The seemingly intact, long-rusted plank beneath An Han's feet suddenly split down the middle and collapsed!
"Ah—!"
Her weightless scream barely made it halfway out before her whole body plunged downward!
In the blink of an eye, Yang Ning reacted at lightning speed! The hand gripping her wrist tensed, muscles bulging as his fingers clamped down like iron pincers. At the last possible instant, he thrust out his other hand and dug his fingers into a narrow crack in a rock jutting slightly from the edge of the boardwalk!
Thud!
Their fall stopped abruptly. The tremendous inertia sent stabbing pain through the fingers Yang Ning had hooked into the rock, and his arm felt as if it were about to snap. They hung above the bottomless abyss like two leaves caught in the wind, suspended in midair by the strength of Yang Ning's one hand.
"Hold on to me! Don't let go!" Yang Ning forced the words through clenched teeth. Veins bulged across his forehead, and his face had flushed red with the effort. He could feel warm liquid seeping between the fingers of his left hand, the one gripping the rock. Blood. Meanwhile, tiny chips and dust were trickling from the edge of the rock bearing their weight.
An Han looked up, her face as pale as paper. She could see Yang Ning's left hand gripping the crack, trembling violently under the full weight of them both. With each tremor, more fragments broke away from the rock beneath his fingers.
This won't work... A cold thought passed through An Han's mind, starkly clear. That rock won't hold much longer. If he doesn't let go soon, we'll both... fall.
She looked at Yang Ning's twisted profile as he strained. Sweat streaked with dust rolled down from his temple. Suddenly, an