It was already ten at night when Ban Xia returned home—cold, exhausted, and in pain, her lips blue from the cold. Her first action wasn’t to report her safety to Command via radio but to quickly empty the thermos for a hot bath. She immersed herself in the water basin, head drooping over the edge, her dirty little face staring blankly at the rising white steam, lost in thought for a long while.

In the mirror, the naked girl soaked in the water, her curved back showing protruding vertebrae—so thin, barely human. She gazed dazedly at her reflection, hair clumped together with mud and water—so dirty, barely human either.

If Teacher were still here, she’d crouch down and scratch her head.

“Why are you as dirty as a stray dog outside?”

That’s definitely what she’d say.

“Stay away from me until you’re clean!”

She’d say that too.

“Ha… ha… achoo!”

Soaking in cold water for too long inevitably led to a cold, and not just a cold but menstrual cramps too. Two streams of clear mucus hung down, and Ban Xia wiped them with her hands, left hand then right hand, only for them to drip again.

The hot water gradually turned her skin red, driving away the chill until her body finally warmed up. Finally, the girl stood before the mirror examining herself—truly haggard, her form distorted, body covered in blue and purple bruises, arms, shoulders, waist, abdomen, and calves riddled with injuries. She looked like a wounded soldier fresh from the battlefield.

It had been dangerous.

She’d nearly lost her life.

Underground was even more dangerous than above. She’d rather be hunted by the big eye than fall into the rushing dark river, even though the river had saved her life. If not for the backpack, Ban Xia would be a floating corpse now. Being beheaded by the big eye would be quicker than drowning in the deep, pitch-black, seawater-filled tunnels.

Ban Xia recalled the big eye she’d just encountered. It was hard to imagine where such a thing came from. Its red iris was like an eternal blood sea flowing into an abyss, and its black pupil was the abyss itself. What kind of monster was it? Its movements were mysterious, appearing and disappearing like a ghost, and always able to find her, its gaze extraordinarily sharp.

She vividly remembered its gaze. Once locked in the big eye’s sight, the girl felt plunged into an ice cave, her scalp tingling, as if her soul was being sucked away, no matter the distance.

They always met through eye contact, as if their eyeballs would lock together. At their closest, Ban Xia was only a meter from it. At that moment, Ban Xia’s mind went blank with terror. When her eyeball turned left, the big eye’s eyeball turned left; when her eyeball turned right, the big eye’s eyeball turned right. Ban Xia hadn’t had time to think about these details before, but now at home, she had time to consider.

Strange.

Was it locking onto her line of sight?

Ban Xia stood before the mirror with a flashlight, turning her eyeballs left then right, watching her reflection’s eyeballs follow left then right—this was a mirror image.

Couldn’t figure it out. Never mind, stop thinking about it.

Should go report that she’s safe.

They must be very worr… but why should she run herself ragged while they sat comfortably? Infuriating, too infuriating, the more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

Unfair.

Let them stew a while.

Hmph!

Ban Xia thought fiercely in her heart.

She wrapped herself in a blanket and lay on the bed, wanting to rest for a while. She wanted to properly compensate herself, and rest well before reporting in.

That nap lasted until noon the next day.

When both sides finally restored communication, the old men at Command were nearly crying. Old Wang immediately drove to Qixia Temple to fulfill his vow. That morning he’d been burning incense before Buddha, muttering that Buddha must protect her safety or there’d be consequences, and by evening communication was restored—the little girl had bounced back alive and well. Damn it, Buddha worked better than radar. Wang Ning’s old tears flowed freely; he nearly converted on the spot.

He immediately left to drive to Qixia Temple to give Buddha his promised offering.

Zhao Bowen had finished two packs of cigarettes. During those dozen-plus hours of lost contact, he hadn’t closed his eyes, sitting at the bottom of the pitch-black stairwell smoking, one cigarette after another.

Bai Yang went downstairs to find him, and he showed Yang Yang his white hair, also one after another.

“Taking this job has shortened my life by at least twenty years,” Old Zhao said. “But if she hadn’t come back, I’d be jumping from the eighth floor tomorrow.”

Bai Yang looked at his back and shoulders, feeling a subtle suffocation.

Old Bai and his son took turns on duty, monitoring the radio, like a control tower waiting for a lost aircraft. They were hoping for a miracle, but Bai Yang was exhausted after a day and night of turmoil. As he kept watch, he fell asleep, until he vaguely heard someone calling “BG” in his headphones, thinking it was a dream.

“BG?”

“BG? BG?”

“BG are you there? BG4MXH?”

“BG4MXH? This is BG4MSR, calling BG4MXH, please respond if you hear me.”

“BG4MXH, can you hear me? BG4MXH? BG4… Bai Yang! Bai Yang!”

The girl grew frustrated.

“Damn it, can you hear me talking!?”

Bai Yang startled awake, slapped himself, and realized it wasn’t a dream.

A massive weight lifted simultaneously from hundreds of hearts—that day, Qinhuai District in Nanjing experienced a magnitude 2.2 earthquake.

Although the second phase of Operation Red East ultimately failed, the silver lining was that Ban Xia herself was largely unharmed, just with shorter hair.

She was quite regretful about it, having treasured her black hair, and spending time caring for it daily.

“Short hair can grow back,” Bai Yang consoled her. “A short head can’t grow back.”

“I did save my life though… ha… achoo!” the girl said. “But I didn’t even see it carrying a blade, don’t know what it cut with. Scary. If it has a blade, it must be incredibly fast, so fast I couldn’t see it—an invisible swift blade. You call it the Blade Runner; that name is quite fitting.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It was that close, BG, you know? That close and my head would’ve been taken off. Don’t know if I’m lucky or unlucky, stepping right into a well. Goodness, do I have some strange constitution? A hole-stepping constitution, always stepping into holes when I go out.”

“Mm-hmm…”

“Underground was even more dangerous than above ground, wow, that water was so black and deep and fast, I was swept away as soon as I fell in, drank so much water, all seawater, salty and bitter. I hit something when I fell too, hurt so badly, why do I always hit something when I fall into wells… Good thing my backpack caught on something, otherwise I’d be feeding fish in the sewer now.”

“Mm… hmm.”

“Oh, don’t cry!”

“I’m not crying.”

“You are crying, I can hear you.”

“I’m not.”

“You are!”

“I… I just have a cold.”

“You’re crying!”

Old Zhao lit his last cigarette, throwing the empty pack on the ground and crushing it. He went in and said to everyone: “Get ready, it’s time to carry Miss Qiu’s sedan chair. Humans alone can’t handle this anymore—the lady needs to leave her maiden home.”