Once We Lived in Nanjing

Yan Zhihan quickly made her way over; she lived in Sifang New Village, not far from Meihua Villa, and it took at most half an hour on bus 59.

The girl was wearing a white blouse and denim shorts, standing downstairs with an umbrella.

"What's up? Why the urgent call to have me come over?"

Seeing Bai Yang looking around suspiciously as he descended the building, carrying something unknown in his arms, Yan stepped forward and asked.

"Yan, I need your help," Bai Yang said gravely, "It's an emergency, life or death."

"Alright, tell me." Yan Zhihan nodded, "What do you need me to do?"

Bai Yang handed the plastic-wrapped parcel to her. Yan Zhihan put her umbrella on the ground, took it, and weighed it curiously, flipping it over and over.

"What is this?"

"An airplane cup."

"Ah?"

The girl's hand trembled, almost dropping the plastic parcel to the ground; her eyes widened to perfect circles, and her mouth hung open, unable to close for quite some time.

"This this this this this this this this... But what does this have to do with life or death?"

Yan Zhihan thought to herself, could it be you have too many descendants inside this thing?

"My mom is checking my room, and if she finds this, won't I be dead meat?" Bai Yang explained, "Isn't that life or death?"

"So… what am I supposed to do?" Yan Zhihan asked, "Keep it for you?"

"No, no, how can you, a girl, keep this kind of thing in your house? What if your parents find it, how could you explain?" Bai Yang shook his head, "Just help me hide it somewhere."

Yan held the plastic parcel in her arms and thought it over carefully; indeed, this thing was not fit to be kept at home.

If her parents found it, how could she explain?

"Then where should I hide it?"

"Crescent Lake."

The girl was slightly shocked: "Throw it into the lake?"

"Yes, Yan, you have to find a secluded spot by the lake and hide it so others won't find it. See, I wrapped it enough with plastic, it's completely sealed, waterproof, but don't throw it somewhere too difficult to retrieve because I'll have to get it back later."

"You — want to get it back later —?" Yan Zhihan said, word by word, "You mean to continue using it?"

"Yes, after the ordeal is over, I will reunite with it, after all, after so long, there are feelings," Bai Yang nodded, "It has memorized my form."

The girl opened her mouth but didn't know what to say.

She hadn't expected that she was called over just to do this; it was completely absurd.

"After you've hidden it well, Yan, then tell me the exact location via WeChat, but you mustn't type, absolutely no typing," Bai Yang made a peculiar request, "Use voice messages."

"Why?" Yan Zhihan was confused.

"Because my mom checks the chatting history." Bai Yang blamed it all on his mom, "If my mom finds out, I'm dead meat, so for the sake of my life, you have to send voice messages."

"Voice message?" Yan Zhihan confirmed once again.

"Right, a voice message."

The girl nodded, she didn't think too much about whether Bai's absurd reason was valid nor considered that WeChat chat history could be deleted, she just found it strange to make such a fuss over hiding an airplane cup.

Maybe all boys are such peculiar creatures?

"Okay, after I've hidden it, I'll tell you the location through WeChat."

"Once this task is done, Yan, you must keep this secret for me, never mention it in front of anyone, under any circumstances," Bai Yang pleaded with his hands together, "Otherwise, it'll be social death for me, and I'll have to stand on Zijin Bridge ready to jump into the lake and drown myself."

"Alright, alright, I'll forget about it after today," Yan Zhihan rolled her eyes, "Just remember to treat me to a milk tea after it's done."

"Definitely! Definitely! Yan, I'm completely relying on you for this, I'll never forget your great kindness and favor." Bai Yang's phone in his pocket started vibrating, he took it out to look, his face changed, "My mom is calling for me again, I have to go up first, Yan, I'm waiting for your good news!"

"Good, leave your girlfriend to me!"

Bai Yang hurried back into the apartment building, took the stairs, turned a corner, and reached out to stop the alarm on his phone. He went up to the third floor, stood at the stairwell, and looked out the window, watching Yan's figure with the black umbrella disappearing into the distance.

This task could only be done by Yan Zhihan.

The young girl was thin-skinned; she wouldn't broadcast something like hiding an airplane cup, and based on Bai Yang's understanding of Yan, after today she would certainly never mention it again.

If it were left to the hands of Master He, then it would be a disaster.

He Leqin was even less scrupulous than Bai Yang, this fellow, though young, had watched countless videos; with eyes of insight, he had reached a pinnacle. Master He once said: A third-rate driver recognizes the model by the actress, a second-rate recognizes the model by the scene, a first-rate recognizes the model by the male actor—but he is a fighter among drivers, able to recognize the model by the penis.

Ordinary people would just say—

"I've seen this actress!"

"I've seen this plot!"

But He Leqin would slam the table:

"I've seen this penis!"

If He Leqin were asked to help hide the time capsule, he might make Bai Yang open it to check and appreciate the model.

Watching Yan Zhihan disappear around the corner of the path, Bai Yang turned around and stepped up the stairs, still not confident in his heart, but today's plan was his final tactic, his Stalingrad counteroffensive. If it failed, then he really would have no other recourse, he'd be chased into the Bering Strait and Siberia to fish with the brown bears.

In this operation, Bai Yang didn't know the exact location of the time capsule, and Yan Zhihan didn't know what was actually inside the package—at this moment, Bai Yang did not yet know that this was actually the second key element of Time Slow Delivery.

Bai later summed it up as the Double-Blind Principle.

This Double-Blind Principle, as Bai and his friends gradually summarized and deduced in their attempts with Time Slow Delivery, was an element that needed to be followed, meaning that the transporter shouldn't master all precise information about the goods—whether it was a time capsule or something else. In operational terms, at least two people are needed to bury the time capsule; the person who knows what the capsule is must not know where it is, and the person who knows where it is must not know what it is.

By dividing the transporter of Time Slow Delivery into two, or even three or four, the influence of the transporter on the capsule can be minimized to the greatest extent.

Much later, Zhao Bowen explained it as a means to weaken the "intentionality."

The less "intentionality" is reduced, the higher the likelihood of Time Slow Delivery being successful.

The Double-Blind Principle is just one of the methods to achieve this effect; of course, there are many methods to weaken the intentionality of Time Slow Delivery to trick the world's great filter. Some methods are very powerful but prohibitively expensive, impossible to accomplish by individual power—In the days that followed, the National Emergency Response Team carried out the strongest measure in history to weaken this in order to ensure the successful super strategic support for Ban Xia.

But that's a story for another time.