Chapter Summaries

Raleigh and the other pilots used their four mechs to overwhelm and kill Otachi at sea. After the victory, they learned that two monsters were nearing land and that Zhang Tianyuan was about to confront Leatherback.

• Raleigh and Zhang Qing held their position until Otachi passed the point where it could turn, then the four mechs charged to intercept it.
• Cherno Alpha stopped Otachi head-on, while Striker Eureka punched it before it could spit venom and Crimson Typhoon flung aside its tail.
• Tendo Choi warned the pilots to destroy Otachi’s flight structures, and the mechs pinned it down and cut off both fleshy wings.
• Gipsy joined the attack, and the four mechs beat Otachi to death within five minutes.
• Tendo Choi told Raleigh that two monsters had crossed the Miracle Mile and that Leatherback was about to encounter President Zhang.
• Zhang Tianyuan stood on a warship with Old Pan and calmly prepared to deal with Leatherback.

Zhang Tianyuan sent Leatherback into outer space through a spacetime tunnel, then helped the Jaegers defeat two more monsters by severing their limbs so they could be safely killed. After the crisis ended, Ji Ning announced that the PD organization would cease to exist and that its supplies would be transferred to the mutual aid association, leaving Taylor responsible for its assets.

• Zhang Tianyuan opened a huge spacetime tunnel and sent Leatherback into outer space, then told Old Pan where it had appeared.
• Zhang Tianyuan and Old Pan reached the coast, where Zhang Tianyuan warned reporters away and waited for Onibaba and Raiju to come ashore.
• Zhang Tianyuan severed the monsters’ limbs with spacetime cuts, allowing Striker Eureka and "Virus" Eureka to kill them while Scarlet Typhoon stood by.
• The Dome base announced that the monster crisis was over, and evacuees returned to the cities as authorities lifted the shelter orders.
• Taylor asked Ji Ning about maintaining the wormhole, but Ji Ning said the PD organization would end after the assault and its supplies would be transferred to the mutual aid association.

The Precursors began producing monsters from interchangeable components as the humans struggled to predict the next invasion. Zhang Tianyuan learned that the fifth world had been found.

• The Precursors discussed the failed monster attacks and demanded more powerful monsters, then rejected a newly hatched giant.
• Newton told Zhang Tianyuan and Old Pan that identical glands in different monsters showed the Precursors assembled mass-produced weapons from interchangeable parts.
• Hermann said he could not predict the Precursors’ next move and concluded that the recent deployment had been made on the spur of the moment.
• Ning Jihua ordered the humans to follow their original plan, restore production, and wait for a chance to destroy the wormhole when another monster appeared.
• Zhang Tianyuan accepted the plan and turned his attention to Finch’s news that the fifth world had been found.

Zhang Tianyuan learned that the Lord Game world was flat, bounded by invisible walls, and likely divided into separate servers. After harvesting Glazed Wood with Ke Jinjun, he decided to build a level-four hospital in Legend Spacetime.

• Zhang Tianyuan arranged for high-temperature protective suits with added ultraviolet shielding before meeting Ke Jinjun in the game world.
• Ke Jinjun reported that the world lacked planetary curvature, had an invisible boundary about 100 million square kilometers from edge to edge, and might be one server among many.
• Zhang Tianyuan and Ke Jinjun concluded that industrial emissions and radio waves detected beyond the boundary suggested other servers lay behind it.
• Ke Jinjun showed Zhang Tianyuan Glazed Wood, and Zhang Tianyuan demonstrated that his Spacetime Tunnel could cut it easily.
• Zhang Tianyuan and Ke Jinjun traveled to a Glazed Wood grove and Zhang Tianyuan harvested 520 tons of the material.
• Zhang Tianyuan chose Legend Spacetime as the location for the level-four hospital.

Zhang Tianyuan organized oversight for the growing number of game buildings and then surveyed Finch Spacetime by reconnaissance plane. He discovered that society in his country there remained organized beneath vast expanses of solar panels, while Europe and the Americas appeared to have collapsed.

• Zhang Tianyuan placed a level 4 hospital at Tong Wenshi's base and established the Special Building Administration Bureau to oversee game buildings.
• After the monsters in Pacific Rim Spacetime went quiet, Zhang Tianyuan obtained a modified protective suit suitable for Finch Spacetime.
• Zhang Tianyuan synchronized the timelines, boarded a high-altitude reconnaissance plane, and entered Finch Spacetime.
• Zhang Tianyuan and the pilot spotted extensive solar-panel installations covering cities in his country and found smaller signs of survivors in East and Southeast Asia.
• Zhang Tianyuan found Europe and the Americas desolate, then returned to "2012" spacetime with photographs for intelligence analysts.
• The analysts concluded that society remained organized in Zhang Tianyuan's country in Finch Spacetime, while Europe and the Americas had collapsed.

Xue Liangping joined Zhou Tao’s team on a daytime trip to haul building waste to an agricultural building, seeing the harsh outside world and hearing about the disaster that reshaped society. As the teams queued along the road, Liangping spotted a line of enormous, strange black vehicles ahead.

• Zhou Tao and his team pushed a large insulated box through the building’s airlock and out into the blazing sunlight.
• Xue Liangping looked back at the solar-panel-covered building where he had lived for fifteen years, then helped steer the box toward the agricultural buildings.
• Zhou Tao’s acquaintance told Liangping how people had been rescued and moved into buildings after the solar storm.
• The garbage carts formed a long queue, and Liangping climbed a pole to see what had caused shouts at the front.
• Xue Liangping reported seeing darkness and many huge, strange black vehicles ahead, leaving Zhou Tao and his teammates puzzled.

Zhang Tianyuan and the cross-spacetime rescue team arrived in Zhou Tao’s world with a convoy carrying fruit and grain, then offered the residents apples and arranged to visit their agricultural building. As Wang Lei explained that they came from a parallel spacetime to provide aid, Zhou Tao and his teammates struggled to believe him.

• Zhou Tao went to the front of the convoy and met Wang Lei, who introduced himself as captain of a rescue team sent by the Mutual Aid Society and United Government.
• Zhang Tianyuan offered Zhou Tao’s group supplies, and the residents eagerly accepted apples after he urged them to share the fruit with young people and children.
• Zhou Tao agreed to take Zhang Tianyuan to the agricultural building while Xue Liangping returned to bring over their cargo containers.
• Zhang Tianyuan’s team connected Zhou Tao’s containers to their vehicles and transported them toward the agricultural building in air-conditioned comfort.
• Wang Lei told Zhou Tao and his teammates that the rescue team came from a parallel spacetime to aid their world, leaving them astonished.

Zhang Tianyuan and Wang Lei learned about the solar-storm apocalypse and explored the agricultural building where Zhou Tao’s people grew food. The chapter left them discussing the spacetime’s severe energy and industrial-material shortages as its residents began learning about Zhang Tianyuan in turn.

• Zhang Tianyuan introduced himself as the founder of the Mutual Aid Society, and Zhou Tao was struck by the group’s enormous supplies of fruit and grain.
• Zhou Tao and his teammates described the solar storm fifteen years earlier, the relocation of the population into buildings, and the collapse of communications with other countries.
• Zhou Tao led Zhang Tianyuan and Wang Lei into an agricultural building, where they saw mushrooms growing on lower floors and carefully tended vegetables on upper floors.
• Zhang Tianyuan learned that the city relied on fungi and tightly managed vegetable production to feed its population.
• Zhou Tao explained that electricity from solar, wind, and nuclear sources went mainly to agriculture and industry, while the spacetime also faced shortages of industrial raw materials.

Tan Mingda and his colleagues investigated Zhang Tianyuan’s convoy and learned that it came from another spacetime. As Tan Mingda and the old woman reviewed the Mutual Aid Society’s materials, they were confronted with plans to move Earth and push it out of the solar system.

• Tan Mingda rejected theories that the convoy’s fruit came from a hidden storehouse or a foreign industrial recovery, and decided to ask its members directly.
• Zhou Tao told officials that Zhang Tianyuan’s group claimed to come from parallel spacetimes, and Tan Mingda went to meet them.
• Zhang Tianyuan introduced the Mutual Aid Society and gave Tan Mingda materials about its cooperating spacetimes.
• Wang Lei explained how a solar storm had led his spacetime to begin The Wandering Earth Project.
• Tan Mingda and the old woman read about The Wandering Earth Project and the Spacetime Great Migration Plan, and struggled to believe what they found.

Zhang Tianyuan learned from Tan Mingda how the solar storm had devastated most countries while Tan Mingda’s people restored order and organized relief. He offered thirty thousand tons each of fruit and grain, then opened the convoy’s cargo holds to show Tan Mingda the supplies.

• Tan Mingda explained that other countries had descended into chaos after the solar storm, while military-style management had helped his people restore order and ration supplies.
• Tan Mingda revealed that his people had sent teams across Eurasia to gather materials and bring back skilled professionals, and had evacuated the space station astronauts and Antarctic researchers.
• Zhang Tianyuan asked whether Tan Mingda’s spacetime urgently needed help, but Tan Mingda said it had achieved self-sufficiency.
• Zhang Tianyuan offered Tan Mingda thirty thousand tons of fruit and thirty thousand tons of grain, then led him to the convoy and had the cargo hold doors opened.

Zhang Yuantian gave Tan Shuida’s group fruit and explained the Mutual Aid Society’s terms, then warned them that Earth’s environmental recovery near the Golden Gate Bridge might signal a catastrophic ozone and climate shift. The convoy returned through the space tunnel, while Tan Shuida agreed to investigate the San Francisco area.

• Tan Shuida and the space wanderers saw the fruits Zhang Yuantian had brought, and their confidence in him grew as they unloaded the supplies.
• Tan Shuida asked about joining the Mutual Aid Society, and Zhang Yuantian said it had not violated the sovereignty of its four member states.
• Zhang Yuantian told Tan Shuida and the old woman that the environment around the Golden Gate Bridge had returned to normal, prompting them to arrange reconnaissance in North America.
• Zhang Yuantian shared research suggesting the solar storm might have destroyed Earth’s ozone layer and could lead to a prolonged ice age and mass extinction.
• Tan Shuida agreed to send people to investigate San Francisco, and Zhang Yuantian offered them use of the space tunnel.
• The convoy traveled back through the tunnel, and Tan Shuida watched it disappear, calling the route a good thing.

After receiving an apple from a mysterious group, Zhou Tao and Xue Liangping shared it among the residents of their building, where fruit had become extraordinarily rare. The residents treasured every scrap and planted the seeds as rumors about the mysterious people spread between buildings.

• At dusk, Zhou Tao and Xue Liangping brought their apple into the building's living quarters to share it with the residents.
• Zhou Tao showed the apple's fresh flesh and said it had been obtained by chance, keeping Zhang Tianyuan and the mysterious convoy secret.
• Xue Liangping cut the apple into tiny pieces and distributed them among the children and middle schoolers until none remained.
• The residents made apple water from the plate and knife, and Zhou Tao saved Xue Liangping a piece of peel with flesh attached.
• Women planted the apple seeds in the communal vegetable garden as other buildings shared their apples and rumors spread about the mysterious people.

After witnessing the Spacetime Tunnel, Tan Mingda invited Zhang Tianyuan to discuss their country’s situation. He explained how fifteen years of rationing and intensive indoor agriculture had kept over a billion people alive, and Zhang began exploring what aid or trade might help them.

• Tan Mingda rode with Zhang Tianyuan and explained that his country relied on rationing and had struggled to produce enough food since the apocalypse.
• Tan Mingda described how rescued scientists and experts had been assigned to indoor agriculture because military competition had ended and building space limited crop production.
• Tan Mingda said their fair distribution system had prevented famine and deaths from starvation despite widespread hunger.
• Zhang Tianyuan met Liang Zhengping at the spartan administrative office, where the old woman served plain boiled water.
• Zhang Tianyuan identified food as their greatest shortage and asked whether they had competitive industries for the Parallel Spacetime Economic and Trade Organization.

Zhang Tianyuan and Tan Mingda’s group discussed trade between their spacetimes, including food, technology, rockets, industrial materials, and scarce water. After the meeting, Tan Mingda and Old Liang celebrated the promise of supplies by sharing a black plum, which they both insisted was sweet despite their pained expressions.

• Tan Mingda suggested that his spacetime could export agricultural technology and advanced AI and automation, and Zhang Tianyuan agreed those fields might give it an advantage.
• Old Liang asked for rockets and satellites to monitor Earth, and Zhang Tianyuan agreed to record the request.
• Tan Mingda and the others gave Zhang Tianyuan a long list of needed industrial materials and asked whether other spacetimes could supply water.
• Tan Mingda watched Zhang Tianyuan leave and discussed the promised fruit and grain with Old Liang.
• Tan Mingda gave Old Liang a black plum, and after each took a bite, both claimed it was sweet while clutching their cheeks.

Zhang Tianyuan briefed the four Mutual Aid Society branches on Finch Spacetime, prompting discussion of its needs and the other spacetimes’ resources. After realizing how vulnerable Legend Spacetime was beside the others, Robert decided it needed closer ties to the Society and asked Tong Wenshi to join the rescue operation in No. 5 Spacetime.

• Zhang Tianyuan informed the four branch presidents about Finch Spacetime and its situation.
• Sun Deyi estimated that the coming ice age in Finch Spacetime would be milder than the one during the first mass extinction.
• Tong Wenshi and Sun Deyi argued that No. 5 Spacetime should send its skilled workers and engineers to other spacetimes instead of relying on building agriculture.
• The branches shared news of Finch Spacetime with their national chapters, and some proposed preparing apocalypse contingency plans.
• Robert reflected on Legend Spacetime’s weakness and decided that closer integration with the Mutual Aid Society was necessary.
• Robert radioed Tong Wenshi the next morning and asked to participate in the rescue operation in No. 5 Spacetime.

Finch Weinberg survived alone in the devastated city with his dog Goodyear, while Halun’s Newt Gang brutalized people in a San Francisco labor camp. Zhang Tianyuan and a two-thousand-person joint force from five spacetimes arrived to survey the atmosphere and prepare to contact local survivors, finding a world where resources and safety were scarce.

• Finch Weinberg scavenged a shop, returned to the TAE Technologies plant, and remembered how he had rescued Goodyear after finding the puppy beside a murdered mother and daughter.
• Halun hunted down survivors and took them to the Newt Gang First Labor Management Camp, where he punished Puppy Number One by hanging her in the sun.
• After Halun returned at night to assault her, Puppy Number One struck him with a stone, escaped, and hid in the grass.
• Zhang Tianyuan arrived in San Francisco with two thousand people from five spacetimes to survey the upper atmosphere and assess the local situation.
• Zhang Tianyuan ordered the units to establish their position and proceed cautiously, while Robert warned that the scarcity of resources had likely driven survivors into conflict.

Zhang Yuantian led his forces into old San Francisco to search for survivors while a detachment checked the Golden Gate Bridge. Halun chased a runaway girl, then encountered the convoy and shot two of his men as he prepared to gamble on its arrival.

• Zhang Yuantian sent a detachment to the Golden Gate Bridge to look for survivor information and led three detachments toward the city.
• Halun woke with a head wound, realized the girl had escaped, and ordered his men to search for her.
• Halun drove toward the city with two men, but their car stopped when they saw a large convoy approaching.
• Halun recognized the convoy's flags and considered whether the government had rebuilt its institutions.
• Halun announced that his two companions' lives were the stakes of a bet, then gunshots rang out inside the car.

Zhang Tianyuan’s forces liberated the Newt Gang’s labor camp, rescued its captives, and uncovered evidence of horrific crimes and a little girl in critical condition. Learning that the gang controlled San Francisco and possessed old-era biochemical weapons, Zhang ordered it eliminated as a five-thousand-strong allied force began its assault on the city.

• Wandering Spacetime’s soldiers silently killed the labor camp’s guards and overseers, seized the farm, and freed the enslaved workers.
• Zhang Tianyuan’s forces discovered dungeons, slaughter rooms, and buried human remains, then found Puppy Number One badly burned and arranged emergency treatment for her and the other captives.
• Zheng Xu learned that the Newt Gang controlled San Francisco and had a biochemical weapon, while the Golden Hand Gang and armed survivor groups also operated nearby.
• Zhang ordered the Newt Gang’s bases located and destroyed, while instructing his forces to handle the city’s survivors more gently.
• Robert joined the allied forces as five thousand troops and two biochemical response teams entered San Francisco, where fighter jets and explosions marked the start of the attack.

The allied forces completed their operation against the Newt Gang, rescued people from the strongholds, and secured the city. They then offered San Francisco survivors food in exchange for weapons and invited them to move into a guarded area.

• The allied forces captured the Newt Gang's strongholds, rescued the people held there, and found a canister of sarin gas at headquarters.
• The Newt Gang was wiped out, and allied soldiers continued capturing members returning to the city over the next two days.
• Jack and his companion found a large pile of rice guarded by allied soldiers in a city square.
• Jack exchanged two pistols for rice under a sign offering food equal to the weight of weapons and ammunition for five days.
• A soldier warned Jack that the rice could attract robbers and offered to arrange housing and security for his group if they moved into an assigned area.

Jack and his companion agreed to move their families into the Mutual Aid Society’s residential compound, surrender their weapons, and trade them for rice. Zhang Tianyuan and Wu Yisi planned to use the food exchange to build local support for the Society’s order, then send the survivors to work on the Newt Gang’s old plantations once the rice ran out.

• A white man persuaded Jack and his companion that the Mutual Aid Society would protect them, and they agreed to move into its compound and give up their weapons for food.
• Zhang Tianyuan watched the stalled exchange with Wu Yisi, who explained that food would give survivors a stake in stable order and make them supporters of the Society.
• Zhang Tianyuan said the Society would stop distributing rice after the five-day exchange and have Robert arrange plantation work for the survivors.
• Jack’s family, his companion’s family, and the rest of their group arrived with their belongings on a homemade cart.
• After Jack traded more weapons for rice, the watching survivors hurried to fetch their own weapons to trade.