amaotonovel Chapter 4658 Desperate Escape (3)
Chapter 4658 Desperate Escape (3)
Chapter 4658 A Deadly Escape (Thirty)
Schiller reached out and shook the cage, then frowned. The cage was surprisingly light, and looked like it was made of an aluminum alloy or something similar; it certainly wasn't iron or steel.
“I understand,” Schiller said.
"What have you figured out this time, Professor?" Bruce looked at him with some doubt. "Have you channeled another version of yourself again?"
“You’re shutting down your brain again, Bruce.” Schiller took a step back and looked at Bruce. “I’m not saying anything more. Figure it out yourself.”
Bruce sighed and said, "I asked you to team up with me so that we wouldn't have to use our brains, Professor."
"And I have absolutely no interest in watching you act without thinking. After all, I've seen enough of that over the years. Hurry up and deduce."
Bruce, ever the lazy bum, dawdled for ages before finally starting to examine the mechanism. But there wasn't much to study; the style of this escape room was simple and had only one solution. The latter might be questionable, but the former was certain, so there weren't many clues to analyze.
Bruce looked up at the disc above. It was the only thing in the room worth studying, but because it was too far away and somewhat dark, he couldn't see what was on it.
Bruce tried to climb to the top of the cage, but it was very unstable due to its own weight, making it difficult to climb. Even with Schiller helping him hold onto the cage, it still took him some effort to reach the top.
However, even after climbing to the top, there was still a considerable distance between them and the disc. The chain was at least four or five meters long, and there were no torches on it. Bruce stood there for a long time but couldn't get a clear look, though he did confirm one thing: the disc did indeed seem to have some patterns on it.
“I understand,” Bruce said. “You have to push the cage, shake the chain, and make the chain exert force in a specific direction to open a mechanism above the disc and solve the puzzle.”
Bruce, of course, also noticed the drain. He said, "To see the riddle, we'll have to wait for the water to rise to a certain height, enough to lift someone up, so we can see which direction to push. But by then, the water will definitely be higher than the cage, making it a bit more difficult to push."
“The drain switch should be connected to the cage door.” Bruce glanced at the cage door again; there was indeed a small device on it. “But there’s more than that. There should also be a pressure sensor above the disc; if no one steps on the cage, the mechanism shouldn’t be triggered.”
“Let me think,” Bruce said. “We don’t need to go into the cage. I’ll stay here and you close the door. When the water rises, we can both swim upstream and then take turns pushing the cage, right?”
“It looks like that solution does work, so it definitely won’t work,” Schiller said. “Just consider it as me having a psychic connection with the level designer. He probably wouldn’t leave such an obvious loophole, so there are probably other mechanisms on the cage to prevent you from accessing it in other ways.”
Bruce stroked his chin, pondering, and said, "There are two differences between the top and the inside of the cage. Standing on top is unstable; you need to hold onto the chains. Also, there's no support board. Could there be something special about that board?"
Bruce jumped down and examined the board at the bottom of the cage. He initially thought it was a simple wooden plank, but upon closer inspection, he discovered that there was a layer of rubber on top of the plank.
"Electricity!" Bruce said. Then he sighed, "That's so unethical, how can they fish with electricity?"
Then Bruce understood how the game worked. Standing on top of the cage wouldn't work; firstly, there was no insulating material underfoot, and secondly, holding onto the chains would inevitably result in an electric shock.
Then Bruce started thinking of another way to steal the chicken: instead of going into the cage, he could grab the edge of the insulating panel through the bars from below, pull the cage down, apply pressure, and then close the door, making the mechanism think there was someone inside. That way, neither of them would need to go into the cage.
But then he realized it wouldn't work; the cage was too close to the ground, making it difficult for him to exert force effectively. So Bruce looked at Schiller with a hint of anticipation and said, "Professor, your strength..."
"I'm already restricted, but I can give myself more..."
"No, no, no, it's better not to," Bruce waved his hands repeatedly. "I think we should be players who follow the rules, shouldn't we?"
“Although we can’t use that method, we’re not without options,” Schiller said.
"any solution?"
“Exhaustive method,” Schiller replied, then explained, “We can first enter the cage and activate the mechanism, then push it in all directions before the water rises; we might just guess correctly.”
“This is just too absurd,” Bruce said. “For one thing, this cage is electrified. If you push someone inside or outside the cage, they’ll get an electric shock. How long would it take to keep testing them like this? They’d all be electrocuted!”
"This is a psychological game," Schiller said. "Is it worth enduring pain to avoid the risk of immediate death?"
Bruce frowned and thought for a moment. He realized that the game's strategy was actually like this: after the mechanism was activated, even if the water hadn't risen, it was still possible to push the cage, but at this point, not knowing the puzzle, one could only resort to brute force. However, the possible angles to push were actually quite limited, and brute force might indeed lead to the correct answer. But, regardless of who was pushing with their hands or who was inside the cage, both would be electrocuted by this action.
So once the water rises, especially after it rises above the cage and reaches a high level, you can swim up and see what puzzle is on the disc, or perhaps the answer is right there on the disc. It will tell you which direction to push, and then you just go down and push.
Even if the water rises quickly, by the time it reaches that level, the people below will have been submerged for half a day. Pushing the cage at that point might not be enough time. Moreover, the water will be electrified by then, meaning both people will be electrocuted.
So it seems that exhaustive search is better. Since we'll get electrocuted sooner or later anyway, we might as well solve it as soon as possible.
But in reality, this is when your mental fortitude is tested. Sometimes you know that a short, sharp pain is worse than a long, drawn-out one, and that procrastinating will only make things more dangerous and painful, but facing the pain in front of you is still very difficult.
In particular, this involves not only confronting one's own pain but also watching the other person get electrocuted. Some people don't feel anything when they suffer themselves, but they truly can't bring themselves to harm others. It's very likely that if this drags on, it will turn into a solution using water, greatly increasing the mortality rate.
"The central theme of this secret room is that it both exploits your emotions and demands that you be ruthless. Feelings for another person give you the courage to face pain, but it is also feelings for another person that prevent you from making rational choices that maximize your benefits, and even cause actions that could have succeeded to fall into a quagmire of failure."
“That sounds like something a clown would do,” Bruce remarked. “To be precise, it’s something a psychology guru would do.”
“Alright,” Schiller said, “there is another way.”
Bruce looked at him, and Schiller handed him the iron rod directly: "Don't forget we have props. Hold onto this and hang it outside the cage, then step through the gaps onto the insulation board. You should be able to get through."
Bruce was taken aback. He imagined the position in his mind and found that it actually worked. The key was that there was an iron chain on the iron bar, and this chain was of a certain length, so even if it was wrapped around the railing, a section would still be left out.
In this way, the chain is wrapped around the middle of the bars, the person holds the iron bar at the end, and puts their feet into the gaps in the bars and steps on the insulating board. The bars, chains, and the person form a triangle, so that the person can hang outside the cage but remain stable.
But holding onto the iron bar still resulted in an electric shock, making it no different from standing on a cage. But Bruce quickly figured out what to do—pull his hair.
Dry hair is basically an insulator, and since his hair was only medium-length, he could easily get some hair out. The iron rod was much thinner than the chain above, so he should be able to wrap it around with his hair, though it would be a bit strenuous.
As soon as Bruce shared his idea, Schiller said somewhat helplessly, "Have you ever thought about turning it around?"
"what?"
“Let one end of the iron bar get stuck inside the railing, then hook the other end with your finger around the ring; it won’t take more than a few hairs,” Schiller said.
Bruce suddenly realized. He hadn't realized it at first, but now that he thought about it, it did seem to make sense. Hooking the metal ring with your finger would require very little insulation; a few strands of hair would suffice.
He tried it and found it worked perfectly. He adjusted his posture so that no part of his body touched the cage, only his feet were on the insulating plate, and he was in a stable position. Moreover, this way, Schiller could push him to push the cage without touching it, and therefore wouldn't get shocked.
“The designer left room for maneuver,” Schiller said. “If it were me, I would design the cage to be completely enclosed, and no one could try to cheat me.”
"My God, I'm such a master of opportunism!" Harley exclaimed. But looking around, only Pamela was standing in the room; Harley seemed to have vanished.
But in reality, she was hanging sprawled out at the bottom of the cage. Her two legs were stretched inside the cage through the gaps, and her arms were also stretched inside through other gaps. Her limbs acted as four latches, locking her torso to the bottom of the cage.
In this way, she doesn't need to go into the cage; she can just hang down and still add weight to the cage.
“That means you’ll be the only one getting shocked, Papa,” Harley said with a hint of regret.
Pamela seemed still in awe of Harley's flexibility. It's fair to say that Harley's success in getting through all this was entirely due to her acrobatic skills. Once they're out of there, the two of them definitely have to treat the Harleys to a meal.
But she quickly realized what was happening and said, "I don't need to get shocked, I can just kick the edge of the insulation board."
"Huh?" Harley didn't react for a moment. "What if we go into the cage..."
"That won't work. Once inside the cage, the person can only stand. When a person is standing, their center of gravity is at its most unstable. If the force is uneven and the person only kicks downwards, they will definitely fall and hit the bars, which will result in an electric shock."
“No wonder the cage is designed this way,” Harley said. “To push the cage stably, the person pushing it will get electrocuted. To prevent the person outside from getting electrocuted, the person inside will probably be electrocuted. Is this also part of a game of suspicion and deception?”
"I'm afraid so. If two people who don't get along well line up to go in, the person going into the cage will be in a very passive position. Because if the person outside kicks them a couple of times, they'll get an electric shock. So no one would want to go into the cage."
“Then I guess the next cooperating agency will be the one that arrives later the most troublesome,” Harley said. “Because people who don’t get along might be suspicious of each other at this stage and keep dragging it out, and the later stages will be their punishment.”
“It’s quite impressive that people who don’t get along have come this far,” Pamela said, shaking her head. “I feel that apart from Batman and the Joker, probably no one else could have done it.”
"If it were the Joker, he'd probably be begging Batman to electrocute him..."
"Oh, this clever lady," the Joker clutched his heart in the monitoring room, then his face darkened, and he roared, "That damned Superman! He dared to put Batman in a cage! He doesn't love Batman at all!!!"