The O. Henry Ending

July 19.

PM·8:30.

Jiang Xueming and Bu Liuxing sat in the back of the black Volga, about to head for Nine Realms Station and begin the next leg of their journey.

As they prepared to part, Jiang Bailu could faintly sense—

—her brother seemed to be setting off on another adventure, into that terrifying, uncanny underground world that felt like a fairy tale.

The little girl swept the loose hair from her forehead, brushed aside her airy bangs, and ran to the car. "Big Brother, bump foreheads with me!"

Hearing his sister call, Jiang Xueming's gaze softened. He cupped Bailu's round cheeks and leaned out through the car window.

Their foreheads touched, and their eyes were full of reluctance to part.

Bailu whispered, "I'm sorry, Big Brother. I peeked at your journal."

Jiang Xueming said nothing. He got back into the car, took out his journal, and opened it to the page with his farewell letter.

Bailu nodded at once. Her voice quavered, but she didn't cry. "I saw that too. I understand what you meant. I do. Whether you come back or not, I'll grow stronger. I won't look for another you in my life, and I won't shut myself away or blame myself. I'll keep living well. You'll become sand, clouds and rain, soil and sunshine, the sea. You'll always be by my side. You never left me."

Jiang Xueming smiled with pure delight. "Mm. Are you ready?"

"I'm not ready." Bailu's lips pursed into a pout, and she looked utterly wronged. Tears suddenly spilled from her eyes. "How could anyone be ready for this? Ask yourself—are you ready? If I kick the bucket because of that whatever-it's-called brand disease, would you be ready?"

"Your story isn't over yet. You won't die." Jiang Xueming spoke with earnest conviction. "I won't do anything unnecessary. If this farewell letter really reaches you while you're sick, it means the people at the station found me and my journal. That little Black Cat will get the journal and bring you medicine. It's a good cat that keeps its promises and plays fair—not like Ye Bei's nasty white cat, which only helps you get up to mischief and makes a grown man wear a little dress and play unfair games."

Bailu asked timidly, "B-but what if I couldn't hold on, and you hadn't gotten back with the medicine yet? What if I'd already reported to the King of Hell? What would you do?"

"Then at least I wouldn't have to write a second farewell letter." Through the car window, Jiang Xueming smoothed his sister's hair, then continued, "I'd cremate you so the virus couldn't spread, then take you somewhere no one could find you. Somewhere no one could force anyone to marry anyone else. Then I'd start living again. Apart from the funeral, I wouldn't shed any unnecessary tears for you. I know you'd be watching me, just as I watch you. If the underworld really exists, which dead person would want to see their closest family grieving?"

"Mm! You're right, Big Brother." Jiang Bailu was sensible enough to stop crying. Her nose and eyes were still red. "Have you made up your mind? Are you really going back to the station? How long will you be gone this time?"

Jiang Xueming still wore that earnest, resolute expression.

"When you make a promise, you have to keep it. A Xing saved half your life.

"We owe A Xing for letting us stay in this house and use his things, and for asking the three teachers to tutor me.

"We have to repay those favors, or we'll become ungrateful scoundrels. He's going to risk his life in the underground world, so I'm going to bring him back safe and sound. We look out for each other—you help me, I help you. That's how you write the character for 'person.'"

Jiang Bailu understood what her brother meant. She wiped the tears from her face and nodded. "Mm. I'll wait for you to come back. I absolutely won't cause you any trouble, so don't worry. When you're working, you need to focus. I'm eighteen now, too. I'm going to grow up. I need to grow up quickly."

Jiang Xueming patted his sister's head and spoke gently. "Don't rush. Take your time, and you'll get there faster. The longer way is actually a shortcut."

"Though I don't quite understand." Jiang Bailu silently committed his words to memory. "I'll remember that, Big Brother. Was that something Big Brother Ye Bei taught you?"

"Yeah, Big Brother Ye Bei said it." Jiang Xueming answered honestly. "When I desperately needed money and was thinking of stealing or robbing someone, he helped me out and said that to me."

"The longer way is a shortcut. Take your time, and you'll get there faster." Bailu murmured the words to herself, then turned toward the house. Suddenly, her spirits lifted. "Big Brother! I'm not going to art school! I don't want you to teach me how to draw anymore!"

From a distance, Jiang Xueming shouted, "You're not going to school? What are you planning to do instead? Sell beef offal like me?"

Jiang Bailu shouted back just as loudly, "I'll study hard! But I definitely won't cause you any trouble! Never!"

"Good!" Jiang Xueming didn't think much of it. He called out to Miss Sansan by the gate. "Please look after Bailu! Sansan Zero One!"

"Please look after my employer, too, Mr. Jiang Xueming." Sansan Zero One brushed the dust from her shoulder and gave him the same formal greeting she had when they first met.

The three coaches stood to one side, watching them leave.

Teacher Li and Teacher Liu high-fived in celebration.

()╯╰()

"That kid's finally gone."

"Great, now we can get some rest."

Only Coach Zhou looked a little dejected. He picked up his luggage and prepared to leave.

"Wait!" Bailu called out to the uncles. "Uncle Liu, Uncle Zhou, Uncle Li! I need to ask you for a favor!"

The three men froze in unison.

Miss Sansan also looked at Bailu curiously, then asked, "Little Jiang, what are you planning? Don't you trust me to take care of you? Or are you worried about your brother?"

"No. I feel completely at ease when my brother's handling things." Bailu was thinking about something else.

—Big Sister Xiao Qi and Big Brother Xue Ming said some bad people were coming to cause trouble for us.

—Maybe I'll become my brother's weakness. I can't hold him back.

At the thought, Bailu's gaze grew colder and colder, more and more [real]—and the two teachers grew more and more frightened.

"You're not going to..." Teacher Li stammered. That look was all too familiar. He'd seen it countless times over the past few days.

Teacher Liu's hands shook as he held the weapons bag. "You've got to be kidding. This girl looks so frail. Don't scare yourselves."

Teacher Li muttered to reassure himself, "Right, right. Young Master Xing said these two guests were kidnapped and taken to a mountain village when they were little. They might not even be real siblings. And combat ability depends a lot on talent."

Before he finished speaking, Coach Liu trembled and dropped a handgun from the weapons bag.

Bailu caught it steadily and took hold of the gun—

—pulled back the slide and checked the chamber.

—engaged the safety, turned it around, and handed it back.

She held the grip toward Teacher Liu, with the empty chamber and muzzle facing herself.

Coach Zhou perked right up. He immediately picked up the various supplements and protein powders and headed for the training room.

Bailu bowed and got straight to the point. "Teachers, I'm afraid I'll need to trouble you for a while longer. I have school every day, but I'm free after seven. Please—I want to be able to protect myself!"

The Volga drove farther and farther away.

A strange silence lingered in the air.

Once again—

—the Volga was stuck in the sea of traffic on Hong Kong's busiest road, in the middle of its liveliest street.

Only this time, Jiang Xueming didn't hear Brother Seven cursing.

All he heard was Bu Liuxing beside him, blubbering nonstop—

"—Ming Ge, I can't help it, sorry. That part just now with you and Bailu—I couldn't hold it in..."

A Xing kept grabbing tissues. He'd just wiped away his tears, and now he was forcefully blowing his nose.

The sight made Jiang Xueming retreat three feet. He unconsciously scooted over to the car door.

He still kindly reminded him, "She's my sister, not yours."

"I cry at movies, too," A Xing explained miserably. "You know me. I just can't handle this kind of thing."

Jiang Xueming decided to ask for help from the sidelines. "Brother Seven, talk some sense into him."

"Bailu's just too sensible! Boo-hoo-hoo!" Xiao Qi was sobbing uncontrollably in the driver's seat, even louder than A Xing, wailing more miserably, "Talk sense into him? I'm crying too! Damn it! Why the hell is the traffic so damn bad?!"

Jiang Xueming covered his face with both hands. He didn't know what to do with them.

—Take a deep breath. Get yourself together.

—Talk about something else. Anything else.

"A Xing, there's something I've never been able to figure out."

"Ask away. I'm listening, Ming Ge."

"At Fang Feng, Mr. David told us that a lot of the station's engineering staff had suffered mental breakdowns. I was worried about Bailu at the time, so I didn't think it through. Later, when I remembered it, I realized how strange it was—there were a lot of things that didn't add up. Do you have any thoughts?"

"Ah, Canaan didn't say anything about that, either. The things she stuffed into my head were a total jumble. I don't even know whether those scattered images were real. But now that you mention it, if I put myself in their shoes, I think I can work out an answer."

"Take your time. I'll write it down in my notebook. Maybe I can even trade it to the BOSS for something."

"Let's say we're construction workers on the engineering team, and we've been working far from home in the underground world for years."

"Mm."

"Maybe we have partners, and we've started families for work-related reasons or something else—but none of it reflects what we truly want."

"Mm. You mean that dream?"

"Right. I think those people who 'suffered mental breakdowns' probably had the same dream we did. By the shore, on the bench beneath that mansion, under the influence of Lady Canaan the Faceless's hallucinations, they realized who truly mattered in their lives. That's why they suddenly changed their ways and set off down another path."

"That's your theory?"

"Yeah."

"That's a romantic theory."

"You're a romantic, too, Ming Ge. I want to be like you and leave my mom a farewell letter."

"Best not."

"Why?"

"When she sees something like that, she might hold your funeral early. Then, if you're still alive and your friends and family are already caught up in the atmosphere, your mom might personally send you on your way. Then I'd really have to learn a funeral trade."

A Xing pursed his lips, getting nowhere, but he wasn't discouraged. He immediately changed the subject.

"I was just thinking, if the Armadillo Hunters saw that farewell letter, they might soften up too, right?"

"Those guys have traveled the underground world for years. They're no pushovers. If you have time to spare, you'd be better off checking the BOSS's email and reading the details in the envelope."

"Mm."

"A Xing, think about the psychological damage we suffered by the sea. Just that one journey dropped your mental strength and will to survive to rock bottom. How can you say experienced Armadillo Hunters from the underground world would soften up after hearing a story?

—I'm not going to indulge in wishful thinking. To survive in the underground world and evade searches by armed employees, those hunters must be strong-willed people, with strange personalities and pronounced quirks that set them apart from ordinary people. Like that old passenger you told me about, the one who watched your clothes."

"Right. He liked talking to himself and muttering all kinds of nonsense."

"Isn't that a sign of schizophrenia? And even if it isn't, it's the sort of symptom that can come from suffering a lot of psychological trauma."

"I hope he's okay."

Hong Kong Airport.

Jason Megan sat in a VIP seat in the airport restaurant.

His little attendant sat pressed close beside him.

"Listen, young lady. I don't have the patience to go back and forth with you about all this nonsense. I've already burned my passenger pass."

The little attendant didn't seem to mind. She patiently said, "That's all right, employer! You can get a replacement!"

"But I really want to be a hunter! Do you know how that feels?!" Jason Megan snapped at her. "You're someone who changed careers halfway through and now just coasts along as an attendant. How am I supposed to talk to you about this?"

"Have you really made up your mind?" The little attendant's eyes were watery, her expression both innocent and helpless. She held a French fry to Mr. Megan's lips. "I've looked into your record, and I know you lost your previous attendant. But I believe none of that can defeat you..."

"Shut up!" Mr. Megan knocked the French fry away with an angry gesture, fury on his face. "What do you believe? What is it you believe? How can you sit there so calmly, flapping those thin lips and talking about what I've been through these past ten-plus years as if it were nothing? I took such a long detour at the station! I suffered so much! And now I've finally found a shortcut! How can you—"

"Looks like..." The little attendant lowered her head sadly and picked up the dirty French fry. "You really have made up your mind?"

"Oh, hey... No fair, young lady!" Mr. Megan gritted his teeth in irritation, then softened in an instant. "Don't cry! You're not allowed to cry!"

"Mr. Megan, your demands are really unreasonable." The little attendant clenched the French fry in her hand, trembling all over. Tears were about to fall again. "You want to talk about things I don't want to hear and make me accept these really, really unreasonable demands—and then you won't even let me cry. Do you have no heart? You haven't even asked my name or my number."

"I-I-I'll eat it. I'll eat it. I'll do what you say." Mr. Megan carefully picked half a French fry out of the little attendant's palm and stuffed it into his mouth.

The little attendant still pressed her lips together. She held out her hand to Mr. Megan, hoping he would take it. "Even though the road ahead is terrifying and dark, please return to the station and light up a new Star Realm node."

"N-n-no. No." Megan shook his head in terror. "No."

"Do you absolutely have to hunt?" the little attendant asked urgently. She was so upset that she began to cry like an air-raid siren, barely able to get the words out. "Who are you going after? Which newcomer? Are you planning to kill him? Or do you just need to get his journal?"

"I was... I..." Megan fell silent for a while, then finally said, "I just need to get the journal."

Hearing that her employer didn't intend to kill anyone, the little attendant gradually calmed down. "So you just want a change of heart? A different job?"

"No! I want to hunt! This is hunting, not a job!" Megan's gaze was resolute, as if no one could talk him out of it. He was stubborn as a bull. "I can't let this guy become my personal demon! I have to see this through!"

"All right!" The little attendant ignored everything else and grabbed Mr. Megan's hand as if swearing an oath to stand by him. "I'll help you complete this hunt."

"Really?" Megan's eyes softened. He looked as if he'd gone back to being twenty-five or twenty-six.

"Mm!" The little attendant was still a bit inexperienced, but her resolve was firm. "I'll help you complete this ritual so my employer can get better. I'm not afraid, even if the BOSS puts me under house arrest!"

At that moment, Mr. Megan felt nervous. It was as if he could hear a new note joining the symphony of his life. With his attendant's help, he no longer felt alone. Warriors might usually go it alone, but Don Quixote had Sancho Panza at his side. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad?

The little attendant was sweating nervously. Jason Megan was her first employer, and helping him was her first step down the road to crime. But she couldn't convince herself to stand by and do nothing. If she watched Mr. Megan fall into the abyss, or found his corpse at the scene of a manhunt, or learned of his death from the newspaper, she probably wouldn't be able to work as an attendant again. This experience would become her personal demon for life.

Their eyes ignited with fighting spirit—

—and then their fighting spirit was snuffed out.

A young nurse held a registration board.

Her voice was sweet, her expression cold.

"Did you two just arrive from Hengyin Nanyuan Airport? Sorry, foreign guests have to quarantine for fourteen days. Thanks for your cooperation. Leave on your own, or I'll call security. Those are two different hotels."