Chapter Summaries

Charlie sought shelter as unidentified fighter jets triggered a nationwide emergency, while Thomas and Carl struggled to explain the aircraft appearing off both coasts. George intercepted one of the silent, foreign fighters at sea but held his fire as hundreds more cruised nearby.

• Charlie followed the panicked traffic to a shopping mall and watched a broadcast showing unidentified fighter jets approaching the east and west coasts.
• People aboard yachts and other vessels saw the aircraft formations and received warnings to take evasive action.
• Thomas demanded answers from Carl, who reported that hundreds of silent fighters had appeared within radar range and bore a strange red emblem.
• George pursued one of the unidentified fighters, which performed maneuvers with him without entering national airspace or answering radio calls.
• George refrained from firing because intelligence indicated that roughly three hundred enemy fighters were nearby.

Zhang Tianyuan brought hundreds of fighters and nine carrier battle groups into the “2012” spacetime to surround Thomas’s homeland and deter his forces without starting a war. When George fired a missile at locked-on fighter 287, Zhang vanished with the plane before impact, leaving George unable to find his target.

• Zhang Tianyuan and Elder Zhou’s group used spacetime jumps to move more than four hundred fighters and nine carrier battle groups into the Eastern Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.
• Thomas’s forces scrambled fighter reinforcements, while Zhang ordered his pilots to avoid exchanging fire and promised to rescue any aircraft under attack.
• George activated his fire-control radar and later launched a missile at fighter 287 after it slowed down.
• Zhang appeared in fighter 287’s modified cockpit, then vanished with the plane as George’s missile approached.
• George circled back and found the missile still flying but fighter 287 gone, and he asked his teammates where it had gone.

Thomas learned that the mysterious fighters could vanish through black holes and agreed to speak with Elder Zhou Jianhai after being promised their withdrawal. As Zhang Tianyuan returned most of the planes to Legend World, Thomas opened the call by asking whether Zhou had received help from aliens.

• George's wingmen reported that a black hole had appeared and swallowed the enemy plane, and more pilots soon reported seeing the same phenomenon.
• Thomas watched fighter footage showing fighter 287 disappear into a black hole and ordered his pilots to stop firing.
• Officials worldwide suspected Elder Zhou Jianhai's forces were blockading Thomas's airspace, while Ark Alliance members and other leaders flooded Thomas with calls.
• Thomas accepted Elder Zhou Jianhai's offer to withdraw the fighters in exchange for a call and asked them to leave immediately.
• Zhang Tianyuan returned most of the fighters to Legend World, and Elder Zhou Jianhai began speaking with Thomas.
• Thomas asked Elder Zhou Jianhai, "Did you get help from aliens?"

Elder Zhou explained to Thomas that a parallel-spacetime organization could help Earth survive the coming apocalypse by relocating people through a Spacetime Tunnel. Thomas accepted the revelation and asked to use the tunnel, but Elder Zhou warned that access came with obligations, costs, and restrictions.

• Elder Zhou told Thomas that parallel spacetimes existed and that Earth would eventually face an apocalypse its Ark Project could not adequately withstand.
• Elder Zhou explained that the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society brought different spacetimes together to help one another through disasters.
• Elder Zhou revealed that the fighter jets that had blockaded Thomas came from a parallel spacetime and were acting under the Mutual Aid Society's leadership.
• Elder Zhou said the society could let Earth use a Spacetime Tunnel and that another spacetime had agreed to take people in temporarily.
• Thomas realized the railways being built were meant to transport citizens to the other spacetime and eagerly asked whether his country could use the tunnel.
• Elder Zhou agreed in principle but said users had to accept corresponding obligations, costs, and rules.

Thomas decided to meet with Elder Zhou and join the Mutual Aid Society’s plan if its intelligence proved true. After arriving in China the next day, he met Zhang Tianyuan and learned that he was the Mutual Aid Society’s president.

• Thomas told Carl to arrange a visit to Elder Zhou and ordered him to keep the meeting’s purpose confidential.
• Thomas maintained military alerts as five unidentified fleets remained near the coasts, and he urged the generals not to provoke them.
• After videos of the fighters entering black holes spread online, Carl proposed flooding the internet with fake footage, and Thomas approved the plan.
• Thomas deflected questions from his Ark Alliance allies and secretly boarded his private plane for China.
• Thomas arrived at Zhang Tianyuan’s residence, where Elder Zhou introduced him to Zhang Tianyuan as the Mutual Aid Society’s president.

Thomas learned about the Great Migration Plan and its progress, then sought to evacuate his country through the Spacetime Tunnels. Zhang Tianyuan warned that only six tunnels would be available outside his country and insisted their use follow the Mutual Aid Society’s principles, leaving Thomas chastened and promising to discuss allocation with other nations.

• Elder Zhou gave Thomas an overview of the Great Migration Plan, and Thomas was astonished by its thousand railway lines and the project’s progress.
• Elder Zhou explained that No. 2 Spacetime had already experienced an apocalypse and required vaccinations for entry.
• Thomas asked Zhang Tianyuan whether his entire country could join the evacuation plan, and Zhang said the decision was theirs under the policy of noninterference.
• Zhang told Thomas that he could provide no more than six Spacetime Tunnels for regions outside his country and that the countries would need to establish Mutual Aid Societies to allocate them.
• When Thomas appeared to consider reserving two tunnels for his own country, Zhang warned that tunnel use required his approval and must follow the principle of mutual aid.
• Thomas assured Zhang he would discuss tunnel allocation with the other countries, while Elder Zhou watched without intervening.

Zhang Tianyuan and Elder Zhou laid out the conditions for Thomas’s country to migrate to No. 2 Spacetime, including disarmament, resettlement, and labor assignments. Thomas realized the Mutual Aid Society could trigger global chaos by announcing the apocalypse, leaving his country’s leaders no choice but to cooperate.

• Thomas promised fair access to the Spacetime Tunnel and said he would be the last person from his country to migrate, prompting Elder Zhou to ask Zhang Tianyuan to ease up.
• Zhang Tianyuan required Thomas’s country to seal most weapons, destroy certain weapons of mass destruction, accept the Mutual Aid Society’s management, and return after the disaster to rebuild.
• Elder Zhou showed Thomas the assigned resettlement areas and explained that migrants would extract raw materials while industrial centers produced and rationed necessities.
• Thomas accepted the terms but warned that his people and allies would resist them.
• Elder Zhou said the Mutual Aid Society could announce the apocalypse and halt economic production, which would destroy the elites’ wealth and power.
• Thomas realized that the Mutual Aid Society controlled whether Earth descended into chaos, and that his country’s leaders had to cooperate to preserve their nations and influence.

Thomas agreed to join the Mutual Aid Society and the Great Migration Plan, but feared powerful interests in his country would resist and endanger him. He stayed with the Society and told his allies about the parallel-spacetime migration plan, leaving them stunned.

• Thomas accepted Elder Zhou's welcome into the Mutual Aid Society and warned that entrenched interest groups in his country would oppose migration.
• Zhang Tianyuan proposed bombing opponents, but Elder Zhou recommended winning over some, placating others, and striking or punishing the rest.
• Thomas asked to remain with the Mutual Aid Society for his safety, and Zhang Tianyuan and Elder Zhou agreed he should notify his country and allies from there.
• Thomas called his deputy Carl, who insisted that powerful people would never surrender their wealth; Thomas said he would not return until the Great Migration Plan was confirmed for implementation.
• Thomas joined a video call with his Ark Alliance allies and explained that the Mutual Aid Society came from a parallel spacetime and that Zhou's country planned to evacuate its citizens and supplies.
• Thomas's allies questioned whether he was in his right mind.

Thomas failed to persuade the Ark Alliance members to accept the Mutual Aid Society’s Great Migration Plan, while Zhang Tianyuan and Elder Zhou prepared for resistance to their apocalypse announcement. Back home, Carl and the interest groups called Thomas a traitor and urged Carl to take his place.

• Thomas told the Ark Alliance members that the Mutual Aid Society could help them migrate through a Spacetime Tunnel, but they rejected the plan when they learned they would have to surrender most of their armed forces and follow the Society’s arrangements.
• Thomas reported the meeting’s failure to Zhang Tianyuan and Elder Zhou, who revealed that their pressure on Thomas had been planned and expected the allies to obstruct the apocalypse announcement.
• Zhang Tianyuan returned to No. 2 Spacetime to prepare the pilots, while Elder Zhou arranged for Thomas to stay at the state guesthouse.
• Carl and representatives of various interest groups reacted to Thomas’s plan to join the Mutual Aid Society, denounced him as a traitor, and proposed that Carl replace him.

Carl was forced to sign orders branding Thomas a traitor, ending the Ark Project and leaving Adrian stunned. Zeng Xianmin then asked Carl to help prevent a confrontation between the Mutual Aid Society and its opponents, and Carl agreed on one condition.

• Interest-group representatives pressured Carl to sign orders accusing Thomas of treason, crimes, and mental instability, and Carl signed them.
• Adrian arrived to ask about Thomas and the Ark Project, then heard a general announce Thomas's supposed defection on television.
• Carl returned home and found peace briefly with his mother before Zeng Xianmin, representing the Mutual Aid Society, arrived.
• Zeng Xianmin asked Carl to step forward to prevent a possible confrontation and said the Society had begun lobbying allies within Carl's country.
• Carl asked whether the Mutual Aid Society could travel freely through space using the Spacetime Tunnel, then agreed to help on one condition.

As public anger over Thomas’s supposed defection intensified, Carl helped evacuate his mother and Adrian’s father through the Mutual Aid Society’s instant-transport operation. After Zhang Tianyuan brought more than ten thousand people to safety, he and Elder Zhou decided to turn their attention to the central crisis.

• Carl drove his mother to a secluded villa and told Adrian to bring his father there, warning that the address could save his father when the apocalypse came.
• Carl explained to Adrian that Thomas had contacted the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society to help save humanity and that the Society was collecting their families.
• Zhang Tianyuan arrived with buses, and the Mutual Aid Society instantly transported Adrian’s father and the other evacuees away.
• Carl rallied the people at the villa to reject infighting and join the Mutual Aid Society’s Great Migration Plan, and Adrian joined the call.
• Over two days, Zhang Tianyuan evacuated more than ten thousand people, and he and Elder Zhou decided to tackle the central crisis next.

Carl used her first national address to reject the opposition’s demand for punitive action, declare Thomas a hero, and announce plans to welcome him home with the Mutual Aid Society. The Atlantic offensive had begun, while the opposition’s leaders were surrounded as Carl spoke.

• Charlie heard an air-raid siren at the RV park, turned off the radio, and went back to sleep.
• George flew on a mission to locate and attack the enemy mothership as Zhang Tianyuan’s fleet appeared briefly near the Atlantic coast, repositioned, and launched fighter jets.
• Carl reviewed the opposition’s declaration demanding Thomas’s return, then discarded it and prepared a different speech.
• As Carl began her televised address, crowds gathered and shouted for Thomas to be punished, while opposition generals discovered their communications were blocked and their headquarters surrounded.
• Carl declared Thomas a hero and announced that she planned to travel abroad to welcome him home and attend a historic meeting with their allies.

Carl’s call for a meeting with Zhou Jianhai instead of war sparked protests, but the Ark Alliance leaders accepted after General Furuta forced Takemura to attend. At the meeting, Zhang Tianyuan presented the leaders with applications to join the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society.

• Carl announced that she would meet with Zhou Jianhai, prompting crowds at home to protest what they saw as surrender.
• Takemura rejected the invitation until General Furuta and his soldiers arrived and compelled him to attend.
• The Ark Alliance countries endorsed Carl’s speech and set the meeting for March 3.
• Carl, Takemura, Thomas, and the other leaders gathered at the recuperation area, where Zhang Tianyuan and Elder Zhou joined them.
• Zhang Tianyuan’s staff distributed membership applications, and Thomas and the other leaders began reading them.

The countries in the "2012" spacetime signed agreements to join the Mutual Aid Society and carry out the Global Great Migration Plan. Zhang Tianyuan and the others then agreed on emergency measures to maintain order and supply necessities before announcing the apocalypse and migration plan to the world.

• Takemura, Thomas, and the other representatives signed applications for their countries to join the Mutual Aid Society and signed the Great Migration Plan agreement.
• Zhang Tianyuan welcomed the new members and outlined the migration rules, including prioritizing evacuations, limiting armed forces, and restricting countries’ activities in Legend Spacetime.
• Elder Zhou warned that announcing the apocalypse could destabilize economies and public order, especially in countries with weak institutions.
• Thomas proposed taking control of factories, canceling debts, and introducing planned rationing, and all nine people present agreed.
• Thomas proposed sending stability-maintenance teams to help vulnerable countries, and the group decided to notify national authorities before announcing the apocalypse and migration plan worldwide.

Zhang Tianyuan, Elder Zhou, and the other leaders presented evidence of the approaching doomsday and the Mutual Aid Society to representatives from around the world. The chapter ended with every country in the "2012" spacetime joining the society, uniting seven billion people under the Global Great Migration Plan.

• Elder Zhou thanked Zhang Tianyuan for helping secure international cooperation, and countries began preparing to maintain stability at wartime standards.
• The nine nations invited more than two hundred countries to attend the next talks, providing communications equipment to those that lacked it.
• At the March 10 meeting, Elder Zhou presented evidence that doomsday was nearly certain, and Zhang Tianyuan explained the Mutual Aid Society and the Global Great Migration Plan.
• Thomas demonstrated the Mutual Aid Society's ability to travel through spacetime, and Elder Zhou urged the delegates to decide quickly whether to join.
• Representatives from every country accepted membership in the Mutual Aid Society, bringing all countries in the "2012" spacetime into the organization.
• Zhang Tianyuan reflected that saving seven billion lives made him happier than gaining seven billion new residents.

After the global summit reached agreements on maintaining order, distributing supplies, and organizing the economy, its leaders prepared to announce the apocalypse to the public. Zhang Tianyuan and the other officials arrived at the future spacetime platform, where construction and the railway connection between two spacetimes were about to begin.

• Rumors of the coming apocalypse spread after the meeting, while the general public mostly dismissed them and the summit continued negotiating emergency plans.
• Thomas helped clear obstacles so Elder Zhou’s order-maintenance teams could enter cities, and the summit announced it would reveal major news on its final day.
• Charlie resumed his drive to Yellowstone Park and ignored radio speculation about the summit’s announcement.
• Zhang Tianyuan rode with Elder Zhou to the spacetime platform as Elder Zhou explained plans for retractable railways and communications links through the Spacetime Tunnel.
• Thomas reassured Carl that humanity was fortunate, and reporters photographed Zhang Tianyuan standing with the summit’s leaders at the remote construction site.

Elder Zhou announced to the world that a sun-driven catastrophe would strike in 2012 and wipe out humanity if nothing was done. With the leaders of the five major powers confirming the danger, he reassured the terrified public that they had made progress on a global evacuation plan and would abandon no one.

• People around the world watched officials arrive at the railway project site, while protests against Thomas and their governments continued in Ark Alliance countries.
• Carl asked a railway expert about using China's spacetime railway for evacuation, but the expert said sea transport was more practical for their countries.
• Elder Zhou told the world that the sun's abnormal activity would trigger a catastrophic disaster in 2012 and could wipe out humanity.
• Thomas and representatives of the other three major powers confirmed the warning, leaving viewers across the world frightened and disbelieving.
• Elder Zhou urged people not to panic and said the global summit had made progress on an evacuation plan that would leave no one behind.

Zhang Tianyuan explained that he came from a parallel spacetime and had founded the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society to help worlds facing disaster. As people waited for proof, he opened a Spacetime Tunnel above the venue, leaving the crowd stunned by the vast darkness spreading overhead.

• Yan Xingbang realized that the nationwide disaster evacuation drills had been preparations for the apocalypse and reassured his wife that the country had not abandoned them.
• Elder Zhou introduced the Parallel Spacetime Mutual Aid Society and invited Zhang Tianyuan onto the stage.
• Zhang Tianyuan told the world that he came from another spacetime, had founded the Society, and intended to help their world survive the apocalypse.
• Zhang Tianyuan opened a Spacetime Tunnel, and a vast black curtain rapidly expanded over the venue without creating a black hole's gravitational pull.

Zhang Tianyuan demonstrated the Spacetime Tunnel and explained the global migration plan, while Elder Zhou and Thomas reassured people that preparations were underway to save them from the apocalypse. The spacetime station’s construction officially began, and a convoy of engineers, doctors, and scientists returned through the tunnel from the parallel spacetime.

• Zhang Tianyuan opened a ten-square-kilometer Spacetime Tunnel above the venue, astonishing viewers around the world.
• Zhang Tianyuan promised that the Mutual Aid Society would relocate everyone on Earth to a parallel spacetime until the apocalypse passed.
• Elder Zhou explained that hundreds of thousands of people had already been sent to prepare, and that another contingent would be dispatched.
• Thomas and representatives from other countries vowed to carry out the migration together and rescue everyone without abandoning anyone.
• Zhang Tianyuan, Elder Zhou, and the other officials unveiled the spacetime station project and announced that construction had begun.
• A convoy carrying engineers, doctors, and scientists returned from the Legend Spacetime through the ground-level Spacetime Tunnel.

Qian Xiu and other returning workers were welcomed home as a new construction convoy departed for Legend Spacetime to build Spacetime Railway Section No. 2. Elder Zhou then announced the evacuation plan for the people of "2012" Spacetime, laying out preparations and the mass migration before the end of the world.

• Qian Xiu and the other returning soldiers and engineers were greeted by reporters, officials, and their families as they came through the Spacetime Tunnel.
• Zhang Tianyuan, Elder Zhou, and others saluted as an engineering convoy entered Legend Spacetime to build Spacetime Railway Section No. 2, which was planned to open within nine months.
• People around the world sought ways to join the early migration, while authorities suppressed unrest and increased police patrols to maintain order.
• Elder Zhou and his colleagues announced that the period before 2011 would be used to prepare for evacuation, produce and store necessities, administer the KV Vaccine, and develop No. 2 Spacetime.
• The plan called for nearly ten million people to migrate by sea during preparations, followed by the evacuation of 1.3 billion citizens in 2011 and the transfer of supplies and equipment in 2012.