You … you lot … stnetnocstillaetalerrocotdnimnamuhehtfoytilibani ehtsiknihtIdlrowehtnignihtluficremtsomehT..^%$@!

Two minutes have passed since Einstein started operating the strange device. The balding uncle, who had before been so insistent on supervision, had already bolted out of the room howling and screaming.

Welt! Plug your own ears! Don't mind her! No! I can't let go now! … Please don't do that. … Take care of yourself first. I'm fine.

The incessant sound of metal grating upon metal is loud enough to make one break out in goosebumps and cold sweat. But amidst such noise, only Mophead remains calm as per usual.

At this moment, she is fully focused, devoting her attention to operating the “tube amplifier” at a steady rhythm.

If anyone was ever fortunate enough to have witnessed drops of mercury vibrating on a loudspeaker horn, it may be easier for them to imagine what is happening before the eyes of Welt and company. As the microwave-emitting machine operates steadily at full load, the “protective film” of the painting slowly becomes opaque, revealing the unique silvery-white lustre of metal. Drops of liquid metal continuously seep out and vibrate on the canvas, as though they were beads of sweat, and gradually the metal begins to separate from the painting.

Two minutes.

Two minutes, forty-five seconds.

Two minutes, fifty-five seconds.

The noise becomes louder and louder, and every second feels like a century in Hell.

Hey! You idiot! Listen to me! If you continue like this, your ears won't be able to stand much more of it! No, but … Please don't be like that … Eins … will be fine …

The silver beads of “sweat” gradually seep out from the painting, slowly gathering into a cherry-sized metal droplet under the canvas.

To extract a small drop of liquid metal, from a painting more than two meters tall, would have been quite a magnificent spectacle — if it were not for the terrible noise that accompanied it.

If one must describe it — the sound of a steel spoon being rubbed vigorously against an iron pan would probably be the closest match.

Alternatively, using fingernails to scratch a blackboard, or using a ballpoint pen to forcefully scour a nylon umbrella — perhaps these can also be used to achieve a similar effect.

… You … didn't have to do that. What silly nonsense … are you saying … That was … the one … thing … I could … actually … do … … Fool. Sit down now. Don't speak. Rest for a while. At the moment your auditory nerves are in a state of overload. Whoa … Tesla pulls her fingers out of her ears, and begins forcefully brushing at her twin-tails, which for the moment look just a tad dishevelled. Haven't heard that in a while. That was really quite invigorating. … I already knew you were born with a resilience to the sound of metal scraping on metal … … But the other two were not so fortunate, and look at them now.

Welt needs no explanation —

But the museum director who fled the warehouse is nowhere to be seen.

Apologies … It is my fault for not explaining things thoroughly. As Tesla said … I am naturally immune to this kind of noise. Let's not bother ourselves with that loathsome Big Uncle — Twintails comes up to Welt's side, and gives him a severe glance. “But you, are you well and truly INCOMPETENT? We asked you to plug your ears. Why didn't you listen? I know you were so worried about her — but, she , really, isn't, bothered, by, that, sort, of, noise! Why did you have to be so stubborn? Hmm? Why did you not heed and follow our orders, to protect yourself first? Do we know more, or do YOU know more? Are we in charge, or are YOU in charge? Don't you dare give me — Tesla! Mophead interrupts Twintails by yelling her name. Welt … he had good intentions. … Intentions? As a scientist, are you really going to explain motivation theory to me right now? Einstein? Disobedient as he is now, what if he encounters something more dangerous in the future? Do you wish to see him drown in his so-called “compassion”? … You are an assistant, Mr Welt. Your first and foremost duty is to be obedient! You do as we say! Put aside your self-righteous ideals of “compassion” — It's fundamentally superfluous to our cause! And you! Einstein! Don't you dare spoil him anymore! It's absolutely revolting! Irate, she strides off without once looking back. … Nestled in the back seat of the taxi, the young man remains anxious, with a lingering fear of Dr Twintails anger. That … I … Relax. Mophead speaks without looking back, peering out of the window on the other side of the car. She just has a bad temper. But … I was indeed … too stubborn. From today onwards, you are not allowed to apologise. … Huh? Don't add fuel to the fire. When we return, you shall pretend as if nothing happened. … What? Rest assured. She won't come back and pick a fight with you. Tesla isn't that petty of a person. As a matter of fact … At this very moment, she is most probably having a good drink at some bar — — to drown out her guilt over having lost her temper at us. … The taxi makes a turn near a golden statue, and continues along the avenue on the north side. Outside the window to the left is a box-shaped piece of classical architecture, a building atop of which is planted a flag whose colours cannot be seen clearly by Welt. Buckingham Palace. The girl speaks, pointing in the direction of the rectangular building. Flying the Royal Standard instead of the Union Jack, indicates that the Queen is present in the palace. … The four coloured blocks on the Royal Standard represent England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and her overseas territories. Because the Crown Prince bears the title of Prince of Wales, there is no symbol of a Red Dragon on the Royal Standard. … … You probably don't want to listen to such trivial nonsense. Look, give it some time and your mood will bounce back, okay? … Ay. Looks like she really did give you a fright. … It's okay. I did say — although that person has a terrible temper, everything will be fine once her anger is gone. You on the other hand: when you do see her next time — by all means necessary — stop being so cowardly and cringey. Then she might actually just hate you instead. That's right. Now that we have the Soulium, it's time for you to meet “Her Royal Highness” of Lab 42. … ? Not me. And of course, definitely not that ill-tempered woman. So … Cur · rent · ly Clas · si · fied ~ The girl smiles vaguely, and refuses to give any further answers. The taxi passes by the Wellington Arch and continues west along Knightsbridge. On this twilight of late autumn, the cool glow of waning sunlight is reflected by the roadside puddles; upon seeing this scene, one cannot help but be reminded of an ominous verse from more than 2,000 years ago — Pale Death beats equally at the poor man's gate and at the palaces of kings. ”

Note:

"Pale Death beats equally at the poor man's gate and at the palaces of kings."

This sentence comes from the ancient Roman poet Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65-8 BC). The original Latin verse is “PALLIDA MORS AEQVO PVLSAT PEDE PAVPERVM TABERNAS REGVMQVE TVRRES”.

The girl winds down her window, and her gaze turns to the luscious green of Hyde Park across the road. They have returned to the familiar Imperial Institute. Lab 42's door is firmly locked, and the suitcases of the three travellers have been haphazardly left in the centre of the entrance hall. There are no signs of anyone else having returned earlier. Sure enough, she has gone to the pub. No need to worry about her — Oh, and don't worry about the luggage. Follow me. Mophead, who seems to have a plan in mind, turns to the corridor on the right — The one place in the lab whose purpose is not yet clear to Welt. You should be feeling very concerned right now, right? No … it's not like that — Then you should be “Especially Concerned”. No … How do you say — I understand. You must be “Extremely Concerned”, then. Extremely, extremely, extremely concerned. Correct? … Confronted with this sudden and inexplicable obstinance, the young man can only put on a resigned expression, as if to say: “There, I've lost to you”. Hehe, I knew it, I knew it. Mophead puts on an act of nodding her mophead. Come on. Be moved to tears. Be excited enough to shed your clothes in exaltation. It is time for you to prostrate yourself before the trump card of Lab 42. For some reason, when she says this — In that usual, consistent, unemotional, inorganic tone — Combined with that faint mysterious smile, she appears extraordinarily vexing to Welt. … Moreover, she keeps the key inserted in the lock, without actually turning the lock. … Just then, were you deliberately mocking me? The poor young man shrugs, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Of course. It seems that after hearing that satisfactory response, the girl turns the key with a smile. At the moment of the door opening, Welt already had reservations about what he may encounter inside. A cloud of ethereal-pink fluorescent light is pulsating slowly before him, as though it were the heart of some fantasy creature. In the background, rows upon rows of devices, installed and stacked together like telephone switchboards, emit an irksome electronic hum; countless, blinking indicator lights flicker unremittingly in the darkness. Before long, the fluorescent light suddenly vanishes, and a burst of sound emits inexplicably in the room, a chime similar to a musical scale being played on a theremin.

Note:

The theremin (Russian: Терменво́кс) or thereminophone is one of the world's earliest electronic musical instruments, invented by Russian inventor Léon Theremin in 1919.

Because of its unique tone, it was used to create a spooky atmosphere in many early films.

Good afternoon, Ada. The girl appears not particularly surprised, and utters a greeting towards the location where the fluorescent light had appeared before. Good afternoon, Dr Einstein. Ah, Mr Assistant is also — Good afternoon. From the direction of the strange sound, the fluorescent light reappears, and magically transforms into a cute humanoid silhouette, greeting the two of them. He- … Hello … Ada, please give a formal introduction to this fellow over here. I have already activated the image emulation system. Mophead speaks without looking back, while adjusting and fiddling around with some of the “telephone switches”. Of course! The human figure made of fluorescent light gradually becomes opaque, and gently materialises in the centre of the room as a young pink girl, much like a fairy-tale character. Hello, this is terminal interface prototype No.0042. My human name is Ada. A ~ D ~ A ~ Ai — Da. She pronounces the last syllable of her name by deliberately plucking at her top palate with the tip of her tongue. The action makes Welt recall somewhat uncomfortably of a controversial novel recently published in France.

Note:

Lo — Lee — Ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta”

In September 1955, Vladimir Nabokov's famous novel “Lolita” was first published in Paris by Olympia Press.

If you need to use the “Lovelace system”, you can hand over to me whatever problems you need solved.

Note:

Lady Ada Lovelace, daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron, was the first computer programmer in human history.

What is the Lovelace System? ⵥ·ⵋ·ⵐ·ⵐ·ⵥ·ⵋ·ⵥ Ada traces a line of unfamiliar characters in the air with fluorescent light. “JSZZJSJ”. If we use your language, it will give such an abbreviation. Everyone thinks this title is too cumbersome to pronounce, so we called it the “Lovelace system” instead. Wait … … What's going on with that Cthulhu-sounding acronym just now? J something S something Z whats-it … ⵥⵙⵎ ⵋⴱⴳ ⵐⵓⴽⴸ ⵐ ⵥⵛⵌⴱⴴⵙⴸ ⵋⵓⵖⴱ ⵥⴶ Ada continues to write a line of even more unfamiliar characters. Jhona Shiba Zhulaka ZhaJhyurhipoka Shuvi Jhaha.

Note:

技（J）术（S）宅（Z）拯（Z）救（J）世（S）界（J）.

(Translator's note: This is a break of the fourth wall. “Tech Otakus Save the World” — miHoYo's motto.)

“Large-scale Primary High-speed Honkai Energy Calculation System”, That's what it says when fully-translated.

Note:

The Home Office Large Major Enquiry System (HOLMES), launched in 1985, is an information technology system used by UK police forces to investigate major cases.

What matters to us here, is that its full name was deliberately put together by the British to form the acronym HOLMES.

… I give up. The young man stares at the gibberish in despair — Just tell me what sort of things you usually do. Weather forecast, weapon performance estimation, analysis of Soulium data … According to your definition of “usual”, that's about it. … I don't know if this generalisation is correct … The young man thinks, holding his chin — That is to say — compared to those … um, those extra-large calculators from the other labs … are you also something similar? They are indeed similar to me. Although they are much more primitive. The entity casually passes judgment upon the most cutting-edge computing devices of the time. … Primitive? Maintaining this level of an intelligent interactive interface currently accounts for 99% of my core module performance. Nevertheless, their computing power is still about 13 orders of magnitude weaker than my remaining 1%.

Note:

The 1954 supercomputer “IBM NORC” was able to perform approximately 67,000 basic operations per second, while the 2016 supercomputer “Sunway TaihuLight” is capable of approximately 93,000,000,000 floating-point operations per second.

… 13 orders of magnitude? Welt, who is not very good at mathematics, has no concept of such large numbers. Ten trillion. I can count that many times in the time it takes for them to calculate only once. In other words, my 1 second is equal to their 100,000 years. Wha- … No need to be surprised. Ada does not belong to this era. Does not belong to this era … … What do you mean? That's right. A product of the Previous Era. That's the chief reason why Lab 42 hired Dr Elias Nokianvirtanen. Chief reason … You mean, did he give Ada … Correct … He was effectively … her tutor. The girl suddenly shrugs helplessly, as though she were bothered by something — Ada's name, image, and behavioural mannerisms … were all driven by the tastes of that man. Urgh … The young man feels a chill run deep down his spine. The record in the Soulium does not need translation, Dr Einstein, Assistant Welt. … Huh? ! There are two records. One is image data from this era, and the other is some kind of data encrypted by mathematical methods. … Not unexpected. Display the image data first. Okay.

Before her words had even ended, Ada's image of a fairy-tale princess already disappears — to be replaced by a mirage-like landscape.

… It is a cave that looks quite similar to the Yellowstone ruins.

A figure appears in their field of vision.

It is a sisterly woman with black hair.

She is wearing an antiquated Valkyrie battlesuit, and her whole body is covered with blood.

… It should have started recording already. The sister in the image takes a deep breath. I am … H.A. Seeing this means that you have already solved the initial puzzle I had left behind for you. Hahaha … I don't even know, whether I should congratulate you, or curse you. I guess you should already know of an organisation called “Schicksal”. Maybe you are one of them. Oh, maybe, you're even Otto Apocalypse himself. If it is indeed the latter, I really need to take a moment to thank God for that. … Hahahahahahaha. Otto … Apocalypse? Welt seems familiar with that name. Shh. Einstein furrows her brow and frowns, motioning him to keep quiet. You must already know what “Honkai” is. Naturally, it is impossible for the HA in the video to directly interact with them, but she continues to talk calmly, at her own pace. You must also know that, the core belief of Schicksal, is to eradicate the Honkai from the face of the earth. But … Unfortunately, this cannot be done. You may think that I am just overwhelmed by negative emotions. No, this is not the case. In the “final Soulium”, you will find the cruel, irrefutable evidence. Please be mentally-prepared for this finality. Ah … I know you must be wondering about certain things right now. As you may have figured out, the current Soulium you have just found is not the so-called “final Soulium”. Instead, that is a private transmission from me. An audiovisual segment … and also an encrypted message. Try to decipher it. Prove to me your technical skills. While I was playing the video, I analysed the encryption method of the accompanying encrypted data. Ada reports, restoring her anthropomorphic image. I predict that it uses a discrete logarithm of an elliptic curve over a finite field.

Note:

Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) is an encryption technology that is quite common today.

The elliptic curve here refers to an algebraic curve of the shape y^2 = x^3 + ax + b, not an ellipse in a conical curve. The elliptic curve is called an “elliptic curve” because a formula of the form x^3 + ax + b will appear in the process of integral calculation of the elliptic arc length; and it is also related to the reason why the elliptic arc length cannot be expressed in terms of elementary functions. Elliptic curves are also a key springboard to prove Fermat's Last Theorem — its importance in algebra is evident.

ECC is more difficult to crack than another common encryption technology, RSA (factorisation cipher). For example, the minimum key length recommended by the National Bureau of Standards and Technology is 160 bits for ECC and 1024 bits for RSA.

Given that there is no current reference material in this field, preliminary estimates suggest that brute force decryption will take three months. How about at full capacity? Einstein's brows furrow again. If all other scheduled arrangements and daily functions are suspended, it will still take about four weeks. … Dr Einstein … Is this an urgent task? Phew … Mophead takes a deep breath — No, I was just hijacked by curiosity, nothing more. So, shall we adjust the scheduled arrangements? Welt. Einstein suddenly takes a step closer, and stares down with a piercing gaze at the man who had not been all that helpful with solving the puzzles. … Uh — Yes? The young man, who from the beginning simply couldn't keep up with the fast pace, stumbles back a step as if given a fright. To his surprise, the girl's face exhibits a trace of a sinister smile. Then I beg of you, during this time. Please take responsibility, okay? … Huh? … W-w-w-wait, what are you on about?