Ke Xun wrapped himself in his clothes, frowning in deep thought.
Swimming, drifting—that was already two ways. What other way was there to cross the water? Could he really only use flying? What were the laws governing flight? Spiral ascent? This wasn't Doraemon's bamboo copter; to use a flying machine, one needed to understand the corresponding laws.
What other method was there?
Time ticked by—or, in this chaotic painting of time, perhaps several hours had already passed, and every next second could mark the end of the night here.
The mere thought of this filled Zhu Haowen with dread. Watching Ke Xun squatting there, staring blankly at the pool, he couldn't help but call out, "Ke Xun, calm down, stay calm! I'll definitely think of a way!"
Ke Xun looked up, his face showing no sign of panic. Instead, he gave him a playful grin: "No rush, take your time thinking. I'm thinking of a solution too, I've even considered flying on a sword and walking on water with iron palms!"
Seeing that this man was still in the mood for jokes, Zhu Haowen calmed himself down. Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him, and he blurted out, "Walking on water with iron palms—I've got a solution!"
"What solution?" Ke Xun, with his sharp ears, heard him and asked in a high-pitched voice.
"The shear expansion of non-Newtonian fluids!" Zhu Haowen said.
Ke Xun: "..."
Ke Xun: "...What's wrong with Newton?"
Zhu Haowen looked at him, and for some reason, suddenly wanted to raise the corners of his lips: "Don't worry about that for now, just do as I say. If the law can be passed, open the prop box and ask for cornstarch."
Ke Xun did as he was told. The law was passed, and he got the cornstarch. Following Zhu Haowen's instructions, he poured a large amount into the pool.
There was no limit to the amount of props provided in the prop box, and it was thanks to Ke Xun's super stamina that he could keep pouring cornstarch like this. An ordinary person would have collapsed from exhaustion long ago.
During the pouring, Ke Xun suddenly received a request for help.
Huh? Who could it be? Someone actually asked him for help.
Ke Xun clicked on the light bulb icon and saw that the pop-up dialog box suddenly displayed Mu Yiran's avatar, with the text prompt next to it: [[Avatar] has sent you a request for help, accept or refuse?]
Ke Xun was startled and quickly clicked accept.
Mu Yiran's face appeared on the interface.
"Yiran, what happened?" Ke Xun asked anxiously—if it was something even Mu Yiran would ask for help with, how difficult must the problem be?!
"Nothing," Mu Yiran's voice was calm as usual, with a hint of concern. "I just wanted to see how things were going on your end, if you'd encountered any problems, and how you were doing."
Ke Xun immediately broke into a wide smile, his eyes sparkling as he looked at Mu Yiran.
So, so his dear had wasted a precious opportunity to ask for help just to check if he was alright.
What a wonderful man he was. Ke Xun smiled, shaking his head and then nodding. "We've already passed the test, everything went perfectly. How about you guys? How are you?"
Mu Yiran looked at him, seemingly sighing softly with a hint of helplessness. "Tell me the truth, Ke Xun. We've passed the test and returned to the numbered rooms, but I can't see anyone from your group in your room, so you're still in the game. Did you encounter any difficulties?" "
No, we'll resolve it soon, don't worry!" Ke Xun said, about to explain the requirements of this stage to Mu Yiran to avoid him overthinking, when suddenly time ran out, and Mu Yiran's face disappeared from the screen.
Ke Xun poured starch into the pool even more diligently, wanting to get out as soon as possible to see Mu Yiran and ease his worries.
Although the pool was endless, Ke Xun believed it must have a specific volume; otherwise, many laws wouldn't be applicable. This contradicted the painting's original intention of forcing people to use the laws to withstand the test.
As he expected, the cornstarch had already begun to thicken in the water, until Zhu Haowen called out, "Okay!" before Ke Xun stopped.
"What's next?" Ke Xun asked.
"Run over here!" Zhu Haowen said.
Ke Xun: "Okay!"
he said, getting into position and stepping into the pool of water that looked like thick cornstarch porridge without hesitation.
Zhu Haowen was stunned.
He had thought that Ke Xun, being the curious child he was, would definitely find it strange and ask why before doing as he was told, but he didn't expect him to listen to him so readily.
Wasn't he afraid of getting stuck in the water? Wasn't he afraid of being judged as breaking the rules and even being punished?
Without understanding anything, he really dared to listen to him so boldly.
Watching Ke Xun rush over like a running husky, splashing through the water, Zhu Haowen was stunned for a long time.
"Holy crap, that's amazing!" The husky leaped ashore, barking excitedly. "This is real water-walking kung fu! Brother Wen, how did you do that? What's the principle behind it? What does it have to do with Newton?" "
..." That's just him, the curious husky.
Zhu Haowen snapped out of his daze and was about to explain when Ke Xun made a pause gesture: "We'll talk about it later, let's get out of here quickly!"
With that, he stepped into the dark cave.
Why was he in such a hurry? Zhu Haowen was surprised, but after entering the cave and returning to room number 4, and seeing Mu Yiran in the next room, he understood.
"Yiran!" Ke Xun rushed over to give him a big hug, but Mu Yiran stretched out his long arm and blocked him within the confines of his own room.
"Don't run around, be careful not to break the rules." Mu Yiran said, gently ruffling his hair. "Why are you so wet?"
"I went swimming." Ke Xun grabbed his hand, carefully examining his face and body for a long time to make sure there was nothing wrong before he felt relieved. He briefly told him about the situation his group had encountered, then, without letting go of his hand, turned to Zhu Haowen. "Haowen, come here, tell me, what's this Newtonian scissor principle all about?"
"..." Zhu Haowen said calmly, "The shear expansion property of non-Newtonian fluids."
"What are non-Newtonian fluids?" Ke Xun asked.
"Many fluids in nature are Newtonian fluids, such as water, alcohol, and most pure liquids," Zhu Haowen had to explain in detail to the guy. "But blood, lymph, cystic fluid, and other bodily fluids in the human body, as well as petroleum, mud, pulp, paint, foam, liquid crystals, high-sediment-content water flows, mudslides, tomato juice, starch solution, egg white, apple pulp, concentrated sugar water, soy sauce, jam, condensed milk, etc., are all non-Newtonian fluids.
"Non-Newtonian fluids have internal friction, also known as shear stress, which makes them appear to have a certain viscosity. The viscosity of some non-Newtonian fluids increases with the shear rate applied to them.
"Newtonian fluids are generally small molecules, while non-Newtonian fluids are generally large molecules. Take corn starch solution, for example. When it is subjected to slow impact or trampling, the molecules can quickly adjust to an equilibrium state under the action of binding forces and thermal motion, so it has no hardness."
"But during rapid impacts or stomping, because the molecules are larger and heavier, they don't have time to adjust to an equilibrium state, resulting in strong shear resistance. The fluid viscosity increases, and the hardness becomes very high. This property is called shear expansion.
So when you run quickly on it, it's like stepping on a solid; you won't sink. But if you stand still on the surface of the liquid, you will sink as if you were in the liquid."
"That's amazing," Ke Xun said. "So you can actually learn a lot of practical knowledge in school, right? Although I also think it's important to learn how to apply knowledge flexibly, Cheng's son is still a bit too extreme."
"After all, he's still just a child," Zhu Haowen said calmly. "Children's thinking is always linear, simple and direct. They don't know how, or can't, combine more social factors and macro concepts to think about and analyze problems. After all, their experience is limited. This is something that no matter how much knowledge you read on paper, you can't learn at this age. Some knowledge and abilities need time to accumulate and form little by little. Unfortunately, he didn't give himself that time."
"That makes sense." After being given the new information, Ke Xun turned to her boyfriend, Mu Yiran, and held his hand, asking him in a low voice how their group had solved the puzzle.
As they were talking, they saw the other two groups also successfully solve the puzzle and return to their respective rooms. However, before they could discuss their solutions, the next round of challenges began.
Ke Xun rolled the dice first again, this time rolling a 2.
Next was Mu Yiran, who rolled a 3.
Ke Xun's eyes lit up: "Yiran, does this mean we can be in the same group this time?" "
In the first round, he rolled a 4, and Mu Yiran rolled a 3. If they moved rooms according to their rolls, they could enter the same room this round.
After everyone had rolled once, they reported their rolls and found that they didn't have the same room as the previous round. It was unclear whether this was a random coincidence or a pre-programmed result.
The entry process started, and the next moment, everyone appeared in new levels.
This time, besides Mu Yiran, Qin Ci was also in Ke Xun's group.
The three veteran members didn't need much interaction..." Upon entering, they immediately and instinctively split up to survey their surroundings. The room above and around them resembled the previous one Ke Xun had been in—a black void filled with particles and waves of matter. Far away, a black hole-like opening was marked "Exit" on the interface. Beneath
their feet lay a large, red-hot iron plate extending to the entrance of the black hole.
A line of text flashed on the interface: [Requirement: Each person must reach the exit using a different law or a different material object.]
"...Here we go again." Ke Xun sighed, hands on his hips. "Last time it was water, this time it's fire. Fire alone isn't enough, they have to add an iron plate. Are they trying to torture us?"
"If it were fire, we'd probably be dead," Qin Ci shook his head helplessly. "With an iron plate, maybe we can think of a way."
"Okay, let's think about it." Ke Xun said, starting to take off his clothes.
"What are you doing?" "Mu Yiran raised an eyebrow.
"I went into the water in that round earlier, and my underwear is still wet. I'll dry it while it's still warm," Ke Xun said. Qin
Ci: "..." This guy, as always, is so carefree. It's probably only him who would have the mind to dry his clothes by the fire in this situation...
Seeing this guy squatting there completely naked, Qin Ci couldn't bear to look. He looked at the far end of the iron plate and said to Mu Yiran, "Each person reaches the exit using different laws or different material props. It's quite difficult. That is to say, once one person has used a certain state of matter, the other two cannot use it. But judging from the question, it seems to indicate that as long as the same law is used, even if the same type of prop is used, it is still possible. This word 'or' is very meaningful, don't you think?"
Not receiving a reply from Mu Yiran, Qin Ci turned to look at him, only to see that Mu Yiran was turning his gaze away from Ke Xun before absentmindedly humming in agreement. Qin Ci: "... "
This old monk was wrong; I shouldn't have ended up in the same room as you guys playing dice.