Chapter Forty-Six: The Penrose Staircase

The collaboration with the young man was initially a spur-of-the-moment decision by Tang Zhen, but after interacting with him, Tang Zhen found himself filled with anticipation for the surprises the youth might bring.

This young man was no ordinary individual. Though currently obscure, it was only because his wings were not yet fully grown. Once he gained power, he would undoubtedly become a significant figure.

How far or how high he could rise in the future was not Tang Zhen’s concern.

For Tang Zhen, the Blackrock City held too many secrets. Even from this initial encounter, he had already experienced numerous visual shocks.

Yet, Tang Zhen understood these were merely surface phenomena. He believed that those wielding power at higher levels must be guarding even greater secrets.

Since he aimed to build a city of his own, the more information he could gather about this place, the more advantageous it would be for him.

Cautious and well-prepared, only then could one survive longer and thrive.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Tang Zhen turned and left.

It had been several days since he departed the Wanderer’s Town, and he wondered how Murong Ziyan and Qianlong were faring. Though he knew they would not leave without his permission, instead waiting for his return.

As he walked, his thoughts wandered, but after more than ten minutes, he realized he seemed to be lost!

This dark corridor stretched endlessly; he had been walking for a long time but never reached an end.

Based on his estimation of the Blackrock City's exterior size, the interior could not possibly have such a long corridor, yet this very passage was undeniably beneath his feet.

Pausing to ponder, Tang Zhen took another step forward, this time marking his path and scrutinizing the corridor’s details.

Half an hour later, he stopped, a mocking smile appearing on his face.

“Unexpected indeed, to be led into such an intriguing place without even realizing it by that little fellow.”

He sighed inwardly, feeling no anger, only self-mockery—for all his posturing before the youth, he had been outwitted without a clue.

During the past half hour, Tang Zhen had kept moving forward but showed no sign of exiting the corridor, as if trapped in an endless hallway with no way out.

To Tang Zhen, this corridor was filled with strangeness; if one kept walking without an exit, it could drive a fragile mind to madness.

Any ordinary person who wandered in here would be doomed never to leave alive.

But Tang Zhen was different. Not only did he possess extraordinary black technology, but his insight far surpassed that of the city's native inhabitants.

While the locals might be bewildered by this corridor’s eerie nature, Tang Zhen had already formed a tentative hypothesis.

This corridor was likely a Penrose staircase, or what might be called a Hanging Soul Staircase.

Blackrock City was square-shaped, with a vast central plaza. Beneath the city lay several underground levels for cultivation and livestock.

Each ordinary floor connected to four staircases, linking up and down to ensure unhindered passage.

This architectural setup provided ideal conditions for constructing a Penrose staircase.

Perhaps this Penrose staircase was not built by Blackrock City itself but had appeared alongside the city’s establishment.

Tang Zhen and Murong Ziyan had heard that after every city’s completion, a strange place would emerge where bizarre occurrences frequently happened.

Such places were considered forbidden zones by residents, even the city’s rulers forbade anyone from approaching them.

The Penrose staircase’s principle involved four staircases connected at the corners, each ascending, creating an infinite loop of steps.

Walking on such stairs was like entering a never-ending dead loop, forever unable to find an exit.

To break this cycle, one must step outside the framework or destroy the guiding walls on either side of the corridor to escape the Penrose staircase.

Tang Zhen recalled their entrance into this corridor but found no clues to escape.

Though strange, this single passage could not confine Tang Zhen; he had at least two methods of escape from past experience.

However, both methods had drawbacks.

Teleportation could immediately remove him, but returning would place him back at the same spot, making it ineffective.

Short-range teleportation within the map could move him anywhere within a hundred meters, but the map only displayed the corridor; the rest was pitch black.

He was certain this was the city’s strange power at work, blocking or disrupting the map; otherwise, such a powerful device would not show only the corridor.

Tang Zhen dared not teleport blindly—if the dark area was a high-altitude spot and he could not teleport again, he would fall and be smashed to a pulp.

Thus, this method was also unsuitable.

Besides these two straightforward and forceful methods, Tang Zhen had others.

He could choose to blast through the corridor wall to create an exit.

But this would attract the attention of Blackrock City, and if a powerful city enforcer capable of seeing through his quantum invisibility shield appeared, Tang Zhen’s situation would become perilous.

Alternatively, he could use his data combat interface to scan the corridor.

The data combat interface was expensive not just for simple functions like monitoring the user’s physical data or weapon status, but because it contained over twenty powerful functional modules, unused by Tang Zhen until now.

If possessed by an elite soldier, these features could transform them into a super soldier feared by any adversary.

Now, Tang Zhen intended to use one such feature: real-time terrain mapping and imaging.

This function integrated radar, laser, ultrasound, and other technologies to rapidly map the geographic environment within one kilometer and generate a four-dimensional holographic image.

Upon activation, data cascaded across Tang Zhen’s peripheral vision like a waterfall, while a clear three-dimensional image composed of countless fine points and lines gradually appeared before him.

One minute later, the scan completed, and the four-dimensional holographic image fully materialized, displaying every minute detail.

At a glance, Tang Zhen was certain this was indeed a Penrose staircase!

Carefully studying the image, he pinpointed his location and walked steadily toward a nearby wall of the corridor.

Before him was a solid wall that echoed when struck with stone and felt real to the touch, indistinguishable from other corridor walls.

Yet Tang Zhen was sure the true exit of the Penrose staircase was right here!

The data combat interface’s mapping was infallible; among the entire corridor, only this wall had a barely perceptible crack resembling a door.

He strode toward the wall confidently, undeterred even as his nose nearly touched it.

Then, something miraculous happened—the solid wall remained visible, yet Tang Zhen felt himself passing through an empty doorway.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself outside the Penrose staircase, standing in an ordinary corridor.

Looking back, the hidden entrance to the Hanging Soul Staircase was indistinguishable from its surroundings; even the solid wall had vanished without a trace.

“Truly an intriguing place!”

Tang Zhen smiled and rose, heading toward the outskirts of Blackrock City.