Reinitz’s eyes grew dark, and he sat there motionlessly for a while before he finally sighed and said indifferently, “What can we do now? Nobody truly knows who the ‘Pink Piggy’ is. Have you searched for her footprints in the All Blue Star’s network?”
Huo Shaoheng tensed up and understood what he was implying. “Nowadays there is a heavy amount of data flow throughout the network’s data system. In which country do you think there would be such a powerful supercomputer that would allow you to search through the entire network for the whereabouts of the ‘Pink Piggy?’”
Reinitz and Huo Shaoheng were using computer terminology. In the online world, you could use a method of recourse to find a person’s internet footprint. Even if they used a fake IP, you would still be able to trace the fake IP.
Tracing the fake IP, you might not find the real user, but you could see the trajectories of that person’s network activity and then analyze the logical relationship between those trajectories. From there, you could perhaps identify the real user.
Reinitz smiled and nodded. “It’s true. Even the U.S. military laboratory probably doesn’t have such a powerful supercomputer. However, when hardware innovation progresses to a more advanced state, then it will be time to test the limits of human intelligence. However, it wouldn’t be impossible to create an optimized application program for big data analysis from a logarithm under the existing hardware conditions.” At that time, it would be the moment for an intelligence war between all nations.
Huo Shaoheng pondered Reinitz’s words. Of course, he wasn’t actually thinking about how to find the “Pink Piggy,” but he wondered if by using that method, whether or not he could locate the data hidden by those four lines of AI programming language.
…
Gu Nianzhi knew that Huo Shaoheng had something to discuss with Reinitz, so she stalled for time in the kitchen. She took out some French baguette dough from the refrigerator, kneaded it into a long loaf, and put it in the oven to bake.
She preheated the oven for five minutes, baked the dough for another 15 minutes, then sliced it like she would slice white sausages before putting it in a basket covered with a small white cloth.
Gu Nianzhi smiled and put the basket by Reinitz. “Reinitz, try our French baguette.”
Reinitz had now regained his composure and nodded to Gu Nianzhi with a gentle smile. “Thank you, Cereus.”
He took a bite of the French baguette slice, chewed it carefully, and then paired it with a slice of white sausage. The taste was unexpectedly fragrant. It was better than eating authentic German bread with white sausage in Germany. Reinitz couldn’t help praising, “Cereus, did you bake this bread right now or did you buy it? It’s so delicious, especially when eaten with Mother Hannah’s white sausage.”
Gu Nianzhi beamed proudly, and she pointed at the crust on the baguette while saying, “I brushed a little bit of scallion oil on the top, and then when it baked, the scallion oil added flavor to it. I think it’s just about the right amount of seasoning when paired with the white sausage.”
Scallion oil neutralized the bitter taste of cardamom in white sausages, while cardamom also suppressed the smelly aftertaste of scallion oil, which made them a perfect pairing. Not to mention, it also gave one’s taste buds a new flavor sensation.
Reinitz loved the flavor so much that he almost ate the whole loaf. He also ate most of the white sausage he brought. However, Gu Nianzhi only got to eat a few slices. She looked at the empty plate sadly and said, “It’s a pity that I ate it all.”
Reinitz seemed embarrassed and said with a smile, “It’s my fault. I brought you gifts, but I ate most of them myself.” But then he immediately comforted Gu Nianzhi. “It doesn’t matter. I will bring you some more tomorrow. Mother Hannah made a lot. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to find your home today, so I only brought a little.”
Huo Shaoheng, who had been thinking about something else, looked at them sharply. Did the two of them just make an appointment for a date tomorrow? Huo Shaoheng glanced at him and said to Gu Nianzhi, “Major General Reinitz is an important figure in the German delegation to China. Nianzhi, don’t bother Major General Reinitz and get in the way of his work with such trivial matters.”
“I know.” Gu Nianzhi quickly nodded. “Reinitz, I just mentioned it casually. Don’t take it to heart.”
“How can I not take it to heart? Every word you say, I take to heart. Would you like me to repeat it?” Reinitz said in a half-joking and half-serious tone. Even he himself couldn’t tell if he meant it, but he only had Gu Nianzhi in his sights.
Huo Shaoheng knew that Reinitz was deliberately acting this way to irk him, but he still let it get to him and couldn’t help feeling enraged. For god’s sake, he was standing right there!
Gu Nianzhi could feel Huo Shaoheng’s rage boiling up, so she smiled at Reinitz and said, “Reinitz, you must be joking. Things are different now from how they were in Germany!”
Reinitz could hear the warning in Gu Nianzhi’s tone, and understanding her intent, he touched his nose, stood up to clean up the chopsticks, and said, “I ate the most, so I’ll clean.”
Gu Nianzhi couldn’t let the guest clean up, so she went to the kitchen to help.
Huo Shaoheng was sitting in the dining room alone, thinking about two different things. He was thinking about how the four lines of AI programming language produced data while he was also paying attention to what was going on between the two of them in the kitchen.
He noticed that whenever Reinitz talked to Gu Nianzhi, his tone was extremely soft and slow. Even the normally harsh-sounding German language, when spoken from Reinitz’s mouth, actually had a much gentler quality to it.
Gu Nianzhi, though wary of Reinitz, smiled at him and was obviously amused by what he was saying. Huo Shaoheng’s eyes darkened, and he decided to take Gu Nianzhi back to his official residence tonight, since now he certainly couldn’t let her stay here alone.
…
Gu Nianzhi put the dishes in the dishwasher with Reinitz in the kitchen. In order to find something to talk about, she first asked him how he had gotten into their neighborhood, since after all, the guards were strict.
Reinitz smiled and pretended to be confused. “It’s easy to get in. I said I was looking for you, and the doorman let me in.”
Gu Nianzhi knew that it couldn’t have been that simple, since the guards never called her to confirm. Reinitz must have done something, but she knew that it was probably only a little easier to coax the truth from his mouth than it would be from Huo Shaoheng or He Zhichu’s.
Gu Nianzhi had no choice but to change the subject and asked about the bilateral talks going on between the two countries. Reinitz shrugged. “I’m just going to watch and see how intense their quarrel is going to get.”
“Intense? What do you mean by that?” Gu Nianzhi was curious. She had actually wanted to attend the talks.
“Your country’s diplomats and parliamentary representatives are very tough. First, they’re declaring that they don’t know who the ‘Pink Piggy’ is, then they’re saying that even if they found out later, they would never hand her over because she has not violated any of the Huaxia Empire’s laws.”
Gu Nianzhi thought, “I have violated foreign laws at most, but in that case, foreign governments must have evidence, and if they want to arrest people without evidence, that would be injustice.”
Reinitz laughed as he said, “But that is not the case for your country’s cyber networks. I see many people petitioning the government to hand over the ‘Pink Piggy’ to the United States and Germany.”
Gu Nianzhi sighed and said with a scornful expression, “I bet the joint petition is either the work of the Marines or little minions employed by their governments. If their opinions count, then Hillary Clinton is the President of the United States.”
Reinitz was so amused by her that he was grinning from ear to ear. Seeing Reinitz laughing this heartily and thinking about what he had done to her, Gu Nianzhi secretly sighed inside. The so-called angel face with the heart of a devil—wasn’t that describing Reinitz? The two continued their banter while cleaning up the kitchen, and also made coffee and tea.
At the same time, Huo Shaoheng had some inkling about how he would conduct the data analysis on the large amount of data, and he anxiously wanted to return to the central control room in the headquarters of the Special Operations Forces in order to test his methods.
However, he couldn’t let Reinitz accompany Gu Nianzhi here alone. Of course, he couldn’t just kick him out, either. Fortunately, Reinitz seemed to get the message, and after drinking a cup of coffee, he left.
As soon as he left, Huo Shaoheng immediately said to Gu Nianzhi, “Nianzhi, I think I have an idea about how to find the data hidden in those four lines of AI programming codes. Can you help me check the algorithm I just figured out over the past two days?”
Those four AI procedures were crucial evidence signifying Hong Kangquan’s guilt as a traitor. Gu Nianzhi knew that Hong Kangquan had already become a wanted criminal and that he despised her deeply. She was very eager to help bring him to justice, so she nodded without hesitation. “Okay, no problem. Should I use my computer or your computer?”
“Let’s go to my place.” Huo Shaoheng stood up, then said, “Let’s go.”
