Chen Bo is a data clerk at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and works with cold spreadsheets every day. He had severe gastric ulcer, and when the pain started, he felt like there was a living thing in his stomach. He tried not to think about it and couldn't remember the last time his heart had moved.
The change happened when he met Ye Zhen. The way she ate was strange. The shrimp dumplings were dipped in a lot of vinegar, and the tense lines of her jaw when chewing had an unquestionable determination. At that moment, the little thing in Chen Bo's stomach suddenly stopped. Later he learned that Ye Zhen suffered from severe migraines, and her way of relieving the pain was to chew extremely bitter things - bitter melon, tangerine peel, or just time.
Our world may have two. One is the Guangzhou of the outside world, which is hot and humid, noisy and full of demolition dust; the other is hidden behind the wall of the arcade, where two moons hang, the big one is pale and the smaller one is rotting.
Chen Bo gradually discovered that every time Ye Zhen appeared in the old corridor, the pain in his stomach would lessen, as if her presence itself was a powerful analgesic. They hadn't exchanged a few words or had any physical contact, but their pain had exchanged keys in the darkness.
When the man known as the "Pearl Collector" approached with a bulldozer, they realized that only by holding on to each other's pain could they confirm that they were still alive in this increasingly numb city.
The world is still raining, but the pain makes them feel warm.
Purpose: In this era of numbness, pain is the evidence of survival. Two marginalized people covered in injuries would rather cling to each other in decay than heal alone in a false "normal". The so-called love is just using the other person's pain to confirm your own heartbeat.