Archimedes and cryptography

  The chill of late winter and early spring is especially intense in the mountains.

  As soon as the car stopped, a chill crept up from her calves and spread throughout her body. After a moment, Zhen Ai instinctively wrapped her woolen coat tightly around her and quickly walked towards the ancient castle in front of her.

  Walked a few steps and felt something was strange, stopped and looked around in all directions.

  A few days ago, it snowed heavily, and the trees in the mountains were covered with a layer of silver and white. Driving up here, the snowy scenery is as beautiful as frost.

  The world is too quiet, with only the howling wind in the sky.

  The surroundings were a vast expanse of white, making the ancient castle's white bricks and tiles appear even more majestic. The black windows, however, seemed quiet and distant, like human eyes staring intently at Zhen Ai in the center of the snowy ground.

  What kind of person would live in such a strange place?

  Zhen Ai brushed off the unusual feeling from her mind and pulled out a business card from her pocket.

  Simple white background with black font

  No decorations or colors

  The card has centrally embossed handwritten Spencerian script in classic English style —

  The white snow on the card reflected a dazzling light, folding into her dark eyes.

  When she got the business card from Owen, she was somewhat taken aback. Cryptanalyst, logician, behavioral analyst, special consultant for FBI & CIA, plus a string of untold titles, all boiled down to just this simple description on the card.

  The Maers, scholar? Decipherer?

  Seemingly low-key, but actually arrogant and domineering.

  Zhen Ai walked up the heavy stone steps and pressed the doorbell. The door was opened by a dark-skinned maid, who spoke in pure Southeast Asian English: "Miss, please wait for a moment, I'll go find the master. You're welcome to come in, but it's best if you don't."

  Zhen Ai nodded: "Thanks!"

  The maid turned and left.

  Zhen Ai's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and the last sentence of the female servant sounded like it was in the tone of this family's master.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, turning his head revealed a wall on the right side of the entrance with white background and black characters, in the same font as the business card.

  Please go ahead, but better not!

  The heating in the house was sufficient, she ignored the coat rack at the door, unbuttoned her woolen coat, loosened her scarf, but didn't take off any of her clothes.

  Unlike the cold and monotonous exterior, the ancient castle is warm and clean inside, with a decorative structure in the style of the Renaissance. There are many windows, and the snowy ground outside illuminates the interior brightly but not dazzlingly, softly reflecting on the famous paintings that have gone through the vicissitudes of time, giving off an atmosphere of years.

  Zhen Ai stood at the entrance of the castle for a while, checking her watch. Ten minutes had passed, but there was no movement inside the ancient castle. She weighed the large envelope in her hand and walked up the stone steps on the opposite side, placing it on the corner table in the corridor. As she turned to leave, her peripheral vision caught a glimpse of colorful light at the end of the corridor.

  She turned her head and looked over, stunned, and after a while, she walked over as if possessed.

  The exit of the corridor is another world, a colorful waterfall-like light pouring down from the high sky, everything is shrouded in a layer of pale colored light.

  In front of me was a spacious circular hall, with wooden bookshelves from the ground floor to several tens of meters high on the roof, forming a complete circle from top to bottom, filled with countless books. Of varying heights and colors, they looked like colorful candies, quietly waiting for people to come and savor them.

  There are two spiral staircases on both sides of the bookshelf. From bottom to top, there is a circular corridor every two meters, which facilitates taking books.

  She had never seen such a large private library before. The ancient books seemed to contain the power of time, as if they had been washed clean by the years.

  Zhen Ai felt a inexplicable sense of reverence rising in her heart as she stood before the temple of knowledge, filled with sincerity.

  Look up and gaze upwards, the top is a large circular stained glass window, pure white daylight penetrates from it, turning into a colorful waterfall of light.

  Zhen Ai took a deep breath, slowly lowered her head, and looked at the white triangular piano in the middle of the study. Placing a piano here, the owner's interests are indeed unusual...

  His footsteps suddenly came to an abrupt halt.

  She took a few steps back and turned around, then saw the young man sitting behind the piano.

  About twenty-four years old, with a fair complexion and a deeply contoured face like that of a Westerner, beautiful as if she had walked out of a classical oil painting. Under her thick eyebrows, a pair of shallow tea-colored eyes stared at Zhen Ai, and her black eyelashes drooped, sizing her up from head to toe before calmly withdrawing her gaze.

  That glance was really too subtle, Zhen Ai always felt that he was judging something, but thinking again, maybe it was just her own paranoia, so she walked over to greet him.

  It wasn't until he walked around the piano that he discovered he wasn't sitting on a piano bench, but in a wheelchair.

  He was very tall, wearing a light-colored sweater and trousers, folded in a wheelchair, but looked very comfortable, drawing tadpoles on the staff, was he composing?

  Zhen Ai couldn't help but feel a pang of regret, such a handsome young man turned out to be...

  He was probably just inspired, and he buried his head in writing, seemingly forgetting Zhen Ai's existence. When he wrote to a certain place, he thought of something, stretched out his hand to reach for the book on the piano rack.

  Zhen Ai saw that he was having some difficulty, and subconsciously walked over to push his wheelchair. Just as her hand was about to reach out, she remembered that this "kindness" was actually impolite, so her hand ended up hovering in mid-air, feeling neither here nor there.

  He looked at her hand that had been withdrawn, and after a moment of silence, he raised his eyes to look at her. His light-colored eyes were calm but couldn't hide their sharpness, still with a hint of inquiry.

  Zhen Ai was looked at strangely by him and spoke first: "Hello, I'm here to find Mr. Yan Suo."

  Having said that, I realized I was wrong, just as I was about to ask again in English, he responded with perfect Chinese: "I am."

  Zhen Ai was stunned.

  Before coming, I had heard some rumors about Yan Suo. He was said to be eccentric and reclusive, with no friends, living alone in a mysterious ancient castle deep in the mountains. She naturally imagined him as a hunchbacked old man with a rugged face, carrying an old kerosene lamp, walking through the dark corridors of the gloomy ancient castle, with a string of ghostly fires flashing across the black windows.

  She knew that Yan Suo, who had the same pronunciation as "serious", was a Chinese descendant and naturally thought he was an old man. When she saw this young man, she even thought he was Yan Suo's son.

  Who would have thought that such a legendary person would be so young?

  "Get me that white book on the back shelf, please." His voice was low and smooth, pleasant like a certain musical instrument. "Right in front of you, 13th row from bottom to top, 5th one from right to left."

  Zhen Ai handed him the book, he took it without a word, his eyes fell on her pale and slightly red hands, and asked in a neutral tone: "Didn't bring gloves?"

  This sudden question made Zhen Ai stunned for a moment before answering, "No." Lowering her head to take a look, the skin on her hands was red and white due to frequent switching between cold and heat.

  The man in the wheelchair took out a handkerchief from his pocket and carefully wiped the spot on the book cover where Zhen Ai had touched it earlier.

  Zhen Ai: ……

  He raised his eyes and saw her looking at him, not awkward at all, and explained calmly:

  "Humans' hands secrete oils, which may be saturated fatty acids or unsaturated fatty acids due to individual physical differences, and are generally weakly acidic. Books have a protective film on them, but if they are touched by people without being wiped clean, these oils can damage..."

  He saw the girl's eyes slightly wider, and then stopped halfway and closed his mouth, silent for a moment: "Forget I said that."

  Zhen Ai lost her smile.

  Qing Jun's face turned pale: "What?"

  "It's nothing."

  Zhen Ai suppressed her smile, recalling Owen's reminder - "Don't initiate a handshake with him, because he'll tell you that there are millions of bacteria on people's hands, including tens of thousands of species of cocci, bacilli, and spirochetes. In addition to bacteria, there are also fungi and even viruses. Research has shown that women have more varieties and quantities of bacteria on their hands than men. Therefore, it is unfair for international etiquette to place the initiative of handshaking between men and women in the woman's court. To show respect for each other, people should avoid physical contact, especially with hands."

  Zhen Ai handed him a large envelope: "It was Owen who let me come, he said you can help me. Trouble you."

  The envelope was sealed, and the fingers slightly rubbed against it, with a good texture. Opening the envelope revealed a card with tens of lines of dense numerical arrays: "111GV943.49121DJK734.01……"

  "Is this envelope yours, or is it with this card?"

  "It's mine. The card wasn't wrapped, it was just stuffed into the door crack." Zhen Ai saw him looking thoughtful and added another sentence, "I also find it strange that the card was sent without an envelope."

  "Because the material of the paper can reveal a lot of information. The card is very ordinary thin pound single-sided paper," he narrowed his eyes and raised the envelope, "but this handmade Xuan paper can only be obtained from one workshop in China."

  "Can you tell so much from just an envelope?" Zhen Ai raised her eyebrows in surprise.

  This reaction fell into Yan Su's eyes with a hint of indifference - she was surprised, but slightly deliberately, that is to say, her expression lied.

  He withdrew his gaze and placed the envelope and card on the piano cover, falling silent.

  Zhen Ai handed him a few more sheets of paper: "By the way, Owen said you don't help people you don't understand solve problems. This is my resume."

  She walked over quickly, flipped through it, and put it on the piano, still saying nothing.

  Zhen Ai thought his state of speaking a lot and then a little was very strange, just as she was about to ask something, the maid came over and said to Yan Sui: "Mr. Owen is here."

  Owen and Shu had an unusual relationship, no need to announce his arrival. The maid hadn't finished speaking when he appeared, his Mandarin tone not quite right but very fluent. He smiled warmly at Zhen Ai: "Ai, how's the talk going?"

  Unexpectedly, Yan Su suddenly broke off and said: "I have something to say to you."

  Didn't mean to look at Zhen Ai at all.

  Ouwen was taken aback, then smiled slightly awkwardly at Zhen Ai, looking embarrassed; Zhen Ai didn't mind, saying "excuse me" and leaving first.

  Owen saw Zhen Ai leave, and only then walked to Yan Suo's side, kicking his wheelchair with one foot: "Can you change this habit of finding comfort in your wheelchair whenever you encounter a difficult situation?"

  He put down the score in his hand and picked up the card with his index finger and middle finger, saying directly: "This friend of yours is not the trustee, this is not what she received."

  Owen stopped, he was clear about Xun Yu's character, and he only accepted cases where the client came to him in person.

  Owen frowned: "Are you mistaken? What if..."

  "What's with the tension?" Yan Suo turned his head to look at him, "I didn't say I wouldn't accept it."

  Owen's mouth was even more agape than before,

  A: Yan Su thinks that Zhen Ai is not the client.

  B: Yan Suo thinks Zhen Ai cheated him;

  Did he accept it?

  "Why?"

  He opened the piano lid, and his slender white fingers drew out a string of light and agile melodies. He said slowly, "Because she accepted the witness protection program, it's your responsibility to protect her."

  Owen's back jumped, and he immediately pulled his hands away, slamming the piano lid shut. He stared at him: "She didn't," he wanted to deny it, but realized he couldn't escape this guy's eyes.

  Yan Yu lifted the piano lid again, playing the piano calmly and composedly. His voice was elegant and low, blending with the piano sound in an indescribably beautiful way.

  She has an injured right hand, was imprisoned and abused, is highly vigilant, uses □□, one or both of her parents were experts at the top of a certain field but are dead.

  She has been to the Middle East and likes watching football.

  Having received professional self-defense or combat training, familiar with basic cryptography, and unlike the journalism major on her resume, her actual major should be biology-related, leaning towards cell research or pharmaceuticals. Moreover, her level of expertise may be comparable to that of her parents.

  "How long were you with her? Ten minutes? Five?" Owen's eyes widened in surprise. "How did you know?"

  "It's obvious." Yan Suo looked at him calmly, the colorful sky light fell into his shallow tea-colored eyes, shining like a rare crystal, with a soft glow, washing away the dust.

  It's obvious now...

  Owen stretched his mouth and indeed asked him with a stinky mouth.

  The author has something to say: Recently re-watched Sherlock, and was once again infatuated with the scene where Sherlock Holmes meets Watson for the first time. So I drew inspiration from it and wrote the first chapter, just to satisfy my cravings~~~

  The male and female protagonists are Zhen Ai (True Love) and Yan Suo (Strict), which means, cough cough, Zhen Ai (True Love) is Yan Suo's (Strict); only Yan Suo (Strict) can get Zhen Ai (True Love); haha.

  Zhen Ai: Author, come here, I'll try out the neural toxin reagent I've been developing recently. Don't worry, it won't hurt~~~

  Ajiao: Everyone scatter flowers and leave messages~~~ Girls who like it, remember to collect the article, thank you~~~

  Insert Bookmark