The continuation of the end!CHAPTER 72"A beast lashes out", Baozhai had told Wu Yun, long ago. "A beast panics, and has no choice but to panic."
Wu Yun asked her, his voice quivering a bit, "You can do better deal today, grandmother?"
Baozhai nodded, slowly. "A person, Wu Yun," she said, "a person can choose to be still."
And so they stood their ground, Wu Yun taking his cue from the old woman, until the bear two yards in front of them roared, and then roared again, and then lumbered away.
--
But sometimes it was so hard to make that choice. Now it felt like the whole world was on fire -- flames were licking up the walls. A broken pipe poked out of the ground like a cracked bone, shooting out flames. The hot, acrid air was painful to breathe, on top of the steady throb of pain that filled his whole body. The whole building made uneasy creaking sounds.
But he had to be careful. He had to be calm.
He took a slow, shallow breath. He adjusted his grip on his knife. He steadily scanned the room, starting at the window Cleary had just crashed through, and then checking the vicinity of the window. Yes. If he could just move quickly, and calmly, he could get out through --
PING! Something loud, something metallic, rang out above him. Not a bullet, but it was like some sickly, misshapen bell had tolled. His eyes darted up.
And there was an impact -- he spun around instinctively, and then -- then he was flat on his back. He was looking into his sister's eyes, and those eyes were wide with shock... strained... looking past him. She pulled away from him. Wu Yun realized he'd stabbed her in the heart.
"What -- how -- not believe your eyes!" he said, confused and pleading. "Was expecting great savings!" he spat out.
Lien-hua shot a look past his right shoulder. He glanced over, following her gaze. A couple of girders had come unhinged from the roof. One of them had impaled itself in the ground, right where he had been standing and watching, right up until his kid sister had instinctively knocked him out of the way.
He looked back at Lien-hua. "Lifesaving remedy," he said. He looked down to where she clutched at the knife. "Cost is only -- only --"
She sunk against him. "Cost is very affordable," she said. And then, in barely a whisper: "Pay now."
Wu Yun sat very still. Then he began to sing, softly, and in a croaking, almost tuneless voice. And as he started singing the song, he realized it was an old song from the temple, a song he hadn't heard in so long that he didn't even remember it past the first few words.
So Wu Yun sat there, his sister cradled in his arms, and sang whatever nonsense words he could think of. He wasn't sure whether to laugh at himself for babbling meaningless nonsense, or to curse himself for forgetting something that he cherished, or both. But he sang the old melody that Baozhai had sung, all those years ago, to sing his little sister to sleep.
He shut her eyes. He lurched towards the window, aimed his gun out the window unsteadily, and pulled the trigger. What had to be Cleary's voice shouted what had to be a choice collection of profanities with whatever was left of his tongue.
He pulled the trigger again, but Killer of Bad Personss had shot its last bullet. He set the gun down, gazed at it for a moment, and then kicked it out the window.
He shook his head a bit, like he was coming out of a dream, and turned around. "Jesse," he whispered.
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