This iron ladder carried the human belief in steel in the middle of the last century. The craftsmanship was simple, the structure was solid, and it was a model of the purest pragmatism. No energy was spent on decoration.
If it had been buried in other places for more than half a century, it might have rusted, but this was the Sahara Desert, where the air humidity was almost zero. After wiping away the sand, it looked as if it had just been produced in a factory.
When going deep into the desert, no one would bring extra things, especially something that was heavy and took up space.
Zhang Zian knocked on the steel frame with his knuckles. He thought of the aluminum frame they had brought. It was used to set up a canopy so that the off-road vehicle could avoid exposure to the sun during the day. This iron ladder … Was it for the same purpose?
It didn't seem to make sense, because something like a bamboo pole could achieve a similar effect. The Germans were not stupid. Why would they do something stupid?
As he was thinking, he suddenly heard Richard's noise. "Quack! I guessed it. Of course, the ladder is for climbing! "
Wasn't that nonsense? If the ladder was not for climbing, was it for sitting?
He had clearly told it to shut up, but it refused to change. Zhang Zian was really angry. He grabbed a handful of sand from the ground, stood up, and wanted to stuff it into its mouth.
He saw it flapping its wings and flying high against the pyramid. After flying to a certain position, it folded its wings, but it did not fall like a stone.
What was going on?
Zhang Zian and the elfins were standing at the foot of the pyramid, looking up. Although the polished golden shell could not be said to be shiny, it was definitely very smooth. There was no platform for Richard to stand on.
It turned around and stuck out its butt. Its head and upper body disappeared from everyone's sight.
"There is a hole here. I have always been a hole that I can drill into … Quack!"
Accompanied by a blood-curdling screech, it suddenly disappeared from there.
Zhang Zian and the other elfins were stunned.
Wait a minute!
This is the south side …
He recalled that when he had visited the Great Pyramid, he had noticed that there were two so-called "ventilation ducts" on the north and south sides of the king's tomb and the queen's tomb. The size was 21 centimeters x 21 centimeters square, and it extended diagonally upward from the tomb at a 45-degree angle until it reached the outside of the pyramid wall. However, it did not penetrate the wall.
What exactly was the use of 'ventilation ducts'? There were many different opinions, and no one could come to a conclusion. It left behind many unsolved mysteries for later generations.
Could it be that … Richard had fallen into the ventilation duct?
Then who opened the ventilation duct?
He looked down at the iron ladder that was still mostly buried in the sand. The answer was already obvious.
Although Richard was noisy and annoying, it was not a good idea to leave him alone.
They did not see the opening of the ventilation duct because they were standing at the foot of the pyramid. When they looked up, their field of vision was limited.
Zhang Zian activated the drone again and flew to the location where Richard had disappeared. Sure enough, there was a dark hole, and the edge of the hole was littered with irregular gravel. It was probably blown up by the German soldiers.
The drone's pickup vaguely captured Richard's cries of sorrow from the ventilation duct, and there was even an echo.
Putting away the drone, Zhang Zian went back to the car and took out a folding shovel. He started to clean up the sand and said, "I have an idea."
After much effort, they finally dug the iron ladder out from under the sand.
The iron ladder was quite heavy, and its structure was similar to that of a Russian doll. The small section was nested inside the larger section, and the larger section was nested inside the larger section, so the cycle continued.
When it was used, it needed to be pulled out to the appropriate length. There were fixed bolts at the connection between the two sections. After tightening the bolts, the small section would not automatically shrink into the large section.
It was stable, strong, and the design was simple and efficient. From this telescopic iron ladder, one could see the level of development of the German military industry.
As for why the lighter aluminum was not used, it was because the ladder was very long when fully extended. For those who climbed the ladder, the ladder was too light, and no one dared to climb it. Due to the principle of leverage, if the arm of the ladder was too long, it would be useless even if a few strong men were supporting it from below. The ladder would still fall, so they could only use the weight of the ladder itself to stand firmly.
Zhang Zian estimated the height of the ladder and stretched out a large part of it. Then, he used all his strength to lift it on his shoulder and put it on the pyramid. It was not that he was weak, but the iron ladder weighed almost a hundred pounds. It was heavy and long. It was already very impressive for him to be able to lift it up by himself.
Unfortunately, his estimation of the height was wrong, and it was short by a bit.
Why didn't he just pull it to the maximum length? It was still a problem of the arm of the ladder. The longer it was, the more difficult it was to lift the ladder.
He was about to put down the ladder and pull it out again, but the elfins had already understood his intentions.
Fina shouted, "Don't bother! Get out of the way, I'm going up! "
Zhang Zian was about to put down the ladder again with a red face, but before he could speak, he felt something kick him in the back, and then his head.
He was about to scold who was taking advantage of him, but when he looked up, he saw that Fina had already jumped high and landed lightly on a pedal about three meters from the ground. Then it jumped again, and each time it jumped several steps. In the blink of an eye, it was already more than ten meters high from the ground.
Its tail was erected like a saber, swinging from side to side in the air to maintain its body's balance.
The pedal was designed for people wearing rubber-soled military boots. The surface was patterned to prevent slipping, but it was not very effective for cats. The iron pedal itself was relatively slippery, and the width was narrow. It could barely fit on four feet, not to mention that it often jumped again after touching the ground with both feet.
Fina's movements were too thrilling. If it missed a step, if it was lucky, it would roll down the slope of more than 50 degrees on the outer wall of the pyramid. If it was unlucky, it might continuously hit the cold and hard iron pedal during the fall …
Even a bystander like him was sweating. He wanted to remind it to climb slowly, but he was afraid that if he made a sound, it would distract it and cause an accident.
He and the other elfins looked up at an angle that was getting bigger and bigger. When their necks were sore, Fina stepped on the last pedal, crossed the last distance of nearly two meters, and glided towards the location of the hole.
Ah!
Fina seemed to have misjudged the distance, or because of the continuous high-intensity jumps, it was physically exhausted. It only used its two forelimbs to hold the edge of the hole, and its two hind legs were in the air.
"Your Majesty!"
Snowy Lionet's face was originally snow-white, but this time, it was so scared that even the black patterns on its head almost turned white.
Old Time Tea moved, wanting to rush to the rescue.
However, Fina only stayed for a moment. When its physical strength recovered a little, it turned over with force from its waist and disappeared into the ventilation hole.
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