Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Bang... A loud noise. Now, in reminiscence, I can no longer tell whether it was the sound of the prison gate closing or the sound of myself firing a gun back then...

  It's already been asked, today is the 19th day. For several days, I've been recalling things intermittently and have been interrogated. When thinking about the interrogation, a faint smile appeared on my lips, but because it pulled at the wounds on my face, even I knew that the twisted smile was quite eerie. "Should I call it an interrogation or a beating?" Never mind, I'm now in a semi-conscious state. My ears are ringing loudly, everything looks blurry from my swollen eyes, and my head is spinning. "If I weren't executed, I'd probably be beaten to death first. If I died first, the apologetic expressions of those people and the ones above would definitely be interesting. Unfortunately, I won't get to see it. Hopefully, I can meet Ouyang intact."

  "Cough, cough...... Ugh!!!" Because I was laughing, I accidentally inhaled a mouthful of air and let out a loud cough. After just a few coughs, I suddenly felt something hot and fiery rising from my lungs to my throat, and with an "Ugh!", the stuff that had risen up came spewing out involuntarily.

  With great effort, I lifted my wrist from the corner of my mouth and wiped away some of the ** that had just sprayed out. Opening my swollen eyes, I saw fresh red blood slowly dripping down my wrist... "Was even my lung injured?" I muttered to myself, or perhaps to the air, as I realized I had suffered internal injuries...

  "Ouyang, if you can hear my words. I beg of you, protect the mountain bear." With great effort, he leaned his head back against the wall corner, letting the chill of the back of his head temporarily clear his mind. From the slit of his eyelids, he looked at the concrete slab above him, and from the corner of his mouth, he muttered out a prayer, not to heaven, nor to God, but to my Ouyang.

  The one who finished speaking has no more strength to speak, 'Just rot slowly here.' The me in my heart says, slowly sinking my thoughts back into memories, this way, at least, can alleviate my pain...

  Bang! The gunshot echoed in the small bunker, echoing... The mountain bear had stopped moving, staring blankly at the smoking gun still clutched in my hand. My eyes, however, were fixed on the guy with a new bullet hole in his head, whose hand had just drawn out a gun, without even having time to release the safety catch.

  Thud...... The sound of the body falling to the ground, although very small, was like a large hammer that struck the mountain bear's heart, striking him awake from his daze. "You killed him?" The mountain bear, still disbelieving what he saw before him, muttered and asked me the question.

  "You didn't say, to beat him until his own mother can't recognize him. Now it's fine, let him go and confirm with his mother himself, whether his mother can recognize him or not." Slowly putting the pistol back into its holster, he turned around and gave Shan Xiong a smile.

  "Brother, how can you be so stupid!!! That's my joke, how come you didn't get it?" There were a lot more emotions in Shan Xiong's words, but none of them were accusatory.

  He gave him a reassuring smile again, "I can hear it."

  "Can't you hear it? Why are you still doing this?! Why!!!!!" The big bear yelled at me, questioning why I was so stupid.

  "Because I hate people like you the most, what were you thinking when you rushed up just now?" Quickly walked to the entrance of the bunker and closed the heavy iron door's bolt. This way, the people outside won't rush in so quickly, and it can also let me and Shanyin say our final goodbyes.

  "I'm going to kill him!!!” The bear's response earned another appreciative smile from me. "I knew you'd think that."

  "This is the end, why are you still talking so much? Don't you want me to leave in peace?" Slowly speaking out words that seemed to come from another language, he once again drew out his gun, the one in his left hand, slowly cocking it... "Let me take responsibility for all of this."

  "But that's just me... what are you going to do?" Yama Kuma's words were cut off halfway as he let out a loud shout, because he saw my slow motion of loading the handgun. As he shouted, he also jumped to my side and grabbed my hand holding the gun.

  My ears can hear that people outside are frantically pounding on the door, accompanied by indistinct shouting voices, "What do you say? Let go of my hand."

  "But shouldn't he be judged by the people?" Yama Kuma still insisted on his point of view, and upon hearing his words, I gently shook my head.

  "If I hadn't fired, you'd be the one lying on the ground now. People, aren't we people too?" Now it's my turn to question the mountain bear.

  "What's next? What are you going to do?" I, who had just managed to break free from the mountain bear's grasp on my hand, slowly backed away into a corner, my eyes fixed on the handgun tightly clutched in my hand, which had turned white due to excessive gripping. Upon hearing the mountain bear's words, I lifted my head and looked into his eyes.

  "It's done, there's no room for regret. Let me go find Ouyang." It was unclear whether it was a plea or an entreaty to him.

  "Why? Why must you bear it alone? We are brothers!!!" Hearing Yama Kuma's words, I gave him another smile, as if it were a different kind of smile...

  "Get out of here?" As I slowly raised the gun to my forehead, Mountain Bear took advantage of my distraction, snatched the gun from me, kicked me aside and shouted loudly, trying to wake up my departing consciousness.

  I didn't say a word, just staring blankly at him, nor did I stand up, but sat on the ground, watching his angry expression, yet unable to hear his angry voice. It was as if he was shouting something at me, but now I felt like I was watching a silent movie, unable to hear anything, unable to hear anything...

  Bang! I stared blankly at the mountain bear, slowly walking to the corpse on the ground, pulling out the gun from the corpse's hand, and firing another shot at the corpse's head. At this moment, my ears regained their hearing, and I heard the sound of the mountain bear shooting. Seeing his movements, I knew that my efforts had failed, and he would have to accompany me.

  "Fool, why?" I muttered out this question as I saw his action.

  "This time, you can't run away, right?" The mountain bear walked to my side, sat down beside me, handed the gun back to me, and said with a smile, "I actually wanted to protect you, stupid, stupid, stupid!!!"

  "Why? Why are you doing this? Why?" He lowered his head, looking at the pistol he had handed me, mechanically cocking it, watching as a bullet jumped out, flying very high...

  "We're in this together, that's what brothers are for!! Got it? When things get tough, we face them together. But you always leave me behind, not this time, you can't run away." The mountain bear is still smiling, but I feel like crying now.

  "When in trouble, face it together... When in trouble, face it together..." I muttered to myself, repeating the words of the mountain bear. I looked up and saw the mountain bear's smiling eyes. I knew he was very happy now, and so was I.

  "Should we leave now?" The muzzle was aimed at his eyes, looking at the coming and going lines inside.

  "Are we going somewhere else?" The mountain bear was also muttering to me. "Sorry again, I've held you back."

  "What do you think? I..." Boom! My words were cut off by a loud explosion, and I saw that the door had been blown to one side by explosives. Then, a group of people rushed in, and when they saw the corpses on the ground... Click-click-click! A bunch of black gun muzzles were aimed at us, sitting in the corner, and all I could hear was the continuous sound of guns being cocked...

  "Halt!!!" Just as I and the mountain bear exchanged a glance, ready to accept our impending fate, a loud shout halted the soldier in front of us from pulling the trigger.

  "What? Are they going to ask questions first?" I thought to myself as I saw three people walking in slowly. They were wearing black military uniforms that I had never seen before. "What? A special forces unit?"

  "They should be tried by a military court, not shot on the spot here!" The leader of the group slowly stated his reasons, but to me, they all seemed rather weak.

  "I know that according to military law, they should be shot on the spot, but I hope you can give them a chance to defend themselves!!" He continued to explain his words. "According to military law, murdering a superior is punishable by immediate execution, where do you get so many excuses?"

  "So, please allow me to say a few words with them before you take them away." His words seemed to be effective, as everyone except the people he brought retreated.

  "What? Want us to beg you?" Slowly, the cold and hard words came out of his mouth, but he didn't get the expected result. What he saw was still a smiling face.

  "I hope to see you again." He didn't explain anything, just said one sentence and then left with his people, without even telling me their names.

  "Wait! Tell me your names!!!" The puzzled mountain bear stopped them as they were about to leave and asked his question.

  "When you can see me alive, you will know our names." His words made me very suspicious. I and the mountain bear, even if we went to the military court, would definitely die!! Does he know something?

  "Then, see you next time!" The bear's words made me want to laugh. "Next time? Why not say, in the next life, it'll be better?" I said to myself as I watched them leave this shelter, and then people rushed in. Then, a gun was slammed against my head...... When I woke up, I was here, facing endless pain, until the verdict came down, ending this hellish life......