Once We Lived in Nanjing

This conclusion was rejected by Old Zhao, and Zhao Bowen insisted that no matter what, you have to provide me with a meaningful report. I got a strict order from above, and if you can't produce it, we all go down together.

So the computer team started over, and after a second analysis that involved some guessing, they came up with the second result—there's really no pattern to Big Eyes' behavior. Everyone looked at the map of Nanjing City and satellite photos, pinpointing all the locations where Big Eyes appeared, analyzing latitude and longitude, magnetic fields, microclimates, connecting these points with red lines like the police investigation, from Lizhi Square to Junlin International to Xinhua Building to Siya Wealth Center to Nanjing Radio Station then to Weijing International Hotel, connecting here and there, more and more it seemed that Big Eyes came to Nanjing for tourism.

A genius in the group who's fond of Zhou Yi, regularly studied divination, claimed that the creature's actions tacitly conformed to the Eight Trigrams of Later Heaven, stepping on the celestial North Star, moving with Feng Shui and the Five Elements, its wandering around was actually in search of Nanjing's dragon veins to sever them, suggesting to invite an old Daoist from Maoshan to perform rituals.

Zhao Bowen: Why does your team have so many shamans? Is it so you don't need outsiders to bless the server whenever needed?

The computer team struggled for a long time and racked their brains but gained nothing. One night, a team member added the Y-axis elevation data to the map while munching on bread and drinking milk, casually sorting the elevation of the locations Big Eyes visited, which resulted in him spraying milk all over the table.

The behavior of Big Eyes was of course regular, and the pattern was very simple, but previously everyone was blinded by the details, unable to see the bigger picture.

They insisted on scrutinizing Big Eyes' travel routes, only to find that it just circles around in Qinhuai District, Xuanwu District, and Drum Tower District, sometimes clockwise, sometimes counterclockwise, seemingly aimlessly. In fact, if you change the perspective and observe its behavior on the Y-axis, you will find that its behavior follows a definite rule.

The young man immediately called his boss, waking him at 1:30 AM. Without a word, the boss rushed to the computer room, only to see the young man laughing manically at a disastrous scene covered in spilled milky substance.

The boss immediately called Zhao Bowen, waking him at 3 AM. Zhao hadn't gone home; he was at the command center monitoring satellite data.

Zhao Bowen was dozing off when the computer team's first words instantly woke him:

We found it!

They have discovered the regular pattern of Big Eyes, and it was exceedingly simple, so simple that Zhao Bowen was taken aback.

Just one sentence:

This thing always climbs to the highest place.

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Possibly for easier searching, standing high allows broader views. This Big Eyes always stays at the highest point, no matter why it prefers high places. Now that its behavior pattern is clear, strategically designing routes for the girl to avoid Big Eyes becomes possible.

The East Red Action leadership immediately established a task force to conduct field inspections. Several local Nanjing residents rode bicycles from Meihua Villa towards the office building at Zitai and Mochou Lake Subway Station, observing as they went, trying their best to avoid routes near skyscrapers. But from Qinhuai District to Drum Tower District is the heart of Nanjing, the busiest section of the city, completely avoiding all high-rises was impossible, causing the task force a lot of headaches.

The group rode bicycles along Zhongshan Gate Street, just past the city wall, raised their heads, and saw the towering structure of Weijing International Hotel standing right in front of them.

Like hitting a wall when stepping out the door.

At that moment, they wanted to blow up the building.

The leadership was so demanding—they wanted the designed path to avoid high-rises as much as possible, yet also be as short and simple as possible, not crossing residential areas or small alleys—avoiding high-rises but using main roads was a dilemma of unattainable ideals, so the task force could only strive to find a compromise and balance.

At that time, they cursed under their breath why Nanjing had built so many high-rises since each tall building was like a landmine. They were thankful it wasn't Lujiazui in Shanghai; otherwise, the task was unmanageable.

The route map that Ban Xia held came about in this way.

The First Base and Second Base of the office building at Zitai and Mochou Lake Subway Station served as backups for each other. The task force designed six routes in total, three to Zitai and three to Mochou Lake, one straight west is along Zhongshan Gate Street and Zhongshan East Road, and another one via Hou Biao Camp Road and Ruijin Road going west, each route was selectable, adapting as needed.

"Miss, have you memorized all the routes? OVER."

The day before departure, Bai Yang asked her.

"Memorized, BG, I can recite it even with my eyes closed." The girl replied, "Each route is actually very simple, just following the main roads."

"Can you guarantee we won't get lost?" Bai Yang asked, "OVER."

The girl pondered for a while, scratching her head.

"Um... perhaps? But it's really dark when you go out at night, I've never been to such a far place, to be honest, it's quite scary."

She paused, then continued:

"I might not be able to find the place by myself, but with you guys, I won't be afraid. If I can't find it, you'll have to remind me. After I set off, you'll have to navigate."

"I'll take care of it!"

Bai Yang promised with conviction.

"Also, do you still want pictures?" the girl asked.

Bai Yang was stunned for a moment and almost instinctively replied: "Yes!"

In the first couple of days after the image transmission link was set up, it was the girl asking Bai Yang for pictures, so he ran all over Nanjing City to take pictures for her, sending them one by one. BG4MSR didn't have much storage, nor the ability to develop and save the pictures, so each photo could only briefly exist on the monitor for a few minutes before being replaced by the next. If Ban Xia saw one she liked, she would ask him to wait, sitting there slowly enjoying it.

Ah, BG, why do such beautiful things only exist briefly?

Ban Xia said.

Nothing in this world can last forever.

Bai Yang said.

I don't need forever... I just wish it could last a little longer, just a little longer would be good.

Ban Xia said.

During the last two days after setting up the image transmission link, the roles switched, and Bai Yang couldn't hold back his eagerness to ask the girl for pictures. The first time he brought it up, he was really skirting around the topic—Miss, maybe you could show your face a bit more during our video call... of course, if it's not convenient, it's okay not to, I'm just suggesting... even Lian Qiao couldn't stand his beating around the bush and nudged him with her elbow saying, boldly ask, what are you blushing for, just say you want to see her, it's not like you lose a piece of meat by saying it.

Show my face? Okay! Should we video call right now?

Ban Xia agreed straightforwardly.

Ah... okay, okay, wait a second, let me connect the cord!

So that night turned into quite an ordeal. Ban Xia's room was pitch black, and in such dim light, it was difficult to see clearly. They tried everything, and finally, the girl fixed a flashlight without a focusing shade on the camera to solve the lighting issue.

"You said the image transmitted last time was very blurry, right?" Ban Xia said. "The flashlight isn't very bright, I'll think of a better way next time, let's talk when I come back."

"Okay."

"Then you have to wait for me to come back," Ban Xia said.

It seemed to be this girl's habit, Bai Yang silently thought. No matter when or where, even if it was just leaving for a short while, she always specifically reminded him to wait for her.

Thinking about it, he could understand—alone in the world, drifting, one could easily disappear without a trace; only if someone remembered and waited for her, she could find her way back home.

Caring is a power that firmly ties you to this world, so you don't drift away with the wind.

"I'll wait for you to come back," Bai Yang said, "We all will wait for you to come back."

He wanted to tell her, silly girl, how could you possibly not find your way back? How many people are concerned about you in this world? Can you feel how powerful that is? It can traverse through endless time, across vast distances, not even the end of the world could defeat it.

But Bai Yang said nothing; he just gently stroked the photo frame on the table. The photo in it was very blurry; it was actually a video screenshot developed from that night after over an hour of effort. The flashlight's light was shining directly on the girl's face as she held a stoat, both of their big black eyes and her small black eyes squinting under the bright light, their faces both beaming with a naive smile.