Platform: from Xiafang to Outer Space

What I want to write about most in this chapter is that moment - Gu Tong held down the neck of the alien beast. No bite. No barking. No struggle. It just looked at him. The eyes are bright. Silvery blue. Just like copper coins. It had a wound on its abdomen. Seeping light. I don't know what bit me. It has no strength. Gou Tong squatted down. Waited and waited. Just take action. That hunter team. Three people. Go twenty steps in front of him. He was not found. He didn't move either. He crouched behind a broken wall. Listen to their footsteps. He couldn't hear behind him before. Now it can. Gou Ru didn't have a few meters. Countless crystal nuclei. She was counting the copper coins. Three heads. She said. After three heads. The light dimmed to half. Gou Tong looked at the copper coin. Didn't say "ok". He said, "After three heads, I won't swallow it anymore." Gou Ru stretched out his little finger. Flat. Place on the table. She believes it. But she also knew it. When Gou Tong said this. The little finger of his left hand. Curled up.

What I want to write about most in this chapter is earplugs. He Jiuquan asked him to listen. No need to look. Listen behind you. Gou Tong used to only look at the person opposite him when boxing, and he didn't care about what was behind him. But the one in gray clothes stood in the third row. He cannot see. Now he had to hear it. Gou Ru didn't follow in the end. She stood at the door. She said, "When you can't hear what's behind you, just touch the half piece." She didn't say be careful. She didn't say not to go. She gave him something. This is heavier than any words. That new bag of cookies. It was given by Fang Qizhi. I can't bear to eat it. Give it to Gou Ru. Gou Ru said, "I have eaten it." She drank half a tube of nutritional ointment from Fang Qizhi. But she didn't eat the cookie. She kept it. Let her brother eat it. Both are in the province. What you save is the same thing.

What I want to write about most in this chapter is the moment when half of the copper coin was extinguished. Zhenya's son swallowed six heads. The copper coin is broken. The light went out. Zhen Ya gave half of it to Gou Ru. Let her agree. One glance is enough. I agreed to read it. The light died before his eyes. He said nothing. He stuffed half a copper coin into his collar. Put it with your own. A cold one. An ice one. Gou Ru said, "Every time you want to swallow it, take a look." She wasn't trying to persuade. She was giving him a tool. She knew he couldn't stop. She just wanted him to slow down. Slow enough to see the half copper coin. Slow enough to remember Zhenya's son. Slow enough to remind me of Fang Qizhi's brother. The one on the back of the neck. I agree that I can't see it. He could only rely on Gou Ru's hands to touch it. She touched it. Say "same as phalanges". She didn't cry. She just counted the crystal nuclei again. Three pieces. She kept counting.

When writing this chapter about Fang Qizhi, I kept thinking about his right hand. Three fingers missing. He was not born with three stems missing. It fell by itself after swallowing four strange beasts. His brother dropped three. Copper coins are gone. People are gone. He collected the coins. Thirty years later. He showed the copper coins to Gong Tong. What he said: "Don't swallow too much." Was not advice. Is a statement. He knew that Yi Tong would not stop. He just told me to agree with that number. Four heads. Gou Ru's last words, "If you lie to me, I will go behind the wall and find it myself." She was not threatening. She was telling the truth. Gou Tong knows. She also knows that I agree with you. So they made a deal. Three heads. This is not a promise. It is a number that two people count together. The light of copper coins. A little darker. But still bright.

The most difficult thing about writing about Zhen Yu in this chapter is that he can't speak. He can only write. Push it over every time you write a line. The action itself is language. The speed with which he pushed the paper, the strength of his pencil, the look of approval in his eyes after he finished writing - these are more important than the lines. The image of two copper coins placed side by side on the table is the core of the whole chapter. The complete one and the half-broken one. The light shines from the square hole, trying to get closer on the paper, but can't connect. Gou Tong saw it. He didn't ask "will I be like me?" Zhen Ya didn't say "you will". They all saw it. Enough. Gou Ru said, "How many heads have you swallowed?" She actually already knew. Three crystal nuclei. A strange beast. Either he killed three heads, or he lied. But she didn't reveal it. She just put the core away. Say "hmm". She didn't believe the "one end" he said. What she believed was that he wouldn't keep lying to her.

What I want to write about most in this chapter is that finger. Gou Tong's right index finger was bent by the hydraulic clamp and could not be reattached. So his punches were always half an inch off. But after swallowing it, the phalanges became hard. Too little. When he hit the taller man's knee, it missed half an inch. But it wasn't the knee he hit. It is the tendon on the outside of the knee. He doesn't need to hit his knees. He hit the spot. For the first time in the book, his physical flaws become weapons. Fang Qi pointed to that section. I began by writing that he "said meaningfully." Deleted. He spoke calmly. Discuss the matter. He just saw it. He told Gou Tong that there was someone he could ask. Zhenya. That's enough. No need to make great sense. Gou Rushu counts crystal nuclei. Three times. She wasn't counting. She was counting how many her brother had killed. Killed one. There should only be one piece. But there are three pieces. Either her brother lied. Either her brother killed more than one. She didn't want to ask. So she counted it three times.

The most uncomfortable part of this chapter is when Gou Ru said, "You ate it yesterday too." Gou Tong's hands were shaking from hunger the night before, so he picked it up and drank it. He didn't ask. He didn't dare ask. He was afraid that if he asked, he would have to throw away the soup. If you pour Gou Ru, you won't be able to eat it. He drank. After drinking it, he said "it's delicious". That's the first lie he tells in the book. Not just words. The stomach said it. The ending sentence, "Brother, I'll get you something good." He had just vomited three times, and the three wounds on his arm were still bleeding, and he was shaking when he walked. He said this. He didn't even believe it after he said it. But Gou Ru's little finger curled up. She believes it.

As I was writing this chapter, I kept thinking about the broken tooth. It's not pain. It was Gou Tong who swallowed the blood. He doesn't vomit. Vomited waste. He didn't even count the blood in his own mouth. I didn't let her raise her head when I wrote the part about Gou Ru Shumi. She was looking at the table the whole time. Because when she looked up, she would see her brother's face. She didn't want to look. I couldn't help but watch it. The last conversation in the dark. Gou Ru said, "Don't die." Gou Tong said "Yeah". He didn't say "yes". He knew he might die. But he couldn't say "yes" to her. Because that's lying. He had lied to her enough.