Chapter 342: 340
Chapter 342: 340
“I’ve found this to be harder than I imagined.”
Bi Fang leaned against the wall, panting heavily. It was only about fifty meters, but it felt like he had expended the energy of five thousand.
“I don’t know if there are really any people who aren’t afraid of heights, but I think such people don’t exist, because it’s determined by human physiological structure. Your balance system will instinctively start fighting.”
“Don’t be too quick to deny it.”
Bi Fang saw in the live chat that some people claimed they weren’t afraid of heights, even saying they were not scared at all, so he already started to explain.
“Being afraid of heights doesn’t mean you have acrophobia. They’re different things. Some people might feel only a little scared standing in high places, which doesn’t reach the level of a ‘phobia,’ and there are those with strong hearts who might not feel fear at all. But essentially, your balance system is still fighting, which affects your brain’s decision-making. In fact, humans instinctively want to stay away from any situation that can threaten their lives.”
“If you really like to stand at the edge of a high wall without any safety measures, that might not just be about not being ‘afraid of heights,’ but rather it could be a symptom of another condition. Maybe you should see a psychologist.”
The sharp-edged concrete structures created by humans made this more terrifying than any cliff.
Bi Fang touched the wall as he moved forward, but suddenly his hand found nothing, and with quick reflexes, he reached down and grabbed a loose brick to catch his balance.
As the bricks and pebbles fell, Bi Fang was taken aback, “The whole wall here is somewhat loose; that’s the problem. You always want to grab something, and once you grab air, you might find something more dangerous in your panic. Luckily… I’ve finally made it.”
Bi Fang let go of the brick and reached for the iron pipe in front of him.
The iron pipe was about as thick as a common plastic water pipe, with a diameter of around fifteen centimeters, too big to encircle with both hands. He shook it; it felt very solid.
“It looks like it can support my weight, and it’s also very close to the wall. Even if it can’t go straight to the ground, we can still get to other floors. The most crucial thing is that it’s very rough; the friction is good, you see, it’s rusty, and I believe it can go straight down to the ground because it looks a bit like an oversized firefighter’s pole. It seems we’ll have a long slide ahead.”
The Shuiyou watching Bi Fang introducing the pipe started to panic, because if what Master Fang said earlier was true, then the psychological motives of those two liars would be very concerning.
Regardless of whether those two were telling the truth or not, the Shuiyou did not want to encounter them again.
And in such a situation, Master Fang didn’t seem to be in a hurry. He had just spent nearly ten minutes walking along the wall, and now he still had the mood to introduce these things.
[Hurry up, Old Fang, you can talk about this stuff after you get down.]
[Get moving already.]
[Exactly, it’s midnight over here, aren’t you going to get back to the safe area quickly, or do you want us to stay up with you?]
[The Emperor is not in a hurry, but his eunuchs are.]
“Right away!”
“But everyone doesn’t need to worry too much; it took me a lot of effort to get up here. I spent half a day and couldn’t find it; it’s unlikely they can too. Even if those two really can find the way, it’s not something they can do in a short time, so there’s no need to be too anxious. We just need to be careful—that’s enough. When you’re in a rush, it’s easy to make mistakes. The more dangerous the situation, the more careful and cautious we need to be to ensure we don’t fail.”
Bi Fang gracefully accepted the advice, quickly pulled out the hemp rope from his bag that was previously used for anchoring, and tied it into a loop around the iron pipe. He inserted his hands into it and pulled hard. The enormous friction naturally held his upper body in place.
“I’m going to use the rope to increase the friction on the pipe. This method is quite common. If we have friends from Hainan, they might have seen the locals climbing trees to pick coconuts using a rope this way. An experienced climber can even ascend a tree in just a few seconds.”
With the rope in place, the next step was to slide down. Bi Fang put one foot on the pipe and held the rope tightly with both hands, slowly leaning back. The friction on his arms held him steady against the pipe. Then, Bi Fang placed his other foot on it as well.
And so, he was completely clinging to the iron pipe, with his legs tightly wrapped around it.
“This pipe, looking like it’s used for heat dissipation, is both old and rusty, creating significant friction, yet relying solely on the strength of my arms is still impossible. Therefore, my legs must clutch tightly to the pipe, only this way can I ensure my survival. The insides of my thighs also need to exert force.”
Bi Fang clamped the pipe between his legs, his upper body slightly leaning back to increase tension in the noose and thereby enhancing friction; compared to clinging tightly to the pipe, this method saved quite a bit of energy.
With ample support, Bi Fang descended rapidly, almost “walking” on the steel pole.
However, Bi Fang soon ran into a bit of trouble.
Everything was fine up until now, but the pipe below suddenly bent.
It was bent but not completely.
This made the curved pipe covered with dust yet impossible to stand on.
Different from the areas coated with rust, the dusty spots became slippery, making it difficult for Bi Fang to get past.
Struggling, Bi Fang clutched at the water pipe, dust swirling around him.
In the darkness, he could hardly see the situation behind him, and the dust choked him, making it hard to catch his breath.
Clinging to the water pipe like a sloth, the noose was no longer much help to him at this point.
Through night vision mode, the audience watched Bi Fang inch downwards, their hearts racing with anxiety, the pitch-black environment heightening the tension.
The online friends were terrified that the two “malintentioned” individuals might appear suddenly, turning the scene into a horror movie.
Without clear knowledge about the authenticity of those two individuals, the online friends naturally trusted Master Fang’s analysis and presumed them to be malintentioned right from the start.
Finally, after a prolonged shuffle, Bi Fang traversed the unusually curved section of the pipe.
Rapid descents are extremely dangerous, similar to falling, and what Bi Fang did was akin to holding a one-way ticket straight down.
Soon, he reached the end of the water pipe.
Bi Fang stretched out his foot to probe, finding no path ahead.
He took a deep breath and continued, “Don’t worry, everyone, I can see the ground now. I also counted the number of floors a moment ago, this should be the first floor. Once past this, everything will be alright. Unfortunately, the factory floors are quite high, even the first floor is about seven or eight meters.”
Bi Fang stretched out his right foot, stepping onto the floor of the adjacent level, and then, using his hands for support, he pushed himself up to the second floor.
This place was much better than the top floor. Although many areas were still empty, with only beams, some parts had actual flooring.
From a height of seven or eight meters, even with fall protection landing would be dangerous, not to mention the uncertainty of whether there were steel bars below, which would make a fall perilous.
For a moment, Bi Fang felt the situation was quite troublesome.
But the next second, Bi Fang knew that his time was running out.
A gunshot suddenly rang out not far away!
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