amaotonovel Chapter 4646 Desperate Escape (8)
Chapter 4646 Desperate Escape (8)
Chapter 4646 A Desperate Escape (18)
Charles swallowed hard, staring at the steel needles that covered the entire ceiling. He said, "If this thing falls, we'll both be dead for good."
“In fact, it won’t be an immediate death. It depends on where those steel needles are inserted.” Eric was much calmer. “Given the density, it’s almost impossible to pierce the brainstem with a single shot. The head might also be avoided. In that case, death from suffocation due to pulmonary hemorrhage or excessive blood loss is more likely.”
“No, Eric,” Charles said, looking him in the eyes. “Can you really look at me like this?”
“If it really comes to that, I’ll choose to turn my back and not look,” Eric said. “Don’t call me heartless, I’m just discussing the worst-case scenario.”
“No,” Charles said. “If you dare turn your back, I’ll destroy all your helmets. And you can forget about making any more.”
Are you so focused on ruining my mental health?
“It’s destroying me too,” Charles emphasized. “We’re both in this together. Neither of us can escape.”
“Don’t think about that, Charles,” Eric reminded him. “We need to think about how this game is played.”
Eric inspected the platform first. He reached under the platform and touched it, then said, "There's a lever here. This doesn't look good."
“I bet the ceiling will collapse if you pull it,” Charles said, looking up at the ceiling. “That’s how it is in horror movies.”
“What happens after we fall?” Eric said. “We can easily hide under this platform…”
He fell silent the next second. His knowledge of mechanical engineering and mechanics told him that the structure he had touched below the platform was movable, not locked.
In other words, this platform may not be able to provide continuous support. If the ceiling collapses and the platform stops working, they'll have to hold it up themselves. Judging from the level designer's character, this is highly likely.
“There’s something on the wall,” Charles said. “And there’s a switch there, kind of like the lever from the first level. It’s like something needs to fall down to knock it down?”
Charles and Eric both tried to pull it down, but it was clearly impossible. It could be due to insufficient strength, or it could require a sudden, forceful downward slam to bring it down. This is also achievable in mechanical structures.
Charles continued to feel his way along the wall. By the dim firelight, he carefully examined each brick. Suddenly, he noticed that one brick was movable. He reached out and poked at it, discovering that the brick could rotate.
He reached out and pushed one side of the brick, which turned ninety degrees, revealing a small gap. Unexpectedly, there was a light behind it. Charles peered inside and discovered a hidden room with a torch inside.
The torches illuminated the entire hidden room. It was less a hidden room and more a closet, specifically a small wardrobe, barely big enough for one adult to stand in.
Eric focused his attention on the ceiling. He looked around and noticed a faint light in the upper left corner of the room. He went over and looked up; the light shining through the gaps in the ceiling and walls suggested there might be a passage above.
Eric had already discovered that clues lay in every dark spot and every flickering light throughout the entire locked room. This time would likely be no exception. While the level designers may be insidious and cruel, they wouldn't lie about some fundamental rules.
When he shared this clue with Charles, Charles couldn't help but cover his forehead and say, "I think I understand now."
“We’ll both hide down, let the ceiling fall down, smash the switch, and open the hidden room. Then one of us will climb into the hidden room, step on the ceiling, and escape through the passage.”
Charles naturally mentioned the content of the previous level. However, he still explained the key points of the game in great detail.
"The more you contribute in the previous stage, the more optimistic you will become. Because you personally increased the success rate, you will be more inclined to have both of you hiding under the platform and waiting for the plan to succeed."
"And if someone makes no contribution at all, that is, is a completely bad person, they will feel that the plan cannot succeed. In other words, only one person can walk, while the other person is destined to be crushed or pierced by steel needles."
"But in reality, the situation may be completely reversed. Because those who choose to sacrifice themselves and donate a large amount of blood will naturally be more willing to sacrifice themselves to let their companions escape. Those who have no desire to sacrifice themselves to donate blood will all want to be the ones who escape."
"The ingenuity of this game lies in the fact that those who are willing to sacrifice will always choose to sacrifice. And those who are unwilling to sacrifice will always be unwilling to sacrifice."
"Let's talk about those who are willing to sacrifice themselves. Their teammates can completely entrust their backs to them with peace of mind. Because they are good people who are willing to sacrifice themselves. Choosing to stay and hold up the ceiling is entirely voluntary. Their teammates are also very likely to escape successfully."
"But those who are unwilling to sacrifice themselves are inherently bad people. You see, there's still a distance between the platform and the secret room. You have to crawl under the steel needles. If the person holding up the platform gives up, you'll inevitably be impaled. At that point, will people choose to believe the bad person who is unwilling to sacrifice themselves?"
“But if we give up, won’t the person below the platform get crushed to death?” Eric asked.
Charles shook his head and said, "The steel needles are of a certain length. After landing, they will leave a gap between the platform and the ground. If the person below the platform chooses to lie down, it may only pierce the exposed ankle. If the person is small enough, they may not be pierced at all and can still survive for a while. At least they will live longer than the person who was pierced."
"It's like the climax of a horror movie," Eric commented.
"Yes, I can totally imagine it. A couple who were once deeply in love, went through countless hardships to get here, and in the end, one of them chose to give up just to live a little longer than the other. They thought they had survived, but they were just waiting to die in despair."
Eric turned to look at the location of the secret room. In truth, if one person chose to escape, the person below the platform could also survive, perhaps even until the end of the challenge. This was clearly part of the game—giving the person who left a sufficiently compelling reason to depart.
But this doesn't mean that the person who stays behind can stay put.
The steel needle is just long enough to pierce a human body, and the height of the platform is roughly enough for a person to lie face down. The platform is about 1.65 meters long, which is indeed not enough for an adult male to fully extend his body. However, if one were to extend their foot, being pierced only at the ankle would not be fatal, and might not even result in excessive blood loss.
Women shorter than this height can cover neither their head nor feet. However, due to the presence of a woman's breasts, the same height may cause greater pressure on the chest cavity, leading to breathing difficulties.
It can be said that regardless of gender, as long as one chooses to stay, they will all suffer in their own way, which is no different from being tortured.
The key is that in duos, you can't quit alone; if you quit, you quit together. If your partner has already safely escaped the level, there's still hope of winning. If you choose to quit, your partner will also quit, and then there's absolutely no hope. Those who want to win often persist until the very last second. It's pure torture.
“That’s so vicious,” Pamela exclaimed. “It’s hard to imagine what kind of person could design such a mechanism.”
Harley just kept touching the bruises on her face while giving her a death stare. Pamela turned to look at her and said, "How long are you going to stay angry?"
"You're making it sound like I'm being unreasonable," Harley said, her eyes wide. "You punched me and then forced me to skip levels. And now it's like I'm throwing a tantrum?"
“Believe me, dear Harley, I’ve been patient with you for a long time.” Pamela walked over and vigorously rubbed his face. “If I still had my superpowers, I would definitely take some more effective behavioral control measures to stop you from self-harming like this. Arkham Asylum would have to give me a Best Caregiver Award.”
"I'm not mentally ill!"
“Every mental patient says that,” Pamela said. “When the professor and Bruce were hurting each other, they both thought they were right. If they had had a caregiver like me back then, things would never have gotten to that point.”
"You only dare to bully me," Harley said irritably. "If those two were here, you definitely wouldn't dare to go near them!"
“It’s a pity they’re not here,” Pamela said with a smile. “Alright, we skipped the level without contributing any blood. We’re bound to fail the next level. There’s no point in both of us waiting here. You go ahead, I’ll stay here.”
Harley clearly understood how the game worked. She shook her head and said, "No way. We both have to stay here together."
Pamela shook her head and said, "Neither of us is very strong, and we can't stay here for long. There are two people below the platform, and there might not be enough space for one of us to lie down. That could result in one of us getting our lower body pierced, or being crushed and broken due to crouching down. Neither of these are good things."
“Why don’t we just quit then?” Harley said. “We’re about to collapse, so let’s quit together and suffer less. You don’t really want any victory, do you?”
Pamela thought for a moment and said, "Yes. If it doesn't work out, we'll both cancel. But how can we be sure it won't work out?"
“Neither of us can be stubborn,” Harley said. “We can try to hold on, because maybe someone will be willing to donate more blood and the plan can still succeed. But once we start feeling unwell, we have to tell each other; we can’t keep quiet.”
“Don’t worry, I don’t have that much willpower,” Pamela said. “I just see this as a game, there’s no need for me to keep going. On the contrary, I suspect that the pain threshold of mental patients is different from that of normal people.”
"I'm not mentally ill!!" Harley lunged at her.
"Thor, why haven't you realized after all this time that every time we disagree, I'm always right?" Loki seemed somewhat helpless. "I told you we couldn't skip the last challenge. What about now?"
"How about it?" Thor said. "If we don't jump, someone else will. That stupid plan has no chance of succeeding. Besides, can't we just send one person? You go."
Loki was so angry he laughed: "So you still want me to go? Leaving you here to die alone?"
“That’s not how it works,” Thor waved his hand and said. “I might get hurt if I stay here, but I won’t die. After you leave this room, you can continue to the next level. The later levels should be manageable by one person. If you complete them as quickly as possible, we can both pass the level, right?”
“Besides, these kinds of traps are nothing to me,” Thor said. “You’ve forgotten the time I fell into a trap, passed out, and was captured by the natives. They hammered a dozen nails into me and even tried to burn me. In the end, nothing bad happened to me, did it?”
"My God, how dare you bring this up?!" Loki roared. "How many times have I warned you?! That spaceship was a trap to lure you in, but you wouldn't listen. Do you know how disheveled you were when we found you?!"
“But I’m still alive,” Thor said with a hint of smugness. “Even though I was so badly injured, after you put me down, I still killed their leader, and in a head-on duel!”
Loki was so angry he almost fainted.