After that day, Mu Chen wasn't really alone anymore, at least not officially. If he left the ready room, Ye Fan knew. If he headed to medical, Lin Lan logged it. If he stepped onto the unit floor, someone was watching. It was like a constant, restricted support, a ceiling over his life.
By noon, the whole team had gotten used to it, just like soldiers get used to anything unpleasant. Nobody liked it, and nobody argued once it was a reality. They just figured out how to work around it. Mu Chen hated how quickly he got accustomed to Ye Fan being around. At first, it was a sharp feeling every time, but then it settled into a low, constant awareness: Ye Fan at the door, Ye Fan by the mission board, Ye Fan a half-step behind him when institute staff walked by. It felt protective, controlling, and hard to tell apart.
In the afternoon, Lin Lan brought in a new field notice. She didn't even sit down before announcing, "There's a gate."
Zhou Xiao groaned. "Figures."
Lin Lan read from her tablet, "Outer industrial zone. Mid-risk. Unstable signal. Possible overlap with an abandoned restricted sector." Mu Chen's stomach tightened. Overlap meant more unknowns, more chances for "accidents," more opportunities for command to claim the danger was unavoidable.
Luo Wei emerged from her office, already holding a second tablet. "We're taking it."
Ye Fan looked at her. "With him?"
Luo Wei met his gaze. "Yes."
Ye Fan's jaw clenched. "That increases the risk."
Luo Wei's response was immediate. "Leaving him behind creates a different kind of risk." Everyone in the room understood. If Mu Chen stayed on base alone, the institute would have an easier target. If he went into the field, the gate might swallow him. Bad option. Bad option. The base was full of those kinds of choices.
Mu Chen clipped on his gear in silence. Ye Fan came to stand beside him as he adjusted his pack strap. "Stay where I tell you," Ye Fan said. Mu Chen didn't look up. "I usually do." Ye Fan's voice dropped. "Don't joke with me today."
Mu Chen finally looked at him. Ye Fan's face was calm, but his eyes told a different story. Higher risk, Mu Chen thought. Not just the gate, but everything now.
The trip out was tense from the start. The gate was in a run-down part of the city, where old warehouses met dead factories, a place nobody visited unless they absolutely had to. Fencing was already up, and floodlights bleached the concrete in pale white. Lin Lan checked the signal readings and frowned. "Intermittent."
Zhou Xiao muttered, "Great. So the recordings will cut out at all the worst moments." Nobody laughed.
Mu Chen stood with Ye Fan at the edge of the gate. The tear in the air pulsed a dark blue this time, thin and sharp. It felt wrong in a cleaner, more surgical way than the others, less rotten. Ye Fan stared at it as if he hated its very shape. Then, without turning, he said, "You stay on me." The words hit Mu Chen deep in his gut. He answered quietly, "Yes, Major."
They stepped through. Inside, the gate world looked like a derelict transit station: broken platforms, concrete pillars, tracks vanishing into dark tunnel mouths. The air smelled of rain, metal, and something sour underneath. Lin Lan checked her tablet. "Signal's weak, but it's there."
Zhou Xiao rolled his shoulders. "So they'll get enough."
Mu Chen felt the pressure of the place immediately. It wasn't loud or heavy, but a slow, creeping sensation that settled under his skin and waited. Ye Fan's posture shifted subtly, just enough for Mu Chen to notice. They moved down the central platform in formation, Mu Chen now staying close to Ye Fan by command, not by chance. That should have made it easier, but it didn't. Every time their shoulders almost brushed, Mu Chen felt it. Every time Ye Fan half-turned to check their rear, he felt that too.
Then the first monsters appeared, thin, jointed things crawling out from under benches and between cracked tiles. Fast, low, and ugly. Zhou Xiao fired first. Lin Lan took one down with a blade. Ye Fan moved through the front line with a controlled ferocity that made the air around him feel colder. Mu Chen held back, not by choice, but because every visible move he made now mattered twice as much.
The second wave came from the tunnels, larger and more coordinated. One leaped from the darkness straight towards Mu Chen. Ye Fan killed it before Mu Chen could even shift his weight. Black fluid sprayed across the platform. Ye Fan turned instantly. "Are you hurt?" The question was too fast, too personal, too raw. Zhou Xiao glanced over. Lin Lan's eyes flicked up from her tablet. Mu Chen answered calmly, "No." Ye Fan's gaze lingered on him a second too long before snapping away.
They pushed deeper. The station warped as they moved. Signs flickered with unreadable symbols. The tunnels hummed. Somewhere below, water flowed where it shouldn't have been. Lin Lan frowned at her readings. "The core isn't stable. It's moving."
"Moving?" Zhou Xiao asked.
"Like the whole gate is shifting around it," Lin Lan explained. Higher risk. Not just the mission, but the entire structure.
They reached the lower platform level, and the pressure in the air changed again. Mu Chen stopped walking for a half-second. Ye Fan noticed instantly. "What?" Mu Chen looked towards the tunnel on the left. "Something's there."
Zhou Xiao raised his weapon. Lin Lan turned. A sound came first, not crying, not voices, but a steady knocking. Three knocks. A pause. Three knocks. It sounded like someone trapped behind a wall. Mu Chen felt his skin go cold. Ye Fan took a step closer, close enough to shield him, close enough to warn him. The knocking came again. Then a voice, soft, calm, and far too familiar. "Mu Chen."
The whole team froze. Zhou Xiao's eyes widened. "It knows his name now?" Lin Lan's face hardened. "Don't answer." Mu Chen already knew that. Still, hearing his own name in that dark tunnel felt wrong in a way claws never did. The voice came again. "Come here."
Ye Fan's hand suddenly closed around Mu Chen's forearm. A tactical hold. Nothing more. Everything more. Mu Chen looked at the hand, then at Ye Fan. Ye Fan didn't let go. His voice was low and rough. "Stay with me." Mu Chen's pulse skipped a beat. Not from the gate. Not only.
The darkness in the tunnel moved. Something stepped out. Human-shaped. Almost. A body made of shadow and wet light, wearing a face that looked unfinished. Its mouth curved. "Found you," it said. Mu Chen felt Ye Fan's grip tighten. Higher risk. Because the gate had learned something new. It wasn't just testing Ye Fan anymore. Now it was coming for Mu Chen too.