Chapter Summaries

Luolin secured a highly valuable shipment of Authority Weapons at the Universe Logistics Company’s fortified outpost, while Lu Xiao and Liu Guang joined Yilu’s warship to build connections with the Mother God Elves. Yilu welcomed them aboard and shared her private wine before leading her fleet toward a mission to intercept a Chaos Faction assassination force.

• Luolin arranged for his clansmen to leave the outpost and reported the shipment’s danger to the company, which activated planet-wide defenses to protect the Authority Weapons.
• Luolin remained at the Logistics Point instead of visiting Lu Xiao because the shipment kept him occupied, while Lu Xiao and Liu Guang left the Mother God Elves’ outpost aboard Yilu’s warship.
• Liu Guang saw Yilu as a useful connection to the Mother God Elves’ military, unaware that the Filthy Things had already targeted her.
• Yilu explained that her fleet would intercept a small Chaos Faction force attempting an assassination, a mission she expected to be easy and rewarding.
• Yilu toured Lu Xiao and Liu Guang around her flagship, brought them to a conference room, and shared a case of wine from her private collection.
• After setting the destination coordinates, Yilu, Lu Xiao, and Liu Guang drank together aboard the flagship.

Lu Xiao and Liu Guang witnessed Yilu’s fleet clash with the Horned Lizard Race, forcing Yilu to sacrifice a formation of ships to retreat. Liu Guang then advised Yilu on a plan for revenge, while a separate fleet arrived at the Woll Galaxy Logistics Point to collect a delivery as raiders prepared to attack.

• The Mother God Elves’ fleet encountered the Horned Lizard Race, and both fleets immediately opened fire.
• Yilu ordered two formations to hold off the enemy while the rest of her fleet withdrew, and the sacrificed formation was annihilated.
• Liu Guang and Lu Xiao privately decided to help Yilu retaliate, and Liu Guang proposed a plan that excited her.
• A large fleet arrived above the Woll Galaxy Logistics Point to collect a delivery, while hidden raiders revealed themselves and waited to strike.

Luolin completed the handover of the Chaos Faction’s authority weapons to Mad Tiger, and the Raiders attacked before the fleet could leave the Logistics Point. Mad Tiger charged into the battle against the manifested Great Old Ones, while the conflict continued to escalate.

• Luolin presented Mad Tiger with the delivery contract for 324,000 spatial units of cargo, and Mad Tiger signed it.
• A beam struck and destroyed the Chaos Faction’s warship-shaped “Zhou” before it could teleport away from the Logistics Point.
• Tens of thousands of Raiders manifested planet-sized or larger bodies, making the surrounding space unstable.
• Mad Tiger grew larger than a star and attacked the nearest Great Old One, tearing it in half.
• The wounded Great Old One counterattacked Mad Tiger, and the battle continued.

Mad Tiger led the fleet through a battlefield crowded with Great Old Ones while raiders fought to seize the Authority Weapons being transported. The battle escalated as Mad Tiger met a World God and four more World Gods entered the fray.

• Mad Tiger charged through the Great Old Ones, clearing a path for the fleet as warships fired on the raiders.
• The raiders and concealed Chaos Faction lifeforms waited for Authority Weapons to spill from the fleet, while Star Gods joined the fighting.
• When the first cargo ship was destroyed, both factions' combatants abandoned their opponents to seize the scattered Authority Weapons.
• Mad Tiger collided with an unidentified World God, and their clash caused space to collapse and dark matter to surge in waves.
• Four more World Gods joined the battlefield as Mad Tiger and his opponent grappled.

Mad Tiger fought three Raider World Gods while trying to escort a fleet carrying Authority Weapons out of the battle. Lu Xiao and Liu Guang set off aboard an escort warship to find Old Feis or Calamity, and Lu Xiao decided to improve the Transforming Vehicle after learning how slowly ordinary ships traveled.

• Mad Tiger held his own against three World Gods as fleets and Authority Weapons were destroyed or captured around them.
• Mad Tiger summoned three more World Gods to help escort his fleet, but Raider World Gods intercepted them.
• Lu Xiao and Liu Guang said goodbye to Yilu and boarded an escort warship with its pilots.
• Lu Xiao gave the pilots the star chart from the Chosen One of "Death" and set a course for its blinking dot, which represented either Old Feis or Calamity.
• The Ship Commander explained that the journey would take nearly half a year, prompting Lu Xiao to miss Driver and resolve to raise the Transforming Vehicle's level of life.

After arriving at a Starfield where a months-long battle had just ended, Lu Xiao and Liu Guang became trapped in the damaged space and rescued a Wanderer ship caught in a Dark Matter vortex. Liu Guang planned for Lu Xiao to meet the grateful Wanderer leader, Marnal, so the Wanderers would know who had helped them.

• Lu Xiao and Liu Guang reached the Starfield after four months of travel and witnessed the Chaos Faction's fleet flee as four World Gods broke out of the battle.
• After Mad Tiger left and the raid ended, Wanderers entered the devastated Starfield to salvage Authority Weapons and wreckage for Star Source.
• Lu Xiao and Liu Guang spotted a Wanderer spacecraft trapped in a Dark Matter vortex and decided to help it escape.
• The rescued ship's leader, the God named Marnal, thanked the Mother Goddess Elves over radio, while Lu Xiao noted that he had given the rescue order.
• Liu Guang proposed that Lu Xiao visit Marnal so the Wanderers would know who had helped them.

Lu Xiao and Liu Guang met Marnal, a wandering god who hoped to rebuild his fallen species, and learned about the different groups of wanderers. Liu Guang offered Marnal’s crew a chance to travel alongside them, leaving Marnal with an opportunity to prove he could turn their journey into a lasting connection with humanity.

• The chapter described Star Drifters as scavengers, Star Raiders as pirates, and Star Chasers as powerful black-market traders.
• Lu Xiao and Liu Guang boarded Marnal’s ship and learned that he was a god with authority whose species had been wiped out.
• Marnal shared his knowledge of the Universe and his determination to rebuild his species, while Lu Xiao and Liu Guang grew impressed by him.
• Liu Guang offered Marnal’s group the chance to travel with them, which could help protect the wanderers and create ties with humanity.
• Liu Guang regarded the journey as a test of whether Marnal could seize the opportunity and build a friendship that might benefit his species later.

Lu Xiao and his companions encountered an abandoned Authority Weapon shaped like a crystal skull, whose strange gravity tore apart ships that approached it. After several Wanderer ships met the same fate, Lu Xiao and Liu Guang suspected the skull was alive.

• Lu Xiao and his companions contacted Luolin, who agreed to search the Logistics Point's territory for a Chosen One of "Death" and wait for them.
• Lu Xiao and his companions spotted a crystal skull surrounded by shipwrecks as they neared the Logistics Point.
• The commander reported that gravity grew stronger near the skull, and a large warship was torn apart when it approached.
• The skull pulled the wreckage into a fast orbit, then let the fragments drift again after about a minute.
• Dozens of Wanderer ships rushed toward the skull during the next lull and were destroyed in the same way.
• Lu Xiao and Liu Guang concluded that the skull might be alive because it activated without anyone supplying energy.

Lu Xiao and his group spent more than half a year watching the Crystal Skull, concluding that a being used it to lure Wanderers with a power likely tied to Desire. When the skull fled, they pursued it and learned that the chase was leaving slower Wanderers to be massacred.

• Lu Xiao and his group observed the Crystal Skull and concluded that its controlling being used it as bait, likely exploiting a desire for wealth and survival.
• Lu Xiao, Liu Guang, and their group remained near the skull for more than half a year as Wanderers gathered and ships vanished.
• Lu Xiao noticed the Crystal Skull moving away, and he and Liu Guang confirmed that its owner was trying to escape.
• Lu Xiao ordered the warship to pursue the skull, and the group caught up while towing Marnal's ship.
• Lu Xiao had Marnal contact the outside and learned that Wanderers who had fallen behind were being massacred.

Old Feis revealed that the Crystal Skull was bait in a trap he and Calamity had set to lure Wanderers into space, where Calamity could complete his Ascension Ceremony. Lu Xiao ordered the Mother God Elves’ warship to fight for the skull, while Calamity attacked the Wanderers left behind.

• Old Feis appeared from the Crystal Skull, taunted the Wanderers, and vanished after leaving the Authority Weapon behind.
• Liu Guang told Lu Xiao that the Holy Relic might raise him to the level of the Great Old Ones, so Lu Xiao ordered the warship to fire on ships approaching the skull.
• The warship commander opened fire and activated the ship’s energy shield as other Wanderers raced toward the Crystal Skull.
• Calamity attacked the Wanderers gathered along Lu Xiao’s route, using his original nebula form to control nearby elements.
• Calamity’s trap was revealed: he had used the Crystal Skull as bait to gather Wanderers for his Ascension Ceremony, while Old Feis hurried to help him escape afterward.

Calamity used his authority to create a dark-matter vortex that mimicked a black hole, destroying the Wanderers’ fleet during his ascension ceremony. Old Feis arrived in time to witness the massacre and prepared to take Calamity away once the ceremony ended.

• Old Feis noticed a warship belonging to the Mother Goddess Elves but continued rushing toward Calamity to protect him during his ascension.
• Calamity intensified the spatial tremors and created a dark-matter vortex he called “Seemingly Black Hole.”
• The terrified Wanderers pushed their engines to escape the vortex, but their spacecraft were pulled apart and their crews were dragged in and stripped of their divinity.
• Old Feis arrived and watched Calamity destroy the fleet, calling him a freak.
• Old Feis judged that the struggle over the Crystal Skull was likely nearly over.

Luolin arrived to help Old Feis and Calamity, while Lu Xiao and his companions faced two Great Old Ones attacking their warship over the Crystal Skull. Liu Guang tried to split the Great Old Ones by ordering the warship to fire on their ships.

• Old Feis prepared to take Calamity away before the fighters over the Crystal Skull returned, but Luolin arrived aboard a Silicon-Based Race warship after receiving Lu Xiao's message.
• Luolin recognized Calamity and realized he was likely completing an act of consciousness; Old Feis and Calamity relaxed when they saw him.
• Two Great Old Ones revealed their true forms and attacked Lu Xiao's warship after Marnal's ship was destroyed and eight of his members died.
• Liu Guang kept the warship in the area because Lu Xiao wanted the Crystal Skull, then ordered it to fire on the two Great Old Ones' ships to break their alliance.

As the Mother God Elf warship fled two Great Old Ones and two battling warships, Marnal proposed a way to seize the Authority Weapon and escape. Liu Guang and Lu Xiao supported his plan, leaving the commander to carry it out.

• The commander explained that the warship could exploit a brief gap in an enemy shield, but Liu Guang and Lu Xiao lacked the skills to aim manually.
• Marnal volunteered to operate the weapons, explaining that his people often used manual targeting, and Liu Guang ordered the commander to let him try.
• Marnal called for full speed, but the commander objected that the warship would soon enter a subspace lane and could not reliably hit a moving, shielded warship.
• Marnal clarified that they should target the stationary, unshielded Authority Weapon instead, using the tractor beam to pull it aboard before entering subspace.
• Lu Xiao understood the plan and praised Marnal's idea.

Lu Xiao and Liu Guang’s crew captured the Crystal Skull with Marnal’s precise shot and escaped into subspace. The Mother Goddess Elves invited Marnal to join their fleet, but Liu Guang offered to help rebuild his species in exchange for ten universe years of service to humanity, prompting Marnal to ask whether they could do so even if the Silicon-Based Race had destroyed his people.

• The warship accelerated toward subspace while Lu Xiao and Liu Guang watched the Great Old Ones fight over the Authority Weapon.
• Marnal used the tractor beam to pull the Crystal Skull into the warship just before it entered subspace.
• The warship escaped before the Great Old Ones realized the Authority Weapon had vanished.
• The commander invited Marnal to join the Mother Goddess Elves’ fleet, impressed by his ability to hit a target at nearly one-tenth the speed of light.
• Marnal asked whether the Mother Goddess Elves would help rebuild his species, and Liu Guang offered humanity’s help for ten universe years of service.
• Marnal asked what would happen if the Silicon-Based Race had destroyed his people.

Liu Guang learned that Particle Organisms had destroyed Marnal’s species, and Marnal hoped to rebuild it through technology. After swearing before Truth that his people would serve humanity in return, he was told that Truth had heard the oath and breaking it would bring consequences.

• Marnal explained that Particle Organisms had destroyed his species and could not enter the Woll Galaxy because its rules were distorted.
• Liu Guang told Marnal that technology would eventually challenge the Particle Organisms, giving Marnal hope of rebuilding his species.
• Marnal asked to study technology at Galaxy Academy so he could rebuild his people.
• Marnal swore before Truth that his people would become humanity’s faithful vassals, or that he himself would become humanity’s loyal slave.
• Liu Guang tried to dissuade Marnal, but the warship commander confirmed that Truth had heard the oath and that breaking it would have consequences.

After Marnal joined humanity, Lu Xiao and Liu Guang learned that their warship was trapped in Subspace because its engine could not be shut down, leaving them with no reliable way to escape. As they considered a desperate repair attempt, a planet-sized, clothed anglerfish appeared ahead.

• Lu Xiao realized he could use Truth as a witness to expose difficult-to-detect lies, while the commander nervously disclaimed his joke about fooling Truth.
• Marnal joined humanity for life, and the original crew chose to keep following him despite the warship’s engine being stuck at full power.
• Lu Xiao proposed restarting or hitting the faulty engine, but Liu Guang dismissed the idea and asked the commander what her training advised.
• The commander explained that escaping Subspace required stopping the ship with reverse thrust, but the engine could not be shut down and no one aboard knew how to repair it.
• Lu Xiao and Liu Guang considered using Instigation to get the mechanics to attempt a repair, though the crew’s training described suicide as the only alternative to madness if they remained stranded.
• A planet-sized anglerfish wearing Western cowboy-style leather clothing appeared in front of the warship.

Old Feis rescued Lu Xiao and the others by carrying their damaged warship out of subspace. At the Logistics Point, Liu Guang persuaded Luolin that headquarters had sent him to earn a promotion, leaving Lu Xiao skeptical of their assumptions.

• Old Feis found Lu Xiao's warship entering subspace and caught up with it.
• Old Feis weakened the flesh at the point of impact, enveloped the warship, and carried it out of subspace, though the ship was nearly wrecked.
• Liu Guang asked whether Luolin could deploy Postmen to guard the Logistics Point, and Luolin confirmed that he could.
• Liu Guang told Luolin that headquarters wanted him to build credentials and that his subordinates could handle the dangerous work.
• Luolin believed Liu Guang's explanation and felt reassured, while Lu Xiao doubted that either of them knew headquarters' true intentions.

Liu Guang persuaded Luolin to pursue the company's interests in the Woll Galaxy by presenting the assignment as a chance to earn a major promotion. Luolin agreed, while Liu Guang and Lu Xiao planned to use his warship, authority, and strength to make their own journey easier.

• Luolin told Liu Guang that he wanted to appoint a subordinate in his place and return to his Home Planet for a carefree life.
• Liu Guang argued that Luolin still needed to work in the Woll Galaxy and could earn a promotion by securing the company's interests there.
• Liu Guang pointed to Luolin's warship and the Logistics Point's maximum protection as evidence that the company expected him to succeed.
• Lu Xiao warned Luolin that the company's investment could mean the assignment was difficult, but his warning reinforced Liu Guang's explanation.
• Luolin agreed to take on the assignment, and Liu Guang saw a chance to benefit from Luolin's resources, authority, and strength.

Lu Xiao and his companions brought Calamity to Zirconium Death Star, where he advanced toward becoming a Great Old One. While waiting, Old Feis explained Death’s work in the Woll Galaxy and received a star chart from Lu Xiao, which he suspected might signal new arrangements.

• Luolin secured the Logistics Point, returned his people to safety, and took Lu Xiao and the others to Zirconium Death Star, leaving Marnal at the Mother God Elves’ base.
• Lu Xiao and the others watched Calamity’s nebula-like original body surrounded by Ravens, then returned to their warship because the planet’s reflected colors strained their eyes.
• Old Feis explained that Death had sent him and Calamity to the Woll Galaxy to collect souls, where constant warfare and the Species Ranking Tournament had overwhelmed them with work.
• Lu Xiao offered to have Old Feis’s mech built from nuclear waste, prompting Old Feis to excitedly remind him that he was still owed one.
• Lu Xiao handed Old Feis a star chart from one of his colleagues, and Old Feis wondered what new arrangement it might represent.

Lu Xiao and his companions decided to seek information about a life-related Authority at the Central Black Market, despite having little Star Source to spend. After Calamity advanced to a Great Old One, the group traveled there and reached the edge of its star system.

• Old Feis told Lu Xiao that the Central Black Market was the Woll Galaxy’s intelligence hub, run by the powerful Star Chasers, who sold information and goods and offered assassination services.
• Luolin explained the Star Chasers’ reach, and Liu Guang asked about selling the Crystal Skull, though he had no intention of giving up its Authority.
• Lu Xiao realized the group lacked enough Star Source for the market and considered robbing Source-Bearing People they encountered along the way.
• After more than half a month, Calamity completed his advancement to a Great Old One and reunited with the group, briefly creating an awkward moment when he appeared wearing Liu Guang’s face.
• The group traveled toward the Central Black Market but found no Source-Bearing People; Luolin routed the warship through a Subspace Lane, and they eventually reached the edge of the market’s star system.