Chapter 266 The Logic of the Numbers

"No need." Xiao Ling refuted Xiao Tan's deduction without a moment's hesitation.

"Huh?" Xiao Tan was taken aback by this.

"Heh heh... that's a given." Feng Bujue chuckled. "As an alcoholic eager to get into his wine cellar and quench his thirst, he wouldn't use overly complicated encryption methods."

"That's right." Xiao Ling continued, "This matter... you'll understand if you analyze the principal's mindset... If he could, he'd write the eight-digit password directly on a piece of paper; that would be the most convenient." As she spoke, she pointed at the remote control. "Look, he's already placed the remote control and the two items needed for decryption together so simply; this shows that he's well aware... that when he's in the throes of his addiction, he won't have the time to do anything too complicated. His mind will only be focused on opening the wine cellar as quickly as possible."

"Then why didn't he just set a simpler password, memorize it, or simply write the eight-digit password on a piece of paper?" Gui Xiao asked at this point. "That way, even if he was drunk and confused, he could still open the wine cellar."

"That's true... but while making it convenient for himself, he also had to consider security issues," Xiao Ling replied. "After all, he's also an elementary school principal. If the fact that he was hiding alcohol in the principal's office were to be completely exposed, he would definitely lose his job. Otherwise, he wouldn't have bothered with this 'secret wine cellar' and installed an entrance with a remote control."

"Oh..." Gui Xiao understood.

And Xiao Tan then added, "So... he came up with this 'convenient and safe' method—putting all the items needed to open the wine cellar in the drawer, and applying some simple encryption to it. This way... even if someone found the items in the drawer, they wouldn't be able to crack the password in a short amount of time."

"Heh... one should say... that in normal circumstances, the person who finds these three items wouldn't even consider 'decryption,' right?" Feng Bujue said with a laugh. "We're using the mindset and perspective of modern people and players to consider the problem... so we immediately think of the uses of these three items. But what about standing in the shoes of a character in this script?" He paused, then continued, "You have to know, this script takes place in the 1970s, an era... only a little over a decade after the birth of truly meaningful civilian wireless remote controls; it wasn't until the 1980s that the infrared TV remote controls we're familiar with became widespread. So... wireless remote controls were obviously still a rare novelty to people at that time. How many people in a Japanese rural school like this would be able to recognize a remote control? And even if someone knew it was a remote control, so what? That person would still need to know two other things before even considering the 'decryption' aspect."

At this point, Brother Jue held up two fingers: "First, they have to know that the principal has a secret wine cellar, so they can associate what this remote is used to control; second, they also have to know the working principle of this remote and the exact location of the wine cellar entrance... because the remote controls of that era still used ultrasonic technology, not infrared, and the wine cellar entrance doesn't have that kind of obvious, exposed infrared receiver. If the user doesn't know where the entrance is, even if they crack the password, they won't be able to open the wine cellar."

"That's right... I was just about to ask." Hearing this, Xiao Tan turned to Xiao Ling and said, "How did you find the entrance?"

"I found it based on the patterns on the floor," Xiao Ling replied.

"The floor..." Xiao Tan muttered as he looked down again.

Indeed, the wooden floor used in the principal's office was better than any of the areas they had been to before; not only was it thick and tightly laid, but the wooden boards were also patterned.

"Oh! I understand now." Two seconds later, An Yueqin suddenly realized, "One of the three hints in the women's restroom is used here."

"Yeah." Xiao Ling nodded in response. "The seemingly random graffiti on the wall of the women's restroom perfectly matched the floor pattern at the entrance to the wine cellar; when I was exploring this room earlier, I faintly felt that the floor pattern here seemed a bit familiar, and when I heard the guild leader say that he was going to knock on the walls and floor inch by inch to find the entrance, I realized what was going on."

"Then... the problem comes back around." Two seconds later, Xiao Tan said to Xiao Ling again, "What exactly is the eight-digit password that's 'not too complicated'?"

"42561047," Xiao Ling blurted out the answer in the next second.

"Huh?" This time, the other five people... including Feng Bujue, had the same reaction.

"How did you figure it out?" Brother Jue was the first to ask.

"It's easy; 231568 multiplied by 616512 gives you exactly a twelve-digit number, which is 142764450816..." Xiao Ling replied, "And the eight digits in the middle refer to eight positions in this twelve-digit number; the 6th digit is 4, the 3rd digit is 2, the 8th digit is 5, the 5th digit is 6, the 11th digit is 1, the 9th digit is 0, then it's the 6th digit again... 4, and finally the 4th digit... 7; except for the 6th digit, which is repeated once, the digits in the seven listed positions are not repeated, that is, 'no two different positions point to the same digit,' which is also consistent with the logic of the password."

When she finished speaking, the whole place was silent...

"Hey, hey, hey, hey..." About five seconds later, Gui Xiao finally reacted. "This sister... let's not even talk about the big pile of stuff after that..." He paused for half a second, and asked with a look of shock, "You haven't even turned on the calculator yet; how did you do the multiplication between two six-digit numbers?"

"Mental calculation," Xiao Ling replied with two words.

These two words made Gui Xiao silent again for five seconds. During those five seconds, he observed the other party's expression and realized that she didn't seem to be joking, so, after five seconds, he replied with these three words: "You're ruthless..."

"Oh, by the way..." After Gui Xiao finished speaking, Xiao Ling picked up the calculator again, shook it casually, and said, "This calculator has no power at all; I discovered that it couldn't be turned on when I checked it earlier." After saying that, she threw the calculator on the table. "At that time, I understood... that this is not a 'necessary tool for decryption,' but a 'prop that serves as a hint'; so, what can a calculator without power tell us? Think about it a little and it becomes clear—it's the number of digits. This is a calculator that can display a maximum of twelve digits; the information it implies couldn't be clearer. If you also take into account the fact that 'the principal wouldn't use overly complicated encryption,' and mentally calculate the various possibilities of the numbers on the paper, it's easy to arrive at the above conclusion."

…………

At this moment, Gui Xiao didn't want to say anything anymore.

A strange sense of frustration continued to grow in his heart, gradually suppressing his fear and making him feel upset.

Before playing this script, Ma Junxiao felt that he was a talent no matter how you looked at it; while his peers were still studying like crazy in high school to prepare for the college entrance examination, he was already earning a salary that people with undergraduate degrees couldn't even dream of.

However, playing a script with these people from Hell Frontline had completely destroyed the sense of superiority that Gui Xiao had built up after starting work.

He couldn't help but start thinking... thinking about a question that all professional players, e-sports players, or rather, all people who "make a living by playing games" have thought about and should think about.

That is—what else can I do besides playing games? Or rather... what else can I do?

The period of popularity for any game is limited; no matter how high the quality of the game, it can't remain popular forever; eventually, more advanced games that are better suited to the times will replace them. However, some games are still called "classics" even after being around for a dozen or twenty years, while others fade from people's sight after being popular for a year or two and are never heard from again.

The career of any professional player is also limited; no matter how many honors he has won or how much he has been admired by fans, he will eventually retire. Because people get old, and people get old faster than games... and are easier to replace.

However, people are not games; games that are no longer popular can be taken offline and shut down, but players who can no longer make money from games can't just be buried on the spot, right?

Their lives are still long and they have to keep going...

After entering the gaming industry, Ma Junxiao naturally heard and saw similar things. He found that many star players who were like "legends" in the eyes of players lived very ordinary lives, or even miserable ones, after fading from public view for several years... Of course, there were also those who did well, such as those who used the money they earned when they were young to start their own businesses or found more stable behind-the-scenes jobs in the gaming industry, but these people accounted for a small percentage.

Gui Xiao was a sensible kid; after seeing and hearing a lot, he also understood—you can play games your whole life, but it's probably very difficult to make a living by playing games your whole life. That's not a question of effort or talent, but something that is physiologically impossible to achieve.

There are many people like him who give up their studies at a young age to enter this industry. Indeed, before the age of thirty, even if they are just blue-collar players, they can have a good income... But what will happen after the age of thirty? What should they do? Most of them have never thought about it, or rather... they dare not think about it.

It would be best to stay in the gaming industry, but staying also requires conditions... capital, technology, ability... you have to have at least one of them; just knowing how to play games... is useless.

As for changing careers... that's difficult. Even if some people have finished college before becoming professional players, it's hard to imagine the hardship of entering a completely unfamiliar field and starting from the bottom after a decade of absence. Of course, these people are still considered good... there are many practitioners like Gui Xiao who haven't even finished high school, and their situation for changing careers is even more worrying.

Having said so much, it's still necessary to say something objectively... These kinds of concerns and ideas are something that people Gui Xiao's age don't need to think about at all; with his conditions, he can still be at the top of the gaming industry for at least ten years, or even longer.

However, Gui Xiao has been thinking about these kinds of things for more than just a day or two.

It's not that he was stimulated by these people from Hell Frontline today that made him think about that aspect; although the stimulation he received today was indeed not small...

In fact, he had thought a lot about the "future" before, and what he thought about, his "future"... was not just these "practical problems," but also many strange ideas, including doubts about this world, that would always involuntarily appear in his mind...

The reason for this is that Ma Junxiao is not an "ordinary person"—he is a Candidate.

His will, talent, and potential... are all different from others. It's just that... the "current" him hasn't realized this yet.

…………

Two minutes later.

The door to the wine cellar had been opened, and Xiao Ling's deduced password was undoubtedly correct.

And Feng Bujue, without hesitation, took the flashlight and bravely entered the space under the floor.

"I say..." As Brother Jue walked down the stairs, he glanced at the structure of the cover plate at the entrance and said, "The principal of Chongjiu Elementary School is probably an engineering student." As he said this, he had already walked down the not-so-long flight of steps and entered a very small space located under the principal's office. "The entrance mechanism of this wine cellar and the matching remote control are obviously all made by him... maybe he dug the entire wine cellar himself." He stood at the bottom for a few seconds, then suddenly said again, "Wait... is it possible... that the principal directly participated in the construction of this elementary school?"

"Hmm..." Ruo Yu, who followed Brother Jue down into the wine cellar, quickly responded, "In towns like this, it's common to have the project done by companies or related people in their own village." She pondered and said, "Assuming that the principal is really an engineering student, your speculation is indeed possible."

As they spoke, the two of them were standing in the wine cellar.

This space was quite narrow, like a compressed subway car; in terms of height, Brother Jue couldn't even stand up straight inside, and in terms of width... the two of them couldn't even stand side by side; if they wanted to switch positions, they would both have to turn sideways. As for the length... the wall was only five meters away.

When they were observing from above, Brother Jue said that there was no need for all six of them to come down, so at this moment, only he and Ruo Yu had come down, and the others were waiting in the principal's office.

"I think this speculation is reliable." As Feng Bujue walked forward, he said again, "A space like this has a ninety-something percent chance of being left out in advance when the building was built... if he was one of the project managers, he could easily find an excuse to make such a secret room here."

"Speaking of which... this place is really small; it's a bit difficult for us two to move around," Ruo Yu said at this time. "Otherwise... should I go up first?"

Just as she asked this question...

There was a "bang—" and the wine cellar exit behind them suddenly closed.