Chenghai had been punched through concrete before.

He had been stabbed more times than he could count.

Shot nine times.

Thrown through a second story window during a bar fight that he still maintained wasn’t technically his fault.

And yet, none of that compared to the tiny yellow crystal currently sitting in the center of his palm.

It didn’t look dangerous.

And that was probably the worst part.

The core was barely bigger than his thumbnail, glowing softly beneath the living room lights while Rouxi sprawled across the couch nearby with a bag of chips balanced on her stomach like none of this was a big deal.

Meanwhile, Chenghai was becoming increasingly convinced he was about to die.

"Why does it feel warm?" Lingyun asked suspiciously from the other side of the sectional.

"Because it’s fire energy," Rouxi replied around a mouthful of chips. "Did you expect it to feel refrigerated?"

"That wasn’t the concerning part."

"Then be more specific."

The baby vine lifted its head from Rouxi’s lap before letting out a tiny hiss toward the red core in Lingyun’s hand.

"No," Rouxi informed it immediately. "You already ate enough to kill a small country."

The vine hissed louder.

"Nope. Not happening. Let him have his own core. You’ll get more later."

Yuche sat silently in one of the armchairs, turning a silver-gray core slowly between his fingers while Zhenlan studied the white crystal resting in his own palm like he was trying to understand how something so small could possibly matter.

Chenghai understood perfectly.

The thing in his hand felt alive.

Not moving alive.

Heavy alive.

Like pressure compressed into solid form.

"Okay," Rouxi announced suddenly as she sat up straighter on the couch. "Rule number one. Don’t be stupid."

Lingyun looked offended immediately. "I feel targeted."

"You should."

She pointed toward the crystal in Chenghai’s hand. "Small cores first. Tiny ones. Your bodies aren’t strong enough for anything bigger yet."

"Yet?" Yuche repeated quietly.

Rouxi shrugged. "You’ll adapt."

That somehow wasn’t reassuring.

Chenghai looked back down at the yellow core in his palm. "And we just... hold it?"

"Pretty much."

"That sounds fake."

"It’s the apocalypse. Most things sound fake."

He could only grunt in agreement.

He kept forgetting that there was an apocalypse outside when they spent their days in the living room, with Rouxi eating snacks and watching TV like it was any other day.

Lingyun squinted suspiciously at his own core. "How do we know if it’s working?"

Rouxi snorted softly. "Trust me. You’ll know."

That definitely sounded like a threat.

The room gradually went quiet after that.

No one wanted to be the first idiot to try it.

Unfortunately for Chenghai, he had spent most of his life being the guy willing to test dangerous things first if it meant everyone else survived longer.

So before he could overthink it, he tightened his grip slightly around the yellow crystal.

For a second, nothing happened.

Then, pain started to spread across his palm.

The core wasn’t burning.

It was so much worse.

Most people didn’t consider pressure to be pain, but he was not one of those.

And what he was feeling was definitely pressure.

The crystal dissolved into liquid light beneath his skin so quickly that Chenghai nearly crushed the arm of the couch in surprise. The energy shot through his hand, up his arm, and straight into his chest hard enough to make his teeth clench together automatically.

"Oh," Lingyun muttered. "That doesn’t look fun."

Chenghai ignored him.

Mostly because his entire body suddenly felt too tight and it hurt to take a breath.

His muscles spasmed once beneath his skin before locking down completely as pressure spread deeper into his bones. It felt wrong. Like something foreign was forcing itself through places it didn’t belong.

His heartbeat accelerated hard enough that he could hear blood rushing in his ears.

"Breathe," Rouxi said casually from the couch.

Easy for her to say.

Pressure continued building beneath his skin. Chenghai’s fingers curled instinctively against the couch cushion as the pressure continued to intensify until sweat started sliding slowly down the back of his neck.

"Rouxi," Zhenlan started carefully.

"He’s fine," Rouxi replied immediately.

"You aren’t even looking at him."

"Oh." She grabbed another chip as she turned her attention to Chenghai. "Still alive and in one piece. He’s doing fine."

Chenghai glared at her but she went back to ignoring him completely.

The pressure in his chest suddenly doubled.

His muscles tightened hard enough to hurt as energy spread deeper through his body, dense and violent and wrong in a way he couldn’t properly explain.

"What the hell," he growled through clenched teeth.

"Think of it like a fart," Rouxi replied with a light scoff.

The room went silent.

Chenghai stared at her in disbelief.

Lingyun choked.

"I’m sorry," Yuche said slowly. "Like a what?"

"A fart," Rouxi repeated patiently like they were all idiots. "If you’re feeling bloated, don’t hold the pressure in. That’s how you blow up."

"There is no way that’s your scientific explanation," Lingyun wheezed.

Rouxi pointed at Chenghai without looking away from her chips. "Did he explode yet?" 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

"...No."

"Then I’m not wrong."

Chenghai hated the fact that the explanation actually helped.

The second he stopped instinctively fighting the pressure and let his body relax slightly, the energy shifted easier beneath his skin. The painful tightness in his chest loosened just enough for him to breathe properly again.

Which somehow made the entire thing more horrifying.

"You look upset," Rouxi observed.

"You compared near death to holding in a fart."

"And yet you’re still alive."

"...I hate that you’re right."

"That sounds like another you problem."

The pressure gradually settled after that.

Not disappearing completely.

Just... stabilizing.

The heat beneath Chenghai’s skin faded slowly until all that remained was a strange heaviness in his muscles and an uncomfortable awareness of his own strength. Everything felt slightly sharper than before. Denser somehow.

Different.

But not bad.

"How many of these have you absorbed?" Chenghai asked finally once he trusted himself to speak again.

Rouxi paused mid-chip.

Then looked at him.

"None."

The room went silent again.

Chenghai frowned immediately. "That’s impossible."

Instead of answering, Rouxi leaned forward and grabbed the largest green core from the table beside her.

The crystal was massive.

Easily the size of her palm.

Dense green light swirled slowly beneath the surface while Chenghai felt his entire body tense instinctively at the sight of it. Even sitting several feet away, he could feel the pressure radiating from the thing.

And Rouxi just...

Balanced it casually against her palm.

Like it weighed nothing.

Like it wasn’t dangerous.

Like she wasn’t currently holding enough condensed energy to probably kill all of them.

"This will be my first core," she said simply.

No drama.

No pride.

Just fact.

The room stayed silent.

Even Lingyun stopped joking.

Chenghai stared at the massive green core resting against Rouxi’s hand before looking back at the tiny yellow crystal that had nearly torn his body apart from the inside.

Then at Rouxi herself.

Warm.

Fed.

Relaxed on the couch with chips balanced against her stomach while the baby vine slept curled around her leg.

Monster.

The realization hit Chenghai hard enough that he almost laughed.

They had spent all this time trying to protect Rouxi from the apocalypse.

Meanwhile, the apocalypse probably needed protection from her.