"Should we try using the lever principle?" The little girl pointed at the crevice and suggested, "Look, there's a gap here. We can find something to wedge in it and pry it open together."

"It won't work." Xiao Feng shook his head, directly dismissing the girl's whimsical idea.

Give me a fulcrum, and I can lift the earth!

This is a famous phrase by Archimedes, written into textbooks.

But the reality is, you first need to find a fulcrum, and the lever must meet the standards.

Currently, the only thing at hand that can be used as a lever is a hiking stick, but against such thick rock, it's like trying to pry an elephant with a matchstick; pure wishful thinking.

Just then, Su Yuzhuo suddenly said, "There seems to be a pattern on it."

As he spoke, he directed his flashlight towards the rock.

Xiao Feng and the others looked and found a not-so-obvious indentation on the rock, with strange patterns that gave a deliberately disordered and awkward feeling.

"I know it!" Sun Shijie exclaimed in realization, "No wonder my family made me memorize a picture as a child; judging by the outline, this is the dismantled form of that drawing."

"So this is a mechanism? As long as we reconstruct the original pattern, we can open the path ahead?" Xiao Feng pondered aloud.

Everyone's eyes betrayed excitement they struggled to contain.

After traveling so far and enduring countless obstacles, they finally saw a glimmer of hope, and it seemed that solving the mechanism in front of them would lead them back to daylight.

Under such circumstances, even the strongest composure would inevitably falter.

"You reconstruct it." Xiao Feng stepped aside, signaling Sun Shijie to advance.

Sun Shijie put down his backpack and approached the rock, his expression immediately turning grim.

The mechanism before him resembled a child's puzzle toy made of small squares, with only one empty space for movement.

The problem was, children's puzzles typically involved nine squares with eight images; no matter how hard, after several attempts it could be completed.

However, upon counting, Sun Shijie found that this puzzle comprised nine horizontal and nine vertical squares, totaling eighty-one squares, with eighty moveable tiles—a setup sure to frustrate anyone.

In this situation, there was nothing to do but try his luck.

"Hoo..."

Exhaling deeply, Sun Shijie attempted to move the puzzle before him.

The image didn't require much recollection; it was already deeply ingrained in his mind, and he quickly got into the rhythm.

...

Half an hour passed, and Sun Shijie was drenched in sweat—not from exertion, but anxiety.

Despite spending thirty minutes, he barely pieced together the top two squares of the image, revealing the head of a koi fish.

But he quickly realized that to complete the bottom part, he must dismantle the already completed upper squares, leading to total disarray.

"No way, at this rate, I won't finish even in ten days or half a month." Sun Shijie wiped the sweat off his face, appearing deeply troubled.

Xiao Feng and the others could say nothing, understanding that knowing the image is one thing, but reconstructing the chaotic pattern is entirely different.

Su Yuzhuo consoled, "Uncle Sun, don't rush. I think you could try drawing the original image first. Then we can map out each piece's shape by scale together, and collectively think of a solution."

Sun Shijie glanced at Su Yuzhuo, his expression calm: "That's an idea."

Then, he took out paper and pen from his bag and drew the image from memory.

Ten minutes later, a completed drawing appeared.

The drawing depicted a koi fish swimming in a lotus pond, with a pavilion alongside and willows on the shore; even dewdrops on the lotus leaves, with quite rich details.

Just as Sun Shijie was about to tear the paper and start drawing the scales,\ Lu Yao chuckled and said, "No need for that trouble. I'll sketch it on the computer and divide the proportions faster."

"Okay." Sun Shijie readily agreed.

To people of his age, computer-generated proportions seem more precise, inexplicably impressive.

Impressively imposing despite unclear understanding.

Lu Yao's efficiency was always high; while it took Sun Shijie ten minutes to draw on paper, she completed it on the computer in about three minutes.

Then, added grid lines to the image.

After finishing everything, Lu Yao glanced at the rock pattern, checking several times before rotating the screen to show everyone: "It's roughly like this."

Xiao Feng touched his chin, immediately noticing an issue, and pointed to the lotus leaves and pavilion: "These squares are exactly alike."

Everyone noticed it too; identical patterns seemed suitable anywhere, but relative to the whole, positions cannot be altered.

"Can we create a program to simulate the complete image's assembly?" Su Yuzhuo asked.

Lu Yao shook her head: "No, maybe outside, but there's no internet here, and many technologies can't be used."

The problem seemed to revert to the beginning; although they had seen the complete image, there was no breakthrough.

After some silence, Lu Yao suggested, "How about I write a simple program to emulate the puzzle on the rock, and we all try to reconstruct it?"

Everyone exchanged glances and nodded: "That's the only way."

Then, they divided into two groups and began working.

In front of the rock, Sun Shijie took out his pipe, smoking while discussing with Ninth Uncle and Zhao Guo'an.

Meanwhile, Xiao Feng, the little girl, and others gathered around the computer for continuous trials.

After about twenty minutes of this, Xiao Feng suddenly realized something and halted: "I have a question. Even if we piece together the puzzle here, what good will it do?"

Everyone froze, then gradually understood.

Indeed!

What good even if we piece it together here?

The mechanism still won't open!

"My program can store the move trajectory, then on that side follow our net..." the voice trailed off, clearly also realizing it late.

A very simple truth.

Though both sides engaged in simultaneous unlocking, move steps and directions differed; the computer could save the move sequence on the grid, but the rock evidently couldn't.

"Bang!"

After shutting down, Lu Yao closed the laptop.

Xiao Feng and others looked upset; after all this busy work, it was futile.\ If they could stay cheerfully, they'd be too carefree.

"Any other way?" Lin Zhiyan looked at Xiao Feng and asked.

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