Chapter 14: After the Rain
1285 Words
“Hold on!” Officer Li shouted, “There are limited harpoons, just hang on a little longer and we’ll survive!”
Before anyone could respond, another scream echoed through the room.
Turning to look, it was Sweetie.
Unlike Xiaoran, who was lucky, the harpoon pierced her palm.
Sweetie momentarily lost strength, and the table in front of her was knocked askew by the oncoming harpoons.
“Watch out!”
Jiaojia clenched his teeth and reached to grab the table in front of Sweetie.
In that split second, a harpoon flew through the gap, striking Han Yimo in the shoulder.
Han Yimo let out a painful scream, but his hand still tightly gripped the table.
“Don’t panic!”
Officer Li quickly supported Han Yimo and then, with both hands, held up part of the table to relieve the pressure on him.
Jiaojia also acted swiftly, grabbing the table to support Sweetie.
Luckily, these two were quite strong, and the formation began to stabilize once again.
As the crashing sounds gradually faded, the group finally realized just how effective this formation was.
Had they followed Officer Li and Dr. Zhao’s idea of arranging the tables staggered in everyone’s hands, the tables would have been positioned vertically, making them extremely vulnerable to the harpoons.
Now, with the "bamboo shoots after the rain" formation, the harpoons' contact points with the tables were at slanting angles, greatly reducing the harpoons' piercing power.
Especially the harpoons coming from directly above, their trajectory was altered by the conical shape.
After a while, the noise outside completely disappeared.
“Is it over?” Han Yimo asked through gritted teeth.
“Wait one more minute,” Qi Xia replied.
The group continued holding the tables, waiting in silence. After a minute, they confirmed that there was no more sound outside.
Jiaojia carefully opened a small gap and peered outside.
“Oh no…” He was immediately stunned by the scene before him.
The group slowly moved the tables aside and saw that the ground and the table were covered in harpoons.
The two bodies on the ground were gruesome, looking like porcupines, pierced by the harpoons in a dense array.
Each harpoon was tied to a rope, with the other end connected to the hole in the wall, and the room was in utter chaos.
Dr. Zhao, acting swiftly, rolled up his sleeves and approached Han Yimo.
His condition was serious; the harpoon had pierced his shoulder, and it needed immediate treatment.
Han Yimo slowly sat down and smiled bitterly, “I was just thinking how unlucky I might be, and it turned out to be true…”
Sweetie looked very guilty and quickly apologized to Han Yimo.
But everyone knew it wasn’t Sweetie’s fault—she too had been pierced by a harpoon in her hand.
“Hey, gorgeous, come here,” Jiaojia waved, “Let me bandage you up.”
“Huh?” Sweetie was confused, “You know how to bandage?”
“A little bit,” Jiaojia replied.
He tore off a strip of suit fabric from a dead goat head and then tore it into two pieces. One was tightly wrapped around Sweetie's arm to stop the bleeding, and the other was carefully wound around the wound.
“I used to get hurt a lot on the streets, so I learned a bit about bandaging,” Jiaojia explained.
Sweetie nodded slightly, without saying a word.
After coming here, the group finally had some peace, as if temporarily escaping the shadow of death.
However, the door still hadn't appeared, and they remained trapped in this damned room.
Where exactly were they?
What was outside the room?
In less than a minute, a sigh came from Dr. Zhao’s direction.
Qi Xia turned to look and saw Dr. Zhao, who was treating Han Yimo’s wound, now looking conflicted.
“What’s wrong?” Officer Li asked, “Is it serious?”
“The wound is not too bad,” Dr. Zhao shook his head, “But I can’t remove the harpoon.”
The group moved closer and immediately realized the problem was indeed tricky.
The harpoon had barbed tips, and removing it would cause even more damage to the victim.
The harpoon was also attached to a rope.
At this moment, Han Yimo was like a fish caught on a hook, no matter where he went, the rope would drag him back.
“We can only cut the rope and then pull the harpoon out from the front,” Dr. Zhao said, looking up. “But I don’t have anything sharp.”
Han Yimo’s lips were turning pale. The harpoon piercing his shoulder blade was causing excruciating pain.
“Use the other harpoon,” Officer Li said decisively. “Although the harpoon is sharp, it can still serve as a cutting tool.”
“Looks like that's the only choice,” Dr. Zhao nodded. “Writer, I need you to lie down in the most relaxed position. We’ll need to cut the rope from your back, so don't rush, just take it slow. Be careful of the harpoon on your front, don’t get injured again.”
Han Yimo nodded and began to move painfully.
Qi Xia watched this and felt something was off.
Take it slow?
Was there really time for that in this situation?
He looked at the ropes scattered all over the ground, and a bad premonition formed in his mind.
If he was right, they were still racing against time.
“We can’t take it slow!” Qi Xia suddenly shouted, “Take the harpoon out right now!”
He quickly walked over to Dr. Zhao and, with a serious look, told Han Yimo, “Hang in there, I’ll pull the harpoon out for you!”
Han Yimo looked confused, but didn’t refuse.
“What are you doing?!” Dr. Zhao angrily shoved Qi Xia, “You’ll make his injury worse!”
“There’s no time!” Qi Xia pushed Dr. Zhao aside, grabbing the harpoon in Han Yimo’s back.
A scream escaped.
The harpoon, with its barbed tip, was easy to pierce, but nearly impossible to remove.
“Hey!” Officer Li ran over and pulled Qi Xia away, shouting angrily, “Are you trying to kill him?!”
Qi Xia’s face grew darker after being stopped twice.
“I understand you want to save him, but if we don’t hurry up, the harpoon will…”
Before Qi Xia could finish, a chain-like sound echoed from the West Wall, as if some giant mechanism had been triggered again.
Along with it came Han Yimo’s heart-wrenching scream.
The group realized all the harpoons were slowly retracting on their ropes.
Han Yimo, lying on the ground, was being dragged by the immense force.
Qi Xia had already noticed this earlier—the ropes tied to the harpoons were not for decoration. They would eventually retract the harpoons.
In a panic, the group rushed after Han Yimo, while Officer Li tried to grab the ropes to fight against the enormous force from the black hole in the wall. But it was all futile.
The tables, which had been pierced with harpoons, were now being torn apart by the harpoons, and slowly began retreating.
This force, capable of tearing apart wood, was clearly beyond what bare hands could resist.
Although Han Yimo was in unbearable pain, he quickly realized another problem.
If he was dragged to the wall and still couldn’t escape the harpoons, he would be nailed to the wall to die.
Realizing this, he stood up in agony and grabbed Qi Xia. With a strained voice, he said, “Help me pull the harpoon out! Do it now!”
- Writer
