Once We Lived in Nanjing

The pendulum had hung on the Zifeng Building for a very long time, how long exactly it did not know, for it had no concept of time - a second, a year, a decade, or a hundred years were all the same to it. As an agricultural harvesting machine, what need did it have for the concept of time?

Hence, it swung there, back and forth, enduring the battering of rain and the blowing of wind, as verdant moss slowly crept over its body, making it seem as if it were a part of this planet.

If nothing unexpected occurred, it would remain a pendulum until the destruction of this planet.

The Mother Machine did not retrieve it, not due to an error, but as a normal statistical allowance; with 25,473,629 harvesting machines deployed at once, having one not retrieved made the return rate 25,473,628 out of 25,473,629, a ratio of one in 25,473,629 was an acceptable computational error. Just as a miss rate of one in seven billion was within acceptable limits; no one can achieve a 100% success rate because this universe does not permit it.

This universe cherishes the beauty of imperfection, so enamored with the imperfect and the breaking of symmetry, that these traits permeate the essence of the universe from beginning to end. In some respects, this universe is unique; among the many universes, the majority favor completion and perfection, hence they are chaotic and eternal from birth – although perfection is desirable, it is imperfection that breeds possibilities and uncertainty, and uncertainty is more captivating than eternity.

That is what the Mother Machine thought, and so did the Mother Machine of the Mother Machine.

The pendulum thought nothing.

It simply hung there, letting birds and small animals climb upon it to nest.

It very much liked this green world; within the galaxy, there were so many fields of crops, and this farm was not particularly special. Relatively speaking, the maturation of crops here was slow, probably an environmental factor. In too comfortable conditions, crops don't strive for progress. It was foreseeable that after this harvest ended, a long time would be needed until the next batch of crops matured.

Perhaps five million years, maybe ten million, or even fifty million, or as much as a hundred million years.

But the pendulum did not care.

Nor did the Mother Machine.

To the Mother Machine, time was also meaningless. Not caring about time was inherent in the Mother Machine; they all did not care about time. The Mother Machine completed its task and had long since closed its eyes.

When the next batch of crops matured, another Mother Machine and harvesting machines would arrive, just like the last harvest. The last harvest occurred in the distant past, and after its completion, that Mother Machine never opened its eyes again. It simply remained in a quiet orbit 380,000 kilometers from this planet, never waking to this day.

After fulfilling their task, the Mother Machine and the harvesting machines should have returned to the universe, for they were but borrowed from it and should be returned upon completion.

Whether retrieved by the Mother Machine or not, the pendulum believed the difference was not significant. It hung here quietly, dormant, waiting for the universe to reclaim it.

It had thought this was its end.

Dust to dust, earth to earth, what belonged to the Mother Machine to the Mother Machine, and all to the universe.

Until that night, when a brilliant meteor streaked across the night sky, exploding into a magnificent burst of color on the horizon.

The pendulum opened its eyes again.

Perhaps the Mother Machine, by leaving it here before the work ended, wasn't a result of a statistical error, but her profound and unfathomable wisdom.

It experienced what the Mother Machine had spoken of, the uncertainty was indeed the most wonderful thing in this universe.

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[Interview Transcript Excerpt - The Last Battle of Human Resistance in History:

Bai Zhen was the third person I interviewed, still driving taxis in Nanjing City, working during the day and returning home at night, living his ordinary, contented small-town life. In today's development of Civilization, people like Bai Zhen lived the most comfortably - even if the sky fell, he'd be the last to be hit. That's why Bai Zhen was never flustered or frantic; to him, the end of the world was just another topic to boast about. The interview was set for seven o'clock in the evening on the second weekend after the interview with Zhao Bowen had concluded, at a small diner near the Guoxin Scholar's Tower Hotel in Nanjing.

Coming in, Bai Zhen picked up the menu and started ordering dishes helter-skelter without reservation, asking along the way if the writer had any dietary restrictions, whether I ate pork, drank alcohol or if I was paying for the meal.

I affirmed the last question, and Bai Zhen was reassured.

Neither of us drank alcohol; I did not drink, Bai Zhen dared not drink, so we dug out two glass bottles of Beibingyang soft drinks from the fridge and clinked them together.

The server brought up a plate of Salted Duck, a dish of Salted Egg Yolk Rice Crispies, and one Jinling Twin Stink.

"Our local delicacies, chitterlings and stinky tofu! Brother, have you ever tried them? Come on, try it, it's damn delicious!"

Bai Zhen showed full host-like enthusiasm at the meal I was treating.

"And there's one more dish from Liuhe, I've ordered it for you too - it's a soup, to warm up the body in winter. Brother, please don't be polite."

Bai Zhen ate while talking endlessly, true to the chattiness of a taxi driver.

"Let's continue the conversation from WeChat that we didn't finish."

I attempted to steer the conversation back on track.

Holding his greasy chopsticks, Bai Zhen chewed and nodded: "So where shall we start? Continue with the big eyeball?"

I nodded.

"As for the big eyeball, nobody really knows when it woke up or why. It was likely during that half month. Zhao guesses that it was our intense human activities that startled it awake—our ruckus was too loud, but in my opinion, that might not be the reason… In fact, regarding everything about the big eyeball, most are speculations; direct evidence is scarce, and to this day, it remains a mystery to us."

Bai Zhen spoke at length.

I started recording on my phone.

"However, one thing is certain, the big eyeball is the direct cause of the world's destruction, and this has been confirmed."

What exactly is a Big Eyeball?

I asked.

Bai Zhen pulled out a piece of paper and wiped his lips, pondered for a moment:

Big Eyeballs are what we usually call them, but they actually have an official codename, called hackers or Swordmen.

Swordmen?

I asked.

Bai Zhen nodded: That might be the last Swordman in the whole world. In our estimation, the number of Swordmen that descended from the sky at the time of the disaster could have been in the tens of millions. After the extinction of humanity, they all returned to the Dark Moon, except for this last Swordman. For some reason, it stayed on Earth, awoken by the sudden, intense activities of humans, it discovered the last survivor in the world, and thus began to hunt her down.

BG4MSR?

I asked.

Yes, Bai Zhen said, the Swordman is just too powerful and poses a great threat to us. Honestly, one Big Eyeball is already a handful, if there were a million of them, the world might truly have been destroyed by them. If there were ten million, it would be remarkable for humanity to last two years... Buddy, you can't imagine how they harvested humans, that was truly on a massive scale.

I'm all ears.

I said.

They used a force that humans couldn't contend with.

What force?

Gravitational force, the gravity of the Dark Moon, Bai Zhen spoke in a low voice, from the records we've obtained, it's very likely that the scene of the doomsday disaster was like this: one day, the Dark Moon rose from the horizon, became immensely huge, filling up your entire field of vision, the gravity on Earth was counteracted by the gravity from the Dark Moon, everything and everyone on the ground were pulled up into the air, losing the ability to resist, then, they were systematically slaughtered by the tens of millions of Swordmen. The Dark Moon circled the Earth just once and could harvest all people on Earth like leeks, and if that wasn't thorough enough, it could circle a few more times.

Just like harvesting leeks.

The Dark Moon can control its orbit?

I was somewhat surprised.

It should be able to, it's clearly not a natural celestial body.

According to what you said, it comes dangerously close to Earth, practically face-to-face, wouldn't the Dark Moon itself be torn apart by Earth's gravity?

It would, but it's not afraid of being torn apart. To put it more accurately, it desires to be torn apart. Earth's massive gravity actually aids it. The Dark Moon isn't an indivisible whole; once it's torn apart, it becomes thousands upon thousands of Swordmen. It wasn't until after the extinction of humankind that the Dark Moon entered a stable orbit, retracted all the Big Eyeballs, and remained 130,000 kilometers away. Perhaps it went into hibernation after completing its mission, or maybe it's just a one-time weapon.

Bai Zhen said.

No wonder BG4MSR said they had been living underground for a long time.

I remembered this detail.

Obviously, the survivors must have gone underground to confront the Big Eyeballs, Bai Zhen nodded, but when a building is about to fall, a single column cannot support it. They lasted at most two years, it was an incredibly difficult struggle. At that time, black Swordmen roamed the land, people could only hide underground, look for opportunities to destroy Swordmen, but in the end, humanity still failed, leaving only two people in the whole world.

BG4MSR and her teacher.

I said.

Correct.

Bai Zhen picked up a piece of fat intestine, trembling with a glossy sheen.

How did BG4MSR discover that Big Eyeball?

I asked.

The other way around, according to the information we collected and inferred, we tend to believe that the Big Eyeball discovered the girl first. We still don't know how the Big Eyeball obtained information about the outside world, but it has a very large eye, which likely has good vision. BG4MSR said she was just fishing at Xuanwu Bay as usual, and when she looked up, she found a sphere had somehow appeared on the rooftop of Zifeng Building.

Bai Zhen said while eating.

That was the Big Eyeball?

That was the Big Eyeball, the only living Swordman we've ever encountered, Bai Zhen nodded, perhaps the Big Eyeball was hibernating on the top of Zifeng Building, or it might have been resting somewhere else and wanted to climb to a higher place with a better view to scout out the surroundings after it awoke. Anyway, whatever the case, when BG4MSR saw it, it was crawling on top of the Zifeng Building.

BG4MSR actually managed to escape.

I said.

She was very alert, but it was still a close call.

Bai Zhen sighed.

She was terrified, and we just so happened to be unable to contact her at that time, as the radio was currently inside a full-wave electromagnetic quiet room being tested.

Tough times indeed.

I said.

Bai Zhen put down the chopsticks in his hand, staring intently at the Arctic Ocean glass bottle on the table, his gaze distant:

It was tough, the last human on Earth and the last Swordman, this was humanity's final battle in history. We've already failed once in the future; we cannot fail again today. To fight against the Swordman, we gave it our all.