Memory Lost

In the quietness, only one person is stumbling while getting up from the ground using a gun for support.

Su Mian watches him, staring at the wound in his chest. She lowers her head suddenly and starts searching the couch, coffee table, and desks frantically. Although the chances are slim, she still wants to try and find the key, find a way out, and go to him immediately.

But what Han Chen can’t see and Su Mian doesn’t notice is that A, who’s lying on the ground, is slowly closing his eyes. It’s as if he’s talking in his sleep, he murmurs a bunch of nonsense.

“S……S……

Big Sister, Big Sister……I didn’t kill Han Chen……Don’t be sad.”

He closes his eyes and stops breathing.

Big Sister, I didn’t kill him after all. When I lifted my hand, my thoughts deviated and shot away from his heart.

I think this isn’t considered a betrayal. This really isn’t.

It’s because S said that he wants to give you the life that you want. Therefore, Han Chen cannot die.

It’s because I know deep inside long ago that we’re the ones in the wrong in this life, like a sad concerto. It’s just that I cannot turn back and I don’t want to turn back.

Perhaps our lives started on the wrong foot.

And we let it end wrongly.

……

Su Mian can’t open the door.

R was determined to head toward danger. And since he was looking after her for Xu Si Bai, how could he let her have the chance to escape? She leans her back against the door. Using her good arm, she pounds on the door.

“Han Chen! Han Chen!” she shouts. She doesn’t know how far away Han Chen is. She just hopes that he can hurry to this secret chamber before the crash happens.

Han Chen stands up slowly. He’s like a statue standing high among the dead bodies around him.

At this very moment, the underground begins to shake.

Su Mian jerks her head up and looks around the room shaking like there’s an earthquake. And at the dirt hill area at some unknown distance from her, Han Chen also looks up and watches the shaking ceiling and its falling debris.

It’s not an ordinary shake. The shaking is coming from all directions, and it’s becoming stronger. Su Mian uses all her might to shout, “Han Chen! I’m over here!”

_____

At the Han River tunnel.

The subway is already entering at full speed.

“Are you ready?” Chatterbox asks.

Cold Face nods.

“We’ll be dying soon, so can’t you say a few more words?” Chatterbox laughs suddenly.

Cold Face remains quiet for a brief moment before smiling.

“It’s a bit unfortunate,” he says softly.

Chatterbox lights up a cigarette as the train shakes vigorously. He inhales from it and says, “You’ll miss your new girlfriend?”

“Mm. And the others.”

“Let her and the others remember you forever then!” Chatterbox sighs.

“It’s better to forget,” Cold Face says softly. He picks up the communication device, “Captain Qin, we’re ready. We’ll steer the train to hit the wall of the tunnel in an effort to avoid crashing into the Peninsula Hotel. Over.”

He shuts off the communication device. On the other side, Captain Qin is almost in tears.

The subway’s original track was to hit the underground station at Peninsula Hotel, which meant that it would crash into its foundation. If they jump off of the train earlier, they would be able to escape.

But if they manually steer the train to change its course while the technicians break the train tracks before it gets there, there’s a possibility for the train to stop before the crash as well as detonating the bombs earlier. This way, the Peninsula Hotel will not collapse and the thousands of civilians who haven’t made it out yet will be able to survive.

“Cold Face, Chatterbox……” Captain Qin salutes quietly standing among the massive crowd of people who are evacuating toward the Han River.

_____

Underground.

The instant that Han Chen stands up, another person appears not far away.

R.

He’s covered in blood and looks pale. Su Mian’s attack has caused him to become weak like a piece of paper. Blood is flowing out of his chest, staining the ground and his body. He stares at Han Chen and the dead bodies lying on the ground but can’t find Xu Si Bai. In a split second, he understands everything and immediately becomes gloomy.

Han Chen covers his chest with his hand while raising a gun with his other to point it directly at R. But R reacts impulsively; he smiles coldly at Han Chen, bends down and picks up the remote, turns around and runs. It’s darkness behind him and it’s hard to make out where he’s heading. At the same time, the shaking has gotten worse and more debris is falling from above.

At this instant, Su Mian sees Han Chen turn his head suddenly and looks directly at her.

Just like what Xu Si Bai did, he turns to glance at her. His handsome face and those dark and bottomless eyes.

His gaze makes her feel devastated. In the next second, he holds onto his chest and runs after R.

“Han Chen!”

Everything in the image collapses and the monitor goes dark. Su Mian hears the deafening sound of things collapsing and the room loses all its light sources suddenly, falling into the darkness like late at night.

She stands in the middle of the darkness, crying without a sound as she feels unimaginable pain.

_____

It’s close.

It’s getting closer. 𝑓𝔯𝑒e𝘸e𝘣𝓷𝘰ѵe𝚕.c૦𝙢

It’s smoke everywhere and they can hear the squeaking sound of machinery.

Chatterbox and Cold Face are standing in the control cabin as they watch the train hit the wall. They watch the train tear apart from the massive impact caused by the hit.

They can barely stand. The impact causes them to be flung around; they hit the train’s ceiling, the window, and there’s blood on their foreheads and their vision goes blurry.

But even at a time like this, Chatterbox is still a chatterbox.

“Hey, do you remember……what Xiao Zhuan said before?”

Cold Face is fighting with all his might to steer the train to make it hit the wall deeper and faster. His voice is almost drowned by the roaring sound of the train, “I remember.”

Chatterbox’s voice carries a sense of cheerfulness, “Oh yeah……how could you not remember. That fella was so proud of himself and even wrote it down and stuck it on each of our computer monitors.”

Two voices say together with a bit of stutter even though it’s hard to make out.

“We are the Black Shield.

What we face against are the most merciless cases;

What we chase after are the cruelest criminals.

We are placed at the border of the darkest area as the sturdiest and strongest shield.

Our determination can never be destroyed.

We will never let down the people who we are trying to protect.

Please let us die.

Our spirits will live on after death.”