The boss of a foreign organization called the police, claiming that he was defrauded by me

It delayed them for a full ten days. If Xiao Li had not suddenly had a flash of inspiration and used up all the task time limits, they might still not have been able to see through this deception.

However, Director Wang's reflection did not last long. When he heard the discussion of Xiao Li and others, he felt proud and relieved. He was also taking a risk and choosing the youngest technicians to form a team. And the result proved that his choice was correct. These young bloods gave full play to their flexible thinking and keen insight.

"Your idea is very good. Now that you have decided, let's start!" Director Wang did not explain too much, but just said lightly. His heart was full of rich emotions and he had a strong desire to express himself. But at this moment, he chose to remain silent.

Because he knew that it was no longer important whether it was his reflection at that moment, his admiration for these young people, or his opinion on the whole thing. What was important was that they had found a way to crack it and were about to put it into practice.

There is still much to explore about this trick. Although Xiao Li's explanation is complete, it is not flawless. Director Wang has a deeper understanding of this, and he may even consider applying Sigma Theory to this for a more in-depth analysis.

However, he finally chose to remain silent because he found that at this moment, any words seemed pale and powerless. There was no need to use words to prove the excellence of these young people. The sense of achievement and joy brought by successful deciphering was the most real proof.

There is no need to preach or over-praise. It is not too late to review and summarize after everything is over. Now, they just need to enjoy the happiness and sense of accomplishment at this moment.

Everyone held their breath, their eyes fixed on Xiao Li's finger. He was about to press the start button, and no one wanted to miss this crucial moment.

Under such scrutiny, Xiao Li seemed a little nervous. His finger paused on the run key, and he carefully checked the code again. After confirming that it was correct, he finally pressed it firmly.

However, unexpectedly, a long pop-up box suddenly popped up, prompting the user to enter the correct passcode. With its yellow fill color and black exclamation mark, this pop-up box is familiar to everyone.

"Passcode? What on earth is this? Can we get around it?" someone asked anxiously.

"No, this is different from the previous firewall pop-up box. That firewall does not have a fixed password, and we can break through it by finding loopholes. But this pop-up box requires a fixed passcode and cannot be bypassed." Another person explained.

"Usually when this sign appears, it means we only have three chances to try. The passcode is fixed and cannot be circumvented by finding loopholes," someone else added.

"But how do we know what the passcode is? We don't know how many digits it is, whether it contains special characters, or whether it is Japanese Mandarin or a common language. This is like looking for a needle in a haystack!" someone lamented.

As soon as they solved one problem, a bigger challenge came. This time, their confusion and bewilderment were no less than when they faced the previous complex link.

It seemed that their guess was correct. That complicated process was indeed just to cover up the real entrance. This pop-up window was real, not fake like the previous one. Everyone was sure that this was the entrance they had been looking for.

The problem, however, is that they know nothing about this passcode.

It's like picking up a mobile phone and having to guess the password set by the owner to open it.

The number of digits in a password is fixed, and it can be a combination of numbers and common characters, or any of them. But even so, there are thousands of permutations and combinations. You know nothing about the person's password-setting habits, or even who set the password.

In this case, giving you three chances to try to open the phone is almost an impossible task. But the problem of mobile phone password is not difficult to solve. You can bypass the password link by flashing the phone. Ordinary people can do it, not to mention technicians. They have more ways to unlock the phone.

However, Director Wang and his colleagues did not have such an option for the passcode they were facing. They could not choose to "flash the phone" to bypass the passcode like unlocking a mobile phone. In fact, the number of digits and characters in the passcode of this firewall are not fixed. Its permutations and combinations are much more complicated than mobile phone passwords.

The password of a mobile phone is just a primary stage of permutation and combination, while the passcode of this firewall is a truly advanced, irregular, disorderly and complex combination of characters. The two cannot be compared at all.

The mood of the crowd can be imagined. They had just solved a difficult problem, but now they were faced with a more complicated and more difficult problem. Moreover, there was no shortcut this time.

"Who knows? Who would understand how Japanese experts set the password? We know nothing about them. Even if we make a blind guess, the possibility of winning is almost zero." Someone said helplessly.

"This is too outrageous! We need to know the passcode first, otherwise everything will be in vain and we won't be able to get through this firewall at all." Another person complained.

"No way? Maybe there are some clues about the passcode in the previous steps? We just missed it." Someone tried to find a glimmer of hope.

"The problem is, it's impossible for us to know what useful information is! Even if it's right in front of us, we can't be sure of it. Who knows what's going on in those people's minds?" someone else objected.

"They can just generate the passcode randomly! As long as there is some kind of pattern. But this intranet itself is not meant to be deciphered, so there is no need to follow any pattern. When they use it themselves, they naturally don't have this concern." Someone analyzed.

"If I were them, I would definitely change the passcode every once in a while just to be on the safe side. Only a few people would know it, that's the safest way!" someone else added.

They all complained, feeling helpless and extremely depressed. The deadline for completing the task was getting closer and closer, with only four days left.

The atmosphere in the computer room became more depressing than ever before, and everyone was almost tortured by this pop-up window and lost their patience.

Yes, it is not an exaggeration to use the word "torture" to describe it.

They had just successfully solved the problem of that complicated link yesterday, and before they had time to be happy, the problem of the passcode came one after another. No one had a clue, what exactly was this damn key?
Everyone present was racking their brains, trying to sort out clues related to the key from the complex information. They knew that guessing about the key could not be done aimlessly, and even if it was a guess, it should be based on some reasonable speculation or evidence, otherwise all efforts would be in vain.

At this moment, even if everyone stared at the screen, it seemed useless. So everyone took out their notebooks and pens and began to draw on the paper, trying to figure out the mysterious key in this way. "What kind of information does this communication code hide? Normally, it should use some kind of universal language. But we can't rule out that the Japanese will use their own language to encode..." Someone put forward his own opinion.

"Yes, that is indeed a possibility. Maybe they first encode it in Japanese and then convert it into a common language. In this case, we have to reverse the process." Another person continued to analyze.

"The key to the problem is that we don't even know the exact number of digits in the key. It can be a combination of any characters, which depends entirely on the minds of the experts from Japan who set it up. We have no way of knowing its specific form. After all, we are not the worms in their stomachs and cannot guess what they are thinking." Someone looked embarrassed and couldn't help but sigh.

"How about we try to hack into other websites, or find a way to obtain the background data of several Japanese soldiers' computers, maybe we can find some clues?" Suddenly, someone came up with a rather bold idea.

However, this suggestion was quickly rejected by everyone because it was too unrealistic.

"Let's not talk about how we can access the background data of the Japanese soldiers' computers. Even if we really succeed, ordinary soldiers are unlikely to have access to such high-level pass codes. What's more, if we lock on to the private computers of senior officers from the beginning, it will be even more difficult. Their usage records are strictly monitored at all times. Even if we hack in, we may not gain anything." Someone analyzed rationally.

"As for searching the private social media accounts of Japan's communication technology module experts and trying to find out their habits or tendencies in setting passwords, that is like looking for a needle in a haystack and is almost impossible to achieve," someone else added.

"Generally speaking, there should be several opportunities to enter this kind of pass code to prevent being unable to enter due to accidental incorrect input. Especially when the pass code is complex, mistakes may be made if you are not careful." Some people tried to find a breakthrough in the rules for using the pass code.

"But it's not necessarily the case. If we enter it wrong the first time, it is very likely that this firewall will directly lock our intrusion, and all our efforts will be in vain." Another person reminded.

"Therefore, we still have to think carefully about what this passcode might be, and not make random guesses with a trial and error mentality," someone concluded.

"It's easy to say, but at least you have to have a direction to guess. I'm completely confused now and have no idea where to start. Can anyone explain to me where we should start our analysis?" Someone seemed a little anxious.

"Well, at this time, perhaps we all need to give full play to our imagination. After all, everything is possible. But the key to the problem is that we have to find the only correct answer from countless possibilities." Someone else encouraged everyone.

So, everyone started discussing it one by one, some were busy looking up information, and some were trying to write and draw on paper.

Although the atmosphere was lively, everyone's hands were busy and everyone was working hard to solve the mystery.

"Wait, I think I found some clues related to the password!" Suddenly, Xiao Zhou, the core figure in the team second only to the director, shouted excitedly. His voice immediately attracted everyone's attention, and everyone gathered around and looked at the information in his hand curiously.

Xiao Zhou was the one who suggested checking the social media accounts of those experts. He is a social enthusiast and surfs the Internet whenever he has free time. He has always believed that in this Internet age, there must be some clues left on the Internet.

Even if those experts have signed confidentiality agreements, there are bound to be times when they are negligent.

So, he decided to start from the official website of the Neon Military Communications Research Institute, carefully looking for the publicly available contact information, and even looking through the records of various activities they had organized over the years.

It didn't matter that he flipped through it, he actually found some clues.

He discovered that a top student who graduated from Japan's famous university, Xi'an University, with a major in computer science, had retweeted a paper about code on Twitter.

Xiao Zhou followed the link and found the paper. At first glance, there was nothing special about the paper. It was mostly some basic and theoretical knowledge.

No matter how you look at it, it can't be linked to sensitive information such as keys.

But Xiao Zhou was not discouraged. He continued to scroll down the academic master's Twitter and finally found a graduation photo.

In this group photo, there is a person who seems to be very similar to a silhouette in a public photo of an event organized by the Neon Communications Research Institute.

Xiao Zhou is particularly good at recognizing faces, and his intuition tells him that the figures in the two photos are most likely the same person.

Then, Xiao Zhou carefully checked the content of the top student’s Twitter.

He found that on a certain day of a certain month of a certain year, the top student posted a message to celebrate a good friend's successful job search.

However, since then, the so-called good friend seems to have disappeared from group photos.

The top student rarely mentioned this person again, which was very unusual for someone who often hangs out on social networks and can share his life status at any time.

Did they have a falling out? Xiao Zhou considered this possibility, but after comprehensive analysis, he was more inclined to believe that this good friend had joined the National Military Communications Research Institute.

In order to maintain confidentiality, he naturally cannot disclose his information on social networks as casually as before.

Based on this guess, Xiao Zhou further speculated that the author of the paper was most likely the good friend of the top student. So he quickly found the author's signature part of the paper, (End of this chapter)