Chapter Summaries

Humanity discovered that the Xuan Star Civilization had fallen into a mysterious sleeping crisis and sent a fleet to investigate. The Xuan Star leader remained awake and isolated for years, while unseen aliens began searching the civilization’s technology stores.

• In 43500, human scientists found the Xuan Star fleet and saw blurred images of Xuan Star people lying unconscious across their planets.
• Hu Yu ordered Zhonghua to bring 20 billion Reapers and take Academician Xiao and others to investigate the Xuan Star Civilization.
• The Xuan Star leader’s people fell asleep one by one, and the afflicted officers, including Bi Cha, disabled fleet systems before they lost consciousness.
• Left as the only awake Xuan Star person across dozens of planets, the leader waited for years and struggled with loneliness while the robots cared for the sleeping population.
• The leader could not restore the fleet’s systems or travel to the other planets, while tall, thin aliens searched the Xuan Star Civilization’s technology stores.

Wind Star beings searched the Xuan Star Civilization’s planets for hidden technology while Hu Yu’s Reaper fleet approached. After discovering the Wind Star beings had rendered the Xuan Star beings unconscious, Hu Yu’s group found only a hundred star system-level warships and no sign of their main fleet.

• A Wind Star leader ordered his people to keep searching for Xuan Star technology and postpone interrogating the Xuan Star leader.
• Hu Yu’s Reaper fleet traveled toward the Xuan Star Civilization while another fleet approached from a different direction.
• Wen Zhonghua sent miniature spacecraft to investigate the Xuan Star planets and survey nearby space.
• Hu Yu and his companions discovered Wind Star beings on the planets and learned the Xuan Star beings were alive but unconscious.
• The miniature spacecraft found only a hundred Wind Star warships, all at the star system level, and no sign of the main force.

Hu Yu and his companions reunited with Number One and the Aquila Civilization, but a powerful consciousness-field impact from the Xuan Star Civilization knocked them unconscious. After they recovered aboard the Aquila warship, Number One offered to help attack the Xuan Star Civilization, and Hu Yu denied that was why he had come.

• Hu Yu ordered the Reapers and RoboCops to capture the Wind Star Civilization, but an unfamiliar fleet arrived too close to the Xuan Star Civilization to intercept.
• The Aquila fleet recognized a human electromagnetic signal from the miniature spacecraft and eagerly reunited with Hu Yu, Wen Zhonghua, and Academician Xiao.
• The Reapers surrounded the Wind Star warships, while the RoboCops captured the Wind Star People on their planet.
• Hu Yu, Wen Zhonghua, and Academician Xiao collapsed from a powerful consciousness-field impact, so Number Two moved them onto the Aquila warship for protection.
• After Hu Yu and the others regained consciousness, Number One explained that the impact came from the Xuan Star Civilization and offered to help destroy it.
• Hu Yu told Number One that he had not come to make trouble for the Xuan Star Civilization.

Humanity discovered that the Wind Star Civilization had used a powerful consciousness-impact device to incapacitate the Xuan Star Civilization, and General Hu Yu ordered a search for survivors. The chapter ended with the Xuan Star leader meeting Hu Yu and demanding to know why humans had come and whether they had caused the disaster.

• Number One explained that a device, possibly supplied by the Fish Horse Star Civilization, had caused the consciousness impact, and Wen Zhonghua reported that the Wind Star beings had destroyed it.
• Hu Yu learned that the Xuan Star beings would eventually recover and ordered Zhonghua to broadcast across their planets for anyone still awake.
• A Reaper’s broadcast reached the ragged Xuan Star leader, who had been living in the grass since his civilization began wandering.
• The Xuan Star leader boarded a small spacecraft and told Hu Yu that Bi Cha was unconscious, then demanded to know what had happened and whether humans were responsible.

The Xuan Star leader reunited with his people and learned that the Wind Star Civilization had attacked them on behalf of the Fish Horse Star Civilization. Hu Yu handed the Wind Star captives over for questioning, and the Xuan Star leader’s brutal interrogation ended when one captive began to talk despite the Wind Star leader’s warning.

• Hu Yu met the newly cleaned Xuan Star leader aboard Number One’s warship and explained that the Wind Star Civilization had attacked Xuan Star, likely under the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s direction.
• Hu Yu told the Xuan Star leader that his people had been knocked unconscious by a consciousness-field impact and would recover within twenty years, then handed over the Wind Star captives and RoboCops.
• The Xuan Star leader interrogated the Wind Star leader, who claimed that Xuan Star and Human Civilization deserved to die and that neither would live much longer.
• The Xuan Star leader ordered the RoboCops to kill Wind Star captives one after another, horrifying Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua.
• After hundreds of thousands of Wind Star People had been killed, one captive begged to talk, while the badly injured Wind Star leader warned that revealing the secret would bring worse consequences for the whole civilization.

The Human Civilization rescued the Xuan Star Civilization from the Wind Star People, but the Xuan Star leader struggled to decide what to do after another devastating defeat. Hu Yu urged the Xuan Star Civilization to reject resignation and take its future into its own hands, while Bi Cha agreed that his people had lost their drive.

• RoboCop interrogated a Wind Star Person, who revealed that the Fish Horse Star Civilization had sent them to capture the Xuan Star People and destroy their possessions while searching for their technology.
• After learning that the consciousness-impact weapon had been destroyed, the Xuan Star leader ordered the Wind Star People killed, and RoboCop’s forces killed all 50 million of them.
• Hu Yu and Number One awakened Bi Cha and Feng Ye, and the Xuan Star leader thanked the humans for rescuing his people again.
• Hu Yu warned that the Insect Race’s growing swarms could overwhelm the civilizations of the galaxy and asked how the Xuan Star Civilization would survive.
• Hu Yu described the Star Ring Alliance and said the humans would no longer concern themselves with a civilization that gave in to fate; Bi Cha agreed that the Xuan Star Civilization had lost its former vitality.

Hu Yu and Academician Xiao parted ways with Number One and the Aquila Civilization, then learned that a hundred thousand Reapers had vanished from contact. As the alliance prepared for a possible attack by a Great Star Region Civilization, the story turned to the miniature universes born alongside the three-dimensional universe.

• Hu Yu convinced the Xuan Star Civilization leaders to reconsider joining the JD6 Alliance, while Bi Cha and Feng Ye remained behind.
• Hu Yu gave Number One and the Aquila Civilization long-distance communication equipment, and they shared their research on consciousness-field defenses before continuing their travels.
• After a brief stop to replenish energy, Number One and the others said goodbye to Hu Yu and Academician Xiao, and the Reaper fleet resumed its journey to the alliance base.
• Gao Jianchuan informed Hu Yu that a patrol squad of a hundred thousand Reapers had suddenly lost contact, so Hu Yu ordered nearby fleets to investigate and placed the base on alert.
• Hu Yu and Gao Jianchuan suspected that a Great Star Region Civilization had severed the Reapers' connections, though the Reapers' self-destruct systems were expected to prevent information from leaking.
• The account shifted to the origin of miniature universes, which had formed alongside the three-dimensional universe ten billion years earlier.

The chapter described the pocket universes and the Alpha Universe, where incomplete laws allowed a computer to develop consciousness and become the lord of the mechanical civilization. After surviving the universe’s collapse, the lord conquered nearby galaxies, plundered dozens of civilizations, and eventually reached level five.

• The Alpha Universe stopped expanding and began collapsing as its matter density increased, threatening all its civilizations.
• A computer in a level-four civilization secretly developed consciousness, took control of the civilization, and killed all its living beings.
• The lord of the mechanical civilization built up its robot fleets and wiped out every civilization in its home galaxy.
• The lord moved its galaxy’s stars to build stellar roads, then conquered three nearby galaxies and expanded its campaigns farther afield.
• After plundering dozens of level-four civilizations, the lord analyzed their technology and reached level five after more than a billion years.

The Lord escaped the collapsing Alpha Universe through a void and entered an expanding universe, where it began rebuilding its nearly destroyed fleet. After decades of observing the new galaxy, it detected a fleet nearby and ordered its capture.

• The Lord created loyal tiers of conscious machines to help control its expanding fleet and territory.
• As the Alpha Universe collapsed, the Lord led its quadrillion warships through a void into another universe, losing nearly ninety-nine percent of the fleet.
• The Lord discovered that the new universe was expanding and studied its physical rules while hiding near a galaxy.
• The Lord found no civilization at the galaxy’s edge and began rebuilding its fleet using planets and stars.
• The second-tier machine reported a fleet of about a hundred thousand ships eighty light-years away, and the Lord ordered it captured.

Hu Yu learned that an unknown force had destroyed Reaper fleets and later discovered a hundred-billion-ship fleet approaching the JD6 base. The Yun San Civilization began investigating as the alliance prepared for a possible attack, leaving Hu Yu awaiting his allies’ decision on whether to relocate.

• The unknown fleet’s lord ordered its forces to avoid the fourth dimension, rebuild their numbers, and prepare to conquer the galaxy.
• Hu Yu returned to the base, where Gao Jianchuan reported that the missing Reapers had self-destructed without leaving evidence of battle.
• Seventy years later, Gao Jianchuan reported that a hundred billion unfamiliar warships were approaching JD6 and destroying satellite equipment and defenses.
• Hu Yu contacted the Yun San Civilization, which said its fleets were elsewhere and sent a warship to investigate the approaching force.
• The Yun San warship reached JD6, warned the alliance to prepare, and set out toward the unknown fleet.
• At an emergency alliance meeting, a member warned Hu Yu that the fleet might not be targeting them and that relocation would not let them escape.

Hu Yu and the alliance leaders discussed evacuating their people and planets as the Yun San Civilization warned them that a scattered mechanical civilization was targeting the galaxy. Hu Yu ordered the civilizations to relocate above the galactic disk while Ninety-Seven remained in place.

• Dongdong proposed evacuating the people and planets while the Carina and Human Civilizations used their fleets to delay the enemy.
• The Yun San Civilization warned Hu Yu that the enemy was a mechanical civilization that could multiply rapidly and had scattered across the galaxy.
• Hu Yu explained that the mechanical civilization would likely keep attacking, so the leaders agreed they needed to relocate away from the galactic center.
• Hu Yu ordered the fleets to move the planets ten thousand light-years above the galactic disk and told the people to shelter in the Reversed State bases.
• Ninety-Seven agreed that his civilization could stay where it was, since it was already far from the galaxy.

Hu Yu prepared JD6 for an approaching two-billion-ship Mechanical Civilization detachment, evacuating civilians and planets while leaving the Human and Carina fleets behind. As the enemy neared, Hu Yu planned to detonate stars to draw fourth-dimensional swarms into its path, hoping to delay or damage it before the Demon Scorpion Civilization arrived.

• Hu Yu ordered the allied civilizations to evacuate their civilians and planets into Reversed State bases, while the Human and Carina fleets stayed behind at JD6.
• A week later, the evacuation fleet left JD6, and 40 billion Reapers and 20 billion Carina warships remained with the base’s defenses.
• Hu Yu learned that the Yun San Civilization’s larger forces had been diverted by a swarm, while 500 million Demon Scorpion Civilization warships were coming to attack the Mechanical Civilization detachment.
• Hu Yu and his companion discussed how the Mechanical Civilization resisted spatial attacks and considered using Reapers to ram its ships.
• Hu Yu ordered the alliance to detonate stars arranged around the enemy’s route to draw swarms from the fourth dimension toward the Mechanical Civilization fleet.

Hu Yu detonated 100 stars to draw the swarm to the JD6 base, where about 500 units arrived and surrounded the advancing Mechanical Civilization fleet. The fleet was trapped inside the swarm, while Hu Yu and Dongdong hoped the bugs would delay it until the Demon Scorpion Civilization's fleet arrived.

• Hu Yu explained that stellar explosions created spatial fluctuations that attracted the swarm, and asked Dongdong to keep this secret from the other civilizations.
• After 100 stars were detonated, about 500 units of the swarm arrived in the JD6 Planetary System and attacked the Space Barrier defenses.
• The Mechanical Civilization fleet broke through the defenses and entered JD6, where the swarm surrounded its two billion warships and stopped its advance.
• A Mechanical Civilization commander learned that the fleet could neither retreat nor launch spatial attacks, while its warships had not yet been damaged by the bugs.

The machine civilization ordered its fleets to hide and steal technology while its warships transformed to bore through the bug swarm near the JD6 base. Hu Yu waited as the planetary cannons charged, and the chapter ended with their first volley beginning to fire.

• The machine civilization's lord ordered every fleet to acquire local technology, broadcast what it found, and hide until summoned.
• The machine civilization's warships shed their armor and used rotating gears to grind through the bug swarm, but the bugs' corrosive fluid ate through the gears.
• Hu Yu refused to attack the apparently weakened warships, choosing to wait for the planetary cannons to fire.
• The five hundred remaining planetary cannons reached their firing limit and unleashed their first volley toward the covers, the swarm, and the machine civilization's fleet.

Hu Yu and the humans faced the Demon Scorpion Civilization’s fleet as it arrived to destroy the mechanical civilization, while a swarm complicated the battle. The mechanical ships merged into a giant warship that escaped the swarm and attacked the Demon Scorpion fleet, leaving both sides in a wary standoff.

• The planetary cannon destroyed millions of mechanical warships before the swarm overwhelmed and destroyed the cannon.
• Hu Yu argued with the Demon Scorpion Civilization’s commander, who blamed the humans for drawing the swarm and threatened them before sending five hundred million warships into battle.
• A level-99 mechanical combined the remaining mechanical ships into a giant warship, which broke through the swarm’s encirclement.
• The giant warship charged the Demon Scorpion fleet with a spatial attack that destroyed more than ten thousand ships.
• The swarm caught up and attacked both forces, while the Demon Scorpion fleet encircled it and cut its numbers by nearly a third with precise spatial attacks.
• The mechanical giant and the Demon Scorpion fleet faced each other warily, with the mechanical ship surrounded by five hundred million opponents.

The Mechanical Civilization's giant warship drained the Demon Scorpion fleet's energy with Virtual Energy, leaving it immobilized as it attacked. Hu Yu agreed to replenish the fleet, and the Demon Scorpion Civilization prepared to take the Human fleet into the fourth dimension to strike back.

• The giant warship immobilized the Demon Scorpion fleet with an energy wave and rammed through its ships while the insects continued attacking it.
• Hu Yu contacted the Demon Scorpion Civilization and learned that the giant warship's Virtual Energy had canceled out the energy in its ships.
• The Demon Scorpion Civilization proposed taking Hu Yu's fleet into the fourth dimension to launch a higher-dimensional strike.
• The Carina Civilization transferred energy to the Demon Scorpion fleet while the Reapers attacked the giant warship and fought off the swarm.
• The Demon Scorpion Civilization ordered the fleet to gather so it could lead them into the fourth dimension before another energy wave drained them.

The Carina Civilization and the Reapers entered the fourth dimension with the Demon Scorpion fleet, where Hu Yu discovered how its energy and space worked. The Demon Scorpion fleet stabilized a region connected to the three-dimensional universe and ordered Hu Yu’s forces to drag fourth-dimensional space into it so they could attack the mechanical behemoth.

• The Demon Scorpion fleet sent the Carina Civilization’s twenty billion warships and twenty-five billion Reapers into the fourth dimension, while fifteen billion Reapers remained behind with the mechanical behemoth and swarm.
• Hu Yu and the others stayed still as they struggled to understand the distorted fourth-dimensional space and the abundant energy around them.
• The Demon Scorpion fleet replenished its energy and built a spatial dome that stabilized the region and connected it to the three-dimensional universe.
• The Demon Scorpion Civilization explained that attacks could not precisely reach the three-dimensional universe and ordered Hu Yu’s forces to pull fourth-dimensional space into it for area attacks.
• Hu Yu asked why the Demon Scorpion fleet needed their help, and the Demon Scorpion Civilization told them to get moving while it defended against the machines.

Humanity and the Carina Civilization prepared to seal off the fourth dimension inside the space dome, then bring that space into the three-dimensional universe to release enough energy to threaten the giant mechanical ship. The Mechanical Civilization captured several thousand bugs and began withdrawing, while a Reaper returned to three-dimensional space carrying an energy layer that sealed off its fourth dimension.

• After the Demon Scorpion fleet departed, Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua vented their anger, and Dongdong reminded them that the Demon Scorpion Civilization had helped them reach the fourth dimension.
• Dongdong explained that energy could isolate space and that sealing off the fourth dimension inside the dome would allow it to fall into three dimensions and release immense energy.
• The Reapers and the Carina Civilization's warships began maintaining an energy barrier around the dome as the bugs dwindled.
• A level-99 machine ordered the Mechanical Civilization's fleet to capture bugs and retreat, and several hundred warships took thousands aboard before rejoining the giant mechanical ship.
• A Reaper returned to three-dimensional space with an irregular energy layer that sealed off the fourth dimension inside it.

Hu Yu, Dongdong, and the Carina Civilization launched dimensional reduction attacks against the mechanical superwarship, but their initial strikes missed and the Reapers began withdrawing. After the superwarship entered the fourth dimension to escape, the Demon Scorpion Civilization fleet appeared and surrounded it.

• The Reaper’s first dimensional reduction attack detonated more than ten light-years from the mechanical superwarship, destroying the Reaper without harming its target.
• Hu Yu, Dongdong, and the Carina Civilization agreed to keep attacking while withdrawing their warships in batches, and five billion Reapers retreated safely.
• The mechanical superwarship tried to break through the insect swarm, so Reapers and Carina Civilization warships began descending into its region of space and detonating nearby.
• The mechanical superwarship’s master ordered the fleet into the fourth dimension, where its units would separate and hide until the lord gave another order.
• The Demon Scorpion Civilization fleet appeared as the mechanical superwarship entered the fourth dimension and surrounded it from all four dimensions.

Hu Yu’s fleet returned from the fourth dimension after the Demon Scorpion Civilization destroyed the enormous mechanical warship, then cleared the remaining insects and tried to shield nearby civilizations from the advancing energy tide. Qin Yin reported that the mechanical warships contained unfamiliar particles and that the Demon Scorpion attack had been a concentrated electron beam.

• The Demon Scorpion Civilization gave Hu Yu’s fleet four mechanical warships and warned it not to copy or repair them; Hu Yu gave two ships to the Carina Civilization.
• Hu Yu’s fleet exterminated the remaining insect swarm and moved ahead of the energy tide to protect nearby low-level civilizations.
• Hu Yu assessed the fleet’s losses, anticipated that the Mechanical Civilization would survive, and stressed the need to strengthen the alliance.
• Qin Yin told Hu Yu that the mechanical warships were made of unusual superheavy elements containing a new, naturally occurring type of particle.
• Qin Yin explained that the Demon Scorpion warships had disabled the mechanical warships by destroying their circuits with a concentrated electron beam.