"Be careful." Li Yan grabbed her arm. This box-like cable car seat seemed safer than open ones, but it becomes dangerous when the door is opened.

"You call out! Your voice is definitely louder than mine, right?" Qiao Huanxuan sat back down, frustrated. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Li Yan cleared his throat, went to the door and opened it, sticking his head out, he shouted towards the mountain below with purpose: "The cable car has stopped! There are people up here!"

But soon, he quietly cursed. Opening the door and poking his head out, he found that by evening, the mountain wind was already strong, and with the snowstorm coming, all he could hear outside was the wind blowing. His words might be carried farther by the wind, but more likely they would be blocked, scattered, and drowned out by the howling!

He shouted twice more, then shrunk back in, closed the door, and comforted them: "Don't worry! Even if they didn't hear, if no one goes down, they will figure it out."

Zhang Yurong and Qiao Huanxuan gave a bitter smile one after the other. They were smart people, thinking of the same things as Li Yan when the cold wind blew in, and his shouting later obviously lacked confidence, it was just going through the motions.

"Could the guy up there be playing tricks on us?" Qiao Huanxuan frowned. "Or did they fail to communicate, with people below thinking everyone was off, stopping the cable car? And people above thinking we already arrived... forgetting us here would be terrible!"

Li Yan quietly analyzed as well, theoretically, Qiao Huanxuan's worry was not impossible. With technology at this level, a mature technique often sees more human errors than mechanical ones. The likelihood of the cable car stopping due to malfunction is lower than human negligence! However, the cable car stopped when going up in the morning too, twice isn't a coincidence; looking at it all together, it might just be a malfunction!

"Let's wait, let's not scare ourselves. If people below find a fault, they'll certainly be more worried than us."

The two of them said nothing more, but their spirits had undoubtedly fallen. They stopped talking, glancing now and then below and outside, hoping the cable car would resume. But each time they looked, they were disappointed again and again. By evening in the stormy mountain, darkness descended faster than in the city. Just a moment ago it still seemed bright, yet it dimmed quickly as if just moments later.

The darkness of the sky seemed like a strong oppressive force pressing down, shaking their confidence, and the cold wind seeping through the door crevices made them feel colder and colder.

"It's been more than ten minutes, right? If they found out, they should have by now, and if there's a problem they're fixing, they should have let us know, right?" Qiao Huanxuan rubbed her gloved hands, shrunk her neck, more obviously cold than before.

Li Yan leaned out below for a look, they were at least ten meters off the ground. With the current poor lighting, it was hard to tell if there were snow piles. This ski resort was closed at night, so along the cable car route, there were no lights. If they had to get down, they must do it before complete darkness!

And now, it seemed night was falling fast! It wouldn't leave them much time.

"You're not teenagers anymore; you don't need my continuous comforting. I suppose... the people up there noted our status, recorded data, then left work without much explanation. The people below might just have swapped shifts, or rushed to leave, seeing no one left, stopping the cable car by pure mishap, trapping us here. They might have already left!"

Hearing Li Yan say this, both Qiao Huanxuan and Zhang Yurong frowned.

"Tthis isn't a joking matter, let's stay patient!" Yurong sighed. She thought it was possible too, but couldn't extinguish her own and everyone's hope.

Qiao Huanxuan hesitated, "If it's true... what do we do? Yelling out, no one can hear us from the top or the bottom. Are we supposed to wait here until tomorrow?" She forced a smile, "Won't we freeze to death tonight?"

She looked up at Li Yan, a bit annoyed, "It's all my fault for telling you not to bring your phones, otherwise, at least we could call for help."

"It's not your fault; you meant well, who could have thought this would happen?" Zhang Yurong held her hand in comfort.

Li Yan didn't follow along with self-reassurance or regret, he spoke calmly, "We can't wait until morning here! The temperature will only drop more; we were fine moving this afternoon, but sitting here, these clothes won't last long. We must get down! I'll think of a way down, get to the bottom and have them restart the cable car."

His words startled the two, "Down?! How could you go down like that? It's so high!"

Zhang Yurong seemed afraid he'd jump right off, gripping his arm firmly, insisting, "No! It's too dangerous, even if we wait, we can't risk it like that!"

"I'm alright, it's just a little risky, better than three of us helplessly waiting here, right?" Li Yan comforted, his eyes scanning outside.

Zhang Yurong hesitated, pushed her snowboard aside, then pulled Qiao Huanxuan over to sit next to Li Yan, then moved over a bit, squeezing all three together. "Waiting might take till tomorrow, or just a few more minutes, and it'll be okay! Although cold, without opening the door, we're still better off than outside, with the three of us huddling for warmth, we should hold out. But going down would be dangerous!"

Qiao Huanxuan firmly agreed, "Yurong has a point, let's wait longer! Yes, this morning we saw Zhao Yipeng, though just fellow students, he's been after me since college; I haven't kept in touch or seen him in ages, you saw his enthusiasm today, with his personality, I bet he'll call me. If he can't reach me, there's a chance he might inquire about it; we might have hope!"

Hearing she was pinning her hopes on someone they met this morning, who didn't even know they were trapped, Li Yan felt helpless. He wanted to say: If he can't contact you, Zhao Yipeng might just think you left and avoided him. But he didn't want to further dampen Qiao Huanxuan's hopes.

"There's something I need to make clear." Li Yan extended his hand, hugging Zhang Yurong and Qiao Huanxuan tightly squeezed next to him. "We've played a good few hours in the snow this afternoon, consumed lots of heat. Without replenishing energy, our ability to resist cold is lower than usual. If we wait till tomorrow, even if we endure, we risk frostbite.

Moreover, the body's functions and organs are affected by temperature, like the feeling of stiffness being most noticeable. If I attempt to get down, I'm still in fairly good condition now; waiting longer, my agility, flexibility, jumping, and reaction abilities will deteriorate significantly, plus after dark, visibility drops. Leaving in complete despair or unable to bear it, my success chances drop compared to now. In other words, the same adventure, aligned now bears little risk, but the longer we wait, the more dangerous it gets!"

Zhang Yurong is a company president, Qiao Huanxuan an architect; these rational things could be more thoroughly considered in the office, but in such a setting, even the most logical woman loses calm. Hearing Li Yan's words, they knew clearly he had a point!

"It's only been half an hour, we still have hope, let's wait a bit more. We know you wouldn't want us hurt; you should know we don't want you endangered either. Let's wait a bit longer!" Qiao Huanxuan pleaded.

Zhang Yurong nodded in agreement as well; they feared to see Li Yan possibly breaking his leg coming down, unable to move, or immobile in the snow, freezing to death!

(Thanks for the support these past few days: Yagami Light II, 476656446, Always Short on Money, dongmin8061, Passionate*Wanderer, Only Black and White, cfs Generator, Not Naming It, Cavalry, CP Pampas, Gold and Silver are Perfect, Perseveranceぷto the End, Su Causeways Dawn Moon) (To be continued, if you want to know what happens next, please log in to www.qidian.com, more chapters, support authors, support original reading!)