Thanks! Then I realized that I'm on the hard way and couldn't finish it tonight.
So I take one step back and solved it in easy (but slow) way.
It took a little longer than yours, but I'm glad it finally passed TLE.
That's a good problem

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "main.py", line 33, in
runTest(name, break_evil_pieces(shape), expected)
TypeError: runTest() takes at least 4 arguments (3 given)

Thanks, met another issue (damn, if it get passed I won't see such error T.T)

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "main.py", line 200, in
runTest(name, break_evil_pieces(shape), expected)
File "/home/codewarrior/setup.py", line 33, in runTest
print(" \n\n FAILED TEST !!!\n\nshape:\n{}\n\nExpected:".format(formatStr(shape)) )
NameError: global name 'shape' is not defined

Thank you for your quick response. I have make my "new way" passed the original puzzle. Hoping it can get passed as soon as the issue resolved:)

Test breaks in python.
Tried all three versions with default "code template" and got following error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "main.py", line 33, in
runTest(name, shape, expected)
File "/home/codewarrior/setup.py", line 29, in runTest
ans = sorted(break_evil_pieces(shape))
NameError: name 'break_evil_pieces' is not defined