“Ah…” Han Yimo’s eyes gradually became panicked. “Aren’t those harpoons in the holes?”

Hearing Han Yimo’s words, Qiao Jiajin decisively put down his table board and walked to the wall to look into those holes.

It didn’t matter if he didn’t look, but once he did, he got a huge shock.

“Holy crap!” He shouted loudly and quickly retreated several steps. “They really are harpoons! The holes are all full of harpoons ‘retracting backwards’!”

Everyone panicked, their shouts and cries rising one after another.

But Qi Xia kept watching Han Yimo with a complex expression.

“You knew there were harpoons inside all along?” Qi Xia asked.

“No… I just accidentally saw them just now…” Han Yimo’s eyes kept dodging, clearly lying.

“Could it be that you also…” Qi Xia stared blankly at Han Yimo, but still swallowed the words that had reached his lips.

Han Yimo also remembered.

He had concealed this fact.

From another perspective, it seemed that those who remembered what had happened before had all received the Man-Goat’s card.

Since Qi Xia didn’t know what would happen if memories were exposed, he could only choose not to expose him.

“There’s no need to be afraid.” Qi Xia changed the subject and looked at Han Yimo seriously, saying in a low voice, “This time the harpoons won’t pierce through you.”

“But… but Qi Xia…” Han Yimo seemed to have something to say as well, but didn’t know how to speak.

If Qi Xia guessed correctly, what Han Yimo wanted to say was “I was pierced through last time.”

“This time we’ll adjust positions. You stand between me and Officer Li.” Qi Xia looked toward the others. “If there are no gaps beside you, there’s no reason for the harpoons to pierce through you.”

Han Yimo looked at Qi Xia with some gratitude and nodded blankly.

After everyone calmed down, Qi Xia rearranged the team’s positions.

He tried to ensure that each woman had a man beside her, and then protected Han Yimo.

No matter what, Han Yimo was an “Echoer.” Preserving his life wouldn’t be wrong.

“Additionally, I need to arrange a contingency plan. Everyone, please come here.” Qi Xia directed everyone. “If someone’s table board becomes difficult to stabilize in a moment…”

After Qi Xia arranged everything, he had everyone stand in formation in advance, placing all the table boards together to form an unbreakable pointed cone.

Everyone standing in the cone was back-to-back, in darkness so complete they couldn’t see a trace of light.

Qi Xia could feel Han Yimo beside him constantly trembling, as if this formation gave him no sense of security at all.

“I’m sorry…” Han Yimo seemed to know he was attracting attention and could only apologize in a low voice. “I’ve always had claustrophobia. Since childhood, I’ve been very afraid of enclosed spaces and pitch-black environments.”

With that one sentence, Qi Xia suddenly thought of something.

Han Yimo had been shot by a harpoon in the pitch-black cone and pierced by a greatsword in the pitch-black dawn.

Could this all be related to his “claustrophobia”?

Suddenly, a tremendous sound of breaking wind rang out around the cone.

“It’s coming!”

At Qi Xia’s command, everyone began shifting their weight slightly, firmly holding up the table boards in front of them.

After all, the strategy Qi Xia had given seemed foolproof. Now the most important thing was to ensure the cone’s solidity.

The harpoons began falling on the cone like a violent storm. Everyone felt their palms aching from the impacts, but fortunately, this time the nine people were mentally prepared, and the cone was incredibly solid.

“Bang!!”

A tremendous sound appeared in front of Xiao Ran, and the table board in her hands was instantly knocked askew.

A glaring ray of light penetrated through the gap. Qi Xia immediately sensed trouble, because Han Yimo was right behind Xiao Ran. If a harpoon shot through this gap, it would definitely take Han Yimo’s life.

“Rotate!” Qi Xia shouted loudly.

Having received the order, everyone took their table boards and turned to the right.

The entire cone was like a spinning top rotating in the storm. At this moment, it not only contacted the harpoons at an angle, but was itself constantly rotating. Harpoons trying to enter the gap were all kept out.

After two rotations, Doctor Zhao beside her helped Xiao Ran stabilize her table board.

“Stop!”

Qi Xia shouted loudly again, and everyone once more steadied their table boards. The bamboo shoot in the rain had taken root.

As the collision sounds near the table boards gradually diminished, the harpoons’ offensive slowed. After another half minute, those impacts could no longer be heard at all.

“Is it over?” Someone asked quietly.

“Wait another minute.” Qi Xia said very cautiously.

Naturally, no one objected. In this extremely quiet cone, they waited quietly for another minute.

Qi Xia carefully lifted his table board.

He looked at the now-safe room, reached out and patted Han Yimo’s shoulder, saying: “See, we’ll be fine.”

Han Yimo was still trembling but nodded with gratitude: “It’s okay now… but I still feel…”

The others also lifted their table boards one after another, but were shocked speechless by the scene before them.

The two corpses on the ground were now stuck full of harpoons like hedgehogs, with blood splattered everywhere—a truly hellish sight.

“Oh? What’s this?” Officer Li picked up a harpoon from the ground with exaggerated acting. “There seem to be words on this.”

Qi Xia shook his head helplessly. Making Officer Li do this kind of thing was really making things difficult for him.

While Officer Li was leading everyone to examine the harpoons, Qi Xia checked on Han Yimo’s condition again. Although he still looked frightened, his state was much better than before.

“Han Yimo, I told you we’d be fine this time.”

After hearing this, Han Yimo smiled bitterly and said: “Qi Xia, thank you… but I don’t know why, I always feel like those harpoons will definitely hit me.”

Qi Xia was about to say something when he suddenly felt something wasn’t right.

Somewhere in this room, he could still faintly hear the sound of chains.

Were there still harpoons?

At this moment, Qiao Jiajin seemed to have discovered something as well.

A rope was currently stretched taut, suspended in mid-air in the center of the room.

“What’s going on here?” Qiao Jiajin looked at this rope and discovered that both its ends were in holes, very different from those ropes on the ground attached to harpoons.

Qi Xia also felt somewhat puzzled.

Why were both ends of the rope in holes?

Where was the harpoon?

Qiao Jiajin walked forward and lightly touched the rope, discovering it was trembling slightly: “How strange…”

He tried pulling on the rope and found it could actually be pulled out.

Qi Xia was slightly stunned and instantly realized something.

That wasn’t a rope “suspended in mid-air” at all. Rather, a harpoon had by coincidence shot into a hole in the wall, and this harpoon had blocked another harpoon.

“Qiao Jiajin, don’t touch it!”