At those words, the others suddenly realized something was wrong too.
—Now that the mob outside seemed to have retreated, someone from the police station should have come to let them out.
And yet...
The door remained tightly shut. There was no sign of movement outside, not even the faintest sound of conversation.
Someone lost patience. Ignoring the earlier instructions, he went up and tugged on the door, and his expression changed drastically.
"Jiang, this thing's locked from the outside!"
Jiang Yan hurried over and pulled hard on the door herself. Her expression turned even uglier than his—
Although they were in a cell, this partition door could be locked from both sides. Earlier, they had only locked the inside to keep the mob from charging in. Now that the outside was locked too...
A tall man nearby took a short run-up and kicked the iron door hard.
Unfortunately.
It did not budge.
The fat director had been right about one thing: the riot-control measures really were sturdy. By now, everyone had realized what was happening, but no one spoke. Despair gradually spread, even worse than when they had been surrounded earlier.
In the end.
Jiang Yan sank to the floor and summed it up with a bitter smile.
"This time... we really walked right into their trap. We're sitting ducks..."
No one blamed her.
Perhaps they knew she had done her best. Perhaps they were simply too terrified to know what to say.
Who knew how much more time passed.
Suddenly, footsteps came from outside the door.
Jiang Yan sprang to her feet. Truthfully, she had no idea what to do either, but as their leader, some sense of responsibility made her stand instinctively.
Then.
The iron door opened, and the fat director poked his head inside