The cipher that Chen Xu is trying to crack is so ingenious because it not only has these special characters, but also incorporates a "double-digit" judgment!
The so-called "double-digit" judgment is a technology that was ahead of its time.
Everyone knows that the current password requirements are 26 letters and 10 numbers plus some special characters. However, this "double-digit" judgment is simply a matter of cracking the password one number at a time when it is being entered. But this "double-digit" judgment requires two numbers to form a password group!
Simply put, in the password 123abc, under the "double-digit" algorithm mechanism, 12 is one password group, 3a is another, and b is yet another!
Now anyone trying to brute-force this password is doomed. They could never crack such a cunning password in their entire lives!
After seeing this algorithm, Chen Xu was very glad that he had cracked it first.
However, he also knew that his future grandson had set this trap with some restraint, not making it too difficult for him to complete.
Because this algorithm can handle both double-digit and single-digit numbers, it's clear that single-digit numbers present a significant vulnerability. This vulnerability renders double-digit encryption meaningless. If a hacker can crack the algorithm using single-digit numbers, what chance does double-digit encryption have?
Moreover, Chen Xu also realized that this vulnerability was probably left intentionally. Otherwise, if the single-digit processing had been directly blocked, even if he used all the computers in the world, he would not have been able to crack the algorithm's function without knowing the underlying principles.
It seems that his grandson was not deliberately trying to oppose him, but rather urging him to improve his computer skills.
Or perhaps, this is a way for my future self to motivate my present self!
Having learned the principle behind this algorithm, Chen Xu began to apply it little by little.
Since he didn't know the password's length, Chen Xu could only start experimenting with single digits. He thought to himself, "If that brat had given me a 128-digit password, I'd never be able to crack it." However, when Chen Xu reached a six-digit password, Xiao Min's gentle voice rang out: "Congratulations, you have obtained the password for Level 2 access."
Chen Xu glanced at the six-digit number displayed on the cracking software and immediately fainted.
Because the arrangement of the numbers above is extremely simple, so simple that it's unimaginable.
These numbers were enough to make Chen Xu's blood boil!
But in reality, even if Chen Xu had actually entered 123456 earlier, it would have been impossible to gain access. This is because of the advantage of "double-digit" encryption. 123456 is actually 12, 34, and 56. Moreover, based on this algorithm, Chen Xu could see that there are even deeper extensions, such as the first and fourth digits being a group, the second and sixth digits being a group, and so on.
Therefore, simply entering 123456 will not unlock the password. At this moment, Chen Xu clearly understood his future self's thoughts... He was not asking him to crack a password, but to crack the algorithm!
With a little modification, this algorithm can fetch an astronomical price on the international market!
Because this algorithm is already very mature, Chen Xu believed that the future technology algorithms that Xiao Min brought him were all very mature. If the algorithm is not made public and the single-number verification is removed, then probably no one in the world will be able to crack this algorithm... at least that's the case for the next few years.
However, Chen Xu didn't think too much about it at the moment. He entered the virtual illusion again... because at this time, he wanted to see what was inside the second-level access...
Chapter 295: The Legend of the Gods!
"Congratulations on obtaining the second level of access." Xiao Min's heavenly, gentle voice rang in Chen Xu's ears: "First of all, there is a conversation from the future, left to you by your grandson Chen Fei. This conversation is very important, so please listen carefully."
Beside Chen Xu appeared a phantom, just like Xiao Min, but the one Chen Xu had seen before was his future grandson, Chen Fei.
"Ha, Grandpa, hello!" Chen Fei laughed. "I didn't expect to see you again so soon, hehe, or rather, it's Grandpa seeing me again. Today, I checked the time, ah, November 16, 2007! Grandpa, you're really fast. You got the second level of authority in just a few months, and it's not even 2010 yet. This is wonderful! You truly are my grandpa. Only with your great genes can your grandson be so smart and clever!"
Chen Xu was both amused and exasperated, but inwardly he was surprised. Something seemed a little off.
Chen Xu immediately understood why it was so strange!
The last two times I met Chen Fei, it was on a PC platform, and Chen Fei only left a video of me. But this time, it was as if Chen Fei was talking to me face to face!
Chen Xu couldn't help but ask, "How...how can you talk to me like that?"
To everyone's surprise, Chen Fei dramatically slapped his forehead: "Grandpa, did you cheat to get the second level of access? How could you not even think of that? I am your grandson Xiao Fei, but not entirely, because I am just a program that integrates a memory left by Chen Fei in the computer. Don't let my human-like appearance fool you. Actually, like Xiao Min, I'm just a pseudo-intelligent program, but I can handle a lot of things. Because just leaving images isn't enough to explain many things!"
So that's how it is!
No wonder he felt like he was with a real person. If Xiaomin's emotional judgment mechanism hadn't been canceled and her answers hadn't always been so mechanical, she would have been just like a real person... To be honest, Chen Xu had never treated Xiaomin as a program. Most of the time, he treated her like an ordinary person.
But Chen Xu immediately remembered another question. He asked, "You mean a memory integration program?! Can memories be integrated into a program like that?! What exactly happened with Mivad?!"
Chen Xu used "Dream Paradise" to access Mivad's memories before his death, but unexpectedly, Mivad was brought back to life, and even a part of his "soul" was transferred to the internet, becoming a cyber ghost... Chen Xu has been keeping an eye on the whereabouts of that cyber ghost online ever since. However, since Mivad's death, there have been no more attacks against SMMH, as if that guy had died along with him.
"Such a thing?!" Chen Fei scratched his head. "Impossible! Virtual reality has been around for so long. I've never heard of anything like this happening. You're talking about dying in a virtual reality... Don't be ridiculous, bro, I mean, grandpa. You don't know, when virtual reality first came out, because the laws weren't perfect, hundreds, if not thousands, of people died in it. I've never heard of any 'cyber ghosts,' let alone someone possessing a body... Superstition!"
Chen Xu, exasperated, slapped the little brat on the back of the head. Since Chen Xu himself was a program in the virtual world, the slap actually landed. Chen Fei cried out, "Ouch!" and clutched his head, saying aggrievedly, "Grandpa, I was just telling the truth!"
Chen Xu rolled his eyes at the little bastard and said, "Can you explain this? A person dies and suddenly becomes computer data. Even more outrageous, he can even possess another body?! If that's true, then people wouldn't die at all?!"
"How is that possible?" Chen Fei exclaimed dramatically, "At least I didn't know such a thing existed!"
"And what about you?" Chen Xu looked at him suspiciously. "You seem to be a highly intelligent being as well, at least you feel almost like a real person. So what if you went online? Would you become a cyber ghost like him? Or, if you were given a body, could you take over that body and become human?"
"Of course not!" Chen Fei exclaimed. "Grandpa, you've been reading too many science fiction novels! I'm a program, albeit a more advanced one, but not really. To put it simply, Xiaomin and I are pseudo-intelligent programs. Pseudo-intelligence means we're not fully artificial intelligence; we're just more human-like. Do you think we could go online? Become cyber ghosts? Honestly, yes, but that's pointless! Do you know how big our core program is? Using a double helix structure, our core program is a hundred gigabytes! If we used the current programming method—of course, whether we could even build it is another matter… even if we could, Grandpa, how much space do you think that would require? How narrow is the network bandwidth? Could it allow us to move freely on the network?!"
"As for possessing a human body, that's even more ridiculous. How could that be possible! The human soul wasn't even understood in my time. Countless scientists rushed into it like moths to a flame or dung beetles, only to waste their entire lives without ever figuring it out. But one thing is certain: computer programs and human souls are completely different things."
Chen Xu recognized that this was indeed the answer from pseudo-artificial intelligence.
Because Chen Xu personally experienced this, meaning he has already confirmed its validity. He's now discussing with this brat "why" it's true, not "whether" it will happen!
If a kid in real life said something like that, he would definitely be incredibly rude. But considering he's just a highly intelligent program, Chen Xu decided not to bother with him... However, he still had to slap him a couple of times. What's the point of being polite when you're beating your own grandson?!
However, it's clear that this was an accidental event, with a probability of less than one in a billion, but Chen Xu unexpectedly encountered it. Even in the future, nothing like this has ever happened before.
Chen Fei, feeling wronged after being slapped a few times, pouted and said, "Grandpa, you're so violent..." Seeing Chen Xu about to raise his hand again, he quickly said, "Of course, it might be related to your domineering aura, Grandpa!"
"You're the bastard!" Chen Xu cursed, "You little bastard!"
Chen Fei grinned and said, "If I'm a little bastard and you're my grandpa, wouldn't I be an old sea turtle?" Seeing Chen Xu raise his hand to hit him again, he quickly changed his tune, "I really wasn't joking with you! Remember the protagonist theory I told you about last time?!"
"I remember, so what?"
Chen Fei's expression turned serious: "According to my information, this is an extremely low-probability event that has occurred, and it is something that is absolutely beyond the historical trajectory. It is very likely because of your status as the protagonist, Grandpa."
"Bullshit! The main character is supposed to be tortured?!"
"That's not what I meant. Grandpa, you should know something about this huge scam by now, right?"
Seeing Chen Xu nod, Chen Fei sighed: "To be honest, those scientists were a pitiful bunch... Although it was a huge hoax of the century, the fact that it trapped two generations of scientists, making them dedicate their entire lives to it, shows that the hoax wasn't as simple as it seemed. In fact, their starting point was good. And it was right! This research was originally meant to change the entire landscape of human society!"
"What?!"
Chen Fei gave a helpless wry smile: "Surprising, isn't it? In future history textbooks, this will be called the Great Deception of the Century, while in a Pentagon intelligence report, it will be called..." Chen Fei glanced at Chen Xu and said, enunciating each word clearly: "The Tower of Babel that failed once again!"
Chen Xu's pupils contracted instantly!
He certainly knew the meaning of the Tower of Babel; his previous publication, "The Translator of the Tower of Babel," was enough to make people understand what the Tower of Babel represented.
That was humanity's rebellion against the gods... but to the gods, it was blasphemy, it was evil, so they wanted to destroy this evil!
"You mean..."
"This world may indeed have its own rules." Chen Fei smiled bitterly. "This is a bloody lesson we learned from the failure of the century's biggest scam! Of course, the failure of the century's biggest scam was also largely due to human greed! That's undeniable, but nothing is absolute. Many scientists are of high moral character. They don't seek fame or fortune, but only to open a completely new door for the development of mankind."
"But they failed. The second Tower of Babel built by mankind fell before the gods once again."
Chen Xu frowned: "Do gods really exist in this world?!"
“Yes!” Chen Fei said very seriously, “But it’s not what you imagine, nor is it the gods in myths and legends… In mythology, gods are actually just people, only people with greater power… Of course, many myths are exaggerated. But let me put it this way, this is absolutely top secret! It was true in your time, and it is true in our time!”
Looking at his grandson's image, Chen Xu felt a little breathless, as if a great secret was waiting for him to unveil its mystery.
Chen Fei turned his head, reached out and touched it, and a 3D image appeared in front of him in a fantastical way. Of course, this was in a virtual illusion. Although the action was quite fantastical, Chen Xu was not surprised.
The site features a group of archaeologists, as well as some familiar buildings, such as the Egyptian pyramids, Mayan temples, and statues on Easter Island... There are also some bronze statues with large eyes and ears... Chen Xu recognized the style of those bronze statues; they were from the Yin-Shang period, and there were also ancient civilization statues from Sanxingdui in Guanghan!
"Our archaeological research has revealed that a highly intelligent previous human civilization existed before our world," Chen Fei said solemnly. "The humans of that time followed a different development path, similar to our technological civilization but very different. The biggest characteristic was that they almost never used bioenergy! And that civilization had a very small population!"
Chen Xu understood the importance of not using bioenergy, because minerals like oil and coal are the result of hundreds of thousands or even millions of years of accumulation. If the previous civilization had used them, would they still have the opportunity to use them now? But the number of people using them is very small… Why?
“According to various records, that generation had very poor reproductive ability!” Chen Fei said, “because their individual abilities were too strong!”
"Strong? What do you mean?!"
Chen Fei pointed to a reconstructed image that appeared beside him and said, "We don't know how many generations of civilizations existed before, or what each civilization was like. But what is certain is that our previous generation, roughly eight to ten thousand years ago, already had humans on Earth! And they already possessed a very powerful civilization! In fact... we've done simulations. If our generation—I mean my generation, the 2080s—with the entire world's power, were to fight them... the result would be mutual destruction, and the only outcome would be the complete annihilation of both sides!"
"No way?!" Chen Xu was genuinely surprised. He knew how advanced civilization was now and how powerful its war forces were, and he could also foresee some aspects of civilization eighty years from now.
If such civilizations could only lead to mutual destruction, then how powerful were prehistoric civilizations?!
Chen Fei held up his fingers: "Grandpa, do you know how many people there were in the world in our previous civilization?" Before Chen Xu could answer, he held up three fingers.
"Three billion? Uh, three hundred million?"
Chen Fei smiled: "Three hundred thousand!"
"Impossible?!" The Earth's population is now approaching seven billion, and even a small city has more than three hundred thousand people!
At this moment, Chen Xu suddenly realized why he had never heard of prehistoric civilizations. Besides the fact that governments of various countries were hiding it, there was another reason... they had too few people!
Three hundred thousand, spread across the entire globe! Just think about it, how many people can live on a single plot of land?!
More than eight thousand years have passed. What will that civilization have left?
Chen Xu then felt a chill run down his back...
Three hundred thousand men. Even the South Korean army has more than that. But do you expect the South Koreans to try and fight the entire world's military to the death?!
Three hundred thousand people challenging seven billion... are they evenly matched?!
Chen Xu suddenly realized a crucial question. He exclaimed in surprise, "You're saying their reproductive capacity is weak?!"
Chen Fei nodded: "As expected of Grandpa, you grasped the key to the whole problem so quickly. That's right. Our previous civilization, those humans, possessed extremely powerful abilities! At the end of the last century, several Swedish explorers found a frozen corpse in the Scandinavian Mountains. Later, they performed an autopsy on the body, and guess what they found?"
Before Chen Xu could answer, nor did he expect one, the screen displayed an image of a giant over two meters tall, covered in thick hair, with a very thick beard and head. He wasn't an ape-man, but rather someone with extremely heavy body hair. "After the autopsy, scientists were astonished to discover..." Chen Fei's voice was bitter: "His heart...his heart was three times the size of an average human's!"
Chen Xu, having studied some medicine, immediately understood Chen Fei's meaning!
Three times the size?!
How is that possible?
The heart is one of the most important organs in the human body. Its pumping action allows blood to circulate throughout the body, delivering oxygen and nutrients. Theoretically, the larger the heart, the more powerful its pumping, and the stronger the person! However! There are limits to how "large" it can be!
A heart of that size must have an output power that is simply superhuman!
Three times the size, that's more than three times the power!
But the problem is, bigger isn't always better!
It's like putting a Ferrari F1 engine into a Chery QQ—could that car handle it?!
If a normal human had such a heart, there would only be one outcome... death by exploding!
Chen Fei's voice was bitter: "His other internal organs were also much stronger than those of humans, which I won't go into detail about. According to scientists' analysis, when this person was alive, he could easily lift more than 1,200 kilograms... You know, the world weightlifting record is only 263 kilograms, which is more than twice as strong. And his sprinting speed could easily break seven seconds... That's not all, the most terrifying thing is... Grandpa, do you know how this corpse was dissected? It was done with a laser! Because a regular scalpel can't even cut through his skin!"
Chen Xu gasped... That skin is that thick?!
How sharp is a scalpel? But to dissect a person using a laser... that's incredible!