Qin Ci chose a thick wooden plank and successfully passed through the iron plate to reach the exit on the other side.
Meanwhile, Ke Xun hooked his arm around Mu Yiran's shoulder, leaned close to his cheek, kissed him, and said, "I can run faster than you, you admit that, right?"
Mu Yiran understood Ke Xun's meaning. Although the Leidenfrost effect had real-world examples, an untrained novice stepping barefoot onto a scorching iron plate would likely have psychological barriers, and if they were slower, it would be even more dangerous.
Mu Yiran pinched the back of Ke Xun's neck and said, "Okay, you can use the Leidenfrost effect, but on one condition: if the methods of wrapping clothes around your feet and carrying someone on your back don't work, you're not allowed to ask to switch the Leidenfrost effect to me."
"Hey..." Ke Xun hadn't expected Mu Yiran to put him in such a difficult position.
He understood Mu Yiran's meaning; if these two methods didn't work, then a new method would need to be devised, but new methods weren't easy to come up with, and what if he couldn't think of one? What if the solution we come up with still isn't approved? Then Mu Yiran would be in the most danger.
Ke Xun didn't respond to Mu Yiran's question, but frowned in thought, and then said, "Yiran, what if we use ice as stepping stones? Would that work? We could run across the ice, run fast, and get across before it melts, right?"
Mu Yiran shook his head slightly: "The question requires different states of matter. Solid, liquid, and gas are the three states of matter. Lao Qin already used solid, and ice is also solid, so it won't be allowed. Don't think about it anymore, let's hurry up and test the existing methods."
As he spoke, he was about to take off his clothes, but Ke Xun stopped him: "Your clothes are too heavy, use mine, the down jacket is light."
Mu Yiran still took off several layers of his own clothes: "You should at least keep two layers, otherwise you'll freeze when you come out of the painting."
"Next time I'll bring an extra set of clothes and store them in the museum's locker before entering the painting," Ke Xun said. Otherwise, being stripped naked every time you enter a painting, who can stand that?
The two of them worked together to wrap all the necessary clothing around Mu Yiran's feet. Then Mu Yiran turned her back to Ke Xun and said, "Get on."
"If your feet feel hot halfway through, don't force yourself," Ke Xun instructed. "I can use that effect halfway through, and then I'll carry you."
"Okay," Mu Yiran replied.
Without further ado, Ke Xun climbed onto Mu Yiran's back, and Mu Yiran decisively stepped onto the scorching iron plate.
[Warning—Operation violated regulations, please cancel immediately! 30 seconds countdown!] A warning popped up almost simultaneously on their screens, a line of bright red text flashing incessantly.
Mu Yiran retreated to her footing and put Ke Xun down.
"Neither of these methods works," Mu Yiran said. "It seems they've both been assumed to be using a solid state."
"Then what effect counts as using a gaseous or liquid state?" Ke Xun asked.
Mu Yiran thought for a moment: "It should be considered gaseous, suspended by a vapor layer."
"Then let's use a liquid one," Ke Xun said, "Let's use water, start filling it now!"
"But I have to wait for you to get there first before I can use it, otherwise filling it will take time, and it's not even clear if the water will be completely drained." Mu Yiran placed his hand on Ke Xun's back, "Don't waste time, go now."
"Go find the prop and ask for some water first, see what kind of water it gives you." Ke Xun said.
Mu Yiran knew that if this guy wasn't sure he could get there safely, he wouldn't obediently go first, so he reluctantly pointed to the prop box and tried to ask for "tons of water".
A large amount of water suddenly fell from the void, splashing onto the iron plate, completing a ton of water in an instant, but this ton of water was still far less than the area of the iron plate. The water rolled around due to the high temperature and evaporated in no time.
"I think using water should work," Mu Yiran said. "Next time I'll request a hundred or a thousand tons of water, which should be enough to cover the entire iron plate. So, now, you go first."
Ke Xun looked at him, though he had a hundred or a thousand worries in his heart, he could only grit his teeth and agree. Before acting, he didn't forget to give his man a harsh word: "Anyway, if you can't get out of this, I won't leave either. You decide what to do."
After saying that, he recited the law from the law book, got the water, and sprinted across the iron plate at a hundred-meter speed.
"Success!" Qin Ci was still waiting in front of the exit. Seeing Ke Xun successfully leap over like a cheetah, he was also very excited. "How was it, Mu?"
"Getting more and more cunning," Ke Xun replied.
Qin Ci: "…" Is that what I meant…
Fortunately, what Ke Xun was worried about did not happen. Mu Yiran spent more than ten minutes filling the top of the iron plate with water up to half a person's height, and then swam over. When he reached the vicinity of the exit, the water was already quite hot.
Fortunately, his clothes were covered by Ke Xun's waterproof jacket and didn't get wet. Ke Xun helped him dry off, and when he touched Mu Yiran's skin, which was still a little hot from being soaked in hot water, he suddenly felt a bit scared.
If Mu Yiran had swum any slower, he might have been scalded!
Ke Xun felt a pang of heartache at the thought, and a surge of anger rose up: "Damn it! We can't go on like this! From the moment we entered the painting until now, we've been completely led by the nose by this painting, forced to do whatever it tells us to do, constantly racking our brains to clear the level, when has there been any time to find autographs?! We can't be like that painting, 'The Scarlet Beast,' where the painting distracts us and we slowly forget our true purpose. When will this game ever end? No, we have to find a way to turn the tables!"
Qin Ci said, "This painting is different from the Scarlet Beast. The Scarlet Beast intentionally misled us, making us forget our original intention and not want to leave the painting. " "The world within. This painting isn't deceptive, but... I always feel like it has no end."
Mu Yiran nodded slightly: "We must find clues about the signature in this process, instead of being constantly led by the painting to complete the level. This painting has a trick; it keeps setting up levels, forcing us to constantly think about how to solve them. We hardly have any spare time to think about clues about the signature. As a result, we're playing through the levels day and night. If someone fails to complete a level, they'll die that night. Even if everyone completes it, we'll face a vote. It's like we're constantly wasting time internally, without any time to do anything to escape this situation."
"Each of our groups is trying to figure out how to solve the puzzles and escape these rooms as quickly as possible, which actually reduces the time we have to think about clues to almost nothing. This plays right into the painting's trap," Ke Xun said. "I think we need to extend the time we have to think about clues as much as possible. Since the time on our phones is the time shown in the painting, at least we can keep track of it. Don't rush to leave. Let's stay here and work on the clues, and keep an eye on the time on our phones. We'll leave through the exit as soon as it's almost dawn."
Qin Ci said, "It depends on the situation. To put it bluntly… if we're sure that someone in another group hasn't been able to pass the puzzle, then we can stay in the room
and stall for time. But if all the other groups have passed, we must hurry out and move on to the next level to avoid a vote…" "We can use the help function to contact the other groups," Ke Xun said. "We don't need to contact Dongzi and Haowen's group. Haowen and I agreed that if any of us are sure we can't pass the puzzle, we'll contact the other group to let them know."
Qin Ci remained silent.
"Let them know" was probably just a final farewell.
"I'll contact Fang Fei's group," Ke Xun said.
Fang Fei was paired with Deng Lin and He Tang for this challenge, and leading two newcomers alone was quite difficult.
Ke Xun was about to tap the help icon when Mu Yiran stopped him, saying, "Use yours sparingly, I'll handle it."
After connecting with Fang Fei, Mu Yiran asked her how her group was doing. Fang Fei sounded a little breathless, "It's okay, we just finished, and we're about to leave the room."
"Keep the call going. After you leave the room, check if the other two groups have made it through," Mu Yiran calmly instructed.
Fang Fei acted quickly, responding within seconds: "Shao Ling's group is out, but Zhu Haowen and Wei Dong aren't."
"We'll stay in the room a little longer," Mu Yiran said. "Tell Shao Ling to use this time to think carefully about the clues regarding the signature."
Fang Fei was clearly taken aback for a moment, but quickly recovered: "Okay."
After ending the call, Qin Ci was a little worried: "Will Haowen and Dongzi be alright?"
"If they really encountered a problem they couldn't solve, Dongzi would definitely ask for help," Ke Xun said. "The fact that he hasn't asked for help yet means he still has the strength to solve it."
Qin Ci was slightly relieved: "Then let's discuss the clues to the signature. Xiao Mu, what are your thoughts now?" "
As Ke Xun said, I also think the key to finding the signature lies in Cheng Shi's longing for his son," Mu Yiran said. "His son's death is the source of all this; the key lies with his son." "
But his son is already dead, so how can we find him?" Qin Ci pondered. "Could it be that Cheng Shi...hid his son's portrait in this painting?"
"But what we see in the painting, besides the black background, is this particle-like, wave-like thing," Ke Xun pointed to the ceiling, "there's no portrait of his son… unless you stare at a point for a while, like you'd see a 3D picture, before a three-dimensional outline appears—hmm, maybe that's possible, let me see."
He tilted his head back, staring intently at the empty space above.
Qin Ci thought Ke Xun's idea might actually be right, so he also looked up, hearing Mu Yiran say, "This painting by Cheng Shi, judging from the image alone and its title, seems to emphasize the wave-particle duality of matter. I think the clues to the signature might lead us in that direction."
"This Cheng Shi is strange too. He's clearly a painter, but he insists on talking to us about physics. What's most baffling is that he's talking about physics while he's insane. Do you think his explanations are accurate?" Ke Xun complained as he looked at the painting.
Upon hearing Ke Xun's casual remark, Mu Yiran suddenly had a thought and said slowly, "Many quantum physicists are called madmen, and many people who understand quantum physics also feel that they are mad. The reason is that some phenomena in quantum mechanics exceed our common sense and cognition, and even excee the range that normal people can accept. I think that Cheng's 'madness' may be directly related to certain phenomena."