Chapter Summaries

Gorpious’s Community Security Fleet crossed the Interstellar Human Military Junta’s territory without meeting resistance, while Xi Yan prepared an ambush at the Amaterro System’s hyperlane exit. The opposing fleets were expected to meet within half a day, and Xi Yan planned to overwhelm the more advanced alien ships with his eighty corvettes.

• Gorpious’s fleet traveled deeper into Junta territory, receiving only polite replies from silent stellar bases and encountering no human warships.
• Greger warned Gorpious that the human fleet could be waiting beyond the next hyperlane, and Gorpious ordered preparations.
• Xi Yan stationed eighty corvettes at the Amaterro System’s hyperlane exit and framed the expected attack as defense against trespassers.
• Cybrex Beta reported that the Community Security Fleet would arrive in half a day, while Xi Yan discussed the battle with Navy Minister Ning Zhiyuan.
• Xi Yan chose to use his eighty Blue Laser Corvettes to overwhelm the smaller but more technologically advanced enemy fleet, accepting the possibility of losses.

Gorpious’s Community Security Fleet emerged into the Amaterro System and was hit by a surprise volley from Xi Yan’s eighty corvettes, which depleted the destroyer Community’s shields. With the rest of the fleet arriving to protect the destroyer and transports, Xi Yan ordered half his ships to charge through the enemy formation and pursue those targets.

• Gorpious ordered his fleet to prepare for combat as the destroyer Community exited the hyperlane into the Amaterro System.
• Ning Zhiyuan ordered Xi Yan’s eighty corvettes to fire a full volley, draining Community’s shields.
• The rest of Gorpious’s fleet arrived, and Greggar ordered the combat vessels to shield Community while its defenses recovered.
• Xi Yan recognized that the enemy fleet was protecting Community and its transports, then changed his plan.
• Xi Yan ordered half his fleet to charge through the enemy’s attacks and pursue Community and the transports.

Xi Yan’s forty corvettes launched a Banzai Charge against the Community Security Fleet, enduring devastating fire to reach the enemy flagship. As the survivors closed in and attacked, Gorpious ordered the Insectoid fleet to abandon its mission and break out.

• Xi Yan sent forty corvettes racing toward the Community Security Fleet, whose weapons began firing as soon as the ships entered range.
• Ning Zhiyuan ordered the battered corvettes to target the enemy destroyer and transports in a Banzai Charge, and their crews charged in Xi Yan’s name.
• The Community Security Fleet fired repeated volleys, destroying or crippling several corvettes, but the survivors continued toward the enemy ships.
• Xi Yan ordered his fleet to tighten the encirclement while more than twenty corvettes reached firing range and attacked with their blue lasers.
• Gorpious rejected Greger’s warning that retreat would ruin the mission and ordered all warships to abandon it and break out to the left.

Xi Yan’s fleet drove the Community Security Fleet into retreat, while Krauk Lee secretly helped stage a heroic rear-guard action. Gorpious proposed surrender negotiations, and Grugulum fled separately toward Amat Eiro II.

• Xi Yan’s fleet pursued the fleeing Community Security Fleet after the banzai charges broke its morale, and Xi Yan decided to open negotiations.
• Krauk Lee pretended to hold off the human pursuers so Gorpious and the Community fleet could escape, earning the aliens’ admiration.
• The Community fleet abandoned Grugulum, who ordered his ships to flee toward Amat Eiro II and attempt an emergency landing.
• Gorpious restored order aboard the Community and proposed surrender negotiations, hoping to trade abandoning the mission for safe passage.
• Gorpious warned Greggar that if negotiations failed, the Community Security Fleet would fight to the death and inflict heavy losses.

After Xi Yan’s fleet defeated Gorpious’s Community Security Fleet, the two leaders negotiated a truce and agreed to cooperate. They left Krauk Lee with Gorpious while arranging for the other human defectors to return, and Xi Yan secured a deal for intelligence on the M'tok Union.

• Xi Yan’s fleet captured the M'tok Criminal Enterprise transports, and Xi Yan opened negotiations with Gorpious to prevent further casualties.
• Xi Yan and Gorpious agreed that Gorpious’s fleet would leave the territory and surrender the Criminal Enterprise employees under its protection.
• Gorpious refused to hand over Krauk Lee, so Xi Yan agreed to leave Krauk with him in exchange for the other human defectors.
• Xi Yan offered to repair Gorpious’s fleet and provide resources in return for regular intelligence on the M'tok Union.
• Gorpious accepted Xi Yan’s partnership offer, and the two celebrated their agreement.

Gorpious reconsidered his loyalty to the M'tok Union after receiving generous support from Xi Yan, while Krauk secretly followed Xi Yan's orders to infiltrate the Community Security Fleet. Greger reported the failed mission to Perkin Asland, and the fleet ended its cooperation with the M'tok Union; the chapter then shifted to an author’s note about the story and its readers.

• Gorpious told Perkin Asland that the mission had failed after the human fleet ambushed them, while Perkin asked Greger to explain what happened.
• Krauk told Gorpious that he had let go of his grudge against the humans, while privately remaining loyal to Xi Yan and his assignment to rise through the Community Security Fleet.
• Greger described the fleet’s actions to Perkin, presenting their retreat and dealings with the humans as necessary sacrifices rather than betrayal.
• The Community Security Fleet gave up the mission’s remaining payment and ended its cooperation with the M'tok Union after the transports reached the Amaterro System.
• The author addressed readers’ questions about romance and the story’s direction, criticized some commenters, thanked supporters, and promised extra chapters.

Perkin Asland sought to use diplomacy to place M'tok Union employees on Amat Eiro II, disguising the criminal enterprise’s captured operatives as refugees. Xi Yan agreed to accept them in exchange for a means of communicating with other empires.

• Perkin Asland contacted the M'tok Ambassador and ordered it to protect the captured employees and resolve the dispute with the humans.
• The M'tok Ambassador and Kabulosius presented the operatives as refugees, while Xi Yan recognized their cover story despite the evidence uncovered through interrogation.
• Kabulosius revealed that the M'tok Union knew about the damaged Ring World and offered not to disclose it if Xi Yan accepted the refugees.
• Xi Yan agreed not to persecute or restrict the M'tok employees, but demanded communications access to other empires.

After the battle, Xi Yan sent the Community Security Fleet home with supplies and planned to undermine the Criminal Enterprise branch through public resistance. He later mourned the war dead and resisted Beta’s push for him to find a partner and produce an heir.

• The M'tok Union, the Interstellar Human Military Junta, and the Community Security Fleet each assessed the gains and losses from their agreement and conflict.
• Xi Yan gave Gorpious and the Community Security Fleet a large shipment of resources before they departed for the M'tok Union.
• Xi Yan decided to let the Criminal Enterprise employees remain in his empire, intending to use public resistance to drive them out without violating his treaty.
• Xi Yan funded funerals and compensation for those killed or injured in the battle, but felt sorrow when he faced the bereaved families.
• Beta urged Xi Yan to find a partner and produce an heir, and Xi Yan angrily told Beta to stop.

The Empire established its third colony on Kui Su Three IV, completing its first Colony Ship and assigning the new world as a mining planet. On Amat Eiro II, Xie Wendong founded the Bloodline Sanctuary, a violent organization dedicated to fighting the alien refugees.

• The Empire completed its Colony Ship and Xi Yan escorted it from Cybrex Alpha to Kui Su Three IV, where it became the colony’s capital.
• Xi Yan planned the Empire’s colonies around mining, food production, alloy smelting, research, and power generation.
• Xi Yan had the alien refugees housed in a city on Amat Eiro II populated by fanatically xenophobic citizens.
• Xie Wendong delivered an anti-alien speech in the city’s underground shelter, accusing the refugees of corrupting and disrupting the community.
• Xie Wendong founded the Bloodline Sanctuary and called on fellow humans to join its violent campaign against the aliens.

Xi Yan secretly armed the Bloodline Sanctuary to oppose the Criminal Enterprise after learning its operatives were growing an addictive alien drug on Amat Eiro II. The Sanctuary set out to disrupt the aliens’ operations, while two operatives noticed a modified human cargo ship speeding overhead.

• Xi Yan’s Ashes Agents helped establish and arm the Bloodline Sanctuary under Xie Wendong, with the goal of mobilizing locals against the Criminal Enterprise.
• Ashes Agents discovered that the aliens were growing a plant rich in hallucinogenic and addictive substances, and Xi Yan ordered the Sanctuary to act.
• Xie Wendong rallied the Sanctuary, while its undercover Ashes Agent urged members to avoid casualties and limit their actions to disrupting operations.
• The Sanctuary launched its operation as the city’s citizens stayed indoors and its armed group moved out.
• Two Criminal Enterprise aliens heard the humans’ cries, saw a modified cargo ship fly past, and decided to report back to their base and sample the new crop.

Xie Wendong led a Bloodline Sanctuary raid that left the M'tok Union’s Criminal Enterprise branch badly damaged before the attackers escaped. Xi Yan’s government-backed harassment campaign was set to continue, keeping the aliens under constant pressure.

• Xie Wendong and hundreds of masked workers stormed the Criminal Enterprise branch from a modified transport ship, shooting the Stone People guards and attacking the aliens inside.
• The raiders stabbed aliens, wrecked buildings, and looted and burned the branch before Xie Wendong ordered them to withdraw.
• The attackers returned to the ship and escaped before the Criminal Enterprise could respond, celebrating the successful raid aboard.
• The workers removed their masks and armbands after reaching the factory, then went back to their regular lives.
• Xi Yan’s government used the Bloodline Sanctuary to organize recurring raids, with the modified ship nicknamed the Amat Eiro Rapid Response Troop Carrier and the Blood Origin Church Mobile Office.

Grugulum tried to lease land on Amat Eiro II for growing alien crops, but each stage of the Empire's bureaucracy demanded more permits, registrations, and banking procedures. After finally paying the lease, he learned that his application had expired during the final review and would have to be submitted again.

• Grugulum applied to lease a large plot and obtained environmental and agricultural approvals after months of inspections and processing.
• Grugulum secured a Foreign Land Operation Permit through the M'tok Ambassador and registered with the Empire Police Department.
• The Land Planning Department approved the application, but Grugulum had to open an Empire Bank account on the Ring World to pay the lease.
• The bank froze Grugulum's account because refugees under his management were involved in fraud, so he ordered the responsible employees to turn themselves in and waited for the account to be unfrozen.
• Grugulum transferred the lease payment and requested his official land certificate, but the final review rejected his application because the original paperwork had expired.

Xi Yan used the Empire’s citizens to drive the M'tok Union’s Criminal Enterprise branch out of the colony. Grugulum returned home battered and stripped of its minerals, while Perkin Asland vowed the M'tok Union would retaliate after its war with the Nier Guardians.

• Grugulum found the Criminal Enterprise branch wrecked and thousands of people injured after humans attacked while it was away, then collapsed from shock.
• With Xi Yan’s covert support, the Bloodline Sanctuary expanded and workers and tourists attacked the branch repeatedly for six months.
• Grugulum led the exhausted branch members out of the city to surrender, and Xi Yan celebrated their departure as they were escorted across the border.
• Grugulum’s worn transport reached the M'tok Union’s Piya System and collided with the Starhold after its braking mechanism failed.
• Grugulum told Perkin Asland that humans had mutilated and tortured it and destroyed the branch, and Perkin vowed the M'tok Union would make the Interstellar Human Military Junta pay.

After driving the Criminal Enterprise out of imperial territory, Xi Yan collapsed from exhaustion in his office. As he slept, Ailiveer recognized the pressure and grief he carried and resolved to stay by his side.

• Xi Yan confirmed that the Criminal Enterprise aliens had left imperial territory and fell asleep on his office sofa.
• Beta reflected on Xi Yan's suppressed emotions and let Ailiveer enter quietly while the Marshal slept.
• Ailiveer covered Xi Yan with a blanket and recalled how years of duty and sacrifice had weighed on him.
• Beta told Ailiveer that Xi Yan carried immense pressure for the Human Empire and urged her to spend more time with him.
• Ailiveer held Xi Yan's hand and resolved to walk beside him from then on.

Xi Yan pursued alien allies while responding to the M'tok Union’s angry diplomatic accusations. A Union director then recognized him and opened a private discussion, hinting at divisions within the Union.

• Xi Yan woke from a nightmare, checked the Academy of Sciences’ research progress, and decided to seek alien allies.
• At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Xi Yan learned the M'tok Union had condemned the Empire and exchanged hostile messages with its representatives.
• A Union director named Carls Charius recognized Xi Yan and proposed speaking with him privately.
• Xi Yan agreed to hear Charius out and suspected the M'tok Union was internally divided.

Xi Yan learned that reformists and traditionalists were struggling for control of the M'tok Union, then agreed to trade with the reformist faction. He left the conversation intending to buy hundreds of thousands of M'tok as slaves for research and resource extraction.

• Carls Charius explained that the M'tok Union was divided between M'tok traditionalists who pursued criminal enterprises and non-M'tok reformists who wanted peaceful, legitimate trade.
• Xi Yan realized that the factions' conflict had not yet become armed and considered ways to intensify their rivalry.
• Xi Yan agreed to establish long-term trade relations with Charius's faction and invited a delegation to visit.
• Xi Yan asked whether the Union supported slavery and requested hundreds of thousands of M'tok.
• Charius agreed to discuss the sale through another communications channel, and Xi Yan looked forward to obtaining M'tok for research and mineral extraction.

Xi Yan negotiated covert cooperation with the Megacorporate Faction, hoping to weaken the M'tok Union's Criminal Enterprise Faction and exploit its worsening divisions. After pushing himself past exhaustion, he collapsed and dreamed of an enemy invasion ending in humanity's surrender.

• Xi Yan and Director Carls Charius agreed on trade and survey delegations, and Xi Yan decided to support the Megacorporate Faction against the Criminal Enterprise Faction.
• Xi Yan considered contacting the Nier Guardians and Zirick Cooperative, recognizing that the M'tok Union faced internal conflict, economic decline, and hostile neighbors.
• Xi Yan asked Beta for a memo on the M'tok Union, but Beta refused because he was excessively fatigued.
• Xi Yan collapsed when he stood, despite insisting he was fine.
• Xi Yan dreamed of hostile fleets destroying humanity's forces and capturing its territory, then awoke in terror at a surrender confirmation.

Xi Yan woke from a nightmare about his empire’s destruction and learned that years of overwork and mental strain had left him seriously ill. Beta ordered him to rest for a week while General Veronica Yan cared for him and Ailiveer Yan temporarily took over his duties.

• Xi Yan woke in terror from a nightmare of alien fleets destroying his empire and struggled to hide his fear behind the role of Grand Marshal.
• Beta told Xi Yan that his illness stemmed from seven years of overwork, poor habits, and mounting mental strain, and ordered him to rest for a week.
• Beta warned Xi Yan that his constant tension, loss of enjoyment, and frequent nightmares risked a mental collapse.
• Xi Yan discovered General Veronica Yan asleep beside his bed and learned that Ailiveer Yan had taken over his work while Veronica cared for him.
• Xi Yan asked Beta to bring food for himself and Veronica.

Xi Yan woke to find Veronica caring for him, while Beta insisted his stress and loneliness could only be cured by romance and sex. Veronica seemed receptive to Beta’s matchmaking, and Xi Yan was left mortified as the scene turned into what he called a dating sim.

• Veronica woke beside Xi Yan and checked on him, flustering him with her closeness.
• Beta ordered Veronica to prevent Xi Yan from working for a week and to help resolve his psychological problems.
• Beta argued that Xi Yan’s loneliness, suppressed desires, and stress required romance and physical intimacy.
• Veronica considered Beta’s advice and blushed, while Xi Yan hid under the blanket in embarrassment.
• Beta urged Veronica to begin a romance with Xi Yan, and Xi Yan shut off Beta’s Wristband in protest.

Beta urged Xi Yan to address his emotional isolation by opening up to Veronica, who resolved to care for him and rekindle his smile. The chapter ended with Beta secretly cheering Veronica on as she prepared to use her affection to draw Xi Yan closer.

• Beta insisted that Xi Yan needed to open his heart and suggested Veronica help him, while Xi Yan protested.
• Xi Yan admitted he felt somewhat better after venting, and Beta explained how his guardedness and choices had weighed on him.
• Veronica clasped Xi Yan's hand and vowed to save him, while Beta left them alone.
• Veronica decided to take responsibility for Xi Yan as his elder and give him the care she believed he needed.
• Veronica confronted Xi Yan with determined affection as Beta secretly cheered her on and planned to use her appeal to help him.