Once We Lived in Nanjing

At the next day's regular meeting, Old Zhao's proposal was rejected.

Despite the profound psychological impact left by the Big Eye on all attendees, the leadership team still maintained the utmost prudence concerning the decision to initiate an attack.

Proactive attack was a last resort, and retrieving data from inside First Base or Second Base was the top priority for the East Red Plan. Blindly engaging in combat with Big Eye would undoubtedly put Ban Xia in an extremely perilous situation, contradicting the first premise of the plan, "Ensure the personal safety of BG4MSR as the primary concern." The risk was deemed unacceptably high, and thus Zhao Bowen's aggressive strategy was vetoed at the meeting.

Old Zhao later thought about it and agreed that he had been too hasty.

It was mainly because he was spooked by the Big Eye. After all, he did not control the nuclear weapons. If Zhao Bowen had the launch button, he would definitely have executed the "Foshan Shadowless Hand."

"When would we use nuclear bombs if not now?"

Bai Zhen pulled out a document from the mountainous pile on the desk, squinted at it, Power generation of Nanjing City, a red-titled document.

The telegram from the city, sent by the Municipal Committee Office, marked as urgent, stamped with the Office's confidential seal. Bai Zhen briefly scanned the headline:

"Notice of the Fifth Emergency Work Group Meeting of Nanjing Amateur Radio..."

"Why was this sent here?"

Bai Zhen shook his head. He wasn't bothered by why it had arrived at the headquarters; it was here, so it needed to be stamped. He then grasped the seal from the coffee table and with a "kacha," firmly stamped a red circle on the document.

Read!

Bai Zhen and Wang Ning had clear divisions of labor at the headquarters. Bai was responsible for handling all kinds of documents with unclear origins, coming in daily, both open and confidential, continuously "kachakachakacha" stamping all day.

"Think about it, Old Bai, it's a nuclear bomb, a nuclear bomb! It's not a toy." Wang Ning sat opposite him, holding up a large printed photo, looking at it against the light, "A single nuclear bomb could flatten an entire city. If we really used nuclear bombs, how could we ensure the safety of that young girl? How can we ensure she won't be mistakenly harmed?"

The photo was the first telemetric image received last night - an aerial view of Meihua Villa complex in two decades.

They finally got to put the Big Eye on the coffee table for a closer inspection—everyone knew it was about two or three stories tall, but in the photo, it was only a few centimeters long. Saying it looked like a spider or an octopus was an apt metaphor; the Big Eye was a black sphere with six long legs, and beyond that, it was hard to discern any other features as to whether it was biological or mechanical.

The telemetric satellite captured it as it was crossing the rooftops of residential buildings in Meihua Villa complex. Synthetic aperture radar is not good at capturing moving targets, so the photo was blurry.

"Nowadays, nuclear bombs can have their yields controlled, did you know that?" Bai Zhen said, "Control the yield a bit smaller, use a tactical grade nuclear bomb."

"What about radiation and radioactive contamination? What about that?" Wang Ning said, "This damn thing, if really used, would be a huge trouble, could injure our own people."

"Without nuclear bombs, would other weapons be effective?"

Bai Zhen asked.

"It depends on what we know about it," Zhao Bowen caressed his chin and cheek, standing behind the coffee table. Facing a larger photo projected on the screen, still of Big Eye captured last night by the telemetric satellite, "Know the enemy and know yourself, and you will never be in peril..."

He pointed his finger at the black spider on the screen, "We know too little about this thing."

"Where's your group of experts? From Tsinghua, Peking University, Zhejiang University, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences?" Bai Zhen continued to stamp diligently, "As soon as this image came out, shouldn't they be doing pixel-level analysis all night? Have they figured anything out yet?"

"No," Zhao Bowen answered straightforwardly. "We don't even know if this thing is alive or dead."

"I guess it's alive, didn't you hear what that girl said? This damn thing can speak our language!" Wang Ning shook the diagram he was holding, the laminated A4 paper rustling. "Don't be fooled by its dumb look, it's really good at learning foreign languages."

"Being able to speak doesn't necessarily mean it's alive, look at this…" Bai Zhen turned his head and yelled at the fridge, "Lick fairy! Lick fairy!"

"Hello!"

"See?" Bai Zhen pointed, "Being able to speak doesn't mean it's alive."

"For such extraterrestrial visitors, we might not be able to define life in conventional ways, it could be mechanical, or it could be biological, but it might also be both, like the silicon-based life forms called Transformers." Zhao Bowen sat down, casually spreading out all the photos on the coffee table, "Being able to speak indicates that it has strong learning capabilities, capable of learning a language in a short period of time..."

As he spoke, he shook his head again.

"It's useless to talk about these. To kill it, we just need to know what it's made of. If it's flesh and blood, then bomb it to death. If it's electronic machinery, then use an electromagnetic pulse to cripple it! Whether it's flesh and blood or electronic machinery, we can send it to heaven with a nuclear bomb!"

In dealing with 'Big Eyes,' Zhao Bowen held a firm hawkish stance.

The leadership team criticized Zhao Bowen for his leftist adventurism, overly emphasizing the elimination of 'Big Eyes' and neglecting the real purpose of the plan.

But Zhao didn't agree; he believed that eliminating 'Big Eyes' was only a matter of time.

Why collect data and information from First Base? Isn't it to eliminate 'Big Eyes'? Eliminating 'Big Eyes' is the ultimate goal.

However, the leadership team was not solely ruled by Zhao. His word alone wasn't final, especially when it involved major decisions like using nuclear weapons, where everyone thought it prudent to be cautious and not make decisions lightly. Of course, this cautious approach might sound good, but could also be seen as hesitancy. Nevertheless, hesitation was inevitable, as that nuclear bomb was sitting there, and whether to use it, when to use it, and how to use it were all unresolved issues.

It was only after they got this thing that they realized… getting it presented even more problems than they initially faced. Fetching it from the nuclear arsenal was just the beginning. It was like a hot potato; keeping it for one more day was troublesome, so the leadership team thought if it should be used, use it, if not, return it quickly—it's best if it's not needed at all.

Today there is no one truly experienced with nuclear warfare in the world. The B-29 bomber crew that dropped the bombs on Hiroshima have all passed away, with the last crew member meeting his God five years ago.

So, Zhao had no one to seek advice from.

"Where is Miss Qiu now?" Bai Zhen asked, "Old Zhao, can I touch Miss Qiu? I haven't touched the real thing yet."

"I also want to touch." Wang Ning said, "But, isn't there radiation?"

"Stop dreaming." Old Zhao said, "I don't even know where it is. Forget about touching, we can't even see it, none of us can."

"Ah, what a pity," Bai Zhen sighed. "I thought it could be delivered right to our living room."

"Why would you want it here?" Zhao Bowen asked.

Bai Zhen shook the stamp in his hand, "To give it a stamp."

Old Bai quite regretted it; he had always hoped to meet a girl like Miss Qiu, tied up with uranium-235. Imagine, such a big nuclear bomb, a massive and majestic object, standing right in the center of his living room, how impressive would that be!

(It was much later that he found out that Miss Qiu was actually only the size of a basketball, neither massive nor majestic.)