The Dark Forest

Dr. Albert Ringier goes to see the launch of the Hubble II Space Telescope, which he helped design, but guards won’t let him into the viewing area. After the launch, he talks to George Fitzroy, the military’s representative to the physicists. Fitzroy tells Ringier that he has a duty not just to his country but to the world to let them use the Hubble II for the mission to fight the Trisolarans. The two also discuss the public’s misconception that the telescope will help Earth see the Trisolarans’ planet or the Trisolarans’ fleet. Ringier explains that while the new telescope is stronger than the previous Hubble Telescope, it is still much too weak to see that far.

At the UN building, Luo Ji stumbles to the stage after he’s announced as a Wallfacer. He’s too shocked to pay attention to what happens during the rest of the meeting. After the meeting, he talks with Secretary General Say and asks her why he was chosen. She says she can’t answer that. He then says that he refuses the role of Wallfacer. Secretary General Say says that he is free to do as he pleases. He walks out of the room. As he’s leaving the UN building, Shi Qiang asks if he wants protection. Luo Ji says no and leaves. He walks to a park and then he feels a strong blow to his chest and falls to the ground. Shi Qiang appears by his side and asks if he wants protection. Luo Ji nods his head.

Luo Ji is transported to a hospital. He’s been shot, but his bullet-proof jacket stopped the bullet, so he only suffered a broken rib and internal bleeding. He tells Shi Qiang that he wants to see the man who shot him, who has been arrested. They bring in the assailant. Luo Ji tells the man that he rejected the position of Wallfacer, so the man wasted his bullet, and the ETO wasted an assassin. The assailant gives Luo Ji a rueful smile. Luo Ji asks to see Shi Qiang and then Mr. Kent. He tells both of them that he rejected the Wallfacer position and asks why he is still receiving protection from the PDC. They tell Luo Ji that he is free to refuse the protection, but they advise against it.

The Wallfacer Project and the Wallfacers have been announced to the world, so Luo Ji is now famous. The announcement also included the news that Luo Ji refused the position. Luo Ji goes to see Secretary General Say. He asks her why he’s still connected to the PDC even though he refused to take the Wallfacer position. Secretary General Say says that he is free to do as he pleases, though the PDC has special forces that will offer him the best protection. She then smiles at him.

Luo Ji begins to understand. No matter what he tells people, including if he tells people he is not a Wallfacer, people will not know if what he’s saying is part of his work as a Wallfacer or is genuine. Because of that, there’s no way for him to truly stop being a Wallfacer. He asks Secretary General Say why he was chosen. She says that he will have to find the answer for himself. She says that she only knows an indirect reason why he was chosen, which Luo Ji will find out in due course. She also tells Luo Ji that he was the PDC’s greatest gamble, and it remains to be seen whether that gamble will pay off.

After leaving General Secretary Say’s office, Luo Ji goes to the Meditation Room in the UN building. He tries to collect his thoughts and decides that he should make use of his power as a Wallfacer. He then goes to see the chair of the PDC, who is named Garanin. Garanin tells Luo Ji that the three other Wallfacers have begun setting up staff departments. Luo Ji says he won’t need a staff.

Instead of setting up a staff, Luo Ji says he wants Garanin to find him a place to live that’s in a beautiful location at the base of mountains near water. When it’s ready, he wants to go there but doesn’t want to know where it is. As long as he doesn’t know where it is, Luo Ji thinks, then the world will feel unlimited. Garanin says that so far he’s been disappointed by the other  Wallfacers’ efforts because it’s clear what their strategic intentions are. He said he prefers Luo Ji’s approach because it is bewildering, which is exactly what a Wallfacer should be. 

Zhang Beihai’s father dies. At the funeral, Zhang Beihai sees Wu Yue. Wu Yue thanks him for pushing him out of the space force. He says he wasn’t up to the task. He says he also submitted his discharge papers to the Navy. He has no plans for the future and feels like his life is over.

In the virtual Three Body world, members of the Earth-Trisolaris Organization (ETO) meet. They say that they need to respond to the Wallfacer Project, especially considering that the Project plays into the humans’ strengths of deceit and deception. Because the Trisolarans are not skilled in those areas, they will need the humans of the ETO to assist in countering the Wallfacer Project. To oppose the Wallfacers, the ETO devises the Wallbreaker Project. In that project, they’ll select one person to keep tabs on, and potentially sabotage, each Wallfacer. Three of the people in the virtual world are selected to be Wallbreakers for three Wallfacers. They do not select a Wallbreaker for Luo Ji, though. Instead, they refer to a secret about Luo Ji that Mike Evans knew, one that means that Luo Ji is the only Wallfacer who is in “direct contest” with the Trisolarans.

Meanwhile, Chang Weisi, a general in the Space Force, opens a meeting for the space force political department. He says that the meeting will be off the record, and he hopes they can all speak frankly. He asks the group if they think victory is possible. Only Zhang Beihai raises his hand. He says that within the military they must build faith in the possibility of victory against the Trisolarans. Without that faith, they won’t get anywhere.

Chang Weisi then says that they will divide into three groups—low-tech, mid-tech, and high-tech—to develop technology. Those groups will correspond to how distant the potential technology is from current human capacities. When the members of the space force select their groups, almost everyone chooses low-tech. Only Zhang Beihai chooses to work in the high-tech group,  which aims to develop a space warship that can travel at five percent of the speed of light, something the other members of the space force view as impossible.