"Indeed, the disappearance of the oil lamp alone does not mean anything, and there are two possibilities you mentioned. But I quickly ruled out both possibilities, because if I revisited Ma Lei's description, I would find that the part of his hallucination that was known to be removed, and the rest of the part was corroborated by my conjecture. ”

Pei Wuxian was like a competent compliment, and said suspiciously: "Oh? ”

Yu Qingfeng explained:

"I have analyzed it before, the shadow of the ghost that Ma Lei saw on the wall, the white filaments that came out of the stone pillars and wrapped around his neck, and the ghost hands that covered his mouth were all hallucinations. These hallucinations are all caused by Ma Lei's subconscious fear, and there are traces to follow. ”

Yu Qingfeng didn't care if Zhan Yaoyuan could understand any subconscious, and no matter if Zhan Yaoyuan didn't know the origin of Ma Lei's fear, anyway, she just told Lian Shurong alone.

"That's right." Lian Shurong is like a good student who listens carefully, follows the teacher's ideas, and is completely engaged. Apparently, he remembered the meaning of the word subconscious.

"Ma Lei also has some descriptions, which may be hallucinations, but he can't explain why he has such hallucinations, such as feeling something falling from above the Nether Tower, such as hearing a 'click' sound, and then feeling dizzy."

"Isn't it because Wang Jiansheng lent Ma Lei and Ye Xuanlang to give them a holy mushroom?" Lian Shurong asked.

"That's right, there are holy mushrooms, and there are wines. At that time, they thought they were drunk, and they only knew to find the reason from themselves. This is also why the Nether Tower needs to be paired with holy mushrooms in order to serve the purpose of intimidation.

"Because the person who takes the holy mushroom will be dizzy itself, plus this circular staircase, I will be dizzy if I don't eat the holy mushroom, and I will be dizzy if I climb a few floors. This perfectly disguises the fact that the spiral staircase of the Nether Tower itself is slowly rotating. ”

Yu Qingfeng said a word that broke the sky, and sure enough, only Lian Shurong was surprised.

"Slow spin? You said that the Netherworld Tower has four underground floors, and I can understand that the ancestors of the Zhan clan wanted to artificially create a hell to intimidate people, but why is this slowly rotating staircase?

"The Netherworld Tower is a twelve-sided tower, fourteen stories high, with a round hole in the center of the tower, and a huge stone pillar that leads to the top of the tower, and the wooden steps are evenly distributed on the stone pillars, spiraling upwards.

"The mystery of the Nether Tower is on this huge stone pillar, which can rotate, slowly rotating and moving downward. At this time, the ground on the first floor will also open a hole under the control of the mechanism, allowing the stone pillar to rotate downward with the plank steps.

"At the same time, the exit on the first floor also disappeared under the control of the mechanism, that is, the screen made of stone bricks, which can also be moved, and moving outward can completely block the light and wind on both sides, creating the illusion that the exit disappears in the dark."

"Wait a minute," Lian Shurong interrupted Yu Qingfeng, "I understand what you mean, but even if the stone pillar slowly descends four floors and the exit of the first floor disappears, so that it will not be discovered by the drowsy people, but if they go up to the tenth floor and find that there are floors above, but there are no stone pillars and steps, wouldn't it be easy to see through the mystery?" ”

"Of course not. Lord Lian, the stone pillar itself is eighteen stories high. The Nether Tower we see has fourteen floors, eighteen steps on each floor, and a total of two hundred and fifty-two steps. In fact, the Netherworld Tower has eighteen floors, a total of 324 steps, but there are four stone pillars with a height of 4 floors that are hidden in the spire, and 72 steps that are hidden in the stone pillars. ”

Lian Shurong patted his forehead and said in surprise: "That's right, the spire of the Netherworld Tower is very high, and it is far from the bottom up, so it looks thin, but it is actually thicker than the stone pillar." The extra four-story stone pillars are hidden in the spire! ”

Lin Ming asked at the right time: "I can understand that the stone pillar is hidden in the spire, and the wooden plank you said is hidden in the stone pillar is ......."

Yu Qingfeng explained: "The spire can only be used as a cover for the stone pillars, not the wooden steps, so the wooden steps are hidden in the stone pillars.

Ma Lei said that the wooden planks are inserted into the stone pillars, and the wooden planks are rectangular, not fan-shaped, because if they are fan-shaped, they cannot shrink back into the stone pillars.

"When a groggy person enters the Netherworld Tower under the cover of darkness and has gone up a few floors, the person hiding in the nineteenth floor mechanism room can open the mechanism, and the human power will drive the gear mechanism, and the stone pillar will move downward while rotating, driving the staircase to rotate slowly downward. At the height of the next step, the top pillar detached from the spire, and a plank slab ejected.

"Therefore, only those who enter the Nether Tower will have different interpretations of the number of floors of the Nether Tower, depending on how many floors the stone pillar has moved down. They got lost in it, couldn't find the door on the first floor where they were supposed to see the tower gate, went back and forth, and instead went underground. The most unlucky one entered the fourth underground floor, the so-called eighteenth layer of hell. ”

Lian Shurong high-fived and said excitedly: "I understand, so what Ma Lei said heard a 'click', like the sound of wood cracking, was actually from the top floor, the sound of wooden steps ejecting from the stone pillar." At the same time, he felt dizzy and his body lost his balance, because he felt the rotation of the stone pillar. ”

Lin Ming echoed: "Because the stone pillar rotates slowly, and because the two of them have been spinning in circles and climbing the building, coupled with the effect of the holy mushroom, they can't sense the rotation of the stone pillar at all. ”

Yu Qingfeng continued to explain: "Yes. Later, Ma Lei mentioned that after he fell, he felt that his foot hanging in the air was hit by something falling from above. What is it, because the environment is dark and too fast, Ma Lei can't see clearly.

"It should be a small broken stone on a stone pillar. Another plank slab popped out of the pillar, carrying a small piece of stone from the pillar.

Later, Ma Lei saw a lot of small stones that had fallen, but at that time, the holy mushrooms in his body had completely taken effect, and he was deeply immersed in the illusion of fear, thinking that he had dropped the oil lamp, and thought that the stones that had fallen several times were his oil lamp caught in a cycle of up and down.

Pei Wuyi smiled and said, "This is what you just said, something that fell everywhere in the tower, but Aunt Shen turned a blind eye. ”

"That's right, it's just a small rock, perfectly hidden in a deserted watchtower that no one has ever set foot on. How could Aunt Shen care? So even if they see it, they will say, there is nothing in the tower. ”

Pei Wuyi nodded and recalled: "Ma Lei also said that when Ye Xuanlang met with him, he told him that Ye Xuanlang couldn't seem to go upstairs when he went upstairs, and Ma Lei didn't seem to be able to go down when he went downstairs by himself. This is also because the spiral staircase has been slowly rotating downwards. ”

"That's right, the stone pillar rotates downward, and Ye Xuanlang goes up, just like a person walking up on a descending escalator, although the stairs go down slowly, but Ye Xuanlang at that time was also physically exhausted, and he walked slowly, not much better than standing still, so it was like going up all the time, but he couldn't go all the way.

"Ma Lei, who went downstairs, didn't seem to be able to walk to the end, that was because Ma Lei walked down from the eighth floor, not only walked the original eight floors, but also walked four extra floors."

Lin Ming, Lian Shurong, and Zhan Yaoyuan repeated in unison:

"Escalator?"

Yu Qingfeng subconsciously glanced at Pei Wuyi, and the other party was also looking at her inexplicably.

"Slip of the tongue, slip of the tongue." Yu Qingfeng didn't bother to explain, so she was directly perfunctory.

Pei Wuyi saw that the other three were still entangled in Yu Qingfeng's slip of the tongue, so he interrupted the question at the right time: "I still have one of the biggest questions, that is, why go to great lengths to make a spiral staircase that rotates and moves up and down?" ”

"That's right!" Zhan Yaoyuan pretended, "Why don't you build a normal staircase, from the fourteenth floor of the top floor to the underground, a total of eighteen floors." In this case, all you need to do is build a trap that opens and closes the ground. ”

Yu Qingfeng's skin is not smiling and facing Zhan Yaoyuan, this guy is really like a play, and it all depends on his acting skills.

"This question, King Xiaonan should know better than me." Yu Qingfeng couldn't help but want a showdown in the face of the drama spirit.

Zhan Yaoyuan shrugged his shoulders and pretended to be innocent, "This, this king really doesn't know, I have to consult Yu Sizhi." ”

Pei Wuxian gave Yu Qingfeng a look.

Yu Qingfeng knew that he really couldn't go head-to-head with Zhan Yaoyuan now, after all, they were on someone else's territory, and they really had to act with him. Zhan Yaoyuan's crimes had to wait for them to leave safely and return to the capital, where the emperor would settle accounts with him.

As for how to liquidate, they can't be the master, and it is possible that the emperor can't be the master, so he can only compromise.

"If you have to say that you have to go to such great lengths," Yu Qingfeng tilted his head and meditated, "Either skilled craftsmen like to show off their skills, or the ancestors of the Zhan clan asked craftsmen to play tricks and build this Netherworld Tower into a mysterious and evil one." ”

Lin Ming echoed: "That's right, controlling the spiral staircase to move slowly down can make people who go upstairs form an illusion, as if they can't go up to the top; The spiral staircase is controlled to move slowly upwards, and people who can go up and down the stairs create the illusion that they can't go down to the bottom. The end result was that the people who had consumed the holy mushroom were completely lost in this evil tower. ”

Zhan Yaoyuan suddenly clapped his hands, and suddenly exclaimed: "Yu Sizhi really lives up to his reputation and is brilliant, no wonder he will be favored by Master Pei and promoted exceptionally!" ”

"Where is it, compared to King Xiaonan's seven-trick exquisite heart, Qingfeng is simply dull." Yu Qingfeng waved his hand exaggeratedly and modestly.

"Hahaha." Zhan Yaoyuan laughed heartily.

Lian Shurong and Lin Ming looked at each other and laughed.

Pei Wuyi and Yu Qingfeng exchanged glances, and also went through the motions, laughing awkwardly.

The carriage arrived at the palace, and everyone got out of the carriage and prepared to go back to their rooms to rest.

Zhan Yaoyuan deliberately whispered to Pei Wuyi to stay, and the two fell behind.

"Master Pei, the same man, this king has a saying, I don't know whether to say it or not." Zhan Yaoyuan smiled, bent down slightly to approach Pei Wuyi, and talked to Pei Wuyi like an old friend.

Pei Wuxian had expected that Zhan Yaoyuan would win him over, after all, they had inadvertently done him a great favor.

"I don't know if I should talk about it or not," Pei Wuyi smiled playfully, "Then don't talk about it." ”