After three failures, the genius trio finally began to take Bai Yang’s suggestions seriously.

On the evening of October 13, 2019, they convened the Second Amateur Radio Phenomena and Technical Symposium in Room 8**5 of Qinyuan, Meihua Villa.

The attending guests were:

Director Wang Ning, representative of the Nanjing Radio Administration Committee.

Associate Professor Zhao Bowen, representative of the School of Physics, Nanjing University.

Bai Zhen, representative of Nanjing ride-hailing drivers.

Bai Yang, representative of senior students from Nanjing Aviation High School.

The meeting was chaired by Bai Yang, a senior student from Nanjing Aviation High School and an unlicensed illegal HAM operator.

“When you have too many time capsules, it becomes difficult to maintain double-blind principles. One or two might be manageable, but if you’re carrying five or eight of them, people can’t help but get curious,” Zhao Bowen sank into the sofa, holding his thermos. “Moreover, when there are many, hiding them becomes challenging. There’s a paradox here – what we send should be as inconspicuous as possible. Too many, too big, or too special won’t work.”

“Where did Little Yang hide it before?” Wang Ning asked.

“In Crescent Lake,” Bai Yang answered.

“Who did you arrange to help you hide the time capsule?” Wang Ning inquired further.

“Forgot,” Bai Yang shrugged. “The night after the time capsule was buried, I headbutted the ground, gave myself a concussion and amnesia. I can’t remember who I entrusted with the task.”

Of course, Bai Yang wouldn’t reveal this to anyone.

It was curious – subjectively, he absolutely wouldn’t reveal the information to anyone. Without question, this was Bai Yang’s free will, his subjective initiative.

But he had known days ago that the girl would find the time capsule. The capsule being found predicted that the future Bai Yang would do this.

So was this decision he was making now truly his free will, or was it destiny working in mysterious ways?

Bai Yang pondered in his mind. He found it hard to imagine that a future completely unknown to him was already established history to BG4MSR. Were the decisions he thought he was making merely already settled pages of history? Was this a coincidence? Was it his subjective choices aligning perfectly with the course of history, or was he being controlled by some unknowable force, pushing him down a predetermined path?

Bai Yang raised his hand and waved it through the air.

As if trying to brush away invisible puppet strings attached to his limbs.

“What’s wrong, Yang Yang?” Zhao Bowen asked from across the room.

“Mosquito,” Bai Yang said.

Bai Yang had considered what would happen if he went to find Yan Zhihan now and got her to tell him the exact location of the time capsule, then revealed this information – what would happen to BG4MSR who had already found the time capsule?

But he only entertained the thought, never intending to act on it.

It was precisely because he wouldn’t act on it that BG4MSR was able to find the time capsule. If he had been someone who would act on such thoughts, BG4MSR wouldn’t have found the capsule in the first place, and the plan would still have failed.

Bai Yang contemplated silently.

This was part of history.

Including the fact that he would have thoughts like “Go ask Yan Ge about the exact location of the capsule” but not act on them – this too was part of history.

Thinking about this, Bai Yang grew deeply worried.

If everything he did was part of history, didn’t that mean the future couldn’t be changed? Black Moon would descend? The apocalypse would inevitably come.

“How many time capsules are we preparing to send this batch?” Zhao Bowen asked.

“To maintain secrecy, we shouldn’t send too many. Let’s cut it in half,” Wang Ning pondered. “I think five should be enough. This time we’ll try Little Yang’s previous method.”

Wang Ning had conceded.

He had to admit that Bai Yang’s damn time capsules were different from what he’d dealt with before.

It was hard to understand why sending a time capsule could be so difficult.

“Yang Yang’s method still has room for improvement. To ensure it’s double-blind, the person preparing the capsule and the person burying it can’t know each other,” Zhao Bowen pointed out the flaw in Bai Yang’s plan. “If two people know each other, there’s still a possibility they could conspire about the exact location. Ideally, the person preparing the capsule and the person burying it should be strangers with no contact or connection whatsoever.”

Simple to say, but as the four of them thought it through carefully, the execution presented numerous challenges. It was almost impossible to ensure two people had absolutely no connection.

They gradually put the entire operation plan down on paper:

First, Wang Ning’s side would prepare the time capsules and send someone to carry them to meet the second person at a designated location.

The second person, dispatched by Zhao Bowen’s side, would be responsible for receiving the capsules and hiding them in Crescent Lake.

Since the two people wouldn’t know each other, the plan had to be meticulous, with predetermined meeting location, time, and recognition signals.

After hiding the time capsules, the person responsible would use WeChat voice messages to relay the location, as suggested by Bai Yang.

The first half of the plan had to mesh perfectly with the second half, like interlocking gears. It was hard to imagine such an elaborate plan, reminiscent of intelligence organizations passing secret information, was merely for delivering packages. People from both sides would be selected by Wang Ning and Zhao Bowen respectively, and they each had their problems to solve – Wang Ning’s person couldn’t secretly open and peek at the capsules, while Zhao Bowen’s person couldn’t mention this to anyone afterward, including Zhao Bowen himself.

Note that this still didn’t achieve complete separation between the person delivering and the person hiding the capsules.

The person Wang Ning arranged would necessarily know Wang Ning.

The person Zhao Bowen arranged would necessarily know Zhao Bowen.

And Wang Ning and Zhao Bowen were old acquaintances.

This established a relationship chain.

Theoretically, there was a possibility the two people could know each other through Wang Ning and Zhao Bowen.

But this was the best they could do.

During the discussion, Bai Zhen proposed another plan: hire a stranger online or from the street to bury the capsules.

But the four quickly ruled out this option.

While randomly picking someone from the street would satisfy the stranger requirement, it also brought high levels of uncertainty and instability. In an extreme case, what if this person just ran off with the time capsules? Additionally, finding a safe location to bury the capsules wasn’t simple – it required careful selection and time. A random person might just do it perfunctorily, causing the plan to fail.

They realized it was impossible to satisfy all conditions. They couldn’t simultaneously sever connections while ensuring the plan remained controllable and stable – these were contradictory requirements.

“I’ll find someone to help. I’ll prepare the capsules first, then hand them over after they’re packaged,” Wang Ning said. “They’ll be responsible for passing them to the second person.”

“I’ll find the second person,” Zhao Bowen continued. “We need to set a meeting time and place.”

“One more thing to note – Old Wang, you can’t let Old Zhao know who your person is, and Old Zhao, you can’t let Old Wang know who your person is,” Bai Zhen said. “You’re two parts of the plan, you both need to maintain complete secrecy from each other. The only things you both know should be the meeting place, time, and recognition signals.”

“Good,” Wang Ning nodded, standing up with Zhao Bowen. “We’ll go prepare now. The newly ordered time capsules should arrive soon.”

“Uncle Wang, remember to add rat poison!” Bai Yang reminded.

“I know,” Wang Ning grumbled. “This is truly the most troublesome time capsule I’ve ever dealt with in my life.”