Chapter Summaries

Bi Cha led the Xuan Star Civilization away after ending its conflict with humanity, while Hu Yu’s combined fleet recovered the Mu Star Civilization’s technology tree and prepared to deal with the humans held captive on its planets. The chapter ended as the brainwashed captives watched the Reaper descend toward them.

• Hu Yu offered condolences for the Xuan Star leader, and Bi Cha declared the grievances between the Xuan Star Civilization and humanity settled while refusing further contact.
• Bi Cha led the Xuan Star Civilization’s fleet away with its planets and antimatter star, leaving the battlefield behind.
• The combined fleet reached Mu Star Civilization territory, where the North Star Civilization’s leader reported finding its complete technology tree.
• Hu Yu praised the alliance’s civilizations for developing different technologies and ordered them to return to base after battlefield cleanup.
• Hu Yu confirmed that the fleet would address the humans held captive by the Mu Star Civilization, whose surviving captives watched the Reaper descend toward their planet.

After the Reaper destroyed the Mu Star Civilization’s warship, the rescued humans collapsed as their faith in God shattered, and many took their own lives. Hu Yu tried to calm them and sought a place for the trillions of survivors to settle, bringing them to Li Shun’s territory to ask him to accept them.

• Many captive humans killed themselves or prayed for God to save them after learning that God had been defeated.
• Hu Yu called for awakened people, and a one-eyed old man emerged; he explained that he had practiced asceticism to survive and knew God was a lie.
• After more than a hundred billion people died, the humans stopped their attempts at suicide when they saw the scale of the bloodshed.
• The Reaper displayed scenes of the Mu Star Civilization feeding humans to insects and explained the truth about their captivity.
• Hu Yu and his companion decided to ask Li Shun to take in the rescued humans, and Hu Yu urged Li Shun to accept responsibility for his people.

After Li Shun refused to take in the rescued humans, Hu Yu’s fleet relocated them to a harsh planet at the edge of the galaxy and began a brutal effort to break their dependence on their supposed gods. Hu Yu left them to survive with limited machine-tower assistance and entrusted Fang Wei with the eventual task of destroying the idea of god.

• Li Shun refused to accept the rescued humans, so the Reaper returned to the JD6 base while Wen Zhonghua agreed to find them a safe place to settle.
• Robots forced the surviving humans aboard the Reapers, and more than ten billion resisted so fiercely that they chose death over boarding.
• Hu Yu’s fleet carried the humans to a planet at the galaxy’s edge, placed it around a low-mass star, and destroyed its buildings before releasing the people onto it.
• Hu Yu announced that the humans would have to survive without divine help, leaving one hundred machine towers to teach basic skills and monitor their development.
• Hu Yu told Fang Wei that biotechnology had repaired his body and extended his life, and asked him to survive until he could destroy the existence of god.

After the Reaper fleet left, Hu Yu’s alliance consolidated its gains and prepared to visit the Carina Civilization. Carina’s billion-ship fleet arrived first, and Hu Yu welcomed it into alliance territory with a show of strength and trust.

• The Reaper fleet left 800 billion humans behind, while Hu Yu concluded their survival was no longer his concern.
• The alliance celebrated its victory over the Fish Horse Star Civilization and sent human scientists to help allied civilizations advance.
• Hu Yu agreed to visit the Carina Civilization and entrusted the fleet’s affairs to his chief of staff.
• A reconnaissance satellite detected a billion-ship fleet approaching alliance territory, and Hu Yu ordered nearby Reapers to intercept it.
• The fleet identified itself as the Carina Civilization and requested a passage, so Hu Yu ordered the alliance’s forces to assemble and welcomed the fleet inside.

The Carina Civilization fleet arrived at Earth Four to join the Star Ring Alliance, and Hu Yu welcomed its liaison officer, Dongdong. Dongdong confirmed that his civilization had monitored the Xuan Star and Mu Star Civilizations and explained why it had chosen to join, while the earlier agreement between Zhou Dao and the Carina leader remained unclear.

• The Carina Civilization fleet passed through the alliance’s ceremonial ring and landed on Earth Four, where Hu Yu and alliance leaders greeted its delegation.
• Hu Yu recognized Dongdong as a Destroyer who had once helped the Polaris Fleet, and Dongdong recalled meeting him more than twenty thousand years earlier.
• Hu Yu explained that he was a general of one human fleet, while Human Civilization’s former leader had departed with another fleet and had not been heard from since.
• Dongdong said the Carina leader had ordered the Xuan Star and Mu Star Civilizations monitored after Zhou Dao’s visit, and that the Carina Civilization had agreed to join the alliance after the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s defeat and the Mu Star Civilization’s destruction.
• Dongdong said the Carina Civilization sought the alliance for protection as insect swarms grew more active, while Hu Yu suspected Zhou Dao had discussed more with its leader than Dongdong knew.

Hu Yu welcomed the Carina Civilization into the Star Ring Alliance and discussed its strength, the Fish Horse Star Civilization, and plans to fight the Insect Race. Dongdong then revealed that the Carina leader’s gift was a dangerous defense system, and explained how Great Star Region Civilization warships used space exchange to deflect attacks.

• Dongdong reported that the Carina Civilization had fifty trillion people, six hundred billion main warships, and two thousand industrial planets, with five hundred billion ships fighting the Insect Race.
• Dongdong warned Wen Zhonghua not to provoke the Fish Horse Star Civilization and explained that it had five trillion ships at the defensive line and was secretly breeding the Insect Race.
• Hu Yu described the Star Ring Alliance and formally announced that the Carina Civilization had joined, while Dongdong promised to send people and fleets to alliance territory.
• Hu Yu said he planned to raise Human Civilization's fleet production and eventually send more than two hundred billion ships to fight the insect swarms, and Dongdong advised keeping at least one hundred billion ships at home.
• Dongdong said the Carina leader had prepared a dangerous defense-system gift that Hu Yu would have to retrieve, then described how Great Star Region Civilization warships used space exchange to carry attacks away.

Dongdong told Hu Yu and the others about a powerful defense system hidden in a dangerous river of matter deep in insect territory, which no civilization had managed to enter. Academician Zeng wanted to investigate, but Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua argued against the risk, and the chapter ended with scientists describing how long their own research might take.

• Dongdong explained that a river of matter might contain a defense system stronger than those used by great star region civilizations, but that every past expedition into it had vanished.
• Dongdong warned that the river lay deep in insect territory and that a small fleet should not approach without a foolproof plan.
• After Dongdong left, Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua urged Academician Zeng not to risk an expedition, arguing that their Reversed State Armor and future advances made the system unnecessary.
• Academician Li Youwei compared the search for the Fourth Reversed State to finding a marked atom while blindfolded, and Little Liu said Basic Space Theory might take even longer to solve.

Wen Zhonghua and the academicians debated whether to risk traveling through the insect region to reach a dangerous river of matter, while also discussing the search for the missing Minister Luo and leader. The chapter ended with their fleet-building effort constrained by limited production and population as they faced pressure to act before the swarm moved.

• Wen Zhonghua listened as several academicians volunteered to seek the river of matter for its defense system and possible research insights, despite the dangers.
• Academician Zeng explained that the river of matter lay about eighty thousand light-years away and that reaching its coordinates meant crossing an insect region filled with powerful insects.
• Wen Zhonghua and the others discussed finding Minister Luo and the missing leader, while Academician Liu Bo and Academician Zeng reassured them that both were likely safe.
• The group discussed the Photon Seeding Plan and the possibility of using entangled-photon channels to reach other galaxies in the distant future.
• Wen Zhonghua asked what they should do next, and the discussion turned to the slow production of Reaper ships and the risk of waiting too long before entering the insect region.
• The academicians noted that increasing ship production would consume an unreasonable share of their population, since more than fifty billion people already handled the remaining one percent of work that had not been automated.

Hu Yu and Academician Zeng discussed ways to raise warship production while reducing the burden on the population. They settled on pursuing a planetary shipbuilding machine and preparing hollow residential planets as insect swarms threatened to grow more dangerous.

• Hu Yu asked Academician Zeng how to increase ship production without forcing nearly every family member to work.
• Academician Zeng described modular construction, a planetary shipbuilding machine, and injection-molded warships, estimating that the latter methods could raise annual output to four million or even twenty million ships.
• Hu Yu told Academician Zeng to set modular construction aside and begin work on the planetary shipbuilding machine.
• Academician Zeng warned Hu Yu that insect swarms were growing more threatening and proposed building hollow residential planets to house people and store food and supplies.

Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua prepared the alliance for a possible insect swarm while its academicians planned an expedition into the dangerous insect zone. Hu Yu asked Ninety-Seven to move the Tree Race beyond alliance territory for safety, but Ninety-Seven questioned why other civilizations could not move away too.

• Hu Yu, Wen Zhonghua, and Academician Zeng discussed preparations for a possible insect disaster, including moving the Tree Race farther from the galaxy's center.
• The academicians departed to plan how to reach the river of matter through the insect zone, leaving the generals to arrange their protection.
• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua visited Ninety-Seven on Earth Four and learned that the Tree Race had grown to around five billion reserve elders.
• Hu Yu explained that the alliance wanted the Tree Race to leave its territory because its concealment was fragile and its huge elders could not shelter in warships.
• Ninety-Seven asked why the alliance's other civilizations could not move away as well.

General arranged for the Tree Race to move outside the galaxy while humans helped them settle and promised to bring children to their planet. In 30500 AD, Academician Xiao prepared a plan to disguise Reapers as insect kings so they could infiltrate the insect zone in search of the matter river.

• General persuaded Ninety-Seven to move the Tree Race outside the galaxy and promised to send human children to live on their planet.
• Academician Zeng asked Academician Xiao whether he had finished analyzing the insect kings' brain waves and consciousness fields.
• Academician Xiao explained that his simulations could fool the swarm if the fleet avoided high-rank insects and kept contact with other insects to a minimum.
• Academician Xiao cultivated biological armor to disguise a hundred thousand Reapers as insect kings for the mission through the insect zone.
• Hu Yu reinforced the Reapers with fifty-meter-thick Second Reversed State armor to protect the academicians during the operation.

Hu Yu sent Academician Zeng and several thousand academicians toward the insect zone, with Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong in command of their safety. At the Heavenly Peak Civilization’s defense line, the expedition witnessed an immense array of warships, planetary weapons, and artificial neutron stars.

• Hu Yu warned the academicians about the dangers of the insect swarms and matter river, then ordered Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong to keep everyone safe.
• Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong promised to protect the academicians and follow Hu Yu’s restrictions on entering dangerous areas.
• The expedition departed aboard Reapers disguised as an insect swarm, escorted by ten billion Reapers to the defense line.
• The fleet crossed several civilizations’ territories and reached the Heavenly Peak Civilization’s defense line near the galaxy’s central black hole.
• Academician Liu Bo and the others saw countless patrol ships, planetary weapons, and rows of neutron stars, which Academician Zeng identified as artificial.

The Human fleet reached the neutron star defensive line and told the Heavenly Peak Civilization it planned to enter the insect zone and explore the Matter River. After warning them about the swarm and the dangers ahead, Lord Heavenly Peak agreed to guide them through the line.

• The Human fleet stopped at the neutron star array and requested permission to pass through the defensive zone.
• Lord Heavenly Peak arrived and learned that the Humans intended to explore the Matter River using insect-warship imitations.
• Lord Heavenly Peak explained that the neutron star array defended against insects in both three-dimensional space and the fourth dimension, and that the civilizations had to protect the central black hole.
• Lord Heavenly Peak warned that faster-than-light travel was impossible inside the Matter River and that small insects appearing suddenly could be exceptionally powerful.
• Lord Heavenly Peak said a passage had been left open and offered to lead the Human fleet through it.

The Reaper fleet entered the bug zone while humanity continued preparations to increase ship production and build survival bases. In the alliance, the Eastern Pearl Civilization prepared a high-energy physics experiment, prompting Hu Yu to send a fleet to protect it as he and Wen Zhonghua went to observe.

• Tian Feng persuaded Demon Scorpion to let the human fleet pass through the defensive line into the bug zone.
• Hu Yu and Old Hu discussed plans for planetary shipbuilding machines, Reversed State survival bases, and space cannons.
• Yang Fan reported that the Eastern Pearl Civilization was preparing a high-energy physics experiment after its female head of state defeated a movement to split the family.
• Hu Yu ordered a fleet to defend the Eastern Pearl Civilization's planet without revealing its presence before the experiment.
• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua decided to go observe the Eastern Pearl Civilization.

The Reaper fleet watched the Eastern Pearl Civilization conduct high-energy particle experiments that breached the three-dimensional universe and drew a First-Tier Mother Insect. The fleet relocated the civilization’s planets and revealed itself, leaving the Eastern Pearl head of state stunned by the aliens’ power and the scale of the universe.

• Yang Fan and the general observed the Eastern Pearl Civilization’s particle accelerator and discussed how its experiment might attract the swarm.
• The Eastern Pearl Civilization’s first collision experiment lost particles into the fourth dimension, and its physicists prepared a higher-energy second test.
• The second experiment made more than half the particles vanish, and a First-Tier Mother Insect appeared near the accelerator.
• Zhonghua ordered the Eastern Pearl Civilization’s planets moved near a nearby star as the Reaper fleet approached.
• Several Reapers seized the civilization’s spacecraft and placed it on its planet, terrifying the population and prompting the head of state to reflect on the aliens’ power.

Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua waited for the insect swarm to descend near the Eastern Pearl Civilization, hoping to move the planet and leave the insects stranded in space. When the swarm attacked and the Reaper moved the planet, the fourth-dimensional exit moved with it, leaving the fleet unable to escape the infestation as planned.

• Hu Yu reasoned that first-tier mother insects were scouting for suitable coordinates and proposed waiting for the fourth-dimensional channel to open before moving the Eastern Pearl Civilization's planet.
• Insects emerged across the starfield, and the Eastern Pearl Civilization's leader learned that the swarm had devoured several cities and millions of people.
• The Reaper activated its curvature engine and moved the planet millions of kilometers, but the swarm's exit moved with the planet.
• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua realized that activating the fourth-dimensional channel to contact the academicians could alert the swarm and put the fleet and academicians at risk.

The human fleet could not separate the swarm’s higher-dimensional passages from the Eastern Pearl Civilization’s planet, while the planet’s leaders mobilized to fight the invasion and sought help from the aliens. As the swarm spread and the Separatist Faction exploited the crisis, the head of state ordered a violent crackdown.

• The humans realized that moving the planet had carried the swarm’s passages with it and decided to wait for the planet’s defenders or reinforcements rather than risk destroying the world.
• The Eastern Pearl Civilization’s military minister reported that thirty-five swarm exits had opened and requested nuclear bombs, but the head of state ordered the military to hold off and contact the alien fleets.
• The humans intercepted the Eastern Pearl Civilization’s radio message and replied that they had not released the swarm and were still seeking a solution.
• The head of state ordered the population to fight the bugs together after hearing the aliens’ response.
• The head of state learned that the Separatist Faction was spreading rumors and plotting assassinations, then authorized the immediate execution of implicated members when evidence was conclusive.

The head of state's guard wiped out the separatist organizers as Hu Yu prepared the RoboCops to confront the growing insect swarm on Eastern Pearl. The aliens began their attack, and Eastern Pearl's head of state ordered an apology and a message of thanks as the swarm faced the RoboCops' assault.

• The head of state's guard eliminated the separatist organizers in three days and drove the remaining rebels into hiding.
• Hu Yu ordered the RoboCops deployed after the number of high-dimensional exits rose to 120 and the swarm threatened Eastern Pearl.
• The RoboCops descended through the atmosphere and ignored the Eastern Pearl soldiers' attacks as they advanced toward the swarm.
• The head of state concluded the aliens had been observing the crisis and had shifted Everbright Planet, then ordered his minister to apologize and thank them.
• The RoboCops surrounded the infested areas, crushed the insects in an opening strike, and used laser fire to kill and disrupt the swarm.

Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua learned that the Crystal Civilization’s Terminator could move the higher-dimensional exits into a star, resolving the insect swarm threatening the Eastern Pearl Civilization. The Terminator stopped the robotic police officers from taking live mother insects, explaining that they could attract dangerous high-tier swarms and evolve into formidable creatures.

• After two months of watching the robotic police officers contain the swarm, Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua prepared to leave, but a spaceship from the Crystal Civilization arrived.
• The Terminator explained that the swarm contained about three units of mother insects and that the defense line could miss small passages into the three-dimensional universe.
• The Terminator moved each higher-dimensional exit into the star while the robotic police officers cleared the remaining insects, resolving the infestation in less than two hours.
• When the robotic police officers tried to take live insects for research, the Terminator blocked them and warned Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua that mother insects could attract high-tier swarms.
• The Terminator explained that mother insects could produce evolved insects powerful enough to threaten even the Great Star Region Civilization.

The Human Civilization’s Reaper fleet left the devastated Eastern Pearl Civilization after agreeing to monitor lower civilizations near its territory. Elsewhere in the galaxy, Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong’s fleet cautiously traveled through an immense insect swarm until Academician Zeng spotted an empty stretch ahead, prompting Chen Peng to stop.

• The robocop released a captured mother insect, and the Human Civilization agreed to monitor lower civilizations within a thousand light-years.
• The Reaper fleet departed, leaving the Eastern Pearl Civilization to rebuild its ruined cities and clear away the insect corpses.
• Chen Peng and Li Zhixiong guided their fleet through a galaxy-spanning swarm of immense, high-tier insects.
• After two months without being challenged, the fleet’s officers joked about the insects before Academician Zeng noticed the space ahead had suddenly become empty.
• Chen Peng sensed danger and ordered the fleet out of warp and to a complete stop.