A squad of police officers appeared above the escalator. They rushed onto the platform, organizing the surviving civilians to leave.
However, no one knew how many people were hidden in that carriage. Ou Zhanpeng felt that more than a hundred people had come out, and yet more were still emerging from the carriage.
Two police officers rushed over, one on each side, to help the trapped civilians.
The dying giant squid was only ten meters away. If its tentacles hadn't been severed by Ou Zhanpeng and the others, the two officers would have been in grave danger.
Just then, Ou Zhanpeng suddenly heard an unusual noise from the tunnel. He immediately became alert: "Hurry, hurry, anyone who hasn't come out, don't come out, go back, go back—"
But the civilians were already blinded by the joy of escaping the squid's grasp, and no one paid any attention to what Ou Zhanpeng was doing.
The two officers heard him clearly and immediately stopped the civilians from coming out further. But no one listened to them; they continued to rush out desperately.
The situation was urgent, and Ou Zhanpeng could not hesitate. He immediately shouted into the radio: "Retreat, retreat, pull out immediately!"
At the same time, he removed a flashbang grenade and tossed it into the carriage.
*Boom—*
With a bang, the civilians near the carriage doors were all knocked unconscious by the blast, even the two officers.
Ou Zhanpeng rushed forward in three quick strides, picked up the fallen civilians, and threw them into the carriage.
At this moment, he couldn't care about the severity of their condition, only being able to throw them back into the carriage as much as possible.
But before he could throw all the stunned civilians back, a giant squid had already entered the tunnel, and it was only one carriage away from Ou Zhanpeng.
Ou Zhanpeng was confident he could evade the tentacles when they lashed out, but the unconscious officers and civilians couldn't.
Taking advantage of the squid's blocked vision by the carriage, he sped up, threw the last few people into the carriage, and then ducked inside himself.
Ling Xiao, on the other side, saw this scene, his mouth agape, but he couldn't say anything.
Huang He grabbed his arm: "Let's go!"
The panicked civilians, with a burst of strength far beyond their normal capabilities, had already mostly left. The two of them turned and ran, not even waiting for the slow escalator, but using their exoskeletons to bound up the stairs.
As soon as they stepped onto the ground floor of the upper level, the giant squid had already climbed onto the platform, blocking the entrance. Several tentacles probed out of the passage, twisting and coiling, clearly trying to grab something.
Ling Xiao pulled out a flashbang and threw it down, then a second, and a third.
Although these were non-lethal weapons, the sound of such a strong blast at close range should have had some effect. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
Huang He grabbed him: "Ling Xiao, Ling Xiao—"
"What are you doing!" Huang He held Ling Xiao's shoulders. "Ou Zhanpeng is just trapped below. We should think of a way to rescue him as soon as possible, not throw a tantrum here."
Ling Xiao's chest heaved violently. After a while, he relaxed his grip: "What do you suggest we do?"
Feeling Ling Xiao's change, Huang He breathed a sigh of relief: "Isn't that simple? Just a few giant squids. We'll find some suitable weapons, and we can deal with them!"
"Okay!" Ling Xiao nodded heavily. "We'll do as you say!"
Actually, he was angry not at others, but at himself.
At the critical moment when danger arrived, others could retreat, could leave, but Ou Zhanpeng was still trapped below. How could he just leave like this?
But by the time he came to his senses, he had already rushed out of the platform, and the passage was tightly blocked by the giant squid.
At the moment of danger, he had abandoned his brothers with whom he had shared life and death. What could be more frustrating, unsettling, and heart-wrenching than this?
Even if Ou Zhanpeng was temporarily safe, he was still in danger. To Ling Xiao, it made little difference.
Ou Zhanpeng, trapped in the carriage, didn't have so many thoughts. After squeezing into the carriage, he realized that only a dozen or so people remained. If those people in front had been a little quicker, they could have evacuated everyone before the giant squid appeared.
Now, not only were a dozen civilians trapped, but two officers and an astronaut were also caught.
However, Ou Zhanpeng didn't have the luxury of thinking about such things. He curled up and hid beneath the carriage window. In the light, the shadow of the giant squid fell into the carriage, moving in sync with its actions.
Ou Zhanpeng didn't know how good the giant squid's eyesight was. He vaguely remembered that this creature was food for sperm whales and lived in the ocean depths of over two thousand meters.
There was no light in that environment. To be able to see things in such harsh conditions, the giant squid's vision should not be too bad.
The people who had been stunned by the explosion gradually regained consciousness. Ou Zhanpeng quickly leaned over and first covered the mouths of the two officers. Once they were fully awake, he immediately made a shushing gesture and continued to cover the others.
Ou Zhanpeng tried his best, but the people who woke up one after another still let out low groans, startling him. He shrunk back and looked around. Only when he was sure there were no giant squids nearby did he quietly breathe a sigh of relief.
The characteristic explosion of a flashbang grenade came from a distance. It was likely the police engaging the giant squid. He felt a flicker of anticipation, hoping the police would quickly eliminate the giant squid and rescue those trapped.
However, he wasn't the type to pin all his hopes on others. He immediately checked the weapons on his person.
His assault rifle had long been discarded. In his haste earlier, he didn't know where he had thrown the shotgun, but he still had several magazines.
After a thorough pat-down, he found he only had a handgun and two flashbangs left.
Those two officers were fully equipped, with handguns, assault rifles, and flashbangs.
Ou Zhanpeng commandeered the flashbangs but had no interest in the assault rifle.
Using it to fight a giant squid was a rather awkward prospect.
He beckoned, calling the two officers over, and whispered in a hushed voice: "We have to save ourselves, understand?"
The two officers nodded simultaneously, but they had no idea how to save themselves.
Being trapped here, the best outcome was not to be discovered by the giant squid. Otherwise, all they could do was fight to the death, a glorious end.
But how to evade the giant squid's eyes was a major problem.
Ou Zhanpeng didn't have any good ideas, so he could only arrange for everyone to hide under the seats.
But he soon discovered that there were still several carriages that had been hidden further into the tunnel.
An idea immediately occurred to him: could there be any more trapped civilians inside?
"Wait here and protect the others!" Ou Zhanpeng quietly instructed the officers. Then, he entered the preceding carriage alone. Fearing that noise would attract the giant squid's attention, he couldn't shout and could only search slowly.
The second and third carriages showed no abnormalities, but the fourth carriage was completely different. All the windows were shattered, and there were bloodstains everywhere in the carriage, but no remains were found.
What had happened in this space was imaginable.