Chapter 49 Chapter Forty Seven

Sitting in the dimly lit cargo compartment of an armored vehicle was like being confined in a small room.Langdon fought back his anxiety, which was all too familiar, every time he was locked up.Vernet said to send us to a safe place away from the city.Where is that? How far is it? Langdon's legs were stiff from sitting cross-legged for long periods of time.He changed his position and leaned back in pain, feeling the blood flow back to his lower body again.He still clings to the Pokémon he saved from the bank. "I think we're on the highway," Sophie said softly. Langdon felt the same way.After the armored car climbed up the ramp of the bank, it stopped for a while, making people sweat.Then the car weaved left and right for a minute or two, and now it seemed to be going full speed.The bullet-proof tires rotated on the road in Kutan, making a "rumbling" sound.Langdon turned his attention back to the rosewood box in his arms.He put the precious box on the floor of the car, opened the jacket wrapped outside, took out the box, and pulled it in front of him.Sophie turned and leaned against him.Langdon suddenly felt like the two of them were children huddled together looking at Christmas presents.

Unlike the warm-toned rosewood box, the inset roses were carved from a lighter-colored wood—possibly ash.Roses are clearly identifiable in dim light.Rose.Entire armies, religious organizations, and secret societies have been built upon it.Rosicrucian member.Knights of the Rosicrucian Order. "Come on, open it," said Sophie. Langdon took a deep breath, stretched his hand towards the lid, looked at the exquisite box with admiration, opened the clasp, and lifted the lid.What was inside was exposed. Langdon had guessed what was in the box, but now it seemed that his original guess was wrong.Inside, on the thick fuchsia silk lining of the box, was something Langdon didn't even recognize.

It was a smooth white marble cylinder, the size of a tennis ball jar, and very delicate.It looks far more complicated than ordinary cylindrical stones, because it seems to be made up of several small stones.There are six marble discs stacked in an exquisite copper frame, like a tubular kaleidoscope, and the two ends of the cylinder are also glued with marble, and the inside of the cylinder cannot be seen at all.Having heard the sound of liquid, Langdon deduced that the cylinder should be hollow.The cylinder was not only mysterious in shape, but also carved with many patterns around it, which aroused Langdon's great interest.Each disc is engraved with a series of delicate letters - the letters make up the complete alphabet.Such a cylinder reminded Langdon of a childhood toy—a wooden stick with a rotating cylinder with letters engraved on it, and when the cylinder was turned, different words could be spelled out.

"Unbelievable, isn't it?" Sophie asked softly. Langdon looked up. "I don't know what the hell this is." Sophie's eyes sparkled. "Grandfather used to love making this stuff. It was invented by Leonardo da Vinci." Even in the dim light, Sophie could see the startled look on Langdon's face. "Da Vinci?" he murmured, looking at the cylinder again. "Yes. It's called a cryptex. Grandfather said the blueprints for this thing came from Da Vinci's secret diary." "What's the use of that?" Thinking of what had happened tonight, Sophie thought her answer might contain some interesting hints. "This is a treasury, used to keep secret information."

Langdon opened his eyes even wider. Sophie explained that one of her grandfather's greatest passions was making models based on da Vinci's inventions.Jacques Saunière is a very talented craftsman who often spends half a day in a workshop full of wood and metal.He loved imitating the master craftsmen—Faberge, who was proficient in the various crafts of cloisonne, and Leonardo da Vinci, who was less artistic but more practical.One need only glance at Leonardo da Vinci's journals to see why this polymath was notorious for being anticlimactic while being famous for his wit.Da Vinci drew thousands of design drawings, but never put them into practice.One of Jacques Saunière's pastimes was bringing da Vinci's whims to life—he built time machines, water pumps, cipher boxes, and even a fully hinged model of a medieval French knight.The model knight now stands proudly on the desk in his office.This model was designed by Leonardo da Vinci in 1495.It is based on da Vinci's early studies of anatomy and kinesiology, so this mannequin has a very accurate joint and tendon mechanism.According to the design, the mannequin can sit up, swing its arms, turn its neck and open its jaw at the same time.Before seeing the cryptex, Sophie thought the knight in armor was his grandfather's best work.

"He made one of these for me when I was a kid," Sophie said, "just not as big and as fancy." Langdon stared at the box intently. "I've never heard of a cryptex." Sophie could totally understand his reaction.Leonardo da Vinci's paper inventions were rarely studied, and some of them didn't even have names. The name "crypto" may also have been given by the grandfather.The name is still apt, since the device uses cryptography to store information. Although little is known about da Vinci's work on cryptography, Sophie is sure he was indeed a pioneer in this field.When Sophie's university teacher demonstrated the method of computer writing code, he highly praised contemporary cryptographers such as Smallman and Signell, but did not point out that Da Vinci actually invented it hundreds of years ago. The most basic public password writing method.Of course, Sophie's grandfather had told her all this.

Armored vehicles roared and galloped on the road.Sophie explained: "The cryptex was designed by Leonardo da Vinci for the long-distance transmission of secret information. In the era before telephones and emails, if people wanted to pass private information to distant friends, they could only send their own words to them. However, if the sender knows that there is important information in the letter, in order to make more money, he will sell this information to the enemy of the sender." Many famous people in history have tried Use passwords to protect information.Julius Caesar designed a password protection tool called "Caesar box"; Maluja, Queen of Scots, created a transposition cipher and successfully sent secret reports out of prison; the famous Arab scientist Abu once used A letter substitution cipher protects his secret.

Leonardo, however, eschewed mathematics and cryptography in favor of a "mechanical" approach to securing information.He invented the cryptex—a portable container that could protect anything from letters to maps to diagrams.Once the secret is put into the cryptex, only those who know the password can get it out. "We need a combination," Sophie said, pointing to the dial engraved with letters. "The code box works like a combination lock on a bicycle. If you line up the letters on the dials correctly, the lock will open. This cryptex has five dials. Turn them to the correct position and the whole cylinder will open automatically."

"So what's inside?" "Once the cylinder is opened, you can see that there is a compartment in the middle, and in the compartment you can put a roll of paper, and you can write your secret on it." Langdon asked puzzled, "You said your grandfather made these things for you when you were a child?" "Yes, but smaller than that. A couple of times for my birthday. He would give me a cryptex and then ask me to solve a riddle. The answer was the code for the cryptex. Once I figured out the riddle, I could Opened the cryptex and found the birthday card."

“It was a real struggle to find the birthday card.” “Not only that, but there was always another riddle or clue written on the card. My grandfather liked to have elaborate 'treasure hunts' around the house, offering a string of clues for me to go to. Finding the real gift. Every treasure hunt is a test of character and character to make sure I qualify for that gift, and every test is never easy." Langdon turned his head and eyed the device suspiciously. "But why not pry it open? Or break it? The metal doesn't look strong, and the marble doesn't look hard." Sophie smiled and said, "Da Vinci is so smart, how could he not have thought of this. If you force it open, the information inside will be automatically destroyed. Look." Sophie reached into the box and carefully picked up the circle cylinder. "Any information to be put in must first be written on a scrap paper scroll."

"Not parchment?" Sophie shook her head. "Straw paper. I know parchment is more durable and more common in those days. But straw paper has to be used, and the thinner the better." "Go ahead." "Before you put the straw paper into the compartment of the cipher box, you wind it around a glass vial." She tapped the cipher box, and the liquid in it gurgled. "There's liquid in the bottle." "What liquid?" Sophie smiled and said, "Vinegar." Langdon froze for a moment, then nodded in praise: "Smart." Vinegar and straw paper, Sophie thought.If someone forcibly opens the cipher, the glass bottle will be broken, and the vinegar in the bottle will quickly dissolve the straw paper.By the time the cryptex was opened, the roll of paper had already turned into a ball of pulp. "As you can see," said Sophie, "the only way to get the secret is to know a correct five-digit combination. There are five dials with 26 letters on each dial, and that could be the number of the combination." That's 26 to the 5th power..." She quickly estimated, "About 12 million." "So," Langdon said, considering the 12 million possible permutations. "What secret do you think is hidden in it?" "Whatever it is, it's clear that Grandpa wanted to keep it a secret." She closed the lid and looked at the five-petal rose, suddenly froze. "You said just now that this rose is the symbol of the Holy Grail?" "Exactly. For the Priory, the five-petal rose means the Holy Grail." Sophie frowned. He always hangs a rose on his office door when he makes secret phone calls at home and doesn't want me to bother him. He told me to do the same. Grandfather would say, 'Baby, when we need to be alone, instead of putting each other Instead of locking the door, it is better to hang a rose on your own door to represent secrets. In this way, we will learn to respect and trust each other.' You know, hanging roses on the door was the custom of the ancient Romans.” Langdon said, "When the Romans held a meeting, they hung a rose on the door to signify the need for secrecy. Participants knew that anything communicated at a meeting with a rose was confidential." Langdon went on to explain that the rose's connotation of secrecy wasn't the only reason the Priory made it a symbol of the Holy Grail.One of the oldest roses - the five-petalled rose - has a symmetrical pentagonal shape, like the guiding star of the goddess Venus, so that the rose is associated with "femininity" in shape.Moreover, the rose also represents "the right direction".The compass can guide travelers, and the "rose line", which is the longitude line on the map, can also help people orient themselves.Thus, the rose represents the qualities of the Holy Grail on multiple levels—secrecy, femininity, direction—like a star that guides people in their search for truth. After Langdon finished speaking, he suddenly froze there. "Robert, are you all right?" Langdon stared intently at the rosewood box. "Five-petal rose," his throat suddenly choked, and there was almost a hint of doubt. "This is impossible." "what?" Langdon raised his head slowly, and said softly, "Under the rose symbol, this cipher box... I think I know."