Chapter Summaries

Academician Liu discovered how to observe Three-Dimensional Basic Space after a droplet of water refracted light while he was fishing with Bi Cha. The discovery gave the scientists a new path toward isolating Basic Space and using it, and Academician Liu went to share the news with the general.

• Bi Cha caught a large fish while Academician Liu watched a droplet of water refract light and suddenly understood how to observe Basic Space.
• Academician Liu rushed back to the laboratory and used a spatial prism and a two-dimensional convex lens to reveal Three-Dimensional Basic Space at a scale of ten to the negative 198th power.
• Academician Liu explained that the force field of Three-Dimensional Basic Space could be manipulated in reverse to isolate individual units of Basic Space.
• Academician Liu told Academician Zeng that Three-Dimensional Basic Space was built from Two-Dimensional Basic Space, though scientists could not create it by manipulating two-dimensional space.
• Academician Zeng ordered an in-depth study and told Academician Liu to bring the discovery to the general.

After Academician Liu’s discovery of basic space, the fleet gained a path toward producing virtual matter and advancing its research into space manipulation. Eight thousand years later, Academician Li Youwei synthesized two-dimensional energy, giving the fleet a new means of reducing three-dimensional space, but the fleet’s limited equipment kept energy production painfully slow.

• Academician Liu used the power of space and a two-dimensional lens to study basic space, laying groundwork for producing virtual matter and other forms of matter.
• Hu Yu’s fleet faced a slow extraction process for basic space, though Academician Liu’s discovery established a direction for future technological progress.
• Eight thousand years later, Academician Li Youwei synthesized the first type of two-dimensional energy, which the academicians found did not fit their understanding of stable energy structures.
• The academicians determined that two-dimensional virtual energy could consume three-dimensional positive energy and reduce three-dimensional space.
• The fleet began synthesizing basic energy, but its shortage of robots and instruments left production too small to build a warship within any foreseeable timeframe.

Hu Yu assessed the fleet’s dwindling ships and energy as it struggled to continue research and travel through the Mirror Sub-Universe. Just as he considered how to obtain more energy, Zu arrived at the spatial fragment, leaving Hu Yu wondering how Zu had found them.

• Hu Yu sent a miniature spacecraft to gather information in the three-dimensional universe and learned that the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s fleet remained near the central black hole while five Great Star Region Civilizations confronted it.
• Hu Yu reviewed the fleet’s severe energy shortages and the dangers of crossing spatial fragments, which had already reduced the fleet to sixty billion ships.
• Hu Yu recognized that research and further travel required far more energy than the fleet could currently provide.
• A sphere of light entered the spatial fragment, and Hu Yu recognized it as Zu.
• Hu Yu wondered who had told Zu that humanity had entered the Mirror Sub-Universe.

Hu Yu and the fleet encountered Zu, who moved them to a stable space in the Mirror Sub-Universe and demanded they destroy fifty supermassive black holes. Hu Yu reluctantly agreed, and Zu took half the Conquerors away as a guarantee, leaving Hu Yu to insist that Zu honor his promise in return.

• Zu laughed when Hu Yu mentioned the Fish Horse Star Civilization, then expanded his sphere of light around the fleet and transported them to a stable space.
• Zu explained that the space contained another dimension and offered the fleet abundant energy in exchange for a condition.
• Zu first demanded that humans weaken a Great Star Region Civilization, but Hu Yu refused because it would endanger the galaxy and violate humanity's principles.
• Zu changed his demand to destroying fifty supermassive black holes, and Hu Yu reluctantly agreed after Zu threatened to send them away and invoked the safety of their people and Tree Race friends.
• Zu removed half the Conquerors, leaving a little over two hundred million with Hu Yu, and said the others would remain as guests until the promise was fulfilled.

After Zu abducted more than two trillion people, Hu Yu and the academicians worked to develop a way to destroy the Milky Way's black hole and recover them. In Zu's space, they discovered a different fourth dimension and began using its abundant energy to rebuild the fleet and produce Two-Dimensional Energy.

• Hu Yu feared that destroying the black hole could provoke Great Star Region Civilizations, but he knew he had to comply with Zu's demands to protect the abducted people.
• The academicians entered the fourth dimension in Zu's space and theorized that one three-dimensional space could generate many distinct fourth-dimensional spaces.
• The academicians used the plentiful energy to synthesize materials and expand the robot army as the fleet rebuilt its equipment.
• Hu Yu left the Aquila Civilization with Two-Dimensional Basic Space so it could hide the planets and protect itself from the Fish Horse Star Civilization.
• The academicians found a macroscopic method to obtain Two-Dimensional Basic Energy, gathered Two-Dimensional Basic Space through energy collisions, and began synthesizing Two-Dimensional Energy.

Hu Yu expanded the fleet using Two-Dimensional Energy and mechanical bodies while the academicians searched unsuccessfully for a way to destroy black holes. With no viable weapon found, he considered using the base’s unusual flow of time to build fleets for humanity.

• The fleet learned that more than ten thousand square meters of stored Two-Dimensional Energy could trigger dimensional reduction, so it sealed the energy in discs designed to merge it at designated locations.
• Hu Yu expanded the fleet while the academicians tested ways to destroy black holes and concluded that their available methods could not overcome them.
• Hu Yu asked Zu about destroying black holes, but Zu had no solution, so the academicians abandoned weapon-based approaches.
• Hu Yu replicated mechanical bodies and produced Conquerors on an assembly line, relying on human control and Zu’s supervision to prevent rebellion.
• Hu Yu considered building fleets at the base, where its flow of time could allow humanity to produce trillions of ships in only a few decades by the vast universe’s time.

After more than 60,000 years in the Mirror Sub-Universe, humanity built a vast fleet and Hu Yu used Zu’s offer to send the Conquerors back into the three-dimensional universe. The Conquerors destroyed the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s fifty billion warships, and Hu Yu escaped with the fleet into the fourth dimension.

• Hu Yu and Academician Zeng discussed how to deceive Zu into returning humanity’s civilians, and Hu Yu said he had a plan that would not endanger them.
• Hu Yu told Zu that humanity had a way to destroy the black holes, and Zu sent the two-dimensionalized Conquerors through the exit to test it.
• The emerging Conquerors attacked the Fish Horse Star fleet with Two-Dimensional Energy and destroyed all fifty billion warships.
• The Fish Horse Star Civilization’s First Leader ordered the fleet to reinforce its defenses and expected the humans to reveal their location.
• Hu Yu, Gao Jianchuan, Chen Peng, and several academicians entered the fourth dimension and used gravitational waves to direct the hidden fleet.

Hu Yu’s fleet reached a giant black hole and increased the density of the surrounding space to weaken its influence, temporarily cutting off its connection to other spaces. After ordering the fleet to return to the Mirror Sub-Universe, Hu Yu stayed behind to seek a powerful force for dealing with the Fish Horse Star Civilization.

• News spread that humanity had destroyed the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s warships, raising hopes among the Star Ring Alliance civilizations.
• A shadow near the Conqueror Fleet suspected that the Mirror Sub-Universe contained matter and energy and realized that it existed.
• Hu Yu’s fleet arrived at a giant black hole and entered its accretion disk to study how to hide it from Zu.
• At Academician Zeng’s suggestion, eight trillion Conquerors drew energy from the fourth dimension to increase spatial density around the black hole and weaken its influence for about five hundred years.
• Hu Yu sent Jianchuan and the academicians back to the passage and said he would seek a powerful force to help deal with the Fish Horse Star Civilization.

Hu Yu returned to Alliance Space and urged its member civilizations to unite against the Fish Horse Star Civilization after revealing it originated outside the Milky Way and threatened the central black hole. The alliance agreed to prepare for war while Hu Yu’s humans sought a way to build fleets deeper inside the Mirror Sub-Universe.

• Hu Yu found that Alliance Space had moved, then followed Tian Feng through a hidden passage to reach it.
• Hu Yu thanked the allied civilizations and announced his intention to destroy the Fish Horse Star Civilization, despite concerns about the risks of all-out war.
• Hu Yu revealed that the Fish Horse Star Civilization came from outside the Milky Way and might be trying to destroy the central black hole, prompting the alliance leaders to support war.
• Hu Yu proposed moving into the Mirror Sub-Universe to build fleets with a time advantage, and the alliance explained that its technology could not travel through the spatial fragments.
• Hu Yu said humanity would create a passage deeper into the Mirror Sub-Universe and insisted that the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s leader must stand trial before humanity.
• The allied civilizations agreed to reinforce the central black hole’s defenses while Hu Yu’s humans worked on the passage.

Hu Yu rallied the Star Ring Alliance civilizations and prepared them to face the Fish Horse Star Civilization, then returned to the Mirror Sub-Universe to find Zu missing. He continued deeper inside while concealing his suspicions and investigating why the rescued people seemed to have experienced no time apart from the fleet.

• Hu Yu left Alliance Space and told Gao Jianchuan that he would unite the Star Ring Alliance, share technology, and develop its civilizations to fight the Fish Horse Star Civilization.
• Hu Yu found the Carina Civilization, shared fourth-dimensional navigation technology, and instructed its leader to follow his plan.
• Hu Yu found the Zhalong Star Civilization, Brilliant Star Civilization, North Star Civilization, South Star Civilization, Sand Star Civilization, Quaking Star Civilization, Crystal Civilization, and Great Cang Civilization, learned they had been attacked, and told them to leave the defensive line.
• Hu Yu escorted the Carina Civilization to a hiding place, recovered the bases left in two-dimensional space, and reunited with Chen Peng and the returning Xuan Star Civilization fleet before entering the Mirror Sub-Universe.
• Hu Yu found his fleet and people inside the Mirror Sub-Universe, but Zu was missing, so he concealed his concern and led the fleet onward.
• Hu Yu noticed that the people Zu had taken away behaved as if they had not been separated from the fleet for more than sixty thousand years.

Hu Yu led the fleet through the space fragments and found a mined celestial body, which suggested that a powerful Galactic-Level Civilization had entered the Mirror Sub-Universe. He gathered the academicians to devise a stable passage through the void-filled fragments, and Academician Zeng proposed that they first find a way to fill or bypass the void.

• Hu Yu guided the fleet through the fragments until it reached an enormous fragment containing a Jupiter-sized celestial body's remains and active human robots.
• Hu Yu realized that Zu's arrangements had concealed evidence of a powerful civilization, and feared the unseen Galactic-Level Civilization.
• Hu Yu convened the academicians to discuss building a stable spatial passage so fleets could travel through the Mirror Sub-Universe and support future wars.
• Academician Zeng explained that the void drained fleet energy and could tear apart ships, especially those from Small Star Sector Civilizations.
• Academician Zeng described his theory that the void was anti-space created by spatial distortion and said the passage would require another method than repairing space directly.

Hu Yu’s fleet began building a massive Fourth Reversed State pipeline to defend against the Fish Horse Star Civilization while they waited for reinforcements. Ten years later, Wen Zhonghua delivered Zu’s message warning that a hidden enemy from the galaxy threatened both Zu and humanity, leaving Hu Yu determined to strengthen the fleet and investigate the increasingly wary Great Star Region Civilizations.

• Hu Yu chose to build a thousand-light-year Fourth Reversed State pipeline so the fleet could travel through the Mirror Universe while protected from the Void.
• Hu Yu waited for the five Great Star Region Civilizations to arrive with Alliance Space, since the Fish Horse Star Civilization could attack through the fourth dimension and the fleet could not yet face it alone.
• A J-90 fighter raced toward the Milky Way at ten thousand times the speed of light.
• Ten years later, Wen Zhonghua summoned Hu Yu to a shielded room and gave him a storage device containing a message from Zu.
• Zu warned Hu Yu that a powerful enemy from the galaxy—not the Fish Horse Star Civilization—was coming, and urged humanity to develop by any means necessary; he also provided coordinates where Hu Yu could find him.
• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua discussed their suspicions about the Great Star Region Civilizations, then agreed to strengthen the fleet while Hu Yu handled the civilizations and Wen Zhonghua managed affairs at home.

Hu Yu received a message from Yan Xue revealing that the Snow Tribe was in trouble in Sextans, and he decided to lead an expedition to rescue them. He concealed the Snow Tribe’s identity from the Star Ring Alliance and the great star region civilizations, claiming he was going to aid other humans.

• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua recovered a modified J-90 carrying a message from Yan Xue, who returned the fighter and shared technology before asking Hu Yu to say goodbye.
• Academician Xiao and Academician Zeng concluded that Yan Xue had gone to Sextans to seek a way to protect the Snow Tribe.
• Hu Yu ordered the Conquerors to assemble for an expedition to Sextans.
• Hu Yu told the other civilizations that humans in Sextans needed rescuing, hiding his real purpose to keep them from coveting the Snow Tribe’s technology.
• Leader Yun San asked Hu Yu whether he was going to Sextans, and Hu Yu confirmed that his people there might be in trouble.

Hu Yu led a vast fleet toward Sextans to rescue Yan Xue, who had been trapped by the region’s civilizations. Yan Xue’s fleet held off the attackers, but its energy was running low, and he refused to abandon the remains of his ancestors.

• Bi Cha gave Hu Yu one trillion Dreadnoughts to reinforce his expedition to Sextans.
• Hu Yu, Li Zhixiong, and Academician Qin Yin crossed the million-light-year Lost Zone after 125 years and headed for Sextans.
• Yan Xue’s Snow Tribe fleet was surrounded by a quadrillion ships from the Giant General Civilization and other local civilizations.
• The Giant General Civilization demanded Yan Xue’s password and attacked, but his fleet repelled their assaults by sealing off the fourth dimension.
• Yan Xue told Chen Xue to hold out and explained that he stayed because the enemy held their technology and the remains of their ancestors.

Yan Xue’s exhausted fleet faced capture by the Giant General Civilization until Hu Yu arrived with a massive fleet and destroyed the attacking forces. Hu Yu rescued Yan Xue and the Snow Tribe, leaving the rabbits to reunite with him aboard the ship.

• Yan Xue refused to surrender the Snow Tribe’s code as the Giant General Civilization’s robots moved in to capture his people.
• Fifty trillion black triangular warships appeared, and Hu Yu contacted Yan Xue and promised to handle the crisis.
• Hu Yu detonated two-dimensional bombs that destroyed ten trillion Giant General Civilization warships, then wiped out the remaining attacking fleets when they refused to retreat.
• The small star sector civilizations fled, while Hu Yu’s forces emerged without losing a ship and destroyed nearly half of Sextans’s advanced combat strength.
• Several rabbits rushed in through the hatch, and one leaped at Hu Yu and sobbed.

Hu Yu reunited with Yan Xue and learned that the Snow Tribe needed to recover its stolen technology backups from the Giant General Civilization. As Hu Yu prepared to attack three suspected locations, an unseen force immobilized the fleet’s warp travel, leaving the Conquerors moving slowly and braced for danger.

• Yan Xue told Hu Yu how the Snow Tribe had settled in Sextans, restored some of its original genes, and been hunted by the Giant General Civilization for its technology backups.
• Hu Yu agreed to help Yan Xue recover the backups, and he calmed Chen Xue after Li Zhixiong frightened him by pretending he wanted to eat him.
• Chen Xue’s team identified three possible locations for the Giant General Civilization’s home base, and Hu Yu gathered the fleet to attack them.
• Hu Yu discovered that an enormous, undetected energy surge had stopped the fleet’s warp travel, though its conventional engines still worked.
• Hu Yu canceled the plan to split the fleet and ordered the ships to move slowly together while preparing for a possible attack.

Hu Yu investigated why curvature travel had stopped throughout Sextans and split the Conqueror Fleet between searching for the Giant General Civilization and heading for the region’s outskirts. As the fleet struggled to travel using conventional power, the Giant General Civilization blamed a hidden god-level civilization for the crisis and spread that explanation across Sextans.

• Hu Yu and Yan Xue ruled out the Giant General Civilization and the Snow Tribe’s stored technology as causes of the fleet’s immobilization, and Hu Yu considered whether a hidden civilization or natural phenomenon was responsible.
• Qin Yin reported that curvature travel had failed throughout Sextans, so Hu Yu ordered the fleet split between leaving the region and searching the three sets of coordinates for the Giant General Civilization.
• The Conqueror Fleet lost contact with its base and found that it could neither enter the fourth dimension nor draw energy from it, forcing it to replenish its reserves from stars.
• Civilizations across Sextans panicked and suspected Hu Yu, while the Giant General Civilization concluded that his fleet’s use of conventional power made him unlikely to be responsible.
• The Giant General Civilization announced that a hidden god-level civilization had restricted the galaxy to drive out outsiders, and the message calmed the other civilizations.

Hu Yu's fleet lost contact across dimensions, forcing him to abandon the attack and flee as the Giant General Civilization gained the ability to enter the fourth dimension. The Giant General Civilization surrounded Hu Yu and Yan Xue's forces, and Hu Yu's attempt to use a two-dimensional fragment barely affected the enemy.

• Hu Yu lost contact with his fleets and pursued the Conquerors while sending the Snow Tribe onward, but the Superintelligent Robots could not descend into three-dimensional space and soon reunited with him.
• The Giant General Civilization discovered its fleet could enter the fourth dimension and gathered a hundred quadrillion warships to attack Hu Yu's fleet.
• The Superintelligent Robots in the fourth dimension attacked the Giant General Civilization, then revealed themselves and fought before fleeing after Hu Yu detected the battle.
• The Giant General Civilization sent eight billion warships into three-dimensional space, surrounding Hu Yu's and Yan Xue's fleets and using dimensional-reduction strikes against the Conquerors.
• Hu Yu launched a two-dimensional fragment, but it dissipated after reducing space over less than a few hundred meters.

The Giant General Civilization's dimensional strikes failed to destroy most of the Conquerors, so Hu Yu ordered the fleet to scatter and devastate Sextans while Qin Yin searched for the cause of the altered spatial rules. After Qin Yin discovered a new energy and the rules were restored, the Conquerors regained access to curvature travel and the fourth dimension, but their two-dimensionalization failed and the fleet was exposed in three-dimensional space.

• Qin Yin determined that the rules of space had been changed to favor the Giant General Civilization, and she proposed provoking whoever was behind the change by threatening Sextans.
• Hu Yu scattered the Conquerors across Sextans, where they destroyed celestial bodies and evaded the Giant General Civilization's attacks as its fleets suffered heavy losses.
• After more than two hundred years of destruction, Qin Yin discovered a rare energy with an unfamiliar Basic Space structure and named it Third Energy.
• Hu Yu found that the fleet could travel at curvature speed and enter the fourth dimension again, and the Conquerors regrouped.
• The rules' restoration prevented the Conquerors from two-dimensionalizing, leaving more than seven quadrillion Conquerors and one trillion Dreadnoughts exposed in three-dimensional space.

Hu Yu pursued the Giant General Civilization to recover Yan Xue’s technology, but the enemy lured his fleet into a devastating dimensional-reduction trap. After escaping with heavy losses, Hu Yu handed the problem to Li Zhixiong and demanded a plan.

• Hu Yu questioned Qin Yin about the changing rules and ordered the Dreadnoughts to threaten Sextans’s celestial bodies while the Conquerors searched for the Giant General Civilization.
• The Conquerors found the Giant General Civilization’s apparent base, and Hu Yu moved his fleet into three-dimensional space to pressure the enemy into returning Yan Xue’s technological reserves.
• The Giant General Civilization and allied fleets sacrificed at least twenty trillion warships to launch a dimensional-reduction attack near the base, destroying most of the Conqueror Fleet.
• Hu Yu ordered the surviving Conquerors to flee into the fourth dimension after their numbers fell from more than seven trillion to two trillion.
• Furious at being tricked, Hu Yu assigned the problem to Li Zhixiong, who said he had an idea.