Three-Body Episode 12 Recap
> Three-Body Recap
Shi Qiang remained puzzled by Ye Wenjie's past, particularly her lack of resentment towards those who harmed her, and tasked his team with further investigation into a mysterious place Ye Wenjie had mentioned visiting after a near-fatal experience. Despite their diligent efforts, little progress was made. Simultaneously, concerns escalated as multiple combat zones reported a high number of senior intellectuals engaged in the immersive Three-Body game, a development Chang Weisi found alarming.
Shi Qiang's initial disinterest in Ye Wenjie turned into keen curiosity as he discovered that multiple, seemingly unrelated leads converged on her: she was the mother of Yang Dong, whose suicide was under investigation; she had connections to Shen Yufei within the "Frontiers of Science"; and as an astrophysicist, she paradoxically entertained the notion that physics as it's understood might not exist. This confluence of clues compelled Shi Qiang to delve deeper into her past.
He urgently pressed Chang Weisi to declassify parts of Ye Wenjie's old files, which revealed her participation decades ago in a crucial national defense project at the Red Coast Base, a facility that housed an enormous, unprecedented antenna. Shi Qiang speculated it might have been used for information warfare against Western nations and emphasized the urgency of obtaining these records. Meanwhile, discussions among the investigators centered on the Three-Body game.
They believed that uncovering its underlying patterns required extensive professional knowledge, making a scientist the ideal player. While Shi Qiang found the challenge of recruiting such a person daunting, Wang Miao thought of Sha Ruishan, whom he deemed "the chosen one." Wang Miao and Shi Qiang then visited Sha Ruishan, who was preoccupied with a model he built based on the universe flicker phenomenon, intending to scale it into a massive cosmic light display.
Despite Sha Ruishan's initial dismissiveness towards Shi Qiang, he was intrigued by the game Wang Miao introduced. As a self-proclaimed "professional player," Sha Ruishan confidently asserted he could master it quickly, requesting forty virtual reality suits for his team to "raid dungeons"—a number Shi Qiang negotiated down to five. Separately, Pan Han provided journalist Mu Xing with sensitive materials exposing industrial pollution.
When she questioned his motives, Pan Han explained that the collective efforts of people like them were making it impossible for such truths to be concealed. He clarified that their goal was not to foster opposition to technology itself, but to reveal the dangers inherent in its application by simply presenting the facts. Just then, Wang Miao's wife, Li Yao, called with a hospital emergency, asking him to pick up their daughter, Doudou.
Prioritizing the investigation, Shi Qiang volunteered to get Doudou so Wang Miao could continue with the game, but Wang Miao sternly warned him not to smoke in front of his daughter. Wang Miao, known as Hairen in the game, re-entered the Three-Body world to find a new civilization, this time with Aztec-style pyramids. He met a man named Qin Guli, who directed him to an observatory where he encountered Mozi.
Mozi acknowledged Hairen's previous visit with King Wen but stated his disagreement with King Wen's theories. He recounted the efforts of past civilizations, including Civilization No. 139 which reached the Steam Age, and mentioned Confucius, who developed a "system of rites" for the universe. Confucius had predicted a five-year Stable Era that surprisingly lasted only a month.
Mozi then recounted a shocking event: during Confucius's era, the sun rose to its zenith, suddenly extinguished, and plunged the world into extreme cold, freezing Confucius into an icy statue. A "flying star" then appeared in the sun's place. Mozi distinguished his own practical, observational approach from what he considered the mysticism of others. Meanwhile, Shi Qiang treated Doudou to foods her parents forbade, like stewed giblets and ice cream.
A news report featuring Mu Xing highlighted severe environmental pollution from a pharmaceutical factory, leading to the birth of deformed infants. Shi Qiang tried to call Mu Xing, but the call was curtly handled by her colleague and went nowhere. Mozi elaborated on his "universe model theory," describing the universe as a double-shelled sphere floating in a sea of fire. Wang Miao logged out to build a computer simulation of this model, enlisting Xu Bingbing's help.
He explained that light from the external "sea of fire" enters a large hole in the outer shell, illuminates the space between the shells, and then passes through small holes in the inner shell to create the stars. The sun is the projection of the large outer hole onto the inner shell.
Mozi's theory accounted for the sun's changing size and brightness by suggesting the outer shell contracts or expands with the intensity of the fire sea, but Wang Miao noted it failed to explain the "flying stars." While Wang Miao worked, Shi Qiang offered to take Doudou roller skating, expressing regret for not allowing his own son the same freedom.
Back in the game, Mozi showed Wang Miao his "universe machine," a physical model of his theory that he claimed could function as a precise "calendar" to predict cosmic events. He excitedly announced that his machine predicted an imminent four-year Stable Era, prompting the civilization's emperor to issue an "order to rehydrate." Wang Miao accelerated the game's time, and the Stable Era began, seemingly making Mozi the game's ultimate victor.
However, Wang Miao remained in the game and continued to accelerate time. At his request, Mozi provided a smoked filter to observe the sun, revealing it had a core. Despite Mozi's unwavering faith in his prediction, the stable period ended catastrophically. The "golden earth" appeared on the horizon, which was in fact the sun expanding to engulf the planet. As calls to "dehydrate" echoed, Mozi insisted it was unnecessary, convinced his machine's prediction was infallible.
But his Civilization No. 141, which had reached the Eastern Han Period, was consumed by fire. The civilization was destroyed, leaving only its "seed" to restart in the unpredictable world. Wang Miao logged out to find Doudou eating ice cream. Shi Qiang defended himself by stating he hadn't smoked and admitted to taking her roller skating. Exasperated, Wang Miao took his car keys to drive Doudou home.
Later, Shi Qiang, Wang Miao, and other investigators met with Sha Ruishan, who was now in awe of the game. They discussed the core objective: predicting Stable Eras to survive. Wang Miao explained that this was akin to ancient civilizations developing calendars to predict seasons, but infinitely more difficult as the Stable and Chaotic Eras occurred randomly, like earthquakes.
He recounted the failed attempts of in-game figures like King Wen, Confucius, and Mozi, attributing their failures to the Three-Body sun's fundamentally different nature. He described how the sun could jump from dawn to noon in a second or extinguish instantly, suggesting it could move at incredible speeds. Wang Miao highlighted a crucial clue from Mozi: when the sun extinguished in Confucius's era, a "flying star" appeared.
He theorized that this flying star was always present but was obscured by the sun's intense light. Using a flashlight to demonstrate, he showed how the "flying star" would only become visible once the "sun" was turned off. He concluded that there was a vital connection between the sun and the flying stars that required further observation to understand.
