Silence

Jack Li glanced sideways at the writer Tony, noting the sheen of sweat glazing his ashen face. The young man trembled like a plucked guitar string, his breathing shallow. Somewhere beyond the chamber's oppressive walls, a bronze bell tolled its mournful dirge.

"You okay?" Jack Li kept his voice low.

Tony shook his head, a marionette with fraying strings. "N-nothing..."

"Dr. Lee! Flip your damn shield!" Zhang Chenze's shout cracked through the tension. The psychologist's knees pressed against the inverted trapezoid shield - wide end up, pointed end barely covering her shins.

"Why?" The neurosurgeon's shield mirrored hers, protecting his torso while leaving legs exposed. "You want my head skewered instead?"

A ripple of motion swept through the group as others flipped their shields. Now they stood like mismatched chess pieces - pointed ends downward, wide arcs guarding upper bodies while legs remained vulnerable.

Emma's voice wavered. "Even if we protect front and sides... what about behind us? Above us?"

"I'll cover overhead!" Officer Liu hefted the largest shield like a riot officer's battering ram. "Huddle close!"

Taylor's eyes darted between the shields. "Stagger them! Alternate high and low!"

Jack Li's gaze fixed on the goatskin mask lying discarded nearby. The riddle echoed in his skull: *Why do bamboo shoots fear no storm?*

"Wait." His palm slapped against cold stone. "The lie. The big shield's the trap!"

Officer Liu froze. "Explain. Now."

"Discard the large shields! All small ones, points upward! Form a cone!"

Chaos erupted as shields clattered. Dr. Lee hesitated, then spun his trapezoid. Officer Liu abandoned his massive plate for the last remaining small shield. They crouched, interlocking the angular barriers into a jagged pyramid - a stone bamboo shoot braced against imaginary tempests.

Darkness swallowed them whole. The air thickened with panicked breaths and the copper tang of fear.

"Now," Jack Li whispered.

The world exploded.

Invisible projectiles hammered their makeshift fortress. Emma screamed as a barbed tip punched through her shield, freezing centimeters from her eyeball. Candy's cry followed - a harpoon spearing her palm, shield clattering as she recoiled. Barrett lunged, grabbing her wobbling barrier as another missile found Tony's shoulder with a wet crunch.

"Hold formation!" Officer Liu roared, muscles corded as he braced Tony's shuddering body. The writer's scream curdled the air, his blood slicking the stone floor.

When silence finally fell, they emerged from their thorny cocoon to a nightmare tableau. The chamber bristled with harpoons - grotesque metal quills embedded in every surface. Two corpses now resembled pincushions, ropes trailing from their wounds into shadowy wall cavities.

Dr. Lee knelt beside Tony, examining the barbed shaft protruding from his scapula. "Can't remove it. The barbs..." He traced the cruel reverse hooks. "We need to sever the rope first."

Officer Liu hefted a salvaged harpoon. "Use these as blades."

Jack Li's warning came too late. Chains rattled in the walls. The ropes tensed, dragging Tony toward a dark maw in the stone.

"Now! Cut it now!" Tony's scream tore raw as the cables yanked him across blood-slick flagstones.

Jack Li snatched two retreating harpoons, knotting their ropes in a desperate gambit. Taylor mirrored him with an intricate sailor's hitch. The cables groaned under tension, then snapped with whipcrack violence.

Officer Liu dove, sawing at Tony's tether with a harpoon's razor edge. Barrett threw himself between the writer and the devouring wall, becoming living buffer.

"Almost..." The cop's blade bit deeper as Tony's back pressed against stone. With final heave, the rope parted. Tony collapsed, the harpoon's cruel tip still buried in his flesh.

Blood pooled. Chains fell silent. Somewhere, water dripped like a mocking countdown.

Dr. Lee wiped crimson hands on his ruined coat. "We need proper tools. That barb—"

"No time." Jack Li stared at the labyrinth of ropes retreating into walls. "This is just the prelude."

Officer Liu's blade bit into the rope with rhythmic precision, sweat tracing rivers through the grime on his face. Tony's whimpers morphed into animalistic grunts as the barbed harpoon twisted in his flesh, fresh blood welling around the cruel metal flukes.

"Almost..." The cop's whisper cut through the metallic tang of fear. With final decisive motion, the severed rope sprang apart like a broken guitar string.

Barrett caught Tony's collapsing form, the writer's breath coming in wet, rattling gasps. Dr. Lee materialized with gauze torn from his own shirt, packing the wound with clinical detachment. "Leave the harpoon," he barked at the circling onlookers. "Remove it now, he bleeds out in minutes."

The chamber's walls chose that moment to groan. Stone grated against stone as ceiling panels slid aside, revealing nine rectangular voids glowing with unnatural phosphorescence.

"Death from above," Jack Li murmured, fingers tracing the cryptic message etched into his salvaged harpoon. The characters shimmered faintly: *Human Sheep's regards. Survive the sky's wrath.*

Barrett hefted his shield, the reinforced plywood suddenly inadequate against the descending mechanized whir. "Oi, genius! Your move!"

Jack Li's gaze darted between the encroaching ceiling and the floor shuddering beneath their feet. Epiphany struck like lightning. "The traps inverse! Survivors stand where danger seemed greatest!"

As others scrambled for walls, he lunged toward the central void. His fingers found purchase on the ledge, muscles screaming as he hauled himself into the claustrophobic shaft. Cold metal pressed against his cheek, the stench of industrial grease overwhelming.

Below, the floorplate ascended with hydraulic inevitability. Emma's scream pierced the din as the chamber contracted - a stone jaw snapping shut.

"Shields vertical!" Jack Li's roar echoed through the narrowing space. "Form stepping stones!"

Understanding flashed through Taylor's eyes. She slammed her shield against the rising floor, creating makeshift platform. Officer Liu followed suit, their improvised ladder stretching toward the glowing apertures.

Tony collapsed halfway up, harpoon shaft catching on metal ridges. "Leave me!" he rasped.

"Not happening." Barrett's tattooed arm hooked under the writer's shoulders. "Move your ass, Shakespeare!"

The ceiling kissed Dr. Lee's hastily erected shield. With final desperate heave, Jack Li hauled the last survivor through the aperture as tonnage of stone met steel with apocalyptic crunch.

Silence.

Then light - cruel and fluorescent - revealing sterile observation chamber beyond. Screens flickered with their entire ordeal, time-stamped and cataloged.

A new message glowed on nearest monitor: *Congratulations, Liars. Proceed to Final Betrayal.*