Chapter 4651: Desperate Escape (30)

Schiller reached out and shook the cage, then frowned. This cage was unexpectedly light, looking like it was made of materials like aluminum alloy; anyway, it definitely wasn't iron or steel.

"I understand." Schiller said.

"What do you understand again, Professor?" Bruce looked at him somewhat confusedly, "Did you channel another version of yourself again?"

"You've started closing your brain again, Bruce." Schiller took a step back, looked at Bruce, and said, "I won't say it; you reason it out yourself."

Bruce sighed and said: "I asked you to team up with me just to not use my brain, Professor."

"And I have no interest in watching you not use your brain. After all, I've seen enough of that for so many years before. Hurry up and reason."

Bruce was also a lazy donkey on the mill, and after dawdling for a long time, he started to study the mechanism. But in fact, there was nothing to study; after all, the style of this secret room was simple and had a unique solution. The latter might be in doubt, but the former was certain, so there were no too many clues available for analysis.

Bruce looked up at the round disk above. That was the only thing in this room worth studying, but because it was too far and a bit dark, he couldn't see the specific content on it.

Bruce tried to climb to the top of the cage, but because this cage didn't have enough self-weight, it was very unstable, and it was very strenuous to climb. Even if Schiller helped him hold the cage, he spent some effort to climb to the top.

However, even if he climbed to the top, there was still a certain distance from that round disk. The iron chain must have been four or five meters long, and there were no torches above. Bruce stood there and looked for a long time without seeing it very clearly, but he did confirm one thing, which was that there seemed to be some patterns on that round disk.

"I understand." Bruce said, "It should be necessary to push the cage, shake the iron chain, and let the iron chain exert force in the specified direction to open a certain mechanism above the round disk, thereby solving the puzzle."

Bruce of course also noticed the drain, and he said: "To see the content of the puzzle, you have to wait for the water to rise to a certain height to lift the person up, so you can see clearly which direction to push. However, by that time, the water must have already risen over the cage, so it would be a bit troublesome to push."

"The switch of the drain should be connected to the door of the cage." Bruce looked at the cage door again; there was indeed a small device on it, and he said, "But this isn't the only line. There should also be a pressure sensing device above the round disk; if no one steps on the cage, it shouldn't trigger the mechanism."

"Let me think." Bruce said, "We don't need to enter the cage. I'll step on it here, you close the door, and when the water rises, the two of us will swim up together, and then take turns going down to push the cage, right?"

"It looks like this solution is indeed feasible, so it must be impossible." Schiller said, "You can just assume I channeled the level designer. He probably won't leave such an obvious loophole, so there might be a mechanism on the cage to avoid you contacting the cage in other ways."

Bruce touched his chin, thinking and saying: "The difference between the top of the cage and the inside of the cage is two places. Standing on top is unstable, you need to hold the iron chain, and there is no board to support it; could it be that the board has something special?"

Bruce jumped down and checked the board under the cage. He had thought it was a simple wooden board, but after checking it, he found that there was a layer of rubber on top of the wood.

"Electricity!" Bruce said. Then he let out a long sigh, "This is too wicked; why are you electrocuting fish?"

Then Bruce also understood the way to play this game. Standing on top of the cage wouldn't work; on one hand, there was no insulating board under his feet, and on the other hand, holding the iron chain, he was bound to be electrocuted.

Then Bruce started thinking about another way to cheat, which was not to enter the cage, but to grab the edge of the insulating board through the bars from below, pull the cage down, apply pressure, and then close the door, letting the mechanism mistakenly think there was someone inside. This way, neither of them would have to enter the cage.

But later he found it wouldn't work; the distance between the cage and the ground was really a bit too close, and he couldn't exert force well at this distance. So Bruce looked at Schiller with slight expectation and said: "Professor, your strength..."

"Has already been restricted, but I can add some to myself..."

"No no no, better not." Bruce waved his hands repeatedly and said, "I think we'd better be a player who follows the rules, right?"

"Although this trick can't be used, it's not that there's no way to think of." Schiller said.

"What way?"

"Exhaustion method." Schiller answered, then he explained, "We can enter the cage first to start the mechanism, and before the water rises, push in all directions; it's possible to guess right."

"This is too unreliable." Bruce said, "Not to mention anything else, just say one thing, this cage is electrified; pushing it will electrocute both the person in the cage and the person outside the cage. Trying it one by one like this, how long will it take to try? Wouldn't we be electrocuted to death?"

"This is psychological game theory." Schiller said, "Whether to endure pain to avoid the risk of immediate death?"

Bruce frowned and thought for a moment. He realized that the game theory behind this game was actually as follows: after the mechanism is activated, if the water hasn't risen yet, the cage can still be pushed, but since the puzzle is unknown at this point, one can only use the brute-force method. However, the angles from which it can be pushed are actually quite limited, so brute-forcing is genuinely possible. But regardless of whether it is the person pushing with their hands or the person inside the cage, they will be electrocuted because of this action.

So after the water rises, especially after it rises over the cage and reaches a very high water level, you can swim up to see what puzzle is on that round disk, or the round disk is simply the answer. Telling you which direction to push, you go down and push.

But even if the water rises relatively fast, by the time it rises to that position, the person below has already been drowned for a long time. At this time, going to push the cage might not be in time. Moreover, at this time, the water is also electrified, and both are still electrocuted together.

So it seems that the exhaustion method is better; anyway, it's electrocution sooner or later; pushing first will be electrocuted, and rising will also be electrocuted, so it's better to solve it early.

But in fact, this is the time to test psychological quality. Sometimes, knowing that long pain is worse than short pain, and knowing that dragging things to the back will be more dangerous and painful, facing the pain in front of you is also very difficult.

Especially, this isn't just facing one's own pain, but watching the other person being electrocuted. Some people don't feel anything about suffering themselves, but once they implicate others, they really can't bring themselves to do it. It's very likely that as they drag it on, it becomes the solution of using water to solve the puzzle, and the death rate increases greatly.

"The central theme of this secret room is that it both uses your feelings and requires you to be heartless. Feelings for another person make you sprout courage to face pain, but it is also feelings for another person that make you unable to make a rational choice that maximizes benefits, and even make the action that could have succeeded fall into a quagmire of failure."

"Sounds like something the Joker would do." Bruce sighed, "To be precise, it's something a psychology master would do."

"Alright." Schiller said, "There is another way."

Bruce looked at him, and Schiller handed the iron rod directly to him: "Don't forget we still have props. You hold this and hang it outside the cage, and step on the insulating board through the gap with your feet; it should also be able to pass."

Bruce was stunned. He imagined this posture in his mind and found it really worked. The key lies in the fact that there is an iron chain on the iron rod, and this iron chain has a certain length; even if it is wrapped around the bars, there is still a section left.

In this way, wrap the iron chain in the middle of the bars, hold the iron rod at the end with your hand, extend your foot into the gap of the bars and step on the insulating board; the cage bars, iron chain, and human body form a triangle, so you can hang outside the cage, but still be stable.

But holding the iron rod will still be electrocuted, which is no different from standing on the cage. But soon Bruce knew what to do—pluck hair.

Hair is basically an insulator, and he has semi-long hair, so he can completely get some hair down. That iron rod is much thinner than the iron chain above, so it should still be possible to wrap it with hair, it's just a bit hair-consuming.

As soon as Bruce stated his idea, Schiller said somewhat helplessly: "Have you ever thought about reversing it?"

"What?"

"Let that end of the iron rod get stuck inside the bars, and then hook the ring on the other side with your finger; that way, it won't take a few hairs." Schiller said.

Bruce suddenly realized. He didn't react at first, but thinking about it this way, it seemed to be the case. Hooking the iron ring with your finger, the required insulating area is very small, and a few hairs are enough.

He tried it and found it was completely possible. He adjusted his body posture so that no part of his body touched the cage, only his feet stepped on the insulating board, and the state was very stable. And this way, Schiller could also push the cage by pushing him, and didn't need to touch the cage, so he wouldn't be electrocuted either.

"The designer still left room." Schiller said, "If it were me, I would design the cage as fully enclosed, so no one would think of cheating."

"Oh my God, I'm truly a master of cheating!" Harley shouted. But looking over at this time, only Pamela was standing in the room, and Harley seemed to have disappeared.

But in fact, she was hanging splayed out under the cage at this time. Her two legs extended into the cage through the gaps of the cage and were placed inside the cage, and her arms also extended through other gaps. Her four limbs were equivalent to four latches, directly locking her torso to the bottom of the cage.

In this way, she could also not enter the cage and just hang down below, which could also exert weight on the cage.

"In this way, only you will be electrocuted, Little Pa." Harley said somewhat regretfully.

Pamela seemed to still be shocked by her flexibility. It could be said that all the way through the levels, it was all thanks to Harley playing acrobatics. After going out, the two of them must treat the Harley Quinns to a meal.

But soon she also reacted and said: "I don't have to be electrocuted either; I'll just kick the edge of the insulating board."

"Ah?" Harley didn't react for a moment, "Then if we enter the cage..."

"That won't work. After entering the cage, you can only be in a standing state. When a person is in a standing state, the center of gravity is the most unstable. At this time, if the force is uneven, and you only kick the bottom, the person inside the cage will definitely fall, and hitting the bars will result in electrocution."

"No wonder the cage is designed in this shape." Harley said, "To push the cage stably, the person pushing has to be electrocuted. If you want the person outside not to be electrocuted, the person inside is afraid they will be electrocuted to death. Is this also a link in the suspicion game?"

"I'm afraid so. If two people with a not-so-good relationship are queued in, the person entering the cage will be very passive. Because as long as the person outside kicks a few times, they will have to be electrocuted numb. So definitely no one is willing to enter the cage."

"Then I guess, the next cooperative mechanism might be the later you arrive, the more troublesome it is." Harley said, "Because people with poor relationships might be suspicious of each other in this level, dragging it on and not passing, and the subsequent levels are punishments for them."

"People with poor relationships being able to reach this step is also considered amazing." Pamela shook her head and said, "I feel that except for Batman and the Joker, I'm afraid no one can do it."

"If it were the Joker, I'm afraid he would cry and shout for Batman to electrocute him..."

"Oh, this smart lady." The Joker held his heart in the monitoring room, and then his face became gloomy again, roaring, "That damn Superman! He actually dared to let Batman enter the cage; he doesn't love Batman at all!!!" ===== CHAPTER 4652 =====