Chapter 2451 — Cable Car Failure

"N-no... no need..." Wang Xinyan turned her gaze outside the cable car, toward the two rolling snow peaks beyond, with a bottomless valley between them. It was all so beautiful, so refreshing to the heart—if only the person riding the cable car with her had been Wei Zhao.

At the thought of Wei Zhao, quite out of nowhere, Wang Xinyan gave a small start. She realized that ever since Wei Zhao had confessed to her, she had grown a little unsteady, thinking of him often. She had thought of him before, too, but only vaguely; now, whenever he came to mind, she always placed him in the position of her boyfriend. The situation left her rather troubled. She knew it could not go on like this, and yet she had no way to stop it.

The hardest thing in the world to control is the human heart. Feelings cannot be altered by an act of will. Even if Wang Xinyan deliberately tried not to think of Wei Zhao, reminding herself not to think of him was itself a way of thinking of him. It truly was difficult.

"Xinyan, tell me—do you think this cable car might go rumbling down?" Kang Jinglong asked.

"H-how would I know?" Wang Xinyan frowned. Couldn't Kang Jinglong say something auspicious for once? Why did boarding a cable car make him think of the thing breaking down?

"It's not impossible for a cable car to plunge into the valley," Kang Jinglong said. "But it doesn't matter—I've brought wilderness survival gear..."

"..." Wang Xinyan was genuinely speechless. Kang Jinglong really was the ideal boyfriend—who tells disgusting jokes over dinner, then starts cursing the cable car the moment he boards it? If it were Wei Zhao, he would probably seize the chance to hold her and cultivate...

Why was she thinking of Wei Zhao again? Wang Xinyan shook her head...

Seeing her shake her head, Kang Jinglong assumed Wang Xinyan did not believe the cable car would fall. Under ordinary circumstances, of course, it would not—but current circumstances were rather special!

These past few days, Kang Jinglong had been studying that book, *The Prequel of Faint Light of Old Dreams*. In it, the protagonist went courting at a ski resort, where the hero and heroine fell together into a valley, survived together in the wild, and in the end, romance blossomed!

In a deserted wilderness, especially when danger strikes, people are at their most helpless—and if Kang Jinglong played his cards carefully then, winning Wang Xinyan's heart should be no problem at all.

But what one fears most arrives most surely. Wang Xinyan was still admiring the lovely view outside when she suddenly heard a tremendous rumble. Then a wave of weightlessness struck her, and she realized with a shock that the cable car she was in had slipped free of the cable and was plunging straight down into the valley!

"Ah?" Wang Xinyan was a little dazed, silently cursing Kang Jinglong as a jinx. Next time, even if her mother spoke up for him, she would absolutely never be alone with Kang Jinglong again. The man's luck was rotten—one day he was getting beaten by robbers, the next by petty thugs; buy a snowboard and he gets cheated; ride a cable car and it snaps midway. The god of misfortune had clearly taken up residence in him.

Kang Jinglong, of course, had no idea that Wang Xinyan had already classified him as a dangerous person best kept at a distance. He was still swelling with pride over how cleverly he had arranged all this!

He had surveyed the geographical layout of this ski resort beforehand. The cable car ran between two mountains; below it lay a lake, with caves nearby—practically a paradise for lovers' getaways. If he and Wang Xinyan could lose themselves here together, he was sure something interesting would happen. Alone and helpless, Wang Xinyan would surely open her heart to him.

"Xinyan, don't panic—we'll jump out now. If we stay in this car, falling is certain death..." Before Kang Jinglong could finish, Wang Xinyan had already pushed open the door and jumped. Her confidence was not in Kang Jinglong but in Wei Zhao. After spending so much time with Wei Zhao, she naturally knew that a fall from this height posed no danger to a cultivator like him—and she had no intention of being clutched in Kang Jinglong's arms as they jumped together, letting him take liberties.

In that instant, Wang Xinyan thought: if Wei Zhao truly did not care and did not come to save her, then so be it—she would die, and at least Kang Jinglong would not get to take advantage of her, and she would not have to be troubled by all this anymore. Death would end everything...

Wei Zhao had spotted the purple-furred creature bringing down Kang Jinglong's cable car with a hidden projectile. He frowned at once and more or less guessed Kang Jinglong's scheme! No wonder the brat had insisted on sharing a cable car with Wang Xinyan—he meant to play out an unfinished romance in the valley.

"Jingyi, stay in the cable car. Don't wait for me—I'm going to save Wang Xinyan. Take care of yourself," Wei Zhao said to Han Jingyi.

"Mm, mm." Han Jingyi did not try to stop him at all, merely nodding quickly to show she understood.

While still attached to the cable, the car doors were electronically controlled and could not be opened unless the circuitry was destroyed or the car was thrown off its track. But Wei Zhao simply smashed through the cable car's window and leapt down after Wang Xinyan's direction.

Given the speed at which the two were falling, in theory Wei Zhao could not possibly catch her—but Wei Zhao was a cultivator, aided by true qi, and catching her was no problem at all.

Kang Jinglong had not expected Wang Xinyan to be so decisive. The moment he told her to jump, she jumped—but he had not finished speaking! Kang Jinglong had meant to say that he had a parachute, and that she should jump holding onto him. But Wang Xinyan had not waited for him at all!

Kang Jinglong was startled. If Wang Xinyan fell straight down like that, would she not be smashed to bits? At the thought, he hurriedly leapt from the cable car as well, chasing after Wang Xinyan while fumbling to open the parachute in his backpack.

Fortunately, his backpack was equipped with a jet-propulsion assist device; otherwise he would never have caught up with her. Of course, that jet device had been prepared for a safe landing.

Below the valley was a lake, after all—living water, not yet frozen over, with only a thin layer of ice on its surface. Kang Jinglong had feared that a parachute jump might land him on the lake, so he had brought the jet assist to adjust his landing position—never expecting he would end up using it to chase after Wang Xinyan.

When Wang Xinyan jumped, she had not thought that far; but once she truly fell, the whistling wind past her ears filled her with fear. Then she looked below at the abyss, and she felt she was truly going to die!

"Xinyan, I'm here—grab me!" Kang Jinglong could not spare a moment to open his parachute now; catching Wang Xinyan came first! If he deployed it now, his descent would slow dramatically and he would never catch her.