Fireworks Code
The fireworks on New Year's Eve were more dazzling than ever before. Programmer Li Ming squinted, his fingers flying across the screen. He wasn't working overtime; he was decoding.
It all began with a news article he'd casually glanced at: "Nanchang Fireworks." He'd only clicked to see what the fuss was about, but he noticed something odd about the live fireworks footage. The patterns exploding in the sky didn't seem random; they seemed to follow a pattern. His professional instinct immediately told him that this might be a series of code.
Li Ming didn't tell anyone, not even his lively girlfriend. He started analyzing the fireworks videos frame by frame, converting each image into data. During the day, he pretended to watch the Spring Festival Gala, but at night, he hid in his room, frantically typing out the code on his screen. He discovered that the shapes, colors, and explosion styles of the fireworks corresponded to different binary codes. These codes were cleverly hidden within the visual effects of the fireworks, completely imperceptible to the average person.
As the decoding progressed, Li Ming found that the code wasn't just simple pattern-generating instructions. It also contained a series of encrypted messages. These messages were like Russian nesting dolls, one layer within another, and the deeper he went, the more uneasy he felt.
He decoded the first layer, revealing a string of seemingly meaningless numbers and letters.
"This looks like coordinates," Li Ming muttered to himself. He quickly entered the coordinates into a map application, and a remote industrial area appeared on the screen.
He immediately began decoding the second layer. This time, he deciphered a more complex string of characters. After multiple attempts, he realized it was a specific encryption algorithm. This encryption method was old and rarely used, seemingly a relic of the Cold War era from the last century. He began to suspect there was more to these fireworks than met the eye.
When he finally cracked the third layer, a chill ran down Li Ming's spine. The screen displayed a sentence: "System upgrading, humanity has entered observation status."
Observation? What kind of observation? Who was observing? A cold dread rose from his feet. He looked out the window. The dazzling fireworks were still bursting in the night sky as if nothing had happened. But Li Ming knew that everything had changed.
He started searching for related information online, but found nothing. All information about the code behind the fireworks seemed to have been erased. He even wondered if he was hallucinating. He opened his phone, ready to tell his girlfriend about his discovery, but hesitated.
He saw that his girlfriend had posted photos of the fireworks she'd seen that day on her social media, with the caption: "So pretty, I hope we can see such beautiful fireworks next year too."
Looking at his girlfriend's innocent smile, Li Ming felt a deep sense of helplessness. He knew what he would face if he revealed this secret; he might be considered crazy, and his life could be completely changed.
He began pacing back and forth in the room, conflicted. Then, something suddenly occurred to him. He quickly opened his computer and replayed the fireworks video. He watched it frame by frame, discovering an even more terrifying fact: with each fireworks explosion, the code updated. He decoded it again and found the text had changed.
"Observation complete, data uploaded."
He looked out the window again. The fireworks had faded, leaving only smoke in the sky. The world seemed to return to calm, and everything was back to normal. Li Ming collapsed into his chair. He wanted to know who was observing and what would happen to humanity. He looked at his phone again and saw a message from his girlfriend: "Where should we go tomorrow?" He smiled and replied with a single word: "Okay."