Erik took a deep breath above the water and dived down again, pushing the cage forcefully in one direction. With a click, the door opened. Charles slowly swam out, moving powerfully and steadily. The two of them surfaced together.
"Your swimming skills are really impressive," Erik couldn't help but remark, "Anyone else would probably rush through this level, but I can afford frequent breaths."
Charles waved his hand and said, "Fortunately, this level wasn't customized for me, otherwise they would've designed it with 28 directions, so I couldn't hold my breath."
Erik and Charles's group had no flashy tricks, just a standard solution. However, Charles's incredible breath-holding ability turned the underwater struggle into a joke. He could hold his breath for over ten minutes. Even if Erik went up for a breath after every push, they'd only take four or five minutes. Although both were getting electrocuted, one being a breath-holding king and the other able to breathe frequently meant they didn't find it uncomfortable.
After surfacing, they saw the cage slowly rising, quickly coming to their position. Charles stepped up first, followed by Erik. While waiting for the cage to ascend, they started discussing the plot.
"I guess the next level is another group challenge, and those who arrive late might be in trouble," Charles said. "We follow the standard puzzle-solving process, probably can't compete with their tricks. Who knows what's coming next."
"I don't see any room for tricks," Erik shook his head. Though he spent most of his life as a terrorist, he's actually someone who likes to follow the rules, being more meticulous than Charles.
"There are plenty. For instance, if it were Rogue, she might choose to hang underneath the cage. If it were Beast, he'd probably choose the Exhaustion Method."
"We should've used the Exhaustion Method," Erik said, "We'd have known after getting up there that only three directions were needed, and the order didn't matter. We could've finished before the water rose."
"Not that simple, without water cushioning, if you push hard, I'd fall onto the cage. Getting shocked would trigger an instinctive reaction, swaying uncontrollably, making it tough to align correctly, who knows how many tries it would take."
"Then I'll get in the cage," Erik said, "I can swing myself."
"Don't try to show off," Charles said, "You're still injured, and we haven't had much rest between levels. What if the next one's a physical challenge, are you counting on me?"
Erik stayed silent. After so many years together, he was used to Charles's lack of physical capabilities. Even in the game where Charles's legs were restored, he avoided involving Charles in physical labor.
They jumped down from the cage. This time the passage was unusually short, or rather absent; there was a door in front of the elevator, larger than usual, with some decorations on the side. As soon as they stepped in, the door opened automatically, and it was brightly lit inside.
They glanced at each other; the brightness didn't bring warmth, only deepened the ominous feeling in their hearts. But after a brief pause, they still walked in slowly.
"Forget it, Professor, I'll swing myself," Bruce said, "I'm afraid you'll slam me and the cage into the wall."
"Why do you think I would push you?" Shiller sneered.
"Hey, you can't take revenge now!" Bruce started howling.
"I think you're the one who should be angry this round, right?"
Bruce was lost for a moment before realizing: indeed, he should be the angry one. But he felt guilty for reasons including his poor studying before and recently causing a huge mess, so he forgot to be angry.
"Ahem, stand back a bit, Professor, don't get in the way," Bruce said. He adjusted his feet, slowly relaxing his arms, letting the chain and his arms straighten, allowing him to exert force with his legs.
Then he kicked forcefully, making the cage swing forward, then backward. He continued to swing back and forth like a swing, getting the cage to sway.
These two directions weren't correct, so Bruce had to wait for the cage to stop slowly. Since he didn't have much contact area with the cage, to avoid getting shocked, his movements had to be cautious, making it hard to stop quickly.
"Professor, Professor, help me out!" Bruce called back. "Just stand there and block me... "
"Do you want to slam me into the wall?"
"How could I!" Bruce said, "Just a little block. Otherwise, at this stopping speed, the water will rise before we exhaust our options."
Shiller stood behind Bruce, reaching out to support him when he swung over. Due to inertia, Bruce almost hit the cage bars, but fortunately, Shiller quickly pulled him away. Bruce breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thanks, Professor. Stand in that spot again, yes, right in front of that wall. Now I'm going to swing sideways..."
Even though Bruce was verbose, he doesn't slouch during operations. He controlled the force again, swinging the cage left and right, back and forth, the mechanism still not stopping.
Bruce sighed, "Professor, your luck isn't great, and mine isn't much better. Combined, using the Exhaustion Method might take forever."
"Let's try again. It's impossible that it's only the last three directions."
Shiller's words turned out to be prophetic. They really did exhaust all the possibilities and barely made it past with the last three directions, and as the cage door opened, Bruce was directly thrown out. He let out a yowl, rolled on the ground, and then got up.
Shiller was puzzled and said, "From such a height, it could make you fall like that? Besides, there's water on the ground to cushion the fall..."
"No, I got shocked." Bruce said, "The instant the door opened, there was still electricity! My muscles stiffened for a moment, and I couldn't adjust my posture."
"I'll just assume you're not making excuses." Shiller said, "There's a delay between the device determining the level is passed and the cage losing power. What could be the reason for this?"
Bruce knew this was a knowledge gap for Shiller, as it involved electrical engineering. This field has a strong professional barrier, and theoretical knowledge alone isn't enough; without practical experience, one can't really make sense of it. Luckily, Bruce was quite the electrician, only second to his tractor repair skills.
Looking at the slowly rising cage, he understood and said, "This is because the electric pulley system that lifts the cage also needs power. The designer of this level was too lazy to make another series circuit, so they used the simplest circuit form for transfer."
"That doesn't sound very safe."
"It's actually very dangerous. But since they already wired electricity in the water to shock fish, you can't expect them to have any sense of safety." Bruce shrugged and said, "This also indicates one thing: the puzzle mechanism and the pulley system mustn't be far apart."
"Isn't it on the ceiling of the upper level?"
"Theoretically, yes, but for wiring purposes, it's not impossible to place it below." Bruce thought for a moment and said, "I'm planning to go up and try to jam the pulley system. Professor, you stay below and listen for any noise. If the pulley system has a problem, there'll definitely be sounds within the walls. We might be able to find their mechanism."
"But this carries some risk," Bruce said truthfully, "If the pulley system isn't jammed, you might not be able to get up there."
"What do you plan to use to jam it?" Shiller asked about its feasibility first.
"Do you see that disc above?" Bruce pointed upwards, speaking quickly as the cage was slowly rising, "I initially thought the cage was just hanging from the disc, but since it acts as an elevator, the chain is definitely fixed higher up. The chain passes through the disc, so there must be a hole. Besides the hole, there should also be a passage for when the disc moves to avoid the chain. We just need to figure out how to bend the disc back so the chain returns through the passage into the round hole, and the cage won't be able to go up. The pulley system will get jammed, and there will definitely be some noise."
"How do you know the disc can still be bent back?"
"You'll have to answer that, Professor. Did you hear a clicking sound from the mechanism, similar to a locking sound?"
"I was too busy watching you fall to the ground," Shiller said, somewhat speechless, "With your howl, what could I hear?"
However, Shiller still tried to recall carefully and then said, "I didn't hear any mechanism sounds, or I would've noticed it. But are you sure the latch would definitely make a sound?"
"Not necessarily. But from the structure of the puzzle mechanism created by the designer, he's a very mature mechanical engineer. This means he would lean towards making simple mechanisms fit perfectly, because this is the essence of mechanical engineering. Those who make a bunch of complex mechanisms that don't fit are amateurs. Determining whether the latch is in place naturally requires some audible cues. This isn't an industry standard, but a personal style. I lean towards him doing it this way. If you didn't hear it, he probably didn't make a fail-safe measure."
"But if he's a master mechanical engineer, why wouldn't he implement a reverse fail-safe?"
"Firstly, being strong professionally in mechanical engineering doesn't mean his thinking is broad. He might not think someone would try to bend that disc, considering it seems pointless. Additionally, from the perspective of the level designer, it's different. They'd likely assume that after a narrow escape, the two would quickly take the elevator and leave, not thinking someone would have the energy to sabotage things."
"It seems he's not good at psychology." Shiller said, "But then again, one can't be good at everything."
"It appears you've learned to reconcile with yourself, Professor, which is a huge breakthrough."
"This is because the students Brainiac found for me are quite talented. When they don't trouble me, I naturally won't think of troubling others."
"What? Are you saying you want to blame me for why you used to trouble others?"
"I must say, Bruce, your involvement in my teaching career has crafted an image of me as someone not to be messed with. This has saved me from a lot of trouble in everyday life afterward. Sometimes I think perhaps this is the window God opened for me."
"Oh my God." Bruce said, horrified, spreading his hands and pacing a few steps forward before turning back to look at Shiller, "How many genius psychoanalysts did you encounter to enable you to express such an enlightened perspective?"
"Not many," Shiller replied with a light hum and a reserved nod, "But there's been a couple."
Bruce's expression was like "Is that all you require?", to which Shiller responded with a look saying "And why are my requirements this low?"