Once We Lived in Nanjing

It's raining in this world.

The world in the rain is gray, drizzling down, pattering on the black asphalt surface, on the charred and rusty outer shell of the armored vehicles by the road, on the green grass sprouting through the gaps of the metal casings. Through the sparse curtain of rain, Ban Xia can gaze at the layered buildings on the other end of Crescent Lake Bridge. It looks as though through frosted glass, under the curtain of iron-like, deeply condensed clouds, Nanjing City's cracked earth resembles a withered corpse. It's hard to say if it represents death or rebirth. Everything here is slowly collapsing, yet along the roadside, yellow and white flowers sprout anew.

She hums a song softly, some lyrics unclear, only the tune remembered.

The rain grows heavier. The girl straightens up and stands under the doorway, legs together, standing upright.

Then she raises both hands, fingertips of her thumbs and index fingers gently touching, she tiptoes slightly, standing like a conductor of a symphony orchestra in front of the rain, facing the entire city.

She takes a deep breath and begins to sing:

"Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain..."

"telling me just what a fool I've been."

It's an English song that the teacher used to always sing.

"The only girl I care about has gone away..."

"looking for a brand new star."

She can't remember all the lyrics; English songs are just too difficult for Ban Xia. Even though the teacher hummed many times, and taught her to sing, who is Ban Xia? She can only read elementary-level English texts with the help of an English-Chinese dictionary. Ban Xia often doubts whether this thing is really human language.

Sentences and articles made up of letters are indeed fragmented.

But the teacher says the Latin alphabets are still normal if you look at Arabic or Pashto, that's what alien script looks like.

Ban Xia asked the teacher if they knew it?

The teacher nodded and said yes.

Ban Xia: Then say a sentence for me to hear?

Teacher: Allahu Akbar!

"when my heart somewhere far away..."

"Ze-ou-ni-ge-er ai-kan-ou bao-ta-ha-zi-gou-oh-wei——"

Honestly, she's singing both in English and Chinese. In this world, no one can define her language. She doesn't understand what the lyrics she's singing mean. Due to limited English proficiency, she has no idea what she's singing.

She is just singing a mysterious song filled with ancient wisdom, but its true meaning has long been lost in history.

Ban Xia is used to annotating English with Chinese phonetics; yes becomes "ye si", bus becomes "ba si". When the teacher sings "I can't love another," it becomes "ai kan lao fu an na ze er" to Ban Xia, and she might not really understand the meaning of this lyric. After all, nobody can translate what "ai kan lao fu an na ze er" means.

"Rhythm Of The Rain," in Ban Xia's eyes, is "Rain In Her Heart".

Judging by this song name alone, it sounds like something a half-orc shaman would sing in sacrifice.

Besides "Rain In Her Heart", Ban Xia also sings "za — en — gou-gu na-tian xi-ni — yo-ni — xiao — nian — en yo xin wa ni na ne —!"

Human language has lost their original meaning, leaving only the sounds. Thus, songs turned into mysterious chants, which sounds quite punk.

"Rain in her heart."

"And let the love we know start to grow."

"Rhythm Of The Rain" is a classic old song with a melodious tune that Ban Xia also sings melodiously. As she sings, she waves her hands, as if conducting an invisible orchestra.

In the midst of the heavy rain, this is her solo stage.

She is both conductor and lead singer.

"oh listen to the falling rain——"

The melody goes higher and higher——!

The girl points her right hand towards the grass by the side of the road, as if it were the wind section of the orchestra, her hand gently tapping and lifting, signaling the pitch to rise.

"oh listen to the falling rain!"

The pitch drops!

The original song climaxes with ascending notes, but Ban Xia changes it because she can't reach the high notes, so she turns it into a descending pitch.

"in Listen to the rhythm of the falling rain."

Her hand follows swiftly with a downward sweep, drawing an arc like a roller coaster plunging down from its highest point, passing the low point before reaching the second peak, and then Ban Xia clenches her fist tightly, and the music comes to a sudden halt!

Ban Xia bows proudly left and right, thanking the invisible audience, then turns around, opening her eyes.

Her heart suddenly skips a beat.

Behind, the doorway is packed with spectators, a dozen pairs of curious, big black eyes looking at her, large ears pricked up — a group of sika deer has come here to take shelter from the rain.

Ban Xia suddenly smiles, bowing gracefully to them.

"Thank you, everyone."

Dragging the hunted sika deer back to the residential area, the rain stops. Ban Xia's long-planned tiger hunt is about to begin.

"Bengal Tiger?" the voice on the other end of the radio startles.

"Yes, a Bengal Tiger." Ban Xia nods. "There's a Bengal Tiger in Nanjing City. We've encountered it before, and I reckon it's the one causing trouble."

Mentioning a tiger in Nanjing City last night genuinely scared BG4MXH.

Ban Xia even feels like laughing at the memory now.

Is it really that scary?

"So-so-so-so-so-so-so what do we do... Sister-Sister-Sister, please don't act recklessly, this thing is too dangerous, far too dangerous, I-I-I-I will have them send you a main battle tank over..."

"You're talking nonsense."

"No kidding, that's a tiger! A paw the size of your entire face! It's a monster that can bite a cow to death, humans can't possibly confront it."

"Is my face that big?"

"Alright, its paw is larger than your face, which means it's even less of a creature that humans can resist against. Sister please don't do anything foolish."