Chapter Three: The Voice That Was Cut

She moved the impact of Bai's next bullet to Wen Que's feet. Ash-fire rose. The man did not burn. He broke into flickering faces: her mother, Cheng Ye, Lu, and finally Ye Lan herself. “Do you also remember the price?” every face asked. The timeline vanished. Silence opened inside Ye Lan's mind. She knew her father had once held her and sung. It had been her last memory of him, but now she could not recall his voice. However hard she tried, she saw only soundless lips. Wen Que reached for her. Lu became a bolt of light and smashed him through the glass; Bai's fire followed. Pedestrians fled while Wen Que's fragments entered every advertisement screen.