Inside the Snowpiercer.
The atmosphere was completely different from when I first got on the bus a few days ago.
The business class passengers no longer felt any sense of relief at having escaped the apocalypse and being able to continue enjoying themselves; instead, they were all filled with unease.
They were afraid that they wouldn't be the lucky ones in the apocalypse, but rather an unlucky soul who had been tricked.
The windows on both sides of the train were constantly watched by these well-dressed people, their eyes fixed on the snow-covered world outside, only relaxing when they were sure it was still bitterly cold outside.
"The outside temperature is now -7, back to the previous level."
"It seems Wilford wasn't lying to us..."
While they were observing the outside world.
Namgoong Minsu routinely comes here to inspect the equipment, and his wife are also watching the movements and expressions of the passengers, plotting how to get them off the train safely.
Namgoong Minsu is now certain that what Wilford said was a lie.
How could boiling water be falling from the sky on such a frigid, apocalyptic day?
And that blue light in the sky...
He had already decided that once the train returned to California in North America, if the situation in the city was good, he would find a way to get his wife off there and return to civilized society to give birth.
If things don't go well, then give birth on the train, and then figure out a way to get his wife out.
The oppressive atmosphere on the train had become unbearable for both his wife and himself.
This usually calm person now harbors an uncontrollable rage, and in his frustration, he even feels an urge to hit someone...
And at the rear of the train.
The last carriage.
The situation here is completely the opposite of what happened before.
Now all that's left here are starving people lying on the ground.
Inside the enclosed carriage, they were like forgotten people, with no one paying any attention to them.
Even the soldiers responsible for suppressing them did not show up in the days after they boarded the vehicle, seemingly indifferent to their fate.
The more than 1,200 people in the carriage had gone from initially cursing, to begging, to pleading, then cursing again, then pleading again...
Repeating endlessly.
Those who received no response eventually gave up and made no further effort.
Everyone hid on the ground, using sleep to reduce physical exertion and alleviate the various negative effects of hunger.
The dimly lit carriage was filled with a stench, even a putrid smell, as if something had rotted away...
Wow!
Upon realizing this, Curtis jolted awake and abruptly rose from the cold floor.
He turned his head and looked in the direction from which the smell was coming.
You can vaguely see several people lying there.
Glug~
Perhaps the movements I just did were too strenuous and too exhausting, because my stomach started rumbling at an inopportune time.
Where is this smell coming from?
It has been said that the smell of a decomposing corpse is a strong and distinctive odor, so distinctive that everyone who smells it will immediately understand what caused it.
Especially the smell emanating from a decomposing human corpse...
Curtis wasn't sure if that statement was correct.
But he recognized the taste.
Unlike excrement and various body odors such as sweat, body odor, and foot odor, this smell is hundreds or thousands of times stronger, making people feel nauseous and vomit.
call!
He forced himself to get up.
I staggered towards the source of the stench.
It was a middle-aged man, clutching his heart, his eyes wide open, not blinking for a long time. Under his clothes, one could even see a tiny white thing wriggling.
Curtis sat down directly, leaned against the wall, and stared at the man, lost in thought.
I don't know when.
Several more people gathered around him.
There were men, women, and elderly people...
Everyone stared silently at the middle-aged man's corpse, whose eyes were wide open.
Glug~
My stomach growled again.
But this time, several sounds overlapped.
The man next to Curtis quietly reached out and slowly touched the corpse on the ground. His eyes were still fixed on the writhing white thing. He made a gesture with two fingers that Namgoong Minsu hated, as if he wanted to pick up the white thing.
The others stared at his palm, saying nothing, but their positions subtly formed a circle, with the man's corpse at the very center...
"Wow~~~"
The baby's cry suddenly rang out, as loud as thunder in the quiet, dimly lit carriage.
The man who had reached out his hand quickly withdrew it, as if a stretched rubber band had snapped back.
Someone glared angrily at the sound of crying.
My mind was filled with anxiety.
What should we do with his body?
"We can't just watch the corpses rot like this..."
"This will make us sick."
"Has it been dealt with?"
"Yes, let's figure out a way to deal with it, shall we?"
How to handle this?
Everyone skipped over the question.
As everyone discussed it, their stomachs rumbled again, louder than ever before.
Someone walked towards the body, but as soon as they took their first step, a sound came from behind them.
Hoo hoo hoo~
The voice was rhythmic, making it sound even more familiar.
A moment later, someone remembered:
"It's a helicopter!"
"There's a helicopter approaching us!"
"Hey! Help!"
It's unclear where the power came from, but someone was able to pound hard on the carriage wall while shouting loudly.
Curtis rushed to the wall, grabbed a handle, and twisted it, creating a hole just a little bigger than his arm.
A gust of cold wind blew in.
But the helicopter's sound was also much clearer.
Curtis leaned forward, braving the biting wind and snow, and strained his eyes to see what was happening. Sure enough, he spotted a blurry helicopter silhouette...
At the same time.
The people in business class were also surprised.
Their view was much better than Curtis's, with transparent windows on both sides.
"Helicopter!"
"It's police equipment!"
Are they here to see us?
"Where is Mr. Wilford? Go find him!"
Tell Wilford!
Claude put down his work, glanced at the police helicopter outside the window, and, urged by the others, quickly walked towards the first carriage.
In fact, Wilford had already learned of the helicopter's arrival through surveillance footage without her notifying him.
The helicopter made such a loud noise when it approached that even he could hear it.
"I am Officer Harris! I demand that you, Wilford, stop the car immediately! Release all the hostages you are holding, cease your acts of terrorism, and lay down your weapons and surrender!"
The Horn on the police helicopter kept repeating this sentence, the sound even drowning out the noise of the rotors. I don't know where they found such a large Horn...
Wilford sighed.
The plan was completely out of his control...
The global cooling plan is a huge gamble.
There are too many uncertainties, and the probability of failure is very high.
Wilford already knew this.
But he really didn't expect that the plan would go so wrong so soon after it had just begun.
The temperature didn't drop; instead, it started raining hot rain, which made the passengers increasingly doubtful about the apocalyptic future. They wanted to leave the train, and the soldiers weren't so obedient anymore...
Now even the police have come knocking on our door in helicopters.
All he wanted was to drive a train peacefully in the apocalypse, why was that so difficult?
Wilford sighed and prepared to leave Carriage One to calm the passengers outside. If he wasn't mistaken, they were already in an uproar like a hornet's nest that had been thrown to the ground.
In fact, he wasn't wrong.
It really did explode outside.
"Did he just mention terrorists?!"
He definitely told me!
" Wilford is just a terrorist who took hostages!"
"He's not a savior at all!"
The helicopters outside awakened all the passengers' longing for civilized society.
If we weren't convinced that the world was going to end, who would want to spend their whole life on a train?
No matter how good life is on this train, can it ever be better than their life on the outside?
Amidst the commotion, the door to the first carriage opened.
Wilford walked past Claude, who was about to knock on the door, and strode into the carriage where the passengers were gathered:
"Quiet!"
His powerful voice instantly captivated the entire audience.
When the person in charge arrived, those who had been so arrogant just moments before immediately fell silent.
Wilford breathed a sigh of relief.
The people he selected were all former partners of Wilford Industries. These people deeply trusted his power and capital, which is why they followed him, and that's why they were now intimidated by his simple words.
The police helicopters, representing order, evoked these people's desire to return to the outside world, but at the same time, they also awakened their memories of Wilford Industries.
These people no longer dared to launch a punitive riot demanding a confrontation, as they had done before.
As a super industrial conglomerate, Wilford Industries could crush these people as easily as stepping on ants.
The passengers are
I remembered that.
Even if they returned to the outside world, they would never be a match for Wilford Industries.
Kidnapping?
Despite the noise from the helicopters outside, based on their experience, once Wilford gets out and does a little bit of work, they'll all become passengers voluntarily boarding to experience the inaugural run of this luxury route.
So the passengers all calmed down immediately.
Whether Wilford is a real terrorist or just playing a post-apocalyptic survival game on the train, they have no choice but to play along...
"Look at the temperature outside, it's already reached minus seven degrees Celsius. And what month is it now?"
Wilford spoke again.
"July," someone answered.
"That's right!" Wilford scoffed. "It's only July. Have South America winters ever seen such abnormally low temperatures before?"
Everyone remained silent, but they all knew that most parts of South America do not experience such low temperatures.
Even though it's winter in the Southern Hemisphere right now.
Wilford continued speaking:
"The temperature will only drop lower, the climate will only become more abnormal, and those outside are just making a last-ditch effort!"
"The apocalyptic era of extreme cold will surely come, and humanity that emitted CW-7 will reap the bitter fruits of its actions..."
The police helicopter was flying at a similar speed to the Snowpiercer.
Onboard...
A police officer is using binoculars to observe the situation inside the train.
" Wilford is speaking to the others, and they look like they're struggling... Why don't they rebel against Wilford?"
"I did not see Wilford's private soldiers at the scene..."
The driver, wearing headphones, listened to his companion's voice and wanted to turn his head to look.
But the next second, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a car suddenly appear out of nowhere on the road, braving the wind and snow, quickly catching up with the train, almost driving alongside it.
Then, before he could react, a person leaned out of the car window, carrying a cylindrical object on their shoulder...
The pilot twitched in fright, and the helicopter shook.
"What's wrong?" His companion put down his binoculars, gripped his seat tightly, and asked in surprise.
"There!" the driver pointed, wanting to continue.
But it's no longer needed.
The man who leaned out of the car pulled the trigger!
An object shot out flames and flew along a trajectory toward the train on the tracks!
"Rocket!"
"They're going to blow up the train!"
There was no time to think further; this was the only thought that popped into their minds.
There is no way to do it.
They could only watch as the rocket hurtled toward the train at breakneck speed, making contact with it almost instantly!
Bang!
A loud bang!
"Explode... huh?"
The police officer was about to scream when he realized the train hadn't exploded.
The rocket did not explode.
The thing had run out of fuel and was stuck straight into the last carriage of the train, like a thick feathered arrow.
Well...
"It's a dud!"
The officer was somewhat embarrassed. He noticed that the vehicle that had launched the rocket seemed equally embarrassed, glancing at the tube in his hand as if questioning his own existence, before silently retreating back to his seat and disappearing quickly down another route.
Report this immediately!
While the two police officers were reporting the situation...
Curtis, in the last carriage, was terrified.
He had just pressed his entire face against the round hole, and before he could even glance at the helicopter outside, he spotted a bright red light rapidly approaching him.
Almost instinctively, he pulled his head back.
Then, with a loud thud!
The rocket hit the round hole squarely; its plump belly was stuck, and only its pointed head managed to get into the carriage...
If he had been even 0.1 seconds slower, his head would have been ripped open!
The loud noise and tremors caused by the rocket impact woke up many more people, and many who were lying unconscious on the ground sat up in a daze.
"Someone's come to our rescue!"
"I just heard it, there are police outside!"
"The police have come to rescue us!"
"Hang in there..."
The carriage was filled with a variety of sounds, but most of them were joyful.
After being starving for several days, they finally saw a glimmer of hope for escape.
No one noticed.
In the corner, an elderly man, dressed plainly but with a wise air about him, slowly raised his hand and scratched his hair...
Gilliam has absolutely no idea what happened.
Why would someone outside use rockets to attack the train?
Why are there police outside?
and...
Has Wilford become a terrorist who kidnaps civilians?