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Liu Sang swallows thickly as he quietens his breathing down to a bare whisper. He hears Pangzi do the same, their muscles tensing as they huddle against the wall before stilling completely.
All he hears is the slow drag of the creature in the next cavern. It’s not a zombie, Liu Sang can tell that much, but it doesn’t sound like anything he’s familiar with. It doesn’t sound like much of anything at all, taking his entire concentration to track where it is. All he knows is it’s hearing is almost as good as his - any sound they’ve made, it has followed. Liu Sang closes his eyes and berates himself again for having been so close to Pangzi when the trap activated - of all people to fall down a hole with, it had to be the loudest of the group.
They’d been golden with such an easy expedition for Wu Xie to let out his nervous researcher energy and an easy paycheck for Liu Sang to help him map. For once it was Pangzi with his fat fingers to touch something he shouldn’t, and Liu Sang barely remembers the sequence of events that followed to drop them down here. Avoiding something, Xiaoge pushing them out of the way, a hidden door that suddenly opened - it doesn’t matter. They fell, Xiaoge and Wu Xie didn’t.
They’d called out to each other the moment they’d landed, of course. Liu Sang didn’t suspect anything yet then, he hadn’t heard a trace of any living being or creature in the entire tomb thus far. First he called to Pangzi to ask after injuries - Pangzi complained with groans, so he’s probably fine enough - and then he called upwards to see if Xiaoge at least could hear him before he tried the knocking language. He’d barely gotten a word out before something pounced him to the ground, knocking his glasses off as he faceplanted. Then it pierced his arm and back - he’s still not sure if those were teeth or nails. He struggled, and Pangzi yelled, and Xiaoge knocked on the walls but Liu Sang was too busy to interpret it before he finally got loose and yelled “Run!” as he pulled Pangzi along.
It stayed on their heels for a long while before Pangzi pulled them into a crevice and turned his flashlight off - Liu Sang’s had already broken in the fall - as the creature turned a corner and lost sight of them. They’d stayed stock still as Liu Sang listened for it to leave the area (caves now, not part of the tomb itself) before Pangzi shifted and Liu Sang heard how the creature twisted towards it. They’d had to run again, and at their next hiding spot Liu Sang tried to relay through the knocking language on Pangzi’s hand how quiet he had to be - absolutely no talking, ever, and moving only when Liu Sang deemed it safe enough. They’d slithered through the darkness since, flashlight kept off, as he followed the faint knocks of Xiaoge above them asking for answers as he searched for a way down to them.
Liu Sang can’t answer him.
His arm stings, and his back burns. Luckily his shirt is absorbing the blood and keeping it from dripping to the floor, but it’s wet and cold. And he’s hungry, and even more thirsty, but he can’t risk opening a water bottle.
Xiaoge knocks again. It’s been another ten minutes, his regular interval. Liu Sang uses the vibration to try and map his surroundings as best he can without taking focus off the creature. It follows the knocking just as they do. With no heartbeat or breathing cycle, Liu Sang can only hear its cat-like steps as it stalks further down the cavern. It has passed them, and Liu Sang wars with the idea of staying behind a while to gain distance, and the possibility of losing track of Xiaoge as he moves further away. He drags his hand down to Pangzi’s wrist, finger raised to tap.
He hesitates there a moment. Pangzi should be kept in the loop, and is surely looking expectantly at him with large eyes that he can’t see in this pitch darkness, but how does he even explain their predicament?
‘Pangzi,’ He starts with his callsign to stall. It’s so cold but he still feels sweat beading down his face. ‘Follow Xiaoge and monster? OR. Stay here safe, wait?’
‘Xiaoge how far?’ Pangzi replies.
‘Above. No way down. Distance unknown.’
‘Liu Sang injury?’
Liu Sang takes stock. It hurts, awfully. His fingers are trembling in Pangzi’s hand from the pain travelling down his entire arm. He’d never even gotten a look at the wounds in their rush to escape and hide.
‘Liu Sang fine,’ he finally answers. What choice does he have? Injured or not, they can’t do anything about it right now and he’s still on his feet. ‘Pangzi injury?’
‘Liar. Stay.’
Liu Sang would sigh and roll his eyes if he could. ‘Pangzi injury?’ He repeats.
‘Pangzi fine.’
‘Stay why?’
‘...Hungry.’
Liu Sang pinches his mouth shut. Of all the reasons!
But Pangzi wasn’t done yet and continued tapping ‘...sound! Hungry. Sound.’
He makes a point there. The creature can almost detect their breathing, it would certainly hear the grumbles of Pangzi’s empty stomach.
‘Stay. Wait.’ Liu Sang relents.
Another knock of their callsigns, further in the distance now, and the slightest flutter of the silent creature moving towards it. It seems almost reluctant, like it knows its leaving prey behind but can’t resist the lure of more ahead. Liu Sang closes his eyes again to put his entire concentration on the creature. It doesn’t earn him any clues as to what it is or looks like. The flash of it he saw when it first attacked is all he has to go on: Dark, near black as the void, as if it embodied non-existence itself.
Liu Sang waits until he hears Xiaoge’s knock again, far away enough that it tickles the edge of his hearing range. His legs tremble at this point, head aching from the tension as he waits for any sign of the creature before he finally determines it has moved far away enough. He shifts his hand, only now realizing Pangzi had changed his grip around his wrist to rest over his pulse. It loosens at his movement to let him place fingers to his palm.
‘Move. No talking. No light.’
Pangzi takes a slow, deep breath, testing the waters. Liu Sang hears nothing else, and makes the next move to shift his arm until the jacket crinkles. No other sounds. He exhales too, yet feels the tension of his headache rise instead of ease away. Slowly he hunches over as he slides his backpack off his shoulders, resisting the urge to wince or hiss as it rubs over his wounds. Water is his first goal, and he carefully unties the bottle from the straps, cautiously waiting for a second after each miniscule sound. It finally opens and he takes a tiny, savoured sip. And another. And another.
The worst of his thirst quenched, Liu Sang takes Pangzi’s hand and guides the water bottle to it, making certain he has a good grip before letting go. Letting Pangzi drink, he brings his attention back to his bag. No chance of making noodles like this, Pangzi will have to make do with a granola bar. His hand travels through the bag’s contents carefully, sliding past tangled earphones and his tightly wrapped blanket. He regrets having lost Pangzi’s backpack which had contained already peeled nuts and dried fruits, but it had been too noisy with his cooking pans attached.
The crinkle of the granola bar makes him freeze. Nothing happens. He opens the package from within his backpack in the hopes it helps muffle the sound before dragging the contents out. It surely leaves crumbs all over his blanket. Liu Sang tears the bar in half and guides the other part of it to Pangzi’s free hand. Just in time, Pangzi’s stomach growls louder than any noise they’d made so far.
Liu Sang tenses and focuses his hearing on the distance for the next minute. ‘Nothing’ he taps on Pangzi’s arm, and it quickly moves to feed on the granola bar. Liu Sang nibbles on his own. The water bottle is handed back and forth until half the contents are gone and Liu Sang seals it again. Pangzi has eaten a second granola bar in this time as Liu Sang pretended to eat two halves.
‘Pangzi injury?’ He tries again, certain that nothing is broken but they’d still had a rough fall followed by an intense altercation - no way Pangzi is unscathed.
‘Leg sprain. Hip.’ Pangzi finally admits. ‘Liu Sang injury?’
‘Right shoulder, arm, back. Wounds.’ He reciprocates, leaving the pounding headache out of it. His tension headaches are a given during a situation like this. The dizziness, too.
‘Clean. Infection.’
‘Loud,’ Liu Sang objects. They can’t see what they’re doing, anyways, he's still unwilling to risk the flashlight. And Gods forbid he accidentally whimpers when the disinfectant makes contact. It hurts enough as it is.
Pangzi pesters about it some more but he’s easy to ignore when he can’t yell.
‘Rest. OR. follow?’ Liu Sang asks.
‘Hear Xiao Ge?’
‘No. Follow last direction. Catch up, maybe.’
Pangzi takes a breath before deciding, ‘Follow. If injury worse, rest.’
‘Agree.’
Liu Sang’s breath hitches as he pulls the backpack over his shoulders again, feeling a sudden heat as a wound opens and drips blood.
‘Backpack, me,’ Pangzi tries, but Liu Sang refuses. The pack adds noise that Liu Sang is better at detecting and preventing.
He gingerly stands up and despite the slow pace feels himself sway with unsteadiness. Pangzi holds his good arm until he finds his footing.
They start out confident with Liu Sang's memory of the layout around them, but they quickly move past the space he had mapped to the sound of Xiaoge’s calls. In the complete silence Liu Sang is as blind as anyone else. They struggle not to shuffle their feet or stumble over the uneven cave floor.
With their pace as slow as snails, Liu Sang begins to doubt if they could catch up to Xiaoge. They might have lost their only chance. He strains his hearing to catch the slightest sound, only once catching the single drop of condensate from a cave wall. It did nothing to help map his surroundings.
Every step weighed more as the backpack dug into his shoulder. His pulse throbbed through his arm into his fingertips. At some point Pangzi started taking the lead instead of Liu Sang who struggled to keep his breathing steady and quiet.
Liu Sang brings Pangzi to a stop, warning ‘quiet!’ in soft taps to his wrist. He hears an unusual airflow, something is approaching quickly. Liu Sang pushes Pangzi and himself against the nearest wall, listening intently until he hears not one but two sets of footsteps.
'Stay,' he taps to Pangzi and leaves before an argument can be made.
He silently stalks closer to the two heartbeats. They're not talking, but they're not as silent as they should be. He hears one of the figures raise their hand towards the wall, and rushes forward to catch it before it can knock.
He hears Xiaoge's sharp intake of breath at the hand over his wrist, but registers the knocking language Liu Sang tapped onto him quickly enough to stay quiet. Wu Xie, who shines a flashlight directly into Liu Sang's eyes, does not follow heed.
"Liu San-!"
Liu Sang quickly moves to cover his mouth, and down to the flashlight to turn it off.
'Quiet,' he taps, 'Enemy. Quiet,' until Wu Xie nods.
They're left in the dark again without the flashlight, so Liu Sang grabs them both by a wrist each and taps 'follow' as he leads them towards Pangzi's anxious heartbeat.
Pangzi flinches when he touches his shoulder, but his heartbeat flickers in excitement when he meets hands with the rest of the Iron Triangle. Liu Sang resists the urge to interfere in their reunion, giving them time to work off the excitement in silence as he rests against the wall. Eventually they all seem to turn to him, and Xiaoge of all people puts out a hand for Liu Sang to communicate to.
Liu Sang doesn't know what answer they're looking for. 'Stay quiet. Lead us out. I'll listen,' is all he has to offer. Xiaoge replies in acknowledgement, and they make a single file train with hand to hand or hand to clothing to not lose track of each other.
Xiaoge leads them faster than Pangzi and Liu Sang were travelling earlier, and they both quickly tire out. Their dragging gets noticed and eventually the message gets passed along them all to rest. Liu Sang is reluctant to rest without guaranteed safety, but really he knows he can't keep up the pace without a break. If his Ouxiang thinks this area is defensible enough to rest, then he'll accept that.
Liu Sang jerks awake, kicking at Pangzi until his snoring stops. He doesn’t know if it woke Pangzi, and doesn’t care to check. His heart is pounding.
It’s so quiet. It’s the silence Liu Sang always wishes for, it’s the reason Liu Sang allows himself to be dragged and bribed into going tomb-robbing and cave spelunking. The underground is silent. All the noise of the outside world is reduced to the slightest vibrations in cave walls, echoing into the faint wind of large caverns. It would have soothed Liu Sang on any other day.
Now he takes a shaky breath, eyes darting into the darkest corners. He hadn’t meant to fall asleep. Xiaoge’s reassuring presence did little to calm his own fears, but still his exhaustion got the better of him and convinced him to rely on his Ouxiang anyways.
But they were all relying on him to keep them safe. Liu Sang has never been so aware of this fact before. He’s been on so many jobs, used his ears in so many ways to help or harm people for money, but never has the safety of his closest friends depended so completely on him and him alone. Only his ears can keep them safe. He shouldn’t have fallen asleep.
He hasn’t heard anything yet but he’s too tense to let his guard down. His focus returns to Pangzi, whose heartbeat is as fast as his own. He’s definitely awake.
Wu Xie is still asleep.
Xiaoge’s stare can be felt without needing to listen, but Liu Sang concentrates to find his steady heartbeat anyways. He’s awake and tense.
Minutes pass as no one moves a muscle, Wu Xie the only one breathing easy in his sleep, before Liu Sang finally determines that nothing is nearby. He slowly shifts upright to reach Pangzi’s arm and taps ‘safe’ to him. Liu Sang hears the movement of his subtle nod.
He can’t think of anything else to say. An apology? Liu Sang wasn’t the one who snored.
To comfort him? Liu Sang is too scared for that.
Tell him to go back to sleep? It’s the last thing Liu Sang wants Pangzi to do, and yet it’s exactly why they’ve stopped here. To rest.
Pangzi does manage to drift back to sleep. Even Xiaoge has gone back to hovering on the edge of sleep and awareness.
Liu Sang pinches himself, forcing his headache to the front of his mind. He concentrates on the pulsing ache along his back, for once allowing himself to think about how gruesome the wounds must look by now. Anything to keep himself awake. His hearing darts between everyone’s breaths, the silence of the faint wind, and the ringing of his own anxiety.
He’s going insane.
He can feel it, how his brain is eating at his soul. He’s never once doubted his own abilities, he’d always been steadfast and took pride in his ears and his capabilities. For all that he doubted his cranky personality and his lanky body, he’d always been able to trust his ears.
He doesn’t trust his ears now.
His doubt trickles cold around his chest. The creature moves so silently, what if he missed it?
What if it’s in the room right now, waiting?
If Pangzi snorts now, what will happen? If Wu Xie turns in his sleep, what will happen? If Xiaoge takes a deeper breath to pull himself from his meditation, what will happen?
What can Liu Sang even do?
His own heartbeat is the loudest thing in the room. Would it lure the creature to him? Can it hear him now?
Isn’t it leaning over him right now? He can feel it.
He can’t move. They’re frozen in place, waiting for the other to make the first noise, a sign of life, of existence.
He can’t move, because it has its jaws hovering over his neck and its claws pointing to his heart.
He can’t move, because ending the stalemate will end all of their lives.
Liu Sang wonders if it can smell his fear. Wonders if there was ever any point in staying so quiet, because it could sniff them out like a dog. It’s known all along where they were. It was only biding its time, waiting for the perfect vulnerable moment to-
Its jaws close around his neck-
Liu Sang jumps at the grip on his arm, but it doesn’t let go. He gasps as quietly as he can, moments passing where he wonders why he isn’t dead yet, before he realizes it's not teeth and claws clamping on his arm but a human hand held over his wound. Xiaoge.
He doesn’t know, Liu Sang realizes. He’d told Pangzi about his injuries, but since reuniting with the remaining Iron Triangle none of them had the chance to convey much information.
Liu Sang fights to control himself and pace his breathing, bringing his other hand up to Xiaoge’s for communication. He ignores how it trembles.
‘Wake. Leave,’ Xiaoge tells him, then silently moves towards Pangzi. Evidently he feels they’ve had enough time to rest.
He moves silently, and Liu Sang wonders if he just really didn’t make a sound for Liu Sang to detect before touching him, or if Liu Sang was too lost in his head to listen. Did he put them all in danger by losing his focus? He listens again for any noise in their surroundings…
Nothing.
Wu Xie is already awake, likely woken first by Xiaoge, and he shifts closer to Liu Sang in a silent shuffle that still sounds louder than a waterfall to him.
Wu Xie grabs his arm, ‘Safe? Make sound?’ But Liu Sang doesn’t know. He doesn’t know. He doesn’t know!
‘No,’ he taps back, because he doesn’t know and he can’t be certain of anything but he will not risk them. He can’t risk losing them! His arm still shakes and he doesn’t bother to hide it. He wonders what Wu Xie thinks of it. Does he think he’s lying? Or just cold? Or just a scared wimp, like Liu Sang feels he is?
Is there even anything out here? Maybe they’d long since passed the creature, or left its territory, or lost its interest. Maybe it never even existed, just a hallucination Liu Sang thought up after the fall. He might be forcing them all to be quiet and anxious for no reason at all. But he can’t risk that.
Pangzi is standing up and has already grabbed Liu Sang’s pack from the ground, and he doesn’t try to argue it. Liu Sang feels worse than he did before their ‘rest’ and was dreading the added weight to his shoulder. He’ll let Pangzi satisfy his motherly instinct.
Wu Xie helps him stand up and then refuses to let go of his hand, pulling him along as he follows Xiaoge with Pangzi behind them at the rear. Liu Sang wishes he was holding onto Xiaoge instead, so he could ask him how far they still had to go. He wants out. More than anything, he wants to be out of here.
They continue travelling slowly on account of the darkness, and Liu Sang makes sure Pangzi is still able to keep up from the back. He can detect the slight limp to his pace now that they’re all too exhausted to keep their steps completely silent. Only Xiaoge still manages that.
The path has a slight slope upwards and at times gets cramped enough that Liu Sang starts to worry, but Wu Xie and Xiaoge had made it down fine so it must not narrow enough to become a problem. At all times, Liu Sang is still listening for any sounds that aren’t their own. He didn’t notice how little attention he was paying to his body until he felt a tug on arm as Wu Xie started to pull him up a steep rock. He had to stop himself from saying ‘sorry’ or ‘thank you,’ instead turning to help Pangzi.
Now released from the constant hold Wu Xie had on him, he lets himself lean forwards to rest with a hand to his knee. His independence doesn’t last long before Wu Xie grabs at him again and he pulls himself upright. His head swims. He hears Wu Xie gasp, then Pangzi, and only then notices that he’s swaying under their hold and tries to regain his footing. A pebble comes loose under his boot, and he hears it bounce-
Bounce-
Clack-
And roll and roll down the path they came up. A second passes.
A footstep. And another.
Liu Sang doesn’t wait any longer to confirm what he’s hearing. He turns dizzily and feels his feet scrambling as he grasps both Wu Xie and Pangzi’s wrists to tap out ‘Go. Go. Go,’ until they get the message and start pulling him along. Xiaoge must also get the message somehow because he’s moved behind them, likely with his sword pulled.
They try to stay quiet but this time the monster isn’t fooled. Liu Sang hears it pass straight by where the pebble had first fallen.
“It knows,” He gasps, “It knows, just go. Go!” and they pick up the pace.
It’s loud.
All of their footsteps and the reverberations echo in Liu Sang’s ears after the long silence, and it hurts. He can’t make much sense of the noise, all he can do is listen as he hears Xiaoge step away from them with intent.
“Ouxiang, wait-” He tries, because this thing is off, there’s something strange about it, about the way he can’t hear it or sense its dimensions, as if it doesn’t exist- like it’s just smoke.
Xiaoge still moves to attack it, and it’s too dark to see but Liu Sang can tell from the sound of the air that it twists itself around, moving in impossible ways. He hears it pierce something, and hears Xiaoge’s breath catch.
“Almost there!” Wu Xie yells, and pulls him to keep moving. “Xiaoge!”
And Xiaoge must have done something to get himself loose, because he runs to catch up.
Liu Sang sees it now, a light around a corner glowing orange. A fire? Pangzi trips and it pulls him down, the stabbing pain through his right side intensifying and he lets himself groan because it doesn’t matter anymore. Xiaoge pulls them up by their jackets and pushes them on.
Around the corner, a doorway. The tomb. Wu Xie is through first, but he doesn’t keep running.
“In, in, quick!”
Pangzi, then Liu Sang. Finally Xiaoge, who also turns to the doorway and then -
Liu Sang flinches as the stone slab door falls back into place with a bang, and again when the creature slams into it from the other side. It recovers in a mere second and starts scratching at the edges, scraping at the rock to try and reach them. The friction of it screeches.
Liu Sang doesn’t know how he ended up on the floor, but he’s already there when he curls up with hands over his ears to escape the assault. His whole form is trembling, his right arm barely able to lift to cover his ear.
He wants to pass out.
He feels like he’s on the edge of it, ears ringing and cold sweat building. He feels his body flush hot-
And he’s waking up, still curled over his knees. There’s still scratching at the door, and underneath that he hears the Iron Triangle still catching their breaths. Had it only been seconds?
“Just in time,” Wu Xie smiles to Xiaoge, “You alright?”
“Tianzhen…”
“Pangz- Liu Sang! What happened?!”
And suddenly the attention is on him. He feels himself being moved onto his left side and he shivers at the touch. “Is he awake? Xiaoge, bring the torch closer.”
Liu Sang groans in reply, feeling saliva build up under his tongue.
“When did this happen? Pangzi, how long has he been injured?”
“Since- Since after we fell, the first time that thing attacked us. He told me he was hurt, but I didn’t realize…This looks worse than I’d thought.”
They work to take his jacket off, but when they pull it down his arm he can’t-
He wakes again, and vomits immediately. The retching of his stomach pulls at every aching muscle, and there’s too many hands - and worse, voices - for him to make sense of his surroundings. It still scratches at the door. It's so loud.
“-It’s alright, Liu Sang, keep breathing for me,” Wu Xie comforts, “Xiaoge, is there any way to get another door between us and that thing? The noise…”
And then he gets lifted, his arm securely held in place but the pressure on his back is awful. It could only be Xiaoge to lift him so effortlessly, but he’s too tired to scrounge up any emotions over it. The noise slowly fades as their distance grows. Liu Sang becomes more aware of his own heaving breaths and thickly swallows his nausea down. Being carried is already too much, but he would never live it down if he puked on his Ouxiang.
“Liu Sang, you still awake? Is this better, or do we need to go further?”
“F-fine, here,” Liu Sang can still hear it attempting to claw through solid stone, but it’s comforting to know exactly where it is for once.
Xiaoge carefully puts him down to lean against a wall.
“Gods, sàng bèi er, how are you still awake? Come on, let’s take a look,” Pangzi has the first aid kit out and has already pulled the scissors to start cutting away at Liu Sang’s bloodied shirt.
Liu Sang hums in agreement, still silently wishing he could pass out and stay that way.
“Definitely infected. No time to waste, we need to get him out of here.”
“Hold on, Pangzi, your leg-”
“It’s fine! I’ve been running on it just fine, haven’t I?! Just look at sàng bèi er, he can’t wait any longer!”
“Pangzi, I know. Just take a moment. Let’s look at your leg and Xiaoge’s hand first, then we’ll go.”
“Ouxiang…?” Liu Sang asks.
“Nothing,” Xiaoge says, but Liu Sang can see the blood dripping from his hand.
“Treat it, I can wait.”
“Sàng bèi er…!”
“It’s fine, ‘ve waited this long,” he slurs, “‘s fine.”
"Alright," Wu Xie pats him on the arm, then covers him with his jacket. It's warm. "Pangzi, pull your pant leg up, c'mon. Xiaoge, over here, let me disinfect that first."
It's funny, Liu Sang thinks. For once, Wu Xie is the only one not hurt. He's turned all serious and leader-like, ordering everyone about. It's funny…
Liu Sang drifts until he feels hands moving to pick him up again. "Wait…! Let me… piggyback instead. Hurts less."
"You're still awake?"
Liu Sang groans a yes.
"Alright, hold on then and drink some water first. Here," A water bottle is pressed to his lips. "Think you can keep a painkiller down?"
Liu Sang nods regardless of the answer and wordlessly accepts the pill between his lips, swallowing it down with another sip. "Ready."
Xiaoge crouches in front of him as Wu Xie and Pangzi help to guide him forward. His right arm burns as it gets pulled up over Xiaoge's shoulder, and he starts to regret asking for this position instead. His controlled breath turns into a whimper.
"It's alright. You got him, Xiaoge?"
Liu Sang feels him nod, then stand up.
"Here we go, then. Liu Sang, tell us if you need a break. Pangzi, you too."
"Sure, sure, whatever," Pangzi mumbles.
They turn silent with nothing left to say between them. Liu Sang's world narrows down to the sway of Xiaoge's steady pace and his heartbeat just under his fingertips. He can't tell anymore if his shoulder hurts more or less than it did before. The throbbing seems to pulse in some indecipherable rhythm. As far as he drifts, he still never loses consciousness.
They take a break once to drink. Xiaoge lowers himself down to his knees to rest but no one moves to remove Liu Sang from his back. Liu Sang obediently tilts his head for Wu Xie to pour some water down his throat and only blinks at the hand over his forehead.
"Are you sure those pills are also fever reducers?" The hand moves to stroke his head. It feels nice. He'd forgotten about the headache, but he notices how this eases the pain a little.
"Yup."
"They're not doing much."
"'Course not. He needs antibiotics, not fever reducers." Pangzi sounds different. There's usually a levity to his voice, even in the most tense situations. He sounds hollow without it.
They keep going.
It's so quiet. It was so loud before, but now it's so quiet. It feels tense.
But he has to stay quiet, Liu Sang remembers. Stay quiet, or it'll hear. He's not doing a good job of it, though. He's breathing too heavily. Every time he tries to slow it down or quieten, his chest hitches. He groans.
"Liu Sang?" Xiaoge stops.
"What's wrong?" Wu Xie pulls closer. "Liu Sang? Hey, what's up?"
"Ah?" He has to be quiet! "Shh."
A hand to his forehead.
Wu Xie bites his lip. "Keep moving, Xiaoge. His fever is getting the better of him, nothing more we can do."
"Why can't he just pass out like a normal person, save himself the trouble?" Pangzi complains.
"Yeah," Liu Sang whispers. He agrees wholeheartedly.
Pangzi snorts, but it doesn't sound humourful.
They make it out, eventually. Liu Sang doesn't really remember it. Maybe he did fall asleep? But he's awake now as Xiaoge continues carrying him through the forest, Wu Xie's hand resting comfortingly on his left shoulder. The sun is out, unfailingly too bright as always.
Liu Sang licks his lips. There's a fog over his whole body, and he doesn't quite feel like he's a part of it.
"Finally!" Pangzi exclaims, and runs ahead of them to drop Liu Sang's backpack into the van. "Let's get out of here!" He opens the side door for them.
"Who's driving?" Wu Xie asks as helps Xiaoge lower Liu Sang down into a seat.
"I am, of course! Like I'd let you drive when Sàng bèi er is already feeling so poorly. That's asking for vomit," Pangzi is already at the wheel, digging for his keys. He curses. "I left them in my backpack! Gimme a minute, I can hotwire…!"
Wu Xie climbs into the backseat, "Here, Liu Sang, lie down," and guides his head into his lap. "That better? Maybe you can sleep now."
Liu Sang doesn't care to respond. Truthfully, the awkward position of being curled into half a car seat is not comfortable at all, but he doesn't dare to move another muscle and trigger the cascading pain. Wu Xie pets his head again and that helps. He closes his eyes.
The van comes to life, car doors close with entirely too much noise, and he drifts to the sound of the motor.
The hospital was entirely too much trouble and not worth the time, Liu Sang thinks. They stuck him with an IV and the noisiest oximeter he'd ever had the misfortune to be attached to, treated and bandaged his wounds, and then left him to his own devices in a shared room with other groaning injured patients - and he didn't have his noise-blocking earphones. He'd passed out for part of the night from sheer exhaustion but felt no better rested.
When the doctor finally came by for a check-up in the morning, Liu Sang insisted on being released against medical advice. They helped him pick up his prescription of antibiotics and painkillers and an extensive list of care instructions before giving him a change of clothes and a sling to keep his right arm in.
"Liu Sang!" He was greeted by Wu Xie as he stepped out of the room he was allowed to change in. "Good, the clothing seems to fit. Let's go, Pangzi and Xiaoge are waiting in the van at the front so we don't have to pay for parking."
"Wh- These are yours?" Liu Sang picks at his shirt. "Wait. Why are you here?"
"To take you home, of course. The doctor said you're leaving against medical advice, so we're keeping an eye on you for a bit."
"Home?"
"Wushanju. We set up a spare room for you."
Liu Sang is too tired to deal with this. "Fine. As long as you stay quiet so I can sleep."
"No problem!" Wu Xie smiles.
The Iron Triangle follow through on this promise. After a quick greeting, the drive home was done in complete silence. Upon arriving, Liu Sang was guided towards his room and shown where the nearest bathroom was and everyone disappeared immediately afterwards.
He wasted no time to collapse onto the bed - much more comfortable than the hospital - and drifted to sleep with only the quiet hums and creaks of a regular household.
It's dark. Silent.
Something is crawling. It's small, too small and quiet to be a mammal. Still, Liu Sang can hear it skittering, antennae waving and sensing, as it comes closer and closer.
It climbs easily over the bedsheets, up the curve of the pillow, over his hair and straight into his ear canal. He doesn't feel it but he can hear its mandibles twitching as it burrows deeper.
It reaches his eardrum. He knows what's coming next.
Liu Sang wakes with a gasp and a jerk towards his ear that pulls badly on his slinged arm. It's clear the painkillers have worn off. He carefully sits up and waits the headrush out before he attacks the imaginary itch in his ear.
Wushanju is still quiet. When he concentrates, he does hear Wu Xie in a room not too far scribbling notes and turning pages. Pangzi is further away, somewhere outside tapping at his muted phone. It's still light out, sunbeams filtering through the blinds. It feels safe.
Liu Sang groans and drops his head into his hand. The last thing he wants is to get used to this place.
He examines the room for his medicine before he remembers that he'd given it to Wu Xie to hold as he got into the van. It does reveal that his backpack from their expedition has been dropped here. The worst of the dirt was cleaned off the outside of it, but it doesn't look like anyone rummaged through its contents.
Liu Sang drags himself off the bed and towards the pack, grimacing at the crumbs left in it before he finds his earphones. They're out of battery, so no white noise, but the noise-blocking will still work. He puts them on, knowing he's safe and doesn't need to keep alert here. He can afford to have his senses dulled a little for the sake of comfort.
He shuffles himself out of his room and towards Wu Xie's office. The door is open, so he knocks on the doorframe.
Wu Xie looks up. "Ah, you're awake earlier than I thought. It's still only 3, you can sleep longer if you like."
Liu Sang shakes his head, "I need to take my meds."
"Oh- Of course! I'm sorry, totally forgot. I left them in the kitchen, follow me."
He prepares a glass of water ("Warm or cold?" "Uh, cold") and starts reading the care instructions before opening the packages and giving him 4 different sized pills.
"Since you're taking the painkillers too, it's best to have some food in your stomach. Anything you want, or should I heat up some soup?"
"Soup is fine."
"We'll have to change the bandages later too, but I'll wait to let Xiaoge do that once he's back. He has a better idea of what to look out for."
Liu Sang debates asking where Xiaoge is, but decides to focus on his soup instead. It's good, but he feels his stomach start to revolt around halfway so he puts the spoon down before he gets ahead of himself.
"Done?"
He nods.
Wu Xie starts to clean up the dishes. "I told Pangzi to keep quiet, hopefully he hasn't bothered you at all? He really wanted to cook lunch for you but I said it'd be too much noise - he always plays the radio and sings along."
"No, he's been quiet. Didn't wake me."
"What did wake you? The pain? I'm sorry, I should have remembered to check the care instructions first. I just really wanted to let you sleep, I know the hospital can't have been good for that."
"It's fine."
"Going back to bed now? Or should I set up the TV for you?" Wu Xie dries his hands.
"Actually… Can I borrow your library?"
"Sure!"
The library is cozy and overcrowded. Liu Sang has to stack several books to make enough room on the table for the tea Wu Xie insisted on making for him and starts wandering the shelves. Once he has a few promising books picked he sets himself down at the desk on the pillow-laden chair. It's surprisingly comfortable, no wonder Wu Xie sequesters himself away in here for hours at a time.
He flips through the pages and sips at his tea as the painkiller slowly works its way through him. His headache still sits squarely behind his eyes, but it can be ignored. He's still searching through the third book when he hears Wu Xie approaching to check on him.
"Hi Liu Sang, find something interesting?" He leans over his shoulder. His brow furrows. "Monsters? You're not looking for that creature we encountered down there, are you?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Liu Sang asks pointedly, "We were helpless against it. We should learn as much as we can."
"Liu Sang, I don't think you're going to find anything in my books."
Liu Sang grimaces, "I was starting to get that feeling."
Wu Xie sits down. "We already had a discussion about this while you were in the hospital. Truth is, even Xiaoge has no idea what it was. As evidenced by how he got hurt trying to fight it," he huffs. "I had a look through the most likely books earlier myself, I couldn't find anything either."
Liu Sang sighs as he slams the book shut, "Then what? We leave it as a mystery and hope we don't come across it again? Are you satisfied with that?"
"No, of course not. It's just that we won't find the answers here. I've already put feelers out, just waiting to hear back."
"Fine. Let me know, then. I want to know everything about it."
He hears Pangzi starting to cook dinner in the distance and turn on the radio by habit, but remembers to turn it off.
"You did good, you know. Really saved our asses."
But Liu Sang shakes his head, "I was so worried that I'd missed something, or that it had learned to hide from me," he admits, "I'm sorry."
"Liu Sang, don't… don't apologize. You did so well."
"But I… You were relying on me, when I couldn't even be sure of our safety. I lied, and-"
"You didn't lie. Liu Sang, you never lied. You did exactly as you should have. When you weren't sure of our safety, you told us to keep up with our precautions to keep quiet. That's what kept us safe."
"But I wasn't even sure if it was real…! At one point, I'd convinced myself it was in the room with us and I realized how little I could actually do. I couldn't warn any of you because that would only set it off, so what was the point of my hearing?"
"Liu Sang-"
"I was completely useless, Wu Xie! Yes, I lied! I lied when I told you it was safe to keep moving, and I lied when I told you it wasn't safe to speak, because in reality I didn't know these things at all! I just guessed!"
He shouldn't have yelled. He doesn't have the energy for things like that yet. Liu Sang hangs his head and focuses on breathing. "Ouxiang is home." He can hear Pangzi greeting him loudly from the kitchen.
"Mn," Wu Xie is still looking at him, but somehow there's no pressure. Liu Sang can tell that he isn't convinced, but he isn't arguing either - just analyzing.
Liu Sang uses the silence to concentrate on his heartbeat, realizing how much it had sped up. He takes a sip of the nearly cold tea.
"You were very scared, Liu Sang, and you were injured. Fevered, too. You still did your best to look out for us. It wouldn't have been your fault if things did go wrong," Wu Xie finally says.
Liu Sang doesn't quite believe it.
Dinner manages to be a comfortable affair, not too loud or quiet. Pangzi and Wu Xie babble about nothing as they're wont to do, as Liu Sang and Xiaoge quietly listen. Liu Sang can't manage to use his right arm without pain, so he's been given a fork to use with his left while Xiaoge plates him up from whatever dish he points at. It's delicious but he won't stroke Pangzi's ego by saying so.
"Bandages," Xiaoge says as they clean up and stack dishes, and Liu Sang reluctantly follows him to the living room.
"Shouldn't we be doing this is the bathroom?" He asks, but Xiaoge shakes his head. Liu Sang is not going to argue. It's not his couch, he doesn't care if it gets stained.
Xiaoge effortlessly cuts through the bandages to reveal the wounds underneath. A few of them had required stitches, and they itch the most. Everything else is a bone deep ache that the painkillers can't reach. Xiaoge inspects them all, and then slathers on a self-made compound that definitely isn't hospital approved. It's pungent, but after the initial sting it does help against the itching.
Once it's all securely covered up again, Xiaoge starts to unwrap the bandages on his own hand. Liu Sang watches although he can barely keep his eyes open anymore. The other two have finished kitchen cleanup and Pangzi sinks into the couch next to him.
"Sàng bèi er, you're not looking so great. Come lay down," Pangzi says.
Yes, Liu Sang thinks, he does feel a bit worse than he had only an hour ago. It doesn't hurt, per se, but his limbs feel heavier and his brain sluggish. He doesn't even resist when Pangzi helps him lay down and places his head in his lap.
"I think his fever spiked," He feels the rumble of Pangzi's voice more than he hears it. "Tianzhen, get me a cold cloth? He's done too much today, he should have stayed in bed! Why'd you let him hunt for books in the library, ah?"
"It's not like I can order him about, that only makes him more prickly and stubborn," the voice nears and removes his spare glasses he'd scrounged up, then places something cold over his eyes. It feels good. "It never works on you, either."
"Well I know better, don't I? I know where my limits are!"
A snigger.
"Laugh it up, Tianzhen. You're the worst of all of us." A hand rests on his chest. "You asleep, Sàng bèi er?"
"Not…" Liu Sang manages to mumble. The hand moves soothingly up and down.
"Well get to it. You need to get rid of this fever and get some proper rest!"
And he must have fallen asleep soon after.
"L-liu Sang?" Wu Xie is in his pajamas, bleary-eyed. The house is dark around them.
Liu Sang doesn't know how he got here.
"I heard it…! I swear I heard it!" He whispers.
"Did you have a nightmare, Liu Sang? It's okay, there's nothing here."
"No, I heard it! It woke me up, it's definitely here!" Liu Sang gasps quietly.
"It got locked behind a wall, do you remember that? Liu Sang, you still have a fever, let's get you in a bed first. Aren't you tired?"
Wu Xie tries to pull at his arm to lead him away, but Liu Sang won't budge. He's tired, deadly tired and shaking, but he can't sleep like this.
"But I really- I, I really! I-" He can't breathe. Liu Sang doesn't know when, but he's started fighting for air. His heartbeat is too fast. He feels it beating into his lungs - it hurts.
"Okay, Liu Sang, let's sit down…!" Wu Xie somehow manages to sound calm and urgent at the same time. "Xiaoge!" He calls to the hallway. "Xiaoge!" He pushes down on Liu Sang's shoulders until he has dropped to his knees.
Xiaoge arrives hastily from nowhere and takes barely a second to process what he's walked into before he drops next to Liu Sang with fingertips to his pulse. He takes Liu Sang's hand and puts it to his own neck for him to follow along to a calmer heartrate, but Liu Sang's fingers have gone numb and he doesn't feel anything.
"Can't-I can't," he gasps. He's not used to losing control over his body like this. He can barely hear anything over his racing heart. Are his eyes tearing up or is his vision just blurring?
Wu Xie is trying to catch his attention, but he can't focus on him anymore. His body feels fuzzy and hot and aching. His eyes close.
It seems to last forever, but he eventually starts to wake from the strange blackout. He's mostly recovered his breath, and he feels a tingling in his fingers. He opens his eyes and sees he's still is the hallway of Wushanju, lying on the ground partially supported by Xiaoge.
"Hey, Liu Sang, you're awake?" Wu Xie asks softly.
He hums.
"I think you were sleepwalking. It launched you straight into a panic attack." He's still rubbing Liu Sang's shoulder comfortingly. Always so touchy. "Do you think you can sleep if we put you back to bed?"
Liu Sang would like to say no, but he feels even more exhausted after this ordeal and is practically asleep already. He nods.
Wu Xie and Xiaoge gently help him up and guide him back to his bedroom.
"It's late enough that you can take another dose of medicine. Here." Wu Xie lifts a glass of water to his lips and helps him swallow the pills down before he drags the blankets up and tucks it around his shoulders. "Go to sleep, we're nearby."
The next day is spent much the same. Liu Sang sleeps through most of the morning and emerges just after lunch. He's fed some of the leftovers and his medicine, then banished to the couch and subjected to terrible television courtesy of Wang Pangzi. He's charged his phone and earphones by then, so he turns up his white noise and ignores Pangzi's commentary as he checks his emails. Nothing there piques his interest.
He'll have to pick up another job soon, but is eavesdropping on business meetings really the best his clients can offer? It's terribly boring.
Although it's perhaps for the best that he doesn't do anything adventurous after this last stint. His arm is still healing and his fever only just broken. He picks the one located within Hangzhou so he doesn't need to travel and sends his confirmation, then sighs.
Pangzi plucks one of his earphones out, "What's that sigh about?"
"None of your business."
"In that case, I definitely need to know!" He starts poking at Liu Sang, and when he swats the hands away they start to pull at loose strands of his hair instead, and when Liu Sang turns to glare he steals his glasses off his face. This man is just a toddler is disguise!
"It's nothing!" Liu Sang hisses, "I just have another job lined up, I'll be out of here soon."
"So eager to leave us? Xiaoge won't be happy. He still wants to keep an eye on his little duckling."
"He'll get over it!" Liu Sang exclaims. "I've already accepted it, I'm leaving tomorrow to pick up what I need from my apartment."
"That won't do! The doctor told us you needed a week of bedrest. He entrusted you to us, I'm following his orders to the letter!"
"Too bad, he'll just have to be disappointed in you," he mocks, "If I stay here any longer I'll go crazy."
"You're already crazy," Pangzi says with a grin, "Just like the rest of us!"
And maybe Xiaoge does manage to convince him to cancel his job and stay until he's finished his course of antibiotics and the stitches have been removed - but that's between them and no one else. Certainly not Wang Pangzi.