Once We Lived in Nanjing

Ban Xia exerted her strength to pull down the lever; it was quite strenuous. After pulling it all the way down, a "click" sound was heard, and a "buzzing" sound emanated from within the wall, as if a motor was spinning inside. It seemed like there was an engine room concealed within, complete with gears, crankshafts, and chains—various sounds could be heard. Driven by curiosity, Ban Xia pressed her ear against the wall and listened for a little while.

As Bai Yang mentioned, the operations within the base were foolproof; even a trained monkey could handle them proficiently. The designers seemed worried that she might miss some information or not be able to read the text clearly, so every instruction was highlighted in orange and bold, with arrows meticulously pointing out each step of the operation. And the actions required of her were just a few—either pull or push, reminiscent of how humans sent chimpanzees into space in early years, letting them operate the spacecraft by pulling a lever or stepping on a pedal, with a banana as a reward for a correct step.

In stark contrast to the simplicity on the surface, the inside of the wall was a hidden complexity. To ensure the reliability of the First Base, engineers employed sturdy mechanical structures. These robust metal mechanisms, soaked in lubricant, could withstand typhoons, earthquakes, and even the shock waves from explosions. They would last many years without damage, and restarting them was as simple as cranking a diesel tractor—it just required a bit of muscle.

It's a miracle what strength can achieve.

Ban Xia pulled down the last lever indicated in the instructions and then inserted the disconnected cables into their corresponding color-coded sockets. A few seconds later, the monitor on the opposite wall slowly lit up.

She turned around, facing the screen on the wall, ready to operate it.

Suddenly, a voice came from the speaker above her head, startling her.

"Hello!"

Ban Xia was taken aback, looking up.

"H...Hello?"

"Hello, welcome to the First Base, I am Tmall Elf."

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"Tmall Elf?"

Everyone in the living room turned their heads towards Zhao Bowen with incredulous looks, while Zhao, appearing innocent, looked around.

"The artificial intelligence, the AI you guys sent to the apocalypse..." Bai Zhen pointed towards the white speaker on the fridge, "is that it? Lick-my-fur Elf?"

"We tested all the mature natural language recognition AIs on the market, and Tmall Elf performed the best," Zhao Bowen spread his hands, implying it was the best among dwarfs—it wasn't that he had a special liking for Tmall Elf, but the competitors were simply not up to par.

"There's only this artificial intelligence in the First Base, but it seems not very intelligent," the girl in the video continued, "I don't know if it's supposed to be like this or if it's broken, but most of the time it just greets you like this..."

Ban Xia tilted her head and shouted towards the screen:

"Tmall Elf, can you brighten the lights a bit?"

A few seconds later, a voice-over responded:

"Hello, I am Tmall Elf, if you wish to obtain a paper report, there are paper reports in the safe number one under the monitor, if none, please reboot the printer. If you want to access media data, there is a mechanical hard drive and disk in safe number two. If you want to initiate satellite transmission, shake handle number one for Ka/Ku bands, handle number two for X/S bands, and handle number three for shortwave bands. If you are unsure which band to use, shake all handles."

"Can you make the lights brighter?" Ban Xia repeated.

"Hello, I am Tmall Elf, if you wish to obtain a paper report, there are paper reports in the safe number one under the monitor, if none, please reboot the printer. If you want to access media data, there is a mechanical hard drive and disk in safe number two. If you want to initiate satellite transmission, shake handle number one for Ka/Ku bands, handle number two for X/S bands, and handle number three for shortwave bands. If you are unsure which band to use, shake all handles."

"Look, most of the time it only says this." The girl shrugged, casually fanning a large stack of paper reports, "I feel it's quite pitiful, stuck underground for twenty years with no one to talk to, maybe it developed some quirks... As for this report, I also took it out, but I couldn't understand it."

"All the reports look like this, take a look, maybe you will understand what it means."

She unfolded the report in her hand, bringing it close to the camera, where only two words appeared on the white A4 paper.

Stop VVVLBI.

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The designers of the First Base had considered everything thoroughly; data was backed up in multiple formats—paper reports, hard drives, disks, and even satellite data links—and antennas for each bandwidth were readied. Ban Xia couldn't remember which frequency band the relay satellite operated on, so she shook all the antennas. It's hard