Chapter Summaries

Hu Yu asked the leaders of the six allied civilizations how they came to trust one another, and the Brilliant Star Civilization’s leader recounted their shared flight from the Insect Race and the help they gave each other. The six survivors reached a peaceful planetary system with their fleets intact but their knowledge and industrial bases lost, and they resolved to keep their civilizations alive.

• Hu Yu asked the six leaders how they had formed their alliance and trusted one another.
• The Brilliant Star Civilization’s leader described how the Insect Race destroyed their home system and how fewer than 50,000 survivors escaped in damaged ships.
• After receiving news of the Great Star Region Civilization Alliance’s defensive line, the Brilliant Star survivors continued their journey while pursued by the swarms.
• The Brilliant Star fleet defeated plunderers attacking the Quaking Star Civilization, then traveled with it and later rescued the Sand Star Civilization and the Zhalong Star Civilization.
• Near the defensive line, the four allied civilizations took in the exhausted South Star Civilization and North Star Civilization and carried their fleets to safety.
• The six civilizations settled in a peaceful planetary system, discovered they had lost their industrial base and planetary knowledge, and decided to rebuild rather than perish.

Hu Yu agreed to form an alliance with the six civilizations, and the group named it the Star Ring Alliance. They accepted humanity’s proposed terms but refused its faster-than-light travel technology, insisting on developing it themselves.

• The Brilliant Star leader described how the seven civilizations rebuilt their societies and advanced while fearing a future threat from the Insect Race.
• Hu Yu agreed to the proposed alliance after the Brilliant Star leader warned that the Insect Race could threaten them if the Great Star Region Civilizations abandoned their defenses.
• Hu Yu named the alliance the Star Ring Alliance, and Academician Zeng outlined terms including relocation to JD6, technological development, and shared leadership.
• The alliance members agreed to the terms, but the Zhalong Star Civilization rejected humanity’s thousand-times-light-speed technology.
• The Brilliant Star leader explained that the other civilizations also refused faster-than-light technology because they trusted one another and wanted to develop it independently.

Hu Yu helped the allied civilizations settle in the JD6 Planetary System and encouraged their development through resources, contribution points, and guidance from human scientists. The chapter ended with a Quaking Star Civilization scientist gaining confidence to continue researching the grand unified model.

• Hu Yu welcomed the allied civilizations to move their inhabited planets to the JD6 Planetary System and promised to build defenses for them.
• Eight life-bearing planets and their fleets arrived, and Hu Yu demonstrated the Grim Slayer’s strength by having the fleets attack it.
• Hu Yu provided more planets for living and production, then introduced a contribution point system that rewarded study and research.
• After fifty years, some people had earned small spaceships, while human scientists in a space city around Earth Four advised researchers from the allied civilizations.
• A Quaking Star Civilization scientist sought the grand unified model’s equation, and Teacher Zhang encouraged him to solve it through his own research.

By 8000, humanity had identified over 1.3 million possible spatial anomalies where the Treant Civilization might be, while academicians continued searching for Zhang Yuanshan. The fleet also developed a stronger Reversed State armor and a more flexible spatial area attack, though the new attack still prevented warships from maneuvering.

• In 7998, the spacecraft thirty light-years beyond the Milky Way sent back its final photographs, bringing the total identified spatial anomalies to more than 1.3 million, but the computer could not pinpoint the Treant Civilization.
• Academicians Zeng and Liu and the other researchers painstakingly compared the anomalies as they searched for Zhang Yuanshan’s location.
• At the end of 8000, Academician Li Youwei created a second unnatural Perfect Structure and its Reversed State, using a third more Basic Energy than the first.
• The academicians judged that the new Reversed State would offer stronger defense and concluded that Grim Slayers needed both types of Reversed State armor.
• Academician Liu developed a flexible spatial area attack based on the Xuan Star Civilization’s Space Barrier, allowing warships to activate it regardless of their formation.
• Tests showed the area attack could damage an unarmored Grim Slayer at close range, but activating it disrupted the surrounding space and prevented the fleet from maneuvering.

Humanity searched three spatial anomalies for the hidden Treant Civilization, but a Carina Civilization spacecraft ordered them away from one site. Hu Yu sent gravitational bombs toward the two remaining sites to force a response, and the chapter ended before the first bomb was detonated.

• Academicians identified three spatial anomalies that might mark places where space had been cut and sent spacecraft to investigate them.
• The spacecraft found unusual spatial parameters but received no response, so they flew in widening circles to attract attention.
• A Carina Civilization warned the spacecraft to leave, and the human fleet withdrew after identifying the civilization as too dangerous to provoke.
• Hu Yu and the academicians decided to use gravitational bombs at the two remaining sites to search for the Treant Civilization.
• A spacecraft carrying a gravitational bomb reached the first target, but Hu Yu did not detonate it immediately.

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.