Once We Lived in Nanjing

The room was deathly quiet, not a sound to be heard. Only in retrospect did those present realize they had just experienced a milestone moment in human history in their state of shock and fear. They had witnessed the first instance of intelligent life from beyond Earth—a moment that could rival Homo sapiens first stepping out of Africa. Although this encounter took place twenty years later, it was forty years ago that people had actually seen it.

Bai Yang thought the nickname "Big Eyes" was well-deserved. The creature's most distinctive feature was indeed its overly large eyeball that glowed red in the darkness, possessing a massive pupil that could flexibly dilate, contract, and roll around. Separated by a thin curtain, a computer screen, and twenty years of time, Big Eyes made eye contact with Bai Yang, nearly suffocating the latter.

This was a kind of terror humanity had never faced before, and Bai Yang couldn't even pinpoint where the fear originated. It wasn't from knives or guns, not from tigers, nor ghosts. It was unlike any terror-inducing image known to the human brain, yet when Bai Yang was enveloped by its gaze, it was as if he had been nailed in place, his body so rigid that he couldn't move.

It wasn't just Bai Yang who was rendered immobile and stiff. Bai Zhen, Wang Ning, Zhao Bowen, and even Weasel beside him were pale-faced. One could imagine that everyone who received the video signal was pinned to their seats, breathless under the gaze of Big Eyes. This wasn't about scouting the enemy, but like mice emerging from their holes to be met face-to-face with an eagle.

These little mice, Bai Yang and the others, were lucky to be in a safe place, seeing the eagle through a screen, which couldn't come through the internet cables to kill them. But Ban Xia was different; she was separated from Big Eyes by only a wall.

A wall was clearly no match for such a creature. If it desired, toppling a wall or destroying a building would be as easy as flipping one's hand. The girl clung tightly to Uncle Weasel, hiding under the table without daring to make a sound.

All she could do was pray that the creature would leave quickly.

"Come out—where are you?" the voice called out, with a different tone and pitch, like a man speaking.

"Give me the fruit! Give me the fruit…"

Ban Xia's bedroom was illuminated by the red glow of Big Eyes, and she guessed it was perhaps inspecting the window, searching methodically, one window after another.

Ban Xia held her breath, daring not to exhale a bit of it.

She hoped that if luck was on her side and Big Eyes didn't find anything, it would continue searching downwards, looking through the next window, and leave her bedroom.

Please go, please go, please go, please go...

Please, I beg you to go.

Ban Xia silently chanted in her heart.

But the sound that followed made the hair on the back of her neck stand from her feet all the way to her nape.

A soft "click—" noise.

That was the sound of an aluminum window being slid open.

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Damn.

It's over.

In that moment, Ban Xia's mind went blank, and a few seconds later, she felt certain she was doomed.

There was nowhere to run, caught like a fish in a jar, only able to brace for the inevitable, sit and await death.

"Where are you—?" the gentle voice suddenly rose overhead, feeling like someone was lying outside the window, probing their head in with an absurdly long neck, the head that of a beautiful long-haired woman.

Ban Xia was about to suffocate.

Bai Yang had already suffocated. He had been a bystander from start to finish, with the camera set up on a tripod in the center of the bedroom, aimed at the window and desk. He watched as the curtains behind the aluminum alloy window on the screen were drawn open. Then, something slowly pushed up the curtain. That sense of intrusion that filled the room struck Bai Yang with fear, as if the monster was not invading a bedroom twenty years in the future, but his own room right now. Bai Yang instinctively stepped back, his head bumping into someone's chin. He turned to look and found it was Zhao Bowen. Old Zhao didn't seem to feel a thing; he pushed Bai Yang's head away and stared at the computer, his gaze fixed.

Whether on this side of the computer or the other, the air was so solidified it couldn't circulate. The only thing moving was the thing behind the curtains.

It slowly invaded.

Suddenly, something darted onto the table. The sudden incident made Forsythia let out a low gasp of surprise.

It was a swift shadow. The camera, with its very low refresh rate and transmission speed, could not capture its shape.

"What's that?"

Wang Ning's eyes widened.

Ban Xia also widened her eyes. She couldn't react in time before Grandpa Huang wriggled out of her arms, its slender body twisting along the leg of the table and scurrying up so that it couldn't be caught. The girl nearly cried out. Did that little thing climb up because it heard human voices?

That's not human, Grandpa Huang!

That's not human!

Not human!

Ban Xia clenched her fists in frantic desperation. As anxious as she was, she dared not move rashly or make a sound. Ban Xia couldn't crawl out from under the table; she could only curl up into a ball, tightly clenching her teeth.

"What's that?"

Bai Zhen stood behind the sofa, craning his neck forward as hard as he could, a motion shared by Old Zhao, Wang Ning, and Forsythia. They all noticed the shadow that darted onto the table, resembling a small animal.

"A cat?" Forsythia asked.

"A dog?" Bai Zhen said, "She keeps a dog?"

"It's a weasel." Bai Yang frowned. "It's called Grandpa Huang."

After leaping onto the table, Grandpa Huang scrambled around, possibly searching for the source of the sound. It hadn't heard any human voice other than Ban Xia's for a long time. No one knew if weasels had the ability to discern human voices in detail. If Grandpa Huang had that ability, it might have thought the voice just now sounded a bit like the woman.

The woman who had picked it up and accompanied it for many years.

The moment the weasel darted out, the glowing pupils outside the window suddenly contracted. It was clearly startled by the big eyes—Grandpa Huang, with its tiny brain capacity, could never comprehend the existence of the big eyes. The red-glowing enormous eyeball meant no more to it than the Sun. It just scurried back and forth on the table, looking around and even burrowing into the curtains, searching high and low.

The big eyes' pupils locked onto it, following it as it moved side to side—neither the big eyes nor Grandpa Huang knew that at this moment at least a dozen people were intently watching them, none daring to breathe heavily.

Zhao Bowen squeezed Bai Yang's shoulder forcefully, his five fingers turning white with the pressure. If he didn't grip, he would tremble.

This was an extremely delicate balance. The big eyes were observing Grandpa Huang, while Grandpa Huang was circling around mindlessly. Everyone feared any disturbance from either side. What if Grandpa Huang suddenly jumped off the table? What if the big eyes suddenly launched an attack? (Of course, later they all knew that the big eyes never attacked any animal; it cherished animals, just like a farmer cherishing the seedlings in their field.)

This balance lasted for about ten seconds, and the first to change was the big eyes. Its previously constricted, focused pupils dilated again, using tentacles to gently push Grandpa Huang back into the room, and carefully closed the window as well.

That gentle force was like your mother tucking you in and then quietly closing the door to your room.

Once again, the sound of "click-clack click-clack" came from the outer wall; the big eyes had crawled away. It was off to inspect the next window. Ban Xia held her breath while hiding under the table, in the pitch-dark and silent night, not knowing how long she hid until she could no longer hear any sound, and then she dared to take a long breath.

And with that breath, the tears also came out.

Zhao Bowen sat down on the sofa with a thump, cupping his face in both hands. Burying his face in his palms, he took a deep breath and spoke softly, "This damn freakin' thing cannot be left alone. If left alone, it'll be an endless source of trouble."