The World Ends In 27 Days

While Zeyu was visiting Zhiyi, Shichen stood in the workroom staring at the damaged camera.

He had carried it inside nearly twenty minutes earlier, but had been procrastinating until now.

Not that he would admit it. After all, it’s not procrastination if he was actively working. He had put away his tools, washed his hands, and cleared a space beneath the lamp. All of that was very important... right?

Letting out a long sigh, he forced himself to pick up the device and look at it properly. The casing had split around the impact and when he turned it over, he heard something rattling inside.

Letting out another sigh, he set it facedown.

"The replacement is working," Jingwei said from the doorway, brushing dust from his sleeve. "We can see the main approach again."

Shichen nodded, letting the other man know that he had heard him.

They had waited until the road stayed clear, checked the approach, and kept someone watching from inside while they worked. Even then, he had struggled to turn his back on the broken gate long enough to help mount the camera.

He had expected the heat to bother him the most. Instead, he had kept looking toward the road, wondering who else knew where they lived.

"The damaged section of the gate has to come out," Shichen said, moving the camera away from the lamp. "There’s no point trying to straighten it."

"Can we put something across the approach while you replace it?" Jingwei asked, his brows furrowing.

"It would be a temporary barrier," Shichen grunted, rested his hands against the bench. "It won’t be as good as the gate, but we have enough material to close off the passage."

Jingwei glanced at the ruined camera before looking back at him. "Tell me what you need moved. Zeyu can help when he gets back."

After Jingwei left, Shichen opened the cabinet beneath the bench and took out the installation drawings. He had kept paper copies because Zhiyi had insisted they shouldn’t need a working screen to understand their own shelter.

He remembered complaining about printing the revisions. Now he was grateful as he spread them beneath the lamp and found the entrance without having to turn anything on.

By late afternoon, the materials were stacked in the service corridor.

Shichen had checked what they could use without taking anything from another part of the shelter, and the work had finally begun to feel manageable.

He was measuring a panel when Hanchuan appeared.

"Qinghe wants the drilling finished before she rests," Hanchuan said, stopping beside the stacked materials.

Shichen lowered the tape measure. "Can she hear it from her room?"

"Some of it." Hanchuan looked at the drill beside Shichen’s knee. "She asked whether something else had broken."

Shichen set the tape measure down. He had been glad to hear work getting done. It hadn’t occurred to him that Zhiyi might be lying in bed trying to work out what each sound meant.

"I’ll stop," Shichen said. "There’s plenty I can do quietly."

"She’d like to know what you’re fixing." Hanchuan waited while Shichen stood. "Can you come and explain it?"

Shichen wiped his hands and reached toward the drawings, then changed his mind.

He picked up a small offcut instead. It would give her something to look at without placing a page of measurements in front of her.

Zeyu had left by the time they reached the medical room, but an unopened puzzle box rested beside Zhiyi, probably from him.

When she heard him enter, Zhiyi looked toward Shichen, then at the piece in his hand.

"The gate needs replacing," Shichen told her, taking the spare chair. "We’re putting up a temporary barrier while we work on it. This is a piece of the panel."

He held it where she could see, not wanting to strain herself in any way.

When she lifted her hand toward him, he glanced at Qinghe, who nodded from the counter. Getting the permission he needed, Shichen placed the offcut on the bedside table within reach.

"I smoothed the cut edges," Shichen said as her fingers approached the corner. "You won’t catch yourself on it."

Zhiyi traced the edge with one finger. "Where will the barrier go?"

"Across the vehicle approach, outside the inner door." Shichen turned the piece slightly so she could see its thickness. "We’ll put it on a separate frame."

Hanchuan settled beside her pillow. "The inner door stayed closed," he reminded her, resting his hand on the mattress.

"I know that," Zhiyi replied quietly, glancing toward the handwritten page propped beside her.

Hanchuan’s hand stopped moving. Shichen kept his attention on the panel, giving neither of them another reason to feel watched.

"This is just for the damage farther out," Shichen said. "I thought I’d bring you something you could touch. The drawings aren’t much company."

"Your drawings are useful," Zhiyi corrected, looking back at him.

Shichen smiled. "I wish you’d said that before you made me redo the last set."

"The measurements were incorrect." Zhiyi’s finger came to rest against the corner of the offcut. "Of course you needed to redo it."

"One measurement," Shichen replied, holding up a finger.

"One was sufficient," Zhiyi replied.

Her mouth softened slightly, and Shichen let himself enjoy it without looking toward Hanchuan to see whether he had noticed too.

"When will you use the drill?" Zhiyi asked, returning her attention to the panel.

"Tomorrow," Shichen told her. "I’m only measuring for the rest of today."

Zhiyi nodded, then looked toward the page. Her brows drew together as she read it.

"Was that already written down?" she asked.

"No," Shichen replied. "Hanchuan and I just decided in the corridor."

Her fingers relaxed against the table and Shichen had almost mistaken the question for another lapse.

She had needed to know whether this was new information or something everyone else expected her to remember.

He picked up the pen beside Hanchuan’s chair.

"Would you like me to write it here?" Shichen asked. "I can put down when the drilling will start, so you’ll know what you’re hearing."

"Put the time beside it," Zhiyi said, indicating an empty space. "If it changes, leave the original entry."

Shichen looked at Hanchuan. "After breakfast and after Qinghe checks on her?"

Hanchuan nodded. "Nine, unless she needs longer."

Shichen wrote that down, including the condition, then turned the page so Zhiyi could read it. She followed the line to the end before taking her hand away from the offcut.

"You can take that now," Zhiyi told him. "You need it for the door."

"That’s a spare," Shichen explained. "The actual panels are much larger. You can keep this one."

She settled her hand beside the puzzle box, and he left both objects within reach.

Back in the corridor, Shichen found Jingwei crouched beside the tools.

"Are we still drilling?" Jingwei asked, reaching toward the case.

"Tomorrow," Shichen replied. He took the drill from beside the panel and put it away. "Once Qinghe says she is ready. We can mark the rest tonight."