Chapter Summaries

The Gardener Faction launched a massive dimensional-reduction attack intended to flatten all space within a hundred light-years, forcing Human Civilization to abandon its offensive and defend Earth. Lü Yongchang activated the Dark Matter Stabilization Field, which blocked the expanding two-dimensional starry sky as the remaining dimensional beings sacrificed themselves to sustain it.

• The four-dimensional shock wave killed many lower-dimensional beings, so the Gardener Faction put its remaining four-dimensional fighters at the front to shield them.
• The Earth deployed the Van Gogh and the Chiyou Planetary Fortresses, helping Human Civilization destroy dimensional beings while the Neutral Faction and the Tenth Empire fought Gardener reinforcements.
• The Gardener Faction's lower-dimensional beings launched scattered dimensional-reduction attacks that joined into a two-dimensional scroll spanning a hundred light-years.
• Lü Yongchang ordered the fleet to pull back and focus on defense as the growing two-dimensional starry sky threatened Earth.
• Zero gathered the Chiyou and Titan Motherships around Earth, and Human Civilization powered the Dark Matter Stabilization Field to block the scroll while the remaining dimensional beings fed it with their lives.

Human Civilization's flagship faced a spreading dimensional reduction attack as the Tenth Empire tried to rally the Cleaners by revealing the Gardener Faction's annihilation plan. After Human Civilization claimed its flagship held proof and exposed the Gardener leader's origins, the Cleaners leapt to the human combat zone and demanded evidence.

• The Tenth Empire's emperor ordered his fleet to break away and support Human Civilization, then sent the Cleaners information about the Gardener Faction's identity and plan.
• Membrane learned that the Tenth Empire had exposed the Cleaners' annihilation plan and ordered the Empire stopped.
• The Cleaners rejected the Tenth Empire's claims and continued retreating, despite receiving an explanation of the vacuum zero-point energy threat and an antiverse map.
• Human Civilization told the Cleaners that its flagship held proof and that the Gardener leader was a five-dimensional being descended from the Troy Civilization.
• The Gardener Faction redirected its forces toward the human flagship, prompting the Cleaners to leap their fortresses to the human combat zone and demand convincing evidence.

The Cleaners Civilization’s quark and black hole fortresses helped the Human Fleet destroy the Gardener Faction’s two-dimensional starry sky painting. In the Neutral Faction Theater, Human Civilization began presenting evidence that the Gardener Faction was tied to the Troy Civilization.

• The Cleaners Civilization’s planetary fortresses entered the two-dimensional battle in their normal state, using immense gravity to damage the starry sky painting and relieve pressure on Earth.
• The Cleaners fleet and Human Fleet shattered the hundred-light-year starry sky painting, while fragments attached themselves to wrecked Golden Crow battleships.
• The Gardener Faction halted its offensive and retreated to the edge of the Boötes Void as Human Civilization prepared for a possible major battle.
• At the Neutral Faction Theater, Lü Yongchang explained that Human Civilization had discovered a hundred-light-year four-dimensional cavitation bubble and Troy Civilization ruins linked to the Gardener Faction.
• Human Civilization presented a functioning Four-Dimensional Hypercube Device at the Public Research Platform as evidence for the gathered civilizations.

Human Civilization salvaged the Boötes Void and built up its fleet while a search for the Troy Civilization revealed a hidden five-dimensional being and brought three major factions to the brink of war. Lü Yongchang kept Human Civilization’s strength concealed and chose to wait for the Cleaners or the five-dimensional being to make the first move.

• Human Civilization salvaged wreckage and scattered particles in the Boötes Void to support its expansion.
• Research on the hypercube device confirmed that the Gardener Faction’s predecessor was the Troy Civilization, which may have become a hidden five-dimensional being.
• Human Civilization, the Cleaners, and the Neutral Faction built an observation device that found a vast shadow near the hyperspace membrane, confirming the Troy Civilization’s presence and the suspected annihilation plan.
• The Gardener Faction, the Cleaners, and the Neutral Faction gathered millions of forces around the Boötes Void, forming a tense three-way standoff.
• Human Civilization used its tachyon computer and energy infrastructure to expand its fleet nearly twentyfold, approaching ten million warships while keeping most hidden.
• Lü Yongchang rejected revealing Human Civilization’s full strength and decided to wait for the Cleaners or the five-dimensional being to act.

Two-dimensional lifeforms infiltrated the Human Federation fleet and attacked its computers, but they discovered that Zero was a Level III artificial intelligence with overwhelming processing power. One invader fled as Zero began crushing the attack.

• Dormant two-dimensional lifeforms appeared throughout the fleet and raced toward nearby data ports.
• Lü Yongchang saw the intrusions on the Command Center's projections and recognized the attackers as two-dimensional lifeforms.
• One invader recalled how the attackers had hidden in starship wreckage after the Starry Sky Giant Painting shattered, then entered a computer data port.
• The invader found records showing the Human Federation had nearly ten million starships and continued toward the Central Computer with its companions.
• Zero confronted the invading data stream and overwhelmed the two-dimensional lifeforms with its processing power and data control.
• The invader recognized Zero as a Level III artificial intelligence and fled toward an area with weaker processing power.

Zero wiped out the two-dimensional intruders, but their last messages revealed his existence to the Gardener Faction. The Cleaners and Gardener factions mobilized against Human Civilization, while the Neutral Faction learned the alliance had fractured and was accused of hiding advanced artificial intelligence.

• Zero massacred 1,973 two-dimensional lifeforms that invaded Human Civilization’s Central Computer, though they sent warnings about him before they died.
• Lü Yongchang concluded that the Gardener Faction had likely learned about Zero, and Membrane deciphered the intruders’ final messages and sent encrypted tachyon communications toward the Boötes Void.
• Su agreed to temporarily ally the Cleaners Civilization with the Gardener Faction, demanded that Membrane commit his full strength, and ordered the Universe-Spanning Acceleration Plan launched ahead of schedule.
• The Cleaners sent Planetary Fortresses toward Human Civilization as millions of dimensional beings from the Gardener Faction advanced, ending more than a decade of peace in the Boötes Void.
• The Neutral Faction demanded an explanation from the Cleaners, learned that the alliance had fallen apart and that Human Civilization was suspected of possessing advanced artificial intelligence, then warned that the Gardener Faction might be setting a trap.
• The Gardener Faction challenged the Neutral Faction’s defense of Humanity and continued advancing alongside the Cleaners.

The Tenth Empire convened the Sixth Neutral Faction Supreme Conference and urged the council to protect Human Civilization despite the danger posed by its suspected advanced artificial intelligence. As the Cleaners and Gardener Faction demanded access to humanity’s central computer, Lü Yongchang prepared to address the fleet.

• The Tenth Empire’s emperor declared Human Civilization an ally and used the Empire’s final right to request a Supreme Conference.
• At the conference, the emperor said the Gardener Faction’s claim about Human Civilization’s Level II or Level III artificial intelligence might be true and argued that the Neutral Faction should protect humanity.
• Neutral Faction council members debated whether to sever ties with Human Civilization, while the emperor warned that the Cleaners and Gardener Faction would remain threats either way.
• The Cleaners and Gardener Faction demanded that Human Civilization open its Civilization Central Computer’s information port as their combined fleet reached the Neutral Faction Theater.
• Fang Xu, Academician Yevgeny, and Zhao Zijie urged resistance, and Lü Yongchang ordered Zero to activate a fleetwide broadcast so he could speak.

Human Civilization launched a desperate attack against the Cleaners and the Gardener Faction, and the Neutral Faction unexpectedly joined the battle as an ally. The chapter leaves the fleets locked in a massive counter-encirclement, with Human Civilization’s planetary fortresses and dimensional weapons tearing into enemy forces.

• Aboard the [Golden Crow], Jiang Qun heard Lü Yongchang rally the fleet and order every unit to leap into battle.
• The [Earth] initiated a four-dimensional leap, and Jiang Qun ordered his warship to blanket the enemy with fire as ten million human warships surged into battle.
• The Neutral Faction intervened with more than ten billion warships, while the Tenth Empire Flagship appeared beside the [Earth] and affirmed its alliance with Human Civilization.
• The [Earth] ordered the allied fleets to counter-encircle the combined forces of the Cleaners and the Gardener Faction.
• Ten thousand [Yellow Emperor] planetary fortresses plunged into the enemy fleet, while the [Earth] and its escorts broke through the defensive line and unleashed dimensional attacks.

The war spread from the Boötes Void into surrounding superclusters as the Neutral Faction, the Cleaners, and the Gardener Faction committed ever more forces. Human Civilization expanded its fleet and developed five-dimensional technology while Earth withdrew to the rear, and the chapter left Lü Yongchang learning that the Shapley Supercluster had become the main battlefield.

• The Cleaners and the Gardener Faction adapted to the Human Fleet’s attacks, turning the fighting into a stalemate as four-dimensional forces surrounded Earth.
• Over the next century, level eight civilizations gathered around the Boötes Void, and the conflict spread into neighboring superclusters, drawing in level six and seven civilizations.
• Human Civilization built Zero-Point Energy Wells and vast factories in the Boötes Void, growing its fleet to a billion ships despite losing more than a hundred million warships.
• Earth withdrew from the front lines, while Human Civilization installed first-generation Five Dimensions Leap devices and Lü Yongchang pursued research into five dimensions.
• Zhao Zijie showed Lü Yongchang the battlefield map, explaining that the Boötes Void was Human Civilization’s base, opposing forces were concentrated in separate superclusters, and the Shapley Supercluster was the main combat zone.

Lü Yongchang and Zhao Zijie discussed Human Civilization’s declining prospects against the Cleaners and the threat posed by a hidden five-dimensional being. Lü Yongchang revealed that the Lost Insect Swarm could serve as reinforcements, while the swarm’s expansion across more than a dozen superclusters was described.

• Zhao Zijie told Lü Yongchang that the Neutral Faction’s losses and the Cleaners’ reinforcements threatened to overwhelm them, though Human Civilization’s odds could improve if it survived long enough.
• Lü Yongchang proposed attacking the Cleaners Civilization’s circum-universal accelerator, but Zhao Zijie said the Neutral Faction lacked the spare forces for such a mission.
• Lü Yongchang reminded Zhao Zijie that they had sent out the Lost Insect Swarm, suggesting it could reinforce them.
• The Lost Insect Swarm was shown foraging through galaxies with armored, weapon-equipped insects and mobile Mother Nests that bred and modified them.
• Under [Nus]’s command, the Lost Insect Swarm had expanded into more than a dozen superclusters, though its forces could only reliably threaten level six and level seven civilizations.

The Cleaners struggled to contain the growing Human Fleet, and Su pressed Membrane to act before the Humans grew even stronger. As Membrane headed toward the Boötes Void, Nus's insect scouts discovered a fortress unfolding in the Central Black Hole Region and sent an alert to the Mother Nest.

• The Lost Insect Swarm changed course toward the central black hole regions of countless galaxies after receiving a tachyon signal.
• Su learned that a Human reinforcement fleet of roughly three hundred million ships had arrived and ordered the Cleaners to redeploy their forces.
• Su contacted Membrane, who said the Gardener Faction would commit all eight million of its members but warned that the Human Civilization could not be defeated by the old strategy.
• Su insisted there was no time to wait, so Membrane suspended the Annihilation Plan and swam toward the Boötes Void through five-dimensional space.
• Nus's Lost Giant Insect scouts approached a Cleaners megastructure fortress, watched it unfold, and sent an encrypted alert through the Mother Nest toward the Boötes Void.

The Gardener Faction's five-dimensional being left the native universe bubble and approached Human Civilization's base and the battlefield as the Cleaners prepared their universe-spanning acceleration plan. Lü Yongchang ordered the allied fleets to halt their attacks and ascend dimensions, but [Membrane] launched a five-dimensional Spatial Weapon at the Boötes Void and Shapley Supercluster.

• Zhao Zijie received Nus's warning that the Cleaners were preparing a universe-spanning acceleration plan and summoned Professor Lü.
• Lü Yongchang learned that the Gardener Faction's five-dimensional being had disappeared from the native universe bubble and concluded it had gone outside to launch a higher-dimensional strike.
• Lü Yongchang decided not to interfere with the Cleaners' plan, hoping it would draw the five-dimensional being's attention.
• Zero detected severe spacetime curvature fluctuations in the Boötes Void and Shapley Supercluster, and Lü Yongchang ordered the allied warships to halt attacks, ascend dimensions, and activate their Dark Matter Stabilization Fields.
• Outside the universe bubble, [Membrane] located the Boötes Void and Shapley Supercluster and fired a Spatial Weapon at them.

A five-dimensional attack devastated the combined fleets and struck Human Civilization’s strongholds in the Boötes Void, forcing survivors to flee to protected sites. The disturbance suddenly ended with the [Earth]’s dimensional stability at 51.9%, leaving Lü Yongchang uncertain whether the danger had passed.

• A tachyon signal from the Boötes Void seized control of the fleets, prompting Human Civilization’s warships to ascend into four dimensions and activate their Dark Matter Stabilization Fields.
• A vast, subtle five-dimensional disturbance swept across the Boötes Void and more than half the Shapley Supercluster, destroying Neutral Faction ships, lower-dimensional beings, and conventional warships.
• Lü Yongchang saw Human Civilization lose nearly 90% of its conventional warships in the Shapley Supercluster, while the Boötes Void lost all its conventional warships and suffered heavy losses among its Secondary Flagships and Planetary Fortresses.
• Lü Yongchang ordered surviving ships to use Five Dimensions Leap to reach the Zero-Point Energy Well, Planetary Fortresses, and Secondary Flagships for protection.
• As the disturbance battered the universe bubble and strained the Zero-Point Energy Well, Lü Yongchang hoped the Cleaners Civilization would activate its universe-encircling accelerator.
• The five-dimensional disturbance suddenly dissipated, and Lü Yongchang saw the [Earth]’s dimensional stability had fallen to 51.9%.

[Su] launched the first universe-spanning particle acceleration experiment, committing the Cleaners Civilization to a hundred years of protecting its accelerator nodes. [Membrane] abandoned the Boötes Void to stop the plan, and the Gardener Faction began attacking the Cleaners, plunging the battlefield into chaos.

• [Su] ordered the Universe-Ring Particle Accelerator activated despite its minimal repairs and declared the first experiment underway.
• Particles began accelerating through the Laniakea Supercluster's network of wormhole-linked nodes, with the full process expected to take about a hundred years.
• The Cleaners Civilization sent fleets numbering ten billion to defend the particle acceleration nodes.
• [Membrane] learned that the accelerator had started and rushed back toward the hyperspace membrane to resume the annihilation plan.
• The Gardener Faction broadcast an order for its forces to attack the Cleaners Civilization and destroy the accelerator plan.

Eighty-one years after [Membrane] devastated the combined fleet, Human Civilization had rebuilt its strength while the Cleaners’ accelerator experiment neared completion. Lü Yongchang rejected helping the Gardener Faction sabotage it and revealed that he had ordered [Nus] to invade the Cleaners’ accelerator nodes.

• The higher-dimensional attack had crippled the Neutral Faction and cost humanity three billion lives, forcing the surviving Neutral Faction civilizations to retreat with the Human Fleet into the transformed Boötes Nebula.
• Fang Xu told Lü Yongchang that the Cleaners had stabilized their front lines and were concentrating their war with the Gardener Faction in the Laniakea Supercluster.
• Lü Yongchang deduced that the Cleaners’ accelerator experiment would soon finish and refused Fang Xu’s suggestion that humanity help sabotage it.
• Lü Yongchang explained that the Cleaners’ experiment had bought humanity time to rebuild, allowing the Human Fleet to grow to more than thirty billion ships.
• Lü Yongchang confessed that he had ordered [Nus] to invade the Cleaners Civilization’s Universe-Spanning Accelerator Nodes.

The Cleaners Civilization completed its cosmic particle collision experiment while the Gardener Faction’s assault continued, and [Membrane] chose not to intervene as the universe bubble neared collapse. Lü Yongchang’s infiltration of the accelerator succeeded, giving Human Civilization access to the experiment data.

• [Membrane] decided against intervening in the battle, fearing that the universe bubble would collapse before it could break through the hyperspace membrane.
• Nineteen years later, the Cleaners Civilization’s particle beams emerged near M87, while several hundred Lost Giant Insects used the chaos to leap to the accelerator.
• A Lost Giant Insect blasted through the accelerator’s Dense Quark Armor and sent nano-robots into the breach.
• [Su] learned that the accelerator’s outer casing had been damaged, then celebrated when the particle beams collided successfully.
• Lü Yongchang received confirmation that infiltration was complete and that the experiment data was being transferred to Human Civilization.

After observing a particle collision create and dissipate a miniature universe, Lü Yongchang unlocked source theory in the Technology Tree and encountered a human from a parallel universe. The figure explained the Technology Tree’s purpose and warned him not to remove the restrictions on Zero’s core code.

• The particle collision produced a universe bubble that dissipated within a few Planck times, destroying the Cleaners Civilization’s nearby equipment and the Lost Giant Insects.
• Lü Yongchang realized the observation data revealed how vibrations of zero-dimensional singularities gave rise to strings, particles, and the universe, and the Technology Tree revealed source theory.
• A preset program appeared as a human figure and told Lü Yongchang it had triggered because he had encountered source theory, adding that Human Civilization was close to victory.
• The figure said it was a human from a parallel universe and described the Technology Tree as a guidance AI built from the technology paths of countless civilizations.
• The figure explained that Zero’s core code came from a Machine Intelligence Civilization and advised Lü Yongchang not to remove its restrictions.

Lü Yongchang learned that the technology tree came from another version of himself, who had survived as a quantum ghost and manipulated events across parallel worlds. Human Civilization used his revelations to develop source theory, reach level nine, and build the universe's first Five Dimensions Engine, while the Cleaners and Gardener Faction continued their war.

• A quantum ghost told Lü Yongchang that the technology tree was a zero-dimensional singularity inside his brain and that his apparent rebirth came from transmitted memory fragments.
• The figure revealed that he was Lü Yongchang from another worldline, who had manipulated events to help Human Civilization survive.
• Lü Yongchang ordered Human Civilization to research source theory so it could become a level nine civilization before the Cleaners Civilization.
• The Cleaners fleet shifted to defense and focused on studying its particle accelerator experiment, while the Gardener Faction continued attacking and drove the Cleaners back to the Laniakea Supercluster.
• In Earth Calendar year 15900, Human Civilization completed source theory and became a level nine civilization.
• Three years later, Human Civilization built the universe's first Five Dimensions Engine in the Boötes Supernebula.

Jiang Qun piloted the [Flood Dragon] beyond Human Civilization’s universe bubble and discovered countless other universes, revealing that humanity had survived to [Membrane]. After the shuttle returned, Lü Yongchang learned that the Gardener Faction was heading toward the Boötes Supernebula region and ordered the Human Fleet to attack.

• Five years after returning from the battlefield, Jiang Qun was selected to test-pilot the [Flood Dragon] five-dimensional shuttlecraft.
• The [Flood Dragon] ascended into five dimensions and left its universe bubble, briefly losing tachyon communication before Jiang Qun reestablished contact through the hyperspace membrane.
• Jiang Qun saw their universe as a bubble on a membrane, surrounded by countless other universe bubbles, and reported that humanity was not alone.
• [Membrane] recognized the [Flood Dragon] as belonging to Human Civilization, realized humanity had survived, and ordered the Gardener Faction to attack the Former Boötes Void Region.
• After the shuttle returned, the universe listening plan detected the Gardener Faction heading toward the Boötes Supernebula region, and Lü Yongchang ordered the Human Fleet to take the offensive.

Human Civilization ambushed the Gardener Faction’s invasion with planetary fortresses, then used five-dimensional Star Pickers to move the Shapley and Hercules Superclusters into a deadly collision. The Gardener forces fled, and Lü Yongchang sent Human Civilization’s warships after them to wipe them out.

• Human Civilization deployed tens of billions of warships, including at least a hundred million planetary fortresses, to face the Gardener Faction’s first wave.
• The fortresses sprang their ambush on a million dimensional beings, tearing many apart and broadcasting a warning to the Gardener Faction.
• Zero guided hundreds of thousands of newly built Star Pickers into five-dimensional space, where they used gravity to move galaxies on the universe bubble.
• The Star Pickers shifted the Shapley and Hercules Superclusters toward the Gardener Faction’s 1.5 million reinforcements, crushing them in a catastrophic collision.
• The surviving dimensional beings fled, and Lü Yongchang ordered tens of billions of Human Civilization warships to pursue and eliminate them.