Once We Lived in Nanjing

Two surveillance cameras had been posted at the Xinjiekou intersection for 144 hours, tirelessly working over the past nearly one week. They sent the captured images to the wireless router, which aimlessly broadcasted them outwards; if someone received them, good, if not, so be it. They charged every morning as the Sun rose, working while charging until sunset, and after nightfall, their batteries could last a maximum of four hours.

"BG, I'm about to switch the link and will enter silent mode."

"Roger that, OVER."

"I want to confirm one last time, from now on, I will move to an underground shelter, stay away from Meihua Villa after the nuclear explosion, enter a safe zone and stay there for a week. Only after a week can I return, right?"

"That's correct."

This meant that Ban Xia would be out of contact for a full week. Before moving, she switched the data link of her Icom725 to the wireless camera, so she wouldn't be able to change it back until a week later.

"Be careful, miss," Bai Yang couldn't help but remind her again, "If there's any unforeseen circumstances, you can return early to restore contact, OVER."

"Then you better hope I don't come back early," the girl laughed.

"Have you found a temporary residence?"

"Not yet, when do I have the time?" Ban Xia said, "I'll have to look as I go."

"Please be extremely careful, observe the environment, and try to avoid areas where large predators roam. Also, don't drink water directly from the wild. Filter it and boil it before drinking..."

Bai Yang's mind was a mess, spouting whatever came to mind.

"Got it, got it, I only have six hours left. If you keep nagging, I'll only have four hours," the girl teased.

The channel fell silent for a few seconds.

"See you in a week."

"See you in a week," the girl chuckled, "73."

Bai Yang was stunned; she actually remembered to say 73 when parting, though she was never one to follow these rules.

Ban Xia ended the call, unplugged the hand mic, and connected the image transmission system's peripherals to the Icom725. From now on, this radio station would receive signals from the cameras. After completing the signal switch, she climbed to the rooftop to lay down the shortwave antenna and secure the whip antenna, to prevent them from being damaged by the shock of the nuclear blast.

Ban Xia shouldered her pack, bent down to pick up Grandpa Huang, and placed it on her shoulder, patting the furry little head:

"Let's go, Grandpa Huang, we need to move temporarily."

"Mom, Dad, I'm heading out, you both take care of the house."

The girl carefully closed the door to her room, then the house door, descended to the bottom of the building, looked up at the dark residential block, and then pushed her bicycle to the underground parking lot. According to the experts' guidelines, she should take shelter underground in case of a nuclear explosion. The underground parking lot of Meihua Villa was a suitable shelter, safe and familiar. She would hide there until the nuclear explosion occurred, and then evacuate the area to stay somewhere temporary at South University of Agriculture or South University of Technology to avoid any possible radiation contamination, until it was safe to return after a week.

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Everything was ready except for an opportune east wind.

The landmines were laid, just waiting to be triggered.

Looking back, even Zhao Bowen himself couldn't clearly explain how such a complex and grand plan was implemented step by step. Although he was one of the main drivers, he found it incredible that such a significant project had progressed to this stage, that they had delivered the nuclear warhead and successfully unlocked it. As the saying goes, without accumulation of steps, there can be no reaching of miles. The staff at the command center buried themselves in minutia every day, and one day upon looking up, they realized they had covered a great distance.

This was a milestone that inspired everyone on the team to an almost frenzied state.

That young lady completed all her tasks under such harsh conditions; if the command center couldn't execute the plan flawlessly, it would not live up to its reputation as an elite force.

As soon as day broke the next morning, Wuwei drove the vehicle downstairs. Zhao Bowen, along with Bai Zhen and Wang Ning, hopped in without a word, heading straight to Life Insurance Square.

"Is the nuclear bomb at Life Insurance Square?" Wang Ning asked.

"Yes, right now it's right beneath our car," Zhao Bowen didn't even lift his head, his fingers danced on the keyboard, "Different time coordinates, same spatial coordinates."

"If it explodes, can we turn into light?" Bai Zhen asked.

"Yes, at this distance, we all would turn into light," Old Zhao nodded, grabbing the telephone handset between his ear and shoulder, "Hello? This is Zhao Bowen, connect me to line 04."

There were seven or eight people in the vehicle, sitting back to back in two rows, each with a console, monitor, and telephone in front of them. Wang was quite astonished when he was pulled into the vehicle, suspecting that this group secretly possessed some spatial compression technology; the vehicle looked ordinary from the outside but was incredibly spacious on the inside, effectively a mobile communication command center. It looked like a Wuling Hongguang minivan from the outside but inside, it resembled an Air Police 500.

Old Zhao said it was specially modified by the military district and was assigned to the combat support troops.

This dusty van parked amidst the hustle and bustle of Life Insurance Square, a busy intersection with hundreds of thousands of people passing by daily. Under open skies and broad daylight, no one would expect that a van, which looked like it was about to be ticketed for parking violations by traffic police, actually contained a totally different world inside—a team of elites, working hard to save the world in the heart of a bustling urban area.

"Frequency hopping."

"Roger that."

"Code 645288."

"14425."

The crisp sound of key presses mingled with terse commands inside the van, the blue backlight of the computer screens reflected in the glasses of people engrossed in their work. The solemn atmosphere was abruptly punctured by the voice of Wang Ning: