Chapter Summaries

Feng Jun helped the minister of industry prepare a silent air gun to assassinate the Führer, while the Wind Masters’ fleet fought a costly battle against the Wind Star fleet. As Hu Yu ordered the attack to continue despite the failure to locate the S378 Civilization, he told Old Li to begin the rebellion immediately.

• Feng Jun demonstrated a silent air gun and advised the minister of industry to smuggle it into the Führer’s building in pieces.
• The Wind Masters and Wind Star fleets fought for more than two months, suffering heavy losses as the armor-piercing rounds made little progress against the enemy’s defenses.
• Hu Yu, Wen Zhonghua, Yang Fan, Chen Peng, Li Zhixiong, and Gao Jianchuan directed the manually controlled fleet, but the Wind Masters faced a growing disadvantage because Wind Star warships carried more antimatter.
• Hu Yunhang reported that he had searched within two hundred light-years of the target coordinates without finding the S378 Civilization, and Hu Yu ordered him to keep searching farther out.
• Hu Yu told Wen Zhonghua that the Wind Star Civilization might be more cunning than they had expected, but they had no choice except to keep attacking.
• Hu Yu ordered Old Li to start the rebellion as soon as possible, and Old Li confirmed that he was ready.

Hu Yu ordered a desperate assault on Wind Star Civilization after learning the S378 Civilization was a fabrication, while the exposed Old Li confronted the Wind Star head of state. The minister of industry shot the head of state, leaving the outcome of the attack and the minister’s motives unresolved.

• Hu Yu ordered the Wind Masters to charge through the armor-piercing shells’ channel and protect a Stealth Killer carrying neutron-degenerate matter.
• Old Li learned that the Wind Star head of state and minister of industry had known Feng Jun was human and had been using him as bait.
• Hu Yu took control of Feng Jun’s body and learned that a treant had exposed the human clones and that the S378 Civilization was part of a trap.
• The Wind Star head of state revealed that he had tracked the humans and planned to destroy them, but refused to explain why his civilization had hunted them or fed the Insect Race.
• Hu Yu told the head of state that money had won over the minister of industry, who shot the head of state with the bone pneumatic gun.

After the Minister of Industry killed the Head of State and took power, Hu Yu’s plan exposed the Wind Star fleet’s pursuit of Earth Two and turned the coming battle into a race to defeat Wind Star quickly. The human first echelon broke through the enemy interception fleet after losing most of its ships.

• The Minister of Industry shot the Head of State, then used threats against the officials’ families and promises of promotion to secure their cooperation.
• Hu Yu, controlling Feng Jun’s clone, confronted the new Head of State, who revealed his plan to attack the human fleet and blamed the humans for Wind Star’s troubles.
• Hu Yu returned control to Old Li and explained that Wind Star had split its 200 million warships, sending some to pursue Earth Two and the rest to reinforce the battle.
• Hu Yu ordered the fleet to expend its antimatter and open a path for the second echelon as the first echelon pressed through Wind Star’s bombardment.
• After losing more than 180,000 warships, the first echelon broke into Wind Star’s interception fleet.

Humanity used neutron-degenerate matter to cripple the Wind Star fleet and press its advance through the passage while Hu Yu confronted Wind Star’s new head of state with evidence of his crimes. Hu Yunhang’s failed search for S378 ended with his fleet dispatched toward the center of the Milky Way as he and his crew headed back to Earth Two.

• Hu Yu’s forces released neutron-degenerate matter, whose decay spread through the battlefield and disabled or destroyed Wind Star ships, weapons, and crews.
• Hu Yu ordered Chen Peng and Yang Fan to hold the passage entrance while Li Zhixiong and Gao Jianchuan pushed through to reinforce the fleet beyond it.
• Hu Yu revealed that he had broadcast the new head of state’s confession to three Wind Star planets and explained his plans involving the addictive molecules and their cure.
• The new head of state insisted that the fleet remained under his control, while the minister of military affairs began a year-long return journey to Wind Star.
• After concluding that S378 Civilization did not exist, Hu Yunhang assembled the crews of five thousand ships and sent the remaining warships toward the Milky Way’s center, while he and the crews headed back to Earth Two.

As Silo Liquor ran out, ordinary people on Wind Star suffered the addictive molecules while the patriarchs and the minister of industry struggled for control of the fleets. Meanwhile, Hu Yu’s Wind Masters forced their way into Wind Star’s passage at enormous cost, with the pursuing fleet close behind.

• After three days without enough Silo Liquor, most Wind Star people endured agonizing withdrawal, while the patriarchs had antidote for themselves and their guards.
• The patriarchs united against the minister of industry and advanced toward Head of State Star, while the head of state’s fleet held its position and the two sides faced off.
• Hu Yu’s fleet continued through Wind Star’s defenses, losing millions of ships to gun platforms and mines as the Wind Star fleet pursued it into the passage.
• After more than forty million Wind Star warships entered the passage, Hu Yu ordered the Wind Masters guarding the entrance to disengage and retreat.
• The Wind Star fleet followed the Wind Masters into the passage as the battered ships continued forward through the defensive fire.

The Wind Star Civilization’s new head of state accused Feng Jun and the former head of state of betraying their people, then forced the patriarchs to withdraw and organized a fleet to fight the humans. At the same time, Hu Yu and Li Zhixiong led the Wind Masters through the Wind Star fleet’s defenses, sacrificing nearly all their ships to bring four Stealth Killers safely into Wind Star territory.

• The new head of state addressed the patriarchs, claiming the former head of state had betrayed Wind Star and identifying Feng Jun as a human spy who had falsified broadcasts and tampered with Silo Liquor.
• When a patriarch challenged the new head of state, his personal guard killed the patriarch, and the others withdrew rather than oppose him.
• The new head of state assembled forty million warships to intercept the approaching human fleet at the passage exit.
• Hu Yu ordered the remaining Wind Masters to split into four groups under Li Zhixiong’s precise direction, with each group protecting a Stealth Killer.
• The four groups broke through the defenses and entered Wind Star territory with all four Stealth Killers intact, though fewer than two hundred thousand Wind Masters survived.

Hu Yu forced Wind Star's new head of state to surrender the civilization's technology tree after human forces destroyed its fleets, but the head of state summoned the Fish Horse Star Civilization for help. Hu Yu recognized the arriving civilization's representative as one of the Patrols.

• More than fifty Stealth Killers infiltrated Wind Star territory, and one destroyed itself to wipe out forty million Wind Star warships alongside the remaining Wind Masters.
• Wind Star's first reinforcement fleet lost ten million ships on the way to the territory and found the wreckage of another forty million warships upon arrival.
• Hu Yu threatened to destroy Wind Star's inhabited planets unless its head of state handed over the technology tree.
• Wind Star's head of state refused and summoned the Fish Horse Star Civilization, whose hundred giant ships emerged from the home star.
• A Fish Horse Star representative appeared before the head of state, and Hu Yu recognized it as one of the Patrols.

Hu Yu confronted the Fish Horse Star leader over its plans to use the Wind Star Civilization as a puppet and raise the Insect Race, then demanded that Fish Horse Star turn against Wind Star. The Fish Horse fleet attacked three planets where Stealth Killers were hidden, and Hu Yu waited to see how it would respond to the expanding degenerate matter.

• Hu Yu recognized the Fish Horse Star leader’s species as the race responsible for killing tens of millions of humans, and the leader negotiated with Wind Star’s new head for five additional feeding bases.
• The Fish Horse Star leader offered to spare humanity if its inhabited planets became captive planets and paid tribute, but Hu Yu refused and warned that the great star region civilizations could punish Fish Horse Star for its crimes.
• Hu Yu questioned the Fish Horse Star leader about raising the Insect Race and provoking the Sand Python Civilization, but the leader said both matters were top secrets.
• Hu Yu demanded that the Fish Horse fleet withdraw and destroy Wind Star’s fleets, but the leader laughed and ordered an attack.
• Twelve Fish Horse Star warships surrounded the three planets hiding Stealth Killers, and the Stealth Killers shut off their energy supplies so the degenerate matter could expand and explode.

The Fish Horse Star warships used space compression to contain the degenerate matter, demonstrating their overwhelming technological advantage over humanity. Hu Yu then threatened to expose them to a Great Star Region Civilization unless they stopped hunting humanity.

• Four Fish Horse Star warships compressed the exploding degenerate matter and fragments of the Stealth Killer into a small sphere until the danger passed.
• The Fish Horse Star People broadcast the demonstration while Hu Yu shared it with the Academy of Sciences, where most scientists were stunned and Academicians Zeng Zhaoyuan and Liu Bo recognized the technology as space compression.
• Hu Yu challenged the Fish Horse Star People’s demands and claimed humanity had sent a hundred thousand warships toward the galaxy’s center carrying information about them.
• Hu Yu threatened to have those warships broadcast the Fish Horse Star People’s actions to powerful civilizations if they continued hunting humanity.

Hu Yu forced the Fish Horse Star Civilization to choose between abandoning the Wind Star Civilization and risking conflict with a great star region civilization, while refusing to surrender any humans as collateral. The Fish Horse Star Civilization ordered Wind Star to surrender its technology tree, and the chapter ended with its new acting head of state still unable to escape its control.

• Hu Yu ordered the Fish Horse Star People to stop hunting humans, destroy the Wind Star Civilization's warships, and leave, and they contacted their parent civilization.
• The Fish Horse Star Person demanded half of humanity as collateral, but Hu Yu refused and promised that humanity would not threaten the Fish Horse Star Civilization once its safety was secured.
• The Fish Horse Star Person agreed to turn against Wind Star, ordered its warships to self-destruct, and demanded access to its technology tree.
• When the Wind Star head of state resisted, the Fish Horse Star Person killed him with an attacking projection, and the minister of science and technology became acting head of state.
• Hu Yu asked the Fish Horse Star Civilization to release its captive civilizations, while Wind Star's acting head of state said he wanted to stop feeding the Insect Race and was threatened with the destruction of Wind Star.

After humanity defeated the Wind Star Civilization, Hu Yu received its vast technology archive and learned how the Fish Horse Star People had kept Wind Star dependent by withholding technology. The human fleet left Wind Star behind, while its new head of state faced a ruined fleet and an uncertain future.

• Wind Star's new head of state told the civilization's leaders what had happened and ordered its warships assembled and destroyed as the technology transfer began.
• Two Wind Masters entered Wind Star territory unchallenged and transmitted the civilization's technology tree to Earth Two for half a month.
• Hu Yu questioned Wind Star's new head of state, who explained that the previous leadership had agreed to help the Fish Horse Star People feed the Insect Race in exchange for advancement technology.
• The new head of state said the Fish Horse Star People had withheld the technology needed for Wind Star to become a Small Star Sector Civilization and had demanded more breeding bases instead.
• Hu Yu's fleet departed, leaving Wind Star with no warships, while humanity celebrated its victory and Hu Yu reflected on the long effort and circumstances that had made it possible.

Hu Yu celebrated the end of the war against the Wind Star Civilization with the people of Earth Two, honoring the fleet’s scientists and citizens. The fleet prepared to set sail again on a new journey.

• Hu Yu gave a brief speech on Earth Two and awarded Old Li the Gold Ship Medal for his contributions.
• Hu Yu promised unlimited provisions for the celebration, and the people of Earth Two cheered.
• More than a million scientists gathered in the square as civilians took turns meeting and celebrating with them.
• The crowd lifted the scientists into the air, and Hu Yu felt grateful for everyone’s efforts.
• The war against the Wind Star Civilization came to a complete end, and the fleet was set to depart soon.

Hu Yu met with Ninety-Seven to clear up suspicions about his betrayal and told him humanity welcomed him as one of its own. The chapter ended with Hu Yu discussing the brain-wave investigation and the suffering civilizations in Wind Star's territory with the academicians.

• After the celebrations, Hu Yu took Academician Xiao and Academician Zeng to meet Ninety-Seven, who had stayed behind at the elementary school.
• Ninety-Seven admitted that he had betrayed Hu Yu's group, and Hu Yu explained that they had suspected him but kept quiet until the fighting ended.
• Hu Yu told Ninety-Seven that he could stay and continue teaching the children, and that humanity regarded him as one of its own.
• Academician Xiao explained that the scientists had decoded Ninety-Seven's unusually strong brain waves and confirmed his guilt and fear, though the method could not be used on most other creatures.
• Hu Yu told the academicians to keep Teacher Zhang near Ninety-Seven so the treant would not discover the investigation, then reflected on the civilizations still suffering in Wind Star's territory.

After the Fish Horse Star fleet arrived, Hu Yu learned that it was hunting the Wind Masters and threatening Earth Two, leaving humanity unable to fight or expose the enemy without risking retaliation. The Academy of Sciences proposed fleeing to the Pillars of Creation and hiding in a new nebula that might form there, though Academician Zeng could not guarantee the plan would work.

• Earth Two stopped to survey a planetary system, and a hundred Fish Horse Star warships appeared nearby.
• Hu Yu confronted the Fish Horse Star People, who demanded half of humanity as collateral and revealed that they were tracking the Wind Masters.
• After two Wind Masters heading toward the galactic core lost contact, Hu Yu ordered the fleet to carry Earth Two and the resource planets forward at full speed.
• Hu Yu warned Zhonghua and the senior personnel that broadcasting the Fish Horse Star Civilization's crimes could provoke an immediate attack, while losing the Wind Masters would leave humanity doomed.
• Academician Zeng proposed fleeing toward the Pillars of Creation, where stars passing through the region might create a dense nebula in which Earth Two could hide.

Humanity raced toward the Pillars of Creation while the Fish Horse Star fleet destroyed the Wind Masters protecting Earth Two. The last Wind Masters were eliminated before Earth Two could enter the nebula, leaving the Fish Horse Star warships blocking its path.

• Zeng Zhaoyuan said the Pillars of Creation were humanity’s best chance, while Hu Yu ordered the academicians to search for another solution and kept the public uninformed.
• The Fish Horse Star fleet destroyed nearly a hundred Wind Masters, and the resulting shock forced Gao Jianchuan to stop Earth Two’s curvature engines before the planet was torn apart.
• Hu Yu warned the Fish Horse Star People that humanity would broadcast their location if they made Earth Two unable to travel, but he rejected broadcasting immediately because it would not improve their chances.
• As Earth Two approached the Pillars of Creation, the number of surviving Wind Masters fell from hundreds to three, then to zero.
• The Fish Horse Star warships blocked Earth Two’s path and forced it to stop ten light-years from the Pillars of Creation.

Hu Yu and the Wind Masters failed to stop the Fish Horse Star People, who bombed Earth Two and killed billions. As Hu Yu prepared to destroy the planet rather than let its people be enslaved, Ninety-Seven intervened and offered to teleport Earth Two away, at the cost of its own life.

• Hu Yu rejected the Fish Horse Star People’s demand to surrender and ordered the Wind Masters to attack their fleet with antimatter and gravity bombs, but the enemy’s defenses stopped the blasts.
• The Fish Horse Star People struck Earth Two with a massive bomb, killing five billion people outright and injuring more than one billion.
• With no miracle appearing and the enemy threatening to enslave the survivors, Hu Yu prepared to detonate the antimatter buried in Earth Two.
• Ninety-Seven stopped Hu Yu and explained that it could teleport Earth Two to a nebula region, though the effort would consume its energy and kill its current body.
• Ninety-Seven gave Hu Yu a fruit containing a copy of its brainwave data and said its people might use the fruit and its trunk to bring it back, though it might not return as the same consciousness.

Ninety-Seven moved Earth Two into the Pillars of Creation Nebula, sacrificing his energy and leaving the planet’s people to face the aftermath of the Fish Horse Star People’s attack. Hu Yu led a month-long rescue effort, and the chapter left humanity grieving but with its technology trees intact in a dangerous new home.

• Hu Yu delayed the Fish Horse Star People by pretending to accept their demands while Ninety-Seven enveloped Earth Two in energy.
• Ninety-Seven dragged Earth Two into the nebula, and the Fish Horse Star fleet realized it had been deceived and abandoned pursuit.
• Hu Yu ordered the fallen Ninety-Seven sealed underground and organized survivors to rescue the injured and trapped.
• People spent a month treating the wounded, recovering supplies, and assembling shelters while more than 5.5 billion people died and over 1.8 billion were injured.
• Hu Yu took comfort that Science City and the technology trees had survived, then surveyed Earth Two’s new position near a young star in the Pillars of Creation Nebula.

Hu Yu and the survivors rebuilt Earth Two’s industry and began producing a new fleet of Wind Masters after the disaster. Four decades later, 700,000 ships had been built, and Earth Two was moving closer to its star as its mass increased.

• Scientists warned residents to wear masks as metallic impurities filled the air, while Hu Yu focused on rebuilding the fleet before Earth Two drew too close to its star.
• More than five hundred million veteran survivors encouraged people to overcome their grief and return to work.
• People built blast furnaces, factories, machinery, and sealed glass habitats, gradually restoring Earth Two’s industrial capacity.
• After five years, warship production began, with scientists planning to build twenty to thirty million smaller Wind Masters.
• Hu Yu celebrated the first completed Wind Master ten years after the disaster, and the fleet grew to 1,000 ships by the end of the second decade and 300,000 by the third.
• By the end of the fourth decade, the fleet had grown to 700,000 Wind Masters, while Earth Two’s average temperature rose above zero and its distance from the star continued to shrink.

Hu Yu sent small ships into the nebula to search for Fish Horse Star warships, find a safe corridor for Wind Master trials, and look for other life. After the probes found a suitable route, a Wind Master’s first trial revealed that its speed was only five hundred times the speed of light instead of the expected thousand.

• Hu Yu sent small ships to explore the nebula using conventional engines while avoiding anything that might reveal Earth Two.
• The ships surveyed the nebula’s dense clouds, newborn stars, and wandering celestial bodies, completing an initial exploration within 1,000 astronomical units of Earth Two.
• Hu Yu stopped accelerating Wind Master production as Earth Two’s resources dwindled and redirected surplus capacity toward everyday necessities.
• After sixty years, Hu Yu concluded the Fish Horse Star People had not followed them into the nebula, and the exploration ships found a five-light-year corridor suitable for trials.
• Zhang Yuanshan and Academician Zeng watched a Wind Master’s trial, but despite its normal engine readings, the ship reached the first checkpoint at only five hundred times the speed of light.

The Wind Master repeatedly failed to reach its first checkpoint at the expected speed, despite inspections finding no faults in the ships, curvature engines, or checkpoint distance. Academician Zeng and Commander-in-chief Zhang Yuanshan were left searching for an unexplained cause.

• The first Wind Master slowed drastically during its trial flight, and Hu Yu and the others attributed its swollen mass to matter attracted by the curvature engine.
• Academician Zeng noted that matter buildup could not explain the ship losing half its speed so quickly, so engineers inspected it but found no faults.
• Hu Yu suggested testing another Wind Master, but it also reached the first checkpoint late and returned with too little matter buildup to explain the delay.
• The third, fourth, fifth, and sixth Wind Masters showed the same failure, while Academician Zeng's reviews of the designs and manufacturing process revealed no problem.
• Commander-in-chief Zhang Yuanshan piloted a conventional spacecraft to verify the checkpoint and confirmed that both its distance and the radio-test timing were accurate.