◎Universe at a Standstill◎
At the Yuan family’s New Year’s Eve dinner table, Yuan Youchuan was making demands for this and that, while Cheng Yun and Yuan Yi kept flirting with each other. As for Yuan Ye, he only felt detached and bored.
He didn’t stay in the dining room too long. After hastily eating a few dishes, he took the remaining half can of Sprite back to his bedroom, leaning against his computer desk.
He moved the mouse to brighten the monitor, notification sounds were endless in his earphones.
The chat software was extremely lively, with classmates in the gaming group calling friends and gathering companions, waiting to organize teams for all-night battles.
Tu Wenwei sent him a message: Brother Yuan, want to come conquer the Summoner’s Rift?
Yuan Ye glanced at the pinned avatar that had been quiet for most of the day, opened LoL, logged into a matched-rank smurf account, and joined their four-person-short-one ranked team.
In the group voice chat, everyone was chattering noisily, offering New Year’s greetings and constantly bantering. When they cued Yuan Ye, he lazily responded with a few words, the rest of the time absent-mindedly switching out to check QQ.
He had set special notifications for Chun Zao.
But I was also worried about missing her messages immediately.
After starting the game, Tu Wenwei’s voice boomed in the chat: “Brother Yuan playing jungle again today?”
Yuan Ye hummed questioningly: “I’ll play Thresh.”
Silence in the earphones for a few seconds: “What are you doing, stealing Xu Shuzhou’s support position? Want to slack off?”
Yuan Ye didn’t deny it: “Mm.”
“What the hell, then who’s jungling? Let me say first, I only play AD.”
Xu Shuzhou was disgusted: “Damn, then Brother Yuan can support. I don’t want to support him, I’ll go mid.”
Tu Wenwei: “What’s that supposed to mean? Looking down on people?”
Xu Shuzhou: “Watching you miss minions could give me a stroke.”
Tu Wenwei fought back with curses.
Yuan Ye laughed: “Just let me support, I’ll carry you.”
Tu Wenwei immediately switched to a cutesy voice: “Eeh, Brother Yuan is still the best~”
But just a few minutes into the game, the bottom lane was about to explode. After the first wave of trading, Yuan Ye’s character returned to the tower base and didn’t move, leaving Tu Wenwei alone to farm minions, getting brutally pressured by the enemy.
“Brother Yuan…” Tu Wenwei wailed.
“Wait a moment.” Yuan Ye was replying to messages on his phone. After a while, he finally moved: “I’m leaving after this game.”
Tu Wenwei guessed why and turned his back on him: “You should get lost earlier.”
Yuan Ye: “…”
He should have known that playing jungle—support rhythm was harder to carry. After enduring nearly fifty minutes of gaming, Yuan Ye instantly closed the interface at the “victory” notification sound, preemptively blocking the gaming group’s inevitable string of curses. He pushed off with his long legs, sliding the swivel chair to the foot of his bed, lay down, and wholeheartedly replied to Chun Zao’s messages:
Yuan Ye: Sorry for the wait.
Yuan Ye: Those guys were too terrible.
Chun Zao: It’s okay, I just took a shower.
She asked again: You’re really good? Calling them terrible.
Yuan Ye started being smug: Much better than them.
Chun Zao had never seen him play computer games in person. Would it be like in movies and TV shows—wearing big headphones, completely focused on the screen, fingers flying, eyes bright and sharp?
Kind of handsome.
As Chun Zao imagined this, she couldn’t help smiling: I’ve never seen you play games.
Yuan Ye: There will be opportunities.
Chun Zao smiled and told him: I’m going out on the third day of the New Year.
Yuan Ye: Visiting relatives?
Chun Zao: No, my parents are going to visit my great-uncle for New Year’s greetings. Tong Yue asked me to hang out, and she’s also bringing.
She got stuck here.
Yuan Ye asked: Bringing?
Chun Zao replied: Bringing her boyfriend.
Yuan Ye curved his lips, speaking flatly: Oh, you go ahead.
Chun Zao had long figured out this guy’s style of deliberately provoking her. Rolling her eyes, she wouldn’t play these roundabout games with him: Are you going or not?
But he was still playing hard to get: I’ll check my schedule.
Chun Zao couldn’t stand it anymore: …Are you some big celebrity?!
Yuan Ye finally stopped teasing her: Going, of course I’m going.
Chun Zao hummed: This afternoon, I have to deliver homework to a classmate, that girl you saw at the internet cafe before.
Yuan Ye: You took on ghostwriting again?
Chun Zao: Of course.—How could she pass up any opportunity to fill her treasury?
Yuan Ye: You’re the real celebrity, schedule packed full.
Chun Zao: Just say whether you’ll accompany me or not.
Yuan Ye became a simple agreeing machine: Going, no problem.
Never mind the third day of the New Year—even if she wanted him to appear the next second, he would catapult from his bed and rush to her side.
At 9:30 AM on the third day, Chun Zao waited at the subway entrance right on time for Yuan Ye. The boy wore an army green long windbreaker open, with an oatmeal white hoodie underneath, looking as fresh as an early summer morning with lush vegetation.
After not seeing each other for days, there was always that novelty. Chun Zao was stunned speechless for a few seconds by his handsomeness.
Noticing her staring at him in a daze, Yuan Ye asked: “What are you spacing out about?”
Chun Zao confessed, “Your casual clothes look pretty good.”
Yuan Ye laughed, turning his head away, his ears slightly red: “Come on, complimenting me as soon as we meet.”
Chun Zao doubled down: “I’ll compliment, I’ll compliment—handsome, handsome, handsome.” The last three words were said like the Wangwang New Year gift pack commercial, cute.
The teenager broke into a big smile that he couldn’t contain for a long while.
Tong Yue and her boyfriend weren’t ones to be late or drag things out. The four quickly gathered.
Tong Yue noticed their coordinated outfits: “What are you two doing, playing matchy-matchy? Green leaves and red flowers combo?”
Only then did Chun Zao notice her New Year outfit—a light pink bread jacket carefully selected by her sister, very lightweight.
Chun Zao shot back at her and Lu Jingheng: “You two are wearing a couple of outfits, did I say anything?”
The boy who was a grade below them blushed, shoving his hands back into his coat pockets.
Tong Yue acted as spokesperson for her more introverted boyfriend, introducing him to Yuan Ye. Now they were acquainted.
“Stop standing around stupidly,” Tong Yue said while walking down the subway platform stairs, enthusiastically taking out her phone to search for store addresses: “I discovered a new escape room before New Year. Let’s go play there this morning.”
“Escape room?” Chun Zao blinked: “I’ve never played one before.”
She looked at Yuan Ye: “Have you played before?”
Yuan Ye said, “I played once before.”
Tong Yue turned around, eyes piercing: “Oh? With whom?”
Yuan Ye: “With some guys from our class.”
Tong Yue narrowed her eyes ominously: “Really…?”
Yuan Ye nodded.
“Swear it—”
“…I swear.”
“Swear hard.”
“…”
Chun Zao pushed away Tong Yue’s finger, pointing straight at Yuan Ye: “Are you bored?”
Tong Yue glanced at her: “What? I’m just looking out for you. Escape rooms, heh, you can understand but can’t put into words.”
Having heard rumors but never experienced it herself, Chun Zao turned to ask Yuan Ye: “Is it very scary?”
Yuan Ye replied: “The one I went to before was okay. If you solve puzzles quickly, you don’t stay inside very long.”
“You’re so pretentious.” Tong Yue clicked her tongue.
Yuan Ye: “?”
“Speak clearly, how is that pretentious?” He wasn’t one to nitpick, but they’d only just met a few minutes ago, and she was already slapping multiple negative labels on him in front of Chun Zao. This needed to be clarified.
Just as Tong Yue was about to analyze, her hand was suddenly gripped.
“Stop talking. He’s not your boyfriend to manage.” Lu Jingheng quietly warned her, pulling her hand into his pocket.
Tong Yue immediately fell silent, instantly switching to good-girl mode.
Chun Zao noticed the couple’s small gestures ahead, suppressed her smile, and somewhat uncomfortably shoved her hands deeper into her pockets, fidgeting.
The escape room was on the B1 level of the mall they often visited. Previously a large restaurant, after renovation it became an impressive escape room with three main themes: “Deadly Hospital,” “The Wronged Lady’s Resentment,” and “Campus Battle Royale.”
Tong Yue excitedly made selections, asking the front desk which was most thrilling, and quickly recommended one.
Chun Zao frowned at the dark-style standing signs at the entrance, hearing faint ghostly wails from inside: “Is this an escape room or a haunted house? The names are so bloody and violent.”
Yuan Ye said quietly, “Scared? It’s not too late to run now, we can play something else.”
“Not scared exactly…” Chun Zao turned her head: “I went to a haunted house with Tong Yue in middle school.”—Just charge through with your head down. It was Tong Yue who left scratch marks on her hand that didn’t fade for days, screaming louder than the sound effects inside, leaving her with slight tinnitus and brain buzzing afterward.
“I told you it was awesome, Chun Zao.” That day’s Tong Yue had tears in her eyes, face pale as paper, but still talked tough.
Not wanting to recall that, Chun Zao followed Yuan Ye back to the front desk.
Just as Tong Yue was about to pay, Yuan Ye, with his height advantage, had already thrust his phone’s payment code toward the staff.
Beep—she turned to look at them both, instantly becoming a bootlicker: “Ooh, brother-in-law’s treating today?”
Chun Zao was torn between crying and laughing: “What are you talking about?”
Tong Yue reasoned: “Whoever pays is my sister, so he… isn’t that my brother-in-law?”
Finally said something decent.
Yuan Ye put away his phone, last to follow as the staff led them inside.
“What are we playing?” Only after the surroundings became dark and eerie, with just mysterious lighting and mottled walls, did they think to ask.
Tong Yue answered ghostly: “Deadly Hospital~”
“…”
“…”
“…”
The four walked through the dark corridor, with X-ray quality skull patterns occasionally hanging on both walls, bloodstained banners, and tattered white coats. At the first corner, a skeleton man in a white hoodie charged straight at them.
Tong Yue instantly shrieked in terror, clinging tightly to Lu Jingheng’s arm.
The other three weren’t startled by the staff member but were panicked by her screaming.
“You two… go to the front!” Tong Yue refused to lead anymore, teeth chattering, with crying in her voice.
Yuan Ye decisively pushed Chun Zao forward, passing between the front couple. He stopped at the glass partition of the pharmacy, carefully examining and connecting clues on medicine bottles and boxes. During the puzzle-solving process, with “ghosts” appearing from time to time, Tong Yue was already scared to trembling, legs shaking: “Hurry up, hurry up. I don’t want to stay here anymore…”
However, the horror level and puzzle difficulty gradually increased through the emergency room, patient rooms… Initially labeled a “show-off,” Yuan Ye was promoted to the team core through intelligence and courage. He was calm, composed, with clear and meticulous logic, leading the team to the final challenge where the four-person group was forced to split up—one team to search the corpse-filled morgue for key artifacts, one team to the blood-splattered elevator car to activate switches for backup. Otherwise, they couldn’t complete the task within the time limit and, according to the described consequences, would be devoured by vengeful spirits.
Tong Yue naturally didn’t dare choose the fully enclosed morgue, protected by Lu Jingheng, as they fled to the elevator as backup.
The metal sliding door of the morgue closed behind them, leaving only Yuan Ye and Chun Zao in the space.
In the pitch-black room with eerie lighting, Chun Zao looked at the realistic body refrigeration units, breathing slightly faster: “This morgue is too ‘morgue-like.'”
Yuan Ye scanned the numbers above, chuckling softly.
She glanced at him: “You still have the mood to laugh.”
Yuan Ye’s eyes, looking over, were bright and steady in the darkness, like fixed stars, inexplicably reassuring: “Finally can think quietly. Wouldn’t you laugh too?”
Chun Zao snorted: “I guess so.” Anyway, with Tong Yue absent, expressing agreement wasn’t too excessive.
Unfortunately, the surroundings weren’t truly quiet. The speakers in the room corner suddenly emitted deep human voices, providing clues while reminding them that time was passing.
Yuan Ye got serious, no longer joking, carefully examining the scene’s setup. While thinking and moving, he unconsciously walked a few steps away.
Chun Zao also went to the other wall to examine the worn doctor’s duty schedule.
Suddenly, clang—a previously sealed freezer door popped open.
Chun Zao cried out in panic. Seeing this, Yuan Ye hurried back in big strides, gripped her arm, and pulled her to his side.
“Don’t run around,” he said.
Seeing the girl’s pale face and lingering fear, he urgently added: “Can’t you just stay by my side?”
What are you being fierce about? Chun Zao didn’t dare look at the suddenly active “corpse cabinet” again, just looked up at him irritably: “Weren’t you the one who left me behind first?”
“Me?” The teenager was stunned for a second, belatedly realizing, showing remorse: “Sorry.”
As her heart rate gradually slowed, Chun Zao finally noticed his hand was still gripping her arm tightly. Even through thick clothing, it was forceful enough to hurt slightly. She looked at that spot, hinting for him to let go.
Yuan Ye realized this, immediately releasing his grip, raising his hand to show, then lowering it.
Chun Zao took a deep breath.
The next moment, unable to calm down again, her heart was like a flare shooting rapidly into the night sky, with an abnormally violent explosive sensation detonating in her chest.
Yuan Ye had grasped her hand.
As if electrocuted, Chun Zao instinctively wanted to curl her fingertips, immediately pushing back from his palm. Without question, his tiger’s mouth found hers, fingers interlocking with hers, like two puzzle pieces that should naturally fit together, like gears—all consciousness, all emotions activated in this moment, beginning their silent wild spinning.
During the movement, neither dared look into the other’s eyes.
The boy’s hand was dry and warm, pressing against hers, invaded and filled.
A tingling dizzying sensation spread through Chun Zao’s entire body. She completely forgot how to breathe, time stopped, the world stopped, the universe stopped.
And his voice, in this complete weightless stillness, somewhat uncomfortable yet firm and clear, emerged:
“This way,”
“I will never leave you behind again.”