Crazy Detective

Zhao Yu had been involved in criminal investigation for a long period of time, so when he found a large number of numeric symbols in the book, he did some quick research and figured out some clues.

First, he searched the Internet and found out that these numeric symbols were a kind of phonetic symbol used during the period of the Republic of China. It represented the Chinese Pinyin during that period. According to the Internet, as the usage of Mandarin was not popular during that time, the Chinese Pinyin was not the same as today. Instead, it was made up of forty symbols that looked like Latin alphabets.

Next, Zhao Yu made a comparison between the numeric symbols and a previous hexagram. Very quickly, he found a matching symbol.

As this was a phonetic symbol, only the correct pronunciation of the hexagram poem mattered, not the exact meaning of the words.

In front of each symbol, there was a corresponding Arabic number. These numbers were not arranged in order of size. Some numbers were one or two digits, whereas others were three or four. There seemed to be no regular pattern at all.

After Zhao Yu found the corresponding symbol to the hexagram poem, he got a long string of numbers.

Strange!

Zhao Yu frowned, as he did not understand what the long string of numbers meant. With a growing sense of curiosity, he flipped through a few more pages. Unfortunately, the last few pages of the ancient book were previously drenched, and many wordings faded off.

From the front page of the book, Zhao Yu saw a drawing. On this drawing was a huge cross, placed right in the middle. In the middle of the cross was a big circle, which was divided into many parts, with some symbols and numbers in it.

Although the drawing was badly damaged, Zhao Yu could still learn a few clues from it. At first glance, it seemed to look like an ordinary math problem on a test paper. But after some careful analysis of both the drawing and the long string of numbers, Zhao Yu finally understood the mystery.

Wow!

Witnessing all these things made Zhao Yu very excited. He hurriedly put out his cigarette and opened another hexagram. In order to not wake Miao Ying, he even covered himself with a quilt.

He coughed under the quilt, and a new hexagram was opened. It was “Dui Zhen hexagram, Dui Ze Zhen Lei. Zhao Ze Yan Lei, Qi Zhuo Bu Wen, Shen Ya Lan Dai, Yu Yi Hun Chen”.

Zhao Yu quickly jotted down this group of hexagram poems on the paper, and began to analyze the hexagram in accordance with his latest findings. First, he tagged all the words according to the phonetic symbol of the Republic of China.

The first portion of the hexagram poem was the “Dui Zhen hexagram” and “Dui Ze Zhen Lei”, all of which corresponded to “0”. Although the book did not clearly explain in detail what it meant, Zhao Yu felt that these two sentences should be the name and beginning of the hexagram poem. Since it was expressed as “0”, it most likely meant nothing.

So, he set aside the two sentences and focused on examining the remaining 16 characters in the hexagram poem. These 16 words were evenly divided into four groups. After comparison, he found out that each group had its corresponding Arabic number.

The group “Zhao Ze Yan Lei” was expressed as 1507, “Qi Zhuo Bu Wen” as 8927, “Shen Ya Lan Dai” as 0013 and “Yu Yi Hun Chen” as 2109.

1507, 8927, 0013, 2109.

When the four seemingly meaningless numbers appeared in front of him, Zhao Yu thought through for a long time, and after awhile, seemed to have unraveled the mystery behind it.

He immediately took the drawing from the book and did a comparison. It took him only half an hour, before he found out what these numbers meant.

Unexpectedly, the meaning of this string of numbers matched some of his previous conjectures. First, Zhao Yu looked at the first set of numbers, 1507. Long ago, Zhao Yu had always wondered about those obscure hexagrams, whether they would indicate a certain direction or not. After all, it was a miracle system. If there was an adventure, there must be a place and a direction.

In hindsight, this conjecture is likely to be established.

It turned out that, on that cross, Zhao Yu found location information. Thus, Zhao Yu tried to look at the cross like an azimuth diagram, which then made everything seem to make sense.

Taking the center of the cross as the middle, he would draw a line repeatedly for every 10 degrees. So, 36 lines would be drawn, looking just like an azimuth map. And the 36 lines were undoubtedly representing 360 degrees, with every ten degrees corresponding to one direction!

For example, looking up the azimuth map with 1507, the 15th line indicated the eastern south direction. As for the 07 in the rear, if a person simply divided the map equally into 10 portions for every 10 degrees, the 07 represented one of them. Thus, this method could accurately indicate a location.

Once the location was confirmed, Zhao Yu guessed that the next set of numbers was likely to represent distance.

The next set of numbers was 8927. If 8927 represented distance, its measurement unit could not be either kilometers or centimeters. The most likely measurement unit would be the meter. That is to say, from the location where he opened the hexagram, 8927 meters in the eastern south direction, would be the exact place where his adventure would take place!

Although Zhao Yu also considered that, in ancient China, it was possible to use “feet” or other units of measurement, he was not in the mood to look deeper, and thus moved on to the next set of numbers.

According to his inference, the third set of numbers, following the location and distance, must be time. Time is an essential factor in any adventure.

However, the third set of numbers was 0013, something that was difficult for Zhao Yu to guess. If it was interpreted as time, the time would be in the early hour of the day. But the time right then was already three o’clock in the morning. Would that mean that the adventure was already over?

Besides, Zhao Yu opened the hexagram at two o’clock in the morning. It could not be that the adventure was already over, not when he had only just opened the hexagram! This meant that the set of numbers 0013 might be referring to the time on the next day. Otherwise, 0013 might not even be referring to time at all!

So… If it was not referring to time, what else could it be?

Could it be… Space?

Oh… 0013, could it be… Representing 13 meters high? Is it? But, if an adventure were to happen in an underground carpark, would this be a negative number?

A negative number… A negative number…

Zhao Yu searched the symbol graph, but did not find any negative numbers. He only found Arabic numbers.

With much uncertainty, Zhao Yu shifted his attention to the fourth set of numbers.

2109!

Hmm… Looking at this set of numbers, Zhao Yu’s first thought was as to whether it was reasonable for these numbers to represent time.

Then… 2109 would be 09:09 pm in the evening?

Tsk tsk…

Although Zhao Yu felt that he might have unraveled the meaning of hexagram poem, when he saw the current time, he inevitably had some doubts.

Could this be wrong?

The Ghost Eight Diagrams came from ancient China. In ancient China, a 12-hour clock was used to tell the time. Could they have used the advanced 24-hour clock system instead?

As for the measurement for distance, could it be in meters? If 0013 represented the height, would the unit of measurement then be in meters as well?

Does this sound a bit far-fetched?

Could the Ghost Eight Diagrams really have predicted the future, so many thousands of years ago?

Or could it be that the Ghost Eight Diagrams and Miracle system were not created by humans?

Zhao Yu was a smart man. He knew that if he kept on harping on this, he would not get anywhere. So, as a detective, Zhao Yu quickly adjusted his thinking.

Yes!

Now that I might have found the mystery behind the hexagram poem, why don’t I head to the southern east direction from my house, 8927 meters away, at 9:09 pm tomorrow, to take a look and see what happens over there… What?