Chapter Summaries

The Mu Star Civilization rebuilt its Insect Race farms and gained protection from the Xuan Star Civilization, while Hu Yu waited for spatial attack technology and prepared to face both powers. By the chapter’s end, JD4 had resumed Wind Master production, but its growing fleet still seemed far too small to challenge the Xuan Star Civilization.

• The Mu Star fleet destroyed most of the human fleet, and the Mu Star Civilization relocated its Insect Race farms and continued breeding captive humans through a fabricated religion.
• The Xuan Star Civilization sent two hundred million warships to the Mu Star system, and its fleet later destroyed the humans’ base planets.
• Hu Yu spent eighteen years waiting for spatial attack technology while considering how to locate the Xuan Star Civilization without alerting it.
• Hu Yu decided to postpone asking the Academy of Sciences for help and estimated that defeating the Xuan Star and Fish Horse Star Civilizations could take at least two thousand years.
• After accumulating five hundred giant energy spheres without a breakthrough in spatial attack technology, Hu Yu restarted Wind Master production, bringing JD4’s fleet to ten million ships.

Hu Yu waited for new weapons technology while secretly locating likely Xuan Star Civilization bases, then ordered a powerful new battleship built after scientists developed a rotating-space attack. The Grim Slayer’s design was completed, and production preparations began across the planets holding his main force.

• Hu Yu accumulated a thousand giant energy balls and used astronomical observations to identify two regions likely belonging to the Xuan Star Civilization and the civilization feeding the Insect Race.
• After three hundred years without a breakthrough in space technology, scientists designed miniature spacecraft that could travel at a hundred times the speed of light, and Hu Yu sent them to reconnoiter the two distant bases.
• In the 350th year, academicians discovered that rotating space combined with high-energy lasers more than doubled the attack’s power and could be used in coordinated fleet attacks.
• Hu Yu ordered the design of a new warship, and the scientists completed the five-kilometer-long Grim Slayer blueprint two years later.
• Departments began modifying production equipment while Hu Yu prepared the stored steel alloy and hollowed-out planets for building the new warships.

Hu Yu completed the Grim Slayer’s development and production preparations while a miniature spacecraft explored the Mu Star Civilization and uncovered its immense strength and human breeding worlds. A second probe then reached the Xuan Star Civilization’s territory, revealing a vast region of rearranged star systems.

• The Grim Slayer passed its tests, and Hu Yu’s bases near Earth Two began full production, with annual output reaching about 60,000 ships.
• Hu Yu redirected some production toward machinery and new production lines, aiming to raise Grim Slayer output to 100,000 ships a year within a century.
• In the 380th year, a miniature spacecraft reached the Mu Star Civilization and reported its breeding planets, population, and more than 600 million warships.
• Hu Yu learned that the Mu Star Civilization bred over a trillion humanlike creatures, prompting concern about their origins and a desire to investigate.
• The miniature spacecraft found about 200 million Xuan Star Civilization warships stationed near a Mu Star inhabited planet, confirming both civilizations served as pawns of the Fish Horse Star Civilization.
• Twenty years later, Hu Yu’s second batch of miniature spacecraft reached the Xuan Star Civilization’s territory and found a 100-light-year region of deliberately rearranged star systems.

Hu Yu discovered that the Xuan Star Civilization had an overwhelming fleet and population, making his hoped-for attack impossible. He asked Academician Zeng how long humanity would take to master space technology, but the answer left the threat of extinction unresolved.

• Hu Yu's miniature spacecraft found that the Xuan Star Civilization had over 700 million small star sector-level warships, more than two billion older warships, and a population possibly reaching 500 billion.
• Hu Yu realized the Xuan Star Civilization was still building warships and that his fleet could not defeat it, so he regretted underestimating its strength.
• Hu Yu discussed the situation with his companions and agreed that humanity had not truly reached the small star sector stage.
• Li Zhixiong connected Hu Yu to Academician Zeng, who said humanity might master space technology in a year, a hundred years, or even ten thousand years.
• Hu Yu worried that humanity would be trapped at its current technological level while the Insect Race or the great star region civilizations threatened its survival.

After a thousand years of waiting, Hu Yu and his fleet still lacked the technology to challenge the Xuan Star Civilization, and Hu Yu proposed moving a spatial vortex into enemy territory to neutralize their space weapons. The scientists began studying the idea, though they doubted they could move a vortex two light-years across.

• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua agreed that the fleet had reached the end of its thousand-year wait, while Hu Yu rejected attacking the Mu Star Civilization without also defeating the Xuan Star Civilization.
• Hu Yu pointed out that the Xuan Star Civilization had built a vastly larger fleet, and Wen Zhonghua’s remark about fighting inside a spatial vortex gave Hu Yu an idea.
• Hu Yu asked Academician Zeng, Academician Liu, and the other scientists to study whether they could move the spatial vortex into Xuan Star Civilization territory.
• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua joked about missing home while Academician Zeng and Academician Liu returned to the laboratory.
• Academician Zeng and Academician Liu discussed the vortex’s enormous size and began investigating whether it could be moved, despite their doubts.

Academician Liu tried to create a micro black hole by fusing energy spheres, hoping to use its gravity to move the space vortex into Xuan Star Civilization territory. The experiments instead opened tiny channels to the fourth dimension, and the fleet abandoned the plan without producing a stable black hole.

• Academician Zeng and the other academicians reviewed Gao Zhengyang’s data on the space vortex and continued calculating whether it could be moved into Xuan Star Civilization territory.
• Academician Liu proposed combining energy spheres beyond their critical size to create micro black holes that could pull the vortex forward.
• Academician Liu’s experiments showed that fused energy spheres opened a channel through which Basic Energy vanished, but the resulting suction could not affect matter.
• After more than a hundred experiments, Academician Liu stopped the project to preserve Earth Two’s and the fleet’s combat strength.
• The scientists considered using massive stars to create black holes, but concluded that such black holes would be too powerful to control or move.

After Academician Zeng confirmed that the fleet could not move the spatial vortex into Xuan Star Civilization territory, Hu Yu led the fleet home, accepting that they could not overcome the civilization’s advantage. During the journey, the fleet detected an impact caused by atomic fission energy, leaving Hu Yu surprised by the unexpected signal.

• Academician Zeng told Hu Yu that the fleet could not drag the spatial vortex into Xuan Star Civilization territory, and Hu Yu accepted the failure.
• Hu Yu led the fleet of eighty million Grim Slayers away after a thousand years, reflecting on the gap between their nomadic civilization and the settled Xuan Star Civilization.
• The fleet traveled through a binary-star system where two civilizations on separate planets had developed in harmony and exchanged technology.
• Hu Yu heard a faint impact aboard the battleship and suspected that a meteorite had struck it.
• The Grim Slayer's sensors identified atomic fission energy as the cause of the impact, surprising Hu Yu.

Hu Yu brought the Grim Slayer fleet to investigate a battle between black and white fleets, then entered the fight to help them communicate. After both sides mistook the Grim Slayer’s open hatch for a weapon and attacked it, Hu Yu established a connection between the fleets’ commanders, leaving the three sides ready to speak.

• Hu Yu redirected the Grim Slayer fleet toward a distant planetary system after detecting an incoming object.
• Hu Yu and his companions observed a battle between a black fleet and a larger white fleet, and Academician Zeng concluded that neither side truly wanted to fight.
• Hu Yu sent the Grim Slayer into the battlefield to help, but both fleets attacked when its hatch opened.
• The projectiles failed to damage the Grim Slayer, and Hu Yu realized the fleets had mistaken its circular hatch for a launch port.
• Hu Yu’s computer cracked the fleets’ communications, and he projected himself and both commanders into each other’s ships to begin a three-way conversation.

Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua stopped a battle between the black and white civilizations and learned that it began over black citizens bathing in shared lakes on Planet Three. The leaders revealed that the black fleet had gone searching for water, while the opposing commanders were classmates and neither side wanted a real war.

• Hu Yu explained that the humans had no hostile intentions and summoned the Grim Slayer fleet, astonishing the black and white commanders.
• The two planetary leaders arrived, and the White Leader described how the civilizations had cooperated to settle Planet Three before disputes began over bathing in its lakes.
• The Black Leader explained that water scarcity on Planet Two had led his people to bathe in the lakes, and he revealed that 50,000 warships were searching the distant star system for water.
• Hu Yu learned that the black and white commanders were classmates, their crews were friends, and the two civilizations had studied and built warships together at the Integration Academy.

The Grim Slayer fleet gave the two allied civilizations a water-rich ice ball and melted it above Planet Three, triggering a planetary flood to replenish their water. As the civilizations watched in awe, Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua learned that Academician Liu had confirmed a major plan was feasible, though it would require many stars and a long time.

• The Grim Slayer fleet found an ice ball containing two billion cubic kilometers of freshwater and brought it to Planet Three.
• The fleet warned Planet Three’s inhabitants to evacuate before the ice ball melted and flooded the planet.
• The ice ball melted above Planet Three, unleashing a vast flood, storms, and torrential rain that astonished the civilizations on Planet Two and Planet Four.
• Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua discussed the flood’s destructive force and went to find the missing Academician Zeng and Academician Liu.
• Academician Liu told Academician Zeng that their plan was feasible but would require many stars and a very long time.

Academician Zeng explained a plan to create a spatial vortex inside the Xuan Star Civilization’s territory by releasing pure energy to alter spatial density and speed. Hu Yu and Wen Zhonghua learned that the plan would require converting about twenty Sun-sized stars.

• Hu Yu arrived at the laboratory, where Academician Zeng announced that the researchers had found a way to create a vortex in Xuan Star Civilization’s territory.
• Academician Zeng used a stream and a board to demonstrate how differences in spatial density and speed could create a vortex.
• Academician Zeng explained that the team would need to deliver pure energy to one side of the Xuan Star Civilization’s territory to increase spatial density and start its rotation.
• Wen Zhonghua asked how much energy the plan required, and Academician Zeng said it would take the equivalent of about twenty Sun-sized stars.

Hu Yu completed the transformation of Planet Three and left the Black and White Civilizations with advice and a genetic treatment, while the fleet still lacked a way to deliver energy spheres to the Xuan Star Civilization. After returning to Earth Two, he headed home but grew uneasy when Xiao Xiao did not answer him, then entered a curios shop.

• Academician Zeng explained that converting a Sun-sized star would produce enough energy spheres to fill Earth, but transporting twenty Earths' worth to the Xuan Star Civilization remained a problem.
• Hu Yu watched the waves settle on Planet Three, where the Black and White Civilizations salvaged materials and began adjusting to their newly water-covered world.
• Hu Yu warned both civilizations about their unstable planetary system, advised them to focus on energy research, and gave the Black Civilization a genetic treatment to reduce its skin secretions.
• Hu Yu led the fleet toward JD4 because returning to the spatial vortex would not solve the problem of transporting the energy spheres.
• The fleet returned to Earth Two, and Hu Yu felt guilty about the failed campaign before setting off for home.
• Hu Yu became worried when Xiao Xiao did not answer his communications, stopped on the way home, and entered a curios shop.

Hu Yu bought Xiao Xiao an expensive necklace and returned home after a thousand years away, expecting her anger but finding her happy to see him. The family reunited over a meal, and Hu Yu acknowledged how long his absence had been and how hard Xiao Xiao had found it.

• Hu Yu spent most of his accumulated contribution points on a necklace for Xiao Xiao, realizing he had neglected her for years.
• Hu Yu hesitated outside his home, failed to reach Hu Yunhang, and nervously went inside.
• Hu Yunhang called for Xiao Xiao, who came out of the kitchen and embraced Hu Yu in tears.
• Hu Yu gave Xiao Xiao the necklace and apologized for neglecting her, while she reassured him that she understood his work.
• Hu Yunhang told Hu Yu that Xiao Xiao had often cried while he was away, and Hu Yu admitted the fleet's effort to absorb the Xuan Star Civilization had come to nothing.
• Xiao Xiao said they would rely on themselves to advance into a small star sector civilization.

Hu Yunhang proposed using a Trojan horse scheme to make the Xuan Star Civilization carry energy balls into its own territory, where they could trigger a spatial vortex. Hu Yu accepted the idea but postponed discussing it with the fleet until morning, while Xiao Xiao teased him about his work and contribution points.

• Hu Yu explained that Academician Zeng and the others could create a spatial vortex by using energy balls made from twenty stars, but they could not transport the balls into Xuan Star Civilization territory.
• Hu Yunhang suggested making a fake base and letting the Xuan Star Civilization seize the energy balls, then carry them home themselves.
• Hu Yu praised Hu Yunhang’s plan, and the family discussed his necklace, his relationship with Xiao Wei, and Hu Yu’s drinking.
• Hu Yu tried to leave for the fleet to discuss the plan with Uncle Zhonghua, but Hu Yunhang reminded him it was the middle of the night and Xiao Xiao wanted him to stay.
• Hu Yu promised to transfer his monthly contribution points to Xiao Xiao, and Hu Yunhang went to bed.

Hu Yu organized a civilization-wide effort to perfect the Trojan Horse Plan against the Xuan Star Civilization, while Academician Zeng explained the enormous manufacturing effort needed to convert the energy spheres. The plan remained under development, and producing enough conversion equipment was expected to take about two hundred years if Grim Slayer production stopped.

• Hu Yu ended the vacation and gathered personnel to develop the Trojan Horse Plan, choosing a fake base near the vortex and planning ways for the Mu Star Civilization to pass information about it to the Xuan Star Civilization.
• Academician Zeng planned to gather 2.4 quintillion energy spheres into two planet-sized spheres that could damage the enemy and create a spatial vortex.
• Hu Yu sent the plan to Earth Two's more than 23 billion citizens for criticism, then formed a task force to draft multiple detailed plans for possible contingencies.
• Hu Yu asked Academician Zeng and Academician Liu how long it would take to convert twenty Sun-sized stars into energy spheres.
• Academician Zeng said each Sun-sized star required six trillion conversion units and estimated production would take about two hundred years if Grim Slayer manufacturing stopped.

Humanity prepared to convert more stars into energy while planning to catch up with the Xuan Star Civilization through fleet construction, population growth, and technological development. As a massive star began its fifteen-year journey toward Earth Two, scientists studied how such giants formed and speculated that survivors of the Eagle Nebula had grown by collecting matter.

• The General and the Academician agreed to convert twenty stars over 1,600 years, build Earth Four, and gradually increase production of Grim Slayers and Wind Masters.
• The Academician explained that a star more than 100 times the Sun’s mass could be stripped of twenty solar masses without exploding, so the General ordered the nearby giant star moved toward them.
• The General accepted that defeating the Xuan Star Civilization required a large fleet, a successful Trojan Horse Plan, and time for technological progress, and the Academician agreed to reassure the population.
• Bases across more than a dozen planets produced conversion equipment, while 100 million Wind Masters moved the giant star toward Earth Two at less than ten times the speed of light.
• Scientists used direct N-body simulations to conclude that massive stars could form when matter was abundant and that cosmic expansion had helped make them rare.
• Scientists studying the Eagle Nebula proposed that stars emerging from it could become massive by accumulating matter after surviving collisions inside the nebula.

Academician Li Youwei reported that he had converted pure energy back into matter and created a new form called the Reversed State. He explained its unusual properties to Hu Yu, Academician Zeng, and the general, leaving its exact force and full capabilities still under study.

• Academician Li Youwei announced that he had reconstructed elementary particles by arranging Basic Energy into their Perfect Structures.
• Academician Li Youwei revealed that he had also created a new kind of matter, a small black sphere made entirely of Basic Energy with no elementary particle structure, which he called the Reversed State.
• Academician Li Youwei explained that Reversed State spheres had a powerful short-range force between them and could potentially make warship armor stronger than alloys currently in use.
• Academician Li Youwei told the general that Reversed State had negligible mass and did not exert gravitational effects on ordinary matter.
• Academician Li Youwei said the sphere's defense exceeded current warship alloys by at least tenfold, though he had not yet measured its exact strength.

Academician Li Youwei created an indestructible Reversed State ball and tested its limits, then worked with other scientists to develop a cube suitable for warship armor. The research moved into the application stage, with the fleet’s scientists tasked with finding a way to manufacture the cubes efficiently.

• Academician Li Youwei demonstrated his Reversed State ball to the general, who asked him to test it and share the technology with other scientists.
• Academician Li Youwei convened a special meeting and explained the reverse conversion process to the academicians and scientists.
• Academician Li Youwei subjected the ball to laboratory and fleet attacks, finding it remained intact against antimatter, explosions, lasers, gravity, and other tests.
• Academician Li Youwei discovered that precisely nudging one unit of Basic Energy with a carefully controlled magnetic field line turned the ball into energy, but restoring the unit reformed it.
• Academician Li Youwei sent his test report to Academician Zeng and Hu Yu, then spent twenty years improving the structure until he created one-cubic-centimeter Reversed State cubes that bonded together strongly.
• The scientists began seeking a practical way to manufacture the Reversed State cubes for warship armor.

The fleet began refitting Grim Slayers with lightweight Reversed State armor while continuing to convert a giant star into energy spheres. Academician Xiao perfected artificial humans for Hu Yu’s Trojan Horse Plan, leaving the fleet able to deploy lifelike, unconscious people controlled by external electromagnetic waves.

• The fleet began covering Grim Slayers with Reversed State cubes and an outer layer of high-strength alloy, while leaving the Wind Masters unchanged as decoys.
• The fleet’s conversion devices produced energy spheres faster than they could be packaged, filling the space around the giant star with them.
• Hu Yu assigned Academician Xiao to create artificial humans for the Trojan Horse Plan without sacrificing real people or conscious clones.
• After 500 years of research, Academician Xiao developed artificial humans whose brain DNA prevented brain waves during development and was restored after creation.
• The artificial humans could move only when external electromagnetic waves activated and controlled their unconscious brains.

Academician Xiao confirmed that artificial humans could convincingly simulate natural people, though distance would delay their responses to natural humans. Hu Yu’s fleet began preparing planets near the vortex for the Trojan Horse Plan by sending Wind Masters and machinery to build underground cities and produce artificial humans.

• A young artificial man spent three years walking across Earth Two as part of a successful test of his natural behavior.
• Academician Xiao reported that artificial humans could operate smoothly among themselves, but signal latency would slow their replies to natural humans at greater distances.
• Hu Yu thanked Academician Xiao and said the artificial humans would strengthen the Trojan Horse Plan.
• One hundred million Wind Masters traveled for more than twenty years to planets near the vortex, where they buried themselves and deployed robots and machinery.
• Robots began hollowing out underground cities and synthesizing organic materials for the planned population of over five billion artificial humans.