Once We Lived in Nanjing

The return capsule stood two meters tall, its lower half buried in the soil. Bathed in moonlight, it resembled a charred colossal cone. Frankly, if Bai Yang hadn't explained it, Ban Xia wouldn't have recognized what this thing was. Identifying the command module of a manned spacecraft required knowledge of aerospace engineering, which the girl completely lacked. Over the many years past, she had unknowingly brushed past this return capsule countless times, each time mistaking it for an unexploded missile warhead.

A small pebble traced an arc in midair and went "plop" as it fell into the pit, bouncing and rolling away.

The air remained deadly silent.

Ten minutes later, a small head peeked out cautiously from under a concrete slab, looking around warily.

"BG, I'm in position."

Ban Xia took a deep breath and slowly crawled out of the crevices in the ruins.

Leaving Meihua Villa without adequate intelligence, to check the spacecraft and nuclear bomb amongst the debris of Life Insurance Square, was a risky move indeed, but everyone felt it was a risk worth taking.

The girl jumped into the pit, hurriedly crossing the shallow crater with caution. The impact crater was large and shallow, the depressed ground forming a near hundred-meter diameter circle, with the return capsule right at its center. It was only upon closer inspection that Ban Xia realized the capsule's shell was originally white. The heat-shielding tiles were scorched by the high temperatures during re-entry and were blackened upon impact, half-buried in the soil. Unnamed green seedlings sparsely dotted the crater floor, some even climbing atop the return capsule, sprouting a bright yellow blossom.

Ban Xia circled around the return capsule and discovered that it was severely deformed upon reaching the backside, likely due to a collision with a building during the fall. The outer shell was badly cracked and caved in. Peering through the door that hung open on the side, she saw the interior was scorched. This spacecraft had surely caught fire upon its failed landing, and the dangling cables turned to dust with a mere pinch.

The girl bent down and crawled in, her feet sinking into a thin layer of mud. The space inside was spacious, filled with the musty smell of soil. Looking around, she noted it would make a decent shelter, likely home to numerous animals—indeed, lowering her gaze, she spotted decayed bird feathers, broken eggshells, and the feces of an unknown creature. It was obvious this place was bustling in the summer.

No one in the world, other than her, would know what this was. Ban Xia reached out to tap on the pitch-black interior wall, scraping away the dried grime to reveal the silvery metal beneath. This object was older than she was, yet from another perspective, it was launched just three days ago.

"The nuclear bomb... Where is the nuclear bomb?"

She needed to find a nuclear bomb and a key.

Bai Yang said the nuclear bomb was placed inside the command module, a deep red sphere slightly larger than a basketball and very heavy, while the key was in a plastic sealed box, a slender, smooth metal slat, three centimeters long and two millimeters thick.

But now there was little in the capsule that was distinguishable, everything was burned to a black mass, and animals had gnawed whatever was chewable to shreds over the years. Given the current state, the delicate key was surely destroyed, and could no longer be relied upon. Ban Xia needed to locate the nuclear bomb to confirm if it was still effective.

To ascertain its effectiveness was simple: verify if its structure was intact—an intact structure meant it was effective.

"BG, can you hear me?" Ban Xia leaned against the capsule wall, her radio's antenna pointing out the door, "I've searched the interior of the spacecraft, and it's in terrible shape. There's hardly anything left, and I didn't find Ms. Qiu."

"Miss, this is BG, received, OVER."

"I'm going to search outside the spacecraft next. Wish me luck."

"Good luck, OVER."

Searching outside meant a much larger area. Sparse dry yellow grass, knee-high, grew around the pit, littered with large chunks of construction debris, broken bricks, steel rebar, and solidified cement. A massive girder, over a dozen meters long and thick, jutted from the ground at an angle like a grand, rusted sword. Ban Xia stood alone among the weeds, her shadow inching along with the moonlight.

The night breeze blew past, carrying the briny stench of seawater.

"A red sphere... a red sphere..."

Ban Xia murmured to herself, her gaze sweeping over the ground.

She had been to this place many times before but had never spied any deep red sphere. If such an object existed, shouldn't it be noticeable? She continued her search back and forth, fearing she might miss a clue.

"Could there really be a red sphere here?" The girl tilted her head and muttered to herself, taking one step after another.

"Ouch!"

She slipped on something unexpected and nearly fell flat on her face.

·

At the same time.

Headquarters.

The digital clock on the coffee table was counting down, only 48 hours left until the planned moment for the nuclear bomb to be unlocked. Bai Yang was nervously waiting for good news from the girl, while others were fervently discussing the plan for key transmission. This morning, as soon as the project team started work, they expedited the production of a new key. At this moment, that item was placed on the coffee table. It was indeed small, three centimeters long and one centimeter wide, indeed thin with a thickness of just one millimeter, made of metal, lying quietly in a sponge. From a distance, it didn't look like much, but up close one could observe the intricate patterns on its surface.

The project team said that there was a chip inside it, an absolute secret among secrets; if it were lost, everyone involved would end up in jail.

Bai Zhen immediately moved two steps back, asserting that this had nothing to do with him; he knew nothing, and they could handle their matters, he was just passing by... He'd go and check on how his son was doing.

He pushed open the door to Bai Yang's bedroom and asked, "Son, how's the situation with Miss? Have you found the nuclear bomb?"

The room lights were off; the computer screen was the only source of light. Bai Yang was wearing headphones and resting his head on his hands, motionless.

"Son?"

Bai Yang's figure suddenly shuddered, and old Bai immediately closed the door, wondering if he had disturbed him.

Then he heard a long sigh from the room, and old Bai became even more convinced of his thoughts, at the same time wondering to himself whether entertaining oneself during working hours was inappropriate? Although he understood that his son was under immense pressure and needed an outlet...

Before he could continue his train of thought toward a worse direction, Bai Yang's voice came from the bedroom:

"It's done!"

Bai Zhen pushed the door open again, "Done?"

"Done!" Bai Yang leaned back, resting against the chair back, slowly took off his headphones and slowly exhaled, "News from Miss, Miss Qiu was found, structure intact, no damage seen."

"That's fantastic!" Bai Zhen exclaimed with joy.

Bai Yang slowly turned his head; with the light behind him, his face was not clear, only his eyes having a bit of light.

Bai Zhen, originally overjoyed, had his happiness washed away by cold water after seeing his son's eyes. For some reason, he suddenly felt a chill. Old Bai stood with his mouth open for a long time before asking, "Confirmed the nuclear bomb is effective?"

"Confirmed the nuclear bomb is effective."

Bai Yang nodded. This was a joyous occasion; he wanted to smile, but he couldn't.

"The chip is very fragile, it cannot withstand high temperatures, high pressures, or strong impacts." The nuclear project team sat in the living room, cracking sunflower seeds, boasting the secret among secrets, the nuclear weapons key next to a large pack of Cha Cha sunflower seeds, "It must be securely delivered into MSR's hands, with a 100% success rate."

"That's impossible." Wang Ning shook his head, "Ever heard of the three laws of Time Slow Delivery?"

"I have."

"To bypass the filtering mechanism of this world, you must first put it in a nearly lost, irretrievable state, that's the first step of Time Slow Delivery. This risk is a necessary gamble," said Wang Ning, "The tighter you hold it in your hands, the less likely it will reach its destination; the world will just go against you even more."

"These are not our problems to solve." The nuclear project team simply assumed the role of the client, "We are only responsible for providing the key. It is your job to deliver it successfully."

Wang Ning thought to himself what a situation, in this world there is no forever boss; those who play the boss will one day be tormented by the boss.

In the end, the nuclear project team reiterated their demands:

Safety!

Safety!

And fucking safety!