After Gong Yingxian finished preparing, Ren Yi began using a fire extinguisher to dilute the ammonia gas leaking into the machinery room. As long as the ammonia concentration remained low, a few sparks would not pose a threat.
Even after emptying two fire extinguishers, Ren Yi still wasn’t reassured. He removed his mask and tested the ammonia concentration himself. The gas stung and irritated his airways, but the concentration was not yet too high.
Gong Yingxian moved the crude tool to the door and handed the electrical wires to Ren Yi. “When I say to turn on the power, turn it on. If you can’t hold your breath any longer, come over and switch places with me.”
“It’s fine,” Ren Yi said. “I can still breathe, more or less.”
Gong Yingxian frowned at him. Although he hated seeing Ren Yi suffer, he knew they had to break through the door as quickly as possible. He said, “Turn it on.”
Ren Yi twisted the two wires together and connected the power supply.
The resistance wire in Gong Yingxian’s hand began to spark. The principle behind this makeshift electric cutting tool was to use electrical resistance to generate a large current, producing sustained, intense heat that could melt metal. However, the version they had assembled with their limited supplies had very little power. It might have been suitable for cutting plastic, but when its tip touched the aluminum alloy door in front of them, each attempt melted only a shallow indentation about the size of a grain of rice.
But this was their last remaining hope.
Using the crude tool, Gong Yingxian tried bit by bit to burn a hole near the door handle large enough for a hand to pass through.
The brief twenty minutes passed quickly. The two of them repeatedly held their breath and took turns breathing from their air cylinders. Even with such careful rationing, only ten percent of their air supply remained.
Watching the ammonia leak grow worse, Ren Yi simply took off his rescue suit and used it to plug the pipe. The temperature inside the room had already been steadily dropping, and it was probably now well below freezing. Without his protective clothing, he began shivering violently from the cold.
The combination of freezing temperatures and oxygen deprivation was so agonizing that he could lose consciousness at any moment. He hurried back to Gong Yingxian, connected his mask’s hose to Gong Yingxian’s air cylinder, and took a deep breath. As the clean air flowed into his lungs, he had the illusion that he was being purified from the inside out. But that almost redemptive feeling was painfully brief.
Gong Yingxian continued concentrating on melting through the door. A circular indentation had already appeared in the metal.
After taking a few breaths, Ren Yi wanted to return the air cylinder to Gong Yingxian, but Gong Yingxian shook his head and said quietly, “Save it.”
Leaning against the door, Ren Yi felt his strength ebbing away. He had already inhaled a considerable amount of ammonia. His throat burned fiercely, he was dizzy and nauseated, and he couldn’t stop coughing.
It was so cold. He felt as though he were dying.
Gong Yingxian looked at Ren Yi with bloodshot eyes. “Hold me.”
Ren Yi moved closer and wrapped his arms around Gong Yingxian from behind, trying to warm himself with his body heat. Perhaps embracing each other couldn’t do much to alleviate their physical suffering, but at least it brought them some comfort emotionally.
Gong Yingxian stared anxiously at the molten depression in the door, wishing only that the work would go faster. Faster, just a little faster.
At last, the cutting tool melted a complete circle into the metal.
“Where’s the hammer? Let’s try,” Gong Yingxian said.
Ren Yi brought over the screwdriver and hammer. Gong Yingxian inserted the screwdriver into the melted depression and struck it hard with the hammer. It took dozens of blows before he finally punched through the metal.
Ren Yi cried out excitedly, “It’s through! It’s through—cough, cough, cough!”
“Ren Yi!” Gong Yingxian connected him to the air cylinder. “Breathe.”
Seeing Ren Yi’s pale face and bloodshot eyes, Gong Yingxian felt his heart ache unbearably.
Ren Yi took a breath but couldn’t bear to use any more of the precious air. He shook his head. “Don’t worry about me. We need to hurry—cough, cough—there’s no time to waste. I’ll hammer it. You keep melting the hole deeper.”
Gong Yingxian squeezed Ren Yi’s hand firmly, then took off his own rescue suit and forced Ren Yi to put it on.
“No need. I can still hold on.”
“Put it on.” Gong Yingxian gripped Ren Yi’s arm. “Put it on. If you feel warm, then I won’t be cold.”
Ren Yi’s nose stung, and he managed a faint smile. “Then we’ll take turns wearing it.”
Gong Yingxian handed Ren Yi the hammer and screwdriver. He continued melting the metal with the cutting tool, while Ren Yi used every last ounce of his strength to hammer at the door. Whenever they could no longer endure it, they took a breath of air, continuing until the air cylinder was completely empty.
Ren Yi simply removed his mask and gritted his teeth as he continued hammering. He could already see the other side through the hole they had punched through. Although it was still shrouded in smoke, he knew that at the end of that smoke lay their hope of survival.
The two of them coughed incessantly. Their heads throbbed with pain, their breathing grew increasingly difficult, and the low temperature left their hands barely responsive.
Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through Ren Yi’s hand. His cry of agony caught in his throat, and the tools fell from his grasp.
“Ren Yi!” Gong Yingxian grabbed the hand Ren Yi had struck with the hammer and futilely tried to warm it with gentle breaths. He was so frantic that his eyes reddened with blood from not knowing how to ease Ren Yi’s pain.
Ren Yi endured the agony. “I-I’m fine. Keep going.”
Gong Yingxian picked up the screwdriver and hammer and continued striking with all his might. At last, he broke a small hole through the door. He immediately thrust his hand outside and felt around for the latch.
Ren Yi watched him, his eyes filled with hope.
But Gong Yingxian’s face seemed to fall under a shadow. Trembling, he withdrew his hand.
“…It’s locked.”
Ren Yi froze. The despair of that moment was like finally struggling almost to the top of a climb, only to have someone kick him all the way back down.
Ren Yi’s knees gave way, and he slid down the door to the floor. Gong Yingxian crouched beside him and wrapped his arms around him, his voice trembling.
“How are you feeling?”
Ren Yi shook his head. “I’m a little dizzy, and… a little cold.” He simply removed his mask. It was hardly of any use now anyway.
Gong Yingxian removed his mask, too. He cupped Ren Yi’s face and kissed him hard.
“Ren Yi, you have to hold on. We’re definitely getting out of here.”
Then he held him tightly.
Ren Yi hugged Gong Yingxian back just as tightly. “It’s so cold. You’re cold, too, aren’t you?”
A thin layer of white frost had already formed on their hair and body hair. The low temperature had slowed all their bodily functions, including their thinking.
Gong Yingxian pressed his face against Ren Yi’s. “Your skin is warm.”
“Yours is, too.” Ren Yi felt drowsy.
“Don’t fall asleep. Talk to me.”
“Feilan… I wonder how Feilan is doing.”
“She should be better off than we are.” Gong Yingxian held Ren Yi tightly, wishing he could press him right into his own body. “Today… today was supposed to be a wonderful day.”
Today was the day he had planned to confess his feelings to Ren Yi. He had never confessed his feelings to anyone in his life. He had made so many preparations. Even the social customs he considered foolish and pointless, he had followed them all. He had bought flowers, written a card, and prepared gifts and wine. He had waited for that moment with a mixture of nervousness and embarrassment, secretly aware that Ren Yi cared deeply about him and probably liked him, too.
He had imagined countless possible outcomes, but not one of them involved the two of them being trapped inside a freezing chamber at minus twenty degrees Celsius.
“Yeah. It’s a day I’ll never forget for the rest of my life…” Ren Yi mocked himself. “Who would’ve thought my life would be almost over already?”
“Impossible. There are still so many things I haven’t told you, so many things we haven’t done. We’re not going to die here.” Gong Yingxian gritted his teeth. “Maybe someone will come to rescue us.”
“We don’t know\… We’ve gone missing. Cough, cough. There’s no signal in here. Even if someone knows, finding us in this place… it’s too difficult.”
“There has to be a way. There has to be.” Gong Yingxian refused to accept it. He absolutely could not die here. His past held unfinished duties, and his future held Ren Yi. He would never give up on a future with Ren Yi in it!
“It’s so cold.” The toxic gas and low temperature had left Ren Yi barely conscious. “Yingxian, I’m so cold.”
Gong Yingxian held him tightly. His brilliant mind had never been so sluggish before. The cold made even the simplest thoughts difficult. He hated fire so much, yet now he longed for its warmth.
Wait. Fire!
“Fire…” Gong Yingxian murmured unconsciously.
Ren Yi laughed between coughs. “We… can’t light a fire here. Better to… better to freeze to death than burn to death.”
Gong Yingxian’s eyes suddenly cleared. He struggled to his feet.
“I have an idea.”
“What?”
Gong Yingxian’s voice trembled. “There’s ammonia leaking outside, too. If we set it on fire, the flames will bring the firefighters here to put it out.”
Ren Yi froze for a moment. He couldn’t tell whether he was shivering or nodding, but he murmured, “R-right.”
Gong Yingxian picked up a cardboard toilet paper tube from the floor, then reconnected the device to the power supply. Once the cardboard tube caught fire, he threw it through the hole they had just punched in the door.
The moment the ammonia encountered an open flame, it ignited across a wide area. The flames emitted a pale blue glow, resembling clusters of ghostly fire floating along the ground in the darkness.
Gong Yingxian began striking the aluminum alloy door with the hammer, one blow after another. In the enormous cold-storage warehouse, the sound could travel a great distance through the echoes.
Ren Yi lay on the floor as his consciousness gradually slipped away from his body. Indistinct sounds reached his ears, but he couldn’t make out what they were, nor did he care anymore. In his hazy state, he instinctively searched for Gong Yingxian. He wanted to take Gong Yingxian’s hand and hold on to it, no matter where they went, no matter whether they lived or died.
Then he fell into a warm, strong embrace and saw a pair of familiar eyes, filled with anxiety.
Ah. I’ve found you.