravitons with opposite properties and prepared to capture them.

• Lü Yongchang ordered the particle collision experiment to begin and activated the gravitational field generation device.
• Zero confirmed the micro black hole had formed after detecting Hawking radiation, and the team began feeding it hydrogen to stabilize it.
• Lü Yongchang watched the sunflower-seed-sized black hole and its surrounding hydrogen-and-dust accretion disk in awe.
• Engineering ships and robots built a mobile laboratory around the black hole, where Zero reduced its feeding frequency to protect the fleet.
• Lü Yongchang and He Bilin deployed detection equipment toward the black hole, and He Bilin reported that it had detected gravitons with opposite properties.
• Lü Yongchang confirmed the readings and ordered the team to prepare to capture the anti-gravitons.

Lü Yongchang and the Academy of Sciences studied anti-gravitons and used them to resume the Warp Drive project. During the first curvature-navigation experiment aboard the Kunpeng, the sphere vanished, leaving the researchers unsure whether the test had succeeded.

• Lü Yongchang captured anti-gravitons and confirmed that they could produce an anti-gravitational field, then restarted Warp Drive development.
• The Academy of Sciences found that anti-gravitons did not annihilate with normal gravitons and gradually reverted to normal gravitons, prompting Lü Yongchang to wonder whether they had existed in the universe's past.
• In Earth Calendar Year 3275, the modified Kunpeng Mobile Laboratory arrived near the Human Fleet to restart the curvature experiment.
• Lü Yongchang activated opposing gravitational and anti-gravitational fields around a sphere, and fluctuations caused spacetime to surge before the sphere vanished.
• Zero reported that the sphere was missing from the experimental chamber, but confirmed that the chamber was intact.

Lü Yongchang’s team discovered that opposing gravitational fields launched the test ball into curvature navigation at 1.01 times the speed of light, but spacetime tides pulverized it. Lü proposed a curvature bubble to protect a craft during navigation, leaving the team to continue experiments while he worked on precise curvature calculations.

• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to replay the experiment, and the footage showed the ball vanish as the gravitational fields reached medium star intensity.
• Zero found powder near the test chamber wall and confirmed it had the same composition as the test ball, leading Lü Yongchang to conclude that it had been torn apart during curvature navigation.
• Lü Yongchang calculated that the ball had traveled at 1.01 times the speed of light, and the laboratory celebrated the breakthrough.
• He Bilin explained that the intense spacetime tides destroyed the ball and that no known material could withstand the forces, making current curvature navigation effectively a one-way trip.
• Lü Yongchang developed a model for a protective curvature bubble and suggested it might be a precursor to the Gravity Shield.
• Lü Yongchang told the team to continue the experiments and send all data to his Personal Terminal.

Lü Yongchang completed a spacetime-wave model and equations that enabled Human Civilization to build its first prototype Warp Drive. A year later, the [Curvature One] prepared to begin a ten-minute test flight at 1.1 times the speed of light, leaving humanity on the verge of its first curvature-navigation trial.

• Lü Yongchang spent three months combining experimental data with his spacetime and curvature models until he derived equations describing spacetime waves.
• Fang Xu asked whether the work had succeeded, and Lü Yongchang confirmed that it had.
• One year later, Human Civilization completed the first prototype Warp Drive and installed it aboard the small starship [Curvature One].
• The [Curvature One] traveled to a test site 0.1 light-years from the fleet, carrying laboratory mice, gorillas, and other test animals.
• He Bilin reported the plan for ten minutes of curvature navigation at 1.1 times the speed of light, with thirty survey starships monitoring the flight.
• Lü Yongchang approved He Bilin's arrangements, and He Bilin prepared to proceed with the experiment.

Lü Yongchang’s team successfully tested curvature navigation and confirmed that Curvature Communication 1.0 could recover information despite quantum losses. After [Curvature One] safely exited the curvature state, Survey Starship Thirty vanished, triggering a fleet-wide alert over a suspected unknown attack.

• Under Zero’s control, [Curvature One] entered curvature navigation at 1.1c, while its quantum communication connection remained operational despite a 1.72% entangled quantum loss rate.
• Lü Yongchang activated the Curvature Communication 1.0 Program, and the transmitted information loss rate fell to 0%.
• He Bilin reported that Survey Starship Thirty had detected spacetime curvature fluctuations, confirming the experiment’s success.
• Lü Yongchang waited for [Curvature One] to exit the curvature state, and the ship emerged with all hull conditions normal.
• The laboratory lost contact with Survey Starship Thirty and reported that it had not been observed, prompting a level-one alert and the movement of [Golden Crow] vessels around [Earth].

After [Curvature One] completed its first successful curvature voyage, Zero reported that Observation Starship Thirty had vanished in an unknown attack. Lü Yongchang suspected an undiscovered phenomenon during the experiment and, after watching the footage 798 times, claimed he had found its cause.

• Zero placed the Human Federation fleet on first-level alert after Observation Starship Thirty stopped responding and was confirmed attacked.
• Lü Yongchang watched footage showing a flash of white light before Observation Starship Thirty disappeared, while He Bilin wondered whether the Cleaners or Gardener Faction was responsible.
• Lü Yongchang noted that [Curvature One] and its test animals emerged unharmed, and questioned why the attacker had destroyed only the probe.
• Lü Yongchang concluded that an unknown phenomenon during curvature navigation must have caused the probe's disappearance and ordered Zero to replay the footage.
• After 798 replays, Lü Yongchang told Fang Xu that he had figured out the underlying cause.

Lü Yongchang discovered that Curvature Navigation gathered particles ahead of a Starship, building up energy that could strike objects at faster-than-light speeds. After assigning research into the effect and Starship modifications, he confirmed Curvature Navigation had passed the technology tree’s verification and saw the remaining technologies needed for level-five civilization.

• Lü Yongchang explained that particles accumulated ahead of the Curvature Bubble during Curvature Navigation and gained energy from the Warp Drive.
• He Bilin calculated that the particles which attacked the observation Starship had traveled at 1.1c, and Lü Yongchang warned that routes needed to be checked for obstructions.
• Tao Yuda proposed using the particle effect as a weapon against lower-level civilizations, and Lü Yongchang assigned him the research project.
• Lü Yongchang tasked Academician Cao Liangcai with modifying existing Starships, then left the Laboratory while He Bilin lamented that his robot application had been rejected.
• Lü Yongchang confirmed that Curvature Navigation Technology had passed the technology tree’s verification and identified Basic Gravity Shield and Grand unified theory as the last technologies needed for level-five civilization.

He Bilin developed and successfully activated a gravity shield using curvature-bubble principles. As the team prepared to test it against an attack, Lü Yongchang burst in announcing that he had solved the grand unified theory.

• Lü Yongchang overclocked his quantized brain to work on the grand unified theory while He Bilin returned to the laboratory to develop gravity shields.
• He Bilin realized that small gravitational fields could surround a curvature bubble and deflect attacks without disrupting the Starship.
• He Bilin proposed using fluctuating gravitational fields and Zero's computing power to direct the shield against incoming attacks.
• He Bilin's team activated the gravity shield on a modified small Starship, and its field stabilized as light visibly bent around the vessel.
• As He Bilin prepared to begin the attack test, Lü Yongchang burst into Laboratory One and shouted that he had succeeded.

Lü Yongchang completed the grand unified theory, declaring that Human Civilization had become a level five civilization, and sent Su Yutong the manuscript as a long-awaited gift in return. He then joined He Bilin as the Gravity Shield began its first live-fire test.

• Lü Yongchang told He Bilin that he had completed the grand unified theory, and He Bilin welcomed him into the laboratory to observe the Gravity Shield test.
• Lü Yongchang recalled finding a worn fountain pen Su Yutong had given him and deciding to write her a gift in return.
• Lü Yongchang used the pen to write the grand unified theory and declared that Human Civilization had become a level five civilization.
• Lü Yongchang dated the manuscript February 14, 3276, and asked Zero to deliver it to Su Yutong with an apology for the wait.
• He Bilin began the Gravity Shield's first live-fire test as Lü Yongchang watched the battleship Golden Crow's guns glow in the holographic projection.

Lü Yongchang discovered that level five civilization technology required a new form of gravitational field control, while He Bilin successfully tested the Gravity Shield. At the chapter’s end, the Academy of Sciences released Lü Yongchang’s paper on the grand unified theory, surprising Cao Liangcai and Li Yuntian.

• Lü Yongchang reviewed He Bilin’s Gravity Shield research and postponed overseeing its test so he could examine the technology tree.
• Lü Yongchang unlocked the level five civilization technology tree and learned that artificial gravity required second-generation gravitational field control guided by the grand unified theory.
• He Bilin told Lü Yongchang that the Gravity Shield’s first live-fire test succeeded, withstanding attacks from a [Golden Crow] Battleship and outperforming the magnetic field shield.
• Lü Yongchang promised to support He Bilin’s request and agreed to explain the grand unified theory to the gathered academicians.
• Cao Liangcai explained to Li Yuntian why the fleet’s Starships needed room for major upgrades before departure.
• The Academy of Sciences notified Cao Liangcai and Li Yuntian that Lü Yongchang had submitted a paper, and they recognized it as the grand unified theory.

After twenty-four years of rapid technological advances and a major fleet refit, Lü Yongchang prepared humanity to leave Lost Star and travel toward Kepler-452. The fleet first planned to replenish its dwindling energy at HIP 3376, while the existence of Kepler-452b remained uncertain.

• Humanity completed a successful crewed curvature voyage, and the Academy of Sciences developed stronger gravity shields, warp weapons, artificial gravity, and engines that raised the fleet’s theoretical maximum speed to 50c.
• Lü Yongchang announced that the fleet’s resources were critically depleted and that humanity needed to find a new stellar system.
• He Bilin presented HIP 3376, a planetless binary red-dwarf system 13.7 light-years away, as the fleet’s first destination for replenishing energy with Dyson Clouds.
• He Bilin named Kepler-452, 1,539.2 light-years beyond HIP 3376, as the fleet’s final destination and estimated the journey would take about three hundred years with resource stops.
• Lü Yongchang asked whether Kepler-452b’s existence had been confirmed, recalling that it had only been an unverified candidate during Earth’s era.

He Bilin explained why Kepler-452b was selected as Human Civilization’s next destination, despite its harsh conditions and distance, and Lü Yongchang ordered the fleet to depart. As the fleet prepared for its journey, Lü and the academicians chose to stay awake until curvature navigation began, while He Bilin planned to enter cryosleep after everyone else.

• He Bilin reported that Kepler-452b was a hot, mostly barren rocky planet, but Lü Yongchang said Planetary Terraforming Technology could make it habitable.
• He Bilin argued that Kepler-452’s proximity to Sagittarius A* offered abundant resources and opportunities to build a territory with vassal civilizations, while Lü worried about conflict.
• Lü Yongchang abandoned the idea of hiding at the edge of the galaxy and ordered Zero to plot the route and consolidate the fleet for departure.
• He Bilin said the fleet would travel for six months using Antimatter Engines before starting curvature navigation, but most personnel refused to enter cryosleep before experiencing it.
• Lü Yongchang discovered He Bilin’s name was missing from the awake personnel list, and He Bilin awkwardly explained that he would enter cryosleep only after everyone else.