The Jiang Fan squad returned to the camp, making final preparations for departure.
To enter the volcano, they needed to be ready for rock climbing; relying solely on the indentations in the stone walls was unreliable. Therefore, Jiang Fan led the team in setting up climbing ropes overnight. If possible, drilling climbing anchors into the rock face and inserting bolts and nuts into the cracks would be ideal. However, Jiang Fan's initial exploration revealed no apparent cracks in the cave walls of the volcano. Thus, they had to resort to a different method.
Before descending, Jiang Fan threw a stone into the volcano's crater to gauge the situation below by sound. The stone's echo was convoluted, taking about seven to eight seconds before a "bang" was heard, seemingly hitting something like a platform far below. This was a simple physics problem, solvable by Jiang Fan himself without needing Professor Zhang's expertise. The next platform was approximately thirty meters below the opening. Consequently, a fifty-meter climbing rope would suffice. Once they reached a platform, they could retrieve the rope and continue climbing to the next one.
As the sun rose, Jiang Fan's squad set off towards the volcano's crater. At the crater's rim, they secured the rope to the rock face nearby. Under Jiang Fan's direction, he and Zhou Niannian tied the main rope, while Yao and Dai Xiaomei secured the auxiliary rope. He first folded the main rope in half, creating a loop, and then instructed Yao and Dai Xiaomei to thread the auxiliary rope through the loop. Next, they wrapped the auxiliary rope around the main rope once, folded it, and pulled the two loops tight, completing a simple climbing device. Jiang Fan instructed his teammates to brace against the rock face with their feet and pull the main rope taut while descending. Upon reaching the next platform, they would pull the auxiliary rope forcefully, which would automatically release the climbing device, allowing the two ropes to slide down. They would then reassemble the device.
Panda pointed at himself and squeaked, implying that he was heavy and might pose a risk if he descended with them. "No, you weigh the same as Zhou Niannian," Jiang Fan replied, only to be immediately swatted by Zhou Niannian. Dodging her attack, Jiang Fan gave Panda a stone and a pulley. This pulley was made by Jiang Fan from wood found in the forest. Panda looked at the tools, confused. "Place the pulley on the edge of the crater and wait there. We'll signal you. Then, tie yourself to the rope, tie the stone to the other end, and we'll pull you down." Panda finally understood; it was a device similar to the one used to lower buckets from a well. Jiang Fan nodded, recognizing Panda's intelligence.
With everything prepared, Jiang Fan and the other three began to descend into the volcano. For caution, Jiang Fan lit a torch to illuminate their surroundings. The interior of the volcano was surprisingly quiet and safe. The stone walls were dry, devoid of slippery moss that could cause them to lose their footing. There were no annoying poisonous insects buzzing around them. Jiang Fan, who had been worried about insects being attracted to the light, was relieved. To his further satisfaction, the footholds were deep enough that with his and Yao's agility, they could have descended without the climbing ropes, relying on their bare hands. Moreover, shortly after entering, Jiang Fan's torchlight revealed a large platform below. The platform was spacious enough to accommodate all four of them, plus a panda.
As they were climbing down, Zhou Niannian suddenly spoke. "Have you guys seen that movie, 'Vertical Limit'?" "Seen it, seen it! Oh, it was so scary. Several people fell off the cliff at the beginning," Dai Xiaomei said, patting her chest. Jiang Fan, from above, said with a mix of amusement and exasperation, "They were climbing a real natural cliff. They wouldn't bother with cave walls that have natural holds." "That's because they had to drill climbing bolts into the cracks every five or ten meters. Ours is more like what you see in the Olympics, where they climb with their bare hands." Zhou Niannian stuck out her tongue. "I remember those people who fell at the beginning were dragged down by the person above them who fell. Jiang Fan, you better not fall!" Jiang Fan scoffed, confident in his ability to hold the rear and climb even without ropes if necessary. "Be careful about this. Why don't we hurry and climb faster? Be careful that Gungun falls asleep above and snores us all the way down." As they spoke, the group descended rapidly. The rocks zipped past them, and gradually, the temperature began to drop. The temperature above was at least forty degrees Celsius, and before reaching the first platform, it had already fallen to just over thirty degrees. Based on this, they estimated that by the time they reached the first platform, the temperature would be in the low twenties. Even the color of the rocks had changed; the upper parts were black or red, while the rocks below had taken on the familiar grayish-blue hue. "I think we need to put on more clothes. By the time we reach the bottom of the volcano, the temperature might be below zero," Jiang Fan warned his teammates. The sudden drastic temperature change was disorienting even for him. "It's so strange, isn't it? Shouldn't the temperature increase as we get closer to the Earth's core? It's actually getting colder as we go down." "This is truly unexpected. This place certainly doesn't follow common sense," Zhou Niannian and Dai Xiaomei remarked. The group descended quickly, and before they knew it, they had smoothly landed on the first platform. Zhou Niannian yanked the rope sharply, releasing the climbing device, which fell down. This was their signal for Panda. Then, the group worked together to use the pulley system, resembling a bucket-lifting mechanism, to lower Panda down. Once Panda landed, he whimpered and patted his chest, chattering at Jiang Fan and the others. He then pointed at the footholds above with a look of disdain. "What is Gungun saying?" Zhou Niannian asked Jiang Fan curiously. "I guess he's saying that for a cliff this easy, he could climb down by himself without ropes," Jiang Fan translated Panda's words, and Panda proudly lifted his head. "What? Pandas are so fat, can they really climb that well?" Zhou Niannian didn't believe it and patted Panda's plump body. Yao nodded, confirming Panda's claim. He had once chased wolves in the mountains and seen pandas navigate the rugged terrain as if it were flat ground, quickly outrunning the wolves. Afterward, the wolves stopped chasing pandas, finding it a futile effort, and the frustration of seeing but not being able to catch the fatty meat was unbearable. The viewers in the livestream were stunned. "These people are so agile, chatting while rock climbing!" "If it were me, I'd be too scared and my hands and feet would be numb, and I'd fall." "Jiang Shen is one thing, but when did Dai Xiaomei and Zhou Niannian become so fierce?" "They've been following Jiang Shen for quite a while now; they must have learned something by watching." "Indeed, people grow." Jiang Fan busied himself securing the device at this new landing spot, preparing to descend further.