Inside the first level's escape room, everyone was desperately searching for clues. As the temperature in the sauna gradually increased, anxiety grew among the participants. Now, as ordinary people, they couldn't withstand the high temperature at all.
"What's the temperature now?" someone asked.
"It's already broken 60 degrees…"
Upon hearing this, everyone's expressions became even more anxious. They searched desperately, turning the sauna room upside down, but found nothing. When the temperature exceeded 70 degrees, a prompt popped up in everyone's left eye:
[Sacrifice three teammates to enter the next level!]
Seeing this prompt, everyone's expressions changed. They looked at their teammates, their expressions strange. Only Ben remained calm in the entire room. He had already recognized the origin of this sauna escape room and knew the method of escape. He hadn't acted yet because he planned to observe the performance of the others first.
Suddenly, Duminy found something under the cabinet and shouted, "I found a card!"
Everyone gathered around and discovered that there were words on the card: "Rock peak unseen, truly homeless?"
Someone read the contents aloud: "What does this mean?"
"It's like a riddle," Hales said. "It might be related to the exit key!"
Everyone immediately began to think. At this moment, the lights in the sauna room suddenly turned red, and a large amount of water vapor poured in. The room became intensely stuffy. Although the temperature was high before, it didn't feel particularly hot because it was a dry sauna. But with more water vapor, it was completely different. Everyone felt extremely uncomfortable. A suffocating feeling of death began to envelop them.
"What is it? What's the answer?" Joe Root anxiously paced back and forth, his face full of fear. He was afraid of death. The others were also anxious, but no one could answer his question. These two random sentences left everyone clueless.
Suddenly, Rickleton took down the knife hanging on the wall and pointed the blade at himself.
"Rickleton, what are you doing?" Hales exclaimed.
Rickleton's expression was calm as he said, "I'm fulfilling my promise to sacrifice myself."
"Don't be silly!" Hales hurriedly said. "There's still time; there's no need for this!"
Rickleton shook his head. "It's too late. If we don't pass this level, everyone will die here."
Hearing this, the others who wanted to stop him couldn't say anything. Afraid of death—it's human nature. Even Rickleton himself didn't want to die here.
"Good brother, you go first. I'll come and accompany you soon!" Duminy chimed in.
Everyone was speechless at this guy's words but also very touched. Now two people had volunteered to sacrifice themselves; as long as one more person was sacrificed, they could pass the level.
Just as Rickleton was about to act, suddenly, two voices sounded almost simultaneously.
"It's stone!"
"It should be stone!"
The former affirmative tone was from Ben. The latter uncertain tone was from Leo. Ben already knew everything about this escape room, so he was very certain. What surprised him was that Leo could also think of the answer. Worthy of being a top student!
The two of them attracted everyone's attention. Ben said to Leo, "Leo, tell us your thoughts."
Time was of the essence, and Leo didn't decline, immediately saying, "I think this is a character puzzle that removes radicals. 'Rock peak unseen,' the character 'rock' without the mountain peak is the character 'stone.' 'Truly homeless,' the character 'truly' without the roof radical is the character 'head.'"
Everyone suddenly understood. Afterward, their gazes turned to the places with stones around them.
"So, the key is hidden in these piles of stones?"
"According to the hint in the riddle, it should be!"
"Don't just stand there; hurry up and look!"
Everyone rushed towards the piles of stones on both sides and began to search. There were three piles of stones in the sauna room: on the left, right, and in the middle. The piles on the left and right sides were for decoration. The stones in the middle furnace were used to evaporate water vapor and increase the temperature. At this moment, the stones in the middle furnace had been burned black and were extremely hot. Everyone subconsciously believed that the key would not be in the furnace.
At this time, the temperature in the sauna room had soared to over eighty degrees. With the addition of water vapor, it was extremely stuffy. Everyone's faces were steamed red, and they were covered in sweat. But they were not in the mood to pay attention to themselves at this moment, only wanting to find the key as soon as possible. But they just couldn't find it.
"No! No… Where is the key?" Gaius cried anxiously.
Ben finally took action. He grabbed the towel next to him, wrapped it around his hand, and then rummaged through the furnace. Soon, he found a magnet. The next moment, he took the magnet and came to the glass door. The glass door was tempered and couldn't be smashed. Behind the glass door, there was a lock, and the lock bolt was made of pure iron. Ben pressed the magnet against the glass door, and the powerful magnetic force immediately attracted the iron lock bolt outside the door. Afterward, Ben dragged the magnet, and the iron lock bolt outside the door also moved.
Seeing this, everyone was overjoyed!
"Clang!" When Ben removed the magnet, the iron lock bolt outside the door fell directly to the ground. Losing the iron lock bolt, the lock was opened. The way to escape was revealed in front of everyone.
"Great, the door is open."
"Damn! Brother Ben, you're the best! (thumbs up)"
"Using a magnet to attract the iron lock bolt—how did you think of that, Brother Ben? You're really amazing!"
"Brother Ben is mighty!"
Everyone was so excited that they were incoherent and extremely happy. Seeing this, Ben smiled and said, "Save the flattery for later; hurry up and leave here! Unless you still want to steam for a while!"
Of course, no one wanted to continue steaming. Just now, in that short period, everyone's body was soaked with sweat. It could even be said that after this spiritual realm experience, many people would probably develop a psychological shadow about saunas and would never go to similar places again.
Next, everyone followed the exit and left the sauna room one after another.
In the viewing hall, the performance of Ben, Joe Root, and others was seen by everyone. Even the words they said were heard clearly. Before, when they couldn't find the key, everyone in the hall was sweating for them. Until Ben stood up and solved the problem in a few strokes, allowing the team members to escape, everyone in the hall breathed a sigh of relief.
Then, discussions arose:
"They finally passed safely!"
"Yeah! Seeing their performance, I thought we would have to sacrifice a few people to pass this time."
"Fortunately, that young man named Ben performed well and found a way to pass."
"No wonder they chose him as the captain; this kid does have some extraordinary abilities."
"I heard before that Ben and that
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