The maintenance corridor narrowed until the walls nearly touched their shoulders. Somewhere above, distant groans and dragging feet echoed like a chorus of bad decisions.
Yin Yue whispered, "Please tell me we're not hiding in that."
Liang Yu opened a dented steel utility locker.
It was barely wider than a coffin.
"Great," Yin Yue muttered. "We're dating now. I can feel it. This is a trauma-bonding event."
Liang Yu said nothing. Just climbed in.
Then looked at him.
Waited.
Yin Yue sighed, muttered something rude about destiny, and stepped inside.
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
🫣 Spatial Proximity Alert
📏 Distance: 0.1 meters
💘 ML Affection: +4
🧠 Host Mental Stability: Ticking
The door clicked shut.
Darkness.
Only the soft wheeze of shared breath and the near-psychotic pounding of Yin Yue's heart.
They stood chest to chest, barely room for air.
Yin Yue whispered, "This is a romance novel scenario."
Liang Yu didn't move. "It's temporary."
"Do you always breathe like that?"
"Like what."
"Like your heartbeat has emotional opinions."
"Yin Yue," Liang Yu said quietly.
Yin Yue flinched. "You remembered my name."
"You keep shouting it."
"That's fair."
They were so close now.
Yin Yue could smell the blood on Liang Yu's jacket, the iron in his breath, something warm underneath.
He shifted.
Their knees bumped.
Their hips touched.
He looked up—
And Liang Yu was looking at his mouth again.
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
🫦 EYELINE: Locked
💘 ML Thought: Undisclosed
🫠 HOST MELTDOWN STATUS: 82%
Yin Yue didn't speak.
Didn't move.
Didn't breathe.
Then, footsteps sound from the outside, scraping and a low moan. It sound too close.
Yin Yue froze.
Liang Yu's hand slid around his waist. Held him still and close.
He didn't say shh.
He didn't need to.
Yin Yue pressed his forehead against Liang Yu's collarbone and felt the world shrink to just the beat of another person's heart.
Everything else vanished.
The locker. The groans. The danger.
All that remained was this.
They made it back through the tunnels muddy, scraped, and silent.
The emergency stairs in the old metro led up into an empty service corridor. Dust floated in the shafts of fading sunlight. No groans and no movement. Just the ache of adrenaline crash.
Yin Yue sat on a bench and looked down at his hand.
A thin cut ran from palm to wrist. Not deep, but bloody.
Liang Yu dropped his pack beside him and knelt down.
Pulled out gauze, alcohol and tape.
Didn't speak.
Just took Yin Yue's hand in his like it was a job that had to be done. Carefully, efficiently and probably too gently.
Yin Yue stared at him. "You always carry medical supplies?"
"You always get hurt."
"That sounds suspiciously like an emotional observation."
Liang Yu didn't reply.
He soaked a cotton pad in alcohol.
"This is going to sting," he said.
Yin Yue hissed as it touched skin. "That's fine, I'm used to pain. I date it with my whole chest."
Still no reaction.
Just Liang Yu's hands. Wrapping. Holding. Focused.
When he was done, he didn't let go.
Yin Yue looked down at their joined hands, then up at his face.
And finally asked: "Why do you keep saving me?"
Silence. The kind that doesn't feel empty just feel heavy.
Liang Yu's eyes stayed on his hand. Then slowly lifted to meet his.
And he said, "Because I don't want to see what this world looks like without you in it."
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
💘 ML AFFECTION: 100/100
🧠 HOST: Speechless
💬 System Note: That was basically an 'I love you' in apocalypse-speak
Yin Yue couldn't breathe and couldn't blink.
Then whispered, "That… was illegal."
Liang Yu let go of his hand. Only to cup his face instead.
"No more wandering," he said.
"No more saving me like you're trying to win my heart."
"I'm not trying," Liang Yu said.
And then he stood. Walked to the stairwell door. Paused and looked back.
And added, "You already gave it to me."
Yin Yue was still sitting there when the door closed.
Still stunned and still smiling.
The team sets up temporary camp in a crumbling elementary school.
"Claiming this room," Yin Yue announced, dragging a broken chair into what used to be an art classroom. "It has windows, trauma potential, and excellent feng shui for emotional growth."
Jiang poked her head in. "There's a dead raccoon in the sink."
"It's a vibe."
She smirked. "Trying to impress the boyfriend?"
Yin Yue flushed. "I'm trying to prove I have value. If he happens to witness my domestic prowess, that's just incidental."
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
💬 Motivation Detected: Validation + Flirt Bonus
🛠️ Side Quest Started: Apocalypse Homemaker
📊 Host Status: 60% Determined / 40% Delusional
The school was quiet, full of empty classrooms, moldy bulletin boards and crayon murals peeling off walls. Yin Yue had never missed chaos so much until now, surrounded by all this silence.
He worked all morning: organizing ration packs by expiration date, mending torn jackets with safety pins, and jerry-rigging a broken door lock using a paperclip.
Liang Yu passed by twice. Didn't speak, but looked.
Yin Yue pretended not to notice. Totally.. Almost.. Fine, he noticed a lot.
Later, while dragging a desk across the hallway (alone), Yin Yue heard footsteps.
Its Liang Yu.
He stopped to help without being asked. Lifted the heavy side without a word.
Yin Yue blinked. "You know, you could say something supportive like 'you're doing great, baby.'"
Liang Yu stared at him.
Then said, "You're lifting it wrong."
"…Close enough."
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
💘 ML Affection: +3
🧠 Host Heart: Melting
🎯 Romance Energy: Domestic and Highly Flammable
By late afternoon, the art room was tidy well kind of.
The raccoon was still in the sink, but Yin Yue had given it a name and a backstory.
Jiang passed again, arms full of blankets. "So. What exactly are you two?"
Yin Yue paused. "I don't know."
"Well, he looked like he was about to murder a someone when we thought you'd wandered off this morning."
"Wait.. he what?"
"Literally said, 'Where is he?' in that scary quiet voice. Thought the door was going to file for emotional harassment."
Yin Yue blinked. "Huh."
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
🧠 ML Panic Reflex: Activated
💬 Subtext Translation: 'Where is he?' = 'If he's hurt I will dismantle God'
Yin Yue sat down on his newly unbroken chair and smiled.
Whispered, "Guess I am contributing."
And for once, he really believed it.
Yin Yue insists on cooking for the group to prove he's not just decorative. The result is… technically edible well barely.
The soup was beige.
It had the texture of regret and the scent of panic.
Yin Yue stirred the pot with the handle of a plastic spatula (because the ladle broke halfway through), muttering a mix of curses and affirmations under his breath.
"This is fine. People have survived worse. Possibly. In history."
Behind him, Jiang watched cautiously. "What's in it?"
"Protein bar dust, the last of the lentils, three questionable mushrooms, and a hope."
She nodded. "Sounds deadly."
Yin Yue served dinner anyway.
The team sat scattered across the old cafeteria, some on crates, others on broken chairs, all staring into their bowls like they were being punished by fate.
Jiang took one sip.
Coughed violently.
Scar Jaw shoved his bowl away like it might bite him back.
Yin Yue bit his lip. "It's not that bad."
Liang Yu, sitting on a crate near the far wall, lifted his spoon.
Ate a bite didn't blink, ate another still didn't flinch. And finally finished the whole bowl in silence.
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
💘 ML Affection: +4
🎯 Action Logged: Silent Loyalty Meal
💬 Subtext: 'This soup is awful, but I'm choosing love over flavor.'
Yin Yue sat beside him, hugging his knees.
"You ate it," he whispered.
"You made it."
"That's not a reason."
"You're trying."
"I'm trying to get you to love me more."
Liang Yu glanced at him. Then leaned closer, just slightly.
"You already win."
Yin Yue froze.
Then laughed, soft and stunned. "That was romantic. Terrifyingly so."
"Eat your soup."
"I'd rather eat you."
Liang Yu coughed into his sleeve.
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
🫣 FLIRT LEVEL: Reckless
💘 ML Affection: +2 (Suppressed Reaction Logged)
📊 Host Confidence Surge: Dangerous
"I meant metaphorically," Yin Yue added quickly.
"No, you didn't."
Yin Yue sighed. "And now I'm embarrassed. But also still proud."
They sat there in silence. The soup was terrible but the moment was not.
Night falls. The school creaks. The rain begins. Yin Yue can't sleep, not with everything hanging in the air.
Rain whispered across the rooftop like a lullaby no one believed in.
Yin Yue stepped out onto the wet concrete in socks and a borrowed blanket, pulled tight around his shoulders. The hallway had been too quiet, the room too dark, and his brain way too loud, he couldn't sleep.
He should've known Liang Yu would already be up here.
The man stood near the rusted edge, arms folded, eyes on the skyline.
No zombies. No fires. Just rain.
Yin Yue walked over, dropped beside him on the damp ledge without a word.
Liang Yu didn't look at him.
But he shifted slightly just enough to make room.
They sat in silence for a while, the kind that didn't ask to be broken. The kind you shared with people you trusted more than you understood.
Yin Yue pulled the blanket tighter. "Do you ever get scared?"
Liang Yu didn't answer.
So Yin Yue filled the space.
"I do. All the time. Even before all of this." He glanced up at the sky. "Before the zombies. Before the knives and the soup disasters. Just… afraid of not being good enough."
Liang Yu's eyes flicked toward him.
Yin Yue kept going.
"I always felt like I had to earn my place. In every room and every world. Like if I wasn't doing something helpful, I didn't matter."
The rain tapped against the rusted vent beside them.
"I want to be useful," Yin Yue whispered. "But I also want you to like me. And I don't know if those are the same thing."
Liang Yu didn't speak.
But he reached out.
And rested his hand lightly, deliberately over Yin Yue's.
Not squeezing or not grabbing. Just there.
Warm through the cold.
Solid through the shaking.
Yin Yue turned his palm upward and laced their fingers together.
Neither of them looked at the other. They didn't have to.
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
🫶 Emotional Intimacy Milestone Unlocked
💘 ML Affection: Still Maxed
💬 Host Vulnerability Shared: Yes
🌧️ Romance Weather: Rainy, Real, and Ridiculously Soft
Yin Yue leaned his head on Liang Yu's shoulder.
Whispered, "Thanks."
Liang Yu closed his eyes. Said nothing, but stayed.