Orakelknochenfragmente - Kapitel 32
“You must have surgery immediately to remove it. It should be done in Shanghai; there should still be time,” I said.
“A few more days won’t make a difference. The clues are getting clearer, and it seems…” I grabbed her hand and looked at her, saying, “Listen to me, I’ll go to the hospital with you today.” He Xi stared at me blankly for a long time before she smiled slightly and said, “Tomorrow, I’m a little tired today.”
I breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.
“Then relax, what do you want to do?” I said.
He Xi pretended to think for a long time before saying, "I want to read the newspaper." I laughed, thinking she was going to make some kind of request.
"Just read today's Morning Star. The newspaper gives us reporters a year's worth; it's in the mailbox. Wait here, I'll go get it for you." I ran out the door as fast as I could.
We're both trying our best to make each other feel at ease, really trying.
The Morning Star newspaper came in four thick stacks: one for general news, one for sports, one for economics, and one for the weekly. I tossed the first three stacks to He Xi and took the weekly for myself. Today's issue was the Culture Weekly, one of my favorite weekly publications.
On page four, the entertainment section, there were comics, riddles, and crossword puzzles. My first instinct was to glance at the crossword puzzle author.
Knight Vanris!
(Illustration 1)
Horizontal: 1. Warriors originating from Greek mythology, adapted into anime in Japan, with three ranks: Gold, Silver, and Bronze.
Second, it means that one can sacrifice one's life to repay a close friend.
Third, proverbs related to Sun Tzu imply that someone is very capable.
Fourth, Du Fu's famous poems are full of criticism of the society at that time.
Fifth, the title of one of Aaron Kwok's songs is also one of the reasons why mailed letters are returned.
6. A line from a poem written by Lu You before his death; 7. An idiom describing leaving because of displeasure, found in Chapter 60 of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.
8. China's first convention related to civic conservation is currently collecting electronic signatures from netizens and will be announced this month.
9. Li Shutong's Buddhist name after he converted to Buddhism.
10. A political event that occurred in China in 1967. 11. The popular male protagonist in the anime "Slam Dunk".
Vertical: 1. Chapter titles in the classic novel "Journey to the West".
2. One of the Seven Masters of Quanzhen in The Legend of the Condor Heroes.
3. A famous coastal city in Fujian, facing Taiwan across the sea.
4. A famous modern poet who wrote classic lines such as "Baseness is the passport of the base." 5. Another name for Sun Wukong. 6. An idiom, also a way to make oneself richer and richer. 7. A type of pork, with alternating layers of fat and lean meat.
8. A line from Wei Zhuang's long poem, which is hailed as the last epic poem reflecting the political reality of the Tang Dynasty.
9. A line from the song "Love My China".
Although it wasn't difficult, I didn't have the patience to do it. I quickly found the answers and filled them in one by one.
He Xi watched me fill in the answers one by one, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper, and so did I.
"Why is it so different from last time?" she asked me.
I didn't say anything, and wrote the answers in two groups according to the order.
(Illustration 2)
Horizontal: 1. Saint Seiya 2. A scholar dies for one who understands him 3. Sun Tzu's strategy of fighting one against ten 4. The rich feast on meat and wine 5. No such person found 6. The day the royal army pacifies the Central Plains 7. Rising up in a huff 8. Citizens' Convention on Frugal Behavior 9. Hongyi 10. February Against the Current 11. Rukawa Kaede Vertical: 1. The holy monk hates to banish the Monkey King 2. Sun Bu'er 3. Xiamen 4. Beidao 5. Sun Wukong 6. Increase revenue and reduce expenditure 7. Pork belly 8. At dawn, people are startled awake 9. Fifty-six ethnic groups are one family After writing, I stared blankly at the paper.
What is this?
The method of connecting the first character together this time is incorrect, and neither the last character nor the first and last characters are correct.
Countless combinations were swirling in my mind, and I quickly became dizzy.
No, it can't just be the two of us. I quickly dialed Guo Dong's number and told him that the Virus Knight had reappeared, and asked him to buy a copy of today's Morning Star and call on the decryption experts to crack it together.
The plan to take He Xi to the hospital had to be postponed. Since the Virus Knight had declared war, it meant he was about to attack, possibly even today!
His submission to the Morning Star was a provocation against me, and I don't believe it was a coincidence.
After hanging up the phone, I asked He Xi, "Did you figure anything out? I'm completely confused."
“No,” He Xi shook his head, “but I find it strange. The previous Virus Knight’s crossword puzzle was very different from this one. First of all, the last one only had thirteen lines in total, and there was no horizontal or vertical arrangement; the order was chaotic. This is normal, because he wanted to hide meaning in the crossword puzzle, and strictly following the order of the crossword puzzle would greatly increase the difficulty of his creation. But this time he did it very systematically, which also means that if there is a metaphor in it, then making such a crossword puzzle is a hundred times more difficult than the last one. It’s impossible for someone who hasn’t undergone professional cryptography training to do it. Even if he has two brains this time, neither of those brains has undergone this kind of training.”
"Are you saying this is just a coincidence, that the pen names just happen to overlap?"
He Xi shook her head: "I just find it strange that the difference between the two times is too great."
"I'll call the editor and ask." With that, I picked up the phone and dialed the main switchboard of the Morning Star newspaper.
"Please forward this to Dong Qing, the editor of the supplement section."
"Dong Qing? I'm Na Duo."
"Oh, hello, is there anything I can help you with?" She seemed a little surprised, because I wasn't familiar with her.
"Did you submit this crossword puzzle? Was it a reader's submission?"
"Yes, don't you know? Every time I publish a crossword puzzle, it's based on reader submissions. At most, if I feel it's not good enough, I'll make some minor modifications or add some content." "What!" I yelled into the microphone, "You mean the crossword puzzle published this time was modified by you? No wonder I couldn't find the pattern no matter how I looked at it."
My sudden shout probably displeased Dong Qing. She paused for a moment before saying to me, "Of course it needs to be revised. The original draft for this edition was very messy, and there weren't enough entries..."
"Is the original manuscript still there?" I asked her anxiously.
"I'm not sure about this, I need to check. I received it the day before yesterday."
"Please do me a favor, please find the original manuscript for me. I'm coming to the newspaper office right now. This is very important to me, thank you, it's really very important." I emphasized this to her several times, and when I hung up the phone, He Xi had already put on her coat.
We sprinted into the news center at breakneck speed, and our momentum caused everyone in our way to make way and give He Xi a standing ovation.
When Dong Qing saw the two of us rushing over, she took out a piece of paper and handed it to us.
"This is the original manuscript. Do you know this Knight Vanris? He didn't leave his real name or address, and I'm worried about where to send him the royalties."
"If he had left his address, things would be much easier." I snatched the manuscript from him. "Thank you so much, I owe you a huge favor."
I sat down in my seat, pulled up a chair for He Xi, and the two of us buried ourselves in studying the original manuscript.
I could vaguely sense the lecherous gazes of several men from nearby departments passing back and forth, but I didn't have time to chat with them right now.
The phrase "A scholar will die for one who understands him" was added by Dong Qing herself. The original version only had fifteen entries.
The original format was exactly the same as the last time.
1. A line from the song "Love My China". (Vertical)
2. A political event that occurred in China in February 1967 (horizontal axis)
3. China's first convention related to civic conservation is currently collecting electronic signatures from netizens and will be released this month. (Horizontal)
4. A line from Wei Zhuang's long poem, which is hailed as the last epic poem reflecting the political reality of the Tang Dynasty. (Vertical)
5. A line from a poem written by Lu You before his death. (Horizontal)
6. A famous coastal city in Fujian, facing Taiwan across the sea. (Vertical)
7. The title of one of Aaron Kwok's songs is also one of the reasons why mailed letters are returned: (horizontal)
8. A type of pork with alternating layers of fat and lean meat. (Vertical)
9. Originating from warriors in Greek mythology, this series was adapted into anime in Japan and features three ranks: Gold, Silver, and Bronze. (Horizontal)
10. Chapter titles from the classic novel *Journey to the West*. (Vertical)
11. Another name for Sun Wukong. (Vertical)
12. Idioms are also a way to make oneself increasingly wealthy: (Vertical)
13. A Chinese proverb related to Sun Tzu, meaning someone with exceptional abilities. (Horizontal)
14. An idiom describing leaving because of displeasure, found in Chapter 60 of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*. (Horizontal)
15. Du Fu's famous lines of poetry are full of criticism of the society of his time. (Horizontal)
Rearranging the answers in this order gives: 1. Fifty-six ethnic groups are one family 2. February Countercurrent 3. Citizens' Convention on Frugal Behavior 4. At dawn, people were startled awake 5. The day the royal army pacifies the Central Plains 6. Xiamen 7. No such person found 8. Pork belly 9. Saint Seiya 10. The holy monk hates the Monkey King who was banished from the pass 11. Sun Wukong 12. Increase revenue and reduce expenditure 13. Sun Tzu's military strategy of one against ten 14. Rise up in a huff 15. The rich feast on meat and wine. This time it's a genuine Virus Knight crossword puzzle, but we are still dumbfounded, just like before.
"五二公一王厦查五圣圣孙开孙拂朱" - what does this mean when you put the first character together?
It feels like seeing a bright road, heading towards it, only to bump into a wall.
The last word, when put together, is also meaningless.
The total number of permutations and combinations of these fifteen sentences is astronomical. What exactly did the Virus Knight use to arrange them?
“Look at the last word of these two sentences,” He Xi said, pointing to the tenth and eleventh sentences.
"Wang, zhe? Wangzhe? But the last word of the other sentences doesn't make sense when put together."
"Let's think about it the other way around. There must be one meaningful character in each sentence. These fifteen characters are the declaration of the Virus Knight, so it is very likely that they contain homophones of the characters '亡者' (the deceased), which is his fixed self-reference. Although there is '王' (king) in the fifth sentence '王師北定中原日' (The King's army pacifies the Central Plains), it doesn't make sense when connected with any character in the sixth sentence '厦门' (Xiamen). But the tenth and eleventh sentences happen to contain '王' and '者' (the one). Assuming this is the correct arrangement, and this arrangement is not a rigid last character of each sentence, then there is another algorithm. In the tenth sentence '圣僧恨逐美猴王' (The holy monk hates to chase away the handsome monkey king), '王' is the seventh character, and in the eleventh sentence, '者' is the third character."
“73? Unit 731?” I immediately looked at the twelfth sentence, the first word of which was “open”.
"Is the pattern 'the deceased opens' a repeating 731 arrangement? No, that's not right either. So what's the pattern in the other sentences?"
I tapped the table lightly, then looked at He Xi.
“I think these three lines are indeed arranged in the order of 731, so after ‘open’ there might be ‘begin’. You see, the next line happens to have a homophone ‘ten’.”
"Well, the dead begin..." The last two sentences together only have nine characters, making the simulation much simpler. With a little association, I easily found the characters "拂" and "臭".
"The dead begin their revenge! Yes, that should be it. The last three sentences should be in the order of 8115. 815?" The date immediately popped into my mind: "On August 15, 1945, Emperor Hirohito of Japan formally announced Japan's surrender. Yes, it's most appropriate for him to end with these three numbers, so the order of the first three sentences should be 918!" Of course, it's 918. The September 18 Incident marked the beginning of Japan's invasion of China.
“December.” He Xi read out the corresponding three characters.
My heart skipped a beat. It seemed that what Virus Knight was trying to announce in this crossword puzzle was the exact time when he would begin his attack!
“December 7th.” He Xi then read out two more words.
That's right, first the September 18 Incident, then the July 7 Incident!
But, oh my god, it's December 7th!
He Xi and I exchanged a glance.
That's today!
The remaining four lines are undeciphered. Do they refer to a more precise time or a specific location?
Now that we have the start and end dates of the Japanese invasion of China, along with the codename "731" that Virus Knight despises, what's left?
We filled in important dates from the history of the War of Resistance against Japan and checked them one by one. After trying the fifth one, we finally got it right: 1, 2, 1, 3, the Nanjing Massacre!
"At 5 PM on December 7th, the deceased will begin their revenge!" He Xi and I simultaneously raised our wrists to check our watches.