“Now, everyone take out Set 38. We’ve covered this question before, do you remember? Look at multiple choice question five, is this type of problem familiar…”
The math teacher explained problems upfront. The air was filled with the sound of rustling test papers, and fine chalk dust spinning in the winter sunlight. Bai Yang sat at his desk propping up his head, his pen tip touching the test paper, seeming both to be and not be listening to the lesson. The classroom’s air conditioning wasn’t on, and his index and middle fingers holding the pen were getting stiff. After entering December, the temperature curve had wilted like a hibernating snake, never climbing above ten degrees again. Autumn had been especially short this year – the French plane trees on Zhongshan Gate Street were still in summer when their leaves detached from branches under the effect of abscisic acid, but by the time they hit the ground it was winter.
The French plane trees were fifteen meters tall, and autumn was fifteen meters long.
Half a month had passed since Bai Yang’s life returned to normal. Half a month ago, Zhao Bowen had taken away his Icom 725 amateur radio, the analog repeater, the motherboard, and all related materials – not even leaving a single draft paper. All the work had been taken over by professional departments. Once the state machinery started running, the resources and capabilities they commanded were far beyond what a high school student could match. Bai Yang could imagine his old amateur radio being treated like a treasure by Uncle Zhao and the others, placed in a top-tier electromagnetic anechoic chamber, and examined with the most advanced detection methods. A large group of experts would be watching it day and night. For an old, broken amateur radio to achieve such status – it had truly brought glory to its ancestors.
So Bai Yang became just another ordinary senior student at Nanjing Aeronautics and Astronautics University Affiliated High School. He no longer needed to save the world; he only needed to save his college entrance exam scores.
The enormous pressure that had been weighing on his shoulders dissipated in an instant. Along with the pressure, the shadow of doomsday’s approach also vanished. People of Bai Yang’s age always had an inexplicable blind faith in national power. He always thought that somewhere he couldn’t see, there must exist methods to solve all problems. As long as the state stepped in, everything would be fine. Whatever apocalyptic crisis there might be ceased to exist the moment professional departments took over.
Look at all the classmates sitting in the classroom, look at the teacher standing at the podium, and the students on the playground outside, the cars on the road beyond the school – millions upon millions of people in this world were living normal lives. How could there be any doomsday coming?
Looking back now, that girl surviving alone twenty years in the future seemed as distant and hazy as an illusion. Everything that had happened felt like a dream. Bai Yang had woken from the dream, and this world continued turning as before. BG4MSR was just someone who had appeared in a dream.
Only… had she received his photos?
Had Uncle Zhao successfully sent his photos to her?
Bai Yang wondered silently.
Would she be able to work well with those people?
He hoped Uncle Zhao could apologize on his behalf and explain everything clearly. Otherwise, whenever he thought about breaking his promise, Bai Yang felt uncomfortable all over.
“Bai Yang! Bai Yang!”
Bai Yang startled awake.
His homeroom teacher, Teacher Liu, pointed at the test paper on his desk. “We’re turning the page.”
Bai Yang hurriedly lowered his head to turn the page, but didn’t know which page to turn to, and had to secretly peek at his neighbor’s test paper.
“You’re in a senior year now, pay attention in class,” the teacher raised his voice. “You only have a few months of classes left. Treasure your high school life. Now is the sprint phase – if you students work harder to raise your scores a bit more, getting into NUAA isn’t just a dream.”
“Little Bai Yang! Why are you deigning to walk with us again lately?” Leqin threw an arm around his neck, grinning. “What about your world-saving grand plan? Is it complete?”
“No,” said Bai Yang. “Just that others took over. My work is finished.”
“Didn’t they give you a medal?” Yan Zhihan asked from behind. “After all, you saved the world. Such great merit – I think getting a guaranteed admission to Peking or Tsinghua shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Well then I’ll try my best, see if the country will remember my hard work and enormous contributions, and reward me with guaranteed admission to Tsinghua,” Bai Yang said lazily. “Better yet, throw in an apartment inside Beijing’s Fifth Ring Road and a job with high pay, low work, and close to home. What do you think?”
“If you get rich and famous, don’t forget us!” Young Master He patted his left shoulder.
“If you get rich and famous, don’t forget us!” Brother Yan patted his right shoulder.
“Get out of here – your family’s so rich, Young Master, why even bother with exams?” Bai Yang knocked away both their hands. “Just have your dad spend money to send you to Harvard.”
After the evening self-study ended, Bai Yang walked home with Yan Zhihan and He Leqin as usual. The three chatted idly as they walked, arms around shoulders, meandering along. Since he no longer needed to rush home to operate the radio, Bai Yang wasn’t in a hurry and could take his time strolling. The road was filled with steady traffic. It was the time when high school students were heading home – students riding bicycles, standing by the road waiting for taxis, walking home, coming and going. Looking around, there were NUAA Affiliated High School uniforms everywhere. Bai Yang, He Leqin, and Yan Zhihan were just unremarkable members among the thousands upon thousands of students in Nanjing.
No doomsday, no space-time radio, and no Black Moon in the sky.
This was an ordinary world.
Bai Yang walked into the residential complex with his backpack, greeted Uncle Cai Dong in the security booth at the entrance, and “thump-thump-thumped” up the stairs. He climbed all eight floors in one go and took out his key to open the door.
In the entryway, he changed his shoes while feeling for the light switch. Since he was no longer tinkering with the radio, his parents had returned to their normal sleep schedule. They were already asleep by eleven at night. Uncle Wang didn’t come over anymore. The Amateur Radio Emergency Communications Command Center for Reversing the Future and Saving the World hadn’t operated for a long time, and likely would never operate again. Under the bright lights, the living room was spotlessly clean – the messy radio, repeater, motherboard, and materials seemed to have never existed.
Those people had cleaned up so quickly and thoroughly that even if Old Bai and Old Wang wanted to make these events public now, to tell others, they wouldn’t be able to find any evidence or proof.
Bai Yang pushed open his room door with his backpack on. His mom’s groggy voice came from the bedroom: “Yang?”
“Mm, I’m back.”
“There’s food in the kitchen,” Mom said.
“Got it.” Bai Yang put down his backpack and went to the kitchen to open the rice cooker. As usual, there were warm stir-fried noodles, clumped together, but still edible.
Bai Yang carried the plate back to his room and sat in his chair. This was his familiar life trajectory. Everything seemed unchanged, yet something was different.
He turned his gaze to the bookshelf beside the desk. A large space was empty in one of the shelf compartments. Something had long occupied that spot, leaving a rectangular impression on the old wooden shelf.
Bai Yang fell silent, staring at the bookshelf for a long time.
That light-colored mark, long unexposed to sunlight, was the only evidence that a piece of his life had been taken away.
BG4MXH!
BG4MXH! I went to Xuanwu Bay again today, saw lots of roselle flowers along the way, and picked some to make tea.
BG4MXH, the temperature dropped today, I need to wear more clothes. I have a thick cotton coat. Is it cold where you are?
BG4MXH, programming is so hard, so hard so hard so hard so hard—!
BG4MXH, do you want my photo? Then you have to trade it for yours! Equivalent exchange, understand?
BG4MXH! BG4MXH! BG4MXH! BG4MXH! BG4MXH!
Bai Yang startled awake.
His head was full of someone calling BG4MXH.
Bai Yang pulled out a pair of headphones from his drawer, plugged them into his phone to play music, then lay back on his bed and closed his eyes. He wanted to drive away the chaotic thoughts in his mind. In the quiet of the night, his phone played “Wave After Wave” sung by Richie Ren.