Once We Lived in Nanjing

Before using nuclear weapons, Ban Xia must protect herself. Zhonghe Industry provided a detailed self-protection guide (although the expert group still believes that the foreseeable future explosion Miss Qiu caused will not cause substantial harm to the girl, they couldn't overrule the command center's three elders). The guide meticulously explained how to survive after a nuclear explosion. Ban Xia checked item by item, sealing doors and windows, wrapping supplies tightly with plastic sheets, but no matter how the protection was done—as the expert group said, nothing was better than running far away.

Zhonghe Industry advised Ban Xia to stay as far away from Meihua Villa as possible for a week after the nuclear explosion, moving eastward to South University of Technology or near the Agricultural Science Academy to hide for a week. If possible, it would be even better to hide behind Zijin Mountain in Qixia District. This season the northeast wind blows, and Qixia District is upwind and not affected by contamination, so Ban Xia was making preparations before the relocation.

This is a big project.

Ban Xia rolled up sleeping bags, tents, and raincoats, tightly binding them onto the rack of her bicycle, stuffing food, drink, and essentials into her backpack. She squatted on the floor, lifted the heavy bag to test its weight, then put it back down heavily.

A small head peeped out from behind the bag.

"We're moving, huh, Mr. Weasel?"

The girl reached out and patted the little head of the weasel.

Mr. Weasel raised his head, then turned and ran away.

"Don't go too far—!" Ban Xia shouted, "Don't make yourself hard to find later!"

Mr. Weasel did not respond, unaware if he heard, the girl sighed, really making her worry.

She got up, sat on the chair, and slowly breathed a sigh of relief, then felt she should shout again, so she called towards the door:

"Don't run too far!"

The house was almost packed up, everything that could be taken was packed, and what couldn't be taken was sealed, like the Ming Dynasty Jingtai Blue and White Maid Spring Outing Pattern Vase in the kitchen, and the Hongwu Glazed Red Three Friends Pattern Vase, along with various big and small jars, all were to be buried deep in a pit downstairs if they couldn't be carried.

There was so much stuff that it was definitely impossible to pack everything last-minute; Ban Xia had to prepare ahead.

The current time was December 27th, 3 PM.

The girl silently sat in the chair, the table in front of her crammed with an Icom725 amateur radio station, Celeron 3150 industrial motherboard, monitor, power supply, keyboard, camera, various messy electronic components piled into a mountain, with batteries under the table, a horizontal tripod, and broken LCD screens that were all her labor results over the past few months. Just six months ago, she didn't dare to imagine she could handle such a complex system. Look how simple it is for time to change a person; it doesn't take long to turn oneself into someone else.

Ban Xia picked up the headphones and put them on unconsciously with a smile on her face.

Then she took off the headphones, her face returning to expressionless.

Put them on again, smiling.

Took them off again, expressionless.

She put the headphones back on the table, motionless, her eyes squinting slowly. Since when did she learn to disguise?

Disguising as an eternally energetic, strong-willed, cheerful, unbeatable girl.

You clearly know you are not that kind of person.

Ban Xia whispered.

You are cowardly, you are scared, you shrink back, you want to escape, you dare not face such great difficulties and dangers, you fear nuclear bombs, you fear big eyes, you're almost can't hold on.

"Who are you performing for?"

The girl spoke to the headphones on the table.

But the headphones remained silent.

·

·

On the evening of the Long March 5B-Y3 rocket launch, the command center was watching a live broadcast. Of course, not the terrible CCTV broadcast, but another dedicated line, a VIP seat within VIP seats, where every pore on Long March 5's face could be clearly seen. From the morning after breakfast, Zhao, Bai, Wang and the others had been squatting there, keeping remote synchronization with the Wenchang Center. They could be said to be the group of people who were most nervous about this launch worldwide. The command center knew the opportunity was rare and success or failure depended on this moment—if the launch failed, even if Long March 5 had a backup rocket, Miss Qiu would not have a backup.

Zhonghe Industry repeatedly emphasized saying you only have one chance; we only have one of these nuclear bombs, and it would take at least two months to make an identical one again, I know you can't wait.

Zhao said shut up, you're making me nervous!

Thus, Zhao spent the afternoon constantly in contact with the launch center, double-checking procedures to an almost harassing extent, until the launch center couldn't take it anymore and snapped, "Can you just shut up? If you call again disrupting our work and something goes wrong with this rocket, you will be wholly responsible!"

Hearing this—both Bai Zhen and Wang Ning found it immensely satisfying inside.

At last, someone could put Zhao, this son of a turtle, in his place.

Zhao Bowen was rebuffed and came back helplessly; he sat frustrated on the sofa, staring distantly at the rocket standing under the lights puffing white smoke two thousand kilometers away.

"Let professionals handle professional matters, right?" Bai Zhen said to Wang Ning, "Amateurs should not interfere. That's the most basic work principle."

Wang Ning nodded in agreement:

"I never disturb others when they are busy. It's annoying."

"It's a matter of quality," Bai said.

"Yes, a quality issue," Wang also said.

At 8:45 that evening, the Long March 5B-Y3 rocket ignited, and everyone in the command center watched as the big white blimp gradually traveled far into the sky becoming a glowing dot. Honestly, everyone's heart was quite uneasy—Long March 5's technology was not yet mature; two years ago, during the Y2 rocket launch, there had been an issue with the hydrogen-oxygen engine causing mission failure. Hundreds of people in the command center didn't dare to breathe, staring intently without letting go. It couldn't be helped; if there was a way to accompany the rocket into space, someone in the command center would definitely go—with Zhao Bowen being the first to sign up. He wanted to follow the rocket launch until the fairing was opened before he could rest assured.

Luckily, both the Long March 5 team and the Buddha at Qixia Temple were reliable. At 8:50 that evening, the star-rocket separation occurred, the command center confirmed the payload was successfully in orbit, and the long-missed big red screen in the command hall lit up, everyone stood up and applauded.

The new manned spacecraft prototype carrying Miss Qiu entered orbit and cut off all contact with Earth an hour later. It would be the most massive Time Slow Delivery sent by humanity toward the future. The spacecraft's trajectory was designed as a path towards the Sun and Earth's L4 Lagrange point; at L4, the spacecraft would spend twenty years in halo orbit while maintaining the same orbital period as Earth, until nearing the Sun again, then restart the engines to return to Earth.

This was also thus far the most complex Time Slow Delivery mission.

More complex than the Heng and Ha mission, mainly complicated in re-entering the atmosphere.

Heng and Ha's orbital design was most complex, but they did not need to enter the atmosphere, didn't need to face this greatest challenge in human space history; plunging into the dense atmosphere is a matter of life and death for any spacecraft, and Miss Qiu returning from an astronomical unit away at the L4 point—her re-entry velocity far exceeds that of low Earth orbit—that's why the command center needed to borrow the new manned spacecraft. The new manned spacecraft was prepared for moon landing or even Martian missions, it has the capability to ensure its own safety while returning to Earth's atmosphere at high speed.

"Success! The launch succeeded!" Bai Zhen jumped up, slamming the table, "Who's going to buy a bottle of wine; shall we celebrate? A toast to our success—"

"What to buy?" Old Mom appeared behind him quietly.

"Nothing, nothing... but this is a big happy occasion; we can make an exception..."

Bai Zhen still wanted to argue.

"Drinking is a mess!" Old Mom didn't give any face, "Have you completed all your work? Already thinking about drinking."

Bai Zhen wilted.

Looking back from the future perspective, Bai Zhen's toast was indeed premature; the rocket's successful launch was only half successful, and the other half had to wait until after 10:00 PM to see the result. According to the original plan, the spacecraft would return to Earth around 10:00 PM on December 27th, twenty years later—so a group of people crowded outside Bai Yang's room waiting for news, waiting for the news that the spacecraft had returned to Earth.

Bai Yang told the girl that the return of the manned spacecraft to Earth was spectacular, like a super-sized shooting star streaking across the night sky, visible to the entire world, so the girl happily prepared to watch the shooting star.

She sat there waiting and waiting, waited until dawn the next day.