The War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression Begins in Songhu

Chapter 450 Remember! It'll be on the test (Two chapters combined)

Time: Day 28 of the rest period, around 10 PM.

Location: In the dormitory of a state-owned enterprise in Sichuan Province.

With a curse, Old K, a newbie who had just joined the transmigrator team, grabbed a cell phone and wanted to smash it on the ground.

However, just as I was about to sell my phone, I remembered this brand new Huawei Pura 80 Ultra, which cost me over ten thousand yuan.

This is the most expensive mobile phone I've ever bought in all my years of life.

He had to force himself to control his temper again, and grumbled as he put the phone back on the table.

So what's going on? The reason why Old K, this newbie, is so agitated right now, even to the point of being manic, is actually quite related to that bastard Hu Biao.

To be more specific, it was on the evening of the third day of the rest period.

Didn't Hu Biao gather all the time travelers in an online meeting and assign them different tasks?

Old K, an amateur radio enthusiast, was assigned the task of strengthening his learning in radio and electronics.

(The person who made the DIY electronic jamming device was mistakenly written as Lao San; it was actually Lao K. This has been corrected.)
Become the team's electronics expert and be specifically responsible for this area in the future.

As for how much Old K needs to improve his skills, Hu Biao is actually a complete novice when it comes to radio and electronics.

Naturally, I couldn't make overly detailed requests, so I just gave an example:
If the Japanese during World War II were at a first-grade level in terms of radio and electronics, and Uncle Sam's family was the most advanced, at a third-grade level...

After a period of study, Old K would need to reach the level of a first-year junior high school student to be able to directly crush the natives of that era.

To achieve this goal, during his break, Lao K spent every spare moment studying on his phone.

I wonder if that mysterious being's claim of 'comprehensive enhancement of physical fitness' each time they travel back includes the aspect of the brain.

Anyway, during this soon-to-be-over break, Old K's self-study results seem to be quite good.

Just last night, based on some newly learned knowledge, Old K used old electronic components to create a brand new DIY electronic jamming device.

This machine is a huge improvement over the one he and Uncle Bo made together at Gaofeng Pass.

The main improvements are in the intensity, clarity, range, and distance of interference and eavesdropping.

To be honest, this achievement made Old K feel quite accomplished, believing that he had finally figured things out and had a stronger learning ability.

So, starting tonight, an even bigger challenge begins:

First, try searching online to see if you can get your hands on a Japanese codebook from World War II.

If you really can't find it, then try your best to find some information, as well as related cracking ideas and techniques, and then use modern computers to crack it.

In this way, all future actions will be completely transparent to them; for this reason alone, that damned bastard deserves a good reward.

Even if we don't give them a medal made of gold and weighing a ton, they should at least give them a medal weighing ten pounds.

With this in mind, after getting off work tonight, Old K ate a takeout meal and then buried himself in his phone, busy with his work.

According to publicly available information he found on his phone, this was the codebook used by the Japanese during World War II.

To put it simply, there are mainly two cryptographic systems: Purple Code and Black Code, which are used in diplomacy and military affairs, respectively.

Unfortunately, even after bypassing the Great Firewall, Old K struggled to find the information on the internet using translation software.

It has been discovered that even after more than 80 years, no publicly disclosed information about the Purple Code and Black Code, these Japanese codebooks, can be found online.

It seems the only option is to find relevant information, as well as solutions and techniques, and then implement them myself.

Then, as Old K studied, he almost went crazy from studying.

Of the two cipher systems used by the Japanese, the Purple Code was generally used in diplomacy. Its prototype was the Enigma machine, which represented the pinnacle of mechanical encryption at that time.

Old K glanced at a little bit of the information and gave up on cracking it.

It's not that it's impossible to do; detailed structural diagrams of the Enigma machine are readily available online. Once you download the diagrams, you can find a reasonably reliable machine shop to manufacture it.

The fundamental reason why Old K gave up was that he had a clear understanding or knowledge of the time-traveler team.

They would probably have very little chance of accessing this kind of diplomatic telegram from the Japanese after they traveled through time; at least in their most recent attempts, they would likely have had little opportunity to access it.

So even if we figure it out, we won't be able to use it. We might as well wait until we travel through time one or two more times before doing anything about it.

The term "black devil" was generally used in military applications, and it was something Old K was determined to take down.

After researching the information, he learned that the Japanese had used a massive workforce of over 80,000 people to create and maintain this code, and had carried out 12 upgrades.

This resulted in the Japanese telegraph communications ultimately having a double encryption function.

The first layer of encryption, the codebook of the Japanese black code, actually converts 4.5 commonly used words and phrases into 5-digit code groups.

A complete grasp of the codebook is required to understand its semantics.

The second layer of encryption, in addition to the thick codebook mentioned above, involved a random number book, which consisted of 50,000 random five-digit numbers.

Each telegram code sent by the Japanese needed to be added to a five-digit number from the random number book, and then modulo 10 addition was performed to obtain the actual telegram code.

Anyway, black code is extremely troublesome, involving a huge amount of manpower and advanced mathematics.

Honestly! If Old K had this level of math skills, he wouldn't have needed to serve two years in the military and then work for a state-owned enterprise; he would have been recruited to that research institute long ago.
Even though I feel my mind is sharper now, it's still far from enough.

After fiddling with the phone for three hours, I not only failed to understand some of the solutions, but also got completely confused and became incredibly irritable.

That's when the initial impulse to smash the phone arose.

"Forget it! We'll deal with cracking the Japanese code later. What if there are some radio and electronics experts among the new recruits this time? We can just hand them over to them then."

Using this as an excuse, Old K temporarily abandoned his plan to decipher the Japanese code...

As for Old K, how did he manage to buy a new phone that cost over 10,000 yuan? Of course, it's because after his last time travel, not counting the three antiques he received, he received a total of 1.3 million yuan in cash.

Given his status as a state-owned enterprise employee, it would be a bit too conspicuous for him to suddenly buy a house and a new car, which might attract gossip from his colleagues and superiors.

But if you buy a more expensive phone, smoke some good cigarettes, and have no problem with food and entertainment, you won't have any problems at all.

So, after smoking a cigarette, the agitated Old K decided to go out and relax.

How to relax? By spending money, of course! More accurately, it's the most enjoyable thing for a significant portion of the time-traveling team.
Washing feet, the proper kind.

What else? What else can we do?

Before long, Old K arrived at his usual upscale foot massage parlor.

After changing into comfortable foot bath attire, before the customer manager, dressed in a suit and tight pants and sporting dyed blond hair, could even say anything, he blurted out:
"Please make me a cup of green tea, and also call number 66 over."

"Boss! Technician number 66 is on duty now," the account manager replied.

Before the account manager could finish speaking, Old K said, "It's okay! I'll wait."

For the rest of the time, I read novels on my phone while sipping free tea; and I must say, the sofas in the foot massage parlor were incredibly comfortable!
Twenty minutes later, there was a knock on the door, but it wasn't number 66 who came in; it was the account manager again, who poked his head out and began to offer suggestions:

"Boss, technician number 66 just went on an extra shift; why don't you try another technician? The other technicians in our shop are actually all very good."

"No need, I can wait. Just give me a little more tea." With absolute certainty, Old K refused the other party's suggestion.

Then the problem arose: why was Old K so determined to wait for that technician, number 66?

Is she so beautiful that this guy is completely infatuated with her?
Absolutely not! It's simply because technician number 66 is the only girl in the shop with a large full-arm tattoo.

Old K didn't have any special fondness for tattooed girls; he was simply a senior figure in the foot massage world within the transmigrator team.

Xu Feng, Mr. Nan Ze, and Huang Adi shared a valuable piece of advice with him, a novice:
Nowadays, a terrible and corrupt atmosphere permeates the foot massage technician industry.

They like to call themselves that, in reality, they don't want to be in this line of work, but what can they do when they have a father who gambles heavily, a mother who is sick, and a younger brother who is still in school?

In short, she came from a poor family, and it was quite difficult for her; it seems that without a tragic background, it's hard to succeed in the foot massage technician industry.

If it were just that, there wouldn't be a problem. The key issue is that after they got to know each other a little better, they started complaining that they hadn't met their sales targets for the month, asking their older brother to take pity on them and help them get a membership card, and even started slacking off while getting their feet washed.

What should we do in the face of this unhealthy industry trend?
That's a good question! Just find a girl with lots of tattoos, someone who looks like a former delinquent; even if she wanted to make up a tragic backstory, she wouldn't have the confidence to say it.

They basically don't use those tricks, and they're extra diligent when washing feet.

Therefore, the experience shared by Xu Feng, Mr. Nan Ze, and Brother Huang is very important.

Everyone must remember this! It will be on the test.

******
The 30th day of the rest period, which is also the last day, has finally arrived.

On this day, the members of the time-traveling team, who had been incredibly relaxed, couldn't help but become tense.

Regardless, as time passed, another journey through time drew ever closer...

A little after 9 a.m., after putting down his mouse, Lao Yu let out a long sigh, looking quite depressed.

Just now, he went through the websites of auction companies of all sizes in China in detail.

Then I bypassed the Great Firewall and browsed through the official websites of some auction companies in Japan.

Just like during his month-long break, he tried repeatedly but couldn't find any trace of the strange Leica camera.

With less than 20 hours to go before another journey through time begins, Lao Yu, though reluctant to admit it, had to accept a harsh reality:

That strange Leica camera, which, under the right conditions, could have worked wonders, was unfortunately lost.

I'm afraid I'll never have the chance to replicate that kind of outrageous move that I did in Nanning.

It should be noted that although Lao Yu is nicknamed "Silent Gourd" and is known for his taciturn nature in the team, he wouldn't keep such an important matter to himself.

On the fifth day of his rest period, after searching extensively but failing to find any trace of the Leica camera, he still told Hu Biao the bad news.

Hu Biao was helpless in this situation.

This thing was lost by Lao Yu during normal use while he was trying to complete the mission better. It's not his fault at all, and there's no reason to punish him for it.

All I could do was mention it in the group chat and ask everyone to keep an eye out so we could find some trace of it; see if it's been collected by someone or is about to be sold at some obscure auction.

Once discovered, buy it back immediately at any cost.

The specific funds will be drawn from the team's public account; Lao Yu will not need to contribute any money personally.

Even though none of Hu Biao or his team members blamed him for the incident, Lao Yu was still in a very bad mood.

"There's an over 80% chance that this camera was taken by that slutty old Japanese woman."

Touching his chin, Lao Yu spoke in a voice only he could hear clearly, offering what he considered to be a fairly accurate guess.

This conclusion was reached after he spent nearly a month pulling out a lot of hair.

The crux of the matter is that, during the time they spent together, besides using various methods and tools to beat that slutty old woman...

There seemed to be no extra small talk between the two.

In the end, he didn't even know the other person's name, let alone where in the island nation the other person was from or what their family situation was.

So much so that now, it's impossible for him to go to the island nation to find her descendants and see if the Leica camera is still in their possession.

Upon thinking of 'descendants', Lao Yu couldn't help but shudder, suddenly feeling a strong sense of foreboding.

It seems that some incredibly absurd things are about to happen to me...

At the same time, but the location is changed to Los Angeles in North America, because there is a 12-hour time difference between here and China, so it is still a little past 9 pm.

This means that in this stronghold of capitalism, the decadent and depraved nightlife has only just begun.

Compared to the previous period when he received over ten thousand US dollars and two antiques, which was considered a windfall, Uncle Bo surprisingly didn't go out to party tonight.

Go and sponsor those from Latin America who are now studying and working alone in a metropolis like Los Angeles.

However, due to the high cost of living, there are poor female international students and female white-collar workers who are struggling financially.

There's no way around it! He used to go out and have a blast every day, but it resulted in the house not being cleaned for a long time, and it became such a mess that even he himself was disgusted with it.

Just in time for his upcoming time travel, he chose to take a day off tomorrow, which gave him more free time.

So, for once, Uncle Bo didn't go out partying tonight; instead, he rolled up his sleeves and got busy.

As for hiring a cleaning lady to help tidy up? Money is a minor issue; the key problem is that Uncle Bo's house contains too many World War II-era items, as well as weapons and equipment he made himself, which are not convenient for outsiders to see.

Uncle Bo was incredibly busy, throwing dirty clothes into the washing machine, sweeping, mopping, and cleaning the kitchen.

Such a difficult process was indescribable for a bachelor like Uncle Bo; if he had a choice, he would rather fight the Japanese.

This situation worsened when he opened the refrigerator to clean it, and the worry on his face became even more pronounced.

Inside the huge refrigerator, apart from a few beers, it was packed full of eggs, with almost no space between them.

There's no way around it! Ordinary Californians are now worried that egg prices are too high, and they can hardly afford to eat eggs anymore.

He was worried about how he could finish so many eggs. If they were left out any longer, they would not only affect the taste, but if they were left for another month, they might even spoil.

This thing isn't cheap, what a waste.

This scene arose because, on the second day of his rest period, Van Gogh, who was bored out of his mind, came to Los Angeles to visit him.

Van Gogh arrived in a used pickup truck. After lifting the tarpaulin in the back, he found it was filled with Grade A eggs from Mexico.

Consider it a small gift from Van Gogh to his fellow travelers.

To paraphrase Van Gogh: "Old cucumber, from now on, I'll cover all your egg consumption."

The problem is that, as a bachelor, and a bachelor who has made a fortune, Uncle Bo now just eats breakfast at home, lunch at the military base where he works, and dinner out for a big meal, while also doing good deeds.

Even though she gave most of the eggs that Van Gogh sent to her parents and relatives.

The remaining small portion, after almost a month of eating two eggs every morning from the refrigerator, has not even been finished.

What to do? After hesitating for a moment, Uncle Bo had an idea: he might as well give them to the neighbors as well.

After all, the community where he lived was quite nice, a traditional middle-class community typical of Uncle Sam and his family, and the neighbors had a very friendly relationship, often exchanging small gifts.

He remembered that Mrs. Smith next door, the beautiful blonde woman in her thirties with a figure of at least D, had given him an apple pie last month.

After thinking of this solution, Uncle Bo found a bag and put it in.

Because there were so many eggs, they filled seven or eight bags, each one quite heavy.

Carrying the bag, he rang the doorbell of Mr. Smith's house next door. Soon the door opened, and Mrs. Smith, wearing a lace nightgown, appeared before him.

Uncle Bo said without looking at me, "Good evening, madam! A friend of mine who owns a farm gave me a lot of eggs."

But I haven't been eating at home much lately, and I really can't eat this much, so how about you help me finish some?

"Oh! Thank you so much!" Mrs. Smith exclaimed.

After putting down a bag of eggs, Uncle Bo turned around and left. Why not? Could he go in and cook something? No, wait! Could he go in and sit for a while? It's too late.

But as he turned away, Mrs. Smith thought of her husband, who had been unemployed for three months and was now drinking outside every day.

With overdrafted and suspended credit cards, the family couldn't even afford groceries; and the eggs Uncle Bo had left were worth at least several hundred dollars at the recent crazy prices.

She suddenly called out, "Mr. Bo, my water pipe is broken, but Smith isn't home. Could you fix it for me?"

After feeling the other person's intense gaze fixed on the eggs in their hand...

Uncle Bo sighed silently to himself, "What a tragedy..."

(End of this chapter)