April 2027, Liangguo Rocket City
Professor Braun's home is in a community on a semi-high hillside in the southeastern suburbs of Rocket City.
Daphne Braun was curled up on the sofa in the living room, her hands wrapped in a thin blanket around her legs, looking like an injured kitten. Professor Braun and David sat opposite each other on the two single sofas next to the window.
David said to Daphne: "Daphne, you are absolutely safe now. Agents from the Bureau of Investigation are on duty 24 hours a day. The matter is over. I hope you can relax."
"Yes, Daphne, dad is here, this kind of thing will never happen again." Braun looked at Daphne lovingly, and then said:
"You have already taken notes this morning. I know you are annoyed, but David and I still hope you can recall the details again. This may be important, kid."
"Dad, I'm fine. Uncle David, thank you for taking me back from Jianqiang Country so quickly." Daphne nodded to David's smile and continued:
"Actually, when I was taking notes in the morning, I already said it in great detail. During my morning jog, I was knocked unconscious and woke up in a small room converted from a shipping container. There was a metronome, a mattress, and a talking speaker. The background sound was an alternating metronome recording of 20 and 40 BPM, and later a mobile phone fell out.”
"He asked me to send a message, 'little girl,' and he said he would give me a reward of nearly $50,000. That's it, no more details."
David stood up thoughtfully and motioned to Professor Braun to go out with him. Before going out, he said to Daphne:
"Daphne, please take a good rest. Christine, the psychiatrist from the Bureau of Investigation, will come to chat with you in a while. This is also standard procedure. I hope you won't find her annoying.
Believe me, psychological counseling is good for you. "
Braun led David out of the living room, closed the door, walked through the porch, and entered the study on the other side.
David turned around and closed the study door and said:
"We have looked at Daphne's accounts and in one of them, a sum of money was deposited after she was abducted."
Braun asked in surprise: "How much? Can you check the depositor's account?"
"The depositor's account is real. It is an account at a bank branch in Fushengguo, but the owner of the account does not know it. The kidnappers stole the account. It is estimated that it will be difficult to trace the source." David said.
"What a weird thing! Kidnapping hostages without asking for ransom and paying them back with money? What does this mean?" the professor said in confusion.
"Didn't the kidnapper say, pass the message, 'little girl'." David explained, and then continued:
"What's even more puzzling is that what the kidnappers deposited was not money, but paper gold! 31.9 ounces of paper gold. Because Daphne only has a US dollar account and no paper gold account, according to banking practice, when the account is entered, the receiving bank automatically The closing price of gold on the Nidu Commodity Exchange was converted into U.S. dollars that day.”
"Professor Braun, do you know the recent gold price?" David asked.
"I'm an astronomy guy and I don't speculate in gold. However, I still read the financial news. I don't know the exact price of gold. It's about US$1,900 per ounce, right?"
"Not bad! My astronomer! The price of gold has indeed been fluctuating around $1,900 per ounce during this period."
David teased while making a mysterious expression and said:
"The weird thing is that on the deposit day, a group of mysterious sellers sold a large amount of gold in the last hour before the market closed, and actually drove the closing price of gold down to about $1,557 per ounce!
At this price, the bank exchanged 31.9 ounces of gold for $49,669 and deposited it in Daphne's name. "
"$49,669?" Braun jumped up from his chair as if he had been pinched by someone. He opened his mouth and stared at David closely.
David was a little overwhelmed and asked hurriedly: "What's wrong? Does the $49,669 have any special significance?"
"What is the international trading code for gold?" Braun asked confusedly.
"AU, the trading code for gold is AU." David replied.
"So do you know what AU means in astronomy?" Braun asked.
"Of course I know, the astronomical unit, the distance from the earth to the sun, which is more than 149 million kilometers, is defined as 1AU." David replied.
"To be precise, 1 AU is 149,597,870 kilometers," Braun added. Then ask:
"Have you ever heard of Transcendence?"
"Although I have only been in your office at the Liangguo Space Administration for a few years, I know that in 2006, the team you were responsible for launched the Transcendent Vision probe, which arrived in July 2015 and successfully took photos of Pluto." David said.
"Then do you know how far away from the Earth it will be when Transcendence flies towards Pluto?" Braun asked.
David is a professional agent with strong analytical skills. He seemed to understand something and asked tentatively:
"31.9AU?"
Braun nodded deeply and continued:
"I originally thought I was overthinking it, but the number 49,669 clearly told me that this was not a coincidence."
David looked confused again and asked:
"What does 49669 mean?"
"David, if I remember correctly, you are an insider of Project T and have signed a confidentiality agreement, right? Your confidentiality level is Level 2, right?" Braun said.
"Yes, when I was transferred here, I signed a confidentiality agreement in front of you and Mr. E. My confidentiality level is Level 2."
Braun pondered for a moment and said:
"In view of your confidentiality level, what I can tell you is that in addition to taking pictures, Transcendence went to Pluto and conducted a very important scientific experiment. I can't say the content of the experiment, but your confidentiality level can tell you how special the experiment is. What the timing means." Braun continued:
"When Transcendence was launched in 2006, we determined that it must fly to Pluto on July 14, 2015, because this special date is the best time to do that experiment. A nine-and-a-half-year flight Yes, after sleeping, re-igniting, and adjusting the attitude many times, we finally made the spacecraft fly to Pluto on July 14th."
"July 14, 2015, what kind of special day is it? What does the National Day of Country F have to do with this? By the way, it is the day when the Jade Khanate's Nuclear Restriction Agreement was signed? This has nothing to do with it!" David wrings his hands Brain, unclear.
"Have you heard of Leo? The alpha star of Leo is called Regulus. It is one of the 20 brightest stars in the sky. It is also the one closest to the ecliptic plane among these 20 stars, which is what we call coplanar. star."
The professor seemed to have returned to the podium at Jinshengzhou University of Technology and continued:
"Jupiter revolves around the sun with a cycle of 11.86 years. One day in each cycle, it will turn to the line connecting the sun and Regulus. Astronomy is called Jupiter about the sun conjunct Regulus. In layman's terms, it is the sun, Jupiter, Regulus, three points and one line.”
"July 14, 2015, was this celestial phenomenon, and it was also the day when our carefully selected Transcendence probe arrived at Pluto for experiments."
David looked surprised, this is really a book from heaven! he asked:
"What does this have to do with the number 49669?"
Professor Braun replied calmly but meaningfully:
"The spacecraft launched by the European Space Agency encoded hundreds of thousands of stars. Regulus's encoding is HIP 49669."
David took a deep breath and said, "Oh my god! Are the kidnappers trying to tell us that they know the meaning of the special date when Transcendence reaches Pluto?"
Braun shook his head helplessly.
There was a "beep" sound, and David looked at the notification on his mobile phone, which read: "It was found out that the seller behind the gold sell-off is the Central Bank of the Jade Khanate."
David said hurriedly while showing Professor Braun his cell phone:
"The person who sent us the message turned out to be the Jade Khanate government."
