Escape From the Library

【Endless Stairway-03】

The reason why the Möbius ring becomes an infinite path that can never go out is because the paper strips are connected end to end after being rotated. As long as this connection point is disconnected, the paper strips will return to normal, and the same is true for the Penrose ladder. .

At this time, 7 people were standing on the stairs marked with "4".After getting Xingwen's consent, Zhang Xiaonian simply used an excavator to dig out the connecting point between the "4" and "1" stairs.

As soon as the orange excavator shoveled down, there was a crisp sound of "pop" in everyone's ears, as if a building block was broken.Immediately afterwards, there was another "rumbling" sound, and the stairs under their feet actually started to rotate!

Yue Xingwen immediately reminded: "Everyone stand firm!"

Everyone was shaken to this side, and they hurriedly held on to the handrail of the stairs on the right.The entire staircase turned them 180 degrees counterclockwise before it came to a steady stop.

Everyone looked at each other.

Ke Shaobin whispered, "Harry Potter's Magic Castle?"

Qin Lu was stunned, and said, "This staircase can actually move, it seems that there is a hidden mechanism?"

There was another flight of stairs in front of them, which was connected to the stairs marked "4" where they were, and there was no "1" mark on the stairs ahead.That is to say, the original 1, 2, 3, 4 are connected end-to-end and endlessly looped. The distorted space returns to normal due to the disconnection of the connection point. The connection above 4 is no longer 1, but a new steps.

Yue Xingwen looked up and could still see the familiar glass ceiling.The surrounding scene seems to have not changed at all, and all the stairs look exactly the same as before.

Unknowingly, they have actually followed the rotation of the stairs and came to another space.

Jiang Pingce frowned and said, "Xiao Nian, measure the distance."

Zhang Xiaonian immediately took out the laser range finder, measured the distance between the current staircase and the roof, and then said in surprise: "The distance has changed, it is 27.5 meters!"

Just now, they were 30 meters away from the roof.

Climb from the 1st floor to the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and then connect to the 1st floor. No matter where you are, you are 30 meters away from the roof.This shows that they have been climbing up on the surface, but in fact, they are constantly circling on a strange horizontal plane.

This is the weirdness of the Penrose ladder-what the eyes see is not consistent with the space where the body is.

Now 27.5 meters from the ceiling, apparently they went up 2.5 meters!

Jiang Pingce said: "It seems that we have finally left the first floor."

Zhang Xiaonian excitedly said: "Each floor space is 2.5 meters high, just now it was 30 meters away from the roof, assuming we were on the first floor; now the distance is 1 meters, this is the real second floor!"

Jiang Pingce closed his eyes and quickly drew a three-dimensional geometric model in his mind.

After clearing his mind, he looked at Yue Xingwen and said: "We can understand this building as a tower-like structure. The total height is 30 meters, the storey height is 2.5 meters, and there are 12 floors in total. Each floor of the tower , is an independent space, and the interior of the space is a four-story circular staircase connected to each other. The towers on each floor are connected to each other by hidden organs."

While listening, Ke Shaobin drew a model diagram on the computer, and soon he drew a structure of a 12-story tower, and each floor of the tower was composed of 4 stairs.Ke Shaobin rotated the laptop screen and asked Jiang Pingce, "Is that what you mean?"

Jiang Pingce nodded: "Almost."

Zhang Xiaonian looked at the model diagram and said excitedly: "It is very clear from this point of view. The space inside each floor tower is calculated independently. We are now from the first floor tower to the second floor tower. The organs between the two floor towers, It’s the junction of stairs No. 4 and No. 1 just now.” He looked at Jiang Pingce with admiration, “Brother, do you also understand architectural design?”

Jiang Pingce said indifferently: "Using solid geometry reasoning, the principle is the same."

Everyone leaned over to take a closer look. As soon as the picture was drawn, everyone immediately felt that the three-dimensional maze in front of them became more intuitive.Just now, the circular staircase they couldn't climb out was actually "the first floor space of the twelve-story tower". After Zhang Xiaonian dug the connecting point of stairs 4 and 1 with an excavator, he triggered the mechanism, and the stairs rotated, making the first floor The space is connected with the second floor space.

So, where is the organ that connects the second floor space to the third floor space?

Yue Xingwen thought about it carefully, and said: "How about this, Brother Zhuo also marked it according to the tower structure, now it is a 2-story tower, written as 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 2-4, when it reaches 3 For layered towers, just write 3-1, 3-2 so that there will be no confusion later on."

All the stairs are exactly the same, and it is difficult to distinguish them without marking.The marking method mentioned by Yue Xingwen is indeed very intuitive. Everyone can know which floor they are on just by looking at the marking.

Yue Xingwen said: "Brother, change your position with me, you go ahead, so it's easier to mark."

Zhuo Feng nodded, summoned a golden electric current, and burned a [2-1] mark on the steps ahead.

Everyone continued to climb up. The stairs here are the same as before. It is also divided into 13 steps, slanted upwards at an angle of 45 degrees, with a total vertical height of 2.5 meters, and an included angle of 90 degrees with the connecting stairs.

他们在爬完2-1，2-2，2-3之后，果然回到刚才标注“4”的这一层。

Encountering the Penrose Circular Staircase again!

卓峰在“4”这层上面，烧出了一个“1-4”“2-4”。

Jiang Pingce said: "It seems that the fourth step is the connection point between the first floor space and the second floor space. In order to verify the conclusion, Xiaonian, you can dig it up and see."

Zhang Xiaonian nodded, and dug out the connection point between 2-4 and 2-1.The familiar rumble sounded, and the steps they were on began to rotate 180 degrees counterclockwise again, and then, the familiar "1" appeared in front of them!

Yue Xingwen said: "Turn 180 degrees counterclockwise, and turn 180 degrees again, we turned back again?"

Zhang Xiaonian measured it with a laser rangefinder and said excitedly: "30 meters from the roof, we have indeed returned to the first floor!"

It seems that Jiang Pingce's deduction is completely correct.

Yue Xingwen patted Jiang Pingce's shoulder with a smile: "Tower-like structure, each floor of the tower is calculated independently, thank you for thinking it out."

Jiang Pingce's three-dimensional geometry is very good. Yue Xingwen has always known that his spatial imagination is not comparable to ordinary people. Even if he is not a major in architecture, he can analyze the core design of this maze through data reasoning and geometric modeling. Sure enough, Yue Xingwen was very impressed in his heart, and he couldn't help but look at Jiang Pingce and said, "Next, you lead the team, and I will follow you."

The corners of Jiang Pingce's lips twitched lightly: "Yes."

He looked at Zhuo Feng and said, "Brother Zhuo, please remark the stairs on the first floor."

卓峰将原本烧出来的2、3、4标记都修改成1-2、1-3、1-4，代表这里是一层空间。其中，1-4和2-4是同一段台阶，也就是机关连接处。

Jiang Pingce said: "Disconnect the mechanism and go to the second floor."

Zhang Xiaonian disconnected the connection point again and returned to the second-floor space just now.

Everyone walked up a few steps, Jiang Ping said: "Disconnect 2-2 and 2-3."

章小年迅速操作，将2-2和2-3断开之后他们所在的2-2楼梯也开始旋转，这次是顺时针旋转90度，连到下一层台阶，大家看见了熟悉的“1-2”。

Lin Manluo was stunned: "Have we returned to the first floor?"

江平策道：“断开1-4和1-1，去2楼，再断开2-3和2-4。”

Zhang Xiaonian obediently followed Jiang Pingce's instructions. Everyone returned to the second floor. Zhang Xiaonian opened the connection point 2-2 and 3-2. After the 4-2 stairs turned, a new unmarked step appeared in front of him.

This time without Jiang Pingce's reminder, Zhang Xiaonian consciously took out the laser rangefinder, measured the distance between the current position and the glass skylight on the roof, and then said excitedly: "The distance from the roof is 25 meters, we have come to the third floor of the tower !"

Everyone looked at each other with joy in their eyes.

Jiang Pingce calmly concluded: "Each floor of the tower is composed of 4 sections of Penrose stairs connected end to end, and the connection points between the stairs are hidden organs, two of which lead to the upper floor and two to the next floor. If the space behind also follows this rule, every time we go to a new floor, we only need to do 3-choice 2-choice questions to exclude the steps we are on. Go through it once, and this maze will become very simple."

Ke Shaobin couldn't help complaining: "Other people might faint when they come in, but you actually said it was very simple."

Jiang Pingce: "..."

Yue Xingwen said with a smile: "For us Ping Ce, it is very simple. He has done all the geometric modeling in his mind."

Jiang Pingce looked indifferent: "Go on. I don't think that the maze made by designer Zhao should not always follow the same law and repeat 12 times in a row."

Zhang Xiaonian agreed: "I also feel that it took us 10 minutes to get to the third floor. If the rules are the same, we can get out in less than half an hour."

Yue Xingwen said: "Hurry up and keep going."

Everyone continued to go up. Zhang Xiaonian dug the connection point of 3-2 and 3-3. After the stairs rotated, there was a new step in front of him. Walking to the new step and measuring the distance, it was 22.5 meters. Zhang Xiaonian said: " The fourth floor!"

Jiang Pingce: "Continue."

According to distance reasoning, a 30-meter-high building has a floor of 2.5 meters, and the entire building has 12 floors.At present, they have gone to the 4th floor, and the rules of the first 4 floors are the same. It is impossible to go all the way to the 12th floor, and the rules are all the same, right?

Zhuo Feng marked [4-1] on the steps ahead.

Everyone continued to go up, and just a few steps later, there was a strange "bang" sound in their ears, and the steps they were on suddenly broke from the middle!

Jiang Pingce and Zhang Xiaonian walked in the front for distance measurement, Zhuo Feng made a mark and walked side by side with them, and the rest Yue Xingwen, Ke Shaobin, Qin Lu and Lin Manluo walked behind.Everyone follows each other very closely, and the front and rear feet do not exceed one step.

However, the stairs suddenly broke under their feet!

Yue Xingwen almost stepped on the ground, Jiang Pingce heard the voice, turned his head almost like a conditioned reflex, and grabbed Yue Xingwen's arm suddenly: "Be careful!"

The broken steps let the four of Yue Xingwen's feet empty, and they fell rapidly!

Zhuo Feng shouted: "Manluo!"

Lin Manluo reacted very quickly, she stretched out her right hand suddenly, and the green vine climbed up instantly like a spirit snake, directly entangled Zhuo Feng's waist, Zhuo Feng grabbed the other end of the vine and pulled her up forcefully, Lin Manluo hung in the air, His face turned pale: "Qin Lu and Xiao Ke fell!"

Yue Xingwen's entire body was also hanging in the air at this time. He turned his head and looked behind him, but Ke Shaobin and Qin Lu could no longer be seen. There were densely packed back-shaped stairs under his feet, like an abyss... Will he fall into the sky? Bolognese?

Yue Xingwen's heart trembled, and he hurriedly grabbed Jiang Pingce's hand.

Jiang Pingce's back was tense, and the veins on the back of his hands were bulging. He held Yue Xingwen tightly, and said in a deep voice, "I'll pull you up."

Yue Xingwen nodded: "Yes."

Jiang Pingce squatted down, holding Yue Xingwen's hand with his right hand, and grabbed Yue Xingwen's shoulder with the other hand and pulled him up. With his strength, Yue Xingwen climbed up with his hands and feet and sat on the stairs. Next to him, he gasped in fear.

Lin Manluo was also pulled up by Zhuo Feng with vines.

Yue Xingwen glanced down, and Ke Shaobin and Qin Lu disappeared, only the screams of the two fell in his ears, Yue Xingwen hurriedly typed on the research group channel: "Ke Shao, Qin Lu? Are you still there?" ?"

After a while, Ke Shaobin replied: "We fell back to the 1st floor, and I saw the 1-2 mark drawn by Brother Zhuo."

Yue Xingwen said: "It's good that people are fine!"

Qin Lu and Ke Shaobin were also very frightened. When they fell directly just now, they thought they would fall to their deaths, but they fell back to the first floor. Ke Shaobin made a false alarm and typed: "Fortunately, it's not a survival course, otherwise the two of us are now It's meatloaf."

Qin Lu also calmed down, and said, "I located the position of 4-1 on the globe just now, do you want to teleport it?"

Yue Xingwen said: "Come back."

Qin Lu turned on the plate to switch positions, and the two of them really appeared at the stairs.Lin Manluo's expression softened a little: "The stairs broke too suddenly just now, and I didn't even have time to hold you back. You two didn't get injured!"

Ke Shaobin smiled and said, "It's okay, senior sister."

This staircase has been completely broken, and the distance between the breaks is more than 2 meters, so they can't jump over it.

Qin Lu asked, "Shall I move again?"

Lin Manluo said, "Let me do it, save your skills."

After she finished speaking, she raised her right hand, and five consecutive green vines sprang out from her hand quickly, and they were placed between the broken stairs, forming a green "vine bridge". At the same time, the other end of the vines was tied between Ke Shaobin and Qin The exposed waist, so that the two of them will not fall off.

Lin Manluo said, "Come over here, be careful."

Ke Shaobin and Qin Lu took a few steps forward, and Zhuo Feng and Lin Manluo who were opposite immediately grabbed their hands and pulled them over in one go.The crowd gathered again, and Yue Xingwen was finally relieved to see that the two of them were not injured, and said: "I was shocked, this staircase was really broken off guard."

Jiang Pingce looked down at him: "Are you okay?"

Yue Xingwen sat on the next step, smiled and shook his head: "It's okay, it's a false alarm. Fortunately, I'm not a big fat man, otherwise, you might not be able to pull me, and I would drag you down instead."

You can still joke, it seems to be really all right.Jiang Pingce stretched out his hand to Yue Xingwen who was sitting next to him. Yue Xingwen handed his hand to the other party naturally. Jiang Pingce gave him a hand to make Yue Xingwen stand firm. Then he looked at his teammates and said, "Floor 4 At the beginning, the pattern of the stairs is different from before, and it may break suddenly when you walk in the middle, so be careful where you step!"