After the vehicle came to a stop, Chen Hao was the last to get out. He patted the sled door frame and said in a voice that was neither too loud nor too soft, "It's not over yet today, we still have a meeting."

A few people nearby paused, and someone muttered, "They just got back and aren't they allowed to rest?"

“Anyone who doesn’t participate will not get any flatbread for breakfast tomorrow.” He turned and walked towards the control room. “If you want something soft, you have to open your mouth first.”

Nana stood beside the car, flicking her wrist, and the public address system automatically connected: "Meeting Announcement: Main Hall, Area B, starting in fifteen minutes. Topic: 'Debriefing of the First Spring Outdoor Activity.' No dress code, but personal notes are recommended."

No one objected. Last time she said she hadn't made any pancakes, and sure enough, three days passed without them.

Chen Hao turned into the living area and casually hung the picnic mat on the wall shelf. The mat still smelled of earth and the edges were a little wrinkled. He took out a folded piece of paper from his breast pocket, unfolded it and glanced at it. It read, "The first meal of spring."

Without looking at it much, he stood on tiptoe and pasted the note at the top of the bulletin board, under the previous notices.

Ten minutes later, seven people were seated in the main hall. Xiao Wang leaned against the wall and yawned, Xiao Li looked down at his phone, and Xiao Zhang held a pen and drew birds in his notebook.

Chen Hao didn't stand on the podium; instead, he sat cross-legged on the floor, one knee higher than the other. He opened his waterproof notebook; the corners of the pages were curled, and the handwriting was crooked, like earthworms crawling.

"I'll go first," he said. "I have three things to say."

Everyone looked up.

"First, the fact that butterflies dare to fly into crowds of people indicates that there is less poison in the air. They used to run away at the sight of people, but now they can even get food from them, which is a sign that the environment is improving."

Some people nodded.

"Secondly, Xiao Wang, your use of a first-aid kit as a cushion exposes a problem—we can't distinguish the uses of things. Emergency supplies are treated as everyday items, and we might not be able to find them when something really happens."

Xiao Wang blushed: "I just used a pad..."

“Not even once.” Chen Hao waved his hand. “Third, the bread soaked in juice can be chewed. It’s not that the food has changed, it’s that our mindset has changed. Before, we ate to stave off hunger, but today we eat to be happy.”

He closed his notebook: "Winter teaches us how to live, but spring teaches us why we live."

The room was quiet for a few seconds.

Then Nana started the projector. The video played silently: green shoots breaking through the soil, mother birds returning to their nests, and everyone laughing... Finally, it froze on the moment when a yellow butterfly landed on the debris.

“This is the most emotionally impactful scene of the entire trip,” she said. “I’ve replayed it seven times in my cache.”

Xiao Li was stunned: "You still remember this?"

“I won’t lose my memory,” she said. “But your laughter was 1.8 times more frequent than usual, and your heart rate synchronization was 76%. This is a manifestation of collective emotional resonance.”

Xiao Zhang said in a low voice, "That day was definitely different."

“So this isn’t just a formality.” Chen Hao stood up and walked to the blackboard. “We need to turn the path we’ve trod into rules that our brains can remember.”

He picked up a pen and wrote the first rule on the blackboard:

— Signs of natural recovery have emerged, and an "ecological observation weekly report" can be established.

"From now on, record the changes in plants and animals once a week. Whoever notices any new activity should add it to the log."

Article 2:

Outdoor activities have a therapeutic effect on the mind and are recommended to be carried out once a season.

“It’s not for fun,” he said. “It’s to let everyone know that outside there’s not just snow and death, but also places that can make us laugh.”

Article 3:

— Material management should be tiered and labeled to prevent the routine misuse of emergency supplies.

"From now on, all bags will be labeled. Red is for emergency use, blue is for everyday use, and green is for replacements. Anyone who touches a bag will be disqualified from the next picnic."

Xiao Wang raised his hand: "Then what category does 'paopai' (a type of flatbread) fall into?"

"Black," Chen Hao said, "is the cure for despair."

Laughter broke out again inside the house.

Nana pulled up the data panel: "Based on comprehensive physiological monitoring and behavioral trajectory, this trip achieved three implicit results: the group heart rate synchronization rate increased by 18%, the density of verbal communication increased by 2.3 times, and the speed of autonomous decision-making response accelerated."

Chen Hao chimed in, "What I mean is, it's not just that our bodies have left the house, our minds have thawed too."

Xiao Li nodded: "I said five sentences in the car, more than I did in the entire past month."

“That’s right.” Chen Hao pointed out the window. “The ground is warming up, but our hearts can’t stay frozen.”

As the meeting was drawing to a close, Xiao Zhang suddenly asked, "Are these summaries really useful? It's just like going out for a meal."

Chen Hao didn't answer immediately. He opened his notebook, turned to a page with a drawing of a butterfly, a bird's nest, and a crooked little sapling.

“Look at this butterfly,” he said. “It landed on the crumbs because it smelled fermentation. And we spared it a bite because we felt it deserved to live. This isn’t instinct; it’s a choice.”

He looked up: "Before, we only did what we could survive. Now we're starting to do what we want to do. This shift is more important than discovering a hundred new species."

Nana named the audio file "S-01: Transcript of the Spring Cognitive Reconstruction Meeting", encrypted it, archived it, and automatically linked it to the spring outing video log.

A notification pops up on the screen: The data chain is complete and marked as a "milestone psychological node".

People left one after another.

Chen Hao remained in front of the bulletin board, smoothing out the note that read "First Meal of Spring," and then peeling off the tape to secure it. He stared at it for a few seconds, then gently peeled it off and tucked it deep inside his notebook.

When the notebook was closed, a corner of a page peeked out, on which a new line of text was written:

"I learned three things today: look at the sky, look at the earth, and look at myself."

He stuffed the notebook back into his pocket, turned, and headed towards the rest area. The corridor lights were dim, and his footsteps gradually faded away.

Nana remained seated at the control panel, the terminal running the archiving program. The monitoring screen showed that everyone's vital signs were stable and the ambient temperature was suitable. Her camera lens slightly retracted, entering a low-power standby mode.

A corner of the notice board on the wall was empty.

The note is gone.

But the three conclusions on the blackboard remain.

The writing was clearly visible under the light.

As Chen Hao walked out of the main hall, he turned off the overhead light.

Darkness surged in halfway.

The other half is still lit.