Identify the next figure in the following figure series.

In a figure-series item, each visually distinct component of the composite figure — a symbol block, connecting stems, and hook shapes — can change by its own separate rule: rotating, translating, or flipping its opening direction, while the other components stay fixed. Solving the series means isolating every component's rule across the given panels and extending each rule one more step to build the missing figure.

1. The +/X symbol block turns from a horizontal pair (+ to the left of X) into a vertical pair (+ over X) between the first and second panels, then keeps that vertical layout while continuing to slide further down the main stem in the second and third panels.

2. As the block slides down, more of the bare stem is uncovered above it: none is visible in the first two panels, then a short bare segment appears above the block in the third panel — so the next panel must show an even longer bare stem above the block.

3. The short hook attached to the stem climbs upward relative to the block at each step: it hangs well below the block in the first panel, touches the block's lower edge in the second panel, and cuts across the block's own middle divider in the third panel — continuing that climb, it must sit above the block in the next panel.

4. The small foot at the base of the stem flips its opening direction every panel: it opens toward the right in the first panel, toward the left in the second, and toward the right again in the third — so it must open toward the left in the next panel.

Checking each option against these four rules:

• The figure whose short hook merges into one unbroken bracket running down the block's entire left edge, and whose stem does not continue past the block to any foot shape, drops the separate-hook-plus-base-foot structure that every panel keeps.

• The figure whose block sits flush at the top with no bare stem revealed above it, and whose base foot still opens toward the right, repeats the previous panel's foot direction instead of alternating and undoes the stem-growth already established.

• The figure with the climbed hook and a longer bare stem above the block but with no foot shape at the base at all drops an entire component that survives in every given panel.

Only the figure with the block slid further down, a longer bare stem above it, the short hook now above the block, and the base foot opening toward the left satisfies all four rules together, so it continues the series.