Wang Miao attends a much larger Three Body gathering in the abandoned cafeteria of a chemical plant, where about three hundred prominent figures have assembled. In the center stands a magnetic device with three silver spheres moving unpredictably like a physical model of the three-body problem. The meeting quickly focuses on Pan Han, who is openly accused of murdering Shen Yufei and of abusing his position in the Environment Branch. Pan admits the killing and argues that the Organization faces an existential crisis because governments are preparing to suppress it, so the Redemptionists must be purged before they side with the authorities.

The crowd argues over what to do next, with some calling for open rebellion. Then the commander arrives, and Wang is stunned to discover that the leader of the Earth-Trisolaris Organization is Ye Wenjie. Ye leads the assembled members in a Trisolaran slogan, then calmly turns to Pan. She tells Pan that he has seriously violated the Organization's rules, but instead of immediately judging him, she makes him restate his accusation that she is an Adventist and repeat the Adventists' stated program: that humanity can no longer save itself and must be forcibly transformed by Trisolaris.

At that point, Rafael, an Israeli member, steps forward and says that as a core Adventist he learned the faction's real purpose. After losing faith in humanity through personal tragedy and political despair, Rafael joined the ETO, only to discover that Mike Evans had always intended something far harsher than reform. According to Rafael, the Adventists' true goal from the beginning was to invite Trisolaris to destroy all humankind as punishment for humanity's crimes against Earth. Ye confirms that she learned Evans's real intentions only later and had tried to preserve unity inside the ETO, but recent Adventist actions made that impossible.

Ye then exposes the Adventists' concrete betrayal. She says that because the Adventists built and operated the Second Red Coast Base, they monopolized communication with Trisolaris, intercepted messages meant for the Organization, released only selected and distorted portions, and sent information without approval. Ye adds that Pan had been sent to kill not just Wei Cheng, whose mathematical work might threaten Trisolaran plans, but also Shen Yufei, because Shen remained a committed Redemptionist and knew too much. Ye declares that most people present are Redemptionists and that men like Evans and Pan are beyond saving. A young female bodyguard then moves faster than Pan can react, breaks his neck before he can draw his weapon, and Pan's body is dragged away.

After the execution, Ye suddenly addresses Wang with familiar warmth, introducing him to the assembly as a nanomaterials researcher and her friend. She reveals that nanotechnology is the first Earth technology Trisolaris wants eliminated, which gives Wang a direct personal stake in the conflict. Ye then says that her account of Red Coast is far from finished and invites Wang and the others to listen, preparing to connect the ETO's present crisis with the deeper history that created it.