See You After the Rain

"Hold on!" Officer Li roared. "There are only so many harpoons! Hold on a little longer and we'll survive!"

Before anyone could answer, another scream rang out.

They turned to look. It was Tiantian.

She hadn't been as lucky as Xiao Ran. A harpoon had pierced through the tabletop and into her palm.

Tiantian's strength gave out for a moment, and the harpoons whistling toward her knocked the tabletop in front of her wildly askew.

"Watch out!"

Qiao Jiajin gritted his teeth and reached out to grab Tiantian's tabletop.

In that brief opening, a harpoon flew straight through the gap and pierced Han Yimo's shoulder.

Han Yimo let out an agonized scream, but his hands still held the tabletop tightly.

"Don't panic!"

Officer Li reached out to steady Han Yimo, then spread his hands apart to hold up half of the tabletop for him.

Qiao Jiajin also acted without hesitation, reaching out to support Tiantian's tabletop.

Fortunately, both men were very strong, and the formation began to stabilize again.

As the sounds of impact gradually subsided, everyone finally realized just how effective this formation was.

If they had followed Officer Li and Doctor Zhao's plan and held the tabletops in a staggered arrangement, the harpoons would have struck them head-on, making them extremely easy to pierce.

Now, their "bamboo shoots after rain" formation made the harpoons from all five directions strike the tabletops at an angle, greatly reducing their penetrating force.

In particular, the harpoons fired straight down from above were now deflected by the conical shape.

A little while later, all sound outside the tabletops stopped.

"Is it over?" Han Yimo asked through gritted teeth.

"Wait another minute," Qi Xia replied.

Everyone held up the tabletops and waited quietly for another minute, confirming that there really was no more movement outside.

Qiao Jiajin carefully opened a gap and peered out.

"Holy shit..." The sight before him instantly left him stunned.

The others slowly moved their tabletops aside as well and found harpoons covering almost every inch of the floor and table.

The two corpses on the floor were an even more gruesome sight. They looked like hedgehogs, densely covered in spikes.

Every harpoon had a rope attached to it, with the other end leading into a hole in the wall. The room was a complete mess.

Doctor Zhao immediately rolled up his sleeves and went over to Han Yimo.

His condition was concerning. The harpoon had pierced his shoulder, and he needed immediate treatment.

Han Yimo slowly sat down and gave a bitter laugh. "I was just wondering whether I'd really be that unlucky. Turns out I was..."

Tiantian looked deeply guilty and hurried to apologize to Han Yimo.

But everyone knew it wasn't her fault. The harpoon had pierced her palm too.

"Hey, pretty girl, come here." Qiao Jiajin beckoned to her. "I can bandage that for you."

"Huh?" Tiantian paused in surprise. "You know how to bandage wounds?"

"A little."

Qiao Jiajin tore a strip of fabric from the dead Goat Head's suit, then tore it into two strips.

He tied one tightly around Tiantian's arm to stop the bleeding and carefully wrapped the other around her wound.

"I used to get hurt a lot out on the streets, so I taught myself a bit about bandaging," Qiao Jiajin said.

Tiantian nodded slightly without saying anything.

For once since arriving here, everyone had a moment of peace, as though they had temporarily escaped the shadow of death.

But no door had appeared anywhere around them. This damned room still held them captive.

What exactly was this place?

And what was outside the room?

Less than a minute later, a sigh came from Doctor Zhao's direction.

Qi Xia turned to look and saw a troubled expression on Doctor Zhao's face as he treated Han Yimo's wound.

"What's wrong?" Officer Li asked. "Is he badly hurt?"

"The injury itself isn't that serious." Doctor Zhao shook his head. "It's just that I can't remove the harpoon."

Everyone gathered closer and saw that the problem really was a difficult one.

The harpoon's tip was barbed. Pulling it back out would cause even greater injury.

And a rope was attached to its tail.

Han Yimo was now like a speared fish. No matter where he swam, that rope would keep him firmly tethered.

"We have to cut the rope, then pull the harpoon out through the front," Doctor Zhao said, looking up. "But I don't have anything sharp on hand."

Han Yimo's lips had begun to pale. The harpoon through his shoulder blade was causing him unbearable pain.

"Use one of the other harpoons," Officer Li said decisively. "They're pointed, but they still count as sharp tools."

"That's our only option." Doctor Zhao nodded too. "Writer, I need you to lie face down in whatever position feels most comfortable. We have to cut the rope on your back. Don't rush. Take it slowly. Watch the harpoon sticking out in front of you, and be careful not to injure yourself again."

Han Yimo nodded and began moving his body with difficulty.

Watching this, Qi Xia felt that something was wrong.

Take it slowly?

Did they really have time for that right now?

He looked at the ropes covering the floor, and an ominous feeling rose in his mind.

If his guess was right, they were still racing against time.

"You can't take it slowly!" Qi Xia suddenly spoke up. "Get that harpoon out of him right now!"

He strode over to the doctor and said earnestly to Han Yimo, "Bear with the pain. I'm pulling the harpoon out right now!"

Han Yimo was confused, but he didn't refuse.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Doctor Zhao shoved Qi Xia irritably. "You'll make his injury worse!"

"There's no time! If we keep wasting it, he really will die!" Qi Xia pushed Doctor Zhao aside too, then reached from behind Han Yimo and grabbed the harpoon protruding from his back.

A scream rang out.

A barbed harpoon pierced flesh easily enough, but removing it was far more difficult.

"Hey!" Officer Li rushed over too, pulled Qi Xia away, and shouted angrily, "Are you trying to kill him?"

After being stopped twice, Qi Xia's expression darkened as well.

"I understand you're trying to save him, but if we don't hurry, the harpoons will..."

Before Qi Xia could finish, the clanking of chains sounded all around them again, as though some enormous mechanism had been activated once more.

Along with it came Han Yimo's heart-rending scream.

Only then did everyone snap out of it and realize that the ropes were slowly retracting all the harpoons.

Han Yimo, still on the floor, was being dragged along by a tremendous force.

Qi Xia had realized this long ago. The ropes attached to the harpoons weren't just for show. Sooner or later, they would reel the harpoons back in.

Everyone ran frantically alongside Han Yimo. Officer Li tried to grab the rope and fight the tremendous force pulling from those black holes, but all his efforts were futile.

The tabletops on the floor, bristling with harpoons, were gradually torn apart by them and began sliding backward as well.

A force capable of tearing wooden boards apart was certainly not something they could resist with their bare hands.

Though Han Yimo was in unbearable pain, he soon realized there was another problem.

If he was dragged all the way to the wall without getting free of the harpoon, he would be pinned firmly against it and left to die.

At that thought, he painfully struggled to his feet, grabbed Qi Xia again, and said, enunciating every word, "Help me get the harpoon out! Get it out right now!"