Lian Qiao noticed Bai Yang’s obvious emotional change on New Year’s Day.

Early morning, the two went out jogging, circling Moon Lake. The morning temperature was below zero, the air crisp and biting. Lian Qiao had wrapped herself in a wool scarf, but still wore her dark fleece turtleneck top and athletic pants with the same efficiency. According to Lian Qiao, she needed to keep her body agile and movements nimble, so she couldn’t bundle herself up like the Michelin Man.

Bai Yang just thought she was showing off her figure – after all, this sister’s physique was stunning.

Their morning exercise was their main time for communication. As his counselor, Lian Qiao required Bai Yang to tell her about all his thoughts from the entire previous day including nighttime, even dreams – Lian Qiao said she could help interpret dreams, but she was probably a Freudian dream interpretation master, as she could explain anything Bai Yang dreamed about as youthful restlessness, linking any image to gender consciousness.

When Bai Yang said he dreamed of a huge black moon falling from the sky, Lian Qiao earnestly explained that a big moon meant a big sphere, and a big sphere meant a large cup size – face your desires, young man.

Lian Qiao also inquired about the frequency of Bai Yang’s “personal activities,” saying that the timing and frequency of male “personal activities” were just as significant an indicator as female menstrual cycles, reflecting physical and psychological health. Her expression was as serious as an experienced doctor, but after Bai Yang stammered his response, Lian Qiao doubled over laughing.

Only then did Bai Yang realize he’d been teased again.

“Tired?” Lian Qiao estimated their running distance, climbing up to sit on the lakeside viewing platform, patting the seat beside her. “Come sit and rest.”

Bai Yang sat down panting, gazing forward at the quiet dark lake water.

“It’s New Year’s Day, happy new year,” Lian Qiao suddenly said.

Bai Yang paused, “Happy New Year to you too.”

“Remember to wish her a happy new year tonight too,” Lian Qiao reminded him. “Do you know that song? The one Andy Lau and Julian Cheung sang – ‘Blessing you, in every day, forever colorful and diverse…'”

She couldn’t remember all the lyrics, only humming the tune.

“What era is this song from?” Bai Yang frowned.

“Haven’t heard it?” Lian Qiao hummed a few more lines, “Spring winds blow mountain flowers open for you, autumn moon accompanies you flying thousands of miles across the sky, let hundred nights of brilliance seep into sweet dreams, winter frost shall not reach you.”

“Never heard it.” Bai Yang yawned, “The songs you know must be older than me, my dad’s generation would probably know them.”

“What’s wrong with old songs? Old songs are classics tested by time.” Lian Qiao changed the subject, “You’re yawning constantly, what time did you fall asleep last night?”

“Two o’clock.”

“This won’t do.” Lian Qiao turned to cup Bai Yang’s face in her hands, holding his head still, then leaned in to examine his eyes. “Chronic insomnia, mental fatigue, very difficult to maintain work condition.”

“Tell that to them, Uncle Zhao and the others rest even less than me,” Bai Yang pushed her hands away, “Their work intensity is much higher than mine too.”

“But I’m not responsible for them,” Lian Qiao said very seriously. “I only need to be responsible for you. Have you tried the methods I taught you?”

“I tried.”

“Still like this?”

“Still like this.” Bai Yang nodded.

“Do you need me to make you a doctor’s appointment?” Lian Qiao asked.

“Do you think a doctor would help?”

Lian Qiao was silent for several seconds, took a deep breath, patted Bai Yang’s shoulder forcefully, and squeezed out a bright smile: “Cheer up! Where there’s a will there’s a way, things will work out naturally, our plan is progressing steadily, you can’t falter at this time, Comrade Bai Yang, core team member!”

“Uncle Zhao and the others are responsible to their superiors, you’re responsible for me, then who am I responsible to?” Bai Yang said.

You’re responsible to the Young Miss.

Someone answered.

Bai Yang turned sharply, finding Lian Qiao in thought – it wasn’t her who had spoken just now.

Bai Yang raised his hand to clutch his hair, a sudden throbbing pain deep in his brain, and said softly: “I’m responsible to the Young Miss?”

“Hmm… that’s not wrong, you are indeed responsible to her…” Lian Qiao nodded, but before she could finish speaking, she met his gaze. In the depths of that gaze seemed to be a deep well, with cold, bottomless water below, which secretly startled Lian Qiao. It was hard to imagine why a high school senior would have such eyes – that gaze was doubtful, scrutinizing, as if saying: Can you be responsible for her? Do you want to be responsible for her?

Lian Qiao realized Bai Yang’s doubts hadn’t developed in just a day or two. While the entire team was enthusiastically charging ahead, this youth sat at the center of the storm, seemingly uninfected and unaffected. Although separated by just a wall, the atmospheres in the living room and bedroom were completely different. The living room was serious, bright, and tense but orderly, while the bedroom was anxious, dark, cold, and oppressive. Lian Qiao tried hard to pull Bai Yang out of the darkness, but she never knew how to answer his questions.

Bai Yang asked her: Aren’t we using her?

Lian Qiao said you must believe, we are saving her.

Bai Yang asked again: Who exactly is saving whom?

He coldly observed the work of those around him, facing everyone’s common problems with a completely different attitude. As for what he was thinking, Lian Qiao didn’t know either. She found it difficult to put herself in Bai Yang’s position and perspective to consider the issues. The situation this young high school senior faced was unprecedented in human history. Every time he sat silently in the dark bedroom, Lian Qiao always felt she couldn’t see through him.

But he was just a young high school senior, only eighteen years old – what exactly had this massive life upheaval brought him?

As a counselor, Lian Qiao was powerless to pull Bai Yang out of this quagmire. She believed no one could do it. Bai Yang was already strong enough and had been protected well enough – if it were someone else, they might have already had a mental breakdown.

Lian Qiao could only watch helplessly as Bai Yang sank deeper and deeper, until the day when he was completely swallowed up – at 8 PM on January 3rd, BG4MSR returned early to Plum Blossom Villa.

Bai Yang was delighted, but delight quickly turned to amazement, then to terror.

“Why did you come back? Did the nuclear bomb detonate successfully? Now… now Plum Blossom Villa isn’t safe yet…”

“Listen to me, BG, listen to me.” The girl panted, “I don’t know how much time I have left, I need to go up now to attach the handheld radio to the Yagi antenna and switch the radio to the satellite signal, you can receive satellite signals right? That relay satellite, test if the link is clear.”

“Wait… what? What are you saying?”

Bai Yang was dumbfounded.

What was all this being thrown at him?

The other side sighed, was silent for several seconds, then said softly:

“BG, Bai Yang, the plan succeeded, the nuclear bomb detonated, I’m heading to Base One next to help you retrieve all the stored data, and complete the final objective of the operation.”

“No… you don’t need to rush, you can’t come back, you should stay in the safe zone for a full week…”

“There’s no time left.”

The girl said.

“I… I don’t understand, Young Miss, what’s your situation there? Tell us what happened, the command center will make an action plan for you.”

“Stop wasting words, the nuclear bomb did detonate successfully, but the terrible thing is killing one brought a whole swarm, they’re about to land in Nanjing soon, and once they land, it will be impossible to retrieve the data from Base One, I’m not sure how much time I have left, listen carefully, execute the predetermined plan now, I’m going to switch the radio signal next, there will be a period of silence, but you’ll receive the data soon, understand? If you understand, answer me.”

The girl spoke quickly and urgently, spilling out all the words at once like pouring beans.

“Understood.”

“Don’t worry, I’m running, running to the Zitai office building, trust me, I’m running very fast… One hour, at most one hour, you’ll receive the data.”

“No no no no no!” Bai Yang shouted, “You can’t go! It’s not safe! That’s not safe!”

The other end shouted back:

“If I don’t go will you go?! If you won’t go then shut up!”

Bai Yang was suddenly struck dumb.

He sat dazed in his chair, almost dropping the hand mic.

That girl suddenly became hysterical.

“Think about me too, BG.” Ban Xia’s voice gradually lowered, “I turned back halfway through escaping, but what can be done? If you’re the only one left in this world, then if you don’t do it no one will… Wait for me one hour, at most two hours, I’m running there, you know I run very fast.”

“You don’t have this responsibility.” Bai Yang’s voice was shaking, “Run away, don’t worry about these things anymore, run as far as you can…”

“But I want to save you all.”

The communication cut off. Ban Xia switched the radio signal, attaching the handheld radio to the rooftop Yagi antenna, and setting the Icom 725 radio to satellite signal reception mode in advance.

She had rehearsed these action plans many times with the command center, carrying them out with practiced ease. Ban Xia felt she didn’t have time to reach Base One and return to Plum Blossom Villa to open the satellite reception link, so she could only leave the handheld radio on the roof before departing, switching the radio to satellite signal reception mode in advance. This made the procedure convenient, but would also result in loss of contact.

The command center exploded.

A thunderbolt startled everyone who had just begun to relax. Bai Zhen and Wang Ning could hardly believe it, while Zhao Bowen cursed angrily in the living room, though no one knew who he could curse at.

But they could do nothing. Everyone fell into a long and powerless silent wait.

And what would be the final result of this waiting?

No one dared make any predictions or prophecies anymore. Zhao Bowen also collapsed dejectedly onto the sofa, burying his face deep in his hands. As the main promoter of the entire plan and the core leader of the whole team, this man who had always pushed forward relentlessly by any means necessary was finally at his wit’s end, able only to quietly await fate’s judgment.

There was only long silence on the radio, a silence that might never end.

Bai Yang endured what might have been the most grueling two hours of his life. Lian Qiao remained wordlessly silent; she could do nothing, not even hugs were useful anymore. If hugs could help, she would rather embrace that little girl fighting alone. So many people crouching in a peaceful and tranquil era yet unable to help at all – truly useless.

In the living room, a “beep—” sound occurred every two seconds, the relay satellite’s beacon. The continuous sound proved the data link was clear, but a clear link meant nothing – the road was connected, but without data transmission, it was all futile.

Bai Zhen and Wang Ning looked at each other helplessly, not daring to speak.

Compared to Bai Yang, they were even more at a loss. This was a purely unexpected turn of events. Everything had been going smoothly, so many obstacles overcome, so many problems solved, no difficulty too great to conquer with dedication, their confidence overflowing – then a blow to the head knocked these old monsters back to their original forms. Fate had merely taken a tiny turn, throwing them so far they couldn’t even see its taillights.

Human power ultimately has its limits, just as no number of people can scoop the moon from a well. The world always reminds humans of this point just when they think they can accomplish anything, making them recognize their smallness and powerlessness.

Mom poured them tea, but the tea grew cold without anyone touching it.

At 10:15 that night, the mechanical and regular indicator lights suddenly began flashing rapidly.

Everyone stood up abruptly.

“Signal!”

“There’s data… there’s data!” Zhao Bowen shouted, “All unit’s attention! There’s data!”

In a fortunate turn within the misfortune, the waiting had results. The data stream traversed twenty years, bursting forth from the Icom 725 radio in Room 804, Building 11 of Plum Blossom Villa, distributed across the country via cables and fiber optics. All units and departments standing by immediately began storage backup and decryption work.

“What?” Zhao Bowen answered the phone, “Video? Alright… please sync it over.”

He put down his phone and turned to tell the others:

“There’s a video in the transmitted data, no translation needed, should be footage, I asked them to sync it over.”

The monitor in the command center flickered and darkened.

Everyone could see something moving in the dim light, but the screen was covered in noise. After several seconds, people finally made out it was someone’s upper body; she was leaning into the camera lens adjusting something, accompanied by “click-clack” sounds from the speakers. After finishing the adjustments, the girl stepped back, her full torso now in view. Old Zhao and Old Bai nearly stuck their heads into the monitor.

The girl was still that girl, just with shorter hair, wearing a raincoat, dirty-faced, smiling somewhat disheveled.

“Hello? Can you hear me?” Ban Xia spoke to the lens, then turned her head as if asking someone, “It can record audio, right? Both sound and image can be recorded?”

She shifted toward the center of the frame again and began:

“This is a recording. I’ve successfully reached Base One. Bai Yang, Dad, Uncle Zhao, Uncle Wang, and everyone – if you’re seeing this video, it proves the data transmission is working normally.”

Lian Qiao’s hand on Bai Yang’s shoulder suddenly tightened. Usually, at this point, he would yelp, but Bai Yang remained silent.

“Base One is operating quite normally, the data is preserved very completely. Although I can’t make much sense of it, the display shows it’s very complete. I’ve packaged and sent it according to sequence…” The girl leaned against the wall behind her, using her hand to brush back her dirty hair, stroking her forehead as she took a breath. “A bit dizzy, probably from running too fast. I’ve never run as fast in my life as I did today, fell several times too.”

“The current time is 9:50 PM. I probably have about five more minutes to talk to you.”

Turning back time to half an hour earlier, Ban Xia found the entrance to Base One. It was beneath a manhole cover marked “Defense Optical Cable, No Digging.” The entrance was a vertical deep shaft, its bottom invisible even with a flashlight. Metal ladders were embedded in the shaft walls. The shaft could only accommodate one person entering. The girl climbed down the ladders, feeling a slight breeze coming up from below carrying a faint smell of machine oil, indicating the ventilation system was still working normally.

After climbing for about ten minutes, Ban Xia estimated it was about seven or eight stories deep before her feet touched the ground.

The bottom was almost completely dark. The girl shone her flashlight, looking left and right.

She found herself in a narrow tunnel, only tens of centimeters wide, barely enough for one person to pass through. High walls on both sides. Walking forward two steps, Ban Xia discovered a huge red button on the left wall – as big as a rice bowl, emitting red fluorescence, very eye-catching.

She tried pressing it.

The lights overhead flickered, and then everything brightened.

It turned out to be a power switch.

Ban Xia turned off her flashlight and surveyed her surroundings again. She had thought the narrow tunnel led to Base One’s entrance, but this narrow tunnel was all of Base One. Looking forward, the path ended in a dead end after about ten meters. The walls on both sides were embedded with displays, buttons, knobs, and levers, clearly control panels – this was the legendary Base One, looking simple, rough, cement gray everywhere, not even a chair to be found.

Bai Yang had told her that Base One contained simple but comprehensive operating instructions – even if you put a monkey in there and let it fumble around, it could learn how to get the base running.

Sure enough, Ban Xia noticed text on the left wall, in bold orange.

“First, please push the lever upward.”

Below the instruction was a thick black lever, like an airliner’s throttle. The girl gripped it with both hands and pushed up forcefully.

During the push, she heard “click-click” sounds from inside the wall, some mechanism starting up. She pushed the lever to the top and saw another line of text:

“Computer protective cover opened.”

After opening the computer protective cover, there was a thick long arrow on the wall pointing forward to the second instruction, “Second, please turn the knob counterclockwise to the left.”

Ban Xia followed the instruction and turned the knob below the text. When turned left, small text appeared on the knob dial reading “Power connected.” Following the arrow one step forward, she saw the third instruction.

“Third, please pull the lever downward.”

Ban Xia pulled the lever down with effort, quite strenuous. After pulling it to the bottom there was a “click” sound, and a “whirring” noise started inside the wall, as if motors were running. The wall seemed to hide an engine room – gears, crankshafts, chains, all kinds of sounds. Ban Xia curiously put her ear against it to listen for a moment.

Just as Bai Yang had said, the base’s operations were foolproof – even a trained monkey could master them. The designers were so worried she might miss information or not see the text clearly that every instruction was in bold orange, with arrows pointing out the operation steps one by one. And what she needed to do was just those few things, just pulling or pushing, like when humans sent chimpanzees into space in the early days, letting them operate the spacecraft by pulling or stepping – step correctly and get a banana.

Corresponding to the surface simplicity was the unseen complexity within the walls. To ensure Base One’s reliability, the engineers used many sturdy mechanical structures. These robust metal mechanisms bathed in lubricating oil could resist typhoons, earthquakes, and even explosion shock waves, and wouldn’t break down for many years. And restarting them was also simple, like using a crank to start a diesel tractor – just needed force.

Brute force works wonders.

Ban Xia pulled down the lever under the final instruction and then plugged in the disconnected cables according to their colors. After several seconds, the display on the other wall slowly lit up.

She turned around to face the display screen on the wall, just about to operate it.

Suddenly someone spoke from the speaker overhead, startling her.

“Hello!”

Ban Xia was shocked, looking up.

“H…Hello?”

“Hello, welcome to Base One. I am Tmall Genie.”

“Tmall Genie?”

Everyone in the living room turned to look at Zhao Bowen with disbelieving eyes. Old Zhao looked around innocently.

“The artificial intelligence you sent to doomsday, that AI…” Bai Zhen pointed at the white speaker on the refrigerator, “is this? The fur-licking genie?”

“We tested all mature natural language recognition AIs on the market, and Tmall Genie performed the best.” Zhao Bowen spread his hands, indicating they had to pick the tallest among dwarfs – it wasn’t that he had a special fondness for Tmall Genie, but what could he do when the competition wasn’t up to par?

“There’s only this AI in Base One, but it doesn’t seem very intelligent either,” the girl in the recording continued. “Not sure if it was always like this or if it’s broken. Most of the time it just greets you, like this…”

Ban Xia turned her head and called out to the screen:

“Tmall Genie, can you make the lights brighter?”

After a few seconds, a voice from off-screen responded:

“Hello, I am Tmall Genie. If you want to obtain paper reports, they are in safe box number one below the display. If there are none, please restart the printer. If you want media data, mechanical hard drives, and optical disks are in safe box number two. If you want to initiate satellite transmission, for the Ka/Ku band please rotate handle one, for the X/S band please rotate handle two, for the shortwave band please rotate handle three. If you’re unsure which band, please rotate all handles.”

“Can you make the lights brighter?” Ban Xia repeated.

“Hello, I am Tmall Genie. If you want to obtain paper reports…” it repeated the same response.

“See, in most cases, it only says this.” The girl shrugged, casually waving a thick stack of paper reports. “I feel kind of sorry for it, stuck underground for twenty years with no one to talk to, maybe it developed issues… As for this report, I took it out, but I can’t understand it.”

“All the reports look like this, take a look, maybe you can understand what it means.”

She opened the report in her hands, bringing it close to the lens. On the white A4 paper were only two words.

In bold SimHei font:

STOP VVVLBI.

The designers of Base One had thought everything through comprehensively, backing up data in multiple forms – paper reports, hard drives and optical disks, and satellite data links. They’d even prepared satellite antennas for each band. Ban Xia couldn’t remember which frequency band the relay satellite operated on, so she activated all the antennas. It was hard to say whether this setup was advanced or outdated – it was a high-speed data transmission link, a crystallization of modern communication engineering, yet the antenna height and direction still had to be adjusted manually with a large helm wheel.

She didn’t know where exactly the antennas were placed. They might be hidden on some building’s roof overhead, normally tucked away in cement ducts, only emerging when activated. The equipment was probably rusty from years of disuse, which would explain why turning the wheel was so difficult.

The computer had a simple graphical interface that could be operated by touch screen. It only exposed one file browsing and sending function. Ban Xia just needed to drag the compressed packages into the sending queue, and they would be encoded, compressed, and transmitted to the relay satellite via an antenna.

The paper reports and hard drive data were stored in different safes. The printer, perhaps driven mad during the long wait, had spewed out reports filling the entire safe. When the girl opened the door, all the papers cascaded out.

It gave her quite a fright, making her fall back onto the ground.

Ban Xia quickly learned to operate this system. She threw the compressed packages into the sending queue one by one, now only needing to press the send button.

Before pressing the button, she hesitated for several seconds, her hand hovering over it, wanting to press but unable to. She thought silently, then took a deep breath, slowly crouched down, and leaned her head against the cold wall.

What would happen when this button was pressed?

The fate of the entire world seemed concentrated on this tiny button. She desperately wanted someone to talk to, but in the base, there was only the sound of ventilation fans. Ban Xia felt a bit cold and hugged herself tightly.

Suddenly there was a muffled “boom” from overhead, followed by red lights flooding the base.

Ban Xia frantically pressed the send button.

The alarm indicated something was breaking through Base One’s defense walls.

A large group of Knife Visitors were landing. Before entering the base, Ban Xia had looked up and could already see their full form. The nearest Big Eyes was almost directly above her head, its height rapidly decreasing. The target was likely the Zifeng Tower – these things always had a peculiar fondness for tall buildings.

Twenty years ago, people had designed this sturdy fortress underground that even nuclear bombs couldn’t penetrate, but it wouldn’t last long against the Knife Visitors. Everyone knew Big Eyes had blades at least forty meters long. That Knife Visitor took only five minutes to dig through over ten meters of rock and soil, breaking through the first defense. When it penetrated the base’s outermost reinforced concrete, alarms blared inside and the computer began a countdown.

The computer predicted the base would be breached in nine minutes.

The data transmission speed was as slow as a snail, the progress bar inching forward bit by bit.

Ban Xia estimated that before the Knife Visitor broke through all defenses and ground the base to pieces, this cursed progress bar might not reach 100%.

If Base One was destroyed before data transmission was completed, the plan might all be for nothing.

She had to do something.

Even buying one more minute would help.

“This is quite an interesting place. I somewhat regret not coming here earlier. Bai Yang, Dad, Uncle Zhao, Uncle Wang, and everyone – you’re all amazing. You accomplished everything you set out to do. The nuclear bomb was delivered, and Base One is operating. Although there’s no one here, and no food, at least it’s alive, can even chat with Tmall Genie… Tmall Genie!”

“Hello, I am Tmall Genie.”

Ban Xia tried communicating with Tmall Genie multiple times. Sometimes it understood her words, sometimes it didn’t.

For example, when Ban Xia asked if it knew what Knife Visitors were, it didn’t understand, but when she asked if the computer’s camera could record video, it gave an affirmative answer.

“I wanted to talk with it more, maybe if we talked more it would become smarter, become like a normal person… Oh no, the alarm’s going off again, it’s indicating the second defense has been breached, but the data hasn’t finished transmitting. Can’t it go any faster? I have to leave here now. It’s a pity I couldn’t get to know Tmall Genie better, it’s quite pitiful, just like Master Huang was pitiful. Take good care of it.”

Ban Xia made a final check that the data-sending queue was normal, then closed all the safe doors on the wall. She had to do something, had to draw the Knife Visitor’s attention away from the base.

“I think I’m really a… in teacher’s words, I’m a model worker, I’ve done so many things, so many things I never dared imagine before.”

“Of course, this was all accomplished with your help, especially Uncle Zhao, Dad, and Uncle Wang – you’re all amazing, very reliable. Please accept my praise again!”

Ban Xia crouched down to tie her shoelaces tight, then grabbed the cold ladder and started climbing back up.

Overhead the lights were flickering. She could already hear the “boom” sounds, dust falling like rain, as if in an earthquake.

“BG, Bai Yang, I have something to tell you, um… originally I only wanted to tell you, but this video will be seen by many people. Well, doesn’t matter who sees it. After I’m gone, let the flood come. I want to apologize to you, I’m sorry for yelling at you just now. But you’re a boy, getting yelled at is no big deal, right? The teacher used to scold me every day.”

She climbed the ladder rung by rung, passing through the narrow shaft.

“This world is complicated. Just now when sending the files I hesitated for quite a while. You know, if this really can save the world, overturning all time and starting over, doesn’t that mean I won’t exist? Or that I never existed at all? If that happens, you can’t forget me, after all, I helped you all so much.”

“Ah, can’t figure it out, too complicated. This world and time are all too complicated. But complexity often means there are many, many possibilities. BG, the reason I wanted to speak specially to you is because I think you’ll be sad later. You’re the type who likes to keep things bottled up inside. Don’t deny it, I’ve seen right through you in all this time. But you know, since the world and time are such complicated things, so complicated that no one can fully understand them, then BG, dear BG, dearest BG, most dearest BG, you must have hope. In that vast future world and that long flow of time, you must believe…”

The ladder reached its top. The girl pushed open the manhole cover with all her strength, raised her head, and saw the deep red sky.

“We’ll meet again.”