Chapter 74: Don't do that to me.

Yichen did not remember deciding to run.

He remembered the floor giving way beneath them, the sudden weightlessness, Xiaoyu's cry as they fell, and the terrible moment when the ground rushed up to meet them.

After that, everything had become a confusion of pain and dust.

He remembered reaching her first, though he could no longer remember how far he had been thrown from her.

He remembered her legs beneath his hands, the unnatural angle of one of them, and the way she had tried to draw in a breath without making a sound.

Then Minghao and Yuexin had shouted from somewhere above.

Run.

He had heard the urgency in their voices, and he had obeyed before he could think of anything else.

Now he was carrying Xiaoyu through an unfamiliar passage, with the creature's growl still echoing somewhere behind them.

His steps were quick, but he forced himself to keep them measured the best that he could.