Once We Lived in Nanjing

New Century Square's Building A was once the tallest building in Jiangsu Province and is now the tallest in the Qinhuai District, ranking seventh in height in Nanjing City. There are over twenty skyscrapers in Nanjing City above two hundred meters. After the extinction of humanity, no animals other than birds could occupy them, turning the skyscrapers into luxurious high-rise bird nests. The glass was covered in white and black dry bird droppings, thickly accumulated like unmelted snow.

Big Eyes was perched on the rooftop.

It moved around the exterior walls of the building, choosing its footholds carefully, without disturbing any of the bird nests on the window sills and balconies. Such a huge creature moved delicately, as if dancing ballet on eggs.

Its giant pupils scanned outside each window—we still have no idea what Big Eyes relies on when actively acquiring external information, whether it's visible light, infrared, or sound, but there's no doubt its vision is keen, capable of spotting and locking onto a small figure a kilometer away in complex urban terrains and in pitch-dark nights within seconds, making good use of its large eyeball.

Ban Xia was hiding inside the building, curling up under the front desk of the lobby, knowing it was right above her.

At this moment, she was the prey, and the other the hunter.

They played a hunting game in the massive jungle of human-constructed steel and concrete.

The girl slowly held her breath, hearing the creature crawling down. The New Century Square Building A was over two hundred and thirty meters tall, but for a giant spider spanning seven or eight meters, descending from the rooftop to the ground was merely about twenty steps, quite leisurely. The creature circled around the exterior wall, stopping at the first floor.

The noise outside suddenly fell silent.

Ban Xia thought it would speak again, but it remained silent, just lingering outside for a long time.

The girl noticed a pattern: whenever Big Eyes appeared, no sounds could be heard nearby, as if everything fell silent when it emerged.

Waiting in the darkness and silence was exceptionally long and torturous. Ban Xia could see nothing and hear nothing, feeling no passage of time. After what felt like ages, she finally heard footsteps again, as Big Eyes slowly crawled away.

The "clank, clank" sound gradually receded and eventually faded away.

Ban Xia breathed a sigh of relief, her body drenched in sweat.

Only after Big Eyes had gone did the night of Nanjing return to normal. The girl heard the wind, the rustling of rats, and the hooting of owls, as if the whole world had just held its breath.

"Daddy… this is BG4MSR, can you hear me talking?"

Ban Xia turned on her walkie-talkie, attempting to contact Bai Zhen.

"BG...signal...poor..."

The walkie-talkie crackled, incomprehensible, the nearby tall buildings were blocking the radio signals. Ban Xia slowly got up, stepping over the trash on the ground, and moved closer to the door, where the signal gradually cleared.

"This is Daddy… are you… okay? Reporting…location… The headquarters is planning a route, we need to bring you back safely, OVER."

"I… I'm at New Century Square, at the tallest building."

"New Century Square Building A!"

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"We've arrived at the location."

Bai Yang and Chain stood in front of New Century Square Building A. This place was really crowded, true to the bustling city center, absolutely bustling with traffic.

"Swordman behavior pattern simulation in progress, blind spot route filtering in progress, according to current intelligence, Swordman is likely moving west, completed." Someone was speaking on the channel.

"Moving west?" Bai Yang turned his head. "Then it is heading back to Xinjiekou."

"Vision estimation results are out, sent to your phones now, Chain, be cautious, red is the danger zone, highly likely to be exposed, orange is the risk area, possible exposure, green is the safe area, try to pass through green areas when choosing routes, completed."

"Headquarters notice! 03, route filtering results have been sent to your side, check it, completed!"

Massive data from the clouds poured into the headquarters, with the world's most powerful supercomputer fully simulating in the background, floating point operation speed exceeding nine quintillion per second, Chain could see the real-time calculated safe zones, her phone displayed a 3D map with six red dots moving on it, representing possible locations of Big Eyes, and all the areas they could visually cover were marked in red, the only safe places were behind buildings, the vast jungle of steel and concrete left by extinct humanity providing the only escape for the girl.

The six red dots moved every moment, and the safe areas were ever-changing.

Hiding in the shadow of the building, Zhao Bowen said this.

"Do you know this area?" Chain asked Bai Yang.

"Familiar," Bai Yang said, "Ke Alley, I often come here to eat."

"Then you navigate, and I'll run with you," Lian Qiao said. "Is that okay?"

"Okay," Bai Yang nodded.

Lian Qiao gripped Bai Yang's wrist tightly.

"Everyone be ready—"

Zhao Bowen stood in front of the big screen, his eyes fixedly looking at the map. The complex and crowded buildings of Qinhuai District provided the best cover for him to safely lead the girl out of here.

Lian Qiao took a deep breath, securing her handheld radio to the strap of her backpack. Despite the twenty-year gap, she and Bai Yang stood on the same starting line.

On the map, they were blue dots; ahead of them was the wide Zhongshan East Road. Old Zhao stared at the dot, that building, that road, until the green shadow of the building slowly tilted, and the plaza in front of block A of New Century Square became a blind spot for big eyes—

"Run!"

Lian Qiao pulled Bai Yang along, moving swiftly along the base of the wall, with Ban Xia following closely.

"Stick to the wall, then turn right at the corner! Sister Qiao, you can see the white letters of New Century Square! Towards block B!"

"Sister Qiao, watch for cars!"

"Keep going straight for a hundred meters! Cross over, quickly! Faster, faster, faster!"

Bai Yang, head down not watching the road, either stared at the map or looked up to identify their surroundings. Lian Qiao pulled him as they dashed under the huge blue billboard of New Century Square, threading through the crowds and the moving secure zones, with Ban Xia moving in sync with them, stepping forward as Bai Yang did, stepping back as he did.

"Directly in front of us is building number 10 of Ke Alley, see that wonton shop?"

"Turn left! Don't cross the street, turn left!"

"Stop!"

"Stay close to the wall!"

"Move! Move! Fuck, move!" Lian Qiao shouted angrily.

"Fucking hell, rushing to a grave?" someone yelled back after being pushed.

"Your mother's grave!" Lian Qiao tightened her grip on Bai Yang, speeding past the brightly lit doors of Chongqing small noodles with lamb soup and rice noodles, the winter night's restaurant entrances filled with steaming mist and warmth; Ke Alley was a local Nanjing diner, they barged through it, running fast.

"Turn in here! Turn in here!"

"Stop! Stop! Stop, stop, stop!"

Bai Yang forcefully grabbed Lian Qiao's hand and brought her to a halt, with a large swath of red light slowly sweeping across the map ahead of them, both turned into a residential area to hide.

After the red light passed, they came out and kept running.

"Here is CFC, turn in here!"

"Keep going forward to block B, then turn right!"

"Sister Qiao, you're holding too tight, it hurts..."

"If I don't hold tight, what if you run off?" Not only did Lian Qiao not let go, but she also increased her grip, tightly holding his wrist. "We agreed you're in charge of navigating, I'm in charge of running!"

All this time, Lian Qiao woke Bai Yang up every morning to run five kilometers, which now proved useful. Tugged by her, Bai Yang managed to keep up with Lian Qiao's pace.

"Ahead at the corner is a DaDaiSan, past that is Building B, diagonally opposite is the foreign trade port building… this area is the most dangerous, once we get past this area, it'll be much safer."

"Speed up, we'll soon be out of danger."

Indeed, under Building C was a DaDaiSan, with a big red sign, not until she reached the door did Lian Qiao realize it was a restaurant, with advertisements hanging for stone pot tiger skin phoenix claws, xiaolongbao, and roast elbow.

With her height of 1.75 meters and long legs, Lian Qiao took big strides, crossing the restaurant door in one step.

But Ban Xia suddenly braked in front of DaDaiSan.

It was the first time she didn't keep up with Bai Yang's pace.

Shivering from head to toe, the girl stood on the sidewalk, trembling, overheard people talking around the corner of the restaurant.

"Where are you? I've found you— fruit, delightful fruit—"