Cao Bin
Names: Cao BinCao
First appears in Book 3: Death's End, chapter 21 (Deterrence Era, Year 61 The Swordholder)
Appearances
What you know
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 21Cao Bin, 34, is the youngest candidate, a former physicist and colleague of Ding Yi who hibernated to wait for the sophon lock to end.
- Ch 48Cao Bin is a physicist from the Common Era and a former Swordholder candidate.
- Ch 56Cao Bin, a physicist who lived through three centuries, realizes that lowering light speed below the Solar System's third cosmic velocity of 16.7 km/s would make it a black hole.
- Ch 63Cao Bin, once the youngest Swordholder candidate, hibernated about when Cheng Xin did, was awakened 17 years later to research basic theory for fifteen years, then hibernated again until two years ago.
- Ch 63Cao Bin comes to fetch Cheng Xin at Thomas Wade's request and wants to show her the new world so she can decide based on facts.
- Ch 63Cao Bin is reluctant to discuss how the curvature propulsion project is going, saying only that there have been some developments.
- Ch 63Cao Bin guides Cheng Xin on a three-day tour of several space cities, explaining their design and the dangers they face.
- Ch 63Cao Bin travels with Cheng Xin in a small dinghy at the outer edge of the Jovian cities.
- Ch 64Cao Bin had worked with 高 Way for a few years and reluctantly took Cheng Xin to view Lightspeed II.
- Ch 65Cao Bin accompanied Cheng Xin to Halo City and is deeply resented by the Federation; he does not understand why Wade declared independence.
- Ch 65Unlike Bi Yunfeng, he was not in favor of war.
- Ch 67Cao Bin is now 112 years old, white-haired, and works at the advance warning center; he appears in an information window.
- Ch 67Cao Bin and Bi Yunfeng were convicted over the Halo City Incident, served short sentences and were released.
- Ch 69He asks Cheng Xin and AA to carry artifacts from Pluto on Halo and scatter them in space so they fall into two dimensions intact.
- Ch 69He hopes a future civilization might reconstruct a three-dimensional representation of humanity from its two-dimensionalized image, so humanity is not forgotten.
- Ch 70Cao Bin said that doing something is better than doing nothing.
- Ch 70Cao Bin sent Halo to Pluto so Cheng Xin and AA would take Luo Ji; Luo Ji says he should have had Halo enter lightspeed at Jupiter.
Connections
- member ofinterpreters
- ally ofThomas Wadeacts on Wade's request
- friend ofCheng Xinguide showing her the cities
- ally ofCheng XinTravel together in a small dinghy
- related to高 Wayformer colleague who worked with him
- ally ofBi YunfengBoth convicted over the Halo City Incident
- member ofSolar System Federation
- related toHalosent Halo to Pluto
Key moments
- Book 3 · Ch 21Six candidates urge Cheng Xin not to run
Six Common Era Swordholder candidates tell Cheng Xin she would likely win but is unsuited and should not compete, leaving her aware of the world's fragility.
- Book 3 · Ch 48First IDC meeting
In a sophon-free room, the IDC convenes to decipher Tianming's message, reviews the conversation's findings, and distributes a blue-covered document containing the three fairy tales.
- Book 3 · Ch 56Umbrella decoded as speed of light
The IDC recognized the umbrella as a centrifugal governor and, with bearing coordinates, interpreted it as the speed of light, with lowering it linked to the safety notice.
- Book 3 · Ch 56Expedition into the Moskstraumen
After Palermo decoded He'ershingenmosiken as Helseggen and Mosken, the group went to Mosken. They recalled Poe's maelstrom story and crossed into the Moskstraumen, where their boat was caught.
- Book 3 · Ch 56Cao Bin deduces the black domain
Cao Bin realizes lowering light speed below 16.7 km/s would turn the Solar System into a black hole, solving the cosmic safety notice puzzle: a sealed, safe system.
- Book 3 · Ch 63Cheng Xin awakens in Bunker Era
Cheng Xin wakes in Asia Hibernation Center #1 in a plain, low-tech world, recovers quickly, and is visited by Cao Bin, who says Thomas Wade wants her.
- Book 3 · Ch 63Tour of Space City Asia I
Cao Bin shows Cheng Xin that the city is a spinning cylinder behind Jupiter; they take a bus and elevator to the spaceport where she sees the Bunker World.
- Book 3 · Ch 63Europa flyby
Europa sweeps past Asia I at 150 km, shaking the city and pulling at Cheng Xin; eight front-row cities fire thrusters to correct their positions afterward.
- Book 3 · Ch 63Tour of Jovian cities
Cao Bin takes Cheng Xin to North America I, Europe IV, Pacific I and unusual cities, showing the variety of Bunker World life.
- Book 3 · Ch 63Arrival at the Jovian cities
Cheng Xin and Cao Bin's dinghy reaches the outer edge of the Jovian cities, which appear as a small warm refuge before Jupiter, and Cheng Xin recalls a poem.
- Book 3 · Ch 64Visit to Lightspeed II
Cheng Xin and Cao Bin enter the ruined Lightspeed II, see the flickering blue glow of the black hole, and Cao Bin tells her its story.
- Book 3 · Ch 65Passing the blockade
Cheng Xin and Cao Bin's dinghy meets the Federation blockade; envoy Blair and the president allow Cheng Xin in, hoping she will persuade Halo City to stop resisting.
- Book 3 · Ch 65Curvature propulsion demonstration
In a sophon-free lab, Wade and Bi Yunfeng use Cheng Xin's hair to demonstrate curvature propulsion, moving it two centimeters, and argue lightspeed ships are near.
- Book 3 · Ch 67Cheng Xin and AA awaken at Jupiter
Cheng Xin and AA are woken on the Halo near Jupiter in Year 67. Cao Bin tells them an attack alert has sounded, though the cities are not hiding.
- Book 3 · Ch 67Despair at the warning center
Cao Bin reveals that the dark forest strike is not a photoid and that the bunker is useless. The warning center's staff are numb with despair.
- Book 3 · Ch 69Federation requests an artifact rescue mission
Cao Bin asks Cheng Xin and AA to take Halo to Pluto to scatter museum artifacts in space and tells them Luo Ji wants to see them. They agree.