From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 109 Decryption
On September 9, after cleaning up the pile of wooden boards and stone bricks on the beach and building a new wooden and stone wall as usual, Chen Zhou went to the pigeon cave to catch a few pigeons and walked the rabbit trap. Then he returned to the cave with a full harvest and strange blue blocks.

That night, lighting the oil lamp and sitting at the table, Chen Zhou began to study what kind of mystery this square represented and how to solve it.

If you really look closely under the light, you can find that in addition to emitting blue light and being made of a special material that makes it indestructible, the internal structure of this block is not very sophisticated.

The simple-shaped "sword" inserted at the top of the block seems to be the key to solving this puzzle.

Just like the legendary Sword in the Stone, if you want to solve the puzzle, you must pull out the sword.

Knowing that the strength of the material of this block was beyond his imagination, Chen Zhou did not try to crack it by brute force. Instead, he fiddled with various parts of the block, preparing to see what was so amazing about this thing.

After trying, he found that the sword on the top of the block was almost impossible to move, either up or down or left or right. It was tightly stuck in the middle of the block.

The blocks distributed on the four sides of the block can be pushed forward and backward, and even moved up and down.

But this kind of activity is limited to one or two small movements. If you push it too many times, it will get stuck.

After fiddling with the blocks for a while, Chen Zhou gradually understood the principle of this puzzle.

To put it bluntly, this thing is an advanced version of Luban lock.

Unlike ordinary Luban locks, it has more components, a more three-dimensional and complex structure, and also has a border that Luban locks do not have to restrict the decryptor.

If the disassembly steps are not in the correct order, when it reaches a certain stage, the disassembly process will be stuck at that step and unable to continue due to internal blocks conflict.

The simplest and slowest way to solve this puzzle and pull out the "sword in the block" is to use exhaustive enumeration.

Just like the last safe, as long as you keep trying, you will eventually find the correct combination.

Of course, although the exhaustive method is simple, it is also the stupidest method.

Humans are not monkeys. When faced with difficulties, we must always use our brains.

Chen Zhou felt that the key to decryption was, on the one hand, to thoroughly study the order in which the blocks were pushed, and on the other hand, to his understanding of the structure of the blocks.

Every time he pushes the block and every time it gets stuck, it can bring some information. If he can infer the mortise and tenon structure inside this "advanced version of Lu Ban Lock" based on this information, he can quickly solve the puzzle.

However, no matter how accurate the idea is, putting it into practice is not as easy as imagined.

Since the entire block is only the size of a fist, when the movable mechanism on the side is moved, the gap through which one can see the internal structure is very narrow.

Many times, Chen Zhou could only restore the internal structure of the block by guessing.

If the material of the block itself did not emit light, reducing the pressure of lighting, the observation process would be even more difficult.

……

On the evening of September 9, Chen Zhou studied until late at night, but the results were not very optimistic.

After fiddling with it for who knows how many times, he still couldn't figure out the first few steps of moving the block, let alone analyzing the internal structure.

Realizing that this was not an easy puzzle, he returned to bed to rest, feeling exhausted and helpless.

……

In the following week, Chen Zhou spent at least two hours every day studying how to pull out the "Sword in the Stone".

To this end, he mixed a lot of white clay and drew his speculated internal structure on a white clay board. Occasionally, he would use white clay to mold complex blocks that conformed to the structure diagram.

In addition to drawing and "hand-modeling" with white clay, Chen Zhou also brought a piece of driftwood - this kind of wood is soft and can be cut directly with a dagger, making it suitable for making simple models.

As time went by, he got closer to the answer to the puzzle.

There are more and more wooden blocks and clay strips shaped like building blocks on the table.

Drawn on white clay boards, the internal organizational diagrams that were ultimately rejected were piled up more than a meter high.

After countless attempts, he advanced the "problem-solving steps" to more than fifty steps, and also had a correct understanding of the general structure of the interior of the block.

But this is not enough.

Because after more than fifty steps, the block still had not loosened enough to be broken into parts, and it was impossible to remove any part of it.

……

September 9th, another boring morning of deductions.

Sitting at the table, looking at the cube in his hand, Chen Zhou felt more and more depressed.

As the decryption steps progressed step by step, he could feel no joy in exploring puzzles, no pleasure in learning or thinking, but only full of malice from this small cube.

This thing is not like a math problem or a Rubik's Cube. There is no logic in the process of taking it apart.

Although Chen Zhou has drawn so many drawings and made so many models, the essence of problem solving has never changed.

That is exhaustive, using various methods to exhaustively enumerate.

Try and get the right answer through countless mistakes.

The process is no different than guessing the combination to a safe.

Moreover, because blocks require more operating steps, it takes more time to draw blueprints and make models, which incurs more trial and error costs.

This process not only takes up Chen Zhou's time, but also tortures his body and mind and drains his energy.

During this week or so, because of the decryption, he put on hold almost all of his work, including expanding the cave, laying the floor for the storage room, and the excavation and construction project of the new rat pen.

What has been the result of putting these work schedules on hold?

All I got in return was a few insignificant steps in this little block, which I am not sure are correct.

Sit on the chair and stroke the uneven surface of the block.

Thinking about his efforts over the past few days, the torture that seemed to have no end, and the unknown reward after solving the puzzle, Chen Zhou was getting closer and closer to collapse.

He gritted his teeth and decided to make one last attempt to escape from this endless maze and return to real life.

He fiddled with the cubes randomly and gave up all thinking.

As a result, within three steps, the block was stuck and could not be moved at all.

"Fuck! I've had enough. How can there be such disgusting things?"

The stable mentality that had been maintained for more than a week finally broke down at this moment. A feeling of resentment surged from his brain, making Chen Zhou have a strong desire to destroy the block representing troubles.

He walked to the kitchen door with the cube, then took down the hatchet, turned the axe around, and brought it down hard on the cube.

With a dull sound, the hatchet was bounced away, and there was not even a scratch on the block that was glowing with a faint blue light.

Seeing this, Chen Zhou knocked it a few more times as if to vent his anger, then grabbed the unharmed block, walked to the kitchen door, and threw it hard under the platform, dropping it onto the slope in the distance.

The moment he threw the cube, he felt a little regretful, as if he was worried that it would be lost and he would never find it again. But besides the regret, he felt more relieved, as if he had unlocked some kind of shackles or broken free of shackles, and felt a solid sense of relaxation.

"It doesn't matter if I can't solve this thing. The next reward will come in a week. You can't always give me this kind of tormenting thing."

Comforting himself and feeling relieved, Chen Zhou returned to the kitchen.

……

Recently, the family has become much more lively than usual because of the addition of a new member.

After the three kittens opened their eyes, they became stronger day by day and behaved more and more naughtily.

Now Ti Zi can no longer send them back to the cat's nest by grabbing them by the scruff of the neck, because they are becoming more and more adept at "jailbreaking". Once they are locked in the cat's nest, they can run out again in less than three seconds.

Moreover, Grape was exhausted by the three little guys and didn't have the energy to take care of them.

As the little ones grew bigger, the second and third ones gradually showed the same gluttony as Little Huihui, and often pestered Tu Zi for milk.

When they are hungry, as long as grapes dare to appear in their sight, they will be attracted to them like a magnet.

As a mother, Ti Zi has always been very competent.

When the kitten wants to drink milk, it never refuses. As long as the kitten pounces on it, it will just lie on the ground and let the kitten suck the milk.

However, although his body was very honest, the expression on Tizi's face was not so pretty. He always looked helpless as if his soul had been sucked away.

After eating and drinking, the kitten’s favorite thing to do, besides sleeping, is to wander around the three rooms in the cave.

Little Huihui, who wanted to find a quiet place to sleep, was often woken up by them. He was so annoyed that he ran to the top of the wooden shelf in the storage room and lay there, playing the role of someone you can't afford to provoke but can avoid.

Lai Fu couldn't climb, and it was the rainy season, so he couldn't go out to hide. He was in great trouble.

Its big claws are thicker than the entire kitten. A simple scratch can make the kitten fall over. If it really gets serious, it can easily kill a kitten in one bite.

However, these three little toys are Chen Zhou's new favorites and cannot be bitten or hurt. The sensible Lai Fu can only obey the little guys and let them torment him.

In the eyes of the kitten, Laifu is undoubtedly a big, soft and comfortable toy.

When they are in high spirits, they climb and play on Lai Fu's huge body, scratch Lai Fu's hair, and sometimes run under Lai Fu's head and gently bite Lai Fu's loose lips.

When they are tired of playing, they simply nestle under Lai Fu and take a deep sleep. It is more comfortable than sleeping in a cat bed and they feel very safe.

At home, if you rank the kitten’s favorite creatures, Grape would definitely be in the first place, followed by Lai Fu and Chen Zhou.

Due to the enormous pressure and irritability brought by the decryption work, when Chen Zhou put down the cubes, he always needed something that could soothe him and relieve the depressed emotions in his heart.

These three kittens are the best candidates.

Chen Zhou often uses rabbit bones or rabbit leather gloves he sews himself to tease them.

The little guys particularly love things with holes. When they see the rabbit-skin gloves placed on the ground, they will crawl into them, shrink inside and stick out their little heads, turning the rabbit-skin gloves into a "cat trap."

They were very sharp-tongued at this time, and when they tried to snatch the bone from Chen Zhou's hand, they would accidentally leave two white marks on the back of his hand.

However, Chen Zhou had done enough physical labor on the island, and his skin had become extremely rough. The kitten's accidental injury could not break through his defense at all.

Chen Zhou, on the other hand, always relied on his high "defense" to grab the kittens' bodies, pinning them to the ground so that they could not move, and they meowed anxiously.

Every time this happened, Ti Zi, the "biological mother", could no longer sit still and would quickly run to Chen Zhou to rescue him.

As for Xiao Huihui, the unreliable "biological father", he has been sleeping soundly all day since the rainy season. His attitude towards these things has always been "out of sight, out of mind".

……

After throwing away the cubes, Chen Zhou returned to normal life. According to the plan he had made before, he paved the floors of the kitchen and storage room, continued to expand the kitchen and storage room, and selected a location to dig a cellar.

This peaceful and calm life lasted for another five days.

On September 9, Chen Zhou got up early in the morning and stopped when passing by the long table in the bedroom. He looked at the pile of discarded blocks and white mud boards piled up beside the table. Thinking of the time he had wasted and the efforts he had made, he still felt unwilling.

After these days of settling down, he felt that he had walked out of the shadow of solving the puzzle and regained his confidence.

If you think about it carefully, more than fifty steps have been researched, so what if there are fifty more steps?
Moreover, previous studies have already analyzed the structure within the block in great detail. No matter how unreasonable its internal structure is, it cannot escape this circle.

The Time Travel Administration wants to torture him, not kill him directly. It is impossible for them to throw him an unsolvable problem.

Otherwise, the cracking method would not be a simple, crude and technically unskilled method like the exhaustive method.

……

Having made up his mind, Chen Zhou put on a leather raincoat, a wide-brimmed hat, left the cave, and followed his memory to the hillside under the platform.

During the time when he threw the block away, every day when he went out to the wooden house, the mountain stream, or to the river at the foot of the mountain to catch fish, he would glance at the low slope intentionally or unintentionally.

The cube itself glows, is very solid, and has no smell. Apart from attracting some insects to land on it and chirp, it is not liked by animals and will not be destroyed.

Chen Zhou determines the location every day, and he actually always knows where the block is.

It was just out of disgust and fear of endless trial and error that I never had the courage to pick it up again.

By now, he felt that he was mentally prepared to face the difficult problems and the poor rewards after solving the puzzles, so he came here.

The cube emitting light blue light has a strange property——

It has been abandoned in the wilderness for so long, but it is not stained by mud and still maintains a flawless appearance. There is no scratch on any clean surface.

Just as Chen Zhou determined when he saw it for the first time, it was not any material that modern humans knew.

Bringing this infuriating and annoying little cube back to the cave, Chen Zhou gradually regained his previous state and train of thought, and once again stuffed those complicated problem-solving steps back into his brain.

Perhaps because he had been thinking for a while, many new ideas came to his mind that he had never had before, and the speed of cracking the cube increased significantly.

September 9th, the eve of the 24th mysterious reward.

Chen Zhou finally pushed the process of cracking the block to the last step, which was step 117.

It was also at this time that he disassembled this strange block and took out more than a dozen components of various shapes inside it.

The moment the cube turned into parts, Chen Zhou's hand felt lighter, and the light blue parts suddenly turned back into translucent light and dissipated from his hand.

Then, a solid ray of light was cast from above the long table, reflecting on the tabletop.

A closer look revealed a line of short Chinese characters:

"Allows the use of time-space cutting cheats."

(End of this chapter)