Three-Body Episode 13 Recap
> Three-Body Recap
Wang Miao began to understand the intricacies of the Three-Body game, realizing that the erratic movements of the sun within it mirrored the inexplicable universe flicker. He concluded that if he could decipher the sun's pattern, he might comprehend the universe flicker, confirming Shen Yufei's earlier assertion that the answers were indeed within the game.
Shi Qiang, observing that someone named Sha Ruishan had made significant discoveries after only one game session due to his astrophysics background, suggested that an astrophysicist would be a valuable asset to Wang Miao. He specifically pointed to Ye Wenjie, noting her leisure time and potential willingness to converse.
Shi Qiang admitted his underlying motive for connecting Wang Miao with Ye Wenjie was his lingering suspicion about her calm demeanor following Yang Dong's death; he felt her reaction was unnaturally composed. Despite the late hour, Wang Miao contacted Ye Wenjie, scheduling a time to consult with her. Meanwhile, Shi Qiang sought out a reporter named Mu Xing. He observed that her reports often steered public opinion towards distrusting scientific advancements.
Mu Xing's stance was that her work simply revealed truth, exposing the hazards of technology while enjoying its conveniences, but Shi Qiang accused her of biased reporting, suggesting she incited animosity towards science itself rather than just its negative consequences. He pressed her about her true affiliations, warning her that he would eventually uncover who she and her group truly were. Mu Xing, defiant, invited him to investigate.
Concurrently, a chilling report emerged about an explosion in a laboratory that killed four top domestic scientists, including a Nobel laureate. Shen Yufei, enraged, confronted Pan Han, viewing these deaths as the enemy's increasingly bold massacre, especially given the victims' potential to advance Three-Body research. Pan Han, however, believed both he and Shen Yufei should follow the "Lord's will."
Their conversation revealed a fundamental disagreement: Pan Han, representing a faction of the Adventists, saw themselves as the "irreconcilable enemies" of those who sought to prevent the Lord's arrival to punish sinners, while Shen Yufei accused him of misusing the Lord's power against humanity and vowed to stop them. Later, Wang Miao met with Ye Wenjie. He asked her about "flying stars," and she promptly described them as stars with unstable rotational and orbital periods.
Impressed, Wang Miao invited her to his office. Ye Wenjie then recommended two old books, "Stellar Structure and Evolution" and "Stellar Movements and the Structure of the Universe," which might be difficult to find in their original editions. Wang Miao brought up their previous conversation, asking more about the mysterious place she went to after her time with the Construction Corps. Ye Wenjie revealed the place was called Red Coast.
She mentioned knowing of a book about Red Coast written by the developer of its self-interpretation system, but dismissed many of its contents as inaccurate. She confided that at the time, she believed her life was completely over, fearing she might even die in that isolated room.
In her recollection, Ye Wenjie was brought to Red Coast by helicopter in freezing weather, waking to find two men arguing: Political Commissar Lei Zhicheng and Chief Engineer Yang Weining of Red Coast Base.
They had seen her paper, "Possible Energy Interfaces in the Solar Radiation Zone and Their Reflective Properties," and gone to great lengths to arrange her transfer, even against some resistance from the military control commission, including Cheng Lihua, who advocated for a severe sentence for Ye Wenjie. Yang Weining, a former graduate student of Ye Wenjie's father, was a kind man, though Ye Wenjie had only briefly met him once at her home.
She noted that without the urgent need for personnel at Red Coast and her specialized knowledge, Yang Weining wouldn't have been able to secure her transfer, yet he still undertook significant personal risk to do so. Upon arriving at Red Coast Base in a snowstorm, bundled in thick clothing, Ye Wenjie was informed of the facility's nature: a top-secret national defense scientific research institution.
Due to her past, once she entered, it was likely she would never be able to leave. Yang Weining urged her to consider her decision carefully, as the helicopter would not depart for another three hours. However, Ye Wenjie accepted without hesitation, expressing her willingness to remain in the isolated place for the rest of her life, considering it the most desirable place besides a hypothetical afterlife. Wang Miao then questioned the purpose of such a highly classified base.
Ye Wenjie explained that Red Coast was a massive weapons research project, potentially even more significant than the atomic or hydrogen bombs. When offered to join Yang Weining in the transmission group, she chose to wait outside, despite the cold, wrapped in Yang Weining's borrowed hat. From there, she witnessed a transmission: birds flying overhead suddenly plummeted to the ground, dead. She experienced an internal heat and an itching sensation on her skin, consistent with a staff member's similar reports.
She observed the presence of a giant antenna and a powerful electric field. Despite Red Coast's high-security classification, the restrictions on her daily life, such as the leave-of-absence approval process, had little impact. She found her initial time at Red Coast to be genuinely relaxing, often climbing to the peak to watch the sunrise. This was the very place she had looked up to from the northern tree farm. She grew to love it, feeling she could stay there forever.
