Gong Yingxian turned Ren Yi, who was consumed by rage, around to face him. Looking into his eyes, he said, “Don’t get worked up. Conserve your oxygen. We won’t die here. I will definitely get you all home.”
Ren Yi closed his eyes and calmed himself down. Even though he was furious beyond words, this was no time to lose his temper. He nodded. “Stay calm.”
“Let’s find the ammonia leak first and plug it.”
Following the temperature differences and the white vapor, the two quickly located the leaking pipe. All the pipes in this room were connected to the outside, meaning they could be damaged from outside with a hard object.
They rummaged through the room, looking for anything they could use to plug the leak. In the end, all they found was toilet paper. They stuffed it into the opening in the pipe, but it quickly froze solid and crumbled at the slightest touch. They had no choice but to use large quantities of paper to block the opening. This bought them a little time, but gas could seep through even the tiniest gaps, and a small amount of ammonia was still leaking into the machinery room.
“Let’s leave it like this for now. First, we’ll get Feilan somewhere higher up.”
Ren Yi went over to Gong Feilan and tucked her hands into the pockets of her coat. He then checked her mask for gaps and made sure no skin was exposed. Fortunately, it was still early spring, so everyone was dressed relatively warmly. After stuffing paper into the potential entry points around her collar, cuffs, trouser legs, socks, and other openings, the two climbed onto chairs and worked together to lift her onto the top of a cabinet.
Since most of the ammonia accumulated near the ground, the higher the position, the safer and warmer it was.
Ren Yi glanced down at the remaining air in his SCBA tank. “How much do you have left?”
Gong Yingxian checked. “Ninety percent.”
“I didn’t have time to change my air cylinder just now, so I don’t have much left. Between our two cylinders, we have enough air for twenty minutes at most.”
If they couldn’t get out within twenty minutes, their lives would be on a countdown. Once the machinery room filled with ammonia, they wouldn’t last long without oxygen.
Gong Yingxian said, “You keep plugging the pipe. I’ll figure something out.”
Ren Yi grabbed the toilet paper and continued stuffing it into the pipe. The closer he got to the leak, the colder it became. Even with his gloves on, both his hands were numb from the cold, yet he still couldn’t stop the deadly gas from pouring out.
Meanwhile, Gong Yingxian searched the machinery room. He first felt around near the door, then searched the entire room from top to bottom. Ren Yi had no idea what he was looking for.
“What are you looking for?”
“Something useful,” Gong Yingxian replied. “Do you remember how the machinery room door was locked? Was it a mechanical lock or an electronic one?”
Ren Yi tried to recall. “It should be a mechanical lock.”
When they had arrived, they had been so desperate to find Gong Feilan that they hadn’t paid much attention to the lock. Looking back, it was suspicious in itself that such an important room had been left unlocked. Their concern for her had clouded their judgment.
Gong Yingxian handed Ren Yi the three portable fire extinguishers in the room. “These will come in handy.” He himself was carrying a toolbox.
“Ammonia won’t burn without an open flame.”
“There will be one soon.”
Ren Yi’s eyes widened. “W-What are you planning to do?”
Gong Yingxian didn’t answer. Instead, he began dismantling things. First, he pulled the wires out of the control console, stripped off their insulation, and twisted the thin wires together into a thicker bundle.
“Smash that computer tower and get me a transformer.”
“Oh.” Ren Yi used a chair to smash and pry open the computer case, then pulled out a transformer and handed it to Gong Yingxian.
Gong Yingxian continued giving instructions. “The casing of that clock on the wall is made of insulating plastic. Find a way to take it off and give it to me. The handles on those two cabinets are made of copper. Take those off, too.”
Ren Yi took a hammer and other tools from the toolbox. He was very skilled at forcible demolition, and after working at it for a while, he managed to remove the parts.
He handed everything to Gong Yingxian and watched him assemble something with his head lowered.
“What exactly are you making?”
“A makeshift electric heating cutter. This copper door isn’t very thick. If I can cut a small opening in it, we should be able to reach through and undo the latch. I remember there should be a bolt on the outside.”
Ren Yi frowned. “Won’t that produce sparks?”
“Yes. There’s a risk of fire or an explosion. I’ve thought of several ways to do this. To cut through metal quickly, we need high temperatures. This method produces the fewest sparks. While the ammonia hasn’t seeped too far into the room, I’ll start cutting, and you use water to dilute the ammonia.”
They both understood exactly what it meant to have sparks in a room filled with ammonia gas. At this point, all they could do was hope the ammonia concentration hadn’t reached its flammable or explosive limits.
Ren Yi paced back and forth restlessly. He glanced at Gong Feilan, who was still unconscious, then looked toward the hope of survival that lay just beyond the glass wall. His heart was filled with anger and unease. He grabbed an iron stool and swung one of its legs at a corner of the glass wall.
He thought he had put all his strength into the blow, but it had only added a faint crack to the glass.
“Stop hitting it. That’s high-strength, double-pane tempered glass,” Gong Yingxian said quietly. “Save your oxygen.”
Ren Yi lowered the stool dejectedly. “What else can I do?”
Gong Yingxian fell silent for a moment. “Come sit beside me.”
Ren Yi’s heart trembled slightly. He obediently sat down beside Gong Yingxian and watched him in silence, trying to take in as much as he could of the face he loved through the tightly sealed mask. Although all he could see was a pair of focused eyes, he couldn’t bear to look away.
His air cylinder was almost empty. In another two or three minutes, they would have to share a single air cylinder, taking turns breathing from it. By then, even saying one extra sentence would be a luxury.
And twenty minutes after that, they would face the ultimate test of life and death.
He became acutely aware that if he didn’t say certain things now, he might never get another chance.
He had originally planned to confess his feelings to Gong Yingxian on New Year’s Eve. If his father’s incident hadn’t happened, what would things between them be like now? Perhaps they would be enjoying a sweet romance. Perhaps they would have already gone their separate ways. He didn’t know. As long as the future remained unknown, there would always be hope.
But if they died, there would be nothing left.
A wave of sorrow suddenly washed over Ren Yi. In a rush of emotion, the words burst from his trembling lips.
“Gong Yingxian, I like you.”
Before he had even finished speaking, his eyes had turned red.
He had always thought that when the day came for him to say these words, he would be fully prepared. He would carefully build up to the confession, perhaps testing the waters beforehand to estimate his chances of success. Then he would gather his courage and choose a meaningful, somewhat romantic moment to solemnly reveal the love he had hidden for so long.
But now, his feelings were like a new sprout desperately pushing through the soil, needing to reach the sunlight this very moment. Under the threat of death, his heart had been driven into the deepest abyss, and this was the only hope he had left.
If he was going to die, he wanted to express his love openly and honorably.
He no longer wanted to hide it. He no longer wanted to run away. He wanted to stand in the sunlight, look this man straight in the eyes, and face his own embarrassing desires and the pure, untainted feelings he had for him without shame.
Gong Yingxian felt as though he had been struck by lightning. His entire body stiffened. He mechanically turned his head, staring at Ren Yi with widened eyes, his face filled with shock.
Through his blurry, tear-filled eyes, Ren Yi looked at Gong Yingxian. He had been secretly in love with him for so long that he had always imagined he would have a thousand things to say at this moment. In reality, the weight of those three words was greater than a thousand others combined, leaving him unable to utter another word.
Gong Yingxian couldn’t believe what he had just heard. He even wondered whether the toxic gas had caused him to hallucinate.
After a long while, he finally came back to his senses. His face flushed bright red, and all kinds of emotions mingled across his handsome features, making them difficult to decipher.
Ren Yi was so nervous that he barely dared to breathe. He couldn’t read the answer he wanted from Gong Yingxian’s face.
In the end, Gong Yingxian’s expression hardened into anger. He grabbed Ren Yi by the collar.
Ren Yi’s heart sank. He decided to throw caution to the wind and spoke through a choked sob.
“You heard me right. I-I like you. You can find me disgusting, you can reject me, I don’t care. I’ve liked you for a long time. Ever since long ago…”
“Shut up.” Gong Yingxian’s eyes had turned red, too. “You bastard! Why are you saying this now? What the hell is wrong with you? Is this the time for this?!”
“We’re about to die here! If this isn’t the time, then when is?!”
“No one is going to die here.” Gong Yingxian glared at Ren Yi through clenched teeth. “I absolutely will not let you die here, you… Why didn’t you say this earlier? And if you weren’t going to say it earlier, why couldn’t you have waited just a little longer?”
Tears were already streaming down Ren Yi’s face, but he couldn’t remove his mask to wipe them away. His heart ached terribly.
Tears were also welling up in Gong Yingxian’s eyes. He opened his mouth, but then remembered that their lives were still hanging by a thread. The only thing they should be focusing on right now was how to survive.
He unzipped his rescue suit and rummaged around inside it for a long time. To Ren Yi’s astonishment, he pulled out a pure white envelope and tossed it to him.
“Read it yourself,” he said, his face flushed red.
Then he lowered his head and continued assembling the tool in his hands.
Ren Yi stared blankly for a moment before taking the envelope in confusion. He opened it and found a photograph inside.
It was a photograph of a lily-of-the-valley specimen.
For a moment, Ren Yi forgot his sadness, left only bewildered.
“W-What does this mean?”
Gong Yingxian looked up, embarrassed and annoyed. “How can you not figure it out?!”
“What am I supposed to figure out from this?”
“…Turn it over.”
Ren Yi flipped the photograph over. On the back was Gong Yingxian’s sharp, elegant handwriting.
It represents my heart.
Ren Yi could feel the oxygen level dropping. His brain was becoming oxygen-deprived, leaving him even more confused. Or perhaps he vaguely understood what it meant but didn’t dare believe it.
Gong Yingxian had initially waited anxiously for Ren Yi’s reaction. But when he saw Ren Yi staring at the picture like an idiot, he snatched it back and shoved it almost directly into Ren Yi’s face.
“Look at it! The skull of a bearded dragon is heart-shaped, and its tail points toward that heart like an arrow. How can you not see it?! And you have 20/20 vision!”
“…An arrow through the heart?”
“I like you, too! One heart, one devotion—to one yi! Are you an idiot?!”
Gong Yingxian’s face was bright red, though it was impossible to tell whether he was flustered, embarrassed, or angry.
With an IQ of 157, he had racked his brains to come up with what he considered a perfect, clever, and meaningful way to confess his feelings. And this idiot hadn’t even understood it?!
Ren Yi stared blankly at Gong Yingxian.
Gong Yingxian quickly lowered his head, the tips of his ears turning completely red.
Ren Yi finally understood. Clutching the photograph, he laughed and cried at the same time.
“You… You… I…”
He couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
Gong Yingxian had said he liked him.
Gong Yingxian had said he liked him!
Gong Yingxian fought back his tears. “We’ll talk about it once we’re out.”
“Are you serious? I…” Ren Yi’s words caught in his throat, and he couldn’t continue. His oxygen had run out.
Gong Yingxian noticed something was wrong. “Use mine.”
Ren Yi pointed at himself, then at Gong Yingxian, indicating that they should take turns. He then removed the heavy air cylinder from his back and began holding his breath.
He had imagined countless times what it would be like when he confessed his feelings to Gong Yingxian. Whether the outcome brought them both happiness or left him heartbroken, he had prepared himself for either possibility.
Now, he had received the answer he wanted most. Gong Yingxian’s words, I like you, too, left him floating on air, almost deliriously happy.
This should have been the happiest, most blissful moment of his life. Yet he couldn’t laugh freely, couldn’t pour out his heart, and couldn’t even say one unnecessary word.
Because from this moment on, oxygen was their lifeline.
Ren Yi could only gaze at Gong Yingxian with deep affection and sadness.
He had fantasized countless times about being mutually in love with Gong Yingxian. Now that his dream had finally come true, they were on the verge of dying.
Joy and sorrow mingled together.
They took turns breathing from the air cylinder and holding their breath. Ren Yi repeatedly stuffed more toilet paper into the leaking pipe, then returned to Gong Yingxian’s side again and again, watching him use the limited tools at hand to assemble a makeshift electric heating cutter.
Ren Yi picked up a pen from the table and hurriedly wrote something on the envelope. Then he placed it in front of Gong Yingxian.
It read:
I like you. I love you. If we can get out of here alive, I want us to stay together for the rest of our lives.
Gong Yingxian glanced at Ren Yi, then gently bumped his mask against Ren Yi’s.
It was a kiss that sealed a promise.