“Everyone, get down!” Ashley Carter continued, “Move the pointed ends back and press them together. Officer Thompson, you don’t need to block the top anymore—join us!”

Under Ashley Carter’s direction, everyone slowly aligned all the fan-shaped boards side by side, forming a cone.

No one had expected that after discarding the large tabletop, all the small boards would fit together perfectly to form a pyramid, blocking gaps from all directions, including directly above.

From a distance, the cone looked like a bamboo shoot in spring, waiting for a heavy rain to arrive.

In the pitch-black space, everyone’s hearts pounded nervously, with only the sound of breathing echoing among them.

“It’s coming…”

Ashley Carter calculated the time in his mind and gave a quiet signal.

The next second, everyone heard the wind explode as something invisible slammed hard into the board in Ashley Carter’s hands.

Immediately after, a barrage of sounds swept in from all directions like a violent storm.

The force of the harpoons was astonishing; everyone felt their arms ache from the shock, and it seemed they would soon lose their grip on the boards.

Fortunately, everyone’s boards were pressed together at that moment, creating a subtle balance.

“Ah!”

The board in front of Jason Clark was suddenly pierced by a harpoon, making her scream.

Ashley Carter turned his head and saw that the harpoon had stopped just two or three centimeters from Jason Clark’s eyes.

Luckily, the board was hard enough—otherwise, Jason Clark would already be dead.

Chapter 14 After the Rain

“Hold on!” Officer Thompson shouted, “There are only so many harpoons—if we hold out a bit longer, we’ll survive!”

Before anyone could respond, another scream rang out.

Turning to look, it was Emily.

She wasn’t as lucky as Jason Clark; the harpoon that pierced through struck her palm.

Emily lost her strength for a moment, and the board in front of her was knocked askew by another whistling harpoon.

“Careful!”

Brian Johnson gritted his teeth and reached out to grab the board in front of Emily.

In that instant, a harpoon shot precisely through a gap, piercing Ethan Cooper’s shoulder.

Ethan Cooper let out a cry of pain, but his hands still gripped the board tightly.

“Don’t panic!”

Officer Thompson reached out to steady Ethan Cooper, then used both hands to help hold up half of the board for him.

Brian Johnson also acted quickly, reaching out to help Emily steady her board.

Fortunately, these two were very strong, and the formation began to stabilize again.

As the crashing sounds gradually faded, everyone realized just how effective this formation was.

If they had followed the plan of Officer Thompson and Dr. Harris, holding the boards staggered by hand, the boards would have been perpendicular to the harpoons and easily pierced.

But now, the “bamboo shoot after the rain” shape made the contact surfaces between the boards and harpoons slanted in all five directions, greatly reducing the harpoons’ penetrating power.

Especially the harpoons shot from directly above—thanks to the cone shape, their trajectories were altered.

After a while, there was no more sound outside the boards.

“Is it over?” Ethan Cooper asked through gritted teeth.

“Wait one more minute,” Ashley Carter replied.

Everyone continued to hold up the boards and waited quietly for another minute, finding that there really was no more movement outside.

Brian Johnson carefully moved a board aside to peek out.

“Holy—” He was instantly stunned by what he saw.

Everyone slowly moved the boards away and found that the floor and tabletops were almost completely covered with harpoons.

The two corpses on the ground were even more gruesome—at this point, they looked like two hedgehogs, bristling with spikes.

Each harpoon was tied to a rope, the other end of which was connected to holes in the wall. The room was now a complete mess.

Dr. Harris immediately rolled up his sleeves and went to Ethan Cooper’s side.

His condition was not good—the harpoon had gone through his shoulder and needed immediate attention.

Ethan Cooper slowly sat down and gave a bitter smile. “I was just thinking how unlucky I’d be if I got hit, and sure enough…”

Emily looked extremely guilty and hurried to apologize to Ethan Cooper.

But everyone knew it wasn’t Emily’s fault—she’d also been stabbed in the palm by a harpoon.

“Hey, miss, come here,” Brian Johnson waved. “I can bandage that for you.”

“Huh?” Emily was surprised. “You know how to bandage wounds?”

“I know a little.”

Brian Johnson tore a strip of suit fabric from the dead goat’s head, then ripped it into two pieces.

He tightly tied one around Emily’s arm to stop the bleeding, and carefully wrapped the other around her wound.

“I used to get hurt a lot on the street, so I taught myself some first aid,” Brian Johnson said.

Emily nodded slightly, saying nothing.

After coming here, it was rare for everyone to have a moment of peace, as if they had temporarily escaped the shadow of death.

But still, no door appeared around them—the damned room continued to trap them inside.

What on earth was this place?

And what was outside the room?

In less than a minute, a sigh came from Dr. Harris’s direction.

Ashley Carter turned to look and saw that Dr. Harris, who was treating Ethan Cooper’s wound, now looked troubled.