Don't go to the moon, there are gods on the far side of the moon.

[The stove opening facing the seventh empty space does not mean the fire should go in.]

On the third day after Zhu Rongtai moved the empty stove to the narrow strip, Lin Xiaoman saw the charred little bird for the second time in the dream network.

The first time was in the core module of Xuan Niao III.

At that time, it was curled up in a ball, with a broken sun pattern pressed under its wing, like a piece of charcoal about to be blown out by the wind.

This time is different.

It stood on the edge of the empty stove, looking down at the firebox, neither going in nor leaving.

When Lin Xiaoman reported the matter, there was a commotion in the main control room.

The argument wasn't about whether or not to light a fire.

The question is, "Who is qualified to answer on behalf of humanity?"

Haicheng spoke first. Their point was that since Zhurongtai had its stove facing the empty space for signatures, it meant it was waiting for someone from the human world to sign their name. There had to be someone in each of the seven human cities to sign their name.

The space city countered: Signature does not represent, and representation does not mean substitution.

Both sides are correct.

The mistake they made was that their words sounded more and more like they were trying to steal the position.

Xu Wangshu turned off both channels.

"Let's confirm the facts first," she said. "Was the fire touched?"

"No," Qin Lan replied, "I've been on the narrow strip the whole time, in the same spot as yesterday."

Has the Zhurong Terrace urged them to hurry up?

"No. It only turned the stove."

"Who should I show this to?"

No one could answer the question.

Lin Jibai made a half-sounding noise in the toolbox.

He has barely spoken in the past three days. His stability level is 12, and his right-hand projection is still missing. Every time he tries to speak, he has to go through that empty feeling in his throat first.

"It showed it to the fire," he said.

Xu Wangshu looked at the toolbox.

"illustrate."

"The stove isn't for humans," Lin Jibai paused. "It's for fire. The stove opening is pointed towards the seventh empty space so that the fire can see that the space is empty."

"and then?"

"Then ask Huo if he's willing to go in."

The main control room fell silent for a moment.

Qin Lan frowned: "Huozhong has already stated that he does not wish to return to Taiwan."

"That's refusing to return to Taiwan," Lin Jibai said, "not refusing to cook."

These two sentences are very close in meaning.

That tiny difference is precisely where the most painful part of life begins.

Qin Lan wrote these two sentences side by side in her notes, with a vertical line drawn between them.

The vertical line on the left reads "return to the platform," and the line on the right reads "enter the stove." She added a small note next to it: "The two are not treated as equivalent." This was a habit she developed after being tricked by the automatic summarization in Chapter 322—she doesn't merge two similar verbs into one for any system.

Lu Chen leaned back in his chair, the broken pieces of the bow still cool to the touch, and his expression remained unchanged.

"You mean," he said slowly, "that Zhurongtai no longer asks humans for their signatures, but asks fire directly."

"right."

"Then what are we doing here?"

"Keep one thing in mind," Lin Jibai said. "Whether the fire agrees or not, no one is allowed to answer for it."

As soon as he finished speaking, the dampness in Zhurong Terrace stirred.

The empty stove in the narrow strip was not lit, but a faint reddish light seeped from the firebox.

Four ancient characters emerged from the light.

The hearth listens to the fire's whispers.

Lin Xiaoman copied down those four words from the listening end, then paused for a moment.

She looked at her folder.

There were still three records inside, two of which were not written by her.

She did not change her name.

Below those four characters, a line of smaller text was added:

They won't listen to us.

After she finished writing it, she read that line aloud to everyone in the main control room.

No one objected.

Xu Wangshu only said one sentence: "Copy it into the border archives, without deleting a single word."