Chapter 13

Qi Xia, while struggling to turn the table, said, "The positions of 'Ningxia' and 'Shandong' can form a horizontal line."

"‘Neimeng,’ ‘Sichuan,’ and ‘Yunnan’ can form a diagonal line."

"And the four points of ‘Guangxi,’ ‘Guangdong,’ ‘Shaanxi,’ and ‘Jiangsu’ can form a square, which is exactly the character ‘right.’”

"Regardless of where Han Yimo's hometown is, as long as it is either Guangxi Province or Taiwan Province, it will form the character ‘mouth.’ So the answer was determined from the beginning."

As everyone quickened their movements, they exchanged strange glances.

Qi Xia's thinking was too unconventional, but he had solved the puzzle twice in a row, which made everyone start to doubt.

Qi Xia himself understood this and said to everyone, "Don't misunderstand me. If the next game is about saving myself by abandoning you, I will unhesitatingly save myself."

Hearing this, everyone fell silent and gritted their teeth, turning the table.

Nine people sat around the table, continuously moving it to the right.

"How many circles have we made?" Qiao Jiajin asked.

"Twenty-six circles," Lin Qin replied.

"Can you even count that?" Qiao Jiajin blinked. "The table looks the same everywhere."

"I counted the bloodstains on the table," Lin Qin said seriously. "Counting is important for us psychological counselors."

Qi Xia frowned. "We haven't reached thirty circles yet; we need to hurry."

Everyone fell silent and quickened their movements.

But the table became harder to move as they progressed, as if the internal chains were tightening.

"What the hell is going on?" Qiao Jiajin gritted his teeth. "This is too heavy."

"Keep going... maybe it really connects to the door!" Tian Tian said through gritted teeth.

Her words gave everyone a glimmer of hope in their despair.

The door.

Since this room could create holes out of nowhere, why couldn't it create a door?

Everyone's arms were sore, but they continued to rotate the table.

"Don't give up! Only five more circles!" Lin Qin shouted loudly.

At that moment, everyone was gritting their teeth and exerting all their strength, not daring to slack off.

"Click, click."

With the final circle, the table was clearly embedded into something.

Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief, and the soreness in their arms gradually set in.

There were only three minutes left until 1:15.

"Where's the door?!" Qiao Jiajin shouted anxiously.

The walls around them showed no change, and the cold fish spears still glinted in the dark void.

"Damn! There's no door!" Qiao Jiajin's voice was filled with despair.

"We're wrong! We guessed wrong!" Xiao Ran screamed. "We should have turned left, right?! We shouldn't have believed that liar! We're all going to die here!!"

Qi Xia frowned slightly...

Wrong?

Before anyone could react, the clock in the center of the table suddenly malfunctioned.

It trembled slightly and then shot out eight laser beams.

The eight laser beams moved from the clock to the edge of the table and stopped.

Confused, the clock precisely divided the table into nine equally sized sectors, like a pizza.

"Crack!"

With a loud noise, the table shattered.

The clock now stood on a small wooden pedestal.

Time was running out, and everyone was in a panic.

"What is this?" Han Yimo exclaimed. "Why did the table break?"

At this moment, Officer Li noticed that each sector of the table had a handle on the back. His years of experience instantly made him understand.

"They are shields!"

He picked up a sector and held it in front of himself.

"We can use these shields to block the fish spears!"

Hearing this, everyone quickly raised their own table sectors.

But within just a few seconds, they realized the problem.

"How do we block them?!" Lawyer Zhang Chenze, who rarely showed panic, said, "If there are spears from all sides, we can only block one direction."

"We need to work together," Qi Xia said, regaining his composure. "We should form a circle and protect each other's backs."

Everyone quickly adjusted their positions and waited quietly.

At that moment, they could only hear each other's breathing.

Nine strangers had become teammates, none of whom could be missing.

Qi Xia inadvertently glanced back at writer Han Yimo and noticed that his face was covered in sweat, and he was trembling, looking extremely nervous.

At that moment, a distant bell rang again from outside the room.

"Are you okay?" Qi Xia asked.

"Nothing... nothing..." Han Yimo shook his head.

"Hey! Doctor Zhao, turn your table upside down!" Zhang Chenze suddenly said.

"Why?" Doctor Zhao looked at his table, with the narrow end at the bottom and the wide end at the top.

"Like this, I can't protect your legs!" Zhang Chenze said nervously. "I'll be hit!"

"If I turn it, I can't protect my head!" Doctor Zhao retorted. "Is the head more important than the legs?"

Some people, hearing their argument, found Doctor Zhao's point reasonable and turned their sectors upside down.

Narrow end down, wide end up.

This created a bizarre situation.

Fish spears flying from all directions would only be blocked by the upper half, and everyone's legs would be injured.

"Is this really right?" Xiao Ran was stunned. "Even if we hide our legs in the narrow end and block the front, what about the spears from behind? What about the spears from above?"

"I'll block the top!" Officer Li raised his table sector. "Get closer, I'll protect you."

Lin Qin thought quickly and said, "The rest of us should arrange the sectors alternately, one up and one down, so we can stagger them!"

"Right! That makes sense!" Qiao Jiajin agreed.

"No," Qi Xia interrupted. "If everyone's sectors are perpendicular to the spears, they will be easily penetrated..."

"Smart guy, what do you suggest?" Qiao Jiajin asked.

Qi Xia's gaze fell on the sheepskin mask on the ground.

"Why isn't the bamboo shoot afraid of the rain?"

The final clue made Qi Xia think.

"Hold on... give me a moment." Qi Xia frowned.

Everyone held their breath, watching the seconds tick by, with only one minute left before the spears were launched.

"Let's not worry about it!" Doctor Zhao shouted. "Just follow Lin Qin's suggestion and stagger them!"

"You shut up!" Qiao Jiajin yelled. "I believe the liar's words."

"You!" Doctor Zhao gritted his teeth and swallowed his words.

"I've got it!" Qi Xia suddenly widened his eyes. "Everyone, narrow end up!"

Although everyone was skeptical, most of their minds were blank, and they could only follow his instructions.

Doctor Zhao thought for a moment and also turned his sector upside down.

"Everyone, crouch down!" Qi Xia continued. "Move the narrow end back and lean them together. Officer Li, you don't need to block the top; join us!"

Following Qi Xia's instructions, they slowly aligned all the sectors to form a cone.

No one had expected the sectors to fit together so perfectly, blocking the gaps from all sides and above.

From a distance, the cone resembled a bamboo shoot, waiting for the rain to come.

In the dark space, everyone's hearts were pounding, and only their breathing echoed.

"It's coming..."

Qi Xia calculated the time and whispered a warning.

The next second, everyone heard a sharp wind, and an invisible object hit the table sector in Qi Xia's hand.

Then, sounds from all directions came like a storm.

The force of the spears was incredibly strong, and everyone felt their arms ache, almost losing their grip on the sectors.

Fortunately, all the sectors were pressed together, creating a delicate balance.

"Ah!"

Xiao Ran's sector was suddenly pierced by a spear, making her scream.

Qi Xia turned and saw the spear stop just a few centimeters from Xiao Ran's eyes.

Fortunately, the sector was hard enough; otherwise, Xiao Ran would have been dead.