That day, Kou Tong and Huang Jinchen fought until nightfall, positioned to battle it out to the end. 

The means of battle were as follows—countless times, Kou Tong perfected the concealing method, and countless times he kicked Huang Jinchen out to be a lab rat. Huang Er-Pang, meanwhile, like a lost dog that knew where its home was, succeeded again and again in finding his way back, and he got faster and faster at it. 

When he crawled out for the last time, everyone had already been tormented to prostration by the slightly perfectionist Dr. Kou. Only Master Huang still put on a smile showing eight flashing teeth like a toothpaste advertisement. He opened his arms. “Beloved princess, your knight has returned. Come and give me a hug!” 

Kou Tong pushed up his glasses and said with reserve, “OK, it’s time to eat.” 

Just as if he was trying to prove to his lady mother that he wasn’t easy. 

“This is a key,” Kou Tong said, pointing to the strangely shaped pendant in Huang Jinchen’s hand. This thing was about the size of a thumbnail, made of several noodles stuck together with Manman’s polymer clay, with a small piece of mirror stuck to the outside. “Each person takes one when they leave. You point the sharp end to reflect in the mirror in the corner, then turn on the tap. That will activate the ‘door.’ Otherwise, real water will flow from it.” 

Huang Jinchen lifted his pant leg and displayed to everyone how wet he was. 

“What do we do if someone knows about this method and finds a way to steal a key?” Yao Shuo asked. 

“The passage will only permit one person to go through,” Huang Jinchen said. Then he mimed a gun with his thumb and forefinger. “What, old general, you don’t believe you can handle one person?” 

“What if none of us are home?” Yao Shuo asked. “If only the child is here, or someone who has no ability to protect themselves, what then?” 

“They’ll follow the time axis path to Uncle Tian’s place. If it’s Xiao Zhi, he can freely activate the path and go hide with Uncle Tian. As for Manman, at least one of us will stay at home with the child.” 

Kou Tong’s mom was also standing by, listening to Kou Tong carefully explaining the means by which their “home” was hidden, and the means of opening the door. For some reason, Huang Jinchen thought that, perhaps because “she” had appeared due to Kou Tong’s wish, even the storage in her brain was shared with him. No matter what bizarre thing she saw, she could still keep calm—even her own son receiving a heartfelt confession from a man. 

Kou Tong analyzed the threat of this delusional disorder sufferer from the perspective of a professional. Then, after Kou Tong’s mom went off early to get her beauty sleep, they furtively called a little meeting in the living room. 

Kou Tong said, “She sees this as her own world, and us as intruders. She’s sure to stop at nothing to wipe us out.” 

Yao Shuo cut in: “Is there no reason for it?” 

“There is,” Kou Tong said, “but her logic isn’t the same as ours. We have no way to understand the reason.” 

The person who had worked hardest that day was He Xiaozhi, but he didn’t complain at all. Moreover, his mental state seemed much better than usual. Kou Tong brought over water and medication for him to take, and He Xiaozhi actually smiled and thanked him. He said, “The medication Dr. Kou prescribes is very effective. Today I feel better than I have in ages.” 

As if speaking casually, Kou Tong said, “Continue taking your medication. We’re all relying on you.” 

These words were a stimulant to He Xiaozhi, more useful than any antidepressant. His eyes instantly lit up. 

Kou Tong’s hand made brief contact with his body, touching He Xiaozhi’s shoulder, like the intimacy between companions fighting shoulder to shoulder. The others may not have even noticed this gesture of his, but He Xiaozhi suddenly had a sense of belonging. 

For a long time, it was as if something had been missing in his heart. He Xiaozhi had felt that that feeling was going to drive him mad, because he didn’t know what the missing thing was, but without it, he felt that life was more and more hollow. In the end, that emotion had been about to drown him, and he had nearly jumped off a building. 

Now, he at last understood—it was the feeling of being needed, of being protected by others while at the same time being needed by others, of belonging to something, whether a household, a group of friends, or a team.

After days of running around, though Kou Tong was forged in iron, he was still tired in the end. He didn’t go to the study to stay up all night. Instead, he went to his bedroom. When Huang Jinchen returned to the bedroom after watching a replay of Star Wars with Manman, he found that the owner of the bedroom whose space he had appropriated for days, had simply gone to sleep without even removing his clothes or shoes, his legs hanging halfway off the bed.

Huang Jinchen went over and took off his crooked glasses. Kou Tong instantly woke up, blinked hard, then ruffled his hair and sat up. He stared into space for a while. In a slightly hoarse voice, he said, “OK, I’ll go shower.” 

Huang Jinchen sat down and watched him stand up, swaying. Suddenly, he asked, “Aren’t you…still holding something back?” 

Kou Tong looked back. Probably because he had just been woken up, there was a bit of red at the corners of Kou Tong’s eyes, as if they couldn’t quite open. Glancing sidelong at someone, there was a flirtatious air to them. Huang Jinchen’s heart itched a little. He thought, if people were a kind of collectible item, collecting this person would give you a great deal of status. 

“What am I holding back?” Kou Tong asked. 

“Just now, you said out there that that girl will treat us as intruders and attack without distinction. I don’t think that’s very true,” Huang Jinchen said. “The two of us are the only ones who have seen her, so don’t avoid the subject.” 

Kou Tong woke up a little. He was silent for a while, then asked, “What do you mean?” 

“Yao Shuo is an old shut-in. I’ve found that for whatever reason he doesn’t seem to like communicating with others very much. Probably he knows that he can’t say anything nice, so he sits in his room all day going online and reading, lazing around.” Huang Jinchen looked steadily at him. “He Xiaozhi is a young shut-in. I’ve never seen him say more than half a sentence to anyone but you, especially when he’s having an attack. He practically can’t go out and see people. Before coming to your house, he’d never gone anywhere. And forget about Manman. She’s a little couch potato. The little devil may make trouble, but at any rate she does what she’s told. She won’t go running around outside.” 

Kou Tong lowered his eyes expressionlessly. 

Huang Jinchen observed him fervently. “In sum, it’s actually enough for us to hide in the house. If we’re not on that weird island, we aren’t in that little girl’s territory. She can’t really do a house-to-house inspection—even if she does, you can still hide. There’s no reason to hide the apartment.” 

Kou Tong, unable to deny it, nodded. 

Huang Jinchen continued his analysis: “Unless you want to do something.—My guess is that you want to start looking for the controller.” 

Kou Tong hesitated for a moment, then nodded. 

Huang Jinchen relaxed his body and leaned against the head of Kou Tong’s bed. Kou Tong’s bedroom wasn’t very big. With two long-limbed men in it, it seemed a little cramped. Huang Jinchen said, “OK, I get it. You and that girl have a fundamental philosophical contradiction. Apart from your other scuffle, she also refuses to return to the outside world—she takes it for an illusion. But in fact, unconsciously, she knows that what you’re saying isn’t sheer nonsense. The two of you couldn’t get past this problem. So she automatically thought that you had betrayed her.” 

Kou Tong gave a mocking laugh, took out a cigarette, and lit it. He crossed one leg over the other and leaned over, propping his elbows on his knees. Holding the cigarette between his finger, he pushed aside the hair fallen over his forehead. “Expert, I see you’re more of an expert than I am.” 

Huang Jinchen said, “Sit up straight, don’t tempt me.” 

Kou Tong rolled his eyes. “Wake up. Don’t devote yourself to a one-sided attraction.” 

Huang Jinchen smiled. Then, lowering his voice, he said, “What, are you afraid that they’ll be like that…Qin Qin?” 

“After all, not everyone is like Lao Tian.” Kou Tong sighed, looking exhausted. For others, small movements were done unconsciously and words spoken were easy or chatty. But for Kou Tong, both his speech and body language were often a kind of technique. 

It was the same way a person could spend a whole afternoon speaking in their mother tongue and only feel that their throat was dry, but if they were speaking a foreign language instead, the same length of time would make them very tired. 

“Qin Qin has fulfilled her desire for control here. He Xiaozhi has found the sense of being needed here. Lao Yao has lost the stress of his family and work and completely relaxed. Manman can communicate with others.” Quietly, Kou Tong said, “What do you think? If they knew the whole truth, would they stand with the nameless island, or with me?” 

“So what about you and me?” Huang Jinchen asked. “If I also don’t want to leave here, do you think I’ll be a major impediment? “

Kou Tong laughed bitterly. “Then I’d really have to put up a brave fight on my own.” 

Huang Jinchen was silent for a while. Then, all of a sudden, he said seriously, “It won’t happen. What this program has given me isn’t the same as what it’s given them.” 

“What do you mean?” Kou Tong asked. 

Huang Jinchen’s grave, earnest face broke into a salacious smile. “Because what I’ve gotten is a great treasure that I like.” 

Kou Tong once again remembered what had happened during the day. He threw himself forward and seized him by the collar. Gnashing his teeth, he said, “You damned professional tattletale!” 

Huang Jinchen cooperatively stuck out his tongue. “Murdering your own husband!” 

Kou Tong grinned nastily. “Huang Er-Pang, you want to get fucked raw?” 

Huang Jinchen caught Kou Tong by the waist and tossed him aside. Then he cast an amorous glance at him. “Darling, you really are too bold. You’re making me uncomfortable.” 

So their bedtime activities reverted to the level of preschoolers, pinching and slapping. But after rolling around for a bit, Huang Jinchen suddenly froze. Kou Tong raised a hand to push him, then felt his knee lightly brush against something…that had become hard. His expression also became a little peculiar. Huang Jinchen quickly jumped off the bed. Not the least embarrassed, he said, “It’s an accident.” 

Then he dashed into the bathroom without a backwards look. 

Kou Tong pulled his crooked collar straight, shook his head, and laughed in spite of himself. 

The next day, Kou Tong went out first thing in the morning. The lost-and-found notice was published in that day’s evening paper—the seven conscious subjects had all been found; he could begin to search for the controller.