♪ Countdown counter ♪
♪ Hidden in eyes ♪
♪ Explore deep dreams in the dark ♪
♪ What is waiting for me at the end of the mysterious space-time ♪
♪ Don't break the hope given to the world ♪
♪ The sun still sets every day ♪
=Three-Body=
=Episode 16=
We found nothing.
We still don't know what those math guys are doing, right?
They were asked to solve certain problems within the allotted time.
As for what that was for, they had no idea.
Shen Yufei went to such great lengths to help Wei Cheng for her own purpose, I guess.
Couldn't it be for love?
No one's in.
Let me. I got this.
Maybe we can come again some other time.
Move.
Captain Shi, trespassing isn't allowed.
I'm not breaking in.
I'm trying to make some noise.
(Awaiting computing resources Resources are available)
(Initializing calculation Calculation in progress)
(Calculation completed)
Nailed it.
I nailed it!
Party time.
Let's celebrate.
Here you go.
Thanks.
It's the variable, not the constant.
I thought it was the constant, but it's the variable.
So, you... Probability.
Yes, probability.
So, you've got the result?
No.
This is only the first step.
How many are they?
More than 100 steps, maybe.
Or more.
Isn't it too soon to celebrate?
Wrong!
If you're going in the wrong direction, all those steps will lead you nowhere.
But I'm certain that I am right on track.
And that's worth another drink.
What are you calculating anyway?
What is it?
An evolutionary algorithm.
Evolutionary algorithm.
What's that?
Hey, dude, stay with me.
What algorithm?
What's it for?
Wake up.
Let's drink.
Come on, man.
Drink with me.
He can't drink.
I... I... I didn't ask him to.
What do you want now, Captain Shi?
Nothing. Just making small talk.
Your husband found the right path.
So, the path to what?
Why do you care?
He's into math.
If he's doing one plus one makes two, would you be interested?
In this world, no one truly understands him.
Math is his one and only passion.
He's got no other hobbies.
To help him with his pursuit, I hired an army to work with him.
I'm so glad that his work has finally come to fruition.
Still, what is he working on?
He can't take in alcohol.
I said it wasn't me.
Captain, Shen Yufei and Wei Cheng don't look like a married couple.
I agree.
With her husband on the floor, she picked up the cushion first.
Would you call that place home?
It's filled with piles of used paper, computers, and office supplies.
I'd call it a studio.
They're more employer-employee than husband-wife.
Are all scientists like that?
When Wei Cheng was in high school,
he won first place in the IMO in Budapest
and was accepted by Fudan's math program
(Fudan University Admission Letter) without taking the entrance exam.
But he didn't put too much effort
into his Bachelor's, Master's, or Doctor's degrees.
After graduation, he didn't have much of a career
and went back to teach at a college.
Yet he couldn't survive there, either.
He was muddling along until he met Shen Yufei
and married her soon after.
Financially, she provided for him and helped with his calculation.
When you put it like that, love can be ruled out for sure.
Shen Yufei did all that for herself.
Or why would she choose such a loser?
Maybe in her eyes, he's some sort of a genius.
You mean it's switched into the standby mode.
Yes.
A few key parts are still running to store the completed data
and maintain basic operations
to prepare the computer to reenter the compute mode anytime.
Also, that's more economical.
Yes, as it should be.
It's been running for 16 long months.
Your Majesty, the first phase of the computation was complete.
The results precisely described the orbits
of the three suns for the next two years.
Tell me about it.
My great Emperor, the calculations show
that the long night is about to be over.
We'll soon welcome the first sunrise of a long Stable Era.
You mean the sun is about to rise?
Yes.
And this Era will last over a year.
Judging by the orbital parameters, the climate will be mild and comfortable.
Please let your empire be rehydrated!
Rehydrate.
In just five seconds, Your Majesty, prepare to receive your glory!
Your Majesty, I'm afraid the calculations were in error.
Disaster is about to befall us!
What are you babbling about?
You, a mere astrologer, are questioning His Majesty's grand computer?
Don't you see that the sun is rising at the exact moment
predicted by our precise calculations?
But how many suns do you see?
How many?
Need you ask?
Astrologer, you must at least know how to count.
Of course, there's only one sun.
And the temperature is perfect.
No, Your Majesty.
There are three.
The other two are behind that one!
Are you out of your mind?
The Imperial Observatory has confirmed
that the three suns are in a straight line, moving around our planet
at the same angular speed!
This is extremely rare!
A Tri-solar Syzygy.
Thus, our planet and the three suns
are in a straight line with our world at the end of this line!
Are you sure about this?
Absolutely!
The observation was conducted
by the Western astronomers of the Imperial Observatory,
including Kepler and Herschel.
They're using the largest telescope in the world, imported from Europe!
My greatest, most honorable Emperor, this is the most propitious sign!
Now that the three suns are orbiting around our planet,
your empire becomes the center of the universe.
This is God's reward for our efforts.
Let me double-check the calculations.
I'll... I'll prove this!
Von Neumann, what do you think about this phenomenon?
Your Majesty, it wasn't included in any of the previous calculations.
I'll try to... Report!
What now?
Sir Newton stole a horse and left.
We lost track of him.
What?
That rat!
How dare he flee!
He's a good-for-nothing!
A coward, a chicken!
Your Majesty, please unsheathe your sword.
What for?
Please try to swing it.
Why is it so light?
The game's V-suit can't simulate the feeling of diminished gravity.
Otherwise, we'd feel that we're much lighter as well.
Look! Down there!
Look at those men!
And the horses!
So, what's going on here?
Your Majesty, the three suns are over our planet in a straight line,
so their gravitational forces are added together...
What's next?
Acceleration?
Are the mountains transparent?
They aren't mountains.
They were formed from the ocean attracted into space.
I figured it out! Electronic elements!
Use them to make gate circuits and combine them into computers!
Such computers will be much faster!
(Tri-solar Syzygy.)
(Because the atmosphere was gone, there was no more sound.)
(I was seeing the other two suns.)
(Civilization No. 184 was destroyed by the stacked gravitational attractions)
(of a Tri-solar Syzygy.)
(This civilization had advanced to the Scientific Revolution)
(and the Industrial Revolution.)
(In this civilization, Newton established nonrelativistic classical mechanics.)
(At the same time, )
(due to the invention of calculus and the Von Neumann)
(architecture computer, the foundation was set for the quantitative mathematical analysis)
(of the motion of three bodies.)
(After a long time, life and civilization will begin again, )
(and progress once more through the unpredictable world of Three-Body.)
(We invite you to log on again.)
Yes?
Hello.
First, thanks for giving us your real number.
I'm a system administrator for the Three-Body game.
Please tell me your name, education, occupation, and position.
You left them blank during registration.
What do they have to do with the game?
Now that you've reached this level, we need such information from you.
If you refuse, Three-Body will shut you out permanently.
Name: Wang Miao.
Education: Doctorate.
Occupation: Chief Engineer of the National Nanomaterial Center.
Thank you, Dr. Wang.
You're qualified for continuing in Three-Body.
May I ask you a question?
Sorry, sir.
As a system administrator, I'm unauthorized to answer any questions.
There will be a meet-up for the players soon.
You're welcome to attend if you're gonna continue playing.
We'll send you the information by email once your identity checks out.
Please check your mailbox.
Are you saying either you go to the meet-up or you're out?
I suppose.
- Have you received the email? - Not yet.
They'll verify my profile before sending it.
But this new trial in the game has given me another idea.
What is it?
The Three-Body Problem is about physics,
but maybe it can be solved by calculation.
So math?
Yes.
A mathematical model.
We're gonna need a complex one.
Someone thought so, too, but beat you to it by a few months.
You know who it was?
Who?
(Shen Yufei)
Shen Yufei.
Guess she's been working on a solution
to the Three-Body Problem in the game.
To think that she let you in, half-knowing.
Listen, she's hired over 100 experts, including her husband, Wei Cheng,
(Wei Cheng) to calculate day and night.
I didn't know what they were working on,
but given what you said, it must be the Three-Body Problem.
Shen Yufei is more than she shows.
A scientist trying to solve the Three-Body Problem
doesn't prove anything.
I know that.
Considering what you two are doing,
I mean, are you gonna be a mathematician next?
Let me ask you something.
Are you and your wife close?
What... what I'm saying is if you and your wife...
if you two, you know...
I mean, if your wife got drunk and she was under the couch,
there you were... uh... She didn't throw up, though.
She knocked the cushion to the floor.
At this point, well, normally, she wasn't like that.
So, what would you... My wife never drinks.
Sure.
I know she, uh, she doesn't drink.
Normally, she doesn't.
It's me.
Send me the clips if they're done.
I'll edit them.
OK. Gotta go. Bye.
I turned off your monitor.
You freaked me out!
A few days ago, a lab in Y City, Country M
suffered a blast in an accident.
Four scientists, including a Nobel laureate, were killed.
I know.
I read the news.
Yes.
That's what the news said.
But it's not true?
The four scientists were there for their monthly bridge day.
They didn't do any experiments, so the explosion was only a cover.
Someone is behind all that
to bury the truth and run the made-up story.
But that's not your job to find out.
Someone else will.
The hidden truths must be uncovered.
What should we do now?
Shen Yufei and I don't always see eye to eye,
but we're forced to take the same path.
Is there really a so-called "farmer"?
Are you aware of the Hadza, a primitive tribe in the wilderness of Africa?
They're still a hunter-gatherer society living in the caves
and treating the sick with ground herbs.
(The Last Hunter-gatherer Tribe in Africa) And then you show up with antibiotics
to cure them.
You give them seeds so that they'll have food to eat.
You teach them calendar and architecture
to build houses outside the caves.
Because of you, they have a lamp.
Now, in their eyes, you're their Lord.
Let me get this straight.
So we're living in a world where there are more advanced technologies
than we know.
You want people to resist technological development
because however it develops, it's nowhere near Lord's level.
Is that so?
And it does more harm than good.
That's true.
It's polluting everything.
Water, light, air, wildlife habitat, and our habitat.
Come to think of it, in a way, technology is advancing
at the cost of our lives.
Wind and solar power generation have been well-developed,
but why are they yet to be widely used for residential power?
Because in that case,
the group that originally controls the resources will lose
some of their interests forever.
I can be their Lord, but what's my goal?
Who are you? A martyr?
Or a clown?
How did you get in?
Wasn't the door closed?
Terminate your calculation.
Not now.
I've just found my way.
There are many more steps to take.
I said stop it.
It's meaningless.
I don't care.
This is my passion.
Wait outside for Shen Yufei.
Your toy gun looks so real.
Stop it. It's boring.
No, it's not saved!
It's gone!
I said stop it right now.
So, uh, it's not a toy, is it?
It's... it's the real deal.
You know what? You're right.
My... my calculation is meaningless.
Are you gonna kill him in my face?
Although we do things differently, you should know I'll shoot if I have to.
Call the cops.
Cops?
Even God can't save you.
Commander was blind to allow devils like you
to join the organization.
Can you tell which side Commander is on?
Wei Cheng, go back to your room.
OK.
But... but this is... this is my room.
I... I'm going upstairs.
Meaningless.
Wei Cheng was lost for a long time until recently, he made a breakthrough
and found a way.
I wasn't sure if it was right, but your reaction told me it is.
And so what?
Maybe it'll take decades from there or to no avail.
You're keeping Lord from coming.
I'm saving it.
Does Lord need your redemption?
Do the shooter and the farmer need consolation from two-dimensional creatures or turkeys?
You aren't Lord.
You can't speak for it.
Shen Yufei, were you able to hear Lord's voice?
We know Lord is there and it's been guiding us.
But what have you done?
You've been separating Lord from us so that it only communicates with you,
and then you tell us what to do in Lord's name.
Don't I have the right to question if your rendering is faithful?
Wei Cheng has only taken one small step.
No one knows if that's right, including you,
but I know, because Lord has told me so.
Lord knows everything.
Lord shouldn't be your leverage.
Does Lord care?
The new receiving system is ready to be deployed.
Reception of all bands in the direction of Centaurus will be expanded
to the maximum range.
I'll see to it.
Also, I've mulled over what Pan Han said.
He asked me... Were you able to hear Lord's voice?
He said, "hear Lord's voice".
Don't worry.
I'll take care of the new system.
We have seven, maybe eight cases.
It's getting out of control.
The North American Sector has had four terrorist attacks.
It seems as though the enemy is escalating.
We just got one case in our sector so far,
but it causes bad influence of public opinion.
General Chang, how about Beijing Sector?
Relatively stable as of now.
No similar cases have happened.
Can we confirm that the attacks are related to our investigation?
Yes.
We managed to capture a few suspects.
What I find odd though is that most of them
are known environmentalists and pacifists,
but somehow, they're turning into violent terrorists,
using the same slogan.
"Lord will come to punish vice."
That "Lord" again.
What kind of lord?
Landlord?
"Punish vice."
Whose vice?
Turkeys'?
But what about those rioters?
Aren't they also turkeys?
Even if Lord will come, those mobs are using it to mess around.
Although such attacks aren't found in our sector,
we have to stay on guard.
Against what?
I don't even know what this "Lord" is.
Chang, you said those mobs
used to be pacifists and renowned scholars, right?
Do they have anything to do with the Frontiers of Science?
It seems to me that they're acting as HR screening out candidates.
Is there an even bigger organization backing them?
Wang Miao has passed their screening, hasn't he?
It's better that he receives their email ASAP.
Thank you for coming.
That's all for today.
When was the last time you came here?
Did you send Wei Cheng away so that he can continue his calculation?
You've been escalating things in North America and Europe.
Those are terrorist attacks.
I'm practicing Lord's will.
"Lord will come to punish vice."
Once the Three-Body Problem is solved, we'll all be saved.
You naive Redemptionists!
You reject the redemptive power for your goal of destruction, don't you?
Look around. They deserve it.
"Human society can no longer
rely on its own power to solve its problems."
That's what Commander said.
"Human society can no longer rely on its own power
to restrain its madness.
Therefore, we ask Lord to come to this world,
and with its power, forcefully watch over us and transform us
"so as to create a brand-new, perfect human civilization."
That's Commander's original words and our plan, too.
You remember every word of it.
Having Lord come here is our plan, no?
What the Redemptionists like you are doing?
You really believe your so-called redemption
can solve Lord's problems?
And what you people have done?
You intercepted Lord's messages, distorted Lord's will,
brainwashed and threatened members of our organization nonstop.
I know you, the Adventists, have your own secret agenda, don't you?
That is to destroy all humans.
The human race is an evil species.
Human civilization has committed unforgivable crimes against the Earth
and must be punished.
The ultimate goal of the Adventists is to ask Lord
to carry out this divine punishment: the destruction of all humankind.
That's already an open secret.
With the humans gone, the world will be changed.
That's why we're the Adventists instead of the Terminators.
You misrepresented Lord's will.
You used to be one of us, but somehow,
you were converted to a Redemptionist,
which is slightly better than those cockamamie Survivors.
Both you and I know we won't be able to see Lord coming.
The world is beyond redemption,
but you're afraid of change as you see it equals destruction.
Only those who rise above death understand the coming of Lord.
You know what Lord's will is?
I'll be able to hear its voice.
Halt Wei Cheng's computation.
End your so-called redemption.
Otherwise, you will be destroyed.
Clearly, humans can't rely on their own power
to restrain their madness.
But I'll keep hope alive and continue saving this broken world.
Wei Cheng is still working on his calculation.
You think he'll make it?
Shen Yufei said she'd be able to hear the voice from the Lord.
Do you think so?
I want her to stop, completely.
You said it's only human beings who're violated, while the world's changed.
I have a question.
A question?
That is quite unusual of you.
Commander, which side is she on?
The Adventists?
The Redemptionists?
Or the Survivors?
She... is the Commander.
So why would she choose a side?
Why haven't they sent the email?
Have they forgotten?
It's only been one day.
Be patient.
(Ye Wenjie)
What's wrong?
Are you surprised?
What is this?
You tell me.
Think about it.
Who was it that told you about the Frontiers of Science?
You.
I mean, who first introduced you to the Frontiers of Science?
Shen Yufei.
Who made you see the universe flicker?
Shen Yufei.
Who talked you into playing Three-Body?
Shen Yufei.
You have a one-track mind, don't you?
Think it over.
Without Ye Wenjie, would you see the flicker?
Without Ye Wenjie, would you understand the flying stars?
Without such knowledge, would you get the hang of the game?
I don't want to be suspicious, but she made me.
She's everywhere in my leads!
Shen Yufei booked a train ticket to Hai City.
K1303, departs at 22:13.
- She's boarded the train... - Wait. Hold on... Hai City?
Hai City... Shen Yufei.
Hai City.
Shen Yufei's foreign-funded company owns a red ginseng factory in Qijiatun.
Qijiatun neighbors Hai City.
It takes only 30 minutes from Hai City to Qijiatun.
(Ye Wenjie) Does red ginseng need nanotech?
A few days ago, an old friend from the base brought a gift for me.
Here you are.
(Red Ginseng) This is the red ginseng you gave me.
Thank you.
She's on a business trip.
They're apples and oranges. So Far-fetched!
Nanotech and ginseng?
No.
What do you mean?
They're unrelated?
Why didn't you tell me that Ye Wenjie gave you red ginseng?
I didn't know Shen Yufei's company also owns such a factory.
Here it is.
(Address: No. 39, Qijiatun)
No. 39, Qijiatun.
May I use your computer?
Call Ye Wenjie.
Now?
Yeah. Do it!
(Xinlai Red Ginseng for Better Health)
This ginseng factory
(Processed Ginseng Products) has hardly sold any products.
They must still be in R&D.
(Please try again later.)
She didn't pick up.
It's 10 PM. Perhaps she's asleep.
So Ye Wenjie's friend
happened to buy red ginseng from Shen Yufei's factory
that was hardly sold and gave it to her,
then she regifted it to you. What are the odds?
The ginseng can be kept for six years and it was produced two years ago.
What does that tell us?
Shen Yufei and Ye Wenjie go way back!
Yes?
OK.
Found it.
Ye Wenjie also bought a ticket to Hai City.
♪ I've seen things you people won't believe ♪
♪ Soon our planet will vanish ♪
♪ I've known the future you people won't think of ♪
♪ Soon your planet will be punished ♪
♪ I've seen things you people won't believe ♪
♪ Soon our planet will vanish ♪
♪ I've known the future you people won't think of ♪
♪ Soon your planet will be punished ♪
♪ I've seen things you people won't believe ♪
♪ Soon our planet will vanish ♪
♪ I've known the future you people won't think of ♪
♪ Soon your planet will be punished ♪
♪ I've seen things you people won't believe ♪
♪ Soon our planet will vanish ♪
♪ I've known the future you people won't think of ♪
♪ Soon your planet will be punished ♪
♪ I've seen things you people won't believe ♪
♪ Soon our planet will vanish ♪
♪ I've known the future you people won't think of ♪
♪ Soon your planet will be punished ♪
=Three-Body=