Chapter Summaries

A steering engine in Wandering Spacetime sent bursts of plasma through Spacetime Tunnels to heat the cold air masses forming in Snowpiercer Spacetime, replacing snowfall with scalding rain. Cheng Wanli learned that the blue phenomenon had also appeared over New York.

• People across several cities watched a vast blue pillar of light tear through the clouds, and scalding rain began melting the snow and ice.
• The rescue captain saw Wang Lei’s armored team complete its mission and return through a Spacetime Tunnel as the temperature rose.
• Zhang Tianyuan confirmed that plasma from the Equator No. 1 Steering Engine had heated the atmosphere and ordered more bursts directed at other cold air masses.
• Satellites detected the recurring plasma streams, and Cheng Wanli received reports that the strange energy had heated a cold air mass.
• Cheng Wanli’s assistant reported that the same phenomenon had appeared over New York.

Zhang Tianyuan studied Snowpiercer Spacetime and found it technologically advanced, with developing countries rapidly overtaking former powers. As the blue river appeared around the world and warmed the atmosphere, Cheng Wanli urged countries to focus on the cause of the worsening cold.

• Zhang Tianyuan reviewed reports on Snowpiercer Spacetime and noted its balanced technology and the growing strength of developing countries.
• In New York, people watched a vast suspended river disperse the clouds, while Mather focused on restarting a nuclear war base for shelter.
• The blue-light phenomenon appeared in cities and countries around the world, prompting panic and rumors of alien attacks or secret weapons.
• Cheng Wanli answered inquiries from other countries and said the blue light accompanied the ultra-intense cold and had helped counter its effects.
• Cheng Wanli urged other countries to investigate what was causing the temperature to fall.

Cheng Wanli coordinated efforts to investigate the sudden global cooling, prepare for disasters, and obtain Mather’s real data on CW-7. Xu Chi concluded that the enormous artificial plasma stream likely came from an alien spaceship’s engine, but its source and connection to the cooling remained unknown.

• Cheng Wanli asked others to pressure Mather for CW-7’s real data and launched information-gathering operations while investigating other possible causes of the cooling.
• Cheng Wanli ordered nationwide cold-weather preparations and disaster relief as warnings appeared across the country.
• Xu Chi reported that the blue stream was artificially generated plasma and calculated that its energy was likely a byproduct of nuclear fusion.
• Xu Chi said the plasma could function like a powerful weapon, but doubted that anyone would use a super-large fusion reactor to power a cannon.
• Cheng Wanli worried about the aliens and their unknown spaceship, and Xu Chi proposed that the plasma had been expelled by the ship’s engine to produce thrust.

Xu Chi calculated that the plasma flow required an engine with 15 billion tons of thrust, while Cheng Wanli investigated a mysterious convoy linked to the anomaly. Meanwhile, Wilford prepared to collect passengers for the Snowpiercer and begin its endless journey.

• Xu Chi calculated the plasma engine’s thrust at 15 billion tons, even using highly conservative estimates.
• Cheng Wanli learned that a rescue team had seen a strange convoy and an armored man shortly before the plasma flow appeared.
• Cheng Wanli’s assistant reported that the convoy and its vehicles had no prior identifying records, so Cheng Wanli ordered similar incidents investigated in other countries.
• Wilford watched the snowbound city and planned to fill the Snowpiercer’s empty economy-class section with passengers.
• Claude told Wilford that the station where they planned to pick up passengers was ten kilometers ahead.

As the Snowpiercer arrived at a station packed with people fleeing the blizzard, armed soldiers selected passengers and forced them aboard under brutal conditions. Claude reported the loaded car to Wilford, who ordered the train onward and declared that only those aboard would survive.

• Curtis and the crowd rushed toward the arriving train, but business-class passengers drew their curtains and ignored them.
• Soldiers shot people at the rear entrance, selected passengers individually, and separated families and friends as they boarded.
• The captain’s men beat passengers who tried to leave, shot people who tried to force their way in, and shut the crowded car behind an iron door.
• Claude learned that 1,204 people had been taken aboard and told the captain to keep some physically fit passengers, but not those who were too fit.
• The soldiers seized the passengers’ belongings and sealed the car as Claude returned to first class and reported to Wilford.
• Wilford praised the operation, ordered the Snowpiercer to continue, and said the people outside would die while those aboard lived on with the engine.

Wilford addressed the Snowpiercer passengers as the last humans, while Curtis grew suspicious of the locked economy-class carriage and the missing food. In Wandering Spacetime, Zhang Tianyuan’s team concluded that the Planetary Engines could only delay Snowpiercer Spacetime’s worsening weather and proposed contacting No. 8 Spacetime.

• Wilford gave a speech announcing that CW-7 had frozen the world and that Snowpiercer’s passengers would witness a new age.
• Business-class passengers celebrated Wilford, while the imprisoned economy-class passengers cursed him and tried unsuccessfully to force open the carriage door.
• Curtis recalled Claude’s comment about keeping some passengers fit but not too healthy and became uneasy.
• After the train moved for half a day, Gilliam persuaded the economy-class passengers to lie down, but no one brought them food.
• Liu Chunshi reported that the Planetary Engines’ plasma only delayed the disasters and could make No. 8 Spacetime’s weather more unpredictable.
• Zhang Tianyuan urged the Mutual Aid Society to make contact with No. 8 Spacetime.

Zhang Tianyuan and the Mutual Aid Society prepared to contact Snowpiercer Spacetime and planned to intercept Wilford’s train quickly to prevent a tragedy aboard it. Meanwhile, Wilford learned that people in the tail carriage had reported strange phenomena in the sky.

• Zhong Ruijin and the other branch presidents praised No. 8 Spacetime’s disaster response and supported making contact with it.
• Zhang Tianyuan connected the Luxury Journey railway project to Wilford and CW-7, and the information unit agreed to investigate it.
• The information unit reported that Wilford had boarded the Snowpiercer with many people and was fleeing across the eastern Americas, while local police lacked the resources to pursue his crimes.
• Zhang Tianyuan ordered the Society to monitor the train and seek a swift interception after establishing stable contact with No. 8 Spacetime.
• Wilford accepted medicine from Claude and asked her about reports of strange phenomena in the sky.

Wilford continued isolating Snowpiercer from the outside world while preparing food production and placing Gilliam undercover in the tail section to manage potential unrest. Meanwhile, Mather learned that Wilford had taken more than a thousand hostages aboard the train and abandoned his government duties to inspect a nuclear shelter.

• Claude told Wilford about a strange blue river in the sky, but Wilford dismissed it and maintained the communications blackout for another week or two.
• Claude reported that cockroaches were being bred for protein blocks, though there were not yet enough food scraps to raise sufficient numbers.
• Wilford watched Gilliam in the tail section and explained that the former bomb-disposal agent would help him provoke and control unrest.
• Mather learned that Wilford was suspected of abducting more than a thousand people onto Snowpiercer, making a military attack on the train too dangerous.
• Mather left his office to inspect the restarted shelter and told his secretary not to arrange a flight because the air currents were unstable.

As global cooling caused deaths and strained rescue efforts, Mather sheltered safely underground while Cheng Wanli investigated mysterious black-armored convoys linked to the plasma jets. The chapter ended as officials heard a broadcast identifying its sender as the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society.

• Abel recovered homeless people who had frozen to death and heard his captain plead unsuccessfully for more rescuers, equipment, medicine, and gasoline.
• Mather settled into a well-stocked underground shelter and pretended to resume government work while learning about the plasma jets dispersing cold air masses.
• Mather's secretary relayed officials' suspicions that the plasma jets were human-made weather weapons.
• Cheng Wanli learned that surveillance footage from Bangkok showed a silent black-armored convoy resembling the one seen alongside the plasma jets in his country.
• Cheng Wanli concluded the mysterious visitors appeared to be helping humanity, and an assistant announced that a strange broadcast had arrived.
• A young man's voice began the broadcast by identifying its source as the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society.

Liu Peiqiang and the Navigator Space Station entered Snowpiercer Spacetime to observe the weather and provide global communications, while Cheng Wanli’s government learned that a group spanning parallel spacetimes had arrived to help with the cooling disaster. The chapter ended with Cheng Wanli agreeing to meet the group in his country.

• Liu Peiqiang and Makarov prepared the Navigator Space Station to leave its spacetime and enter Snowpiercer Spacetime.
• The Navigator Space Station arrived above an Earth battered by turbulent weather, lightning, and Planetary Engine plasma jets.
• Cheng Wanli’s assistant showed him satellite footage of the station’s arrival and played a broadcast from the interspacetime organization.
• The organization claimed it spanned seven parallel spacetimes and had sent high-temperature plasma to help counter the atmospheric cooling disaster.
• The assistant reported that the organization wanted an official meeting, and Cheng Wanli agreed to hold it in his country.

Mather learned that a space station and satellites from the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society had appeared and were broadcasting an offer of help. Though he decided North America should cooperate, he feared being exposed for his role in the global cooling plan and tried to cast doubt on the Society’s motives.

• Mather’s secretary showed him evidence of a space station and satellites that had appeared without any launches being detected.
• The secretary played the Society’s broadcast, which offered aid and invited people from the Snowpiercer Spacetime to join its organization.
• Mather rejected the broadcast’s explanation and worried that the Society’s arrival could expose his role in the global cooling plan.
• Mather decided to cooperate for the sake of his own survival and comfort, while keeping the cooling plan’s purpose secret.
• Mather told his secretary that the Society’s motives were not simple and asked where its members had been before the crisis.

Mather blamed the Mutual Aid Society for the global cooling and used official news coverage to publicize the accusation, while the Society received a meeting offer from No. 8 Spacetime. Zhang Tianyuan dismissed the smear and prepared to set out.

• Mather told his secretary to accuse the Mutual Aid Society of causing the cooling and to publicize suspicions about them.
• News outlets spread Mather’s claims, making many people in North America aware of the Mutual Aid Society for the first time.
• The Navigator Space Station received a message proposing a meeting in a specified area, then received another message that left its communications staff speechless.
• Zhang Tianyuan learned that someone in No. 8 Spacetime had agreed to meet and read the additional message accusing the Society of causing the cooling.
• Liu Chunshi brushed off the accusation, Zhang Tianyuan set it aside, and he ordered the group to prepare to leave.

Cheng Wanli met Zhang Tianyuan and the Mutual Aid Society delegation after their plasma jets dispersed a superstorm, then reviewed the Society’s membership documents and raised questions about its terms. Xu Chi learned that the jets came from Planetary Engines with 150 trillion tons of thrust, while Zhang Tianyuan prepared to address Cheng Wanli’s remaining doubts about the impending disaster.

• Cheng Wanli authorized the Navigator to use a plasma jet to disperse the superstorm, turning the falling snow into scalding rain.
• Wang Lei greeted Cheng Wanli and demonstrated his exoskeleton as the Mutual Aid Society convoy arrived through a Spacetime Tunnel.
• Zhang Tianyuan arrived, thanked Cheng Wanli for his support, and presented the Society’s rules and new charter for review.
• Liu Chunshi told Xu Chi that the Planetary Engines produced 150 trillion tons of thrust and explained that they were built to move planets.
• Cheng Wanli endorsed the Society’s ideals but said he still had doubts about certain matters.

Zhang Tianyuan warned Cheng Wanli that the Snowpiercer Spacetime faced a prolonged global freeze, drawing comparisons with the Day After Tomorrow Spacetime and the Mutual Aid Society’s No. 6 Spacetime. The chapter left Cheng Wanli and his colleagues realizing that the plasma jets offered only temporary relief and that temperatures could stay below minus forty degrees for at least thirteen years.

• Zhang Tianyuan explained that the Snowpiercer Spacetime might remain icy for many years, as Earth in the movie had taken seventeen years to become barely survivable.
• Zhang Tianyuan told Cheng Wanli about the climate disaster in the No. 6 Spacetime and its long, cold winter.
• Instructor Yin presented meteorological data comparing the No. 6 Spacetime with the Snowpiercer Spacetime, including weather satellite readings collected without Cheng Wanli’s prior permission.
• Zhang Tianyuan explained that the Snowpiercer Spacetime’s cooling was less intense than the Day After Tomorrow Spacetime’s superstorms but affected the entire globe.
• Zhang Tianyuan said the Mutual Aid Society’s meteorological team expected temperatures to remain below minus forty degrees year-round for at least thirteen years.
• Cheng Wanli and his colleagues realized that the plasma jets only interrupted the disasters temporarily and that their world faced a severe, widespread freeze.

Zhang Tianyuan convinced Cheng Wanli and the Mutual Aid Society that the global cooling threat was real and arranged for Snowpiercer Spacetime to prepare for migration to No. 7 Spacetime. As Cheng Wanli prepared to join the Society, Zhang Tianyuan arranged for Carl to handle North American affairs, prompting her to condemn doing business there.

• Zhang Tianyuan showed Cheng Wanli information about Wilford's luxury train, revealing it had been built as a mobile doomsday shelter.
• Cheng Wanli learned that Mather had gone into hiding and urged his people to verify the CW-7 data faster.
• Zhang Tianyuan offered Planetary Engines and temporary migration to No. 7 Spacetime as ways to help Snowpiercer Spacetime survive the coming cold.
• Cheng Wanli and the Mutual Aid Society accepted the migration proposal and agreed to help build facilities in No. 7 Spacetime.
• Zhang Tianyuan asked Instructor Yin to contact Carl about North American affairs, and Carl replied that even a dog wouldn't do business in North America.

Zhang Tianyuan and Cheng Wanli shared information and prepared to warn the world about the coming extreme cold, while Mather interpreted the Mutual Aid Society’s climate findings as proof of his conspiracy theory. The chapter left Mather intending to accept the Mutual Aid Society’s help while spreading his version of events.

• Zhang Tianyuan set aside plans to contact Mather and gave Cheng Wanli’s staff disaster-shelter information and supplies from The Day After Tomorrow Spacetime.
• Liu Chunshi explained climate data and forecasting methods to Snowpiercer Spacetime’s meteorological experts as a supercomputing center checked their calculations.
• Cheng Wanli secretly informed other countries that temperatures could fall to at least minus forty degrees and that the cooling could last thirteen years or more.
• Several countries began preparing for disaster relief and requested meetings or further information from the Mutual Aid Society.
• Mather took the climate report as confirmation that outsiders were conspiring against humanity, but decided they had to help stop the cooling, and told his secretary to spread the story of their humiliation.

Zhang Tianyuan learned that Wilford was spreading hostile publicity and focused on stopping the Snowpiercer. As the train traveled through South America, Wilford saw that the outside world remained habitable until the temperature suddenly plunged and a massive blue phenomenon appeared in the sky, leaving him and the passengers baffled.

• Zhang Tianyuan heard that Wilford had hired people to smear the Mutual Aid Society and asked about the train's progress, urging his associates to stop it and free Wilford's hostages.
• Wilford, sick with a cold, grew uneasy because people outside the Snowpiercer were still alive and the temperature had only reached six degrees below zero.
• The temperature outside the train suddenly dropped to minus twenty-one degrees, and a huge blue river-like phenomenon appeared in the sky.
• Claude told Wilford that the spectacle had caused a disturbance in business class, while Namgoong Minsu guessed that the blue material might be plasma.
• Namgoong Minsu returned to his carriage with his pregnant wife and realized that Wilford's predicted doomsday had not happened.

Namgoong Minsu saw boiling rain and a sudden temperature rise unsettle the train, while Wilford tried to preserve his authority by claiming the climate was shifting between extremes. As Namgoong Minsu planned an escape with his pregnant wife, Zhang Tianyuan’s people spotted the train emerging from the plasma jet’s hot zone.

• Namgoong Minsu left the crew carriage after hearing that boiling rain had fallen and the train’s windows had warmed, while his pregnant wife stayed behind.
• Wilford faced an angry crowd and used confusing meteorological explanations to defend his prediction of an approaching climate disaster.
• A report that the outside temperature had fallen to minus four degrees persuaded the passengers to withdraw, and Wilford privately feared that events had escaped his control.
• Namgoong Minsu told his wife he would help her leave the train, then discussed protecting their child and reuniting after the child grew up.
• Zhang Tianyuan watched a satellite feed as his people identified the train emerging from the plasma jet’s hot zone.

Zhang Tianyuan and Cheng Wanli sought a way to stop Wilford’s Snowpiercer before it reached Asia, while Mather and Morgan learned about the Mutual Aid Society and feared its interest in Wilford. The chapter ended with Morgan agreeing to help Mather as a police helicopter flew toward Snowpiercer.

• Zhang Tianyuan learned that a 40,000-ton heavy-haul train could stop Snowpiercer, but it would take five months or longer to catch up with the train in South America.
• Zhang Tianyuan proposed exposing Wilford’s doomsday claims to weaken support among Snowpiercer’s passengers, and Cheng Wanli ordered citizens abroad to return home while asking local authorities to help.
• Mather feared the Mutual Aid Society was trying to capture Wilford and realized that he could be blamed if the train’s hijacker were taken into custody.
• Morgan called Mather, learned about the Mutual Aid Society and its interest in Wilford, and agreed to help.
• A police helicopter took off toward Snowpiercer in South America.

As the passengers’ faith in Wilford faltered, a police helicopter ordered him to stop the Snowpiercer and release his hostages, while he insisted that the deep freeze was still coming. A vehicle fired a dud rocket into the last carriage, giving the starving passengers hope of rescue and leaving Gilliam bewildered by the chaos.

• Namgoong Minsu watched the business-class passengers and planned to get his pregnant wife off the train when it reached California.
• Curtis found a dead man in the starving passengers’ carriage, and the group gathered around the corpse before a helicopter’s approach interrupted them.
• Officer Harris ordered Wilford to stop the train and surrender, prompting business-class passengers to call Wilford a terrorist.
• Wilford quieted the passengers and insisted that the temperature would keep falling and the apocalypse would come.
• A vehicle fired a dud rocket that lodged in the last carriage, and the passengers celebrated the arrival of the police as a possible rescue.
• Gilliam wondered why the train was under attack and whether Wilford had become a terrorist holding civilians hostage.