Chapter Summaries

Academician Zeng prioritized research into travel speed and spatial compression while the expedition confirmed the nebula region doubled spatial density. A century later, Academician Xiao’s attempt to prepare a body for the nebula main consciousnesses exposed their demand to test all seven together, and he warned Hu Yu and the others that they feared what liberation might mean for them.

• Academician Zeng focused research on travel speed and spatial compression, while Academician Liu Bo confirmed ships reached a thousand times light speed outside the nebula region.
• Academician Xiao created a giant creature intended to house a nebula main consciousness, but the main consciousnesses refused to test it alone and demanded seven bodies.
• Academician Xiao met Hu Yu, Academician Zeng, and others in a shielded room and said the main consciousnesses would destroy humanity whether or not they were liberated.
• Academician Xiao argued that the main consciousnesses feared the consequences of successful liberation, and Wen Zhonghua suggested they feared being killed by one another.
• Academician Xiao told Wen Zhonghua he was only half right.

Academician Xiao and the others planned a hidden way to control organisms built for the nebula main consciousnesses, hoping to protect humanity if the entities turned against them. The chapter ended as a new humanoid creature opened his eyes and wondered who he was.

• Hu Yu explained that the nebula main consciousnesses would destroy humanity as soon as they could successfully free themselves.
• Academician Xiao urged the group to keep creating organisms while finding a way to secretly control them through atoms activated by a specific field frequency.
• Academician Zeng and Science City agreed to spend the next hundred years researching how to program atoms without detection.
• Academician Xiao proposed persuading the consciousnesses to let humanity leave the nebula before they freed themselves, while using a galactic broadcast as leverage if needed.
• A large-headed, short-limbed humanoid creature opened his eyes in Academician Xiao's laboratory and asked, "Me? Is this me?"

Academician Xiao gave the branch consciousness entity a body, and it chose the name Xiao Ling while keeping Zero as a codename. As Zero began adapting to its new identity, researchers prepared sturdier bodies intended to contain the main consciousness.

• Academician Xiao introduced Zero to its new body and explained the Little Crab implant that would keep it loyal and could destroy its brain if it rebelled.
• Zero said it felt fully joined to its body, chose the name Xiao Ling, and agreed to cooperate with examinations.
• Zero asked about the other branch consciousness entities and said its hatred for them had disappeared; Academician Xiao told it they remained confined and would not yet be freed.
• Researchers elsewhere began making six organisms as a pretense of progress toward dealing with the main consciousness.
• At the bottom of the biological ship, physicists and biologists examined seven insect-structure bodies made with Chong Element and discussed how to use controlled brain atoms to damage an organism.

Scientists pursued two approaches to attacking an individual inside the nebula, while Academician Liu Bo spent decades investigating why the nebula’s spatial density had doubled. He suddenly connected the mystery to the singularity at the Milky Way’s central black hole.

• Academician Zhang Xinheng’s camp mapped celestial bodies in the nebula to find a way to generate or transmit high energy, while Academician Li Youwei’s camp studied atomic resonance.
• The microscopic researchers improved the magnetic field line microscope, isolated a proton, and magnified its quarks until they reached 10^60 times magnification.
• Scientists noticed that quarks of the same type had different surfaces, suggesting that quarks were not the most fundamental structures and that identical atoms might have minute differences.
• Academician Liu Bo, who had spent 130 years outside the nebula investigating its doubled spatial density, looked toward the Milky Way’s central black hole and realized the answer might involve its singularity.

After returning to Earth Two, Academician Liu Bo reunited with Academician Zeng and revealed that he had solved the mystery of space’s increased density. At a Science City conference, scientists presented a plan to threaten the nebula’s Main Consciousness and described their discovery that energy consisted of tiny soap-bubble-like units.

• Academician Liu Bo returned to Earth Two after finally understanding why space’s overall density had increased.
• Academician Liu Bo went to Science City, reunited with Academician Zeng, and was invited to explain his discovery at a conference.
• Academician Zhang Xinheng presented thirteen celestial trigger points that could start chain reactions capable of destroying the nebula region if its Main Consciousness attacked.
• Academician Li Youwei explained that experiments had revealed soap-bubble-like units as the physical manifestation of energy, present even in a vacuum.
• Academician Liu Bo interrupted Academician Li Youwei to ask about the bubbles, then listened as Li Youwei explained that their differences shaped particle properties and responded to surrounding energy fields.

Li Youwei’s research showed how magnetic fields could disintegrate the organisms Academician Xiao created, and Academician Liu Bo used the finding to support his theory that matter and energy were made of basic space. He proposed using basic space to overcome the spacecraft speed limit and explore entry into the fourth dimension.

• Li Youwei explained how precisely tuned magnetic fields could disintegrate the organisms, though the method was impractical for combat.
• Academician Xiao praised Li Youwei, then invited Academician Liu Bo to present his findings.
• Academician Liu Bo argued that matter, energy, and space shared a common origin and that basic space formed the foundation of matter and energy.
• Academician Liu Bo suggested that particles carried basic space between three and four dimensions, increasing the nebula region’s spatial density.
• Academician Liu Bo proposed manipulating basic space to break the thousand-times-light-speed limit and possibly enter the fourth dimension.

Humanity prepared to negotiate with the nebula main consciousnesses by offering seven powerful organisms that could grant them biological bodies, while secretly positioning warships to contain them. The main consciousnesses demanded the organisms, and Hu Yu and Academician Xiao tried to secure humanity’s escape by exploiting their need for the human scientists.

• Academicians Liu, Li Youwei, and Zeng discussed the speculative nature of fundamental space and the advances needed to study it.
• In the 265th year in the nebula region, humanity completed its preparations, positioning a hundred thousand Wind Masters around the nebula and enclosing it with magnetic fields.
• Academician Xiao and Hu Yu presented seven humanoid organisms to the nebula main consciousnesses, which confirmed that the organisms offered a nearly certain path to liberation.
• The main consciousnesses demanded the organisms, but Academician Xiao refused, warning that he would destroy them and himself if they attacked humanity.
• Hu Yu and Academician Xiao promised that humanity would leave the nebula and never return, while the main consciousnesses remained distrustful.

Hu Yu negotiated the humans’ departure from the nebula in exchange for leaving Science City, a fleet, and technology behind. After Earth Two departed, the Main Consciousnesses seized control of the abandoned ships, while Hu Yu’s mysterious smile suggested the humans had another plan.

• Hu Yu warned the Nebula Lifeforms that humans could destroy the organisms and publicize their existence, then offered to honor their previous agreement in exchange for safe passage.
• The Main Consciousnesses debated whether to trust the humans and agreed to accept the deal, demanding that humans leave a million people behind as leverage.
• Hu Yu refused to leave anyone and offered Science City instead, and the parties agreed to exchange it for Earth Two’s passage one light-year from the nebula’s edge.
• At the exchange point, Hu Yu handed over Science City’s controls and left the city, its organisms, and a hundred thousand Wind Master warships behind as Earth Two departed.
• Wen Zhonghua asked Hu Yu if he truly intended to leave Science City, and Hu Yu smiled without answering.
• After the humans left, the Main Consciousnesses used Branch Consciousness Entities to infiltrate and take control of the Wind Masters and Science City’s spaceships.

The seven freed Insect Race organisms tried to raid Science City and escape with human warships, but Academician Xiao had prepared a trap. After they were captured and brought to Earth Two, Little Crabs were implanted in their brains, and they awoke eager to serve humanity.

• The seven organisms emerged from their gas-cloud forms and agreed to loot Science City before destroying it and fleeing aboard the warships.
• As the organisms tried to remove a storage device, hidden robots captured them, and Academician Xiao revealed that he had no intention of letting them go.
• The hundred thousand Wind Masters and Science City broke free of the organisms' control and caught up with Earth Two two months later.
• Academician Xiao ordered the organisms knocked unconscious and had Little Crabs implanted in their brains.
• Two days later, the organisms awoke feeling loyal to humanity and asked Academician Xiao to assign them work.

Humanity’s fleet left the Eagle Nebula and settled at the JD4 Planetary System, where Hu Yu ordered a period of rest, research, and expansion. The fleet began building more Wind Masters and turning Earth Two into a fortified interstellar spaceship while scientists tested technologies taken from the Wind Star Civilization.

• The Main Consciousness placed Zero in charge of Number One and the other liberated Branch Consciousness Entities.
• Humanity left the nebula region with twenty million Wind Masters and continued toward the front lines between the civilizations and the Insect Race.
• The fleet stopped at the JD4 Planetary System, 2,500 light-years from the Eagle Nebula, and Academician Zeng named the system.
• Hu Yu chose to rest there and ordered the fleet to build at least thirty million Wind Masters while Science City conducted experiments.
• Hu Yu ordered Earth Two to be equipped with curvature engines, weapons, and underground cities so it could serve as a fortified spaceship.
• Science City began expanding to ten ships so scientists could test and adapt the Wind Star Civilization’s technology.

After three hundred years of strengthening Earth Two and expanding the fleet, Academician Xiao took seven Nebula People to admire JD4’s night sky. Their quiet outing ended when they detected a human Morse-code signal warning of danger and revenge from the Xuan Star Civilization, sent by Luo Zhigao.

• Hu Yu delayed the fleet’s advance while the scientists continued their research and the fleet built up its strength.
• Over three hundred years, Earth Two became a fortified stronghold, the Wind Master fleet grew to fifty million warships, and Academician Xiao freed more Nebula People.
• Academician Xiao took seven Nebula People to watch the stars and told them he might eventually give them ships and technology so they could leave humanity.
• The seven Nebula People begged Academician Xiao not to send them away, and the group postponed deciding their future.
• Number Six and Number Three detected a brief human signal, which Number One decoded as a Morse-code warning: “danger, revenge, Xuan Star Civilization, Luo Zhigao!”

Academician Xiao reported that Number One and the other Nebula People had detected a distress signal apparently sent by Minister Luo Zhigao, warning of danger and naming the Xuan Star Civilization. Hu Yu took a fleet to investigate, and after receiving the weakening signal at a second location, began pinpointing its source.

• Academician Xiao brought Number One’s report to the command room, where the Nebula People explained that a powerful signal from a light-year away had included the words “danger,” “revenge,” “Xuan Star Civilization,” and “Luo Zhigao.”
• Academician Zeng analyzed the message and said it might be a genuine warning from Minister Luo or a trap, but the signal’s route past the satellites remained unexplained.
• Hu Yu decided to track the signal and rescue Minister Luo if possible, ordered the fleet onto emergency footing, and set out with Wen Zhonghua, several academicians, and seven Nebula People aboard a Wind Master.
• A hundred thousand Wind Masters traveled in the direction indicated by the Nebula People and reached a point behind the signal’s location eight hours later.
• Number One sensed the weakening signal, and Hu Yu sent several Wind Masters a hundred astronomical units away to use multiple reception points to locate its source.

Hu Yu’s fleet discovered that Luo Zhigao’s messages came through an unstable spatial connection, and Academician Zeng suspected a spatial vortex. After Luo warned them about the Xuan Star Civilization, Hu Yu ordered Earth Two to prepare for war and gave the scientists twenty years to improve travel speed and weapons.

• Hu Yu’s fleet searched the signal’s apparent origin but found nothing, until Academician Liu Bo concluded the signal came through a spatial connection.
• Hu Yu waited a year for a reply, then received Luo Zhigao’s message warning them not to confront the Xuan Star Civilization before reaching the advanced stage of Small Star Sector Civilization.
• Hu Yu led the fleet to the satellite that received Luo’s message and told him that their people had become a Small Star Sector Civilization.
• Academician Zeng proposed that a spatial vortex with a shifting tail explained why Luo’s signal appeared in different locations.
• Hu Yu ordered Zhonghua to move planets to the JD4 Planetary System, mobilize production, and prepare the people for war.
• Academician Liu Bo agreed to help the scientists break the speed limit within twenty years, while Hu Yu prepared to confront the Xuan Star Civilization.

Hu Yu learned that Luo Zhigao’s fleet was roughly thirty thousand light-years away and launched an urgent rescue expedition with eighteen planets. The fleet raced toward its compatriots while billions worked to build ships and weapons, leaving Hu Yu uncertain whether they could defeat the Xuan Star Civilization in time.

• Hu Yu and the academicians calculated that Luo Zhigao was thirty thousand to thirty-five thousand light-years away, though they could not determine the direction precisely.
• Hu Yu used his knowledge of Luo Zhigao’s likely route to set out immediately and sent him a message promising rescue.
• Hu Yu launched eighteen rocky planets toward the distant fleet, beginning humanity’s first ultra-long-distance rescue mission with twelve billion people aboard.
• Hu Yu’s fleet passed the Snow Star Civilization without stopping and briefly paused at Tau Ceti before continuing its journey.
• After ten years without another message from Luo Zhigao, people across the fleet worked through exhaustion and injury to build warships and weapons.
• Hu Yu worried that his fleet, despite its advances, might not be strong enough to defeat the Xuan Star Civilization.

Hu Yu visited the exhausted space scientists and ordered them to rest, hoping to improve their chances of solving navigation and weapons technology for the rescue mission. After resting, Academician Liu Bo realized how Basic Space’s structure could be manipulated to produce far more destructive energy than antimatter.

• Hu Yu visited Academician Liu Bo, Academician Zhang Xinheng, Academician Li Youwei, Academician Zeng Zhaoyuan, and the other space scientists, who admitted that they had yet to turn Basic Space theory into practical technology.
• Hu Yu sent the scientists to wash up, eat, and rest for twenty-four hours, and the logistics staff gave them haircuts and shaves before dinner.
• Academician Liu Bo lay awake after dinner and, while thinking about matter and energy, realized that their structure determined how energy could be released.
• Academician Liu Bo contacted Academician Zeng Zhaoyuan, and the two hurried to the laboratory.
• Academician Liu Bo explained that breaking the structure of basic energy, or containing it without forming matter, could create destructive power far beyond matter-antimatter annihilation.

Academician Liu Bo and Academician Zeng developed a plan to use pure energy structures to increase warp speed, but Zeng warned that the structure might form a black hole. Their calculations set a ten-meter maximum, and the first attempt to convert matter into pure energy failed.

• Academician Liu Bo and Academician Zeng discussed turning basic energy into a weapon and using solid energy to increase the ship’s warp speed.
• Academician Liu Bo and Academician Zeng prepared an experiment on Earth Two to convert matter into pure energy with a Magnetic Field Line Scalpel.
• Academician Zeng stopped Liu Bo before the cut, warning that a pure energy structure might resemble a black hole.
• Academician Liu Bo, Academician Zeng, and the other academicians calculated that the energy structure could not exceed ten meters without collapsing into a black hole.
• The academicians began the experiment, but the basic energy units vanished as the magnetic field lines entered them, and the first attempt failed.

Academician Liu discovered how to turn matter into a pure energy body by introducing only a tiny change to its Perfect Structure. Two months later, the fleet had created a powerful energy weapon, and Hu Yu offered a star as a source of purified matter.

• After 5,178 failed attempts, Academician Liu stopped the experiment after introducing a single energy bubble, and the quark transformed into a pure energy body.
• Academician Liu explained that a tiny change disrupted matter's Perfect Structure, allowing the universe's rules to complete the transformation.
• Academician Zeng left to report the discovery, and the scientists developed the process for mass production.
• Two months later, Hu Yu learned that an energy ball could be activated to explode with enough force to blast Earth into powder.
• Academician Zeng said large-scale production required purified matter, and Hu Yu asked what he thought of a star's purity.

Hu Yu’s fleet developed energy-sphere weapons and traveled to the region where Luo Zhigao might be trapped. After a year of searching, they found Luo Zhigao’s fleet alive inside a vast spatial vortex and prepared to rescue their compatriots.

• Hu Yu and Academician Zeng discussed converting stellar matter into energy and raising the fleet’s cruising speed, while deciding not to contact the leader until they had grown stronger.
• The fleet converted a young star into energy spheres, equipped Wind Masters with energy bombs, and continued its journey as the star quietly went out in the twenty-fifth year.
• In the thirtieth year, Hu Yu’s fleet reached the region where Luo Zhigao might be found and sent a million small ships to search for signs of his fleet and the spatial vortex.
• After more than a year without news, Hu Yu received a report that three fleets and a human fleet were gathered around a spatial vortex more than two light-years across.
• Hu Yu recognized Luo Zhigao’s fleet inside the vortex, and the fleet’s people celebrated and hurried to prepare to save their compatriots.

Hu Yu and the others discovered Luo Zhigao’s fleet trapped in a spatial vortex and planned to contact him before organizing a rescue. Luo Zhigao’s fleet was running out of energy, and one of his scientists had collapsed as the danger grew.

• A small spacecraft observed Luo Zhigao’s fleet trapped inside a vortex while three Xuan Star Civilization fleets waited outside.
• Hu Yu rejected an immediate approach and a broadcast, deciding that another spacecraft would enter from the far side and take at least a year to reach Luo Zhigao.
• Hu Yu ordered the fleet to continue onward for twenty-eight hundred light-years while Earth Two stayed behind under the protection of a million Wind Masters.
• Luo Zhigao’s fleet continued sinking toward the vortex’s center after thirty years of struggling to escape.
• Vice Minister Fang Xinyun told Luo Zhigao that the fleet had energy for at most three more years and that Academician Gao Zhengyang had collapsed from exhaustion.

Luo Zhigao rejected hopes of rescue and prepared his fleet for an impending defeat, while Academician Gao insisted on continuing research. The chapter left Luo Zhigao ordering warships sacrificed to extend the fleet’s survival and recounted how a hostile fleet had driven him into the spatial vortex.

• Luo Zhigao told Academician Gao and Li Wenfei that the Xuan Star Civilization was too powerful to defeat and that they should not expect rescue from Hu Yu.
• Academician Gao refused to give up his research and left after arguing with Luo Zhigao.
• Luo Zhigao ordered Li Wenfei to abandon some warships and pool their energy to buy time for the scientists and civilians.
• The chapter recounted how Luo Zhigao had built his fleet through battles and captured technology, while trying to avoid making too many enemies.
• A fleet of fifty million warships appeared fifty light-years away, and Luo Zhigao destroyed his planetary base and led his fleet away.