The lab's self-destruct countdown pulsed in sync with the device buried in my chest.
Xiao Zhou dragged his unconscious sister from the wreckage while Old Zhao kicked open the emergency hatch.
Aunt Wang didn't run. She pressed the shotgun into my hands and pointed at the blinking red light beneath my scar.
"Five years ago," she said, "Zhou Pei'en planted that transmitter when you were his best courier. It's why they always found you."
The children stirred behind us, their mechanical eyes flickering between red and human brown.
Xiao Ya whispered one word: "Run."
I didn't.
The transmitter's final beep merged with the explosion as I shoved them all through the hatch.
Fire swallowed the lab.
Fire swallowed me.
---
Epilogue: One Year Later
A new delivery hub rose from the ashes.
Xiao Zhou's rebuilt motorcycle gleamed under the sun, modified with salvaged prosthetics.
Aunt Wang's secret? Former head of Zhou Pei'en's security team.
The children's eyes still glowed sometimes, but only when telling stories about the courier who outran death.
As for me?
Some say they see a shadow on the rooftops at dawn.
Some swear they hear a bell ringing where no bell exists.
The orders keep coming.
The deliveries never stop.
Ding.