Chapter Summaries

Hu Yu and the Milky Way fleet failed to damage the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress, while its scientists found a way to set the fortress in motion. The fortress began advancing toward the Milky Way’s central black hole as Hu Yu sensed imminent danger.

• Hu Yu ordered the Conquerors to fire Virtual Matter at the Super Fortress, but the attack left it unharmed.
• Hu Yu and scientists from several civilizations struggled to explain the fortress’s power source and why it resisted their attacks.
• Hu Yu told the Yun San leader that the fleets should keep their distance and limit losses while they searched for a way through.
• The Fish Horse Star Civilization’s First Leader ordered the Super Fortress to head for the Milky Way’s central black hole after its scientists reported a breakthrough.
• Hu Yu recognized the fortress’s course and sensed danger as Milky Way fleets attacked it from a distance and tried to block warp travel.

Hu Yu and the galactic civilizations tried new ways to stop the Fish Horse Star Civilization's Super Fortress, but their attacks failed to destroy it. Neutron Star Cannons finally broke off fragments, which the Conquerors carried to the Secondary Universe for study.

• The Super Fortress accelerated to 0.6 times the speed of light despite the fleets' attempts to hinder it, and Hu Yu and the scientists failed to find an effective attack.
• Hu Yu persuaded the Heavenly Peak Civilization's leader to use a Super Dimensional Reduction Strike, which jolted the Super Fortress backward but left it intact.
• About 50 quadrillion Fish Horse Star warships left the fortress and entered the fourth dimension to prevent another strike.
• Hu Yu approved a plan to use Neutron Star Cannons to obtain fragments, and the fleet redirected stars from Boötes to create the projectiles.
• The Neutron Star Cannons struck the Super Fortress and carved out large craters, while nearby Conquerors collected pieces of the fortress.
• The Conquerors carrying the fragments entered the fourth dimension and headed for the Secondary Universe for researchers to study them.

Hu Yu returned to the Secondary Universe to deliver fragments for research, where Yan Xue and his fleet joined him. Zu transformed into the Snow Tribe’s first patriarch, Chi Xue, and reunited with Yan Xue, leaving the Snow Tribe’s past and its surviving technology under discussion.

• Hu Yu and Academician Zeng returned to the Star Ring Alliance’s base, where Zeng and Feng Ye led scientists in analyzing fragments while Hu Yu delivered fragments to several civilizations.
• Hu Yu received a signal from Yan Xue, who had brought a fleet of five hundred billion modified ships to help defend the Milky Way.
• Yan Xue told Hu Yu that his researchers had completed the initial stage of the galaxy-level technology tree with guidance from a superintelligence.
• Zu appeared at the base, transformed into a figure resembling a Snow Tribesman, and revealed that he was Chi Xue, the Snow Tribe’s first patriarch.
• Yan Xue explained that his people were a peripheral branch that had escaped the old pursuit and had preserved technology up to the intermediate stage of the galaxy level at most.

Hu Yu, Yan Xue, and Zu discussed the Snow Tribe’s history and its plans to rise again, until Daozi arrived and revealed the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress was powered and stabilized by a super black hole. Daozi warned that the fortress was heading for the Milky Way’s central black hole and that the galaxy’s civilizations had little time left.

• Zu admitted that his decision to attack the Andromeda Galaxy had a deeper reason and said the Snow Tribe would rise again.
• Yan Xue confirmed that Zu had helped the humans and supplied energy for their fleet, leaving Zu weakened.
• Daozi appeared, drew Yan Xue into his hand, and told Hu Yu that starting a war against the Fish Horse Star Civilization had been the right choice.
• Hu Yu said the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress had resisted their attacks, and Daozi warned that it would reach the Milky Way’s central black hole before they could afford to wait.
• Daozi revealed that a super black hole inside the Super Fortress supplied its energy and stabilized it with spatial force.

Hu Yu learned that the Fish Horse Star Civilization possessed a supermassive black hole and might have an accomplice among the other great star region civilizations. After Daozi arranged for Minister Luo and the leader to join the war effort, Hu Yu rushed to meet them while Yan Xue stayed in the Secondary Universe.

• Hu Yu discussed the Fish Horse Star Civilization's hidden supermassive black hole and the possibility that another civilization had helped it.
• Daozi said he sensed an opponent, confirmed that Minister Luo and the leader were coming to support Hu Yu, and asked for a feast after the war.
• Zu told Yan Xue and Hu Yu that Daozi had saved him after the Snow Tribe's defeat and sealed him in the Secondary Universe for hundreds of millions of years.
• Zu issued a final tribal decree that the Snow Tribe and humanity should remain as close as brothers.
• Yan Xue handed Hu Yu control of the fleet and arranged for Chen Xue's research team to come upgrade technology with the Snow Tribe.
• Hu Yu led five hundred billion Slaughterers toward the Secondary Universe's exit, while Yan Xue stayed behind for safety.

Hu Yu reunited with Luo Zhigao and the others after returning to the correct timeline, then recounted the Milky Way’s history and the war against the Fish Horse Star Civilization. As they waited for the leader, an unidentified fleet approached, and the humans prepared for battle.

• Hu Yu emerged from the Secondary Universe and reunited with Luo Zhigao, Li Wenfei, Fang Xinyun, Gao Zhengyang, Zheng Kaiping, and the others.
• Luo Zhigao explained that his group had returned to the correct timeline and learned that Mr. Daozi had helped them, but they had no news of the leader.
• Hu Yu recounted the events in the Milky Way and described the current war against the Fish Horse Star Civilization to Luo Zhigao and the others.
• The fleets detected an unidentified force of 150 trillion warships approaching through the fourth dimension, and Luo Zhigao ordered the fleets to prepare for battle.

Hu Yu’s fleet received the Blazing Sun Civilization, whose general Hong Lie said he had come under orders from the leader of the Human Civilization. A commemorative sword convinced Luo Zhigao that the leader and civilians were safe, and Hong Lie revealed that the leader headed an alliance of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.

• The unfamiliar fleet stopped near Hu Yu’s forces and identified itself as the Blazing Sun Civilization, sent to support him under the leader’s orders.
• Hong Lie brought Hu Yu and Luo Zhigao an old Space Force 150th Anniversary Commemorative Sword as proof from the leader.
• Luo Zhigao recognized the sword and assured Hu Yu that Hong Lie could be trusted and that the leader and civilians were safe.
• Hong Lie told Hu Yu that the Blazing Sun Civilization came from the Large Magellanic Cloud and that the leader headed an alliance uniting it with the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Hu Yu learned that Li Shun had united the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds and led a vast expedition, then took command of Hong Lie’s fleet to reinforce the Milky Way’s battle in Boötes. The Super Fortress remained a threat, while more civilizations joined the fight to stop it.

• Hong Lie told Hu Yu and Luo Zhigao that Li Shun had forged an alliance between the Magellanic Clouds and left ten thousand years earlier on a distant expedition with humans and fleets from four Great Star Region Civilizations.
• Hong Lie revealed that Li Shun had sent him with a hundred quadrillion warships to rescue Hu Yu from the Fish Horse Star Civilization, but Hu Yu had escaped before he arrived.
• Hu Yu took command of Hong Lie’s fleet and sent Luo Zhigao and the academics to the Secondary Universe to study the Super Fortress’s black-hole power source.
• Hu Yu led more than 2.5 quadrillion warships to Boötes, where he held his elite force in reserve as the Milky Way’s main force shifted to human command.
• The Fish Horse Star Civilization’s fleet engaged the Heavenly Peak Civilization in the fourth dimension, while the Super Fortress repeatedly broke through attempts to slow it in three-dimensional space.
• More Milky Way civilizations joined the battle, adding their fleets to the effort to stop the Super Fortress and save their civilizations.

Hu Yu’s fleet reinforced the Milky Way’s blockade of the Super Fortress, but the Fish Horse Star Civilization activated a second operating program that turned apparent breaches into a trap. The Rock Star Civilization’s fleet was dragged toward the fortress by an overwhelming gravitational pull, and Hu Yu realized too late that the opening was a lure.

• Hu Yu arrived in the Boötes Galaxy with a fleet of more than two quadrillion warships, helping the Milky Way halt the Super Fortress.
• The Fish Horse Star Civilization’s First Leader ordered the fortress’s second operating program activated despite concerns about the surrounding fleets.
• The Super Fortress opened apparent breaches, and the Rock Star Civilization and other fleets rushed toward one of them.
• Hu Yu suspected a trap when attacks near the first breach failed and new holes appeared, but his warning came too late.
• The Rock Star Civilization’s leader discovered that a powerful gravitational pull at the breach had taken control of nearly ninety percent of its battlefield forces.

The Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress used a black hole’s gravity to devastate the Milky Way fleets and push forward, leaving Hu Yu to seek another way to stop it. He ordered Zhonghua to deploy a rare piece of Black Hole Space, which expanded around the fortress.

• The Super Fortress used concentrated black-hole gravity to crush fleets approaching its openings, forcing the Milky Way forces to retreat.
• The Fish Horse Star Civilization advanced while other civilizations urgently searched for a way to stop its fortress from leaving the energy-dense region.
• Hu Yu decided not to risk the Slaughterer and ordered Zhonghua to prepare the Black Hole Space.
• A Returner warship maneuvered behind the fortress and released a piece of Black Hole Space, which expanded and was drawn around the fortress.

The Fish Horse Star Civilization became trapped in a distorted flow of time around its Super Fortress, giving the Milky Way civilizations a chance to study how to defeat it. After the researchers considered several options, Chen Xue proposed using five-dimensional technology and hinted that Hu Yu could enlist someone who might know how to create it.

• The Fish Horse Star Civilization realized that time was passing abnormally slowly for them, while half a year passed in the greater universe.
• Hu Yu used the respite to arrange the fleets and research effort, while the human and Snow Tribe researchers studied the Super Fortress and its fragments.
• Academicians Zeng and Gao, Chen Xue, and Hu Yu discussed whether to destroy the black hole, strike it with another black hole, or attack the Super Fortress directly.
• Chen Xue suggested opening a fifth dimension to attack inside the Super Fortress and said someone might be able to create five-dimensional space if Hu Yu intervened.

Hu Yu asked Zu to create a complete piece of five-dimensional space that could help defeat the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress. Zu agreed, estimating it would take ten years, while Hu Yu began planning a secret operation and holding the Snow Tribe’s Slaughterers in reserve.

• Hu Yu brought academicians and Chen Xue to ask Zu about five-dimensional technology, but Zu said he knew little about its principles.
• Hu Yu asked Zu to provide a complete piece of five-dimensional space, and Zu warned that doing so would severely harm him.
• Zu agreed to create the largest piece he could manage and asked Hu Yu to protect Yan Xue and the Snow Tribe; Hu Yu promised they would remain humanity’s friends.
• Zu transformed into a sphere of light inside a Slaughterer and began forming the five-dimensional space, which he expected to complete in about ten years.
• Hu Yu considered how to use the five-dimensional space against the Super Fortress and kept the Snow Tribe’s five hundred billion Slaughterers in reserve.
• Hu Yu chose to use the Blazing Sun Civilization’s warships and the Conquerors for preparations, keeping the five-dimensional technology secret from the other civilizations.

Hu Yu captured Guan Sengping but learned nothing about Li Shun’s whereabouts or plans. Number One then revealed that Guan Sengping and Wei Kaiyuan had once shown signs of a second, faint consciousness field.

• Number One reported that his fleet had captured Guan Sengping, while Li Shun remained missing.
• Hu Yu questioned Guan Sengping, who refused to reveal anything about Li Shun and insisted that Li Shun would rise again.
• Hu Yu ordered the clones to keep Guan Sengping under close watch and treat him well.
• Number One recalled that, around ninety thousand years earlier, he had noticed a second faint consciousness field beneath the normal one in Guan Sengping and Wei Kaiyuan.

Number One discovered that Guan Sengping, Wei Kaiyuan, and Li Shun’s modified citizens shared a Consciousness Field resembling the Insect Race’s, and Hu Yu sent Number One and the chief of the general staff to attack Fish Horse Star Civilization scientists. They reached the fleet near the Milky Way’s central black hole, where the scientists were awaiting the Super Fortress and Commander Ci Ma had arranged a cautious defense.

• Number One reported that Guan Sengping’s hidden Consciousness Field was over ninety-eight percent similar to the Insect Race’s and that the same field appeared in Wei Kaiyuan and Li Shun’s modified citizens.
• Hu Yu concluded that the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s research was connected to the shared Consciousness Field and ordered Number One and the chief of the general staff to locate and kill its scientists near the central black hole.
• The Fish Horse Star Civilization’s chief scientist continued the final stage of research while waiting for the Super Fortress to arrive.
• Commander Ci Ma divided his fleet into ten groups and separated himself from his deputy to protect the command structure and conceal his location.
• Wen Zhonghua, Number One, and the others used the Slaughterer to reach the central black hole and pass through Commander Ci Ma’s energy defenses.

Hu Yu questioned Daozi’s role in the presence of the insects’ Consciousness Field among Li Shun’s people, then focused on the urgent plan to destroy the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s research team. Wen Zhonghua’s forces identified the team’s ship and positioned the Slaughterers to strike, but the attack had not yet begun.

• Hu Yu wondered whether Daozi had transferred the insects’ Consciousness Field to Li Shun’s people and began to doubt whether humanity was being used as a tool.
• Hu Yu decided to deploy the Slaughterer warships against the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress operation.
• Wen Zhonghua and his crew detected three similarly strong Consciousness Fields and searched for another way to locate the research team.
• The crew found unusually intense brainwave activity aboard a ship near the edge of one group and identified it as the research team’s location.
• The Conquerors took positions around the fleet while the Slaughterers stealthily entered the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s formation.

Wen Zhonghua’s Slaughterers attacked the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s research team while Commander Ci Ma activated the Space Millstone to protect it and open an escape route. The overlapping spatial attacks left the research ship alive but trapped, while both fleets were caught in the disrupted space.

• Wen Zhonghua sent the Slaughterers to surround the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s fleet and use Space Strangulation against the marked ships.
• Ci Ma recognized the Slaughterers as a more advanced civilization’s warships and ordered his fleet to activate the Space Millstone.
• Ci Ma told the chief scientist to transmit the research results, but the chief scientist refused because their communications might be intercepted.
• Wen Zhonghua concentrated his attack on the research ship as Ci Ma prepared a ten-second escape route through the Space Millstone.
• The Space Millstone’s spatial fragmentation overlapped with the Slaughterers’ final Space Strangulation attack, weakening both and sparing the research ship from destruction.
• The attack’s force pushed the research ship away from Ci Ma’s escape gap, while the Slaughterers’ movement and attacks were hampered by the damaged space.

Hu Yu deployed a compressed stretch of five-dimensional space and sent Gao Jianchuan and the Blazing Sun Civilization’s warships into the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress. The fortress began to warp under the fifth-dimensional phenomenon, while the other civilizations suspected humanity was responsible.

• Li Zhixiong brought a compressed stretch of five-dimensional space out of the Secondary Universe along with five trillion Conquerors.
• Hu Yu arranged disguised warships for an assault on the Super Fortress, and Gao Jianchuan volunteered to carry the five-dimensional space toward it.
• Gao Jianchuan released the five-dimensional space at the boundary of the Black Hole Space, and the Blazing Sun Civilization’s warships rushed inside as it expanded.
• The five-dimensional space permeated the Super Fortress, making its structure appear illusory and cutting off contact with Gao Jianchuan’s Slaughterer.
• The other civilizations observed the phenomenon and suspected the five-dimensional space came from humanity, recalling humanity’s connection to Daozi.

Gao Jianchuan used the Slaughterer’s autonomous system to escape the five-dimensional maze and brought surviving Blazing Sun warships into Fish Horse Star’s Super Fortress. The collapsing five-dimensional space then caused a gigantic breach in the fortress, giving the allied civilizations a chance to attack.

• Gao Jianchuan let the Slaughterer’s computer navigate five-dimensional space, and the ship emerged inside Fish Horse Star’s Super Fortress.
• Gao Jianchuan gathered the surviving Blazing Sun warships and ordered newly arrived ships to draw Fish Horse Star’s forces toward the five-dimensional entrance.
• Fish Horse Star’s warships attacked the arriving Blazing Sun fleet, and the battle pushed the five-dimensional space’s energy layer to collapse.
• The five-dimensional space underwent dimensional reduction and exploded, tearing apart the Super Fortress’s shell.
• Hu Yu and the other civilizations saw a breach millions of kilometers wide and sent their warships racing toward it.

The Yun San Civilization leader obeyed the shadow’s orders to help the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress reach the Milky Way while preventing the Milky Way civilizations from being destroyed. He sent the Mechanical Lord and his fleet to intervene, leaving Hu Yu’s battles on two fronts at a critical point.

• The shadow ordered the Yun San Civilization leader to let the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress enter the Milky Way, preserve the Milky Way civilizations, and keep the Yun San Civilization’s involvement hidden.
• The shadow told the Yun San Civilization leader to use the Mechanical Civilization to intervene and to help the Human Civilization attack the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s fleet near the Milky Way’s center.
• The Yun San Civilization leader recalled how the shadow had raised and protected his civilization, and how he had betrayed the Dark Moon Civilization to further his own ambition to dominate the Milky Way.
• The Yun San Civilization leader ordered the Mechanical Lord to deploy twenty quadrillion advanced warships to stop the Milky Way civilizations and escort the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s Super Fortress safely into the Milky Way.
• Hu Yu continued fighting on two fronts as both battles reached their critical moments.

Gao Jianchuan’s fleet fought to reach the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s planets while the civilization’s warships shielded them as they retreated toward the central sphere. Just as the Milky Way fleets attacked the fortress breach, the supposedly vanished Mechanical Civilization reappeared with two quadrillion warships and blocked their advance.

• Gao Jianchuan led 20 trillion warships through the Super Fortress and advanced on the Fish Horse Star Civilization’s planets.
• The Fish Horse Star Civilization moved its planets toward the central sphere and formed a tight defensive screen, repelling Gao Jianchuan’s attacks.
• Gao Jianchuan grew desperate as the planets neared the sphere, while the Milky Way fleet attacked the breach defended by 20 trillion Fish Horse warships.
• A region of space crossed through the fourth dimension and shattered near the Super Fortress, releasing the Mechanical Civilization’s fleet.
• The Mechanical Civilization deployed two quadrillion warships between the Milky Way fleets and the fortress, shocking the gathered civilizations.