One wave has not yet settled

Qi Xia looked a bit troubled. He had just tried it—the barbs on the harpoon were exquisitely designed, making it nearly impossible to pull out.

Watching the fresh blood gushing out, Qi Xia felt momentarily dazed.

Were they really dead?

Could the dead… still be injured?

Shaking off his doubts, Qi Xia steadied his mind. Now was not the time to dwell on such questions—he needed to cut the rope immediately.

All the harpoons were slowly retracting. How could he use one of the other harpoons to sever the rope?

The only certainty was that once all the ropes retracted into the wall, the harpoons would disappear completely, and Han Yimo would die.

"I need to get hold of one harpoon… But how?" Qi Xia frowned, quickly scanning his surroundings.

He had no choice but to take another gamble.

Grabbing two slowly retreating harpoons from the ground, he swiftly tied their ropes together in a dead knot.

"Hey! Stop surrounding Han Yimo!" Qi Xia called out. "Do what I did! We need to keep at least one harpoon!"

Lin Qin immediately understood his plan. She also grabbed two harpoons and quickly tied them together with a firm knot.

But the knot she tied had a strange shape—one Qi Xia had never seen before.

There was no time to think about it now. He could only focus on the two harpoons in front of him.

As the ropes continued to retract, the two strands were now tightly pulling against each other.

At this rate, it wouldn't take long for one of them to snap, leaving the other behind.

Qi Xia slowly stepped back. The ropes let out a terrifying creaking sound. If his guess was right, the immense force from the tension could be dangerous when one of them broke.

Sure enough, in the next second, a loud snap echoed through the air as one of the ropes snapped apart.

The remaining rope, still attached to the harpoon, whipped wildly through the air before slamming hard into the ground, leaving a deep mark.

Qi Xia rushed forward, hoping to untie the broken rope before the harpoon retracted back into the wall.

But he quickly realized that the extreme tension had completely distorted the two ropes. Let alone untying them—he could barely even recognize their original shape.

"I'm done!" Lin Qin shouted from not far away. "Whoever has the most strength, hurry and help cut the writer's rope!"

"You're done?"

Qi Xia turned around and saw that Lin Qin's knot was remarkably clever—it automatically separated when the rope snapped.

Meanwhile, Officer Li hadn't even finished tying his knot. Hearing Lin Qin's words, he quickly dropped the harpoon in his hands and said, "I'll cut it! Give it to me!"

Taking the harpoon, Officer Li sprinted forward, reaching Han Yimo's side just as he was about to be pulled into the wall.

Luckily, although the harpoon had a pointed tip, its edge was finely sharpened—just enough to be used as a small knife.

Seeing this, Qiao Jiajin also stepped up to help.

Although Qi Xia had reacted quickly and come up with a solution, Han Yimo was now less than half a meter from the wall.

The tearing pain was unbearable, leaving Han Yimo with no choice but to move with the pull of the rope. Otherwise, the barbed hook in his chest would bring him unbearable agony.

Officer Li grabbed the rope behind Han Yimo. After a brief moment of thought, he aimed at the section closest to Han Yimo's body and began cutting with the sharp harpoon.

His hand was steady, and each slash landed precisely on the rope.

But the rope was tougher than expected. After several cuts, he had only managed to leave a small notch.

Quickly assessing the situation, he realized things were getting tricky.

The rope would eventually be severed, but time was the real problem.

In less than a minute, Han Yimo's body would be pressed against the wall, and cutting the rope from behind would become impossible.

"Damn it, are you done yet?" Qiao Jiajin asked anxiously. "You're so slow! You're gonna get this sausage killed!"

"Shut the hell up!" Officer Li snapped, his voice sharp, as he applied even more force.

As Han Yimo got closer and closer to the wall, sweat covered Officer Li's face.

There was no denying Officer Li's incredible mental resilience.

Despite the heavy, suffocating tension in the air, he remained precise with the slender harpoon, never making a single mistake. Each cut landed exactly on the previous notch.

But now, with Han Yimo less than thirty centimeters from the wall, Officer Li's arm movement was becoming restricted.

Reacting quickly, Qiao Jiajin threw himself behind Han Yimo, using his own body as a buffer.

This meant Han Yimo would start suffering earlier, but at least, for the moment, his distance from the wall wouldn't decrease any further.

"Cop! Hurry up!" Qiao Jiajin shouted.

Officer Li steadied his breathing and continued cutting.

By now, more than half of the rope had been severed, but it was still holding together.

Han Yimo let out pained screams. The harpoon had pierced through his body, and the barbed hook had viciously lodged itself back into his chest.

His clothes were now completely soaked in blood, a horrifying sight.

"Am I… going to die?" Han Yimo gritted his teeth. "I'm really going to die, aren't I? Who the hell is trying to kill us…?"

"Act like a man!" Officer Li said sternly. "So many people are fighting to keep you alive—don't you dare start sniveling now!"

Han Yimo immediately fell silent.

He knew Officer Li was right. Everyone was scrambling to save him—he couldn't afford to be a burden.

The barbed hook was deeply embedded in Han Yimo's flesh. He let out a muffled groan, gritting his teeth in pain.

Seeing this, Dr. Zhao immediately grabbed a strip of cloth and stuffed it into his mouth.

After all, extreme pain could cause a person to clench their jaw so hard that they might shatter their own teeth.

Everyone gathered around Han Yimo.

Those brief twenty seconds felt like hours, but Officer Li remained focused, cutting the rope with unwavering precision.

Finally, with one last slash, the tough rope was severed.

At that exact moment, both Han Yimo and Qiao Jiajin lost their balance and collapsed onto the ground.

The others quickly rushed forward to support them.

It seemed Han Yimo had narrowly escaped death.

Dr. Zhao immediately pulled him aside to examine his wound.

As expected, the situation was just as he had anticipated—the harpoon still needed to be removed from the front.

The most pressing issue now was stopping the bleeding.

After a moment of thought, Dr. Zhao decided to press several strips of cloth around the harpoon wound to slow the bleeding.

"Hey, doc, aren't you going to take the harpoon out?" Qiao Jiajin asked.

"We can't," Dr. Zhao said grimly. "If we remove it now, he'll die."

"Die?" Qiao Jiajin looked confused. He stepped forward and gave Dr. Zhao a shove. "What the hell? We went through all this trouble, and now you're just going to let him die?"

"I am saving him!" Dr. Zhao snapped, impatiently shaking off Qiao Jiajin's hand. "Like it or not, the only way he stays alive is if the harpoon stays in his body."

"Why?" Xiao Ran couldn't help but ask.

"If we pull the harpoon out, all that'll be left is a gaping wound that won't stop bleeding. Death would just be a matter of time," Dr. Zhao replied calmly. "Right now, with the harpoon still in place, he's in excruciating pain, but at least he won't die from blood loss. Those smaller wounds will stop bleeding soon enough as his blood begins to clot."