Chapter 4624: Desperate Escape (Part 3)

Shiler passed the key through the hole. After Bruce got the key, he unlocked the lock, but on that entire wall, only that small section of bricks was loose; the rest could not be broken. Therefore, they were still restricted to moving within the two rooms.

Shiler observed the structure of the opposite room through the hole. It was actually quite simple; that side was a water prison. The entire room was relatively sealed, with water only able to be released at the sluice gate. As for his side, there was a drainage pipe in the corner of the room he was in, so the water released over there flowed away directly.

The entire puzzle-solving process was not actually difficult, but it required both parties to completely trust each other and possess a certain spirit of self-sacrifice.

The normal process on Shiler's side should be: fish out the key from behind the only bed leg he could touch, use the key to pry the bricks, and after prying the bricks open, the person on the other side would pass the crowbar over. Then, use the crowbar to break the bed leg; after the bed fell, pull the lever down, the water would be released, and the person next door would be saved.

As for Bruce on the other side, he was completely submerged in water from the start; otherwise, he wouldn't have been unable to speak, and there was also a water outlet constantly pouring water in. He needed to at least progress to prying the bricks open to drain a certain amount of water first. If he was too slow, he would drown, and once he drowned, there would be no way to pass the crowbar over, making it very difficult to break the bed leg, and the game could basically be declared a failure.

A strictly trained diver can hold their breath for several minutes, but an average adult can only drown for at most two minutes, and even when approaching two minutes, they would already start choking on water.

And in a tense situation, this time would be further shortened. Most people would start choking on water at one minute, and once they choked, they would completely lose the ability to act, making it impossible to pass anything over.

This is why it is said that this puzzle requires both parties to have a certain spirit of self-sacrifice.

Shiler had his collarbone pierced by a nail, and the nerves around the collarbone are very dense, with a very wide range of connected muscle groups. Even if the Dou Realm weakened pain, it would still make one's head buzz. In this situation, it is difficult to think clearly, and it is also very easy for actions to stall due to pain. At this time, one must ignore the pain and continue the actions to have a possibility of completion.

And it was even more so for Bruce on the other side. Imagine, after waking up, you find yourself completely submerged in water, about to drown, and your whole body is locked, unable to float to the water's surface. At this time, you are holding a crowbar in your hand; a normal person would definitely try to use the crowbar to open the lock. Whether smashing or prying, it would consume physical strength, the breath-holding time would be further shortened, and he might not even be able to hold on for 30 seconds.

Even with the fastest reasoning and execution, this set of processes is difficult to complete within 30 seconds, so he would definitely choke on water. And once he choked on water, all subsequent processes could not be completed.

Therefore, this requires the two parties to cooperate with extreme tacit understanding, and most importantly, to completely trust their teammate. Without communication, ignoring pain to solve the puzzle, and believing that the teammate can come to save oneself is actually very difficult.

No wonder there was a prompt before entering this dungeon: "Two-player dungeon" requires tacit cooperation. Starting off with a life-and-death test of entrusting one's life, it truly deserves to be a high-difficulty dungeon.

Thor spat out a mouthful of water, lay on the ground to recover for a long time, and said in a hoarse voice, "Are you alright, Loki?"

"Of course I'm fine." Loki was currently struggling with the iron rod on the wall using the crowbar, but no matter how he tried, he couldn't pry it off. Thor leaned his face toward the hole.

"What are you sitting there for?" he asked with some curiosity.

Loki couldn't help but roll his eyes: "Do you think I'm the type of person who likes to sit on a floor full of sand and dirt in such a dirty and damp environment? Thor?"

"Of course not, you are incredibly fastidious, that's why I asked what you're sitting there for!"

"Of course it's because I can't get up!!" Loki turned his head and roared at him, "If you can't help, turn your face away, you're disturbing my thinking!"

But Thor had no intention of retreating at all; he forcefully pried off a few more wall bricks around, trying to stick his head in. Loki was shocked: "What are you doing! Go back quickly!"

"I want to see what's wrong with you?" Thor said, "Are you locked up? Do you need me to find a key over here?"

"Then hurry up and find it!" Loki said.

Thor finally pulled his head back. Loki breathed a sigh of relief and continued to pry, but after prying for a while, he finally discovered that it was completely impossible to pry open. He sat on the spot and sighed.

"I really didn't find anything." Thor's voice was a bit puzzled, "The only thing that's a bit strange is that water outlet, but I can't see what's inside."

Loki blinked, passed the crowbar back through the wall hole, and then said, "Why don't you try poking it with the crowbar?"

Thor walked over with the crowbar.

"Oh, please, why can't I..." Superman retracted the hand holding the crowbar and leaned against the wall to catch his breath, "The angle of this thing is too tricky, I can't reach it at all."

He looked up at the water outlet on the ceiling, stood on tiptoe again, and poked inside with the crowbar. But in this posture, it was difficult to control the angle of the crowbar well, and he couldn't reach the thing hanging on the side of the water outlet.

After trying for a long time, Superman was exhausted, and he even suspected whether his eyes were playing tricks on him; there was nothing on the water outlet at all.

"This is the only solution, Clark." Batman said very calmly, "Since I have nothing else to do but sit here, you might as well try to trust my reasoning."

"Of course I completely trust your reasoning, Batman, I'm just doubting whether the arm strength of ordinary people is really that poor?" Superman was very helpless, "I just held a crowbar high for a minute, and my hand was shaking like a chicken pecking at rice, is this right?"

"Do you want to try throwing it up?" Batman suggested.

"I feel like I can only throw it up." Pamela said, "Even if I jump up, I can't reach that thing."

After speaking, she took the crowbar in her hand, looked up at the side of the water outlet, and threw it upward fiercely.

But her way of exerting force was not quite right; before the crowbar could even pierce into the water outlet, it had already tilted, and it couldn't be thrown into that small opening at all.

"No, no, no, Pamela." Harley shouted, "Do you know this is an acrobatic move? It's called vertical toss. To throw it straight, you need to hold the crowbar vertically against your chest first, grab the lower-middle part with your hand, and when throwing, press down first, and then use a clever force to throw it up, this way you can ensure it goes straight up and down..."

"Where did you learn this?" Pamela asked.

"Did you forget, the Harley Quinn from other universes performed acrobatics, I learned a trick from them." Harley said, "This is called having many skills doesn't weigh you down. Look, isn't it being used now?"

"I'll try." Pamela held the crowbar vertically against her chest as she said, and threw it upward with a swoosh. It hit accurately, and with a clatter, the crowbar and another thing fell down together.

"Oh, it's another key." Pamela said, "This one looks bigger, could it be for opening the door on my side?"

She picked up the key, walked to the door to try, and found that it indeed opened. However, the corridor between the two rooms was closed, and there was another door to open. But now Pamela could go to Harley's room; the door on her side wasn't locked at all.

Pamela pushed the door and entered, and Harley looked like she had seen a savior, pointed to the iron rod beside her and said, "Quick, quick, quick, pry this thing off, it's killing me with pain."

Pamela was also shocked to see the nail driven into her collarbone, and then saw the broken bed leg. She walked over, cupped Harley's face, kissed her cheek, and then said, "My god, how did you do it? How much must this hurt?"

"Don't mention it, fortunately, I'm flexible." Harley demonstrated her move to her, "I just kicked the bed leg off like this, although I think it shouldn't be solved this way normally, but whatever, physical fitness is also part of fitness."

Pamela rubbed her head forcefully, and then, she picked up the crowbar and began to pry the iron rod. It was much easier to pry with another person doing it. Pamela hooked the front end of the iron rod with the crowbar and kept moving it up and down; soon, with a click, the iron rod fell off.

Harley held the iron rod with one hand, climbed up from the ground, moved her limbs, looked around, and said, "We have to find where the last key is."

Eric, leaning in the corner, watched Charles, who was holding the crowbar, pick up the fallen iron rod from the ground. Charles's face looked a bit ugly, and Eric pulled out a smile and said, "It would be great if the ability was still there, right?"

Just as Charles was about to say something, Eric interrupted him: "You know this is nothing to me."

Charles turned his head away, shoved the iron rod into his arms, and turned to look for clues. Eric caught up with him. Charles suddenly turned his head, pushed Eric away, stared at Eric with those blue eyes, and said: "Do you know? I was also very uncomfortable when I was in the water. Besides not being able to breathe, the water was also very cold—this is the difference between me and you. You can't use 'it's nothing' to evaluate all this, especially in front of me. You're right, it would be great if the ability was still there, I would definitely broadcast every moment you cried out in pain!"

"God!" Superman shouted loudly looking at that iron rod, "Batman! Does it really not hurt you?!"

Then he looked like he was about to die of guilt. "My god, how could I say you were too slow? I really didn't know you..."

"It hurts a little, but it's bearable." Batman said, "Alright, Clark. Instead of discussing my feelings for half an hour, it's better to solve the puzzle as soon as possible, maybe we can find medical supplies in the next level and completely get this thing off me. What do you think?"

"Oh, right, you're right. We can't let this thing stay on you for too long, otherwise it will get infected. Where is the key?"

Bruce knocked on the door in a pretentious manner, and then poked his head into the door. "Can I come in? Professor?"

Shiler was still carefully checking the bed board, and upon hearing this, he turned back in extreme confusion: "You remember to knock on the door now???"

"Professor, I knocked on the door every time I entered your office." Bruce said very helplessly, "You were just under too much pressure and didn't hear it. I've said it many times."

"Then where did my pressure come from?"

"Now is not the time to discuss this." Bruce also wanted to lean forward to check the bed board, but as soon as he turned his head, he saw the nail and chain on Shiler's collarbone.

He stared at it in shock for a while, then turned his head to look at the hole in the wall, and then looked at Shiler.

"Professor, don't tell me, you pulled this thing off the wall..."

Bruce was a bit incoherent, and in the end, he could only use gestures to describe: "... pulled it out?!"

"That's why I said we skipped the level." Shiler waved the iron rod in his hand, "Normally, it should be you coming over here to pry it open with a crowbar."

"Right, that's what I'm asking, how did you pull it out without a crowbar?!"

"My ability wasn't completely restricted." Shiler said.

Bruce didn't react at first, but then he thought of Shiler's special talent, and his entire facial features wrinkled up.

"You can't do this." Bruce said with a frown.

"I've heard enough 'skipping the plot is skipping life' recently." Shiler looked at Bruce and said, "You wouldn't happen to be about to say it again, would you?"

"I'm saying you can't use pain..."

"Consider your wording again, Bruce." Shiler raised the iron rod in his hand; that thing was as long as an adult's forearm, and the tip was sharp, looking even more like a weapon than a weapon.

"Uh..." Bruce immediately changed his tone, stretched out his hands and said, "I'm just suggesting you don't use this self-harming method to skip the level, we can also clear the level by following the normal process, right?"

Shiler put away the iron rod: "Then I'm afraid I'll have to trouble you to be Batman again. Now, we have to find the key." ===== CHAPTER 4625 =====