Chapter 764 The Forge

Chapter 763 The Forge

Inside the amusement park, the announcements were playing the staff's reminders on a loop.

The announcement simply stated that the Ferris wheel had malfunctioned for unknown reasons and was temporarily out of service. The amusement park's technical staff were actively investigating the cause of the malfunction and striving to resolve the problem as soon as possible. Passengers in the cabins were advised not to panic, remain calm, and wait for rescue.

Yifei wiped the sweat from her eyes for the eighteenth time, grumbling, "This broadcast went on and on, all clichés and nonsense!"

"Don't panic, stay calm."

"I'm so hot, how can I possibly stay calm?!"

"ah!!!"

There weren't many tourists riding the Ferris wheel at midday, and Yifei's angry roar easily drowned out the protests of the other passengers in the cabins.

"Yifei, yelling won't solve the problem. What we need to do now is conserve our energy and strength."

Zeng Xiaoxian shook his head, large drops of sweat falling from his forehead.

He licked his chapped lips, trying to soothe the furious Yifei: "It's a bit hot up here now, but it'll cool down after the sun goes down."

"The sun sets?"

Upon hearing this, Yifei was nearly driven mad with anger by Zeng Xiaoxian's words. She pointed at Xiaoxian's burning watch and yelled, "Zeng Xiaoxian, do you know it's not even 2 PM yet?"

"By sunset, not only will it get cooler here, but we'll both be freezing!"

"Don't be so pessimistic."

Zeng Xiaoxian chuckled awkwardly. He was the epitome of contradiction. When everything was peaceful and calm, he always liked to think about the worst possible outcome, so he was hesitant and indecisive in his actions.

But when things really got really bad, he started to have unrealistic optimism and fantasies again.

He patted Yifei's wet back to comfort her, saying, "Maybe, maybe this is just a minor problem. We might be able to get down in a few minutes."

Upon hearing this, Yifei glanced at him and let out a long sigh.

"You're supposed to be the vice-chairperson of the apartment residents' committee, how could you not understand what was just said over the loudspeaker?"

"This is just like the elevator malfunction. If it were a minor problem that could be solved quickly, they would have already explained the detailed solution."

"What do you mean by actively investigating the cause and solving the problem as soon as possible? This means they still haven't figured out what's wrong with the Ferris wheel."

"If we weren't likely to be stuck in the cabin for a long time, why would they keep telling us not to panic and to stay calm?"

"That's true."

Zeng Xiaoxian gave an awkward laugh, the flame of hope that had just ignited in his heart was instantly extinguished by Yifei.

Then, he looked at the horizon at a 45-degree angle, his small, beady eyes filled with melancholy.

"ah!!!"

Xiaoxian cried out, "If only Ferris wheel malfunctions were as simple as elevator malfunctions, then when Nanfeng and the others arrive, they'll definitely be able to pry open the doors and rescue us!"

Upon hearing this, Yifei, who was breathing heavily, paused in her movements, her eyes suddenly gleaming with excitement.

"Yeah, how come I didn't think of such a great idea?"

Zeng Xiaoxian's eyebrows twitched, and an ominous premonition rose in his heart.

He asked, trembling with fear, "What good idea?"

"Open the door."

Yifei's eyes shone brightly despite her sweat-drenched face. She pulled Zeng Xiaoxian to her feet, excitedly pointed to the cabin door, and explained her plan.

"Look, I'll smash the hatch with one palm in a moment, and then we can use our hands to hold onto the outer edge of the cabin and crawl inside."

"We climbed and climbed—all the way to the inside of the wheel cabin, near the Ferris wheel's main shaft and chords."

"Here's the key point: we need to use our legs and all our core strength to jump in, grab onto the various levers inside the Ferris wheel with our hands, and then swing like Tarzan all the way to the main axis of the Ferris wheel."

Yifei pointed to the giant pillar of the Ferris wheel as she spoke: "Once we get there, everything will be simple. We just need to hold onto the main axis tightly with our hands and feet, and then slowly, slowly slide down—"

She chuckled and said, "In three minutes at most, we'll slide to the ground and then we'll be saved."

Zeng Xiaoxian: (—) ? ? ?

Zeng Xiaoxian: (————)

Zeng Xiaoxian: w()w!!

Xiao Xian was immediately dumbfounded, as if a thunderous roar was exploding in his mind.

He looked down and saw that he was seventy or eighty meters in the air, with Yifei's awe-inspiring and grand plan echoing in his ears.

Xiao Xian's legs went weak, and he collapsed to the ground.

This, this, this————

Is this even a solution a human could come up with?!

"Yifei".

Despite the cabin temperature already being comparable to a sauna, Xiao Xian, who was covered in sweat, broke out in a cold sweat again after listening to Yi Fei's speech.

He said with a twitching at the corner of his mouth, "Your method—isn't that a bit inappropriate?"

"I know that smashing the hatch was not a good thing and it was also suspected of damaging other people's property, but we are dying of heat right now, so we had to act expediently in an emergency."

Yifei put her hands on her hips and said confidently, "Besides, I don't believe the amusement park would dare to cause us trouble because I smashed the hatch!"

"Was this because the hatch was shattered?!"

Zeng Xiaoxian rubbed his forehead; he felt his temples throbbing.

"Yifei, please think carefully about the method you just described. Which step in your plan is even feasible for a normal person?"

"Even Jackie Chan would cry if he heard your plan!!!"

Xiao Xian gritted his teeth and growled, "This method is absolutely insane! Absurd! Nonsense!"

"If you can accomplish what you just said, then you'll be the strongest carbon-based life form in the world!"

"I know."

Yifei blinked and said matter-of-factly, "But that's who I am."

"But I'm not!!!"

Zeng Xiaoxian broke down and yelled.

"Oh right, I forgot about you."

Yifei thought for a moment, then looked around. Suddenly her eyes lit up, and she pointed to a barely visible green dot below, saying, "Zeng Xiaoxian, look! There's a crooked tree down there too."

"Why don't you just jump down then? Maybe this crooked tree—"

"Don't let the tree grow crooked!"

Xiao Xian straightened up, clasped his hands together, and pleaded repeatedly, "Female Knight Fei, please stop using your supernatural powers."

"

"This world is safe enough; we don't need someone capable of shattering the glass of a Ferris wheel with their bare hands, swinging from over seventy meters in the air all the way to the main axis, and then smoothly descending and landing safely!"

"oh."

Yifei responded. Although she felt she was at least 70% confident she could do it, she couldn't leave Zeng Xiaoxian alone up there.

She patted her pants and then sat down on the floor of the cabin just like Xiaoxian.

It wasn't that she wanted to be closer to Zeng Xiaoxian; the main reason was that the metal seats inside the cabin were already sizzling and steaming under the high temperature.

The two sat on the ground and fell into a brief silence.

Yifei, unwilling to give up, said, "How about I just shatter the hatch and we don't go out? At least we can get some fresh air that way?"

"Give this hatch a break; it doesn't want to be exposed to the sun all the time!"

Zeng Xiaoxian crossed his arms and trembled. He complained, "You've made me break out in a cold sweat."

"?"

He suddenly realized the key point: "You startled me so much that I didn't even realize how hot it was around me just now."

Yifei was taken aback: "That works too?"

"I think this might be a psychological effect; when you feel cold, the external temperature has less of an effect on you."

Zeng Xiaoxian looked at Yifei with great interest: "Come on, let me tell you a few lame jokes to cool you down."

"Will this work?"

Yifei curled her lip in disdain, but still quietly waited for Xiaoxian's lame joke.

He licked his chapped lips and said earnestly, "Do you know why all the peerless masters died in the Scripture Pavilion?"

Yifei shook her head.

Zeng Xiaoxian grinned and said, "Because they all have trypophobia, hahahaha————"

Yifei: (————)

Xiaoxian looked at Yifei: "How was it? Was that lame joke really lame and awesome?"

"Are you feeling any better now?"

"Hehehe————"

Yifei made a smiley face with her hand without any expression. Obviously, this lame joke was neither lame nor funny enough in Yifei's opinion.

"It's okay, I'll get another one."

Xiaoxian thought for a moment, then said, "Why can some people fart so loudly?"

"Because he was wearing bell-bottoms!"

"Haha, didn't expect that, did you?"

Yifei crossed her arms the whole time, looking utterly exasperated.

"Isn't this cold enough?"

Xiao Xian gritted his teeth and said, "Then I have a lame joke I've got hidden away!"

"Stop talking."

Yifei kept taking deep breaths: "Your old, corny jokes only make me want to hit you. How about I tell you a corny joke instead?"

"A mushroom was walking down the street when it was bumped into by an orange that was running wildly. The mushroom angrily shouted: 'Don't you have eyes?!'"

Go to hell!

"Then Orange died. Why?"

Zeng Xiaoxian thought about it again and again, but finally shook his head.

Yifei said with a blank face, "Because the ruler (fungus) wants the subject (orange) to die, the subject (orange) has no choice but to die."

Xiao Xian was stunned upon hearing this.

In an instant, an eerie silence fell over the cabin.

After a long while, Yifei rolled her eyes at Xiaoxian: "See? I already told you these lame jokes are the most boring—"

"Hahahaha, hahahaha————"

Zeng Xiaoxian suddenly burst into laughter: "The ruler (bacteria) wants the subject (orange) to die, and the subject (orange) has no choice but to die. So that's how it is."

"This pun is so lame and terrible."

"No way, your comprehension skills are terrible!"

Yifei, completely bewildered, shouted, "And what's so funny about this lame joke?!"

Xiaoxian laughed until tears almost came out: "Hahahaha, you don't understand—it's just so funny."

She sighed and put her hand to her forehead, too lazy to argue with this weirdo with a strange sense of humor.

But Yifei didn't realize that with such a cheeky guy attracting her attention, she wasn't as angry as she had been from the heat at the beginning.

Zeng Xiaoxian grinned, and didn't forget to use the amusement park map to fan himself and Yifei.

For the rest of the time, Zeng Xiaoxian and Yifei joked around and chatted, using the stuffy iron cage as a place to confide their feelings and share secrets.

Although they chatted quite often, the two were natural enemies. Every time they talked, either Zeng Xiaoxian would inexplicably start acting mean and disgusting, or Yifei would find Xiaoxian disagreeable and always try to provoke him with words.

So, almost every time the two of them chatted, they would only get to the point of starting a conversation, and at most, they would start arguing after five minutes.

But now they're in the furnace, one doesn't have the energy to be cheeky, and the other doesn't have the mind to insult others. Even if they get into a fight while chatting, they don't have the energy to argue about who wins and who loses as usual.

They had no idea how long they would be trapped in the wheelchair. Their phones needed to be kept charged, and other activities were too physically demanding. Right now, besides chatting to distract themselves, Yifei and Xiaoxian really didn't know what else they could do.

Let's talk! Let's just keep talking!

Let's talk about everything we've talked about before and everything we haven't talked about yet!

The two would talk about whatever they had to say, and if they didn't have anything to say, they would create something. In short, they would keep talking until time resumed its flow and the Ferris wheel started turning again.

Gradually, for the first time in her life, Yifei felt that Zeng Xiaoxian's indecisive and conflicted personality actually had some merits.

Although he thinks a lot but does little, many of his ideas simply make a simple thing incredibly complicated.

But even a fool can have a stroke of genius. When he finally voiced one or two of his ideas, even Yifei was amazed and couldn't help but look at him with new respect.

And don't let Zeng Xiaoxian's usual incompetence fool you; he always backs down when things get tough. His clingy, nagging personality reveals remarkable resilience when things get really difficult.

During the time they were trapped in the Ferris wheel cabin, Yifei was furious and wanted to smash the door several times, but Zeng Xiaoxian remained quite calm.

Even if he keeps wailing, crying, and complaining, he will still show a pitiful and pathetic look, which is almost the same as his usual behavior when he encounters a small setback.

Zeng Xiaoxian is like a non-Newtonian fluid; a little force is enough to deform him, but no matter how great the impact, it cannot break him.

Perhaps—this guy really is a good man, just like he says?

Meanwhile, Zeng Xiaoxian gradually discovered a different side of Hu Yifei during their conversations.

Beneath the tough image of a tomboy and the multiple halos of a female PhD lies a softer, more sensitive, more innocent, and more fairytale-like little girl.

She wasn't as fearless and invincible as everyone imagined.

She is a crystal-clear Rupert's Tear, always facing everyone with her hardest side, carefully hiding her fragile tail.

Before this, if someone asked him what he loved about Yifei, he would say he loved her fortitude, her spirit, her brilliance, and the strength within her that would never bow to difficulties or failures.

Yes, that's the kind of Hu Yifei I love, but this love seems to be inherently mixed with something unattainable.

Because Yifei is as proud as the dazzling sun in the sky, in front of her, ordinary people like myself can only be seen as having inferiority complexes.

But now, he has finally seen another side of Yifei.

She is the dazzling sun in the sky, and also a little girl who needs to be cherished and cared for.

The sun is far away in the sky, but the girl is right in front of me.

They're all the same.

And so, two completely different souls were brutally forged by reality in this summer's crucible.

They are hammered by external pressures to shed their disguises and reveal their true nature and self, which are little known to others.

In each other's eyes, they shone with a dazzling golden light.

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