Once We Lived in Nanjing

In the survival of the apocalypse, ropes are particularly important.

The teacher had collected a lot of ropes and stored them in the building; she was a woman of great foresight and vision. Only when Ban Xia grew up did she realize the teacher's remarkable abilities. She discovered that the teacher had thought through and arranged every little detail. In the most chaotic and difficult days, she dragged young Ban Xia to gather supplies bit by bit and to turn Building 11 of Meihua Villa into a sturdy fortress.

Eventually, she rested forever under the greenery downstairs, and although the girl was alone, she was still well-protected.

Ban Xia put two bundles of green nylon rope over her shoulders, one with a diameter of 8 mm, the other 10 mm, both very sturdy, and then she went downstairs.

Setting traps is also a matter of knowledge, as animals are smarter than humans think. Not underestimating the intelligence of other creatures is one of the survival rules taught by the teacher.

Ban Xia didn't know what kind of uninvited guest had invaded Meihua Villa. It could be a jackal, a leopard, or even a brown bear—it was definitely a very dangerous creature. Meihua Villa was not particularly good habitat; since the teacher was alive, they'd regularly clear the area inside the complex. Due to human activity, herbivorous animals kept their distance, so large predators rarely ventured into the complex.

Ban Xia still remembered the first time she noticed that thing; it was when she went fishing last time and was followed on her way home at night.

Had it invaded the complex that evening?

Or was it already hidden here long before that?

Meihua Villa is bordered by the wide Muxuyuan Street to the west, Haiyue Garden to the north, Hou Biao Camp Road to the south, and the dormitory of China Electronics Technology Group Corporation 28th Institute to the east. This means that it is separated from the west and south by main roads, but continuous with other residential areas to the north and east. In this era, residential areas have long been completely covered by vegetation, no different from jungles, so it's possible that the dangerous creature came from the northwest direction of Zijin Mountain.

The girl sat on the stairs of the first floor of Unit 11, humming a tune leisurely, stretching out her long legs, holding a sharp Dagger in one hand and a small piece of round wood in the other.

She was whittling wood.

Ban Xia pushed the back of the blade with her left thumb, slicing off pieces of wood shavings, an adept carpentry task which she clearly had done quite often. She was carving a square notch into this palm-sized piece of round wood.

She was making a trap trigger.

The teacher said that all traps could be simplified into three parts: the power source, the traction, and the trigger.

The so-called trigger is the hub that keeps the trap balanced and still when there is no prey, and it triggers the trap to activate when there is prey. It is the core mechanism of the trap, quite crucial.

The most commonly used and simplest trigger is two pieces that fit together like hooks, just like a person's hands with fingers bent and hooked together. These hooks can be made of wood.

Two pieces of wood of similar size were cut into hooks with a knife.

The girl spent half an hour carving square grooves into the center of the two wooden pieces. Both formed a concave shape, and then she tried hooking them together, giving them a firm pull.

Very sturdy.

She polished and refined them a bit more, squinting and inspecting them in the light.

The trigger was a success!

One-third of the trap was complete. Among the three essentials, the trigger had to be crafted, traction relied on the sturdy nylon rope, with the rope responsible for connecting all the components of the trap and also for transmitting power.

The last element is power.

Power comes from natural sources, and the most accessible of these is the tree.

Ban Xia wrapped herself up tightly in a plastic raincoat, donning a hood and gloves, and wearing rubber boots on her feet. This was to prevent her scent from lingering, as some animals have very keen sense of smell. If the traps carried human scent, they would stay alert and not be fooled.

The girl burrowed into the underbrush, heading deeper while looking for signs of animal movement with her head lowered.

On both sides stood mottled residential buildings with vibrant green vines trailing down from their rooftops, covering the darkened windows.

These high-rises have been uninhabited for over a decade. A building lying vacant for ten or twenty years in a normal society and one in a deserted environment would have profoundly different outcomes—the former never being a deserted yet vibrant space. The evacuated Chernobyl might meet the first condition, but it is located in Pripyat in the northern part of Ukraine, situated above fifty degrees north latitude, where the climate is dry and cold. However, Meihua Villa in the apocalyptic era is more like a building that has been air-dropped into the center of the Amazon Rainforest, deserted and cut off from the world, then left vacant for another twenty years.

The majority of the buildings here were no longer inhabitable, as the humid climate and plant encroachment had caused the outer walls of the structures to crack. Some residential buildings were severely cracked, with deep fissures visibly running from top to bottom.

The girl emerged from the bushes onto the road surface.

Apart from the asphalted roads, everywhere else in the neighborhood was overgrown with dense, wild grass.

The once-lush green belts of the community had now become luxuriant vegetation. Not just bushes, but also shrubs, vines, and newly grown trees intertwined impenetrably like a thick wall, behind which sat those old buildings.

The faster the greening of a community, the quicker it was being swallowed by nature, with only the brick- or asphalt-paved hardened road surfaces resisting stubbornly.

As long as they weren't cracked, plant seeds couldn't sprout there. Without plants, these places were still not considered nature's domain. All the brick-paved, asphalted, weed-free hardened road surfaces in the world were Ban Xia's territory—she stayed out of nature's way.

The girl found a suitable tree.

It grew in the grass by the roadside, possibly a Chinese cork oak, about as tall as a building level, with a trunk roughly as thick as a bowl's diameter, growing straight and tapering higher up.

Trees, as a source of power for the traps, provided elasticity or potential elastic energy. This was the simplest and most straightforward energy usage to access, suitable for trees and bamboo alike, available all over the world; just bend to store energy. However, one had to be careful not to choose trees that are too thick or too thin, as those that are too thick won't bend, and those that are too thin will break easily.

Ban Xia tossed her backpack to the ground, clenched a dagger in her teeth, and jumped up with force, clamping her legs tightly around the trunk and climbed up swiftly like a monkey. She drew her dagger and began lopping off the excess branches, leaving only the central trunk.

Then, she grabbed the tip of the trunk, leapt down agilely, pulling down the treetop as she landed, bending the tree with her body weight.

The young, water-rich Chinese cork oak was very elastic. The once straight trunk was now pulled down by the girl, bending forward in the shape of an 'n', yet it didn't snap.

She released her hand, and the trunk sprang back fiercely.

Good, it was suitable.

Ban Xia clapped her hands; she was satisfied, considering this tree well-suited as a power source for the trap.

She was dealing with that dangerous visitor.

The best way was to hang it to death at the top of the tree.