"...alright, now move your ass, it's in my face."
In the dead-end of a hallway, a voice came out from behind the garbage chute door.
"Maixiu, quiet down. They might still be out there..."
"Then open the door and check. Hurry up, I'm losing my grip."
Xiang Tingfeng carefully moved up the chute and pushed open the door to peek through. "I don't think they're out there. It's too dark to see." He squinted into the darkness and whispered to the person below him.
"Whatever, it should be fine. Just hurry up and move." Kang Maixiu felt his arms tremble, he didn't have enough strength to hold himself up for so long.
Xiang Tingfeng easily lifted himself up and turned back towards Kang Maixiu, "Are you alright? Can you get up on your own?"
"I can." He grunted as he forced himself up. "Don't look down here, your blood is dripping on me."
"O-oh," He lifted up his hand and covered his left eye in an attempt to stop the blood from falling. "Sorry, I didn't mean to."
"Of course you didn't. Are you alright? That hit sounded like it hurt."
"Yeah, I'm good. I just didn't expect it." While they were hiding, Gao Shunyuan had thrown something down the chute. It ended up hitting Xiang Tingfeng's face and then falling past the two of them.
"Here, you should go first. I can hold myself up." Xiang Tingfeng reached his hand out to Kang Maixiu and somehow held himself up with just his legs.
"...alright." Although Kang Maixiu shouldn't say he was surprised at Xiang Tingfeng's feat of strength, it still annoyed him greatly.
He reached out his hand towards Xiang Tingfeng but felt himself slip.
"Woah! That was close." Xiang Tingfeng said as he gripped tightly onto Kang Maixiu's fingers. Kang Maixiu ground his teeth, "Drop me and I'll be pissed."
Xiang Tinfeng chuckled, "It's alright, I got a good grip." And yet, Kang Maixiu felt his glove start to slip off his hand.
"Eh? H-hey! Wait!" Xiang Tingfeng desperately said as he was left with only Kang Maixiu's sweaty medical glove.
And although Xiang Tingfeng couldn't see it completely while they were shrouded in darkness, he already knew Kang Maixiu was glaring at him while he fell all the way to the bottom.
-
"And so that's now you both got down here?" Yin Meng asked as he stood over the two men sitting on the floor. One of which held on to a pathetically limp glove while looking like he was about to cry. The other, as he had promised, looked pissed. Or perhaps that's just what Kang Maixiu always looked like, it was hard to tell.
Yin meng sighed as the both of them stayed silent. "Well, it doesn't really matter. As long as Gao Shunyuan didn't find the two of you."
"About that." Kang Maixiu stood up as he brushed off the dirt from his pants with his one gloved hand. His face looked disgusted with the amount of dust littered all over him, and he desperately wished to take a shower. "That Host guy said that the white-haired kid had run into the others. They seemed to know that we were also here."
"They said it, or you just think so?"
"Heavily suspecting it. Almost without a doubt."
Yin Meng once again sighed heavily, "Then I guess that's our queue to leave." he fixed the picture frame under his arms and started to climb up the pile of wooden frames.
"That's it? We can go home?" Xiang Tingfeng said, seeming to gain a bit more life to him.
"Yeah, I got what I needed." He said as he motioned to the frame.
Kang Maixiu and Xiang Tinfeng looked at each other before following Yin Meng up the pile.
"Are all of these pictures just like the ones in our rooms?" Xiang Tingfeng said as he looked at the large pile in disbelief. Kang Maixiu moved the flashlight in his hands, one of which they had found after dropping it in the chute before, to see all of the variety of people in the pictures. "Looks like it. No wonder they had that creepy-ass picture in our rooms, they probably did it to everyone trapped in that dream."
"Creepy..." Xiang Tingfeng said as he shuttered a bit. "So does that mean that the thing that fell of us before...?"
"Probably ." Kang Maixiu moved the flashlight in his hands to reveal a photo. In it was a familiar woman with a stern face and an immense amount of wrinkles for her age. They both stayed silent as they admired the photo.
"Now I'm sure Xiang Tingfeng and I can get back up easily. But I don't know about Pretty Boy over here. So Xiang Tingfeng, you should help him up."
Xiang Tingfeng nervously glanced at Kang Maixiu, who blankly stared at Yin Meng's back. 'Was that suppost to be an insult or does he genuinely not remember my name?' Kang Maixiu thought. Yes, Kang Maixiu did have a very attractive face, and hearing it like this definitely wouldn't be the first time. 'It's just... that it sounds like something an old man would say...'
"You... you mean Maixiu?" Xiang Tingfeng said, almost in disbelieve. "His name is Kang Maixiu."
As if he didn't care, Yin Meng just yet out an "Ah" to show he didn't know, and then started to stack up frames so he could reach the chute.
Both Kang Maixiu and Xiang Tingfeng felt the same thought cross their minds:
'How rude...'
'What a dick.'
Or, at least somewhat similar.
"Alright, bend over so I can get on your back. I want to get out of here as soon as possible." Kang Maixiu pushed down on Xiang Tingfeng's back so that he could reach. "A-ah, w-wait! I'm not ready!" Xiang Tingfeng wasn't allowed to protest as Kang Maixiu jumped onto his back.
"There. Now start climbing."
Xiang Tinfeng left out an exasperated sigh, "Then hang on tight, I don't want to drop you."
"...again, you mean, 'I don't want to drop you again.'"
"..."
As they were climbing up the dust-filled chamber, Xiang Tingfeng chuckled lowly. "Doesn't this remind you of when we were younger? Like when I used to have to carry you home after playing."
Kang Maixiu scowled and said back with a cold tone. "Why do you have to talk about this now?"
Xiang Tingfeng only laughed, as he knew Kang Maixiu didn't mean any harm. "Nothing, I was just reminiscing."
"Alright, then keep the reminiscing in your head. Don't go bringing up these situations with others."
Xiang Tingfeng felt a sweatdrop form on his head. '...Weren't you the one who willingly jumped on my back?'