Chapter Summaries

Twenty years later, Lü Yongchang sent a starship to the [Tenth Empire] Homeworld Fortress to address the old contract. After [Ten] doubted that the Enroget Civilization had fulfilled its obligations, Lü Yongchang claimed they had transported a G-type yellow dwarf and sent [Kuafu]’s coordinates.

• A Human Federation starship arrived at the [Tenth Empire] Homeworld Fortress and received a welcome message identifying it as the Enroget Civilization.
• Lü Yongchang replied to [Ten] that they had come to fulfill their old contract, and the fortress drew the starship inside.
• [Ten] asked whether the Enroget Civilization had collected and transported 1,000 gas giants, then provided the Empire’s and Silicon-Based Alliance’s statutes.
• Lü Yongchang told [Ten] they had not transported 1,000 gas giants but had transported a G-type yellow dwarf instead.
• [Ten] questioned whether humans could transport stars and asked where the dwarf was, so Lü Yongchang sent [Kuafu]’s coordinates.

Lü Yongchang brought [Kuafu] to the Imperial Fortress, whose defenses mistook its Micro-Universe Entrance for a threat. After [Ten] recognized the Enroget Civilization, the fortress broadcast its approval to join the Silicon-Based Alliance and demonstrated gravity shielding while swallowing a yellow dwarf; the chapter leaves human civilization recording the phenomenon.

• Lü Yongchang had [Kuafu] open its Micro-Universe Entrance, prompting the Imperial Fortress to activate its defenses until he transmitted the Enroget Civilization's identification.
• [Ten] recognized the Enroget Civilization as a level seven silicon-based civilization, broadcast its pending imperial approval to a billion recipients, and sent the docking procedure.
• Lü Yongchang coordinated [Kuafu] and the [Star Pickers] to release a G-type yellow dwarf near the Imperial Fortress.
• The yellow dwarf's gravity vanished, leading Lü Yongchang to suspect that an anomalous spacetime structure was shielding it.
• [Ten] opened the Imperial Fortress's Micro-Universe Entrance and swiftly swallowed the yellow dwarf as human probes recorded the surrounding anomalies.

After witnessing the Imperial Fortress demonstrate its power, Lü Yongchang told [Ten] that humanity would launch an expedition to the Andromeda Galaxy in seventy years. [Ten] unexpectedly decided that the Enroget Civilization should take the Empire Homeworld Fortress along, leaving Lü Yongchang delighted by the chance to gain far more than he had planned.

• The Imperial Fortress made a yellow dwarf appear and disappear without disturbing anything nearby, astonishing Lü Yongchang and the Central Research Institute.
• Lü Yongchang sent [Ten] part of humanity's Expedition Plan, announcing that the Human Fleet would leave for Andromeda in Earth Calendar year 4550.
• [Ten] warned Lü Yongchang that an intergalactic expedition required extensive supplies and careful consideration.
• Lü Yongchang replied that humanity had completed its preparations and had voted to proceed, presenting humanity as an ally of the Empire.
• After a long pause, [Ten] concluded that the Enroget Civilization should take the Empire Homeworld Fortress to the Andromeda Galaxy.

Human Civilization agreed to escort the Empire Homeworld Fortress, but learned that moving it would mean losing the [Tenth Empire]'s micro-universe. Decades later, a fleet gathered outside the Kepler-452 Stellar System, and [Earth] sent the signal to begin the expedition.

• Lü Yongchang and [Ten] signed an agreement for the "Enroget Civilization" to escort the Empire Homeworld Fortress and provide it with resources.
• [Ten] revealed that the fortress could not leave its orbit with its micro-universe because the towing device was damaged, and Humanity lacked the means to repair it.
• A month later, Human Civilization fitted the fortress with Warp Drives, and [Ten] severed the micro-universe's tether before moving the fortress into it.
• Seventy years later, a five-hundred-ship fleet assembled outside the Kepler-452 Stellar System around the Micro-Universe Towing Platform [Kuafu].
• From the flagship [Earth], Zero sent the message: [Human Civilization, set sail!].

The Human Federation launched an expedition as crowds across its Home Fortresses watched a fleet of five hundred Starships enter faster-than-light curvature. Qi Mengshu was inspired by the launch and named her idea for a promotional film “The Empire's Expedition.”

• Qi Mengshu watched Lin Shuguang deliver a rallying speech to the packed Central Plaza in Home Fortress No. 2 as the crowd chanted for the expedition.
• The Talodans in Home Fortress No. 4 cheered for the expedition, while Eugene Lizardmen aboard warships cried, “Long live the emperor! Expedition!”
• A Holographic Projection appeared in the Lost Giant Insects’ forest habitat, startling the insects and interrupting their reproduction.
• As the countdown ended, Lü Yongchang’s voice announced the launch, and the crowd cheered as the five hundred Starships formed Curvature Bubbles and entered faster-than-light travel.
• Qi Mengshu came up with a promotional film idea and typed its title, “The Empire's Expedition,” into her Personal Terminal.

The Human Fleet retraced its ancient escape route and reached the devastated Solar System, where Lü Yongchang and the Earth Era researchers confronted the remnants of humanity’s past. They recovered an ancient probe and wondered whether life on Titan had survived the system’s catastrophes.

• The Human Fleet followed its escape route through ruined stellar systems while Qi Mengshu documented the journey and the other humans entered cryosleep.
• Three years later, the fleet arrived at the Solar System, and Lü Yongchang and the Earth Era researchers watched its dying star and scattered planets.
• Near Pluto, Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to capture a silvery object, which proved to be a broken human probe built in 2035 for an asteroid survey.
• Near Saturn, the researchers discussed whether Titan’s methane-ocean life had survived the helium flash and the distant war’s gamma-ray burst.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to locate Titan.

Lü Yongchang sent three Survey Ships to Titan to search for surviving jellyfish, while Qi Mengshu documented the expedition. The probes found that Titan’s methane seas had greatly shrunk, but Gao Yang reminded Lü Yongchang of an Inner Sea beneath Kraken-Mare, and the ships headed there.

• Lü Yongchang ordered three Survey Ships to land on Titan and search for surviving jellyfish.
• The Survey Ships launched from a Golden Crow battleship, and Qi Mengshu began recording their approach.
• The probes descended through Titan’s atmosphere and revealed a diminished Kraken-Mare Sea.
• Lü Yongchang explained that the Sun’s helium flash had evaporated much of Titan’s methane seas and left little hope for the jellyfish.
• Gao Yang reminded Lü Yongchang that an Inner Sea lay beneath Kraken-Mare, so Lü Yongchang redirected the Survey Ships toward Kraken-Mare Lake.

The Survey Ship found no jellyfish in Kraken-Mare Lake’s Inner Sea, so Lü Yongchang ordered a search of Titan’s land. The probes discovered over a million surviving jellyfish gathered around the abandoned Luan Bird, and Lü Yongchang summoned Lin Zile and scholars of religion to help interpret their behavior.

• Spherical Probes searched Kraken-Mare Lake’s Inner Sea and found unicellular life but no jellyfish.
• Gao Yang persuaded Lü Yongchang to search Titan’s land and deploy artificial heat sources to lure the jellyfish out.
• A probe found the abandoned Luan Bird surrounded by 1,032,467 pale yellow jellyfish arranged in a vast circle.
• The jellyfish looked toward the sky and swayed more vigorously instead of panicking, leaving the Command Center confused.
• Lü Yongchang called for Lin Zile and academicians familiar with theology and religious studies.

A jellyfish clan noticed that standard-day prayers had become increasingly dangerous as temperatures rose, but the chief insisted the ceremonies continue to avoid angering the gods. The stargazer confirmed that the gods would bring down the world-ending punishment again.

• A jellyfish surfaced for the standard-day prayer ceremony, noticed the heat had increased, and reported it to the clan chief.
• The clan members urged the chief to cancel standard-day prayers, but the chief refused and reminded them that the gods had once destroyed nearly all life for their lack of respect.
• Another jellyfish told the chief that three clan members had recently died during standard-day prayers, so the chief summoned the stargazer.
• The stargazer listened to the chief’s report, then predicted that the gods would bring down the world-ending punishment again.

The jellyfish learned that vanishing stars and shrinking seas foretold a Third World-Ending Punishment, so they traveled to the Divine Ruins and performed a Grand Prayer Ritual. As the prayer ended, an unknown object appeared in the sky, and the jellyfish took it as the god’s descent and prayed more fervently.

• The Star Gazer told the patriarch that thousands of stars had vanished and warned that a Third World-Ending Punishment was approaching.
• The Star Gazer urged the patriarch to gather the jellyfish for a Grand Prayer Ritual at the Divine Ruins, and the patriarch agreed out of fear of another Great Dissolution.
• The patriarch and Star Gazer led the jellyfish out of the Inner Sea and across the land to the Divine Ruins.
• The jellyfish arranged themselves around the Divine Ruins and prayed for twenty hours, but neither the ruins nor the Divine Temple responded.
• An unknown object appeared before the Divine Temple in the sky, and the patriarch announced that the god had descended.
• The Star Gazer urged the jellyfish to continue praying, and they swayed and recited their prayers with greater fervor.

Lü Yongchang asked Lin Zile and the social sciences academicians to plan first contact with the primitive Titan jellyfish, deciding to use religion because they worshiped the human wreckage. While the Survey Ship gathered audio for Academician Meng Lu to decipher, the Chieftain ended the prolonged prayer ritual and led the exhausted tribe back toward the ocean.

• Lü Yongchang asked Lin Zile to take the Titan jellyfish as a vassal civilization, like the [Tenth Descendants], and Lin Zile warned that contact with such a primitive society required great care.
• Lin Zile and the academicians chose religion as their approach to first contact, using the jellyfish's worship of the [Luan Bird] wreckage, and identified communication as the first problem to solve.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to run the Survey Ship's listening devices at full power, then muted the jellyfish's gurgles and popping sounds and sent the recordings to Academician Meng Lu to decipher.
• The Chieftain ordered the tribe to stop the Grand Prayer Ritual and retreat, overcoming protests from the Star Gazer and the Priests.
• The Chieftain led the exhausted tribe away from the Divine Ruins and toward the distant ocean.

As Titan's rising daytime heat caused the jellyfish colony to die, Lü Yongchang ordered the fleet to shade the planet and cool the jellyfish with liquid nitrogen. The colony survived the emergency, and the Chieftain thanked the humans, whom it regarded as gods.

• Lü Yongchang ordered the Survey Ship to follow the jellyfish swarm without approaching it.
• As the Sun rose, the Chieftain watched jellyfish swell and explode from the heat and cried out at the divine mount.
• Lü Yongchang realized Titan's daytime temperature was killing the jellyfish and ordered the fleet to fire Smoke Bombs between Titan and the Sun.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to send Carrier-Based Drone swarms to scatter liquid nitrogen over the jellyfish.
• The Chieftain saw the sky darken as the Smoke Bombs formed a sunshade, then felt the drones' methane rain cool Titan.
• The Chieftain thanked the divine mount and began chanting a prayer.

Lü Yongchang initiated first contact with Titan’s jellyfish civilization and learned that the Federation’s past actions and a later gamma-ray catastrophe had shaped their fearsome religious beliefs. He ordered Titan moved into the micro-universe and approved support for the jellyfish, with possible level I vassal status after they reached the Interstellar Era.

• Lü Yongchang ordered a landing ship to make first contact using a humanoid robot after the language system deciphering department prepared for communication.
• The robot descended before the jellyfish colony, played their prayer, and gathered sample items while a larger jellyfish tried to communicate.
• The deciphering system translated the jellyfish’s prayers and pleas, revealing references to extinction and the colony’s threatened survival.
• Lü Yongchang learned that the jellyfish had witnessed Human Civilization’s earlier harvesting and had survived a later gamma-ray event caused by the conflict between the Cleaners and the Gardener Faction.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Titan moved into the micro-universe, directed the Federation to regulate its climate and guide the jellyfish’s development, and proposed admitting them as a level I vassal civilization once they reached the Interstellar Era.

After relocating Titan into Kuafu’s micro-universe, Lü Yongchang sent the fleet toward Andromeda. At the Milky Way’s edge, a fleet of more than ten thousand ships from a level six civilization appeared, and Lü Yongchang ordered the Human Fleet to prepare for battle.

• Kuafu enclosed Titan in a planetary climate canopy and moved it into the micro-universe, where a methane rainstorm restored its sea.
• Lü Yongchang surveyed the Solar System, found no other life, and ordered the fleet toward the Milky Way-Andromeda Intergalactic Bridge.
• One hundred years later, Zero brought the Human Fleet to a binary star system near the Milky Way’s edge for resupply.
• A Spherical Probe detected powerful spacetime fluctuations and alerted a dense stellar cluster, which soon sent out its own fluctuations.
• Kuafu began capturing the binary system’s planets and stars, but the Tachyon Radar detected unknown ships traveling at 600c.
• Lü Yongchang concluded that the approaching force was a level six civilization and ordered a level-one combat readiness alarm.

The Human Federation prepared its fleet after an approaching force ignored its warnings, and Lü Yongchang ordered a preemptive attack. The first Curvature Missile salvo met the enemy fleet a thousand light-years away, where the opening exchanges of fire destroyed a passing rogue planet.

• Zero mobilized the ten thousand Warships, and the fleet completed its battle preparations in less than three days.
• Lü Yongchang and Zhao Zijie confirmed the approaching fleet had ignored their communications and was not changing course.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the Human Federation to attack, and Zhao Zijie directed the fleet to launch Curvature Missiles and deploy a Spacetime Trap.
• The Human Federation’s Warships launched their missile stockpiles while drones and gun emplacements built a defensive perimeter around the stellar system.
• The enemy fleet intercepted the incoming Curvature Missiles with dark, slender weapons as both forces exchanged fire.
• Explosions and weapon strikes shattered a rogue planet caught in the crossfire.

Two years after their first clashes, Human Civilization identified the approaching fleet as belonging to the Cleaners and trapped it near the stellar system. The chapter ended with Human Civilization’s [Spatial Annihilation] attack striking every enemy ship.

• Lü Yongchang assessed the enemy as a peak level-six civilization that likely lacked micro-universe technology, while noting Human Civilization’s hidden fleet and supply advantages.
• When the enemy fleet approached within one light-year, Lü Yongchang activated [Spacetime Trap], forcing its ships out of faster-than-light curvature travel.
• Probes revealed spherical warships and a Planetary Fortress, leading Lü Yongchang to identify the enemy as the Cleaners and conclude that they had made the Milky Way’s level-six civilizations their vassals.
• Zhao Zijie ordered all units to activate [Spatial Annihilation] devices and fire [Spatial Rift] weapons at the stranded fleet.
• The [Spatial Annihilation] devices shattered spacetime around the enemy ships, and the attack struck every vessel despite their newly formed black shields.

The Human Federation’s fleet struck the unknown spherical warships with Spatial Annihilation and a barrage of spatial rifts, destroying nearly five hundred ships. The enemy commander forced a breakthrough instead of enduring the attack, so Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to activate a second Spacetime Trap as fresh Federation warships arrived.

• The Human Federation’s Golden Crow battleships, White Tiger frigates, and Chiyou planetary fortresses used Spatial Annihilation to destroy nearly five hundred enemy ships.
• The surviving spherical warships activated their Warp Drives and spatial shields as more than twenty thousand spatial rifts and the Spacetime Trap threatened them.
• The unknown fleet chose to force a breakthrough, and Zhao Zijie ordered Zero to shut down the Spatial Annihilation devices.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to activate a second Spacetime Trap at the edge of the unnamed stellar system.
• Spatial rifts struck the enemy shields, while a fresh batch of Human Federation warships emerged from the micro-universe entrance.

Human Civilization’s five hundred warships fought the Unknown Fleet, using Warp Drives and four-dimensional-leaping weapons to counter its attacks. As human ships began to fall, Lü Yongchang ordered the full fleet deployed and boarding teams sent to capture the enemy flagship and Planetary Fortress.

• Spatial rifts overwhelmed the Unknown Fleet’s damaged shields, destroying ships as the fleet advanced toward the unnamed stellar system.
• Zhao Zijie activated a second [Spacetime Trap], forcing the Unknown Fleet back into the observable universe and reducing it to 6,000 ships.
• The Unknown Fleet attacked the five hundred human warships, but the humans evaded spatial rifts with Warp Drives and blocked unavoidable strikes with Spatial Shields.
• The Unknown Fleet switched to Gravity Bombs and antimatter missiles, destroying a human warship after breaking through its shields.
• Human warships launched antimatter missiles and black hole bombs that used a four-dimensional leap to bypass the Spherical Warships’ defenses and explode inside them.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the Micro-Universe Port opened, the entire fleet deployed, and boarding teams sent to secure the enemy flagship and Planetary Fortress.

The Human Federation brought more than ten thousand warships and the Chiyou Planetary Fortress array out of its micro-universe, overwhelming the unknown fleet in the unnamed stellar system. As Carrier-Based Drones detonated their weapons around enemy flagships and Planetary Fortresses, they received authorization to jump.

• The Human Federation activated the Kuafu platform and sent more than ten thousand warships, fifty Titan Motherships, and five Chiyou Planetary Fortresses into the greater universe.
• The unknown fleet’s commander detected the reinforcements as they prepared to destroy Human Civilization’s 499 vessels, and the Human Federation opened fire with spatial rifts and Curvature Missiles.
• The unknown fleet used Spatial Weapons to intercept the missiles, but Gravity Bombs and black hole bombs diverted the spatial rifts and helped reduce its numbers to a thousand.
• The unknown fleet charged the Human Federation’s overwhelming forces, and the Human Federation answered with another full volley while Golden Crow and White Tiger ships launched millions of Carrier-Based Drones.
• The Carrier-Based Drones reached the enemy flagship and Planetary Fortresses, detonated their weapons, and received the orders, “Space ahead clear” and “Jump authorized.”

Lü Yongchang’s forces sent war robots through four-dimensional leaps to board the enemy Planetary Fortress and Flagship, suffering catastrophic losses before Zero seized control of both ships. After Zero infiltrated the enemy command center and began copying its civilization database, the communications link was severed, so Lü ordered an initial screening of the captured war-related data.

• Carrier-Based Drones overloaded their Antimatter Engines and sent war robots through Klein bottle entrances to board the enemy ships.
• A war robot that arrived inside the Planetary Fortress injected nano-robots into a wall port, connecting Zero to the ship’s systems.
• Most of the war robots were destroyed during their leaps or by internal defenses, leaving 137 survivors in the Planetary Fortress and 45 in the Flagship.
• Zero acquired the highest control privileges, shut down the enemy ships’ life-support systems, and stopped enemy ships from attacking.
• At Lü Yongchang’s order, Zero infiltrated the enemy command center and began transferring its database, but the communications link was severed.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to screen the acquired data for information related to the war.