1274 The Climb

This iron ladder embodied man's belief in steel during the last century. It had a simple structure and felt firm. It was a ladder designed with pragmatism in mind. Little mind had been paid to its aesthetics.

If it had been buried in other places for more than half a century, it may have visible signs of rust. However, the desert had close to zero humidity. Blowing off the sand, it looked as if it had been freshly made in a factory.

When a person went deep into the desert, they wouldn't bring extra things, especially not such a heavy and space-consuming ladder.

Zhang Zian knocked on the steel skeleton with his knuckles. He thought of the aluminum alloy bracket they'd brought along on their vehicle. Might this iron ladder have been brought in for…the same purpose?

This seemed a bit unreasonable. Bamboo poles could achieve similar results. The Germans were not stupid. Why would they choose a more difficult way of doing things?

He was deep in thought. Suddenly, he heard Richard groaning. "Hey! Like I guessed, htis ladder is, of course, for climbing!"

Was this stating the obvious? If the ladder was not used for climbing, what else could it be used for? For sitting?

Obviously, he hadn't understood when Zhang Zian had told him earlier to keep quiet. This made him really mad. He grabbed a bunch of sand from the ground and tried to stuff it into his mouth.

He fluttered his wings and flew up close to the pyramid. He reached a sufficient height before he then kept his wings. However, he did not fall to the ground like a stone.

What had happened?

Zhang Zian and the elfins were standing at the foot of the pyramid and looked up. Although the entire polished golden exterior couldn't be seen, it was nevertheless rather smooth. There wasn't likely a platform that Richard could land on…

He turned and lifted his buttocks, and his upper torso disappeared from everyone's field of vision.

"There is a hole here. As long as there is a hole, I will always go in... Ah!"

With a scream, he suddenly disappeared.

Zhang Zian and other elfins are stunned. Wait a minute! This was the south side…

Recalling his visit to the Great Pyramid, he noticed that there were two so-called "ventilation holes" on the north and south sides of the tombs. The holes were about 21 cm x 21 cm, extending at an angle of 45 degrees. It started from the tomb and stopped when it reached the outer pyramid wall.

What were the "ventilation holes" used for? There were many different opinions, and there was no doubt that it would stay an unsolved mystery.

Might Richard have fallen down one of these holes? Who, then, had opened them?

He looked down at the rest of the iron ladder that was still buried. He felt that may be his answer.

Although Richard had been rather annoying throughout the trip, not saving him would feel wrong.

They had yet to see how the ventilation holes looked, as they were always at the foot of the pyramid. From there, they could not make out anything significant.

Zhang Zian started the drone and flew it to the position where Richard had disappeared. Sure enough, he saw a dark hole. The edge of the hole had some irregular gravel. Perhaps these had been left behind by blasts caused by the German soldiers.

The drone faintly captured Richard's screams. The sound echoed through the entire passageway.

Retrieving the drone, Zhang Zian took the folding shovel from his car and cleaned the sand off it. He then said, "I have an idea."

With great effort, he dug the iron ladder out of the sand.

The iron ladder was quite heavy. Its structure was similar to that of a Russian Matryoshka doll. A smaller piece was nested inside a larger section, and the larger piece was nested inside an even larger section.

Before using the ladder, he needed to extend it to the appropriate length. There were fixing bolts at the joint between the two sections. After he tightened the bolts, the smaller section would not automatically retract into the larger section.

Steady, strong, and simple, it was an efficient design. The ladder was a clear representation of German engineering prowess.

Lighter aluminum was not used. If the ladder was stretched out long, it would feel too light to those climbing the ladder. In this manner, they may choose not to climb it instead. Thus, it could not simply have a heavy base for support. The entire structure must be made of solid steel to provide stability.

Zhang Zian visually measured the height and stretched the iron ladder out close to its maximum length. He then used all his strength to put it on his shoulder and set it up on the pyramid. The iron ladder was extremely heavy, close to a hundred kilograms. For him to be able to do it all by himself was an incredible feat.

Unfortunately, his estimated height came up short.

Why had he not extended the ladder to its maximum length? The issue was where the ladder would rest. In addition, the longer the ladder, the more difficult it was to carry and set up.

He was about to lay down the ladder and pull it out, but the elfins had already figured out his intentions.

Fina said, "Don't bother! Go away. I am going up!"

Zhang Zian turned red and wanted to put the ladder down again. However, before he could speak, he felt something stepping on his back. Then he felt the same sensation on his head.

He was prepared to sprout vulgarities. However, he saw that Fina had leaped high, directly to the pedal about three meters off the ground. She then jumped again. Each time she jumped, she skipped a few rungs. In a blink of an eye, she was more than ten meters up.

Her tail was erected like a saber, swaying in the air to maintain balance.

The pedal was designed for people wearing shoes with rubber soles. The surface had a pattern to prevent slipping, but the anti-slip effect was not great for a cat. The iron plate itself was relatively slippery, and it was narrow. It could barely accommodate all four of her legs. Fina rarely needed to, as she only placed two legs down before jumping up almost immediately.

Fina's movement was thrilling to watch. If she missed a step, she may simply fall off the ladder. If she was lucky, she would roll down the slope of the pyramid's outer wall at an angle of more than 50 degrees. If she was not, she may continuously hit the cold, hard iron pedal during her rapid descent...

Everyone watching was breaking out in sweat. They wanted to scream for her to climb more slowly and stay safe. However, they were also afraid that any noise would merely distract her.

He and the other elfins looked up. Just as their necks started to ache from the angle, Fina stepped on the last step, jumped the last two meters, and glided into the vent.

Fina seemed to have misjudged the distance, or, perhaps because of the continuous high-intensity jump, she was physically weak. In the end, only her two forelimbs caught the edge of the hole, and her two hind legs did not find ground.

"Your Majesty!"

Only the face of Snowy Lionet had originally been white, but this scene was enough to scare even its spots white.

Old Time Tea reacted immediately and rushed to the rescue.

However, Fina only stopped for a moment. Her physical strength recovered slightly, and with a twist of her waist, she disappeared down the "ventilation duct."