Ten Days End Revised Edition

Chapter 15: Still Unsettled

Qi Xia’s expression was troubled. He had already tried earlier, but the harpoon’s barbs were so finely crafted that it was almost impossible to remove from the body.

Looking at the blood steadily flowing out, Qi Xia felt a momentary daze.

Had they really died?

Do the dead still get injured?

He shook his head to clear the thoughts. Now was not the time to ponder that; what mattered was cutting the rope immediately.

Right now, all the harpoons were slowly retracting. How could they use another harpoon to cut the rope?

The only thing he was sure of was that once all the ropes were pulled back into the wall, the harpoons would disappear, and Han Yimo would die.

"We need to figure out how to get one harpoon..." Qi Xia furrowed his brow, quickly scanning the surroundings. "But how exactly should we do this?"

It was time to take another gamble.

He grabbed two harpoons from the ground, which were slowly retreating, and quickly tied their ropes together with a tight knot.

"Hey! Stop crowding around Han Yimo," Qi Xia said loudly. "Everyone do what I’m doing! We need at least one harpoon left."

Lin Qin immediately understood what he meant and found two harpoons, tying them into a knot with clean efficiency. However, the knot she tied was odd, something Qi Xia had never seen before.

He didn’t have time to think about it now, so he focused on the two harpoons in front of him.

As the ropes continued to retract, the two ropes began to pull tightly together.

At this rate, it wouldn’t take long before one of the ropes would snap, leaving just one harpoon.

Qi Xia slowly began to back up. The two ropes let out a horrifying sound as they strained. If he guessed correctly, the snapping rope could potentially injure someone due to the immense tension.

Sure enough, in the next second, one of the ropes snapped with a loud c***k.

The other rope, with its harpoon attached, flailed wildly in the air for a moment before crashing to the ground, leaving a deep mark in the earth.

Qi Xia rushed forward, hoping to untie the snapped rope before the harpoon was pulled back into the wall.

But when he reached the knot, he realized that the tension from the pull had distorted the ropes so much that they were nearly unrecognizable. Not only was it impossible to untie the rope, but even telling which rope was which was a challenge.

"I'm done!" Lin Qin shouted from not far away. "Someone strong, hurry up and cut the writer's rope!"

"Done?"

Qi Xia turned around and saw that Lin Qin had tied the knot in such a clever way that it automatically separated when the rope snapped.

Officer Li, who hadn’t even finished tying his knot earlier, immediately dropped the harpoon he was holding and said, "I’ll cut it, give it to me!"

Taking the harpoon from Li, Officer Li moved swiftly, reaching Han Yimo just as he was about to be dragged into the wall.

Luckily, the harpoon, though sharp, had small edges on the tip, making it sharp enough to be used as a knife.

Seeing this, Jiaojia also moved to help. Although Qi Xia had already thought of a plan, Han Yimo was now less than half a meter from the wall.

The excruciating pain from the harpoon made Han Yimo unable to resist. He had no choice but to slowly retreat, as any attempt to move forward would only worsen the pain from the barbs in his chest.

Officer Li grabbed the rope behind him, briefly pausing to think, then aimed for the rope closest to Han Yimo’s body and started cutting with the sharp harpoon.

His hand was steady, and each cut landed precisely on the previous incision.

But the rope was tougher than he had expected. After several cuts, only small notches had formed.

He quickly assessed the situation and realized things were more difficult than he thought.

Though the rope would eventually be cut, time was the most pressing issue.

In less than a minute, Han Yimo’s body would make contact with the wall, and at that point, cutting the rope from behind would be impossible.

"Come on, is it done yet?" Jiaojia asked anxiously. "You’re moving so slowly, you’re going to get this guy killed!"

"Shut up!" Officer Li snapped, then focused even harder.

As Han Yimo's body was dragged closer to the wall, beads of sweat covered Officer Li's face.

His mental fortitude was remarkable. Despite the tense and suffocating atmosphere, he used the tiny harpoon without a single misstep, each cut landing on the previous notch.

But as Han Yimo got less than thirty centimeters from the wall, Officer Li’s arm was beginning to strain.

Quick-witted, Jiaojia moved quickly and placed himself behind Han Yimo, using his own body to cushion him. This way, though Han Yimo would suffer harm, at least his distance from the wall would no longer decrease.

"Officer! Hurry!"

Officer Li held his breath and continued cutting. By now, the rope had been severed halfway, but it was still connected.

Han Yimo groaned in pain as the harpoon pierced through his body and the barbs stabbed back into his chest. His blood had soaked his clothes, looking gruesome.

"Am I going to die?" Han Yimo gritted his teeth and said, "I’m really going to die, right… Who the hell wants our lives…?"

"Act like a man!" Officer Li said sternly. "There are so many of us trying to save you. Stop whining!"

Hearing this, Han Yimo immediately fell silent. He knew Officer Li was right. Everyone was running around trying to save him, and he couldn’t be the one to hold them back.

The barbs dug deep into Han Yimo’s flesh, causing him to groan in agony, gritting his teeth.

Seeing this, Dr. Zhao immediately took a strip of cloth and stuffed it into Han Yimo’s mouth.

After all, someone in such extreme pain could easily crush their teeth.

The group gathered around Han Yimo.

What seemed like a short twenty seconds felt like several hours. Officer Li continued cutting the rope with unshakable focus.

Finally, with one last precise cut, the tough rope was severed.

At the same time, both Han Yimo and Jiaojia collapsed to the ground from the strain.

The others immediately rushed to support them.

It seemed that Han Yimo had been saved.

Dr. Zhao quickly pulled Han Yimo aside and began examining his wound. The situation was as expected—the wound still needed to be treated, and the harpoon had to be pulled out from the front.

The most difficult part now was stopping the bleeding.

After thinking for a moment, Dr. Zhao used several strips of cloth to seal the wound near the harpoon.

"Hey, doctor, aren’t you going to take the harpoon out?" Jiaojia asked.

"I can’t take it out. If I do, he’ll die," Dr. Zhao replied, his expression grim.

"Die?" Jiaojia was puzzled and stepped forward to shove Dr. Zhao. "What’s going on? We worked so hard, and now you’re not saving him?"

"I am saving him!" Dr. Zhao snapped, pushing Jiaojia’s hand away. "To put it bluntly, if the harpoon is removed, he’ll be left with a wound that will keep bleeding, and death is only a matter of time."

"Why?" Xiao Ran asked, unable to hold back.

"If the harpoon is removed, he will just have an open wound that will bleed out. Keeping the harpoon in, though painful, will stop him from dying from blood loss. Those smaller wounds will eventually stop bleeding due to coagulation." Dr. Zhao explained calmly.