Chen could not only hear the kuei rustling and chittering behind him; he could also smell it, a rank, foul odor like cat's piss magnified by several thousand degrees. A fetid wind blew past him, causing him to stagger on the already uncertain footing of the desert: the kuei, exhaling. Chen did not think that centipedes breathed, but then, this was not a centipede as such and neither was it the time for naturalistic speculation. He mustered a burst of speed that took him level with the sprinting Zhu Irzh.
"Chen!" the demon panted. "Fuck off!"
"What?"
"Go away. It's me it's after! Get clear and I'll try and draw it off."
"How in the world do you know that?"
"Because I can feel it in my head. It's like it's moved into my mind. Go away." Zhu Irzh veered off to the right, charging toward the wall of the nuclear plant. Chen risked a glance over his shoulder and saw that, horribly, the demon was right: the kuei was coming in a scuttling rush across the sand, aiming its blood-eyed, pincered head directly at Zhu Irzh. Slightly ahead of Chen, Jhai had noticed the same thing.
"Zhu Irzh! Watch your back!" She stumbled as she spoke and Chen caught her arm. "Shit, why is it going for him?"
"I don't know." They were almost at the fence of the compound. Above, Chen was dimly aware of demons congregating along a walkway and clustering on the observation turret at the corner. Then, amazingly, someone called his name.
"Detective Chen!"
Chen looked up and saw a thin, small shade. A boy, perhaps sixteen years old, gesturing wildly.
"Detective! It's me! It's Pin H'siao!"
The boy from the Opera. Chen felt a surge of dismay. So the boy was dead—except, wait, no, he wasn't. The faint spirit carried an unmistakable sense about him, not a smell, not a color, but something in between that tugged at the remnants of Chen's magical abilities and spoke to him of life.
"Pin!"
The boy was shouting something to his fellow demons.
"Open the gate! Open the gate!"
A rusty metal gate swung open. Zhu Irzh, however, was running in the opposite direction along the compound fence. The kuei ducked its head and snapped at him, taking out a chunk of fence. It reared back, fragments of metal trailing from its pincers. Chen shoved Jhai and Qi ahead of him into the compound; he seriously doubted whether they were any safer there, but it gave the illusion of sanctuary, at least. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a tall, dark shape swarm up and over the fence: it was Zhu Irzh, as the kuei leaned back for a second snap.
Chen turned. Someone was shouting through a loudhailer, but in a language that Chen did not understand. Then he saw the tank, with the howdah containing the Minister of War, thrust through to the compound in a flurry of sand, and then Chen realized that it was the Minister who was doing the shouting.
Zhu Irzh was nowhere to be seen. The kuei appeared to think better of its attack. It remained, half-raised, swaying menacingly to and fro.
"Stay there," Chen said to Jhai and Qi. Jhai started to ask where he was going, but Chen did not give her time to finish. "Wait there!" he shouted to the shade of Pin H'siao, and ran off behind the sheds in the direction of Zhu Irzh.
The demon seemed to have disappeared completely. Chen scouted around the sheds and saw a series of boot prints in the dust. He was not entirely sure that they belonged to Zhu Irzh, but lacking any other clue, he followed them. They led him under a flapping tarpaulin into a building that looked like a storeroom: metal containers were stacked against the far wall. Chen stopped and listened. He could hear voices coming from behind the containers—no, a single voice, unknown and whispering, and then Zhu Irzh saying loudly, "Where are you?"
"Zhu Irzh?" Chen called.
"Over here!"
Chen went cautiously around the side of the containers—it was not unknown for demonic predators to mimic someone's voice—and discovered Zhu Irzh standing in the middle of an empty space, apparently having a conversation with himself.
"The fucking thing came straight after me! What was I supposed to do?"—and then—"Well, I didn't know that."
Then he turned and saw Chen.
"Chen, meet my granddad."
"What? I thought your grandfather was dead—or whatever. Isn't that his heart you've got there?"
"You know I told you he was dispatched to the lowest level after attempting a coup against the Emperor and had his heart removed." Zhu Irzh explained. "And now we're here and so is he. He's come in search of his heart. But I can't see the old bastard."
"Oddly enough," Chen told him, "now, I can."