(Foreword)

The pinnacle showdown, a challenge letter from a genius boy!

(Text)

April 1, 2022 at 12:10 p.m

There seems to be an envelope next to the helmet. The dwarf caught a glimpse of the letter, walked briskly over there, and picked it up.

"Char, there's another letter here!" The dwarf said.

The letterhead reads:

Dear Mr. Zhao Xie,

It seems that you did not disappoint me and found this place without any hints.

In this case, our challenge is about to begin, of course, before I start, I would like to explain to you the content and rules of the challenge, please listen up.

I think you've seen it too, there's a laptop on the table. I've written a whole set of application software programs on my computer, but unfortunately I deliberately set a loop error in a small part of it, causing the whole program to not work. Now all you have to do is find out what's wrong and fix it so that the whole program works.

Doesn't that sound simple? Of course, I forgot to tell you that you only have five minutes for this challenge.

Of course, as far as I know, three minutes is definitely not enough, so I asked you to bring two helpers. Two of your helpers will get hints by putting on their helmets and decrypting them in the scene. The answers to the first two prompts will give you an extra minute each time, while the third prompt will come up with an answer that will be relevant to your final breakthrough.

Okay, that's the end of my nonsense, if you want to get back what is most important to you, then please ask the manager of the dessert shop to show you how to do it.

So far

Thank you

We read the contents of the letterhead. I really don't know what the purpose of this so-called 'genius boy' is?

"Char, I'm ......" The dwarf looked at me, and just wanted to say something, but was directly interrupted by me, "Zhao Xie, don't worry, Arthur and I will do your strongest backing, and we will definitely get those three tips for you to rescue Xie Wanying." I said with one hand on the dwarf's shoulder.

The dwarf nodded, a smile on the corner of his mouth, "Then...... Please. After he finished speaking, he turned around, walked to the side of the dessert shop manager at the door, and said seriously, "Let's accept this challenge, please start." ”

The manager looked at us, smiled and said "yes", then she came to the table, turned on the switch of the instrument, and then typed something, and soon the instrument was working, and the two helmets flashed.

"That's it." The manager motioned for Arthur and me to put on our helmets.

I went to my desk and put my helmet on my head, and although it looked like a helmet, it was actually a hologram device, and it was pitch black in front of my eyes.

"I can't see anything." I said.

"What am I, haven't I started yet?" I could hear Arthur's voice.

"Hold on to the two of you, and the moment this gentleman turns on the computer, the whole challenge will begin." The store manager said.

"Char, Arthur, are you ready? I'm going to get started. The dwarf confirmed earnestly.

"Ready." Arthur and I said in unison.

April 1, 2022 at 12:20 p.m

Just then, a bright light appeared in front of me.

"The timer will start in 5 seconds, so please hurry up and get ready." From inside the helmet came the sound of the system.

Apparently the gnome had turned on the computer, while Arthur and I stared at the inside of the helmet, waiting for the moment to start.

"And 5 seconds, 4 seconds, 3 seconds, 2 seconds, 1 second! Begin! "When the system beep counts down, a screen suddenly appears inside the helmet. Arthur and I felt like we were in the middle of a field.

The breeze whipped our cheeks, and the river flowed out to moisten the garden in front of us, from where it divided into four ways.

"Press the arrow button on the left side of the helmet to control the direction." Suddenly, there was a beep from the helmet.

We followed the helmet's prompts and ran quickly through the fields with the directional buttons, trying to find clues about the clues, but to no avail.

There is a timer above our line of sight, and time is passing in front of us second by second.

"Char! Hurry up and find a hint, this program is quite complicated to write, and I have a hard time finding the wrong place for a while, let alone fixing it. I heard the gnome next to me talking anxiously, and I could even hear him tapping on the keyboard.

"We'll find out. Trust us. "I gave the gnomes enough confidence, but I didn't find anything at the moment.

The idyllic scenery is very beautiful, and I kept looking for clues next to the river, but this place is so ordinary that there is nothing special about it.

"Char, five minutes is a quick time, we can't search for it without a purpose like this." Arthur frowned, and suddenly she looked at the four rivers. "Char, you see there are four rivers there."

Arthur said as he ran in the direction of the river, which was so strong that Arthur suddenly slipped and fell into the river.

Arthur !! Arthur!!! I yelled and jumped into the river.

The river was flowing in front of me, so real, that I wanted to swim in the direction of Arthur.

"Arthur, it's okay. I'm coming," I said.

But the river was so fast that it swept Arthur and me into the distance.

I tried to slow us down by grabbing on the plants on the shore, but we couldn't catch anything.

I felt like I was really in the water, and I was about to suffocate...

Damn, how can this be? It's really this far. Just when I can't think of anything to do.

But suddenly there was a prompt in my ear: "For those who have faith, death is the door to eternal life." ”

For those of faith, death is the door to eternal life? What does this mean?

"For those who have faith, death is the door to eternal life." The same phrase kept coming.

"It's Paradise Lost!"

Before I could understand the meaning of the phrase, Arthur uttered the words "Paradise Lost".

A line of font suddenly appears at the top of the screen: correct, add one minute.

Looks like we've found the first tip.

Just as Arthur was uttering these three words, the river suddenly slowed down, and Arthur and I were able to get ashore.

"Arthur, you're so good, I didn't even know what it meant." I couldn't help but say with admiration.

"Char, now is not the time to praise each other, Zhao Xie is still waiting for us to buy him enough time." Arthur said.

I looked at the timer and two minutes and twenty-one seconds had passed.

"So what should we do with the line? It seems that you are more comfortable with this challenge. "Finally I can say that.

Arthur looked around as if he was looking for something.

"Char, look there!" Arthur suddenly discovers something important.

I want to see where Arthur is directed.

The four rivers that were originally nameless actually showed their own names—the first was called Bishon, the second was Gihon, the third was Hedekiel, and the fourth was Beth.

"Arthur, what does this mean? Have you ever heard the names of these rivers? I asked.

As I spoke, a shovel suddenly appeared in my hand, and the tone sounded in my ears again: "Go, go find your own red agate!" ”

"Red agate? There is only a river in front of you, where does the red agate come from? "I looked at the shovel in my hand and wondered.

At this time, a shovel also appeared in Arthur's hand.

Arthur looked at the four rivers, bowed his head and pondered, and said silently: "I remember that there is a passage in the Bible that says: "The name of the first is Pison: that is it hich compasseth the hole land of Havilah, here there is d the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone.”

I looked at Arthur with a serious look on his face, and followed her example and said, "The name of the first is Pison: that is it hich compasseth......"

I can imitate the exact same, but I don't quite understand the meaning.

Although I am a graduate student at HKUST, my English skills are not very good.

"Arthur, what do you mean by that?" I asked.

These words are translated as the first word called Bison, which encircles all the land of Havilah. There is gold there, and the gold of the land is good; And there are pearls and red agate." Arthur explained.

My eyes widened suddenly, "Yes, it's Bison, Bison has gold, pearls, and red agate!" Arthur, let's get the shovel and run to Bison! ”

As soon as I had finished speaking, I grabbed my shovel and ran in the direction of the Bison River, and hurriedly dug up the land beside the river. Sure enough, I dug up the red agate.

"It's the Bison River! It's the Bison River! Arthur shouted happily.

A line of font appears again at the top of the screen: correct, add one minute.

And just like that, we found the second tip without a hitch.

"Great, we've found two hints, which add two minutes to Zhao Xie's time." I said.

"yes." Arthur nodded as well.

But at this moment, we heard the sound of the gnomes cheering.

"I found !! I found the error!! ”

"Zhao Xie, did you find the mistake so quickly?" I looked at the time on the timer, and only four minutes and two seconds had passed.

"Of course, I'm pretty good." The gnomes began to get triumphant.

"And how long will it take you to fix it?" Arthur asked cautiously.

"Soon, it will take a dozen seconds at most to fix this bug." The gnome tapped quickly on the computer's keyboard.

It seems that the dwarf is already a sure winner, and if he knew that he could win so easily, Arthur and I wouldn't have been so nervous just now.

The two minutes we had for the gnome seemed to be useless, and I was just about to take off the helmet on my head when I heard the gnome shouting, "How can this be?" How so? Didn't I already fix the bug? Why is the program still not working? Why is that? “

Sure enough, it was not as simple as we thought, and the challenge was not over.

"Zhao Xie, calm down, didn't you succeed in repairing it?" Arthur confirmed.

"No way, I've fixed it. Fixing a bug of this magnitude is definitely not going to be hard for me. The dwarf said.

"It seems that we misunderstood, and there was only one error on the letterhead, which means that there may be other errors." I looked at the time on the timer and said, "We're going to hurry, Zhao Xie, you continue to do a full range of checks, and Arthur and I will go to find the last hint." Hopefully, it's still too late. ”

"Good! It's up to you. The dwarf said sincerely.

"Rest assured, we'll definitely find one last tip." I don't know where the confidence came from, the previous two tips were clearly thought of by Arthur.

In this way, Arthur and I searched in the countryside again. The breeze blew in my face. The letter said that the third hint didn't add time, but it was relevant to the final answer, and maybe if Arthur and I found the last hint, we could help the gnomes find the error and fix it successfully. I looked at the hologram in front of me, as if I had returned to the 'odd array' of the AEF Research Center, and suddenly I was full of confidence. Either way, I'm confident that I can find the last tip.

"Char, let's go to the front and have a look, there seems to be someone there," Arthur said, looking ahead.

Is there anyone else here besides us? I suddenly became confused, and walked forward with Arthur.

[1] For those who have faith, death is the door to eternal life - from "Paradise Lost"

[2] The Garden of Eden is a paradise on earth, and according to the Bible, the Old Testament, and the Book of Genesis, God Yahweh created the human ancestor Adam in His own image, and then created the woman Eve from one of Adam's ribs, and placed the first man and woman to live in the Garden of Eden.

The Garden of Eden in the original Bible means paradise. The Bible records the Garden of Eden in the East, and the poet Alighelli Dante's Divine Comedy places the Garden of Eden at the top of the Purgatory Mountain. Four rivers flowed out of the Land of Eden and ran into the Garden: the Euphrates, the Tigris, Gihon, and Bison.

The ancestors of mankind were exiled by God for stealing the forbidden fruit for their original sin, a feat known as Paradise Lost. Correspondingly, after the Last Judgment, humanity is redeemed and returns to Paradise, which is called Paradise Regained

[3] (1) Pishon: "The name of the first stream is Bison, which encircles all the land of Havilah. There is gold there. (v.11) 'Bison' means to jump. (2) Gihon: "The name of the second river is Gihon, which encompasses all the land of Ethiopia." (v.13) 'Gihon' means to burst. (3) Khidekel: "The third river is called Hedekiel and flows east of Assyria." (v.14a) 'Hedezekiel' means to offer palms. (4) Phrat: "The fourth river is the river Brah." (v.14b) Euphrat, which means to grow or stretch.

(End of chapter)