The Step Tracking Enigma

Old Pierre's greatest hobby after retirement was his evening stroll along the harbor. He always wore that faded navy blue jacket, clutching an old flip phone in his hand, his last bit of stubbornness against using smartphones. He believed those fancy gadgets only made people forget the meaning of walking.

However, recently he noticed many unfamiliar faces around the harbor. Some were wearing sharp suits, others were dressed casually, but they all seemed to be glancing at him. Old Pierre found it strange, he was just an ordinary old man, what was there to pay attention to?

He didn't know that these people were tracking a source of a leak. It originated from a pedometer app called "Vitality Footprints." Developed by a French tech company, this app was provided free to the military to encourage soldiers to exercise. However, a soldier serving on a nuclear submarine, unknowingly, used this app to record his daily movements on the submarine.

The "Vitality Footprints" algorithm, while collecting soldiers' steps, also accidentally recorded the precise data of the submarine's interior. This data was transmitted via satellite to servers, and then intercepted by an anonymous hacker group. By analyzing this data, they mapped out the internal structure of the nuclear submarine, as well as its patrol routes.

This soldier was none other than Old Pierre's nephew, the impetuous young Gilles. Gilles was fascinated by these tech gadgets, and thought it was cool to record how many steps he took each day. He didn't realize that he had inadvertently exposed national secrets on the internet.

The intelligence department worked hard to trace the source of the leak, and discovered that the data transmission terminal was actually Gilles's phone. And Gilles, often went for walks with Old Pierre. The intelligence department concluded that Old Pierre was likely an accomplice, or even the mastermind behind it.

Old Pierre was completely unaware of this. He went out for his walk every day as usual, holding his flip phone in his hand. He thought, people are getting stranger and stranger these days, even walking has to be monitored.

One day, he realized that those who were monitoring him seemed to have given up. They were no longer sneaking around, but walking towards him openly. The leader was a man wearing a black trench coat, who approached Old Pierre and said politely, "Sir, we would like you to assist us with an investigation."

Old Pierre frowned, and asked in his thick regional French accent, "Investigate what? I'm just an old man who likes to take a walk."

The man in the black coat smiled slightly, and took out a sleek smartphone from his pocket. The screen displayed a map of the interior of a nuclear submarine, as well as Old Pierre's daily walking route. The two images were intertwined, forming a peculiar pattern.

"We found that your steps accurately reflect our submarine's patrol route," the man in the black coat explained.

Old Pierre was stunned. He looked at the flip phone in his hand, and then at the complex data graphs on the screen. Suddenly, he burst out laughing: "You young people are so ridiculous! I walk every day, just to watch the sunset, feel the sea breeze, what does that have to do with your high technology?"

The man in the black coat's expression was serious, he continued, "But your steps do indeed match the submarine's movements."

Old Pierre laughed even louder, he pointed at his feet and said, "My feet, are the best pedometer! I use my feet to record my life, what do you record with your machines? Recording your boredom and panic?"

The man in the black coat was stunned, he watched Old Pierre's departing figure, and suddenly felt a profound sense of absurdity. He thought, maybe what they were chasing was not a leak at all, but another form of being lost.

Old Pierre returned home and turned on the television. The news was broadcasting a report about the "Vitality Footprints" App leak. He turned off the TV, shook his head, and said to the air, "Technology is a strange thing, it records our steps, yet makes us forget the meaning of walking." He picked up an old-fashioned pedometer from the table, and gently shook it, the clear mechanical sound, echoing in the quiet room.

The next day, Old Pierre went out for his walk as usual, but this time he did not take his usual route, instead, he walked along the coastline, in the opposite direction. His steps were firm, as if he was bidding farewell to an absurd era, and walking towards an unknown future.