Chapter 4641

"The key is, are all the mechanisms here fully automatic?" Harley asked in a low voice. "Is there no one controlling it from behind?"

"I don't think it's possible," Pamela said, "Not to mention anything else, just the room where we donated blood before. If we follow the logic of the mechanism design, everyone will pass through there, so if we just hang around there and don't leave, wouldn't we be able to run into the teams behind?"

"No, that's easy to solve," Harley said, "The rooms we are heading to might not be the same."

"Then how can the blood be put into the same scale?"

"There's no need to put it into the same scale; record how much blood everyone donated, and then put water in it. Otherwise, why would they make the basin opaque?"

"Oh, now that you mention it, I remember," Pamela said, "There are some pale pink liquids under the machine, looking like blood diluted by water. Could it be that except for the blood we donated ourselves, everything else in that basin is water?"

"It should be. However, I don't think the level designer would play tricks on the quantity, because that wouldn't be fun," Harley said, "Maybe it's just divided into different rooms, and the amount of blood donated in other rooms is replaced by water and added to the basin."

"I think I understand," Pamela said, "Before we arrived, the scale had already been pressed down. Even if it was filled with water replacing blood, we wouldn't know because we didn't see the process of blood being poured in. And if we donated blood ourselves, we could see the blood being added to the scale, so naturally, we would feel that the liquid pressing down the scale was also blood. And the blood we donated would be counted by weight and added in the form of water in other rooms."

Pamela adjusted her posture; she had already started panting somewhat. Holding up the ceiling was still a bit heavy for them, and it was laborious to hold it up, but she didn't stop thinking and was still analyzing.

"But if that's the case, there are ten groups of contestants; do they have to build ten rooms? Wouldn't that be a bit too... exhaustive?"

Pamela thought for a long time without coming up with a suitable word, so she could only use an inappropriate word; she actually wanted to say something like "lacking exquisite beauty."

"Indeed, if they built a room for every group, it would be a bit too rough. But actually, they only need to ensure that the time interval between the two groups arriving at a certain room is long enough."

After thinking for a moment, Pamela said: "Oh, I understand. The first place and the last place can completely enter the same room because it's almost impossible for them to run into each other."

"That's right. The first and second place and the second to last and last place can completely enter the same room. Those in the middle who are relatively close can be staggered into two rooms. In this way, three rooms are enough, so even if there are ten groups of contestants, they can be arranged."

"But it still can't rule out the possibility of someone stubbornly hanging around there. Although it's hard for the first and last to run into each other, those in the middle with small differences might still run into each other."

"Why do you think the passage leading to that room is set to be vertical?" Harley asked.

Pamela thought of a possibility, but she still said: "No way, right?"

"That's right. The vertical passage is set to utilize gravity. Even if you climb to the top of the passage, as long as you are hit, you will fall back to the starting point, unlike a horizontal passage where you can step back step by step. This can better control the time people take to come up."

"Although I have overestimated the viciousness of the level designer as much as possible, I still have to say that this is really a bit too mean."

Pamela could already imagine that if the group in front of them stubbornly stayed in the room and refused to leave, then when she and Harley climbed to the top of the passage, they might trigger some mechanism. To avoid the mechanism, they could only go down, and they could only fall back into the room. Because that kind of vertical passage is very laborious to fix yourself in. To prevent subsequent mechanisms, the safest way is to go back first.

And once they fall back, they have to find a way to climb up again. If this process is repeated a few times, it's estimated that they won't have the strength to climb. Even if there is still some remaining physical strength, it will get slower and slower.

And if it were a horizontal passage, even if they ran back, it wouldn't consume much physical strength, and they could make a comeback very quickly. Moreover, in a state where their feet are on the ground, they can make more postures, and maybe they could dodge the mechanism. But if they were barely maintaining themselves by supporting the wall with their hands in a vertical passage, it wouldn't work.

"Then why not just add a lid?" Pamela was somewhat puzzled, "If the people in front don't leave, it won't open... oh, I understand, that would make us feel that this road is impassable, right?"

"That's right. Although the mechanism is designed to be relatively poisonous, the guidance is still relatively clear," Harley said, "Although there is more than one way to solve the puzzle, the correct way is given hints. It's unlikely that you would see the passage but it turns out to be a dead end. That would destroy all the guidance rules designed before and completely become a piece of crap."

"No wonder, although the puzzles are all quite torturous, I actually think they are quite fun," Pamela said, "If only we could pass this level, wouldn't such a good level be wasted?"

"Heh," Harley sneered, "I'm afraid the real level designer wouldn't let his creativity go to waste. There's no telling how many unlucky people will be assigned here in the future; maybe they'll have to pay extra to get in."

Pamela also laughed and said: "Sounds like the style of a certain doctor."

"The probability of it being him is not small," Harley narrowed her eyes and said, "This style of setting traps using inertial thinking and creating difficulties using people's emotions is very much like his handwriting."

"Then you'd better hope he isn't waiting at the finish line," Pamela said, "The two of us should be considered relatively healthy in terms of mental state and have a good relationship among the contestants. But if we run into a few stubborn people, seeing their good friends being tortured like this, wouldn't they be pissed off?"

"He's not afraid. If you take the initiative to find trouble with him, he'll be too happy. Because then he can lead you to do the work and use your anger to help him complete the plan."

"Why do I feel like this is his purpose?"

"Hard to say," Harley shook her head.

"If I still had superpowers, I would immediately dismantle this ghost place," Erik said. He adjusted his posture and looked at Charles with some worry, saying, "You should rest for a while."

Charles shook his head and said: "I'm fine; does your wound still hurt?"

"It would be strange if it didn't hurt," Erik said, "Don't let me know who designed this shitty level..."

"The level is designed quite well," Charles said, "You can't ignore objective facts just because we are players and are being tortured. In fact, this is considered exquisite even among the high-difficulty dungeons I've played."

Erik was obviously somewhat stifled and didn't want to speak. But Charles still said: "We guessed before that the rooms the players go to might not be the same. But we didn't see the traces left by the previous team, don't you think there's a problem?"

Erik looked at him, and Charles said: "Those in front are all smart people, they must be able to guess how this game is played, and know that others will come later, so how could they not try to leave some information?"

"Just like we did?" Erik asked.

Charles nodded; when he and Erik left that room, they had carved some words on the ground. They didn't communicate the plan, mainly leaving their identities so that those who came later would know who they were.

However, they weren't the first to arrive either. The first team to arrive should also have thought the same as them, leaving their identity information to tell those who came later who they were, so that in case there were such levels in the future, the information used for deduction would be more.

"There are two possibilities," Charles said, "Either they also left information, but it was erased, then the information left by the two of us might also be erased. Or they felt that their identities wouldn't play any role in such a cooperative plan, so they didn't leave any."

"Like those supervillains?"

"You are also a supervillain in other people's eyes," Charles said, "I will leave our identities because even if I only leave mine, people will guess you are there."

Erik was speechless. But soon he said again: "But they know that even if you don't have superpowers, you can influence me."

"That's why I chose to leave ours. Otherwise, it might destroy the confidence of those who come later, and the plan would be completely hopeless."

"Which situation is more likely?"

"To be honest, I think it's the former. Because when we arrived, there was blood in the scale. This proves that the first team has already donated blood. In the case where there is already proof of having done good, even if it's the Joker, he can completely leave his identity, right? Moreover, a lunatic like the Joker who is full of performance desire might also be hoping to run into Batman. Would he miss the opportunity to say hello to Batman? If he came, he might carve a smiley face on every wall brick."

Erik nodded, feeling that what Charles said made sense. He said: "Then it's possible it was erased. Is there any supernatural power interference in this?"

"I don't think so, otherwise there would be no need to use electricity," Charles said, "Generally, in this kind of dungeon, you can only choose one between the technology and magic lines. If both are present, there will be very obvious stylized expressions, such as magic steampunk-style decorations; otherwise, it would be too unfair to the players."

Erik recalled the dungeons he had played; in fact, not just two-player dungeons, but any dungeon with reasoning and puzzle-solving elements basically tells you the background setting of which line and which era it is as soon as you enter. Just like a detective novel, it tells you the era background knowledge you need directly through the era the author wrote in.

The era is a very important reasoning factor. A reasoning story that happened in the 1920s is of course different from one that happened in the 2020s. Whether you can use a mobile phone, whether there is modern investigation technology, and even whether the detective has been in contact with the internet can all constitute decisive reasoning factors.

In 1920, you say there are no surveillance cameras, no phones, and no way to transmit messages over long distances in a short time, that is still understandable. But in modern times, it won't work; that's a bit too ridiculous.

Therefore, dungeons with reasoning content will inform the era and whether there is supernatural power through decorations and details. This is actually for the fairness of reasoning, just like the murderer in a detective novel cannot be a passerby who pops out at the end, nor can they be twins.

This dungeon initially showed a medieval dungeon style, but before the first level was over, it had already used traps to tell everyone that there was electricity here, meaning the background wasn't really medieval. Similarly, it was also using electrified mechanisms to tell everyone that the design of the mechanism was a technological style and didn't contain magic elements; otherwise, there should also be magic-type mechanisms to explain the background.

"Without magic that erases everything, then it should be manually cleaned up," Charles deduced, "If the team in front left any traces, they were probably polished off or covered up. Unfortunately, it was too urgent at the time; if I had looked carefully, maybe I could have discovered something."

"Although the previous level didn't seem to have a time limit, delay shouldn't have any benefits," Erik said, "I suspect that if it drags on for too long, there might be some hidden side effects, and maybe it will even affect those who come later, just so you don't look carefully."

"Guilty conscience," Charles sighed, "But this also precisely proves that their cover-up of evidence is not perfect. Perhaps, there will be such levels later, and we can try to investigate carefully."