Chapter Summaries

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.

Cheng Wanli and Zhang Tianyuan confirmed that Wilford and the Snowpiercer were tied to the global cooling, and Cheng asked South American countries to protect the train and tracks. Mather and Morgan struggled to arrange another sabotage attempt as the train’s routes came under guard.

• Cheng Wanli learned from a South American official that a rocket attack on the Snowpiercer had failed because the rocket was a dud.
• Zhang Tianyuan and a technical expert concluded that the attackers were likely local agents and discussed the risks of targeting the train or its tracks.
• Cheng Wanli asked countries along the Snowpiercer’s route to protect the train and railway from further attacks, and they agreed.
• Mather called Morgan and learned that the first sabotage attempt had failed and their South American contacts were unreliable.
• Mather and Morgan recognized that the guarded routes and Mather’s loss of international influence made another attack difficult, but Morgan said he was contacting former partners.

Zhang Tianyuan and his allies searched for a way to stop Snowpiercer without derailing it, and Mako Mori proposed modifying the Pangu with a Gravity Sling. Zhang agreed to arrange the modification and simulation, then questioned whether the weapon manipulated gravity rather than magnetic force.

• Zhang Tianyuan and Cheng Wanli used a holographic display to simulate ways to stop Snowpiercer, but most plans failed or threatened the passengers.
• Zhang Tianyuan rejected using rock haulers or the Pangu itself because of their weight, dimensions, and risk of derailing the train.
• Instructor Yin suggested the Gravity Sling being tested on the Pangu at Moyulan Base.
• Mako Mori told Zhang Tianyuan that the Gravity Sling could increase the Jaeger's gravitational pull on Snowpiercer and slow it down, and offered to move its projector to the Pangu's ankle.
• Zhang Tianyuan asked Mako Mori to modify the Pangu and provide data for a simulation, then questioned whether the Gravity Sling manipulated gravity.

Zhang Tianyuan learned that the Gravity Sling had been developed and ordered the Wei Brothers to deploy the Pangu to No. 8 Spacetime for an interception mission. As Morgan and Mather’s saboteurs began cutting Wilford’s railway in Snowpiercer Spacetime, a powerful rush of wind interrupted them.

• Mako Mori explained the Gravity Sling’s two gravity-strengthening effects and showed Zhang Tianyuan its data.
• Zhang Tianyuan confirmed that the Wei Brothers knew how to use the Pangu and the Gravity Sling, then ordered them to prepare for deployment.
• The Wei Brothers reported to the hangar, where Mako Mori briefed them on a hostage interception mission in No. 8 Spacetime involving a nuclear-powered train.
• Morgan and Mather’s men searched Wilford’s guarded railway for an unprotected section and found one in a snowy forest.
• The saboteurs began setting up hydraulic cutters to damage the track, but a tremendous rush of wind sounded overhead.

The Wei Brothers used the Pangu to stop railway saboteurs while Wilford discovered that the Mutual Aid Society had disrupted his apocalypse plan. As the train shook under the approaching mecha, the Society began addressing the passengers.

• The railway gang abandoned stealth and prepared to destroy the tracks with bombs and rocket launchers when they heard helicopter rotors.
• The Pangu landed before the saboteurs, and one man fired a rocket that exploded harmlessly against its armor.
• Wei Chang located the target and ordered the Pangu's thrusters activated as the brothers advanced toward it.
• Wilford connected to the satellite network and learned that the Mutual Aid Society and high-temperature plasma had derailed his global cooling plan.
• Wilford smashed the computer and feared the Society's threat to act against him as a terrorist holding over a thousand hostages.
• The train shook as a giant shadow approached, and a voice announced, "This is the Mutual Aid Society..."

Wei Chang’s Pangu mech pursued the Snowpiercer and demanded that Wilford surrender, while the terrified passengers searched for him. Wilford locked the train’s cars and accelerated to escape, leaving Namgoong Minsu to plan a break-in and seek help from the hostages behind him.

• Wei Chang broadcast a multilingual warning demanding that Wilford stop the train, release the hostages, and surrender as the Pangu followed the Snowpiercer.
• The passengers saw the mech and crowded toward the front cars, calling for Wilford to open the door.
• Wilford hid in the technical car, locked every car door, and increased the engine’s power to make the train pull away from the Pangu.
• Namgoong Minsu prepared to open the locked door, and his wife urged him to enlist the more than a thousand hostages behind them.

Namgoong Minsu opened doors through the train to reach the hostages while the Pangu pursued Wilford’s speeding train. Morgan and Mather agreed to launch a missile, and the Wei Brothers prepared the Gravity Sling as the train neared a straight stretch.

• Namgoong Minsu bypassed the control system and opened doors until he found the hostages, then urged them to follow him.
• Morgan reviewed satellite footage of the Pangu pursuing the train and persuaded Mather to authorize a missile launch against Wilford.
• Wilford accelerated the train to around one hundred kilometers per hour despite its dangerous swaying, while the Pangu kept pace.
• Wei Chang planned to use the Gravity Sling when the train reached the straight track, and Wei Hu reported that the device was ready.

The Pangu stopped Snowpiercer and its passengers confronted Wilford, who overloaded the train’s nuclear reactor to create a chance to escape. The Wei Brothers and Zhang Tianyuan contained the radiation crisis by sending the reactor car through a Spacetime Tunnel, while the Pangu pursued Wilford through the snow.

• The Pangu used an electric bolt to slow Snowpiercer, and Curtis and Namgoong Minsu led the passengers toward Wilford.
• Mather launched a nuclear missile at the Pangu, but Cheng Wanli ordered an interception and the Wei Brothers slowed the train further.
• Wilford overloaded Snowpiercer’s reactor and tried to flee, but Namgoong Minsu and the passengers caught and beat him before he escaped through a window.
• The Wei Brothers detected the overheating reactor, and the Pangu tore the train apart while passengers escaped and Namgoong Minsu found his wife.
• Zhang Tianyuan opened a Spacetime Tunnel, and the Wei Brothers threw the reactor carriage through it to resolve the nuclear crisis.
• Zhang Tianyuan sent a team to pursue Wilford, and the Pangu followed him through the forest.

Wilford was captured after the Pangu rescued the train passengers, while Mather and Morgan scrambled to cover up their role in the CW-7 disaster. Morgan planned to frame Mather and arranged for a farmer who hated him to carry out the next step.

• Wilford surrendered to black-armored soldiers, who verified his identity and took him away as the Pangu departed.
• Curtis and the other survivors searched the wrecked train for food as local soldiers and police took them in.
• Mather watched the rescue, learned his missile had failed, and called Morgan for advice before speaking with Cheng Wanli.
• Morgan told Mather to stay in public view while his team erased evidence and altered Mather's medical records to make him appear mentally ill.
• Morgan's subordinate reported that the cleanup was nearly finished and described a grieving farmer who blamed Mather for the deaths of his cattle.

Morgan ordered his people to move between shelters while he waited for the final east wind and feared the Mutual Aid Society’s response. Mather grew increasingly reluctant to appear in public as the climate worsened, while Zhang Tianyuan and Cheng Wanli identified the powerful figures altering Mather’s medical records.

• Morgan ordered his servants and associates to leave their bunker and remain ready to move, fearing the Mutual Aid Society would punish them for their role in the doomsday plan.
• Mather learned that the national average temperature had fallen to 30.2°F and considered giving a public speech to restore his reputation.
• Mather canceled the speech after becoming frightened by the dark corridor, but his secretary insisted that he leave or risk impeachment.
• Cheng Wanli told Zhang Tianyuan that Mather’s medical records had been altered to support declaring him mentally ill.
• Cheng Wanli showed Zhang Tianyuan photographs of the people behind the scheme, and Zhang memorized their names.

Wilford confessed that Morgan and his allies created CW-7 to trigger a global cooling catastrophe and build a new world under their control, while Wilford built the train and later abandoned them. He ended the chapter stripped of his confidence and cooperating with his interrogators.

• Zhang Tianyuan and Cheng Wanli discussed how migration to another spacetime would dissolve Morgan's power and make his attempts to tamper with evidence useless.
• Wilford returned under guard and became more cooperative after seeing the Spacetime Tunnel.
• Wilford confessed that Morgan's group discovered CW-7 and disguised their global cooling plan as a response to global warming.
• Wilford admitted that he built the apocalypse train and railway for Morgan's organization, then abandoned some of the group and hijacked passengers for his own train.
• Wilford's account revealed that Morgan and his allies planned to restart civilization and rule the new world after their influence declined, and that using a nuclear-powered train as a fortress had been Wilford's idea.

After Cheng Wanli joined the Mutual Aid Society, he and Zhang Tianyuan traveled to No. 7 Spacetime for a conference on relocating Snowpiercer Spacetime’s population to Interstellar Spacetime and accelerating settlement on the new planet. Cheng Wanli proposed providing extensive infrastructure support, and Yuan Heguang welcomed the offer.

• Cheng Wanli’s people found documents confirming that the global cooling plan was real, but none identified who had initiated it or made CW-7.
• Cheng Wanli learned that Mather was in the hospital undergoing emergency resuscitation, while worsening cooling and declining Planetary Engine influence threatened Snowpiercer Spacetime.
• Cheng Wanli formally joined the Mutual Aid Society as the president of its No. 8 Branch and traveled with Zhang Tianyuan to No. 7 Spacetime.
• Yuan Heguang and the other branch presidents gathered for a conference about moving people from Snowpiercer Spacetime to Interstellar Spacetime and expanding migration to the new planet.
• Cheng Wanli offered to build a heavy-haul railway network and provide other infrastructure support in Interstellar Spacetime and on the new planet, and Yuan Heguang welcomed the proposal.

Zhang Tianyuan discussed the Spacetime branches’ cooperation and learned how the Mutual Aid Society Divine Church used repentance rituals to restore order in Finch Spacetime. Meanwhile, North American leaders secretly shifted resources toward NASA, where officials concluded that the Mutual Aid Society’s Spacetime Tunnels had limits and believed rockets could give them an advantage.

• The Spacetime branches agreed on cooperation plans, including Snowpiercer Spacetime’s migration and future assistance for Wandering Spacetime.
• Amelia Brand and Professor Brand asked Zhang Tianyuan about the man-made disaster in No. 8 Spacetime, and Amelia described the Indian Curse circulating in Finch Spacetime.
• Amelia explained that Jack’s church made believers repent for past wrongs, while Zhang Tianyuan said its rituals helped guide people and rebuild social order after the chaos.
• Professor Brand reported that most starving people had been rescued and that local guards were helping, while leaders elsewhere diverted resources and secretly supported NASA’s rocket program.
• A North American presentation argued that Spacetime Tunnels could not stay open long or transport large forces, and its officials concluded that rocket migration was their opportunity.

A group of officials decided to flee Earth for Planet No. 2, believing Dr. Mann might still be alive there and that the Mutual Aid Society had left it undeveloped. As they prepared their rocket, fighting between National Guard units over grain signaled that North America was descending into chaos.

• An old official argued that the Mutual Aid Society had concealed information about Planet No. 2, where Dr. Mann had reported breathable air, water, and organic matter.
• He persuaded the others that they could settle Planet No. 2 while the Mutual Aid Society focused on Planet No. 3, then have their descendants merge with the later colonists.
• The group approved the New Lazarus Plan, and the old official said the rocket was nearly ready and could carry relatives, Population Bomb devices, women for breeding, and basic supplies.
• The B34 Granary in Pennsylvania ran out of grain beyond the five-year ration for fifty thousand people, and its National Guard unit asked to join the Mutual Aid Society.
• After the Mutual Aid Society rejected the request, the unit fought another National Guard unit over the still-stocked B40 Granary.
• Zhang Tianyuan and Yuan Heguang saw the clash as the beginning of unavoidable chaos across North America.

The author reflected on a lost move in the game, arguing that later gains kept the overall position from collapsing. They criticized the opposing player for taking the prestige and urged people to seek ways to retaliate instead of imagining defeat.

• The author said the game had lost one ko fight and one stone, but its big dragon remained intact.
• The author noted that later gains included a small ko fight, a captured stone, and an advance elsewhere.
• The author complained that the opposing player took the prestige while the pieces and parasites were used and gained nothing.
• The author attributed some disappointment to a generational divide in expectations and approaches to the game.
• The author dismissed online predictions of total defeat and urged people to find an outside way to hit back.

As armed conflict spread across North America, Donald decided his family had to leave and contacted Amelia Brand, who arranged to evacuate them. Meanwhile, Zhang Tianyuan learned that the North American authorities had launched a colonization mission to Planet No. 2, where Mann might be stranded.

• After a local gathering revealed plans to recruit soldiers and buy horses amid the chaos, Donald called Amelia Brand and asked her to evacuate him, Murphy, and Tom.
• Amelia promised to send a team within a week and suggested that Professor Brand arrange evacuation for other families as well.
• Zhang Tianyuan learned that armed clashes in North America had expanded, while its authorities ignored his message and prepared resources for an undisclosed plan.
• As North American society grew more violent, Zhang Tianyuan withdrew Mutual Aid Society personnel from granaries that joined the National Guard, while immigrants from Snowpiercer Spacetime began arriving to help build a railway.
• Professor Brand told Zhang Tianyuan that North American rockets had carried a colonization team toward Planet No. 2, where Mann’s reports suggested the planet might be habitable.

Zhang Tianyuan revealed that Planet No. 2 was uninhabitable and that Dr. Mann had deceived Earth, devastating Professor Brand. The group decided to monitor the sinners' expedition and arrest them—and Mann—after they landed and experienced the planet’s conditions.

• Professor Brand proposed an immediate expedition to Planet No. 2 to retrieve Mann and stop the sinners, but Zhang Tianyuan revealed that the planet was uninhabitable and Mann’s reports were false.
• Professor Brand searched Mann’s coded messages for proof but found no way to verify them, and the others tried to console him over the betrayal.
• The group discussed letting the sinners face despair on Planet No. 2, but Zhang Tianyuan insisted they must be brought back and put on trial.
• Zhang Tianyuan decided to send satellites to monitor Planet No. 2 and wait until the sinners landed before arresting them and retrieving Mann; Professor Brand raised no objection.

After the sinners fled, North America’s authorities collapsed and armed groups threatened further disorder. Zhang Tianyuan refused to let Headquarters intervene, but proposed that Professor Brand and the North America Branch take responsibility, revealing that the branch already had at least five million members.

• Officials discovered that their superiors had vanished, and rumors spread as North American society fell into chaos.
• Zhang Tianyuan warned that armed groups and the collapse of order could cause a greater humanitarian disaster.
• Zhang Tianyuan explained that the Mutual Aid Society’s influence could restrain the guard units, but said Headquarters would not interfere in North America’s affairs.
• Amelia realized that Zhang Tianyuan expected the North America Branch to handle the crisis, and the others agreed that it should rebuild social order.
• Professor Brand questioned how his small branch could manage the task, and Zhang Tianyuan revealed that it already had at least five million members among the rescued starving people.

Donald arrived with Murphy and Tom in a busy airport city and saw signs of a functioning society, including factories, public transportation, schools, and hospitals. Their coach reached the space base, where Cooper came to meet them.

• Donald and his grandchildren disembarked and saw the crowded airport, including soldiers in exoskeletons loading cargo onto a plane.
• Donald led Murphy and Tom onto their assigned coach and noticed passengers from Europe, South Asia, and the Middle East.
• Donald told the children that they were traveling to the space base to reunite with Cooper, then settle in a nearby city.
• The coach passed operating factories, buses, schools, hospitals, and ambulances, astonishing Donald.
• The coach stopped outside the space base, and Donald spotted Cooper approaching with a broad smile.

Cooper reunited with Murphy, Tom, and Donald at the space base, showed his children around, and told them about New Star. The family left eager to learn more about the new planet, while Donald connected Cooper’s news about foreign delegations to the people he had seen on the coach.

• Murphy and Tom ran to Cooper and embraced him, while Donald brought their luggage into the space base.
• Cooper showed his family the base and took the children to see a rocket launch pad.
• Cooper gave Murphy and Tom dried earthworms flavored to taste like durian; Murphy and Donald enjoyed them, but Tom rejected his.
• Cooper explained that the durian flavor was artificial and told the family that crop trials on New Star were going well.
• Cooper described New Star’s landscape and wildlife to the fascinated children, then said foreign delegations were arriving to discuss the planet.
• Donald remembered seeing foreign faces on the coach when he heard about the delegations.