Once We Lived in Nanjing

History has proven that people never learn from history.

The purpose of repeating the same mistake is to let future generations do it again.

Bai Yang thought he had made it clear enough to Wang Ning, Zhao Bowen, and his old man. The three of them just needed to follow his method and execute it step by step to send the time capsule. Even a fool should be able to do that, right?

But most of the time, it's not fools who mess things up, but smart people who think they are smarter and more intelligent.

Bai Yang had a headache. One of humanity's underlying flaws is thinking everyone else is a fool and that they themselves can do better.

Wang Ning, with his bald head, sat there and immediately contradicted the flaws in Bai Yang's plan - he is indeed leader material.

Why go through such fuss and detours just to deliver a stainless steel capsule to someone in twenty years' time?

Is it that difficult?

Wang Ning didn't buy it.

He immediately ordered ten large time capsules. After all, this was about the survival of all humanity; spending some money was truly nothing.

If they could confirm that BG4MSR indeed lives twenty years in the future, then they must set up an emergency response team, and the government has to allocate funding—an enormous amount, at all costs. Then, just incorporate those expenses into the mission cost reimbursement, as using public funds is something Wang Ning is never stingy about.

"BG4MSR, BG4MSR, can you hear me? I've got some great news. My dad, Uncle Wang, and Uncle Zhao are preparing the time capsule. The first batch will send ten large ones over, filled with medical supplies and outdoor gear, including bandages, face masks, syringes, safety ropes, raincoats, and trenching tools. Oh, and a McDonald's hamburger, OVER."

The other side paused.

"McDonald's hamburger?"

"Oh, that's a time indicator. If even a McDonald's hamburger goes bad, it means too much time has passed, probably hundreds of years, OVER."

"Ah?" the girl was wide-eyed.

"They actually just want to see if a McDonald's hamburger really can last twenty years without rotting, OVER."

"BG4MXH, are you sending ten time capsules at once?"

"Yes, they still don't believe you live in 2040 and want further confirmation of the truth, so the time capsule is an experiment, and sending supplies just comes along with it, like what I did before, OVER."

"BG4MXH, what to do if the test succeeds?"

"If it succeeds, my dad and Zhao Uncle would definitely take life-saving pills first, then go and rescue Wang Uncle with CPR, and finally report to the higher-ups. Such big matters definitely can't be handled by us; more professional people will have to take over," Bai Yang said. "But I think it's very unlikely to work. Do you know their clever plan? They're preparing to bury ten large time capsules in the landscaping strip below Meihua Villa community—what a scene, in broad daylight, with grand construction and ostentation. I'm saying this will surely fail, but they don't believe me, OVER."

Speaking of which, Wang Ning, Zhao Bowen, and Bai Zhen sure had skills. Bai Yang didn't know how they convinced the community property management; when Bai Yang buried his time capsule, he did it sneakily for fear of security catching him, yet they even summoned an excavator.

Indeed, Wang Ning.

Indeed, Zhao Bowen.

Indeed, the old man.

Indeed, the once-dreaded Southern Jiangsu idle iron triangle.

"BG4MXH, didn't you say transporting time capsules should be as covert as possible so no one knows?" Ban Xia asked. "Can they succeed like this?"

"I think so, but they don't, OVER."

Wang Ning thought Bai Yang's plan was too complicated. Who hadn't played with time capsules? Back in the day, every person in their department wrote a letter to their future selves for a New Year activity, to be sealed in a capsule for ten years—it was Wang Ning who organized and buried it personally, without any issues.

You talk about doomsday?

Then just find a place unaffected to bury it.

You say it might be dug up?

Then let's just bury ten at once, could they dig up one or two, all of them?

Wang Ning, bound by an oath, said no problem, it would definitely succeed, just you wait and see.

"Um…" Ban Xia tilted her head, thinking there might be some logic to Wang Ning's view.

"Let's see," Bai Yang said, "I think they're likely to fail, OVER."

"BG4MXH, what if it fails?" the girl asked.

"If it fails, just start over," Bai Yang said somewhat helplessly. "You see, people just don't learn. Even though they've witnessed the landmines I helped them avoid, they still have to step on one themselves to believe it's a landmine. Middle-aged men in their forties are just that stubborn; the older one gets, the more stubborn one becomes. Now I finally understand why those elderly folks who got tricked into pyramid schemes never turn back; it has nothing to do with intelligence or education. It's all about overconfidence; everyone thinks they are experienced, but in reality, it's the veterans who get scammed, OVER."

"BG4MXH, what's a pyramid scheme?"

"A scam," Bai Yang explained. "Just think of it as a scam targeting old folks playing chess in parks, OVER."

"Will we send another ten time capsules the second time?" Ban Xia asked.

"Anyway, it's not my money they're spending, they can send however much they want." Bai Yang said, "BG4MSR, just tell me what you need, I'll get them to send it over, OVER."

"Until it succeeds?"

"Until it succeeds." Bai Yang nodded, "They'll smash into the south wall twice and should know to turn back then, and by that time they'll have to do it my way. Once you've successfully received the time capsule over there, they should believe this fact too, then we need to start planning our escape, OVER."

Ban Xia was stunned.

"BG4MSR, what do you mean by planning our escape?"

"Exactly what it sounds like, start preparing to flee for our lives." Bai Yang said, "Sister, you said that your era's human civilization has already been destroyed for over a decade, right? But from 2040 to now, it has only been twenty-one years, which means to people in our time, the world is going to end in a few years, the Black Moon is going to descend. Shouldn't we run away before we just sit and wait for death? OVER."

The girl carefully recalled.

"Let me think... the disaster happened when I was about three or four years old, I'm 19 this year, so it was around 2024, the Black Moon should have descended then, OVER."

Bai Yang counted, it's 2019 this year, there's at most five years left until 2024.

The world will be destroyed in five years.

Right now, he is the only person in the entire world who knows that human civilization will face its end in five years, it's a pity he's just a high school senior with little sway.

He now opens the window and shouts out, "Everyone run! The world is going to be destroyed in five years—!"

He would only get a response from a downstairs neighbor saying, "It's the middle of the night and you are not sleeping, are you disturbing your mom?"

"BG4MSR, I reckon that during the end of the world, it's not wise to stay in places with many people, especially not in big cities; the targets are too big, they attract firepower easily, when there are more people, there's also a shortage of survival supplies, who knows what it'll turn into by then, so I plan to run to a ravine in the Loess Plateau or somewhere like the Taklamakan Desert or Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, whichever place is more hidden." Bai Yang said leisurely, "Dig a hole in the mountains to serve as a shelter, prepare plenty of survival supplies, not even gods could find us there, right? BG4MSR what do you think? OVER."

The girl thought about it.

Where is the Loess Plateau?

The west?

Where are the Taklamakan Desert and the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau?

Seems like they are also in the west.

Hiding in the Loess Plateau or the Taklamakan Desert, could we escape the disaster?

Ban Xia didn't know, she really couldn't give Bai Yang a definite answer, the Black Moon descended when she was too young, and her memories are too vague, so she doesn't quite understand the enemy. If the teacher were still here it would be better, the teacher survived the disaster herself, and is the only one who survived all the turmoil, she definitely would know if it was possible.

"I don't know, BG4MXH, I don't know if it will work." the girl said, "But I must tell you a very critical and important piece of information, you must remember... never go outside when the twin moons rise at night, did you get that? OVER."

Bai Yang was stunned.

"Don't go outside when the twin moons rise at night? OVER."

"Yes, BG4MXH, absolutely do not go outside at night." the girl advised, "This is what the teacher taught me, now I'm teaching you."

The teacher's apocalypse survival rule, rule number four, never go outside when the twin moons rise!

This was something the teacher repeatedly emphasized, Ban Xia had always remembered it firmly, although she didn't quite understand what dangers lurked after the twin moons rose; last time she went out wanting to meet BG4MXH, she waited until deep into the night at Muxuyuan Street intersection, and even when the twin moons rose, nothing happened.

Could it be because predatory beasts are active at night? Whatever the reason, the teacher's warnings must have a profound significance, Ban Xia always took the teacher's words as absolute, she could only survive till now relying on the teacher's strong survival wisdom—Ban Xia relayed these words to Bai Yang exactly as they were, she didn't know if they would be effective, she only hoped that the teacher could also help this young man survive.

Maybe he really could survive by hiding in the Loess Plateau, or perhaps in the Taklamakan Desert?

"Do not go outside when the twin moons rise."

Bai Yang mulled over this phrase in his mind, nodding.

This world is truly absurd.

Will it really be destroyed in five years? But here he is now, sitting in his room, with a desk lamp on, an air conditioner running, his parents sleeping in the next bedroom, and outside the window is a brightly lit city bustling with traffic, home to ten million people. Looking further out, there are six and a half billion people living in this vast and broad world, could it really proceed towards destruction along the trajectory predicted by a mere weak radio wave?

Human's sense of security comes from the collective, the safety in numbers, Bai Yang logically believes BG4MSR, but he still subconsciously feels well-protected, his parents, relatives, classmates, friends, so many people live in this city, beyond the city there are the military, the country, the whole of humanity, such complex and huge social relationships provide a psychological refuge from dangers for anyone.

In Chinese terms, when the sky falls there are tall people to hold it up, the small ones always have their own sense of security.

If he now turns off the radio, forgets about this, goes to school normally tomorrow, and returns to the normal world, maybe the absurd future of doomsday will never come?

Bai Yang propped his head, silently pondering.

"BG4MXH? BG4MXH?"

The girl's call roused him from his thoughts.

"BG4MSR, this is BG4MXH, OVER."

"BG4MXH, can you get rat poison over there? Could you send me a little?"

"Rat poison? BG4MSR, are you planning on killing rats? OVER."

"Yes, but not just for rats." the girl answered, "I suspect something dangerous has made its way into the estate, I need the rat poison to deal with it."