As Professor Zhang's voice rang out, we all couldn't help but look towards him.
"Can you bring the body back first?" Professor Zhang pointed at Ma Xuejin's corpse not far away and asked.
Yang Hanxue did not refuse. He nodded and walked towards the corpse.
But who knew that the moment he stepped onto a paving stone nearby, it instantly sank.
In a flash, Yang Hanxue abruptly jumped back from that paving stone, but unexpectedly, the paving stone that was supposed to be safe had now also sunk.
For a moment, everyone was stunned!
And Yang Hanxue, as if facing a formidable enemy, began to shuttle rapidly between the paving stones!
Fortunately, he was agile. He stepped on several paving stones in succession, and everyone was unharmed!
Finally, he found a safe paving stone to stabilize himself.
As for Ma Xuejin's corpse, due to the triggering of the mechanism, it was cut into several pieces, making it gruesome to behold.
"What's going on?" Zheng Shuxuan asked Professor Zhang, his brow furrowed.
Professor Zhang pondered for a moment and said, "It seems that as soon as we step on the wrong tile, the original sequence will be disrupted..."
"What do we do now?" I asked.
"Let me re-deduce it."
As Professor Zhang spoke, he stared at the paving stones and began drawing on the ground with his geological hammer.
I couldn't understand his deductions at all, and neither could the others.
As if sensing our confusion, Professor Zhang explained as he deduced, "These stones represent different hells. Each of the eight hot hells has sixteen minor hells, so eight layers combined equal one hundred and twenty-eight minor hells..."
Hearing this, I couldn't help but interject, "In other words, those paving stones are arranged according to one hundred and twenty-eight minor hells?"
Professor Zhang nodded, "That's right, so as long as we find the sequence of the first hell, we can deduce the correct safe positions."
He also enlightened us on many minor hells, whose names I completely failed to remember, such as the Hell of Many Torments, the Hell of the Wheel of Blades, the Hell of Boiling Oil...
In any case, I just listened to him recite many hellish names, but I didn't remember much.
I must say, the foundational knowledge of these old professors is indeed solid. With so many hellish names, I would never be able to remember them.
The problem is that he isn't a professor of religious studies, but an archaeology professor.
After Professor Zhang finished his deductions, he provided a new route. This time, he didn't ask Yang Hanxue to drag the body but told him to go ahead first.
When Yang Hanxue reached the stone door at the innermost part by crossing the uneven paving stones, he hammered pitons into the cave wall and then threw the climbing rope he had brought over.
It turned out that he and Zheng Shuxuan had discussed this beforehand. He would go first, and then they would set up a zipline with the rope. When we attached our carabiners, we could slide over directly.
I must say, this method was indeed excellent.
Holding the other end of the rope, we also hammered pitons into the cave wall on our side.
Soon, a cable was set up. Zheng Shuxuan, without hesitation, clipped onto the zipline and slid over, almost skimming the paving stones.
After she went across, Professor Zhang also seemed eager to try. At this moment, Wang Yue said, "Teacher, I'll go first."
Professor Zhang nodded at this, "Alright, be careful."
Fatty and I helped Wang Yue tie the zipline. Then, we gave her a strong push, and she slid out.
But who knew that halfway through the slide, she stopped herself with her hands.
Just as we were all wondering what she was doing, she took out a rope and threw it towards Ma Xuejin's corpse on the ground.
Ma Xuejin's corpse was now in several pieces. Judging by her actions, she wanted to drag the body parts back.
"Xiao Yue, what are you doing?" Professor Zhang couldn't help but shout.
Wang Yue turned her head, her voice choked with tears, "Teacher, I can't just leave Senior Xuejin's body here..."
"I know, but this is not the time to drag the body!" Professor Zhang said, getting anxious.
Frankly, her actions were indeed risky.
To drag the body back, someone would have to go down.
Seeing her feet about to land, Professor Zhang immediately shouted, "Wait! Let me calculate first. Don't do anything rash!"
Upon hearing this, her feet, which were about to touch the ground, coiled back onto the rope.
Soon, Professor Zhang deduced the safe paving stones. Following Professor Zhang's instructions, Wang Yue moved to the paving stone closest to the corpse.
She crouched down, tied the body with the rope, and then hung it on the zipline, giving her zipline to the corpse.
Honestly, seeing her do this made me feel nervous.
But I couldn't say anything more, as no one could just watch their companion's body be discarded like that.
If it were Fatty's corpse, I wouldn't let it be carelessly abandoned either.
No one expressed any opinions. As Wang Yue slid the body back on the zipline, I exchanged a look with Fatty. We quickly went over, untied the body from the zipline, and placed it properly aside.
After the body was taken care of, Professor Zhang told Wang Yue to quickly get to a safe place.
Wang Yue complied. She re-attached the zipline to herself, and just as she was about to slide, the zipline suddenly got stuck.
She was left hanging in the air, unable to move.
"What happened?" Professor Zhang shouted.
"It seems to be stuck..."
"Don't worry, take it slow, see if you can move it," Professor Zhang said, becoming anxious as he began to calculate the safe paving stones on the ground.
I noticed that the nearest safe paving stone he deduced was still several meters away from Wang Yue.
Unless Wang Yue could move, she wouldn't be able to reach the safe paving stone.
Watching Wang Yue struggle on the rope for more than ten minutes, clearly showing signs of exhaustion, I couldn't help but become nervous.
At this moment, none of us could help her.
We could only watch her, unable to do anything.
"Teacher... I can't hold on..." Wang Yue said, her legs coiled on the rope slowly dropping.
"Hold on a little longer!" I suddenly thought of something and quickly asked Fatty to get the spare rope and throw the other end over.
I told her to tie the rope around herself, unfasten the zipline, and use a carabiner to clip onto the cable. We would then pull her back.
This was the only solution at the moment.
Although the resistance of the carabiner was significant, we had enough people on our side to pull her back.
Wang Yue did as I said and managed to unfasten the carabiner from the zipline and clip it onto the cable.
Just as we breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to pull her back, she suddenly lost her balance, accidentally stepping on a paving stone on the ground. In an instant, a scream erupted!