"Hold on!" Officer Li shouted loudly. "The number of harpoons is limited. Just hang on a little longer, and we'll make it out alive!"
Before anyone could respond, a scream pierced the air.
Turning around, they saw it was Tian Tian.
Unlike Xiao Ran, Tian Tian wasn't so lucky. The harpoon pierced straight through her palm.
In an instant, Tian Tian lost her strength, and the board in front of her was knocked wildly by the incoming harpoons.
"Watch out!"
Qiao Jiajin gritted his teeth and reached out to grab the board in front of Tian Tian.
At that moment, a harpoon shot through the gap and pierced Han Yimo's shoulder with pinpoint accuracy.
Han Yimo let out a painful scream, but his hands still clung tightly to the board.
"Don't panic!"
Officer Li quickly supported Han Yimo and, using his hands, propped up half of the board for him.
Qiao Jiajin decisively reached over to steady Tian Tian's board as well.
Fortunately, both of them were incredibly strong, and the formation began to stabilize once more.
As the crashing sounds gradually quieted, the group finally realized just how well-thought-out their formation was.
If Officer Li and Dr. Zhao had gotten their way and arranged the boards in a scattered fashion, the harpoons would have been vertical to the boards, making them extremely vulnerable to penetration.
Now, with the "spring bamboo shoots" arrangement, the angles at which the harpoons made contact with the boards were all slanted, significantly reducing the harpoons' piercing power.
Especially for the harpoons coming from directly above—the conical shape of the formation had altered their trajectory.
After a while, the sounds outside finally ceased.
"Is it over?" Han Yimo gritted his teeth and asked.
"Wait another minute," Qi Xia replied.
The group quietly held their boards in place for another minute, and when no further sounds came, they cautiously moved the boards aside.
"What the hell..." Qiao Jiajin gasped in shock at the sight before him.
The others slowly followed suit, and what they saw left them horrified.
The floor and the surface of the table were filled with harpoons.
Two bodies lay on the ground, grotesquely impaled by the harpoons, resembling two hedgehogs covered in spikes.
Each harpoon was connected to a rope, with the other end attached to a hole in the wall. The room was a complete mess.
Without hesitation, Dr. Zhao rolled up his sleeves and approached Han Yimo.
His condition was critical—the harpoon had pierced his shoulder and needed immediate attention.
Han Yimo slowly sat down and let out a bitter laugh. "I was just thinking how unlucky I am... I never imagined I'd really get hit..."
Tian Tian looked at him with guilt in her eyes and quickly apologized.
But everyone knew it wasn't her fault; she had been injured as well when the harpoon had pierced her palm.
"Hey, gorgeous, come over here," Qiao Jiajin waved her over. "I can wrap your wound."
"Huh?" Tian Tian looked at him, surprised. "You can bandage?"
"I know a little," he replied.
Qiao Jiajin ripped a strip of fabric from the dead goat's clothes and tore it into two pieces.
One piece he tied tightly around Tian Tian's arm to stop the bleeding, while the other was carefully wrapped around the wound.
"I used to get injured a lot on the streets, so I taught myself some basic first aid," Qiao Jiajin said.
Tian Tian nodded quietly, saying nothing.
Now, for the first time since they had arrived, the group felt a brief moment of calm, as if they had temporarily escaped the shadow of death.
But there was still no sign of a door in the room. This cursed place still had them trapped.
Where the hell were they?
What was outside the room?
Less than a minute later, a sigh came from Dr. Zhao's direction.
Qi Xia turned his head and saw Dr. Zhao, who was tending to Han Yimo's wound, wearing a troubled expression.
"What's wrong?" Officer Li asked. "Is the injury serious?"
"The injury itself isn't too bad," Dr. Zhao shook his head, "but I can't remove the harpoon."
The group gathered around, and they soon realized how tricky the problem was.
The harpoon had a barbed tip, making it incredibly difficult to remove without causing more damage.
On top of that, the harpoon was connected to a rope.
At this moment, Han Yimo looked like a fish that had been hooked, unable to escape because the rope held him fast.
"We'll have to cut the rope and pull the harpoon out from the front," Dr. Zhao said, looking up. "But I don't have a sharp tool here."
Han Yimo's lips had gone pale from the pain, and the harpoon that had pierced his shoulder was causing excruciating agony.
"Use another harpoon," Officer Li immediately suggested. "The harpoons are sharp, so they'll work."
"Looks like that's the only option," Dr. Zhao nodded. "Writer, I need you to lie down in the most relaxed position possible. We need to cut the rope on your back. Don't worry, take it slow. Be careful of the harpoon in your front—don't get hurt again."
Han Yimo nodded and began to move painfully.
Qi Xia watched this scene with an uneasy feeling in his chest.
Take it slow?
Did they really have time to do that in this situation?
He glanced at the ropes scattered all around, and a sense of foreboding filled his mind.
If he was right, they were still racing against the clock.
"We can't afford to take it slow!" Qi Xia suddenly said, his voice sharp. "Get the harpoon out of him now!"
He quickly walked over to Dr. Zhao, looked Han Yimo directly in the eyes, and said with determination, "Hang on, I'll pull the harpoon out now!"
Han Yimo looked confused but didn't refuse.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Dr. Zhao snapped as he shoved Qi Xia aside. "You'll make his injury worse!"
"We don't have time!" Qi Xia pushed Dr. Zhao aside, grabbed the harpoon in Han Yimo's back with both hands.
A scream echoed through the room.
The barbed harpoon was easy to pierce with, but pulling it out was another story.
"Hey!" Officer Li came running over and forcefully yanked Qi Xia away, shouting, "Are you trying to kill him?!"
Qi Xia was stopped twice, and his expression darkened.
"I understand you want to save him, but if we don't hurry, the harpoon will..."
Before Qi Xia could finish his sentence, the sound of chains echoed throughout the room, as if some massive mechanism was being triggered again.
Then came Han Yimo's gut-wrenching scream.
The group snapped to attention, realizing that the ropes connected to the harpoons were slowly retracting.
At the same time, the enormous force was pulling Han Yimo across the room.
Qi Xia had already suspected this. The ropes were not just for decoration; they were bound to pull the harpoons back eventually.
In a panic, the group began running after Han Yimo. Officer Li tried to grab the ropes, fighting against the immense force coming from the black hole in the wall, but it was all in vain.
The boards, now full of harpoons, began to splinter and retreat as well.
The force that could tear apart the wooden boards was not something they could resist with their bare hands.
Despite the pain, Han Yimo quickly realized another problem.
If he was dragged to the wall and couldn't escape the harpoons, he would be pinned there to die.
With this thought, he gritted his teeth and stood up in agony, grabbing onto Qi Xia once more, his voice hoarse with pain. "Help me pull the harpoon out! Do it now!"