“Huh... why’d it stop?” The cabin drifted upward like a paper lantern, the three of them quiet as a night tide. City lights spread below like a river under a circling hawk. Only the peak unwraps that sky. Then, at the crown of the world, the Ferris wheel held its breath and froze.

“Don’t tell me that’s the fast-pass perk—extra time at the top.” Lu Ke tossed out a joke that fit the air like a dry leaf. Gu Wen sat opposite, lips pressed like a sealed letter.

“Dear guests, due to a seating issue below, the ride is paused. Please wait about one to two minutes. Thank you.” The speaker crackled to life, a tinny swallow in the enclosed air.

“Bro, let’s ride that next!” Her voice chimed like a bell. The blonde girl rose on her toes, finger a dart pointing across the park. Lu Ke’s gaze swung like a compass needle. A huge roller coaster coiled not far from the wheel, a steel dragon fierce even from this height. Up close, it would roar.

“Sure. It’s the park’s newest build, and the longest in the country,” Lu Ke said, pride bright as a polished coin. He’d done his homework like a boy polishing a sword. “Sounds great!” Gu Wen’s eyes sparked like flint. New discovery: a gentle, spacey girl, but a reed that didn’t bend at coasters.

Just then, the Ferris wheel stirred again, a slow tide. “Seen enough...” Xiao Qianxue drew her hood back up like a veil, stepped lightly to sit by Lu Ke. “No one’s around. You don’t need to wrap up so tight,” he said, winter clothes on a summer day. He tugged her cap down and rubbed at her head, fingers roaming like a mischievous cat, his face solemn as a monk.

“Idiot...” The word snapped like a twig. The blonde girl shot her brother a glare like a flicked blade, then turned to Gu Wen. “Sister Gu Wen, how did you meet my brother?” her voice soft as cotton.

“Mm... we’re in the same class. I went to say hi on his first day,” Gu Wen said, like knocking on a neighbor’s door. She smiled, a soft crescent.

“And then you went and shamelessly claimed him?” Xiao Qianxue’s tone put frost on glass, not aimed at the girl across from her, but at the scoundrel beside her.

“Uh... about that... I haven’t, not yet. But soon...” Lu Ke fumbled for footing, then let the last part slip, a pebble skittering. In a sealed cabin, secrets have nowhere to hide. Color rose on Gu Wen’s cheeks like dawn on snow.

The wheel neared its dock, a slow circle closing. The blonde girl stood, hood in place again, and flicked Lu Ke a sidelong look like a cat’s tail. Gu Wen wondered why Xiao Qianxue hid herself so tightly, why she veiled that spill of hair. But she knew what to ask, and what to leave be, like stepping around a sleeping dog. Let him taste her old life, and he might never step past his own door, winter sealing a village.

“Then let’s go ride that coaster!” Her voice was a little flame. The three slipped off the wheel and moved like a small stream toward their goal. Before long, tracks rose ahead like a steel Great Wall, all switchbacks and shine. Riders’ screams tore the air, sharp as wind, and hooked everyone’s adrenaline. All at once you wished it was you up there, a moth eyeing the fire.

Reality bit. The entrance board blinked a three-hour wait, while the fast lane promised ten minutes, two clocks arguing. “It looks so intense,” Gu Wen said, nerves fluttering, one hand sneaking to tug Lu Ke’s sleeve like a shy fish. “Don’t worry. Before and after feel like different worlds, like crossing a river.” Lu Ke smiled, easy as sunlight. The blonde girl quickened her steps, light as a sparrow.

They reached the queue. Hottest spot in the park, even the fast lane had a short coil of people, a small snake of bodies. Still, compared to the common line, it felt like a clear path through reeds.

Wave after wave of screams rose and fell, and five minutes slipped by like foam. Just as their turn neared, an argument cracked open behind them.

“Sir, this is the fast lane. Only guests with special tickets may enter!” Two uniformed staffers braced like saplings against a sudden gust. Seven or eight burly men pressed forward, too much weight for two skinny poles to hold back.

“Quit blocking the way. If you don’t want a scene, let us ride once and we’ll be gone.” The leader shoved a staffer aside and strode in like a boar through brush. At the tail of the fast lane, people shrank back like minnows. No one wanted the fire to jump to them, not with giants like that. Anger simmered, but mouths stayed shut like lidded pots.

“It’s that bunch...”

“Heard they’re the reason the Ferris wheel stopped...”

Snatches of talk curled like smoke to Lu Ke’s ear. He saw the thugs closing and chose, cleanly, to step aside and open a path, like drawing back a curtain. First, he had two girls with him; a brawl would splash them like mud. Second, the first nail up gets hammered. When no one resists, the lone hero only feeds the fire.

The blonde girl edged against Lu Ke like a shadow. Under her hood, golden eyes glinted like cold suns, fixed on the troublemakers.

When they drew level, the leader barked, “So you’re here, punk. Didn’t like your face back at the ticket booth.”

“So what do you want?” He hadn’t poked the hornet’s nest, yet the swarm came anyway. Lu Ke’s voice held scorn like a knife edge.

“Still got a mouth, huh?” The musclehead shoved. Thud. Lu Ke hit the wall with a thud. “Better hope we don’t run into you later. Move!” They whooped a few lines like hyenas and pushed on.

“What kind of people are they? Doesn’t the park care?” Gu Wen caught Lu Ke at once, worry thick in her voice. “Are you hurt?”

“I’m fine.” Lu Ke’s eyes stayed on their backs, cold as iron.

No one noticed. Behind the hood, golden eyes flashed with a blade-thin intent to kill, then forced it down. With what she had now, Xiao Qianxue didn’t need any boosts. The close-quarters she’d learned from gun-fu alone could leave them chewing pavement. If she truly moved, they’d be down before she even broke a sweat.

“Sorry, Xue, for scaring you.” Lu Ke crouched, looking into the blonde girl’s bright, lethal beauty.

“No. I’m the one who should apologize.” What Lu Ke couldn’t even imagine was this: the sister who looked so fragile was built far beyond spec.

“Let’s ride the coaster first,” she said, voice calm as still water.