Once We Lived in Nanjing

By the time Ban Xia got home, it was already ten o'clock at night. She was cold, tired, and in pain, her lips turned blue from the freeze. The first thing she did upon entering wasn't to use the radio to report her safety to headquarters, but to hastily pour out the hot water from the thermos for a bath. She submerged herself in the basin, her head drooping over the edge, a dirty little face staring blankly at the white steam rising in the air, lost in thought for a long time, unaware of what she was pondering.

The girl in the mirror lay naked in the water, her spine protruding segment by segment from her arched back. She was so thin, hardly looking human. She stared blankly at the person outside the mirror, her hair caked with mud and filth, messy in clumps, hardly looking human.

If her teacher were still here, she would have squatted down and begun scratching her head.

Yaya, why are you as dirty as a stray dog on the street?

She would have definitely said that.

Stay away from me, don't come near me unless you're clean!

She would have said that, too.

"Ha... ha...choo!"

Sure enough, staying in the cold water too long led to a cold, not just a cold but also menstrual pain. Two streams of clear snot hung down. Ban Xia wiped them first with her left hand, then with her right, wiping and wiping, yet they kept dripping.

The hot water gradually reddened her skin, dispelling the chill. Only when her whole body felt warm, did the girl stand in front of the mirror, looking at her own haggard reflection. She was deformed, her body a patchwork of blue and purple bruises, arms, shoulders, waist, abdomen, calves—covered in wounds, resembling a war-veteran just off the front lines.

It was really dangerous.

She had narrowly escaped death.

Below ground was even more perilous than above. She would rather be chased by the monster with large eyes than fall into the turbulent underground river. Although the river saved her life, if it wasn't for the backpack, Ban Xia would now be a floating corpse. Being decapitated by the monster would be a quicker end than drowning in the dark, seawater-filled tunnel.

Ban Xia recalled the large-eyed creature she had just encountered. It was hard to imagine where such a thing could come from; its red irises were like seas of blood eternally flowing into the abyss, and its black pupils were the abyss itself. What kind of monster was it? Its movements were sneaky and unpredictable, and it always seemed to find her, its eyes craftily sharp.

She vividly remembered its gaze. Once locked by the large eyes, she felt as if plunged into an icy cavern, her scalp tingling as if her soul was being sucked away, no matter the distance.

Their encounters always happened through mutual gaze, as if the two pairs of eyeballs were locked in place. The closest she got to it was just one meter away. At that moment, Ban Xia was so terrified her mind went blank. When she moved her eyes to the left, the large eyes moved to the left; when she moved her eyes to the right, the large eyes moved to the right. These details had not occurred to Ban Xia earlier, but now that she was home, she had time to think.

How strange.

Was it locking onto her gaze?

Ban Xia stood in front of the mirror with a flashlight, moving her eyes left, then right. The reflection followed suit, left then right, a mirror image.

It made no sense, forget it, she thought no longer.

It was time to report her safety to them.

They must be so worried... But why should I run myself ragged while they sit back and relax? Damn it, it's infuriating the more I think about it.

Unfair.

Let them stew for a while.

Humph!

Ban Xia thought fiercely in her heart.

She wrapped herself up in a blanket and lay down on the bed, wanting to rest for a while. She needed to compensate herself, to rest well before going to report her safety.

But this rest took her into the next day's afternoon.

···

When communication was finally restored between the two parties, the big bosses at headquarters were nearly crying. Old Wang immediately drove to Qixia Temple to fulfill his vow. He had just been praying for her safety in front of the Buddha that morning, muttering that the Buddha must ensure her well-being, otherwise, there would be consequences. By evening, the communication was restored, and the young girl was back, lively and kicking. Goddamn it, the Buddha was more effective than radar. Wang Ning was overwhelmed with tears, nearly converting on the spot.

I'm heading out to drive to Qixia Temple right away to offer the best fruits to the Buddha.

Zhao Bowen smoked two packs of cigarettes straight; he hadn't shut his eyes for over ten hours during the disconnect, sitting at the bottom of the dark stairwell, one cigarette after another.

Bai Yang went downstairs to find him, and he showed Yangyang his white hair, which had also been proliferating.

"Taking on this job, I've damned shaved at least twenty years off my life," Old Zhao said. "But if she doesn't come back, then tomorrow I can jump off the eighth floor."

Bai Yang looked at his back and shoulders, feeling a sense of suffocation.

Old Bai and his son took turns on duty, monitoring the radio like a control tower awaiting a lost flight, expecting a miracle. But Bai Yang was so tired after a full day and night that he fell asleep on duty, only to vaguely hear someone calling "BG" through the headphones and thought it was a dream.

"BG?"

"BG? BG?"

"BG, are you there? BG4MXH?"

"BG4MXH? This is BG4MSR, calling BG4MXH, please respond if you hear me."

"BG4MXH, can you hear me talking? BG4MXH? BG4... Bai Yang! Bai Yang!"

The girl was annoyed.

"Damn, can you hear me talking!?"

Bai Yang startled awake and slapped himself, only then realizing it wasn't a dream.

A huge weight lifted from everyone's hearts simultaneously, and that day, a magnitude 2.2 earthquake occurred in the Qinhuai District of Nanjing City.

Even though the second phase of the East Red Plan was ultimately unsuccessful, the silver lining was that Ban Xia herself was unharmed, only her hair had been cut short.

She did feel quite sorry for herself; she treasured her long black hair and took time to care for it every day.

"Your hair might have been trimmed, but it'll grow back," Bai Yang comforted her. "A trimmed head, however, will not grow back."

"I did get a second lease on life... ha... achoo!" the girl said. "But I didn't even see it holding a knife, no idea what it used to cut; it was terrifying. If it had a knife, that knife must've been super quick, so fast that I didn't see it. An unseen, quick blade, you guys call it Swordman, which is pretty fitting."

"Mhm, mhm."

"It was so close, BG, you know? Just a bit closer, and my head would've been plucked off. I don't know if I'm lucky or unlucky, stepping right into a well. Jeez, do I have some weird constitution? A pit-stepping constitution, always falling into holes when I go out."

"Mhm, mhm..."

"Under the well was even more dangerous than above ground; wow, the water was black, deep, and fast. I was swept away as soon as I fell in, drank a lot of water, all seawater—salty and bitter. I even hit something when I fell; it hurt so bad. Why do I always hit something every time I fall into a well... Thankfully, my backpack caught on to something, or else I'd be drowned in the sewer feeding the fish by now."

"Mm... mhmm."

"Hey, stop your crying."

"I'm not crying."

"You are crying, I can hear it," the girl said. "You're sniffling, too."

"I'm not."

"You are!"

"I... I just caught a cold."

"You are crying!"

Old Zhao lit his last cigarette, crushed the empty pack on the ground, and entered, saying to everyone, "Get ready, we need to carry the sedan for Miss Qiu. This is beyond human handling; the lady herself has to be involved."