Chapter 49: Password
Marian pushed up her gold-rimmed glasses, her expression arrogant. “Finished looking? Don’t tell me you actually found something.”
Finn didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Do you know Morse code?”
“Morse code?” Marian curled her lip. “I’ve never heard of such an encoding system. Did you invent the term yourself?”
A flicker of surprise passed through Finn’s mind. Did Morse code not exist on this wasteland continent? Or had no similar encoding system ever appeared here?
Congreve had mentioned earlier that Marian Kirk was the Minister of Technology, a high-ranking position inside Ironatom. She was one of their senior researchers.
No one reached the position of Minister of Technology through brute force and political maneuvering alone. The role required deep knowledge and a sharp mind. If even she had never heard of Morse code, then this world truly didn’t have it.
To be honest, Finn couldn’t remember Morse code either. Endless Worlds had far too many communication methods. Aside from the memory specialists who had trained their recall to obsessive extremes, or the augmented humans with chips implanted in their brains, who could possibly keep every single detail in their head?
Even so, his phone held a massive archive of data—practically a gigantic library he could consult anytime, anywhere.
He glanced at the stiffly standing military police and officers around him, then took a few steps back.
Finn had only wanted to keep anyone from seeing his phone screen. He hadn’t expected the movement to cause a commotion.
More than a dozen burly officers held their breath, tense and focused, shifting their stances. The row of military police unslung their rifles, gripping them tightly, fingers already resting near the triggers.
“Easy,” Finn said with a slight smile. “I only need a little privacy to check my data.”
“Careful! He may be trying to create distance before using his flame ability!” The burly officer with the handlebar mustache kept his eyes locked on Finn as cyan-green light glowed across his broad chest.
“No need to worry. Let’s see what trick he thinks he can play.” Marian sneered coldly. She raised her right hand to stop her subordinates, while a thin film of air quietly began forming around her left hand.
Finn paid their agitation no mind. He walked to a corner, took out his phone, and searched through his stored data.
In under five seconds, he had memorized the Morse code chart. It was only short-term recall, of course—he’d forget it again if he went too long without using it.
He stepped up to the black box and studied the etched marks on its surface. The lines ran in rows, some short, some long.
Matching them against the Morse code chart in his memory, Finn quickly spotted the pattern.
Short… short… long… short… F.
Short… short… long… U.
Long… short… long… short… C.
Finn frowned in thought. The most likely seven-character password was: FUCKYOU.
The alphabetic script on this wasteland planet differed quite a bit from English, so it wasn’t strange that they hadn’t been able to crack an encoding system like Morse code.
Realization gradually settled in Finn’s mind, and a sly smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “I have one condition. If I enter the correct password and open the box, then everything inside belongs to me.”
“Wishful thinking!” Marian sneered with disdain. “First, you don’t have the ability to open the black iron box. Second, even if you somehow manage to open it by luck, everything inside still belongs to Ironatom.”
“So I get nothing out of this?” Finn spread his hands. “In that case, why should I open the black iron box at all? Let it remain locked forever, just like it has for the past few decades, with no one ever able to open it.”
Finn crossed his arms and stood to the side, saying no more.
Marian saw the confident look on Finn’s face and wavered for a moment.
Ironatom had spent decades trying to unlock the mysterious box. They had collected every piece of data left by Cool Prophet and racked their brains over the password he had set, but achieved nothing.
They had used X-ray scanning devices and even mutants capable of manipulating metal to analyze the black box, yet still found no way to open it.
The note Cool Prophet left behind clearly stated there were only thirty password attempts in total. Once those ran out, the box would activate its self-destruct mechanism. After carefully attempting it eleven times, Ironatom had stopped, not daring to try again.
After all, only nineteen attempts remained. Without absolute certainty of success, Ironatom didn’t dare enter another password and risk wasting one of their precious chances.
“Hmph!” Marian snorted coldly. “We’ve spent decades failing to decipher this password, and now some outsider who appeared out of nowhere thinks he can open the black iron box on his very first try? Absurd!”
Congreve leaned on his cane, looking thoughtful. He recalled that Cool Prophet had also suddenly appeared with an unknown background—somewhat similar to this Tier 5 Vanguard named Finn.
Congreve rubbed his sparse white hair. “How many password attempts do we have left again? Oh, right—nineteen. We still have plenty, so let’s let Finn try.”
“City Lord,” Marian turned to Congreve anxiously. “Our password attempts are extremely precious. We can’t waste them carelessly! Besides, his demand that everything inside the black iron box belong to him is completely outrageous! We absolutely cannot agree to that!”
“That request is indeed excessive,” Congreve nodded slightly. He looked at Finn. “How about we each take a step back? You only get one-third of the contents, and you only get one attempt at the password. Does that work?”
“That’s fine,” Finn replied, “but I have one more condition—I want to examine all the textual materials inside.”
Even if the box was full of gold bars, it wouldn’t mean much to him. Information that had not gone out of date, however, was priceless. Right now, he was completely in the dark about finding the World Nucleus, and he desperately needed to gather every bit of valuable data he could.
Marian’s eyes behind her round glasses suddenly sharpened. She pressed forward aggressively. “You seem very confident. But if you fail to open the box, won’t we have wasted a precious attempt for nothing?”
“What else do you want?” Finn was thoroughly annoyed with this woman who kept going on and on.
“If you enter the wrong password, you’ll have to leave behind a part of your body for us to study.” Marian gave a cold laugh.
“No problem.” Finn agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Marian pushed up her glasses, the corner of her mouth curving upward as a wave of secret delight rose in her chest. She was certain—absolutely certain—that Finn had zero chance of opening the black iron box!
Wasting one valuable password attempt was a small price to pay if it meant obtaining tissue from a Tier 5 Vanguard to use as a genetic sample for research. That wasn’t a bad trade at all.
She was already imagining which part of Finn’s body she would cut off. A finger? An ear? Or would drawing blood be enough?
What Marian didn’t know was that Finn had never planned on staying. If he entered the wrong password, he would simply grab the box and run. Who could possibly stop him?
Snagging the benefits and running without a second glance—no matter what chaos you left behind—was standard practice for every Celestial Sojourner.
After a lengthy round of back-and-forth arguing, they finally reached an agreement. The row of officers stepped back, clearing the way for Finn to step forward and enter the password.
Finn extended his rubber-gloved hand, turned the combination dial, and slowly entered seven letters: FUCKYOU