Fear has its origins in an unreachable inner being. 

Kou Tong’s train of thought was correct. The control box’s authority could pass through any space in the Projector, as long as it had a memory path. 

And this memory path, due to the mapping of substance and the time axis, could be calculated. Others might not be able to do this, but Kou Tong could. As for whether everyone believed this, at any rate…Lao Yao and the rest of that group believed it. 

According to the results of his calculations, Kou Tong manually input orders, and a thirty-second countdown appeared on the control box. When the last tick sounded, under everyone’s expectant gazes, the lights in the room at last came on all at once. 

Yao Shuo let out a long breath. He Xiaozhi dropped onto the floor. Huang Jinchen didn’t forget his mission. At once, according to what Kou Tong had said, he found the tranquilizer and anesthetic and injected Qin Qin. Manman stood up from beside Kou Tong and pattered to the side of the woman walking out of her room and stretching. Crisply, she said, “Auntie, do my hair.” 

Kou Tong’s mom seemed to have just gotten up after sleeping. She stood at the door in some surprise, receiving several complicated gazes. Entirely discomposed, she asked, “It’s not light yet. Why is everyone up?” 

Everything had returned to its original point. Everything was restored. 

Yes, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, because they had “come back.” 

Kou Tong’s mom fussily pointed at Qin Qin tied up in the living room and asked, “What…what’s going on here? What happened?!” 

The woman who had been laying there without breath had been restored to vitality as if after a power outage, like the lights suddenly coming on. She was still soft-skinned, still wearing a gentle and pleasant scent. Though she had just gotten out of bed, she didn’t seem in disarray. She gave off a particular sense of being in charge of the household. 

Kou Tong, sitting on the floor, looked her over and even thought the there was a bit of pink in her cheeks from just having woken up. 

But she still wasn’t a living person. 

Now, apart from the child Manman, no one else could regard her as a living person anymore. A living person was alive under any circumstances, not like some battery-powered robot that could have the power source pulled out at any moment and suddenly stop moving. 

Kou Tong suddenly stood up and hugged his mother, then lowered his head and kissed her lightly on the forehead. He quietly said into her ear, “Mom, I love you the most.” 

Kou Tong’s mom almost froze. Grown-up sons always seem less considerate than daughters; their relationships with their parents slowly become less close. They begin to understand holding back, speaking of the good and not the bad; begin to be embarrassed by the hugs and kisses that were normal in childhood. 

Kou Tong looked down and picked up the fallen control box . He turned and went back into the study. 

Concerning the signal analysis that would soon be complete, the program would automatically fix it up for him. Kou Tong opened the program that was so large it made his little home laptop with its insufficient specs lag. He crossed one leg over the other, sitting beside the desk, and lit a cigarette. 

His eyes were fixed on the screen, but they seemed to go through the screen to a distant place. His brow was faintly furrowed. Probably because he had stayed up late several nights in a row and was a little exhausted, his cheeks were a little sunken in. Half concealed in smoke, he seemed like a child who could neither resign himself nor leave. 

The program ran until midday, then finally came up with a path. Kou Tong pressed “save,” then manually entered a long string of complicated commands into the control box. Then, before hitting enter, he used a twenty-some digit code to lock the screen and keyboard, got up, and went out. 

Huang Jinchen was in the living room, watching Qin Qin, loyal to his post, in order to prevent against her waking up ahead of time. 

Kou Tong passed by and quietly asked, “How much longer until the drugs wear off?” 

Huang Jinchen motioned “six” at him, then grinned. There seemed to be a big tail waving behind him. Kou Tong, wise in his success, rewarded him with a pat on the head. “Be good.” 

Huang Jinchen was good. 

Kou Tong sat next to him and found that the mirrors in the living room had been replaced, so he quietly asked, “Did you do that?” 

“No.” Huang Jinchen pointed at He Xiaozhi, holding a computer and browsing the internet. “The kid went out and bought them.” 

“Ah…yeah.” He Xiaozhi raised his head and clutched his hair a little apologetically. “Sorry, Dr. Kou, I can never quite control myself when I’m having an attack. I accidentally…” 

Kou Tong was silent for a while. He Xiaozhi was in fact a lot better. Having realized his own usefulness to everyone, he had for a long time energetically done everything in his power, controlling his own emotions and avoiding accidentally harming others. When he had returned to this space that made him feel warm and comfortable, it was as if he had regained hope. He was even willing to go out on his own, have contact with those strangers who had previously been so frightening to him, just for the sake of buying some mirrors. 

After a long time, Kou Tong said, “Actually…we mostly did it to guard against this person, and now that she’s been knocked out…” 

He Xiaozhi waved a hand. “But what if she wakes up? It’ll still be very dangerous. If those monsters under her command find us, and the same scary thing that just happened happens again, you’ll definitely find it very troublesome, Dr. Kou.” 

“Yeah.” Kou Tong forced up the corners of his mouth. His smile was a little bitter. After a moment, he said, “That makes sense.—Oh, right, where’s my mom?” 

Huang Jinchen pointed to the kitchen and said, “Oh, she’s making lunch.” 

Kou Tong stood up without saying anything and went into the kitchen. 

Kou Tong’s mom heard footsteps through the rumble of the fume hood. In the midst of many pressing affairs, she turned her head and saw Kou Tong standing silently behind her. In a very good mood, she looked at him and cheerfully said, “Get a look at this son of mine—tall, handsome, and talented, better than anyone else’s son—what did you come in here for?” 

Kou Tong’s nose stung. He quickly turned his head away, gave a dry cough, rolled up his sleeves, and asked, “Do you need me to help?” 

Kou Tong’s mom looked at him in fright, stood up on tiptoe, and felt his forehead. “Oh, my goodness, is the child running a fever?” 

“Your hands are greasy, don’t touch me!” Kou Tong protested. 

Then he skillfully went around her, took defrosted meat from the fridge, put it on a cutting board, sliced it, added starch, then took the already washed vegetables out of the little drying basket, diced the ones that needed dicing and slivered the ones that needed to be slivered, very deftly. 

Kou Tong’s mom watched and watched, unable to look away. After a long time, she finally sighed. “Well, now… You’ve even learned to cook out there on your own.” 

Kou Tong agreed. “Go watch TV. I’ll cook instead.” 

His mom’s fingers went to the belt of her apron. She hesitated. “Really?” 

“Really!” Kou Tong dried his hands and uncompromisingly pushed her out. “I won’t blow up the kitchen, don’t worry, don’t worry. Women! Why are you so long-winded! Get out!” 

I just…want to do something for you, even if I know that the person in front of me is only a shallow projection of you in my mind and can’t feel anything in your place. 

Even if I’m only fooling myself and others, even if this is only a long and beautiful dream I’m dreaming. 

When the whole family, with gasps of admiration, had eaten the lunch Dr. Kou had personally made, Huang Jinchen pointed to his watch and indicated to Kou Tong that there were still three hours left. 

The people who hadn’t cooked undertook to wash the dishes and clear the table while Kou Tong had He Xiaozhi take him to Lao Tian. 

The same boundless open fields as before, the same overly lively Huanhuan, the same flowers that were neither living nor dead. 

Lao Tian waved to him from far away and laughed happily. “A rare visitor!” 

Kou Tong stuck his hands in his pants pockets and slowly walked over. 

Lao Tian looked at him, beaming. “It’s always that young lad who likes coming over here. Why have you come today? Is the machine going to be repaired soon?” 

Kou Tong looked down at him. After a long time, he nodded as though unwilling. 

Lao Tian took him to sit by a ridge between the fields and patted him on the back. He asked, “Did you come to hear my last words?” 

Kou Tong raised his head and looked at him. Each time he saw him, he felt intensely guilty. 

Lao Tian noticed. The old man stretched enormously and raised his head to look at the vague horizon. Suddenly, he burst into a folk song in thick dialect. His voice was indistinct and hoarse. Kou Tong almost couldn’t hear what he was singing. But the pitch was very high, and it was unusually resonant and unrestrained. 

To the puppy’s barking, the song ended with a long “he-yo—”, lingering on for a long time. 

When Lao Tian smiled, the wrinkles on his face turned into impassable gullies carved by time. Then he said, “I thought at first that I had a lot of last words, but now that I’ve been here so long, I suddenly have nothing to say.” 

Kou Tong frowned, looking at him a little uncertainly. 

Lao Tian said, “Just one thing, then. Call it the reason we met.” 

He looked at Kou Tong’s eyes, the black and white distinct, always seeming unusually warm and attractive. He said, “Live well. In the future, when you’re old, we’ll be waiting for you over there. Then everyone will reunite. There’s no need to worry.” 

Kou Tong was silent for a long time. Then he stood up and nodded respectfully to Lao Tian. “I’ll be going.” 

Lao Tian didn’t move. He still sat where he was, with his legs stretched out and his pants rolled up, the puppy nestled against him, half his body dyed golden by the sun. He waved to Kou Tong carelessly. “Go on.” 

This could be called…a farewell between life and death.