All Things Return

At four o'clock in the morning, the pump at Nanti No. 7 Backwater station stopped. The electronic watch and the mechanical watch reset to zero at the same time, but the well water continued to rise, and the water line climbed against the slope towards an old wall without pipelines. At thirty-seven seconds, another knock came from behind the wall. Equipment checker Cheng Yan opened the pressure relief valve without authorization in order to rescue his trapped colleagues. He saved a life but also lost two pumps, so his on-site authority was suspended. But the accident was not over. The water meter that was removed and sealed was still counting on its own. The silver-gray substance appearing on the filter slowly gained weight in the sealed bottle. Two sets of disconnected monitoring cameras captured white spots in the sky at the same moment. As the second pumping station left similar records, Cheng Yan discovered that this was not an equipment failure, nor was it an ordinary revival of spiritual energy. When the original order of the city gradually disintegrates, the movement of everything begins to take a beat. Someone reverses the situation when life or death is at stake. Life itself and spirit are intertwined. Starting from a stopped pumping station, Cheng Yan followed the subtle deviations among all things and walked out of the Blue Star, crossing stars, constellations and galaxies, witnessing the growth, devouring and restarting of civilization. When all new lives come at the expense of the demise of old things, does the continuation of the world have to involve the sacrifice of all living beings?