Chapter 382: Returning 12.

Bai Li ran along its neck.

A row of small decorative blades unfolded from the plates.

She cut through them as she moved.

The dragon shook.

Bai Li grabbed a horn and held on.

Below, Yan Cijin watched the machine.

Its remaining arms were moving faster.

Two were reaching toward the rooftops.

A family on one roof screamed and ran.

Another arm struck the building beside them.

The wall collapsed.

Yan Cijin fired her normal revolver.

One shot.

The bullet struck the arm.

It barely slowed.

Yan Cijin fired again.

The second shot hit a gear exposed between two plates.

The gear cracked.

The arm stopped.

"Bai Li!"

Bai Li looked down.

"The arms are linked through exposed gears!"

"Got it."

Bai Li turned back toward the dragon’s neck.

A thick brass pipe ran beneath the plates.

It glowed white.

She placed her hand over it.

Heat rushed through her palm.

The pipe was carrying the energy from the dragon’s head into the stage

engine below.

Bai Li narrowed her eyes.

"So this is the connection."

She raised Whisperfang.

Then stopped.

If she cut the pipe, the stored pressure might explode.

She needed another way.

Yan Cijin was already moving through the square.

She grabbed a fallen metal panel and dragged it toward Luo Ren.

"Can this cover the people on the west roof?"

Luo Ren looked at it.

"Maybe."

"Then make it work."

"What are you doing?"

"Buying us time."

Yan Cijin ran toward the nearest building.

She did not have enough ammunition to destroy the machine.

So she changed targets.

Instead of the engine, she shot the mechanisms controlling its arms.

One shot.

A gear stopped.

Second shot.

Another arm jerked sideways.

Third shot.

A bell assembly broke.

The machine became less coordinated.

Bai Li noticed.

"Nice."

Yan Cijin looked up.

"You’re welcome."

Bai Li smiled.

Then the dragon moved violently.

Its neck twisted.

Bai Li lost her footing.

She slipped down the brass plates and caught one of the decorative

ridges with one hand.

The dragon’s mouth opened.

White light gathered.

Yan Cijin’s eyes widened.

"Bai Li!"

Bai Li glanced toward the mouth.

"I see it."

The dragon fired.

Bai Li swung herself sideways.

The beam passed over her shoulder and struck the mechanical drum.

The machine shook violently.

A large section of its outer shell melted away.

Inside, dozens of turning gears became visible.

Bai Li landed on the street beside Yan Cijin.

She looked at the exposed machine.

Then at the dragon.

Then at Yan Cijin.

"I think I have an idea."

Yan Cijin gave her a tired smile.

"That’s usually when things get dangerous."

"Usually."

"What is it?"

Bai Li pointed toward the open machine.

"It doesn’t need to be destroyed."

"What?"

"We just need to let it finish."

Yan Cijin stared at her.

"You want to let this thing finish the performance?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because the machine is following an old sequence. It has a beginning

and an end. The problem is that something interrupted it."

Luo Ren ran over.

"She’s right."

Bai Li looked at him.

"You know the sequence?"

"Not completely. But the final stage was always supposed to happen after

the dragon’s light reached the engine. Then the bells would ring three

times. The dragon would bow. The engine would shut down."

Yan Cijin looked toward the bells.

"So all we have to do is survive until it bows."

Luo Ren hesitated.

"If the sequence is intact."

Bai Li smiled.

"Then let’s make sure it stays intact."

She looked at the surviving arms.

"We control where it moves."

Yan Cijin understood.

"And stop it from attacking the buildings."

"Exactly."

The plan sounded ridiculous.

It was also the simplest plan they had.

Bai Li rushed toward the mechanical dragon.

Yan Cijin moved in the opposite direction.

Together, they began guiding the machine.

Every time an arm reached toward a rooftop, Bai Li struck the joint and

forced it back toward the center. Every time the dragon’s head turned

toward the buildings, Yan Cijin fired at the old control gears beneath

its jaw.

The machine fought them.

But it was not intelligent.

It was following movement.

That made it predictable.

Bai Li jumped onto an arm and ran along its length.

The arm lifted her twenty feet into the air.

She crouched, waited, then jumped toward the dragon’s neck.

Whisperfang cut another control plate.

The dragon turned.

Its light shifted away from the rooftops.

Yan Cijin shouted from below.

"Left!"

Bai Li turned left.

Another arm passed beneath her.

She grabbed it.

The machine swung her around.

Yan Cijin laughed despite herself.

"You look like you’re having fun."

Bai Li looked down.

"A little."

"Of course."

Bai Li jumped off.

She landed beside Yan Cijin.

The bells began ringing faster.

One.

Two.

Three.

Luo Ren stared.

"That’s the first sequence."

The dragon raised both claws.

Its head lowered.

The mechanical drum rotated beneath it.

The entire festival square lit up.

The surviving zombies stopped moving.

For a few seconds, the ruined city looked strangely beautiful.

The dragon lowered its enormous head.

It bowed.

Every bell on its body rang at once.

The sound was huge.

Then silence.

The white light vanished.

The machine stopped.

Its arms folded inward.

The dragon froze.

The old festival performance was complete.

Yan Cijin stood still for several seconds.

"Did it actually work?"

Bai Li looked at the machine.

"Yes."

Luo Ren slowly lowered himself onto the broken pavement.

"I haven’t seen that performance since I was a child."

Yan Cijin looked at the enormous dragon.

"You know what?"

"What?"

"That was weird."

Luo Ren laughed.

"Very weird."

Bai Li looked around the square.

The zombies were still.

The survivors had stopped hiding.

The ancient mechanism was silent.

And somehow, despite the destruction around them, the danger had simply

ended.

Bai Li sheathed Whisperfang.

"Good. Then we’re done."

Yan Cijin looked at her.

"That’s it?"

"What else is there?"

"We just fought a giant mechanical dragon."

"And now we’re leaving."

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TO BE CONTINUED.