Beijing Alternate Ending

Beijing. Midnight. We’re adrift in the labyrinthine backstreets of a midtown Hutong. A Stygian darkness settles over the pavement, while steam blows up from the gutter and soaks the world in a veil of white fog.

It’s here that we meet LIU (25). Intelligent. Beautiful.

She walks home alone -- a bit tipsy from a friend’s birthday party. She hears a low grumble in a nearby alley. Twinkling, golden eyes watch her from the darkness.

It’s a cat.

Liu approaches a wounded stray with sleek, black fur. The feral cat flashes a set of white fangs. It bites Liu’s hand and vanishes into the night.

She hurries home. Bleeding, scared.

Our story begins.

Morning. Liu boxes up her belongings. She’s moving out of her apartment. Liu’s (soon-to-be) ex-boyfriend,

The big day: Liu and her coworkers storm into Mr. Yue’s office and announce that they’re forming their own lab. Mr. Yue is impressed. He didn’t know Liu was capable of such Machiavellian machinations.

He gives Liu her job back. She accepts.

First order of business: fire Hiromi.

Liu has triumphed. She fought. She stood up for herself. Everything’s going to be okay... Or so she thinks. When Liu discovers the vagrant’s bloody rags stuffed in her coat pocket, she realizes that she’s become a monster.

As Hiromi bitterly boxes up her office, she notices the vial of Liu’s blood preserved on her desk. She gets an idea.

Meanwhile, Liu seeks out Longwei and breaks into tears. He comforts her as she reveals the truth. The bloody rags. Her mysterious amnesia. Liu begs Longwei to believe her.

He does.

Longwei takes Liu to see his grandfather, a Buddhist monk named DELUN (80). Delun worships at a secluded temple on the outskirts of town. It’s mysterious. It’s ethereal.

Delun reveals that Liu is becoming a Feline: a cat/human hybrid. He warns Liu that, one day, the change will be permanent. Liu must control her animalistic sickness, or risk losing her

Liu kicks her feet. She clings to the edge of the CCTV building as blinding city lights flicker up from below.

She realizes: this is it.

Liu lets out a savage growl. With a burst of superhuman strength, she swings up and slashes Hiromi’s throat.

Hiromi tumbles off the CCTV building. Longwei watches from the street below, terrified, as Hiromi slams against the pavement and reverts back to human form. She’s dead.

Longwei lets out a sigh of relief. It’s over.

Up above, Liu takes off into the shadows. She bounces from rooftop to rooftop and vanishes into Beijing’s steamy, Stygian darkness.

Liu is free, yet lost at the same time.

She’s forever liberated. Forever changed. Forever Feline.

Oh, and one last thing...

The police transport Longwei to a nearby hospital. Nurses bandage his wounds. They keep him overnight for observation.

Longwei stirs awake at 4 AM. He’s dizzy. He peels off his wrappings and discovers coarse fur sprouting around his arm.

Wolf’s fur.

Longwei’s face wrenches with dread. Outside, a full moon shines through black skies. A cat wails in the distance. As its tempting howl pounds in Longwei’s ears, we cut to