Once We Lived in Nanjing

BG said today is a good day, for December 24th is Christmas Eve, which sounds like a nice omen. Going out on Christmas Eve, how could one not return safely?

"May the teacher bless me." Ban Xia clasped her hands together, closed her eyes and silently prayed, "Bless me with a safe return."

Opening her eyes, she took out a pocket watch and glanced at the time.

6:30 PM.

She was waiting. The official operation was set for 7:00 PM, thirty minutes away. With this spare time, she could check her equipment one last time.

Unlike previous departures, this time heading to First Base or Second Base required light and simple equipment. She wore trousers, a sweater, a coat and was carrying a pack, which contained a water flask, dry rations, maps, rain gear, and medicine. Her only weapons for self-defense were a pistol and a dagger. The total weight of all the equipment was controlled to be within three kilograms, convenient for Ban Xia to run long distances, climb, and squeeze through narrow gaps. BG reminded her that in this operation, staying hidden was the priority, to move stealthily, not rashly – better to be slow but steady.

Nanjing City is large enough to easily hide a young girl.

The girl tied up her hair in front of the mirror. The person in the reflection looked haggard, her cheeks thinner and under-eye circles a bit dark, likely due to recent work pressure and constant fear. At any moment, those big eyes might suddenly appear outside her window, making her days truly unbearable. Ban Xia bent down to pull down her eyelid in the mirror and stuck out her tongue, making a face. She could clearly see the bloodshot in her eyes.

Ban Xia let out a deep sigh.

Now let's rewind time by twenty years.

Back to December 24th, 2019, 6:30 PM.

The massive support team was all in combat readiness, with Zhao Bowen sitting at the command center.

"This is 03, attention all units, we will now conduct the final program self-check before the operation, over."

"First group reporting, the Zheng Lun telemetry satellite will make its final flyover of the target area before the operation in a one-minute countdown, data transmission link normal, Zijin Mountain Communication Center data distribution, dual redundant backup in Guizhou and Beijing, over."

"Second group reporting, completed all three functional drills, disaster recovery backup test normal, over."

"Third group reporting, firewall repair complete, security engineering team standing by, over."

"This is 02, attention all units, operation countdown thirty minutes, over."

"This is 01, attention all units, operation countdown thirty minutes, over."

Before the operation begins, the synthetic aperture radar telemetry satellite will make its last pass over Nanjing City to light the way ahead for the girl. These will be the latest and last pieces of intelligence that the command center can get before the initiation of the plan. Once the operation starts, Ban Xia must take the hand-held radio off the Yagi antenna and switch the data link of the Icom725 amateur radio to the remote communication control system—they will lose contact with the relay satellite.

"The Zheng Lun telemetry satellite will make its final flyover of the target area before the operation in a thirty-second countdown."

"Ten-second countdown."

"Five seconds."

"Three seconds."

The satellite control center was counting down.

Everyone was waiting. After the countdown reached zero, the hall fell silent. For modern people, that satellite essentially operated in a black box.

A black box built by time, impervious to everything.

It orbited hundreds of kilometers above the ground in another world, deploying its ten-meter-long synthetic aperture radar antenna, quietly scanning over Qinhuai District in Nanjing City.

Scan data was transmitted to the relay satellite, filtered and compressed by the relay satellite, then sent to the Icom725 amateur radio. At this point of transmission, time and space were traversed, and from Bai Yang's bedroom, it entered the Zijin Mountain Communication Center via fiber optics. The Zijin Mountain Communication Center then distributed the data, with Guizhou and Beijing data centers backing up remotely. The computer team responsible for processing the images and the image interpretation experts were on standby at Zhejiang University.

With Nanjing as the center, this was a vast net that covered the entire country, from Nanjing to Guizhou to Beijing to Hangzhou. Each link in the chain was a long and arduous journey, but each step of transmission was at the speed of light. The data traveled at 300,000 kilometers per second within fibers, covering nearly 300 kilometers from Nanjing to Hangzhou. Communication data could make a round trip in 0.002 seconds.

"This is 02, attention all units, operation countdown twenty minutes, over."

"This is 01, attention all units, operation countdown twenty minutes, over."

"This is 03, has the telemetry data been received? Over."

"The satellite telemetry data is in the process of being received, over."

Zhao Bowen stood beside the coffee table, holding a walkie-talkie. Bai Zhen and Wang Ning sat on the sofa on his left and right: one monitoring the electromagnetic environment and spectrum data, the other monitoring servers.

"Is Yangyang ready?" Old Zhao turned his head to ask.

Lean on the doorway of Bai Yang's bedroom, raised his hand and gave an OK sign.

Bai Yang sat in the room with headphones around his neck, gripping a Morse code practice coin in his hand, tapping the table repetitively. The atmosphere in the headquarters, as if facing a formidable enemy, made him unavoidably tense. Bai Yang was easily influenced by his surroundings; he rubbed his eyes forcefully, revealing an undeniably weary expression.

"Are you okay?" Lian Qiao asked.

"I'm fine," Bai Yang said, "Just that this string has been strung too tight, the pressure is kind of big, I can't sleep at night."

"Shall I give you a massage?"

"Better not, spare me, Qiao sister, I really can't handle your Nine Yin White Bone Claw." Bai Yang hastily refused, "You massage like you're plucking a chicken."

"There's no such thing as a painless massage."

"They all hurt, but some are called massages, others are just torture." Bai Yang leaned back in his chair, head tilted up, and slowly said, "My spirit has already been hugely tormented, please spare my body from further torture."

"Do you want to take some melatonin?" Lian Qiao asked, "Taking some melatonin can help with sleep."

Bai Yang shook his head.

Voices in the living room rose and fell.

"The Zijin Mountain Communication Center, telemetry data reception complete!"

"Data recovery underway!"

"Analyzing the data! Analyzing!"

"This is 02, all units be advised, countdown to operation ten minutes, over."

"This is 01, all units be advised, countdown to operation ten minutes, over."

Zhao Bowen's palms were sweating.

Every second counted.

"All units be advised, countdown to operation five minutes, over."

"Telemetry images being analyzed!"

"Analyzing!"

"Analyzing!"

Old Zhao didn't say a word; he was waiting for the results, waiting for the image analysis expert team to bring the results, he needed to know the exact location of that damned big eye at this very moment, twenty years later.

"All units be advised, countdown to operation three minutes, over."

"Data link switch preparation, countdown synchronization, over."

"We've found it!"

Old Zhao was suddenly electrified.

"We've found it! This is the telemetry data analysis group! Headquarters, we've found it! Reporting location now! Time coordinates December 24, 2040, 18:41, spatial coordinates East longitude 118.7915°, North latitude 32.0470°, it's on the rooftop of the Xinbai Building!"

Twenty years later.

The girl resting on the couch with her eyes closed opened her eyes, checked the time on the pocket watch, 6:55 PM, it was time. She turned and entered her room, unplugged all the wires from the 725 radio's microphone socket, then connected the relay station, switched the communication link to the long-range communication system, and finally climbed to the rooftop to remove the handheld from the Yagi Antenna.

"BG4MXH, this is BG4MSR, can you hear me talking?" Ban Xia spoke into the handheld.

"Received, this is BG4MXH, reporting the exact location of the big eye up until now, it's on the rooftop of the Xinbai Building at Xinjiekou. We suggest you take route 2, head to First Base, avoid the vicinity of Xinjiekou, OVER."

"Okay."

Ban Xia crouched down, smilingly flicked Mr. Huang's forehead.

"Mr. Huang, I'm stepping out, you keep watch."

After saying that, she stood up and said goodbye to her parents:

"Mom and Dad, I'm going out, I might not come back tonight, take care of Huang… never mind, it'll take care of itself."