It wasn't a full ambush. More like an accidental brush with death.
A small group of fast zombies freaks, as the team called them rushed them near a burned-out gas station while they were scavenging.
Yin Yue swung his frying pan three times. It connected twice.
Someone screamed. (It might've been him.)
Then the last zombie dropped with a knife to the spine Liang Yu's, of course.
The silence afterward was electric.
Yin Yue stood in the middle of it.
Panting. Shoulders heaving and palms shaking just slightly.
Then, his knees buckled. Not from pain. Just from everything.
He landed hard. Didn't even try to get up.
Too tired. Too overwhelmed.
Too full of everything he hadn't had time to feel until now.
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
⚠️ Host Status: Low Energy
💬 Suggestion: Cry a little. It's allowed.
💘 ML Status: Approaching Rapidly
Boots hit gravel and a shadow fell across him.
And then, Liang Yu crouched and said nothing.
Wrapped both arms around him. Gently, not hesitantly. Just completely.
One hand on the back of Yin Yue's head. The other firm around his back. Chin resting lightly atop his shoulder.
The rest of the team watched from a distance.
Jiang raised a brow. "Okay then."
Scar-Jaw said nothing.
Chen Zhi blinked like someone had slapped him with a romantic subplot he didn't sign up for.
No one interrupted.
Yin Yue didn't say anything for a full minute.
Then, muffled into Liang Yu's chest: "This counts, right?"
Liang Yu: "What does?"
"This. Hug. It counts as a kiss."
Liang Yu didn't respond.
But his hold tightened. Just a little.
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
🫶 AFFECTION LEVEL: Still Maxed
💬 Logged: "Hug That Might Have Broken the Internet"
📈 Group Gossip Risk: 94%
Eventually, Yin Yue pulled back and Liang Yu let him.
Their eyes met.
Yin Yue was flushed. Breathless. Wide-eyed.
"You're a menace," he whispered.
"You're alive."
"You're not denying the hug counts."
Liang Yu smirked. "It's close."
Yin Yue grinned.
So close and getting closer.
The night was clear, too clear.
Which, in the apocalypse, usually meant something terrible was about to happen or had just barely been avoided.
Yin Yue sat on a plastic crate with a crossbow he didn't know how to use and a granola bar he'd forgotten to finish.
Liang Yu stood nearby, leaning against the shattered window frame of what used to be a principal's office.
Yin Yue hadn't spoken in ten minutes.
Which, for him, was a world record.
Finally, he said, "So."
Liang Yu didn't move, but he listened.
"I have a question," Yin Yue continued. "And I'm going to ask it without deflecting, without panicking and without biting the inside of my cheek and blaming my trauma."
Liang Yu turned slightly toward him.
Yin Yue took a deep breath.
"Do you want to kiss me or not?"
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
💥 DIRECT QUESTION DEPLOYED
💘 ML Affection: [STILL MAXED]
💬 Emotional Response: Charging…
Silence.
Then.. Liang Yu said, "I do."
Yin Yue blinked.
Then grinned. "Good. Because I.."
"But," Liang Yu added, quietly, "not because I'm scared you'll disappear."
Yin Yue froze.
Liang Yu stepped closer, voice softer now. "I've kissed people out of fear and panic. Because I thought maybe if I touched them first, they'd stop leaving."
He looked at Yin Yue fully now.
"And I don't want to do that with you."
Yin Yue's smile faded, replaced by something quieter.
"Then what do you want?"
Liang Yu didn't blink.
"I want to kiss you when I know you'll stay."
Yin Yue stared.
Then he said, "I'm staying."
Liang Yu stepped closer.
Their bodies didn't touch, but their shadows did.
Yin Yue tilted his chin up. "So what now?"
Liang Yu leaned in slowly.
Close enough that Yin Yue felt the warmth of his breath.
Smelled the faint trace of smoke and mint on his shirt.
He stopped just shy of touching.
Then whispered, "Soon."
Yin Yue exhaled. "You're so bad at this."
Liang Yu: "You love it."
Yin Yue: "…Unfortunately, yes."
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
✅ CHAPTER 4 COMPLETE
💘 Kiss Flag: Primed but Not Deployed
💬 Emotional State: Starving and Satisfied at the same time
Yin Yue and Liang Yu scale an abandoned broadcast tower to repair an emergency radio.
The ladder groaned beneath him with every step.
Yin Yue gripped the rungs tightly, boots scraping rust, hoodie flapping like a flag of very bad decisions.
Below, the others looked like ants against cracked asphalt.
Above, Liang Yu was already waiting at the halfway platform steady, silent, absurdly composed for someone standing forty feet above the ground in a windstorm.
Yin Yue muttered, "If I die before he kisses me, I'm going to haunt his dreams shirtless."
> 💻 SYSTEM 520:
🧗 Altitude: 13 meters
💘 ML Proximity: Approaching
💬 Host Mental Focus: 40% Climbing, 60% Romance Strategy
He reached the top and hauled himself over the ledge with a very undignified grunt.
Liang Yu didn't offer help, but he did watch which was basically flirting.
The radio box was bolted to a rusted support beam, its wires dangling like frayed nerves.
"Looks fixable," Liang Yu said, crouching beside it.
Yin Yue crouched next to him, brushing hair from his eyes. "So. Quiet up here."
"No zombies."
"No teammates."
"No more pretending we don't like each other."
Liang Yu said nothing.
His hands worked the wiring like it was nothing. Competent. Calm. Beautifully unfair.
Yin Yue sat back on his heels.
"I'm tired of waiting," he said.
Liang Yu froze just for a second. Then slowly turned to him.
Wind swept past them loud and cold. But between them, stillness.
Yin Yue looked at him and didn't look away.
"Do it now," he whispered.
"I want to."
"Then why not?"
Liang Yu didn't answer just reached out.
Fingers curled around the back of Yin Yue's neck, warm and certain.
Then he leaned in and kissed him. Not fast, not too hard.
Just...real.
The kind of kiss that says, I thought about this. I wanted this and I want you.
Yin Yue made a soft sound in the back of his throat and kissed him back. Arms around his shoulders.
Their legs bumped against the metal floor. Their breath mingled and for one long, impossible moment nothing hurt.
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
💘 KISS STATUS: CONFIRMED
🎯 ROMANCE FLAG: DEPLOYED
🫶 HOST HEART RATE: 142 BPM
💬 System Note: Was it worth the wait? (Answer: Yes.)
Liang Yu pulled back first. Just barely and their foreheads touched. Their eyes stayed open.
Yin Yue whispered, "That counts."
Liang Yu nodded once. Then stood.
And said, "We should finish the radio."
Yin Yue blinked up at him.
"…You just kissed me like a drama finale and now you want to talk about wires?"
Liang Yu didn't answer, didn't smile, didn't look back and that's when Yin Yue knew something was wrong.
The kiss was perfect but the aftermath is not.
The wind hadn't changed. The world hadn't shifted.
But everything inside Yin Yue had.
He stood slowly, arms crossed, watching Liang Yu work on the radio box like nothing had happened like he hadn't just kissed him like it meant everything.
"I see," Yin Yue said, voice too even. "We're pretending now."
Liang Yu didn't look at him. "We should get the signal working before nightfall."
Yin Yue stepped closer. "We should talk about the part where your mouth was on mine for an unnecessarily long time."
"That was a mistake."
Silence.
Then, Yin Yue laughed. But it wasn't funny.
"Oh, I see. It was a mistake? You kissed me like you were trying to memorize my existence and now you're doing damage control?"
Liang Yu still didn't meet his eyes.
Yin Yue's voice rose. "I'm not some random idiot who stumbled into your knife zone. You don't get to kiss me and then pretend it was an accident. That wasn't an accident, Liang Yu. That was intentional."
"I told you," Liang Yu said, finally looking at him, "I didn't want to do this out of fear."
"Then why did you do it?!"
"Because I'm terrified!" Liang Yu shouted back. "Because every time you disappear, I can't think. Because I've already lost too many people and I don't know how to hold onto something I actually want!"
> 💥 SYSTEM 520:
🧠 EMOTIONAL CONFLICT: CRITICAL
💘 ML Affection: Unshaken (Emotion Spike: High)
💬 Host Mood: Betrayed but Listening
Yin Yue stared at him, breathless.
"Then say that," he said. "Say you're scared. Say you don't know what you're doing. Say anything real. Don't kiss me like it's the truth and then run from it like it's a lie."
"I care about you," Liang Yu said, voice lower now, rough and exposed. "I care so much it makes me stupid."
Yin Yue's anger cracked just a little.
"And I care about you," he said. "Which is why I'm still standing here, even though that kiss was followed by the emotional equivalent of a slap."
Liang Yu stepped closer, then stopped.
"I don't know how to do this," he admitted.
"I do," Yin Yue said. "You feel something? You don't run from it. You look me in the eye and own it."
> 💘 ML Emotional Wall: Fractured
🫶 Host Confidence Level: Maxed
🎯 Bond Status: Forged in the Fire of Argument
They stood in silence again, hearts pounding, chests rising in sync.
No one moved.
The tower groaned beneath them and somewhere..something exploded.