Wen Zheng stopped in his tracks: "There's an employee restroom downstairs."
Jin Fanrong: "Huh?"
"I went in without swiping my card, the elevator might be broken. Anyway, there's only a toilet downstairs."
"Really?" Jin Fanrong exclaimed in surprise, "Honey, shall we go down and take a look too?"
"Okay, okay."
The two excitedly pressed the down button. No response. They pressed it again, still no response.
Jin Fanrong glared angrily at Wen Zheng, who put his hands in his pockets and said, "Oh, it's probably healed again."
"..."
It was only then that Jin Fanrong realized Wen Zheng was playing a trick on him.
His girlfriend's expression was subtle: "Why don't we go in and take a look now?" Jin Fanrong realized what was happening and stuck his foot in the middle of the elevator doors that were about to close, but he was shocked by the static current, pulled his foot back, and let out a howl.
This current doesn't hurt like a real electric shock, but it has a strange, uncomfortable numbness.
"Wen Zheng!" He turned around angrily, his words caught in his throat.
Behind him, only empty billboards remained; there was no sign of Wen Zheng anywhere!
***
Wen Zheng was waiting for the bus outside.
My phone received a new message notification—the address of a restaurant sent by Shan Yu Yu Lai, not far from Wutong Garden.
Seeing that it was still early, he went back to put down his lunchbox and changed his clothes.
Before leaving, Dahei slowly got off the bed, dragging its paws behind his feet.
Wen Zheng: "...You want to go too?"
Big Black held its head high, remaining silent, and stared at him steadily with its unfathomable golden eyes.
Wen Zheng hesitated.
In this era where everyone owns a cat, it's perfectly acceptable to bring your cat out for a meal, unless it's a formal dinner. However, Dahei's wound hasn't healed yet, so is it inappropriate to take it out? Letting it walk with you without a leash might tire its paws. Putting it in an incubator would be difficult to handle, and it probably wouldn't want to do that either.
"Big Black." Wen Zheng squatted down and reached out to rub its head. "I just made an appointment to go out for a meal. I'll be back soon."
Big Black persisted.
"I went out yesterday, and I left this morning, and you didn't come with me, did you? Why are you being naughty now?"
"……roar."
"I'll take you out again next time, when your foot is a little better, okay?"
As Wen Zheng spoke, he saw the big, fluffy black tail hook up a point and wrap around his wrist.
"..." Wen Zheng paused for a moment, then said, "Alright. I'll take you there."
What can we do?
Who can blame me when Big Black is so cute?
Whether she's glaring at him or clinging to him, it's all so cute.
It was like shooting arrows into his heart with a bow.
Wen Zheng scooped up the big black dog in his arms, made sure it wasn't uncomfortable in that position, and then went out to keep his appointment.
Because of the cat, Wen Zheng arrived a while later, just as the storm was brewing. He was sitting by the window, wearing a white shirt and black trousers, looking at his phone.
Wen Zheng confirmed that he was not late and walked towards the approaching storm.
"Hello," Wen Zheng said, holding the cat. "I'm Wen Zheng."
The man in question was taller and stronger than in the photos. Upon seeing Wen Zheng, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes, and he then stood up with a smile: "You really surprised me! You're a real hidden talent. Why didn't you post a photo of yourself when you're so handsome? And you even brought a cat with you."
Wen Zheng didn't answer, but sat down and put the cat on his lap. Feeling his view was restricted, the big black cat flicked Wen Zheng with its tail, and Wen Zheng understood and picked it up and put it back on the table.
"Let's order first, Big Black is hungry."
"..." Shan Yu's smile almost faltered.
We ordered two steaks and a salmon salad. Wen Zheng specifically asked for sashimi and emphasized that we shouldn't put wasabi on it first.
The waiter glanced knowingly at the giant black cat on the table, secretly shocked: This cat is huge! How can it be so big? It takes up half the table!
Looking at Wen Zheng, Shan Yu Yu Lai exclaimed, "He's really handsome! I didn't even realize it. If you took a picture or video of him, you might surpass me in popularity the next day."
Wen Zheng glanced at the cat indifferently: "I don't sell my face."
The cat flicked its tail.
"I've noticed you're really aloof; part-time jobs are definitely less stressful. What kind of work do you do?"
"Clerical work," Wen Zheng said, looking at him. "It doesn't pay much."
Shan Yu laughed twice: "I didn't know! With your skills, netizens all guessed you were a fitness coach."
"...Whatever."
Realizing that Wen Zheng genuinely disliked the topic, Shan Yulai subtly changed the subject: "Why not try fighting games? Do you simply enjoy puzzle games?"
Wen Zheng paused, then shifted his gaze: "Not exactly."
"I want to crack all kinds of passwords. There's so little information available about traditional passwords. Computer encryption, fingerprint, voiceprint, and iris verification—traditional passwords are obsolete."
It was rare for Wen Zheng to speak at such a long length.
When Shan Yu saw him subconsciously touching the necklace on his chest, she suddenly felt that it looked familiar.
Xiao Z also has this chain in the game, and he never takes it off. Since there are no similar items in the game's store, everyone guesses that Xiao Z spent a huge amount of points to scan it from reality.
A sudden inspiration struck, as if a storm was brewing. He asked, "You like solving codes; is that related to your necklace?"
Wen Zheng suddenly looked at him.
Suddenly, Dahei stretched out its front paws and yawned a long yawn, just as the waiter served the main course, steak.
Wen Zheng lowered his head, holding a cat's paw in one hand and setting the plate down with the other: "I have a password that I can't crack. There are no type hints, no key, and I don't know the language."
He cut a piece of steak, swallowed it, and said, "I'm trying to get some ideas."
The big black cat twitched its ears and squinted at Wen Zheng with one eye. Wen Zheng couldn't be cold to the cat, so he lowered his voice and said, "What's wrong? Your food hasn't come up yet, and you don't like this."
Big Black gave him a disdainful look, then closed his half-open eyes again.
The storm was brewing, so the topic was changed, saying, "Traditional cryptography mainly falls into two categories: substitution ciphers and transposition ciphers."
Seeing that Wen Zheng was finally looking at him, Shan Yu breathed a sigh of relief, realizing that he was really hard to coax.
"The Caesar cipher I told you about the other day is a typical substitution cipher. Each letter is replaced with another letter. This kind of substitution cipher is easy to crack if you know the substitution rules, but it is very difficult to deduce if you don't know them."
Wen Zheng listened intently, even stopping the fork in his hand.
Shan Yu considerately poured him water: "Transposition ciphers involve scrambling the original letters or Chinese characters according to a certain pattern, making them unreadable. Similarly, once the pattern is known, they are easy to decipher. For example, the acrostic poems commonly used in Chinese are a type of transposition cipher..."
Shan Yu pushed the water glass forward, and just as Wen Zheng was about to take it, Da Hei suddenly stretched out its paw and pushed the glass to the edge of the table.
The two men were both startled, and then they saw Big Black, under their gazes, slowly and firmly push the water glass to the ground.
A loud snap.
A storm is brewing: "…………"
Wen Zheng: "…………"
"Sorry." Wen Zheng squatted down to pick up the water glass, and the waiter rushed over. Because it was a new type of glass, it wasn't broken; all that was needed was to wipe up the water. The waiter was very kind and said not to worry.
The storm was brewing, and he had forgotten where he was in his conversation. He gave an awkward laugh, his eyes filled with disgust as he looked at Big Black.
Big Black ignored him, leisurely wagging its tail as if pushing the water cup was its duty and nothing to cause trouble.
Since Wen Zheng, the owner, didn't say anything, Shan Yu naturally couldn't either, and said subtly, "You really spoil your cat."
Wen Zheng finally gave a faint smile: "It's cute."
Shan Yu: ...Where is it cute!?
Author's Note: Big Black: Damn it, I can't stand it anymore, I'll push a water glass to make a sound.
Chapter 16
In a shop across the pedestrian street, two young people wearing baseball caps and masks were whispering to each other while holding cameras.
"Bro, you've taken a lot of pictures, right? Have you sent a message yet? What did Brother Yu say?"
The person with the camera was still snapping away: "Brother Yu hasn't replied yet, how about we give him a call?"
"But didn't Brother Yu say not to bother him when he's flirting with little boys?"
"Well, something's come up!"
These two brothers are relatives who are about to face a storm. After graduating, they couldn't find jobs and spent their days doing odd jobs for their cousin.
Today they have an important mission: to help Brother Yu take photos secretly.
Before we arrived, Brother Yu talked on and on about Plan A and Plan B, which made the two of them roll their eyes, indirectly showing how important today's mission was.
In short—if the little boy he's looking at is ugly, he'll take even uglier photos, then go home. But if he's handsome, then things get interesting; he'll take some close-up photos of the two of them, then secretly post them on the gaming forums that Yu Ge frequents.
As for how to define beauty and ugliness, that's up to Brother Yu.
"Brother Yu is so long-winded. In the end, even after the filming is done, I still have to let him review it."
"Try to understand, I think the older man is feeling the spring fever."
"But didn't we say we had to send it before they finished eating? Otherwise, it won't seem like we're dealing with strangers... Bro, should we just call them?"
"Alright, alright, this guy is really good-looking. I'll take a really good picture of him. It's a good deal for Brother Yu."
The call connected, and the phone on the table began to vibrate, as if a storm was brewing.
He was slowly discussing the password with Wen Zheng, and the atmosphere was quite good. Because Wen Zheng seemed difficult to fool and was somewhat aloof, he hadn't looked at his phone. He knew that his two brothers must be getting impatient; in fact, he was impatient too, just waiting for a call to rescue him.
The storm was brewing. He smiled and said, "Excuse me, I need to take this..."