Fear gripped at Xia Ling’s heart.

She saw Li Lei point toward the amulet that hung around her neck. “Do you remember this amulet? With it protecting you, you have nothing to fear.” His voice was very gentle. “Xiao Ling, you will land safely.”

“How about you?”

“I’m with you every step of the way.”

The sky was getting darker by the minute, and the wind howled with a vengeance as the bean-sized raindrops pattered down more heavily. In front of her, Xia Ling could see peach blossoms being blown apart to their petals, and more twigs from the trees snapped from the branches and fell downward.

Li Lei looked up at the sky before saying, “Xiao Ling, get ready. I’m going to cut the rope.”

He took out a knife from his side pouch and placed the sharp edge on the rope linking her to the paraglide.

She started to get nervous. “Li Lei…”

“Don’t be afraid. You are going to be just fine.” He gently looked into her eyes with his deep-set ones, his right hand holding on tightly to the knife, and said in a steady voice, “I love you.”

The rope cut with a “swish” after she heard his deep voice.

Xia Ling felt her body fall downwards suddenly. She placed her finger on the emergency parachute activation button and followed his command to count to 3, before pressing down hard on the button. The emergency parachute opened up immediately. The white parachute blew open and stopped her freefall, gliding slowly downwards.

The wind blew her parachute in all directions, and the big raindrops beat down on the top of the parachute, in danger of folding the wings over several times.

It was the first time that she felt the terrifying force of nature, and realized how tiny a human life could be. She was like a little boat in the midst of a thunderstorm out at sea, completely vulnerable to the waves and to being submerged. Xia Ling clung on tightly to the parachute with her right hand, the knuckles of her hand turning white, and she continued to pray: don’t let anything happen… don’t let anything happen…

In the midst of her terror and confusion, she somehow made it to the ground.

The moment she hit the ground, she felt immense pain in her legs. However, she did not have time to think about it, as she looked toward the sky, to the point on the cliff where she had hung.

“Li Lei…”

She saw that he was no longer on the peach blossom tree, and there was another white parachute in the sky.

That parachute was being bludgeoned by the torrential rain, being blown out of control by the howling wind. The lighting that followed the crackling thunder seemed to flash right next to him.

Xia Ling’s felt her heart in her mouth again, as she shouted out. “Li Lei!”

He was just a mere few seconds behind her… How did the weather become so bad so fast?!

“Li Lei!” The panicked shouts of the coach and others transmitted through the walkie-talkie.

The wind and rain became heavier, and the thunder and lighting became louder and brighter.

Everyone knew that it was extremely difficult to control the parachute in such weather. They all looked up at the white parachute flying in mid-air, seeing it fight against the wind, flying up and down. Every time it seemed that Li Lei was going to steady the parachute, the wind would come along and blow him off course again.

Xia Ling lifted her head and shivered as she watched him being blown all the way to the next mountain, flying further and further away from her.

Suddenly, there was a huge flash of lighting right beside Li Lei, and they could see the white parachute folding over. She watched as he was hurled together with the white parachute downwards into the mountains.

“Li Lei!” She screamed in terror.

The voices of the coach and other onlookers coming from the walkie-talkie were stricken. “Li Lei! Where’s Li Lei?! Why did he disappear after that mountain peak?!” After a few seconds, he shouted out to Xia Ling. “Xiao Ling?! Say something! Did you see Li Lei?! How are you?! Are you okay?! Reply if you hear me! Reply to me now!”

Xia Ling reached out to pick up the walkie-talkie, but could not reach it no matter how hard she tried. When she landed, it fell a distance away from her. Now, there was intense pain in her legs, and she could not muster any strength in them. It seemed that they were broken as well.

She wanted to tell the coach that Li Lei was blown over to the other mountain and had already landed. He was probably blocked from their view by the mountain, but she was able to see his flight path clearly. She wanted to tell them to hurry and go save Li Lei. A fear that she never had before gripped her tightly as she feared for his safety. This was a fear that was much more terrifying than her own death.

She needed to get to the walkie-talkie.

Xia Ling clenched her teeth and lay on her front on the ground, struggling to crawl to the walkie-talkie through the mud.

Under the torrential rain, there were puddles all around, and the mud and grime splattered onto her face and lips. She could taste the bitterness and fishiness of the ground. She squirmed as best she could, flailing with her uninjured arm toward the walkie-talkie, the gravel and twigs on the ground creating cuts all over her body.

Yet, she could not care less about them.

But so what if she were trying all she could? One arm’s strength could not support her entire body. After a long time of struggling, Xia Ling was still too far away from the walkie-talkie. She turned back to look and realized she had barely moved at all.

Despair gripped at her heart, and she felt the strength in her arm fall away. Her body slipped down and slid further away from the walkie-talkie.

“Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling, say something!”

“Li Lei! Li Lei, answer if you hear me!”

The coach and Lin Yunan’s voices chanted incessantly through the walkie-talkie.

Xia Ling shouted out at the walkie-talkie. “Li Lei is behind that mountain towards the south!”

Yet, she only heard the people in the walkie-talkie discussing. “What do we do? We can’t contact either of them.”

Xia Ling shouted out again with all her might. However, the howling wind and rain drowned out her voice, and she was unable to project loud enough for the walkie-talkie to pick up. She stared at the walkie-talkie in a daze, her heart turning cold by the second.

Someone said, “We need to find them regardless of whether they are dead or alive! Xiao Ling fell downwards from that peach blossom tree, and we all saw where she went toward. Zone G13. Zhang Ming, Li Bingfeng, take a search team with you to the base of the cliff to find her. As for Li Lei…”

There was a momentary silence on the radio channel.

Someone piped up. “We have no idea where he landed. This mountain area is so large, and the rain is torrential. We might not be able to find him even after 10 days or half a month!”

“I’m afraid…”

“Don’t say something so pessimistic! Li Lei’s skillful! He won’t die so easily!”

“Pfft! Touch wood! You are the one that shouldn’t be spouting nonsense!”

The channel was quiet again.

Xia Ling’s heart beat faster at what they said, before turning cold in an instant. She saw Li Lei fall down from that height. There was no way to know if he were dead or alive, and even if he were alive, if the emergency team did not get to him in time, the chances of him surviving that fall…

“Li Lei! Li Lei, say something! F*ck you, don’t scare me! Say something!” The coach shouted until he was almost hoarse. “Say something! Say something! Say something!”

His voice broke and trembled.

“Old Zhao!”

“Old Zhao, don’t get too agitated!”

Many people tried to calm him down, and the voices in the walkie-talkie became more distant before becoming silent.

At the base of the cliff, the cold rain beat down on Xia Ling. She wanted to shout and scream like Old Zhao did if it meant that Li Lei would respond. However, she knew that it was useless. She needed to think of a useful idea to save him.

She needed to tell them where he had landed.