"What's this?" Harley pried out a strip of cloth from the edge of the door gap, seemingly torn from a piece of clothing. It was written in blood, but judging by the handwriting, it wasn't done by hand, more like it was written with a sharp object dipped in blood.
There's a big difference between the two because if you write with a finger, the letters would be large; but if you use something sharp and dip it in blood, like a pen, you can write many words within a small area. The writing on this strip of cloth was like that, showing the other person put a lot of thought into it.
"You haven't gone back in time. This is just a locked-room kidnapping case. I hear someone moving within the walls. The mechanisms have modern energy sources."
The message was not long even when written in English, but the cloth was just too small. Even using a sharp object dipped in blood to write filled it to the brim, with some areas blurring out, making it difficult to discern.
Pamela leaned over to take a look and then said, "We already know the first two points."
"That's right. But not everyone is as vigilant as we are," Harley said. "Someone might have gotten shocked without even knowing it, let alone discovered anything unusual about the torches. This might be meant to alert the average person. This just shows how cautious the person who left the cloth is because if they misjudge the era, the consequences could be disastrous."
Pamela chuckled and said, "Indeed. Standing in front of the behind-the-scenes manipulator, thinking you're dealing with a Middle Ages knight, only to face modern security personnel armed to the teeth, that's a Chaplin comedy right there."
"In that case, the last two points must be useful as well," Harley analyzed. "I guess it might be two plans: either find a way to capture the people moving in the walls or find a way to cut off the power source."
"Which do you think is more effective?" Pamela pondered and said, "I'd still lean towards the second option. Neither of us is Batman; our hand-to-hand combat isn't that effective, not to mention, the staff might be armed. The risk in tackling them is just too high."
Harley nodded, "Indeed. If they hadn't hinted at the first two points, the people succeeding us might be more inclined towards the first. Or perhaps, there have already been some unlucky ones who misjudged the era, acted against the staff, and met a tragic end."
"Only goes to show how confusing the decor is," Pamela sighed and said, "Not having real Middle Ages people here, seeing dungeons like these certainly feels medieval, who knows, people might even think they've traveled back in time, ready for a Middle Ages adventure."
"But cutting the power source isn't easy either," Harley frowned, "First, we didn't see any exposed wiring. The behind-the-scenes manipulator capable of creating such a large locked-room wouldn't have trouble finding a decent electrician. And just cutting one or two wires wouldn't help; how can we ensure a complete power outage for the locked-room?"
"Wait, do you remember?" Pamela suddenly spoke, "You once poked a hole at the junction and looked down, seeing someone there."
"Of course, but the hole was too small, I couldn't see who it was, and the person quickly left."
"What do you think they were doing?"
"Probably repairing equipment," Harley said, "Judging by their location, it should be near the balance. Although I didn't see their actions, they must have been busy with something. We've already passed that stage, there's no need to mess with the balance unless something's wrong with the mechanism."
"Right, they went to fix things. Can they repair a metal mechanism without cutting the power?"
"But the torch lights didn't go out..."
"You've clearly spent too little time in labs," Pamela said, "The power supply for important facilities and the lighting supply are separate. Cutting power to the equipment doesn't affect the lighting. Otherwise, if an experiment goes wrong, cut the power, and the lights go out too, how would the person escape then?"
"Makes sense. So, damaging crucial mechanical equipment would prompt them to cut the power for repairs?" Harley's eyes lit up.
At this point, the two exchanged a look and wisely fell silent. After all, a locked-room of this size definitely has surveillance cameras; it's best not to discuss their plan openly.
Batman looked up at the ceiling, and Superman followed suit. Superman asked, "What's up?"
"Nothing." Batman had obviously noticed something but chose not to disclose it. Just as Superman was about to inquire, Batman gave him a look, and Superman understood.
Batman must have discovered a clue, but worried about surveillance, he didn't want to say more. Superman naturally supported Batman, showing concern, "Is your dizziness getting better?"
"I'm fine now." Batman also grabbed his arm, but subtly used his fingers to write in Superman's palm.
"A password?" Superman figured out the word Batman wrote. He looked at the ceiling again and noticed some marks on certain bricks, as if something had been thrown up there to cause them.
Superman immediately realized it must be some kind of code that Batman had cracked. Superman wanted to know what the code was, but using this method to write was cumbersome; Batman wasn't in the best shape and it wasn't worth using his energy for this.
Superman withdrew his hand and gave Batman an assuring look. Batman nodded and turned his gaze towards the cage in the center of the room.
The cage was rectangular, about two meters tall, with a width barely wider than an adult male's shoulders, suspended half a meter off the ground by an iron chain from the ceiling. It was at a height where one could easily step onto it. The top and all four sides were made of openwork iron bars, and there was a board at the bottom.
The cage door was open, suggesting someone was meant to go inside, but what would happen next was unclear. Batman circled the cage a few times, then looked up at the wall above, seemingly having a lead.
Superman also looked at where Batman had looked, noticing a drainage feature at the top of the room, similar to a prior challenge, which made it easily identifiable.
"Playing with water again?" Superman frowned. The previous experience of being dunked in the water prison was unpleasant, and he didn't wish for a repeat.
"What could be the connection between water and the cage?" Batman questioned, "The design of this standing cage must have its purpose. Is it meant to control the water level?"
"This level shouldn't be testing physical strength," Batman said, "Otherwise, there could be a pulley system on the side: release water on one side, and have someone pull the cage up, otherwise your partner would drown…"
"Hiss...." Superman grimaced at Batman and said, "Don't give them ideas."
"They shouldn't use the same trick twice," Batman said, "Besides, this room seems to be not limited by time…"
"But we still better hurry; did you forget about the balance games? Though that challenge wasn't friendly to the first arrivals, things might turn around later. It's better to be quick."
"That's exactly their intention. Using the balance game, they told us: you can take a break, but it's best to have long-term vision. Anxiety will push us constantly forward, and the more it does, the less we can rush."
Batman continued to look at the cage. In the room, other than the cage, there seemed to be no mechanisms. It looked as though the person inside the cage was the only one involved while the other seemed to be without a task.
But it was not so; because if the water was drained, the other person could swim. But to swim and do what?
The cage was half a meter above the floor, and with a height of 1.8 meters, that added up to over two meters. The speed of water draining from the outlet wasn't certain, but to reach over two meters would take some time, during which the other person must do something. Otherwise, once submerged, the countdown to life begins.
After searching for a long time, there were indeed no clues. Batman pondered a moment, then said, "Seems like this will test our improvisational skills."
"But how do we decide who gets in the cage if we don't know how the mechanism works?"
"Simple, the one with the smaller body type goes in," Batman said, "Being smaller means more space in the cage; if short enough, they could even float with the water and survive longer."
"Indeed," Superman nodded, "Then you go up."
Batman didn't argue, as his build wasn't as large as Superman's. But what he didn't say was that staying in the cage didn't mean resting. Since it wasn't purely a physical challenge, there might be more tasks for the person who remains still.
Batman entered the cage. To his surprise, the cage was very light; just his entering made it sway for a long time. Batman had a vague sense of unease.
After he went in, Superman hesitated, should he close the door?
If not closed, the challenge might not start. Batman nodded, and Superman shut the door.
The next second, the water outlet began draining. Batman turned to look at the outlet, his hands instinctively grasping the cage bars. The next second, he let out a cry of pain; his whole body was rigid for a long time before daring to move again.
Even Batman couldn't help swearing; the designer of this challenge was too unscrupulous, as they had electrified the cage!
Luckily, the board underfoot was insulated; otherwise, just standing there would have been electrifying. But soon Batman realized another problem: if the water came up, both he and Superman would get shocked.
"Batman, are you okay?!" Superman wanted to approach out of concern, but Batman quickly shouted, "Don't come over! The cage is electrified; don't touch it!"
Then he glanced at how fast the water was rising. It wasn't quick; to rise half a meter would take dozens of seconds. If he couldn't find a solution in this time, there'd be very little time left for action. Then Superman would be operating while being electrocuted, and any operational mistake would leave them both dead in this place. He must act quickly to leave enough time for the ensuing steps.
This challenge didn't have any riddles. The walls and floor had nothing, and the ceiling had puzzles, but Batman judged them not official, instead left by other players, so they could be ignored. The mechanism was so simple it was daunting, and another person would rack their brains without finding any clues.
But Batman, through the few clues, or even just some intuition, guessed the puzzle's key—the cage.
Of course, since the room only had a cage. But the key to the cage was that it was hung from the ceiling, not supported on the ground.
Though it seemed more logical to hang it, in fact, with a support board below, placing a platform on the ground wasn't completely unfeasible, even simpler.
The reason for hanging it with iron chains from the ceiling was because being suspended allowed for more activity space than being set on the ground. This didn't refer to the space inside the cage, but the cage's space in the room.
Batman suddenly looked up, staring at the connection of the chains, vaguely seeing a circular iron plate. But it was too high to make out clearly. Batman asked, "Clark, can you see anything on that disk?"
Superman looked up to where Batman pointed, but due to the height and dim lighting above, he saw nothing.
"I understand," Batman said, "We need to wait for the water to rise, and you swim up to see. However, that would be too troublesome; we can try another method."
"What method?" Superman asked hurriedly.
"Exhaustion Method."