Once We Lived in Nanjing

"I'm really sorry, we're back again."

Zhao Bowen smiled bitterly.

"Uncle Zhao."

Bai Yang walked in and changed his shoes, not quite understanding the situation. How come Zhao Bowen made a sudden return? Wasn't he supposed to have taken the radio and disappeared without a trace?

Kaifeng Prefecture was once again presided over by Bao Longtu, with the power figures Wang, Ma Han, Zhang Long, and Zhao Hu flanking left and right. A large-sized stapler sat on the coffee table, and five unfamiliar middle-aged men either stood or sat, solemn in demeanor. The display was clearly larger than last time—last time it was three Imperial Cats, this time it was five rats causing a ruckus in Tokyo. Bai Yang swept his eyes over them and pegged the person standing farthest to the left against the wall, with a skinny figure and a hooked nose, as Drilling Sky Rat. The second person from the left sat on the sofa, casting his arms, eyes closed, conserving energy, recognized by Bai Yang as Drilling Ground Rat. Sitting next to him was Fan Jiangshu, and across from him was Drilling Mountain Rat, while the youngest-looking, probably under thirty, stood on the right side of the living room as Brocade Fur Rat.

Not only had Zhao Bowen returned, Wang Ning had as well.

Old Wang was currently lounging back, casually flipping through a thick stack of documents.

After changing his shoes, Bai Yang carried his backpack into his room and was surprised to find the Icom725 radio was back in its original place on the bookshelf, almost untouched.

Zhao Bowen followed him in and sat on the bed.

"What happened?" Bai Yang put down his backpack, "Why did it come back? Have you completed your research? Are all the issues resolved?"

Zhao Bowen shook his head.

"In this period, we've only achieved one thing, understood one matter. Beyond that, we know nothing."

"What thing?"

Zhao Bowen stood up, leaned against the bookshelf, and gently patted the radio's casing.

"Yangyang, have you ever asked where BG4MSR lives?"

Bai Yang was taken aback.

"Meihua Villa."

"Which building and number?" Zhao Bowen continued to ask.

Bai Yang choked, then scratched his head, "I haven't... It's not very polite to ask a girl directly for her exact address... Besides, she lives alone in a post-apocalyptic world, asking her which building and number doesn't really matter…"

"It indeed doesn't matter." Zhao Bowen said, "But because of this, you missed a very important piece of information."

"Information?"

"Yes." Zhao Bowen nodded, "Let me ask you again, do you know which radio BG4MSR was using?"

"How could I possibly know that?" Bai Yang was startled, "There are so many B25 radios in this world, almost everyone in the old HAM community has one."

"See, you didn't think outside the box, a bystander trapped in confusion." Zhao Bowen pointed at him, "But it's normal; we also only gradually realized this after many tests. I'll now tell you where BG4MSR lives and which B25 radio she is using."

"You... you guys know?"

"I can't be one hundred percent sure, but I estimate it's about eighty or ninety percent accurate." Zhao Bowen replied, "BG4MSR lives at 66 Muxuyuan Street, Zhongqin Garden, Meihua Villa, Building 11, Section 2, Room 804, Qinhuai District, Nanjing City."

"That's my address!" Bai Yang jumped.

"But it's also her address," Zhao Bowen said.

"Uncle Zhao, you... you mean..."

"That's right, she's living in your house." Zhao Bowen pointed to the floor beneath them, "Maybe even in the same bedroom, lying on the same bed. You've been unknowingly sharing a bed for two months."

Bai Yang was dumbfounded.

"Holy shit."

"Now, back to the radio, you might have guessed it already."

Bai Yang's gaze landed on the radio.

"She's that Dipole Double-Five..."

"Exactly." Zhao Bowen patted the radio casing, "It's this very Dipole Double-Five radio of yours."

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"Want to know how we discovered it? Well, that's a long story."

"I have enough data." Bai Yang sat down, "Go on, take your time."

"Actually, I've had my suspicions for quite some time. We knew early on that this radio's energy wasn't radiating outward, right?" Zhao Bowen also sat down, "A spectrum analyzer couldn't detect any electromagnetic waves radiating outward from it. Where did that energy go? Where did the high-frequency vibrations produced by the internal crystal oscillator go?"

"We don't understand the mechanism of super space-time communication; there must be some inducement behind it that we can't comprehend. Because we can't capture the radio's electromagnetic waves at 14.255MHZ, it seems highly unlikely that radio waves are transmitted and then travel through time. More likely, it gets transmitted to the year 2040 right inside the radio." Zhao continued, "But at the time, we couldn't pinpoint at which part the time-travel occurred—whether it was during the crystal oscillator phase, the power amplifier phase, or somewhere in the internal feed lines to twenty years later."

"Do you know now?"

"We do," Zhao Bowen said.

"Where does the signal time-travel?"

"Right at the source, the Icom725 radio's crystal oscillator," Zhao Bowen said, "That day we brought the Dipole Double-Five radio back and immediately sent it to Nanjing University of Technology. We borrowed their electromagnetic darkroom; you've seen those online, right? The walls are densely packed with square pyramids, often with fighter jets and such placed in them to test electromagnetic component performance. The outer shell of an electromagnetic darkroom is a sealed steel structure, and its inner walls are covered with wave-absorbing material. This kind of darkroom can maximally shield and block external electromagnetic interference, ensuring a clean electromagnetic environment. We placed the radio inside for comprehensive testing, precisely measuring the voltage of each component inside the radio to confirm at which position the signal was intercepted. In the end, we found that it never left the crystal oscillator. After figuring this out, we had an initial conjecture about the mechanism of the radio's super space-time communication."

"Resonance?"

"Exactly," Zhao Bowen nodded, "Super space-time resonance. Your radio's internal crystal oscillator directly drives the other radio's crystal oscillator, instantly transmitting information. In this way, the speed of information transmission between these two radios exceeds the speed of light. However, the speed of information transmission can't exceed the speed of light. So, I have reason to suspect that the Icom725 radios in your and her hands are actually the same unit—since it is the same radio, from its perspective, it is just 'talking to itself', and there's no actual transmission of information, thus not violating existing physical laws."

"If super space-time communication has occurred, does the rule that information transmission speed cannot exceed the speed of light still matter?" Bai Yang asked.

"Not important," Zhao Bowen said, "But I have to find some justification, right?"

"Okay."

"If the radios used by you two are indeed the same, then it makes sense that you both reside in the same place," Zhao Bowen said, "But all these are conjectures; experimental results are the solid evidence proving my thoughts—we have conducted a lot of experiments and ended up with a terrible result."

"What result?"

"This radio, as soon as it leaves your bedroom, can no longer contact BG4MSR," Zhao Bowen answered, "No matter what, we can't recreate your super space-time communication. We placed it in various locations for testing, inside and outside of Nanjing City, underground, in the air, even pulled it over twenty thousand meters above ground and connected it to a super high-gain antenna, all to no avail."

"You... you've been messing with these for half a month?" Bai Yang widened his eyes.

Zhao Bowen nodded helplessly.

"Not just that, you're unaware of the situation; it's a total mess, people and affairs alike. We formed an expert group as fast as we could and invited everyone we could. We conducted extensive investigations within our capabilities. Honestly, the Dipole Double-Five doesn't have much to study; we've turned it over and over and couldn't figure out anything," Zhao Bowen continued, "In the end, we reached a consensus that trying to investigate the cause of the apocalypse twenty years later starting from the Icom725 radio is not viable. It's not a good entry point, so we quickly sent it back here."

Bai Yang fell silent for a moment, then looked up and asked, "What next? What are you planning to do next?"

"That depends on your decision," Zhao Bowen said, "It's up to you, Yangyang. We have several plans, but we unanimously think the best candidate is always you because you are the most familiar with BG4MSR. You have the most stable emotional connection with her, she listens to you the most. Of course, I must admit this is a very burdensome task. It shouldn't be borne by a high school student, so if you're unwilling, we have..."

"I'm willing."

Bai Yang interrupted Zhao Bowen almost without thinking.

"You might want to think it over; you don't need to give me an answer right now. We can give you time to consider..."

"No need to think it over," Bai Yang said, "I'm willing."

Zhao Bowen was somewhat astonished; he looked at the young man silently sitting in the chair, head hanging low, face turned sideways, one foot bent and resting flat on the chair's surface, both hands holding his ankle.

What is he thinking about now?

Zhao Bowen wondered.

This is a mountainous responsibility, bearing the survival of all humanity. Old Zhao could not imagine what that mental state would be like; he was just very worried, worried whether those slender shoulders, thin arms, and young spine could bear this tremendous burden.