Chapter 100: Han Yimo's Anxiety
"Ah..." Han Yimo's eyes gradually filled with panic. "Aren't those holes supposed to have harpoons?"
Hearing Han Yimo's words, Qiao Jiajin decisively put down his table board and walked to the wall to look into the holes.
He wouldn't have been alarmed if he hadn't looked, but once he did, he was taken aback.
"What the hell!" he shouted, quickly stepping back a few paces. "They really are harpoons! Every single hole is filled with harpoons that are 'retreating'!"
Panic spread among the group, with cries of alarm rising and falling one after another.
But Qi Xia kept staring at Han Yimo with a complicated expression.
"You knew all along that there were harpoons inside?" Qi Xia asked.
"No... I just happened to catch a glimpse a moment ago..." Han Yimo's eyes kept darting away, clearly lying.
"Could it be that you also..." Qi Xia stared at Han Yimo in astonishment but swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue.
Han Yimo remembered too.
He had concealed this fact.
From another perspective, everyone who remembered the previous events seemed to have received the "man-sheep" cards.
Since Qi Xia didn't know what would happen if their memories were exposed, he could only choose not to call him out.
"There's no need to be afraid." Qi Xia shifted his tone and looked at Han Yimo seriously, lowering his voice. "This time, the harpoon won't pierce through you."
"But... but Qi Xia..." Han Yimo seemed to have something to say as well, but he couldn't figure out how to start.
If Qi Xia's guess was right, Han Yimo wanted to say, "I was pierced through last time."
"This time, we'll adjust our positions. You stand between me and Officer Li." Qi Xia looked toward the group. "If there's no gap around you, the harpoon has no reason to go through you."
Han Yimo shot Qi Xia a grateful glance and nodded in a daze.
After everyone calmed down, Qi Xia rearranged the group's formation.
He made sure that every woman had a man beside her, and then he placed Han Yimo in a protected position.
Regardless, Han Yimo was an "Echoer," so keeping him alive was definitely the right call.
"Also, I need to arrange an emergency plan. Please come over here." Qi Xia directed the group. "If someone's table board becomes unstable later..."
After Qi Xia had arranged everything, he had everyone take their positions in advance, leaning all the table boards together to form an impenetrable cone.
Those standing inside the cone were back-to-back, surrounded by darkness so deep that not a single ray of light could be seen.
Qi Xia could feel Han Yimo beside him trembling constantly, as if this formation offered him no sense of security at all.
"I'm sorry..." Han Yimo seemed aware that he was drawing attention and could only apologize softly. "I've always had claustrophobia. Ever since I was a child, I've been terrified of confined spaces and pitch-black environments."
When those words were spoken, Qi Xia suddenly thought of something.
Han Yimo had been struck by a harpoon inside the pitch-black cone, and then pierced by a giant sword in the pitch-black dawn.
Could all of this be related to his "claustrophobia"?
Suddenly, a loud sound of wind breaking echoed around the cone.
"Here they come!"
At Qi Xia's command, everyone shifted their weight slightly and firmly braced themselves against the table boards in front of them.
After all, the strategy Qi Xia had laid out seemed foolproof; now the main priority was to ensure the cone's stability.
The harpoons began to rain down on the cone like a storm. Everyone felt their palms throbbing from the impact, but fortunately, this time the nine of them were mentally prepared, and the cone was incredibly sturdy.
"Bam!!"
A loud crash sounded in front of Xiao Ran. The table board in her hands was instantly knocked askew.
A blinding ray of light pierced through the gap. Qi Xia immediately sensed danger. Since Xiao Ran was right in front of Han Yimo, if a harpoon shot through that gap, it would definitely kill Han Yimo.
"Rotate!" Qi Xia shouted.
Following the command, everyone turned their table boards to the right.
The entire cone spun like a top in a rainstorm. Not only did it now meet the harpoons at an angle, but its own rotation also kept out the harpoons that tried to slip through the gap.
After two rotations, Doctor Zhao beside them helped Xiao Ran steady her table board.
"Stop!"
Qi Xia shouted again, and everyone stabilized their boards once more, like bamboo shoots taking root after the rain.
As the sounds of collision around the boards gradually diminished, the harpoon attack slowed. After another half minute, the impacts could no longer be heard at all.
"Is it over?" someone whispered.
"Wait another minute," Qi Xia said cautiously.
No one argued with him. Inside the utterly silent cone, they waited patiently for another minute.
Qi Xia carefully lifted his table board.
He surveyed the now-safe room, reached out, and patted Han Yimo on the shoulder. "See? We'll be fine."
Han Yimo was still trembling, but he nodded gratefully. "Is it over...? But I still feel like..."
The others also lifted their boards, but the scene before them left them speechless.
The two corpses on the ground were now riddled with harpoons like pincushions, blood splattered everywhere—a truly hellish sight.
"Oh? What's this?" Officer Li said with exaggerated acting as he picked up a harpoon from the ground. "There seems to be writing on this one."
Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. Having Officer Li do something like this was really forcing him.
While Officer Li led the others to inspect the harpoon, Qi Xia checked on Han Yimo again. He still looked frightened, but his condition was much better than before.
"Han Yimo, I told you we'd be fine this time."
Han Yimo gave a bitter smile. "Qi Xia, thank you... But for some reason, I always feel like those harpoons are bound to hit me."
Qi Xia was about to say something when he suddenly sensed something off.
There was still a faint sound of chains coming from somewhere in the room.
Were there more harpoons?
Qiao Jiajin seemed to notice something too.
A rope was stretched taut, suspended horizontally in the middle of the room.
"What’s this?" Qiao Jiajin examined the rope and found that both ends were embedded in the holes—quite different from the ropes attached to the harpoons on the ground.
Qi Xia also felt puzzled.
Why were both ends of the rope inside the holes?
Where was the harpoon?
Qiao Jiajin stepped forward and gently touched the rope, only to find it vibrating faintly. "How strange..."
He tried to pull the rope, and it turned out to be retractable.
Qi Xia was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly realized something.
That wasn't a rope "suspended in midair" at all. It was a harpoon that had, by some fluke, shot into a hole in the wall, and that harpoon had gotten stuck on another harpoon.
"Qiao Jiajin, don't touch it!"