Reaching the chemistry lab, Shen Yuan put down the boxes to fetch the key from his pocket and unlocked the door. Zhou Yi entered first and placed the box on the lab desk nearest to the door before taking one box off of Shen Yuan's hands and placing it next to the first box.
Shen Yuan put down the last one with the rest. "Where do we put this?"
"Right here."
Zhou Yi crouched down and slid open the cupboard under the tabletop. Shen Yuan passed the boxes to him while he organized them with the other medical supplies inside.
Once they were done, Shen Yuan tossed the key to Zhou Yi for him to return it to Wang Liyan and was about to leave when the man spoke up, "This room. Do you remember it?"
"Remember what?" Shen Yuan looked back at Zhou Yi strangely.
"You said you studied here once."
"And why would you think that's equivalent to me reminiscing about this chemistry lab in particular? There's nothing special about it."
"Nothing special about it…" Zhou Yi stared at Shen Yuan for a moment and moved his focus to the front, close yet distant. "Do you know why I chose this school as our shelter?"
Ominous feelings crept into Shen Yuan, like hearing the ticking of a countdown. He didn't want to listen to whatever Zhou Yi had to say and decisively walked away. "How would I know? If you want to tell bedtime stories, go find some kids. I'm leaving. Let's go, Yan-Yan."
He let Huo Yan out the door first and had only taken one step outside when a strong arm yanked him back, slammed the door shut, and locked it.
Huo Yan's violent screech erupted outside, and rampant scratches rattled the door. Shen Yuan struggled to break free from Zhou Yi's restraint to no avail and threw his fist only to be caught by Zhou Yi's much larger clutch.
"What the fuck are you doing? Let me go!"
"Why do you reject me so much? It's not because I forced you to come here, is it?" Zhou Yi fixed his steady gaze on Shen Yuan's incensed profile, unmoved by his retaliation like a solid brick wall.
"And you think doing this will make it any better? I said, let go!"
"Not until you answer me."
Thud!
The door shook from a violent impact, followed by another one the next second. Shen Yuan knew Huo Yan was slamming his body against it in an attempt to break in, but it would never open against Zhou Yi's will. Huo Yan would only hurt himself in the process.
"Yan-Yan, stop! You'll get injured!" Shen Yuan shouted.
But despite his request, the slamming didn't stop. Thinking of something, he took a deep breath and calmed himself down before trying again. He softened his voice, pressing down all his discomfort and anger underneath.
"Yan-Yan, I'm fine. Be good and wait for me."
"…"
After a moment, the slamming finally stopped.
Shen Yuan heaved a small sigh of relief. As he thought, Huo Yan could feel his agitation.
He returned his attention to the problem at hand. He kept his voice controlled, delivering all his hostility through his glare. "If you don't let me go right fucking now, this will be the last time you'll ever see me."
"If you could leave this place, you would've done it as soon as you arrived, but you didn't. You stayed." Zhou Yi held Shen Yuan tighter in response. "I'm prepared to chase you down from day one. You'll have to threaten me better than that."
"Fucking lunatic." Shen Yuan gritted his teeth.
"I won't deny that. I also think I'm going crazy." Zhou Yi chuckled to himself, the rippling obsession in his flaring eyes created an unsettling contrast.
"Even if you force me, I can't and don't want to give you what you want, Zhou Yi. We've only met 4 days ago and you make me uncomfortable with your advances. I don't like you, and I don't want to be with you."
Zhou Yi turned a deaf ear to Shen Yuan's words. "You said you studied here once, but when I checked the school's database, not a single Shen Yuan had ever studied here."
"I changed my surname after my parents got divorced."
"I thought of that possibility and also looked up every 'Yuan' for good measure. I'm sure you can guess the result."
"Whatever you're saying, the fact remains that I studied here. If you can't find me in the database, then it's not my problem to solve. It's the apocalypse. I'll be more surprised if that thing doesn't experience the smallest glitch or error."
"It's true that you're familiar with this place. You could find your way to both the infirmary and this chemistry lab by yourself after all." Zhou Yi let Shen Yuan's fist go and pinched his chin, tilting his face up to him and staring down at him. "Then, tell me your class and the name of one of your classmates."
Shen Yuan didn't give away any reaction and kept his expression still, but he knew he was screwed. It was easy for an S-grade power user to memorize the name and class of every student in the school database with their photographic memory.
Before he could come up with an answer, the ground quaked and trembled the glass.
Zhou Yi's hold loosened in alarm, and Shen Yuan took the chance to break free. He didn't let him go a step further and pulled him back though without restraining him as before.
He waited until the shaking stopped and grimly ordered, "Stay here. Don't go anywhere before we give the clear sign."
"What was that? It doesn't feel like a regular earthquake," Shen Yuan questioned, gladly putting the previous problem aside.
"A crevice might've opened nearby."
"A crevice?"
"The gate of hell." Zhou Yi finally let Shen Yuan go and went to unlock the door.
The second it opened, Huo Yan bolted inside and flew into Shen Yuan's arms, almost toppling the man off balance. Shen Yuan hugged him tight to his chest and kissed his forehead in appeasement. "I'm fine, Yan-Yan."
"Mreoww…!"
"We'll continue this later." Zhou Yi stepped out to the hallway and glanced back at Shen Yuan one last time. "You should have your answer by then."
Thud. Click.
Zhou Yi locked the door shut.
"…" Shen Yuan drew his eyebrows tight. He couldn't stall any longer.
He fetched the bottle of sleeping pills from his pocket and clutched it. Putting Huo Yan on the table, he opened the bottle and took out 3 pills to his palm.
"?" Huo Yan nudged them with his muzzle and looked up at Shen Yuan with curious eyes.
"I planned to put it in your food, but that's no longer a choice." Shen Yuan sighed and scratched Huo Yan's ear with heavy eyes. "Can you eat it? For me?"
Huo Yan stared at the pills for a moment, then back at Shen Yuan, and back at the pills. Eventually, he opened his mouth and took them into his mouth, licking Shen Yuan's palm in his motion.
"Thank you." Shen Yuan rubbed Huo Yan's head in praise and sat on the table to wait for the drug to kick in. Huo Yan lay on his side, his tail curling around Shen Yuan's wrist.
Seconds, minutes passed.
But Huo Yan remained awake.
Shen Yuan wondered if he should increase the dose, but 3 pills for a cat were already 2 too many. He didn't want Huo Yan to overdose. That wasn't the purpose.
Maybe 5 would do the trick.
He fed Huo Yan 2 more pills and waited another 10 minutes, but nothing happened. After he fed him 10 pills to no effect, only then he knew it was useless.
Shen Yuan inwardly cursed. Did he really have to rip Huo Yan's heart out? While he was wide awake no less?
"Meow…?" Huo Yan propped his front legs up on Shen Yuan's lap.
Not having any choice, Shen Yuan steeled himself and got off the table. He opened the cupboard, unboxed the medical tool box, and grabbed a scalpel before standing back up. "I'm not sure how much you understand my words, so I'm just going to say it straight. I'm about to cut you open to take out your heart."
"…"
"From your perspective, you might think I intend to kill you, but I don't. I need to eat your heart to take you away from here." Shen Yuan tapped on Huo Yan's upright chest and pointed to his mouth, making a biting motion. "I can't promise you that it's not going to hurt. On the contrary, it'll definitely hurt as hell, but I need to do it. Will you let me?"
"Meow~"
CRASH!
A window shattered without warning, and Shen Yuan raised his head in alert to find a mass of pitch-black cloud hovering by the ceiling. Two more identical entities rushed in, smashing the windows in their break-in.
Before Shen Yuan could figure anything out, his vision went dark.