Once We Lived in Nanjing

Ban Xia slowly opened her hand, and the coin quietly lay in her palm, showing heads.

"Good, it's heads, which means the work to come will go smoothly!"

Merely chanting spells was no longer sufficient, as recent work had shown signs of resistance to spells. To enhance the effectiveness of telekinesis, Ban Xia began flipping a coin before working. If the coin landed heads up, it meant that the work would proceed smoothly; if it was tails, she would toss it again.

She threaded the coin onto a red string and wore it around her neck again.

Then she climbed to the rooftop and placed a small compass at her feet. Once the needle was stable, she used a rock to draw a cross on the hard cement, pointing toward the four cardinal directions of southeast, northwest.

She looked like a Feng Shui master practicing geomancy. The next step would involve post-heaven Bagua and heavenly stems and earthly branches. Having mingled with people like Bai Yang from ancient times for so long, Ban Xia hadn't learned a bit of materialism. Instead, she became somewhat of a charlatan, firmly believing everything has its spirit, with machine gods dwelling inside computer motherboards, and always chanting spells before powering them up—she could handle doing Feng Shui.

Having confirmed the directions, Ban Xia lay on the rooftop, holding a ruler and an angle measurer, starting from true north and measuring the angle clockwise to 196.29°—which is 16.29° southwest of true south.

This was the azimuth of the relay satellite.

With the azimuth determined, Ban Xia stood a wooden stick in the center of the cross, suspending a plumb line from a thread. She started measuring the elevation angle, setting it at 84.33°.

This was the elevation angle of the relay satellite.

Once the azimuth and elevation angle were determined, Ban Xia, wielding her Yagi Antenna like a Fangtianhua halberd, now knew which direction to point it. After all, Nanjing City was not on the equator, and the point directly below the relay satellite wouldn't be exactly above Ban Xia's head.

Barring any surprises, the Humming Star and Haha Star—as Ban Xia called them—were set to enter orbit at six in the evening today. At this moment, they were returning from the distant outer space, having wandered the Solar System for twenty long years. This afternoon, they would re-enter Earth's orbit, where the two synchronized satellites would perform a major orbit change; they would then part ways, with the relay satellite staying in a GEO orbit 35786.03 kilometers above the equator, while the Reconnaissance Star would go deeper into a low Earth orbit.

Orbit design was incredibly complex; to ensure the successful orbit insertion of both satellites, engineers had scratched their heads bald. They established an extremely precise positioning system, using Qinhuai District's Meihua Villa in Nanjing City as the core, at east longitude 118.798° and north latitude 32.011°, striving to minimize location errors to within one meter.

According to the chief engineer, it wasn't that they wanted to be so precise, but the span of twenty years was too great. Even the best navigation system would drift. A small mistake now would result in much bigger discrepancies twenty years later—a one-kilometer error now could be a 180,000-kilometer mistake in twenty years—because the satellite travels 3.075 kilometers each second in geosynchronous orbit. A one-second error could lead to deviating by 3075 meters. If the launch time was off by even eight hours, the relay satellite might end up hovering over Africa or America.

Ban Xia looked down at the orientation and numbers she'd drawn; it did resemble some kind of mystic ritual.

In a way, this was no different from Feng Shui. If Ban Xia couldn't understand the principles of relay satellites and wireless communication, then to her, this was just some mystical ritual— as long as the directions and angles were correct, the magical instrument would connect with the divine forces above, receiving divine revelations. To those who couldn't comprehend, technology was no different from magic.

She looked up again, gazing at the gloomy sky.

She seemed to see their return.

·

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He seemed to see their departure.

"What are you looking at?" Lian Qiao asked.

"Watching the satellites," Bai Yang said.

"Watching satellites?" Lian Qiao looked up alongside him, straining his eyes, "Where? I don't see any satellites."

"They've already left the atmosphere. It was launched from the other side of Earth, so we can't see them here," Bai Yang shifted his gaze, "While we are talking right now, it's leaving Earth's orbit, heading toward an unknown future."

"If you can't see them, why keep looking?"

"But I know they are there," Bai Yang said. "As long as you know where they are, as long as your direction is correct, you will definitely be able to see them."

"But I haven't seen anything," Lian Qiao blinked.

"You just don't realize you've seen them. Lian, think about it—if the world were pitch black now, the universe completely dark, and only that satellite was glowing, wouldn't you be able to spot it easily? You can't see it because there's too much light around, too多 light entering your eyes. The satellite is too small and far away, its reflected light too weak—even if it enters your eyes, your brain simply ignores it," Bai Yang explained. "You've actually already seen it; you just don't realize it."

Lian Qiao thought for a moment, it seemed to make sense.

"You say it like that, it feels quite sentimental," she said.

"Why?"

"Everyone can see it, but everyone ignores it," Lian Qiao said. "It went so far alone, did we abandon it, or did it abandon us?"

The two leaned on the stone railing by the Qinhuai River, and the evening breeze blew Lian Qiao's hair.

They had run a long distance this afternoon, initially to take photos, but Bai Yang felt that he was actually accompanying Lian Qiao on a shopping spree. This sister had incredible energy and stamina, briskly walking through Xinjiekou, Confucius Temple, and the Imperial Examination Museum, and she still managed to see the long-anticipated Qinhuai River—of course, Lian Qiao's first comment upon seeing the Qinhuai River was "Is this it?"

Her second comment was "Why is the water still green?"

After taking a full-body photo at the "Hub of the World" archway (Lian Qiao misread it as "Hub of the World Cabinet," Bai Yang joked, "Did you buy your diploma?"), Lian Qiao dragged Bai Yang to take a boat on the river.

Bai Yang reluctantly went along, feeling as a local he should not be the sucker, but since it was Lian Qiao's first visit to Nanjing, he had no choice but to keep her company.

Bai Yang suggested that it is better to take a boat on the Qinhuai River at night when the lights are on and the scenery is more beautiful.

While on the boat, Lian Qiao tested his observation skills, asking if he noticed that the fifth person in line ahead and behind were all plainclothes.

Bai Yang asked how many plainclothes were actually around him.

Lian Qiao shrugged, "Give it up, Yang, the boat is full of plainclothes."

Bai Yang knew he was under strong protection and surveillance, but he was really worried about how intense this monitoring was—what if, during the deep of night while he's doing some not-so-public crafts, someone in some office was streaming it all live?

"Now you are carrying the lives of thousands, try to understand our work," Lian Qiao patted his shoulder, "This matter is no small feat, no one can bear the responsibility if something goes wrong."

"Then shouldn't they provide me with a battalion of Hongqi 9 Air Defense Missiles? A fleet of 99A main battle tanks leading, Type 15 tanks following, a Land Air Group of WZ-10 on stand-by, with a brigade of field troops stationed next to the neighborhood, commanded by Major General Man Guangzhi." Bai Yang rested his head on his hand, "And also, summon leaders from half the countries in the world to stay at Meihua Villa, prioritizing the headquarters' affairs over anything else. Would this be acceptable? Would people agree?"

"Who wouldn't agree?"

"The readers from QiDian would not agree."

The boat docked, and the two walked back along the road, preparing to take the subway.

The current time is 5:40 PM; at 7 PM tonight, the East Red Action will officially commence, and both the Reconnaissance Star and the relay satellite will enter orbit for operation. BG4MSR will transmit data to his hands through the 725 radio station; such a large strategy is finally coming to a net-closing time, success or failure lies in this moment.

A battle that will decide the fate of humanity is about to commence, and one could imagine Zhao Uncle and the others are already too nervous to sit still.

Bai Yang was glad he wasn't at home this afternoon; how could anyone stay in the tense atmosphere of the headquarters? It's better outside, whether it's Xinjiekou, Confucius Temple, or Qinhuai River, everything is running as usual, orderly, always bustling with tourists, safe and joyful.

Lian Qiao walked slowly ahead, leisurely humming a song.

Bai Yang listened carefully.

Just from the tune, he could tell it was an old song, she really was an old song enthusiast.

"Time rushes by, I only care about you, willingly infected by your breath."

"How often in life can one find a confidant, losing the strength of life is not too regrettable..."

He couldn't remember the song's name.

But Bai Yang remembered it was a song by Teresa Teng.

"If there comes a day, you say you're about to leave.

I would lose myself, wandering into the boundless sea of people."