Chapter Summaries

During the war in the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation, the Crystal Civilization released self-replicating silicon-based “Books” while pirates devastated the rear. After three years in hibernation, Yana Gus awoke aboard a starship following the relocating planets, just as an artificial neutron star neared the Tentacle Monster Horde.

• Luo Qi observed pirates attacking life-bearing planets as the war left the rear undefended and the upper ranks secretly funded the attacks.
• After three years of war and 700 trillion deaths, the Crystal Civilization developed programmable, matter-consuming silicon-based lifeforms called “Books” and released them into space.
• The Books sabotaged Coalition gathering ships and later grew into warships, while the Pioneer Civilization remained uninvolved.
• The starship intelligence awakened Yana Gus and reported that the Crystal Civilization had split into three parts, with one faction already fighting a prolonged war inside a Nebula Constellation.
• The intelligence reported that the four homeworlds had divided between the pleasure-seeking Welcoming Faction and the besieged Defense Faction, whose artificial intelligence judged victory impossible.
• Yana Gus learned that the artificial neutron star was about to engage the Tentacle Monster Horde and asked whether they would attack too.

Yana Gus and the starships launched a probing assault on the Eldritch Lifeform swarm while a neutron star tore through its outer ranks. The Eldritch Lifeforms retaliated with coordinated electromagnetic weapons, and Luo Qi realized they had deceived him as the larger starships aimed at their main body.

• During Yana Gus's three-year dormancy, the starship gathered matter and produced three copies, then warned that the Eldritch Lifeform's electromagnetic field could suppress their weapons.
• Yana Gus and the other starships ordered an attack, sending fleets and Faster-than-Light Torpedoes from half a light-year away as the swarm approached a neutron star.
• The neutron star's gravity stretched and consumed more than a hundred Tentacle Planets.
• The starships' torpedoes and seventh-generation Tianxing Jia-Class Battleships destroyed vast numbers of Eldritch Lifeforms, helping the four Crystal Civilization planets being relocated.
• The Eldritch Lifeforms fired electron spheres through the strong magnetic field zone, inflicting heavy losses on the attacking forces.
• Luo Qi realized the swarm had misled him with false scan information, while the large starships launched black beams toward its main body.

Yana Gus watched the Tentacle Civilization’s enormous mother body withstand her starship’s main cannon and unleash a devastating counterattack. Luo Qi then appeared and swallowed the creature, leaving Yana Gus and the starship stunned at the sight of a Galaxy Cluster where the enemy had been.

• Yana Gus’s starship fired its Black Son main cannon, but the Tentacle Civilization’s mother body intercepted the beam.
• The starship’s intelligence warned Yana Gus to retreat as the mother body gathered energy for a counterattack.
• The mother body unleashed an electromagnetic force that destroyed the cannon fodder and disabled the starship’s communications and spatial systems.
• Yana Gus remembered growing up alone in the Empire Nursery and longing to escape into space, while the starship struggled to withstand the attack.
• Luo Qi appeared at eighteen light-years across, dismantled the force surrounding the mother body, and swallowed it with his body.
• Yana Gus asked whether the starship had escaped, but its intelligence confirmed that it remained in its original location beside the newly visible Galaxy Cluster.

Mo Yun explained the Mora Civilization’s reincarnation system and its overseers, while the current overseer decided to restore the vanished Scavengers’ role by creating a new civilization. She pulled the Nebula Constellation from the hall’s starlight, then seized Luo Qi and brought him into the temple.

• Mo Yun revealed that the Mora Planet was a manufactured utopia where death and birth formed a managed cycle, and that its residents were reincarnated members of the Mora Civilization.
• Mo Yun recalled how successors and overseers periodically transferred authority, awakened memories, and returned to reincarnation while monitoring Mora Planet and the Shadow Universe.
• The overseer wondered whether she should create a carbon-based scavenging civilization, and Mo Yun suggested that it could take up the Scavengers’ former duty.
• The overseer grabbed the Nebula Constellation from the floor’s starlight and examined it in her palm.
• After Luo Qi analyzed the super mother organism and secured its small black hole inside a particle, the overseer seized his eighteen-light-year-long body and brought him into the temple.

Dalin named Luo Qi the new Civilization Eradicator and gave him a red photon showing that the universe had exceeded its civilization limit. When Luo Qi questioned the assignment, Dalin explained that the universe was disintegrating because it had been killed, and that civilizations hastened its collapse by turning matter into energy.

• Dalin identified herself as the universe's administrator and named Luo Qi the new Civilization Eradicator.
• Dalin placed an altered particle inside Luo Qi, where its red glow signaled that the universe held more civilizations than it could sustain.
• The red light appeared as an omen to civilizations inside Luo Qi, whose leaders prepared for war.
• Luo Qi asked what would happen if he refused, and Dalin said she would divide a spatial continent and let a war among all races decide who survived.
• Dalin told Luo Qi that the universe was disintegrating because it had been killed, and that civilizations accelerated its collapse by converting matter into energy.

Dalin recalled how the primordial universe’s prophecies drove civilizations to seek freedom from fate, while Luo Qi considered the cost of acting as a civilization exterminator and moved to eliminate the Crystal Civilization. The Civilization Coalition trapped the Crystal fleet in a vast encirclement, and Zero Seven altered space to prevent spatial jumps before the decisive battle began.

• Dalin remembered that the primordial universe had foretold a civilization’s extinction, and the prediction came true despite the race’s efforts to survive.
• Luo Qi asked Dalin what he would gain from becoming a civilization exterminator, then discovered the Lovecraftian entity’s formula linking matter-to-energy conversion to the universe’s collapse.
• Luo Qi headed toward the remaining two-thirds of the Crystal Civilization as its war with the Civilization Coalition intensified.
• The Crystal Civilization’s raids and attempts to provoke rebellion failed against the Coalition’s productive capacity and contented population.
• The Coalition deployed ten billion warships and a trillion troops to encircle the Crystal Civilization and prepare for a decisive battle.
• Zero Seven closed wormholes and made local space too viscous for spatial jumps, while the Coalition’s fleet watched the Crystal Civilization destroy the covering fleet.

Luo Qi lifted the spatial lockdown over the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation, prompting the Pioneer Civilization to abandon the region. He created Destroyer No. 1 to harvest resources and grow, and it began targeting a nearby star system inhabited by low-level civilizations.

• Luo Qi destroyed the instruments controlling the spatial maze and lifted the lockdown over the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation.
• The Pioneer Civilization evacuated, and Zero Seven left a Replica on the battlefield before fleeing with his civilization.
• Luo Qi restored his emotional awareness and created Destroyer No. 1, giving it advanced computers and technologies below space technology.
• Destroyer No. 1 consumed an asteroid belt, multiplied rapidly, and built a fleet.
• Destroyer No. 1 set its sights on a nearby star system with three inhabited planets whose civilizations had only reached controllable nuclear fusion.

The Destroyer converted five planets and their inhabitants into a mechanized ecosystem that spread across the Stellar System. A Civilization Coalition fleet arrived to confront it, and the Destroyer triggered a Death Information Wave that sent its mechanical lifeforms into mutual slaughter.

• The Destroyer destroyed the planetary defenses, covered the three inhabited planets with assimilation particles, and transformed their inhabitants and cities into metal.
• The Destroyer expanded its forces across the system, turning all five planets into mechanized worlds that produced metallic creatures.
• Four days after the civilization's destruction, a hundred-thousand-ship Civilization Coalition fleet arrived and encountered metallic lifeforms throughout the Stellar System.
• The Civilization Coalition fleet studied the creatures and decided their civilization was too dangerous to admit into the Coalition.
• As the Coalition fleet advanced, the Destroyer sent out a Death Information Wave that made mechanical lifeforms attack and devour one another.

The Destroyer’s mechanical lifeforms evolved rapidly by devouring one another as the Civilization Coalition fleet attacked them and engaged the Destroyer’s ships. As the space battle continued, the Destroyer gave its strongest creatures knowledge of faster-than-light travel, and a giant bird began fighting back against an enemy warship.

• The Destroyer ordered its mechanical lifeforms to devour one another, producing rapidly evolving giants that soon began battling for further growth.
• The Civilization Coalition commander sent its fleet to attack the monsters, while the Destroyer engaged the Coalition warships with a four-on-one tactic.
• The Civilization Coalition lost more than nine thousand warships in its opening assault, while the Destroyer lost just over four thousand.
• The Coalition commander recalled thirty thousand ships and ordered a three-on-one attack as the fleets continued exchanging fire.
• The Destroyer gave its evolved creatures knowledge of faster-than-light jumps, and a giant bird used the ability to pursue an enemy warship and strike its shield.

Luo Qi upgraded the Destroyer’s metal beasts, but the Civilization Coalition countered with a spatial warship that slaughtered them. The surviving fragments of the beasts reassembled and revived, leaving Luo Qi satisfied with the new species.

• Luo Qi gave the Destroyer knowledge of the Chain-State Weapon, allowing the metal beasts to fight the Civilization Coalition fleet on more equal terms.
• The Civilization Coalition sent a division to attack the five planets producing metal organisms, but their Planet Shields repelled the fleet and forced it to retreat.
• The Coalition’s leaders deployed a spatial warship, which used a Spatial Thread to destroy hundreds of thousands of metal beasts and rescue the retreating fleet.
• Hague discovered that energized samples of the metal beasts could hatch into miniature beasts, while the beasts’ severed remains reassembled and revived in space.
• Luo Qi analyzed the spatial warship and concluded that it only made rudimentary use of spatial power.

The Destroyer spread assimilation particles through the Nebula Constellation by sending out three hundred thousand altered metal beasts, while the Civilization Coalition mobilized to stop the threat. As the North Tower Stellar System dimmed under the spreading infection, the Coalition’s leaders ordered an interception network and tests on captured samples.

• The Destroyer learned from survivors in a wrecked warship that the Nebula Constellation contained more than a hundred species and began its Seed Dissemination Plan.
• The Destroyer dispatched three hundred thousand large metal beasts beyond the North Tower Stellar System to spread assimilation particles and establish a communications network.
• Assimilation particles transformed matter throughout the Stellar System, while the Destroyer used planets to incubate a giant beast and produce more metal creatures.
• The Civilization Coalition fleet detected the Stellar System dimming and reported that three hundred thousand monsters had left for the Nebula Constellation.
• The Coalition’s senior leadership ordered an interception network, recalled forces from the Crystal Civilization front, and sent samples for testing after researchers warned the beasts could merge into a superorganism.

The Civilization Coalition approved restarting its forbidden spatial experiments while its reserve fleet prepared to intercept invaders from the North Tower 7 Star System. At the Far Emperor Deep-Space Super Research Base, Delami and the other scientists awakened from stasis and began preparing another Spatial Interference Program.

• The Alta Civilization's reserve fleet emerged from faster-than-light travel, and Lanuoqi piloted the Forerunner F117 as the fleet prepared to intercept the invaders.
• The Civilization Coalition's leaders debated attacking or reconciling with the Crystal Civilization, then approved restarting the Spatial Project despite the Forerunner Civilization's past warning.
• Three hundred researchers, including Delami, awakened from Stasis Pods at the Far Emperor Deep-Space Super Research Base with their memories restored from backups.
• Delami and the researchers prepared to run the Spatial Interference Program again, drawing on the Coalition's technical support and the base's immense energy supply.

Luo Qi watched the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation discover spatial interference and rapidly mobilize to develop space technology, while secretly copying its technological knowledge. A message then reported that the Mechanical Race had analyzed higher-dimensional space, cut off information sharing with the Integrated Entity, and confirmed the Forerunner Civilization had disappeared.

• Delami and the researchers successfully produced spatial interference, and the research base sent their data to the Civilization Coalition's leaders.
• The Coalition leaders ordered tens of thousands of laboratories to analyze the data and accelerate space technology research.
• More than a hundred million laboratories joined the research effort, and Luo Qi copied technological information from across the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation.
• Delami received a message that the Mechanical Race had completed its analysis of higher-dimensional space, severed information sharing with the Integrated Entity, and confirmed the Forerunner Civilization's complete disappearance.

Luo Qi absorbed the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation's accumulated knowledge as the Civilization Coalition began fracturing under the threat of super civilizations. The No. 18 Mechanical Body Race prepared to vanish, while the Alta Civilization debated escape and warships as a black opening appeared at the council's center.

• Luo Qi gathered the constellation's knowledge and recorded it in his Technology Tree, noticing the growing fracture in the Civilization Coalition.
• The No. 18 Mechanical Body Race severed its information-sharing link and ordered its members to preserve emotional memories and upload their consciousness data before leaving the constellation.
• The Civilization Coalition's council learned that it had lost track of the No. 18 Mechanical Body Race, while its lone mechanical representative teleported away after receiving an encrypted communication.
• Twenty governing officers of the Alta Civilization argued over whether to flee, unite against the unknown threat, or abandon subordinate civilizations, and they ordered fleets recalled and warships refitted.
• A pitch-black opening suddenly appeared in the empty space at the center of the council table.

The Civilization Coalition dissolved after the Forerunner Civilization departed, while the Crystal Civilization’s enemies withdrew and the Crystal Civilization began rebuilding and developing space technology. At a research base, clone No. 1000 activated the Space Seed and vanished.

• The mechanical race announced that it had left the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation, and the Civilization Coalition dissolved as its representatives departed.
• The Long Lantern Nebula Constellation’s civilizations withdrew their fleets, ending their three-year campaign against the Crystal Civilization and allowing it to retain its territory.
• The Crystal Civilization shifted to ecological ships and supply planets while pursuing a technological breakthrough after spatial disturbances subsided.
• Crystal Civilization researchers built the Space Seed, a device designed to break through space, and drew lots to choose a volunteer.
• Clone No. 1000 won the draw, activated the untested Space Seed, and vanished from the research platform.

Number One Thousand arrived in Universe 1’s Long Lantern Nebula Constellation, where overlapping spatial dimensions placed him in a microcosm. He encountered Beilunde of the Alta Civilization, and their first meeting ended with both preparing to fight.

• Number One Thousand used the Space Seed to scan his surroundings and learned that he was in Universe 1, inside the Long Lantern Nebula Constellation, where spatial layers overlapped.
• Beilunde used his spatial construct eye to observe the overlapping space and discovered Number One Thousand in the microcosm.
• Beilunde asked who Number One Thousand was, and the Space Seed translated their words for them.
• Beilunde identified Number One Thousand as a member of the Crystal Civilization, which was invading the star river, and Number One Thousand admitted he was an invader.
• Number One Thousand gathered power and unleashed a storm of darkness through the microcosm as Beilunde braced for combat.

Lan Feng began researching biological clones to provide expendable soldiers for the Crystal Civilization, whose population and military strength were being devastated by war. He started assembling a new life-form in Base 151, designing it to be physically weak and mentally limited for use aboard warships.

• Lan Feng recorded that enemy attacks had cost the Crystal Civilization one billion people and that its population had fallen to thirteen billion.
• Lan Feng accessed sealed genetic research after the leadership authorized a program to mass-produce biological soldiers.
• Lan Feng reviewed the rules restricting clones' similarity, abilities, and access to advanced knowledge.
• Lan Feng ordered the preparation of nutrient solution and protein sequences for a gene-sequencing experiment.
• Lan Feng watched Molecular Robots assemble a genetic helix and designed the organisms to pilot warships while remaining frail, short-lived, and easily satisfied.

Lan Feng created a controllable lower-order organism called a dwarf to serve as a substitute for the Crystal Civilization's fighters, then began producing a thousand of them. Nagus received reports of the replacement project as the Crystal Civilization's population and birth rate dwindled under the interstellar war.

• Lan Feng used simulations to determine that weaker organisms would be easier to control than Crystal Civilization clones and cultivated the first dwarf mother organism.
• Lan Feng implanted the dwarf with fabricated memories and a genetic control system that linked its subordinates to it and would kill them if it died.
• The dwarf awakened, spoke with Lan Feng, and followed him as he ordered the base AI to manufacture a thousand subordinate individuals.
• Nagus received more than 370,000 reports of research into replacement organisms and considered the project necessary despite its violation of the Crystal Civilization's principles.
• Nagus faced a population reduced from sixty billion to thirteen billion, with fewer than ten thousand births in a month, and had already activated the digital universe world model.

Nagus considered how far the Crystal Civilization should go to survive and asked Lan Feng to mass-produce its researchers to accelerate technological development. Lan Feng began weighing the plan as his experiments with controlled biological substitutes continued.

• Nagus asked Little Round which Substitute Plan proposals were suited to mass production, and Little Round identified 470.
• Lan Feng tested a thousand subordinate organisms, confirming their control through a mother organism and a shared mental network.
• Lan Feng implanted combat data into the mother organism, who transmitted it to her subordinates.
• Nagus contacted Lan Feng and said he would cross moral boundaries to preserve the civilization.
• Nagus ordered Lan Feng to replicate the civilization's researchers in large batches, and Lan Feng considered the implications.

Lan Feng agreed to support Nagus's Substitute Plan after discussing the risks of mass-producing researchers, then prepared the Little Dwarves for combat. Despite widespread public opposition, the plan reached the battlefield, where the Forty-Ninth Unit encountered an incoming attack.

• Lan Feng told Nagus that replicated researchers could advance the civilization but might evade surveillance, and Nagus promised them freedom and accepted responsibility for the plan.
• Lan Feng requested supplies, trained the organisms in Physical Combat Techniques, and considered whether the mother organism might someday understand ideals.
• Three cycles later, the Substitute Plan provoked widespread opposition among the Crystal Civilization, but the high council sent it to the interstellar battlefield for testing.
• The Little Dwarves of the Forty-Ninth Unit arrived in contested space in a fleet of ten thousand ships and detected unidentified energy fluctuations.
• Drifting meteorites launched thousands of torpedoes at the fleet through the High-Energy Universe Region, and the unit activated its High-Energy Particle Shockwave countermeasure.