Once Upon in Nanjing-Chapter 10 - 9: City of the Twin Moons

Ban Xia strolled along the coast of Xuanwu Bay, stuffing anything tasty she found into her bag. The tidal flats on the slopes by the shore were often covered with oysters, clams, and barnacles, so plentiful that she could never finish them all, as well as countless sea roaches that scattered in all directions at the sight of a person approaching, and seagulls too—they circled in the sky and occasionally dropped down to follow behind Ban Xia, picking up whatever she left behind.

Surviving alone in this empty world, what's most important?

Food is most important.

Regrettably, in the summer it's hard to preserve food for long periods, and Ban Xia couldn't find a refrigerator to use, nor did she have access to an abundant and unlimited supply of electricity. Hence, most food could only be smoked or pickled with salt or sugar. Ban Xia would take the small fish she caught by the sea back home to make fish sauce.

Using abandoned mosquito nets to make fish traps, she could catch a large number of small fish and shrimp—most no longer than a finger. Ban Xia preserved those too small to cook individually by adding lots of salt and then sealing them in plastic barrels for fermentation. The bodies of the fish and shrimp decomposed in an anaerobic environment, finally producing a brownish liquid—fish sauce.

Her teacher called it the 'liquid of the decomposed fish and shrimp.'

This decomposition liquid tasted salty and umami, and could replace soy sauce.

In this world, the wise are never short of food.

On the shallow shores close to the bank, Ban Xia often managed to catch flounder, using captured bloodworms as bait. Her fishing gear was kept hidden in a sheltered place by the sea, ready to use whenever she needed it—since there was no one else but her. If Ban Xia didn't retrieve it, the fishing rod would remain until millions of years later when carbon fiber and plastic would decompose naturally.

In a world devoid of people, if not disturbed by animals, only time could erase traces of Ban Xia's activities. Sometimes, she would set a plastic bottle full of water in the middle of the road and check on it a month later, the bottle still standing there just as before.

Two months later, she'd see it there still.

Five months later, it was still there.

Truly, it was lonely.

If only it would move an inch.

The Sun slanted west, the black moon had already peeked above the horizon, while the white moon had yet to appear. It was time for Ban Xia to head back. She estimated the time precisely—it would be dark in about an hour, and she would reach home just before nightfall.

Her teacher's survival rule number four in the post-apocalyptic world: When both moons are up, do not go outside under any circumstances!

The world is beautiful during the day, but dangerous at night.

Countless times her teacher admonished her, forbidding her from going out at night—from seven in the evening until six the next morning, the only thing Ban Xia could do was stay in her fortress, draw the curtains, and sleep. Building 11 of Zhongqin Garden in Meihua Villa, though appearing to be an old residential building, had already been transformed into a secure fortress by her teacher, enclosed with a high-voltage electric fence.

"The heart wants to soar, hard to stay and no need to chase; dreams want to shatter, just let me sleep a bit more..." The girl hummed as she rode her bike through the city wall in the orange-red sunset, "The scenery is vast, clouds return at the end of the earth and sky; all the rushing about in this life is tiring."

"At such a young age, we have to learn to face it, some things are truly embarrassing when remembered."

The bicycle's frame creaked rhythmically, as if accompanying her song. Ban Xia turned up the volume and sang joyfully.

"At such a young age, we should learn to be fearless—!"

She was always a happy person.

...

...

...

When Ban Xia pushed her bicycle through the main gate of the residential complex, the silver disc had just begun to reveal half of its face from the dark cluster of distant buildings—the white moon had just risen, and the timing was perfect.

Today she came back with a full haul; on the way home, she even casually picked a large bunch of kale, which was found everywhere on the streets of Nanjing and was edible.

She parked her bike under the shelter of the complex and then carried the heavy bag through the electric fence into the apartment building.

"I'm back—"

Ban Xia suddenly became silent, cautiously looking back as the moonlight cast shadows over the buildings of the complex.

This content is taken from fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm.

Just at that moment, a sudden numbness swept over her scalp; something was watching her. The gaze was like that of a python before striking—cold, bloody, and dangerous—and the feeling made goosebumps crawl up from her feet all the way to the top of her head. Ban Xia stood still, her hand quietly slipping to the handgun in its holster, then fixed her gaze on the opposite residential building and the bushes. In the darkness where the moonlight couldn't reach, something was stirring.

What was it?

The girl held her breath, concentrating her mind to listen for any movement.

She slowly drew her pistol from the holster and turned off the safety.

She didn't know where the other was, but Ban Xia was certain that thing was watching her, its gaze never shifting away. This was an intuition honed over many years, she was extremely sensitive to the gaze behind her, especially a predator's gaze.

Seconds and minutes passed, and Ban Xia's limbs gradually tensified. She quickly planned her response strategies in her mind. Although separated by an electric net, the net would only be powered when she returned to her room; hence, at this moment, it was ineffective for protection. When her life was at stake, she was not stingy with bullets. Just as she pondered whether to fire a warning shot at the entity opposite her, the gaze that weighed upon her lifted quietly.

Ban Xia sighed with relief, pinched her clothes, and discovered she was covered in cold sweat after just two minutes.

She carried the bag upstairs, poured all the caught fish into a large plastic basin, cleaned them with scissors, and then packed them with a hefty amount of salt to cure.

All of this was done, and it was nine o'clock in the evening.

Smelling of fish and sweat, Ban Xia had to take a bath first. Wind had blown on her all afternoon by the sea, leaving her skin sticky. She quickly threw her dirty clothes onto the sofa and jumped into the bathroom for a wash. The shower had long been unusable, and for a girl not to be able to enjoy a pleasant bath was a great torment. Therefore, she and her teacher had once thought hard about installing a water tank and a pump on the roof, but in the end, it didn't happen.

Now if Ban Xia wanted hot water, she had to burn it herself, using a honeycomb briquette stove, then pour it into a thermos after boiling.

After a refreshing bath, the girl put on her clothes and, with wet hair, sat in her room. She hurried through these trivial matters, even skipping dinner, all because she wanted to contact the person from last night as soon as possible.

"Mom and Dad, wait for my good news!"

She hugged her parents briefly — they still felt just as rigid.

The black ICOM725 radio sat on the table, an old device older than herself and even her teacher. She wondered how much longer it could last. When moving the radio, Ban Xia could hear a metallic clink inside, perhaps a loose part.

But Ban Xia didn't dare to dismantle it; she didn't know how to fix it and was afraid to break it further.

The girl sat in the chair, hugging her knees, her dense black hair cascading down. She extended her fair hand and gently clicked the power button.

The radio plugged in, a light yellow LCD screen lit up.

14.255MHZ.

Then she pressed the SSB button to enter single side-band mode.

She pressed the TUNER button to activate the auto-tuner.

Ban Xia operated step by step methodically, wanting everything to return to the state of last night.

She then put on her headphones and plugged in her hand mic.

Her hands shook a little, and it took several attempts to insert the plug of the hand mic.

The closer she got to this point, the more nervous Ban Xia felt.

She might be able to connect with other survivors in the world again, or she might miss them entirely. As the only two fish in the vast ocean, if they missed this chance, they may never meet again in this lifetime.

"Teacher, bless me."

Ban Xia held onto the pendant in front of her chest. It was a coin, left to her by her teacher.

She put her headphones back on and gripped the hand mic again.

Static buzzed through the headphones.

"This is 66 Muxuyuan Street, Qinhuai District, Nanjing City. I am Ban Xia. Can anyone hear me? If you can, please respond."

Call out once, wait five minutes.

Call out once, then wait another five.

Call out again, wait another five minutes.

"This is 66 Muxuyuan Street, Qinhuai District, Nanjing City. I am Ban Xia. Can anyone hear me? If you can, please respond... Is anyone there? Please answer."

She wasn't sure how long she repeated this, Ban Xia also didn't remember how many times she had called, maybe fifty, maybe a hundred, maybe even a thousand, until she heard that voice again through her headphones:

"CQ! CQ! CQ! This is BG4MXH, Bravo-Golf-Four-Mike-Xray-Hotel, calling cq and waiting for a call!"

Tears uncontrollably surged forth.