While still in the hospital, a group kidnaps him, drags him through the city with a corrosive and stinking air to a deep hole and throws him inside.
Since Antarctica was the only continent that had not yet been exploited and interest in it was constantly growing, the tunnel was built with walls made of the material in a new solid state from Mohe in China to the easternmost point of the Antarctic Peninsula.
Shen Yuan ordered the closure of a safety valve that was located far too high up, leaving more than a thousand people to die below.
[1] Jaymee Goh wrote on Strange Horizons, that "despite the pages of historical exposition updating the main character on what has happened during his sleep, it is never quite clear how the rage of the society is justified, except as a search for a scapegoat.
"[2] Gareth D Jones wrote on SF Crowsnest, that "some of Cixin Liu’s favourite themes return: a macro-engineering project scientifically explained but sprinkled with small-scale stories of how individuals were affected and a large-scale narrative of the effects on society."