Recaps

Human Civilization found the Treefolk after using a gravity bomb to reveal their hidden space and brought Ninety-Seven and Zhang Yuanshan to seek their help. Grand Elder Zhigu demanded Ninety-Seven back and attacked after Hu Yu asked him to save Zhang Yuanshan, leaving the two sides poised to fight.

• After two years without a reply to their gravitational-wave messages, Hu Yu ordered a gravity bomb detonated, revealing a giant branch that destroyed two ships.
• Hu Yu sent a fleet carrying Ninety-Seven, Zhang Yuanshan, and medical personnel to the Treefolk’s hidden space.
• The Grim Slayers found enormous tree-covered worlds, and a giant tree approached them and demanded to know what had happened to the prince.
• Hu Yu identified his group as Human Civilization and asked Grand Elder Zhigu to save Zhang Yuanshan, explaining that Ninety-Seven had spent his energy saving them.
• Hu Yu defended Ninety-Seven when Zhigu insulted him, and Zhigu attacked as the Grim Slayers prepared to respond.

Hu Yu brought Ninety-Seven and Zhang Yuanshan to the Treefolk patriarch after Grand Elder Zhigu attacked the human fleet. The patriarch used Ninety-Seven’s fruit to restore him, leaving the prince lying among the patriarch’s fallen leaves as Wen Zhonghua called to him.

• Hu Yu’s Grim Slayers blasted Grand Elder Zhigu’s branches and leaves, provoking him to unleash more power until the Treefolk patriarch ordered him to stop.
• The patriarch apologized to Hu Yu and invited him to bring Ninety-Seven and Zhang Yuanshan down to the planet, while the fleet stayed behind.
• Hu Yu gave the patriarch the fruit Ninety-Seven had left behind, and the patriarch assured him that the restored prince would remain the same person.
• The patriarch placed the fruit inside Ninety-Seven’s body and poured in his energy, causing his leaves and branches to wither over the next two hours.
• The patriarch laid Ninety-Seven on a bed of dead leaves, and Wen Zhonghua crawled over and called out to him.

Ninety-Seven awoke after nearly 5,000 years, reunited with the Tree Race patriarch and Grand Elder Zhigu, and learned Hu Yu had brought him there for help. The patriarch’s elders began treating Zhang Yuanshan’s unusual brain condition, a process expected to take a thousand years, while Hu Yu and the others waited in the Tree Race’s meeting hall.

• Ninety-Seven woke and reunited with the patriarch and Grand Elder Zhigu, apologizing for once defying the grand elder.
• Hu Yu told Ninety-Seven that nearly 5,000 years had passed and that humanity had reached small star sector civilization technologically.
• The patriarch examined Zhang Yuanshan and found unusual negative energy fixed inside the particles of his brain.
• The patriarch said Zhang Yuanshan could be saved through precise energy manipulation, but the elders would need about a thousand years to treat him.
• The patriarch sent Hu Yu, Ninety-Seven, and the others to the Tree Race meeting hall, where they met several dozen Treefolk.

The Tree Race revealed how it concealed its region of space and explained its unusual hollow, root-built planets to Hu Yu’s delegation. The patriarch recounted how the Tree Race was devastated fighting the Insect Race and then hunted by other civilizations, ending with the Far Watcher Civilization’s attack.

• The Tree Race arranged dozens of planets and stars around their star, then used the treants’ energy to hide the region of space from view.
• The Great Elder told Hu Yu that a human old man had captured and studied him more than two million years earlier, then abandoned him outside Tree Race territory.
• The patriarch explained that the apparent planets were hollow spheres made from intertwined roots and soil, with shells less than 5,000 kilometers thick.
• The patriarch said the Tree Race had withdrawn from the world after losing more than nine-tenths of its strength fighting the Insect Race and being hunted by other civilizations.
• The patriarch revealed that the Tree Race’s elders could store and unleash enormous amounts of energy, and that more than two billion elders had dwindled to fewer than five hundred million before the Far Watcher Civilization attacked.

The Tree Race Patriarch recounted how the Far Watcher Civilization attacked and nearly destroyed his people, then asked Hu Yu to help rescue the Tree Race captives. He explained that the Far Watchers had over a hundred billion warships because their people merged their brains with machines, though their civilization remained technologically weak for its level.

• The Patriarch said the Tree Race fought the Far Watcher Civilization after it attacked them, but fled when the war left their people nearly wiped out.
• The Patriarch warned Hu Yu that the Great Star Region Civilizations might have approved of the attack and urged his civilization to preserve its strength against the Insect Race.
• The Patriarch asked Hu Yu to rescue the Tree Race captives, and Hu Yu balked at the Far Watchers' vast fleet and the uncertainty that the captives still lived.
• The Patriarch said a hidden Tree Race elder had sensed their people near the Far Watcher Civilization's territory and estimated the Far Watchers had over a hundred billion warships there.
• The Patriarch explained that the Far Watchers transplanted their brains into machines, giving individuals great computing power, but said their creativity and warship strength remained poor.

The Tree Race patriarch asked General Hu Yu to rescue his people from the Far Watcher Civilization, whose fleet numbered around a hundred billion warships. After revealing the enemy's hidden location and a weakness in its ships, the patriarch offered to teach Hu Yu how to cut space, while Academician Li Youwei proposed studying a captured Far Watcher warship; the Tree Race remained reluctant to emerge because other civilizations would hunt them for the energy in their bodies.

• General Hu Yu said his forces could not defeat the Far Watcher Civilization, but Ninety-Seven pleaded for him to rescue the Tree Race captives.
• The Tree Race patriarch explained that the Far Watcher fleet was hidden in cut-off space, had weak defenses, and was occupied fighting the Insect Race.
• The patriarch gave Hu Yu the coordinates, which Wen Zhonghua recognized as one of three suspicious locations his people had previously identified.
• The patriarch said Great Star Region Civilizations monitored spatial fluctuations through the fourth dimension and offered to teach Hu Yu how to cut space if he rescued the Tree Race.
• Academician Li Youwei proposed analyzing a captured Far Watcher warship, and the patriarch offered the intact vessel for research.
• Hu Yu questioned why the Tree Race stayed hidden, and the patriarch explained that emerging would expose his people to other civilizations seeking the energy in their bodies.

The Tree Race agreed to rise again and rescue its captured people, but its chief refused to join the Star Ring Alliance or move into human territory. Ninety-Seven chose to leave with Hu Yu’s group and join the Human Civilization, arguing that the Tree Race needed human support to grow strong.

• Ninety-Seven urged the Tree Race to stop hiding and fight for its survival, and the chief and elders released energy across their planets before agreeing to rise again.
• Hu Yu revealed that the Human Civilization had formed the Star Ring Alliance with six other civilizations and offered its strength for the rescue.
• The chief agreed to share the knowledge of cutting space but refused to relocate the Tree Race or join the alliance.
• As Hu Yu and his companions prepared to leave, Ninety-Seven announced that he would go with them and join the Human Civilization.
• Ninety-Seven rebuked the chief and elders for refusing help, pointing out how quickly the Human Civilization had advanced compared with the Tree Race.

The Tree Race formally joined the Star Ring Alliance and began relocating its planets toward the galaxy’s edge, while the humans examined captured Far Watcher Civilization warships. The chapter left the Tree Race traveling toward alliance territory and the Human Civilization copying the warships’ technology.

• Ninety-Seven challenged the alliance offer, but the patriarch announced that the Tree Race would join the Star Ring Alliance and relocate to Human Civilization territory.
• The general explained that the alliance’s seven civilization leaders made decisions together and advised the Tree Race to travel along the galaxy’s edge.
• The general warned the patriarch that surviving Far Watcher Civilization prisoners might still contact their civilization through the fourth dimension, and Hu Yu confirmed that humans maintained constant contact with their civilization.
• Hu Yu left with the general as the Tree Race’s planets began curvature flight toward the galaxy’s edge, where the Treefolk could replenish their energy along the way.
• The humans sent maintenance robots to dismantle and scan five Far Watcher Civilization warships, while factories began replicating their components.

Academician Xiao examined a surviving Far Watcher Civilization brain and used connected devices to make it believe it had captured treants and was interrogating them. The brain revealed its civilization's territory coordinates before Xiao ended the experiment and reported its success to Hu Yu.

• Academician Xiao and the robots entered the warship's main control room and found a living Far Watcher Civilization brain connected to a black box by fine filaments.
• The brain refused to cooperate, so Academician Xiao had the robots carry its glass container away and ordered devices made to influence it.
• Academician Xiao explained to Hu Yu that he planned to connect the devices to the brain and frighten or manipulate it.
• A few days later, Academician Xiao restored the brain's sight and hearing through external devices, and it began screaming and acting as though it had captured treants.
• The brain gave what it believed were the Treant Alliance's territory coordinates and offered to help destroy the Treant Civilization.
• Academician Xiao shut off the devices and told Hu Yu that the experiment had succeeded.

Academician Xiao extracted what little information he could from a Far Watcher Civilization captive, including the location of the planet holding the enslaved treants. Years later, Hu Yu welcomed the Tree Race into the Star Ring Alliance and promised support for a rescue, while humanity still lacked a plan to confront the Far Watcher Civilization.

• Academician Xiao implanted a scenario in the captive's mind and, three days later, obtained its outdated knowledge and the location of the planet where the treants were imprisoned.
• Academician Xiao examined the captive's brain-machine connection and suspected it could only be made once, forcing the Far Watcher Civilization to abandon their bodies.
• The Treant Civilization arrived at JD6 and the Tree Race patriarch questioned the strength of the Star Ring Alliance's other members.
• Hu Yu's allies defended their potential, and the Tree Race patriarch apologized and agreed that the alliance should stand together.
• Hu Yu pledged to help rescue the enslaved Tree Race, offered each allied civilization a copied Far Watcher warship, and urged them to develop quickly.
• Humanity remained unable to infiltrate the Far Watcher Civilization, while Academician Li continued studying its warships without revealing his plan.

Academician Li Youwei proposed using Kinetic Impact Ships and a Reversed State sphere to trap the Far Watcher Civilization and rescue the Treant Civilization. The Tree Race patriarch arrived ready to explain how the Tree Race could cut off space, though the plan still faced major challenges.

• The academicians tested the Far Watcher Civilization warship against the Grim Slayer and found its spatial attacks could barely affect the Second Reversed State Armor, while its other capabilities lagged behind Human Civilization’s.
• Hu Yu asked Academician Li Youwei how they could rescue the treants, and Li proposed building spike-shaped Kinetic Impact Ships to ram enemy warships.
• Li described converting energy into a vast sphere of Reversed State Armor to trap the Far Watcher Civilization so Kinetic Impact Ships could attack inside it.
• Hu Yu learned that the Treant Civilization’s space was about 1,000 astronomical units across and that fewer than a hundred million elder trees could help create the spatial wall.
• The Tree Race patriarch arrived and offered to explain how his people could cut off space.

The Tree Race patriarch revealed how his people cut and fold space, explaining that their compressed internal spaces let them concentrate energy into a cutting layer. Hu Yu and Academician Li Youwei planned to adapt the method to surround the Far Watcher Civilization’s territory, but the energy requirements and the Reversed State’s effectiveness remained uncertain.

• The Tree Race patriarch shared the space-cutting method with Hu Yu and Academician Li Youwei, saying the alliance’s efforts to rescue his people had earned his trust.
• The patriarch explained that the Tree Race used compressed spaces inside their bodies to push energy to extreme density and cut out a region of space.
• Hu Yu and Academician Li Youwei learned that the folded space had to be maintained with continual pressure, and that a gravity bomb could disrupt it.
• The patriarch said cutting a space two hundred astronomical units wide consumed the energy of fifty million elders, while enclosing the Far Watcher Civilization’s territory would require much more.
• Academician Li Youwei estimated they might need one to two billion elders’ energy to surround the territory, and said research would determine whether the energy layer could be converted into the Reversed State.

Humanity developed the Stinger kinetic impact ship and equipped the Grim Slayer with a faster-than-light space weapon while its allied civilizations advanced. In 8690 CE, Luo Zhigao’s rendezvous site at Epsilon Eridani was a field of ruins, where miniature spacecraft detected large quantities of organic matter and raised the possibility of a low-level civilization or a swarm of bugs.

• Academician Li and the Tree Race Patriarch discussed the difficulty of converting energy directly into an equal volume of Reversed State.
• Ten years later, humanity designed the Stinger, and tests showed it could pierce a Grim Slayer’s Reversed State armor at 0.4 times the speed of light.
• Two hundred years later, Academician Liu solved the rotating Space Shockwave problem, allowing the Grim Slayer to use a faster-than-light space weapon.
• Hu Yu’s allied civilizations reached the Star System-Level Civilization stage, and he shared technologies suited to their development paths.
• In 8690 CE, Luo Zhigao’s miniature spacecraft found Epsilon Eridani destroyed and detected large quantities of organic matter, prompting Academician Zeng to suggest a low-level civilization or a swarm of bugs.

Hu Yu and the others investigated Epsilon Eridani, left a message for Luo Zhigao, and returned to the ruins of the Solar System after more than 6,000 years. They renewed their resolve to restore their home and headed for Upsilon1 Hydrae, hoping to hear that Luo Zhigao and his people were safe.

• The group concluded that a swarm had likely appeared at Epsilon Eridani and planned to collect organic samples for Academician Xiao to analyze.
• Hu Yu left a message saying they would wait at Upsilon1 Hydrae for 50 years before meeting again in 5,000 years, then ordered the miniature spacecraft to withdraw.
• The group chose to visit the Solar System and found that the Sun and most planets had been destroyed.
• The survivors recalled how the leader secretly built the Polaris Fleet, evacuated 1.4 billion people, and fled as the swarm destroyed Earth and the Solar System.
• Hu Yu encouraged everyone to keep working to defeat the Fish Horse Star Civilization and rebuild the Solar System.
• The miniature spacecraft left for Upsilon1 Hydrae, where Hu Yu hoped to receive word from Luo Zhigao's spacecraft.

After thousands of years, Zhang Yuanshan awoke from his long sleep and returned to the fleet, which had grown into a Small Star Sector Civilization. In 10000 AD, Academician Zhou Xiaohua made a breakthrough while investigating virtual particles appearing in an absolute vacuum.

• After waiting 50 years at Upsilon1 Hydrae, Hu Yu returned the miniature spacecraft to Epsilon Eridani and gave up on finding Luo Zhigao's fleet for now.
• By 9000 AD, the fleet had grown to 80 billion people, developed hundreds of millions of warships, and moved to the galactic rim to support the Treant Civilization.
• The Tree Race emerged from hidden space with Zhang Yuanshan, and Hu Yu welcomed him back before sending him to reunite with his family.
• After hundreds of millions of attempts, an invisible hand finally caught the two elusive balls.
• In 10000 AD, Academician Zhou Xiaohua celebrated a breakthrough after studying virtual particle pairs that appeared in an absolute vacuum without producing energy.

After nearly two thousand years, Academician Zhou Xiaohua found a way to extract genuine virtual particles, which appeared in a vacuum without ordinary energy and could become a powerful weapon. Hu Yu awarded Zhou the Gold Ship Medal, and the discovery inspired a new wave of enthusiasm for study across the fleet.

• Academician Zhou Xiaohua explained that genuine virtual particle pairs consisted of one real-energy particle and one virtual-energy particle, and that their properties defied existing rules.
• After nearly two thousand years of effort, Academician Zhou found a way to hold a genuine virtual particle in existence by controlling the pair before they vanished.
• Academician Zeng congratulated Zhou on his breakthrough and encouraged him to continue investigating virtual energy, despite its unexplained origin and negative mass.
• The next day, Hu Yu announced the discovery and awarded Academician Zhou the Gold Ship Medal.
• Academician Zhou's story spread through the fleet and inspired renewed enthusiasm for study.

Hu Yu continued preparing for a rescue of the Tree Race while Academician Li struggled to create the third reversed state. Years later, Li solved the problem, and the Tree Race patriarch pledged every elder to the operation despite the danger.

• Hu Yu expanded virtual-particle production, but Academician Li told the Tree Race patriarch that energy shrank too much to form an enclosed space capable of trapping the Far Watcher Civilization.
• Hu Yu's miniature spacecraft waited at Epsilon Eridani and Upsilon1 Hydrae for Luo Zhigao, but he missed a second rendezvous.
• The Tree Race patriarch told Hu Yu that the Tree Race had over one billion elders, drawn from generations who had accumulated internal spaces.
• Hu Yu told the patriarch that Academician Li had solved the third reversed-state problem and warned that the rescue would require the elders' help and bring casualties.
• The Tree Race patriarch committed every elder to the rescue, and Hu Yu said he would discuss whether the operation could begin ahead of schedule.

After six thousand years of preparation, humanity debated whether to launch a rescue operation against the Far Watcher Civilization to free the Treefolk. The leaders chose to attack immediately and planned to force the hidden fleet into normal space, where the Treefolk elders could act.

• Academician Li explained that one billion Tree Race elders could create a Third Reversed State energy layer, and described his research into the more powerful Fourth Reversed State armor.
• Humanity amassed 1.4 billion Grim Slayers, 1.2 billion Stinger Kinetic Impact Ships, and four million virtual-matter arrows, but its forces remained far smaller than the Far Watcher Civilization's fleet.
• Chen Peng, Li Zhixiong, Gao Jianchuan, Yang Fan, and Zhonghua debated whether to wait for a larger fleet or attack at once, then agreed to proceed immediately.
• The leaders set a four-year limit for the main operation, warning that returning Far Watcher fleets could otherwise overwhelm them.
• The rescue plan called for gravity bombs to repeatedly force the Far Watcher fleet out of concealed space while miniature spacecraft tracked it from uninhabited planets, giving the Treefolk elders a chance to act.

Hu Yu’s alliance began harassing the Far Watcher Civilization to draw out its forces and prepare a rescue operation. The Far Watcher head of state discovered the concealed main fleet and ordered a massive counterattack while keeping forces to defend the inhabited planet.

• Hu Yu refused the Brilliant Star Civilization and the other five leaders’ request to join the rescue operation, telling them their fleets were too small and promising the Tree Race would understand.
• A gravity bomb revealed the Far Watcher Civilization’s hidden territory, prompting its head of state to order the fleet to conceal it again and protect its inhabited planet.
• After repeated gravity-bomb harassment, the Far Watcher Civilization emerged again and increased patrols, while Hu Yu’s miniature spaceship monitored its response.
• Wen Zhonghua ordered five hundred million Grim Slayers to act as bait while a hidden fleet of more than fifty billion Grim Slayers followed.
• The Far Watcher head of state learned of the hidden fleet and ordered a hundred billion warships to intercept it, ten billion to engage the bait fleet, and forty billion to defend the territory.

Li Shun’s forces launched a deceptive assault on the Far Watcher Civilization to reach the planet holding the Tree Race prisoners. The Far Watchers let the invading fleet enter their territory, and the Tree Race elders began moving into position to help form the containment sphere.

• The Far Watcher head of state ordered the invading fleet destroyed, while Li Shun’s forces used holographic projections to disguise their true numbers and intentions.
• The real fleet attacked the Far Watchers with Stingers and Grim Slayers, destroying more than a billion enemy warships despite the Far Watchers’ spatial attacks.
• The Far Watchers decided to draw the invaders into their territory and activate planetary defenses, believing their armor was the enemy’s main advantage.
• Li Shun and Old Hu took advantage of the Far Watchers’ restraint as the fleet neared the Tree Race prison planet, 400 astronomical units inside the territory.
• The Tree Race elders were ordered to move to their assigned coordinates and prepare to release their energy and internal spaces.

Wen Zhonghua’s forces struggled against the Far Watcher Civilization’s planetary cannons and overwhelming fleet while the Tree Race elders’ space expanded. The reversal instruments enclosed over seven hundred planets and nearly eighty billion Far Watcher warships in a gigantic sphere, leaving the Far Watcher Führer demanding that its cannons break through.

• The Tree Race elders revealed their true forms, and the Far Watcher Führer ordered the fleet to attack while keeping the elders alive.
• The planets opened thousands of enormous cannon ports and began devastating the Grim Slayers and Stinger Kinetic Impact Ships.
• Wen Zhonghua ordered the Stingers to ram the planets and the Grim Slayers to launch energy spheres, but the Far Watcher forces held the planets and destroyed hundreds of millions of attackers.
• Wen Zhonghua ordered the reversal instruments activated as the expanding space reached its designated size.
• The instruments formed a hollow sphere five hundred astronomical units wide around more than seven hundred planets and nearly eighty billion Far Watcher warships.
• The sphere’s wall withstood the collision of hundreds of millions of warships, and the Far Watcher Führer ordered the space cannons to attack it.

The Grim Slayers and Stingers struggled to rescue the Tree Race captives as the Far Watcher Civilization’s Space Cannons overwhelmed their forces. The Tree Race elders’ attempt to destroy the cannons failed, and the rescue operation was declared a complete failure.

• The Far Watcher Civilization damaged the giant Reversed State sphere, moved its planets into firing positions, and reduced the Grim Slayer and Stinger fleets.
• Hu Yu and the Tree Race patriarch considered retreat, but Grand Elder Zhigu and the elders chose to sacrifice themselves to destroy 3,000 Space Cannons and free the captives.
• Hu Yu ordered the remaining Grim Slayers to cover the elders, and the fleet attacked the Far Watcher Civilization’s forces as the elders charged toward the Space Cannons.
• The Far Watcher Civilization’s restraint prevented the elders from self-destructing, and its fleets surrounded them until they grew weak.
• Hu Yu declared the rescue a complete failure and ordered the Grim Slayers to launch spatial attacks to open an escape route for the elders.

Academician Xiao’s signal caused the Far Watcher Civilization’s warships to attack one another, allowing the Grim Slayer and the Tree Race elders to reach the captive Tree Race. As the elders rescued their people and escaped through the chaos, a clearheaded Far Watcher fleet pursued them but was slowed by its own warring ships.

• Academician Xiao sent a signal that made Far Watcher Civilization warships attack one another and destroy their space cannon.
• The Grim Slayer and the Tree Race elders charged into Far Watcher territory as the signal spread and the enemy fleets fell into chaos.
• The Head of State ordered inhabited planets moved away and the captive Tree Race planets relocated toward the battlefield’s edge.
• The Grim Slayer cleared enemy ships from the captive planets, and Grand Elder Zhigu’s elders pulled their people from the planets and carried them through the battle zone.
• A clearheaded fleet of forty billion Far Watcher warships pursued the Tree Race elders, but the chaotic fleet attacked it and the Grim Slayer resisted its fire.

Hu Yu’s forces rescued the Tree Race elders and attacked the Far Watcher Civilization, but the Heavenly Peak Civilization arrived and demanded compensation. Elder Daozi appeared to challenge its authority, leaving the dispute unresolved.

• The Tree Race elders escaped the battle as Hu Yu kept the Grim Slayers and Stingers fighting the Far Watcher Civilization.
• Hu Yu ordered the Grim Slayers to use spatial attacks, clearing a path to a planet while the Far Watcher Civilization’s ships suffered heavy damage.
• A huge warship arrived, and the Heavenly Peak Civilization ordered Hu Yu to hand over an intact warship as compensation.
• Hu Yu refused, arguing that humanity had only rescued the Tree Race and had not destroyed the Far Watcher Civilization.
• Elder Daozi arrived on an Azure Ox ship, and Wen Zhonghua greeted him warmly while the Heavenly Peak Civilization defended its actions to Mr. Zhou Dao.

The Heavenly Peak Civilization formally notified humanity that it had joined the Galactic Alliance and explained the alliance's rules and patrol service. Daozi arrived, ended the dispute by taking a Far Watcher planet as compensation for the Tree Race, then joined the humans for a feast before Hu Yu asked him questions.

• The Heavenly Peak Civilization explained the alliance's rules to Hu Yu and invited humanity to patrol against insect swarms, but Hu Yu declined for the time being.
• Hu Yu agreed to let the Tree Race matter go and took one of the Far Watcher Civilization's planets as compensation.
• Daozi transported the human warships and the planet to the JD6 Planetary System, and the Heavenly Peak Civilization allowed the Far Watcher Civilization to move into alliance space.
• Daozi entered the command room and reunited with Wen Zhonghua, who served him wine and a lavish meal.
• After eating, Daozi asked whether the humans had questions, and Hu Yu said they did.