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Caesar cipher

Steinhart Sevilla Pov

Blurry images were flashing through my head and I saw that there were two dead bodies lying in a cold and dark room. There was blood flowing and spreading on the floor even on the bed and white walls. An armed man with a gun was standing in front of the two dead bodies. I tried to come closer, but I saw a girl in the dark corner of the room, hiding when suddenly, the armed man looked at me.

I held my head, trying to ease the pounding pain

"Steinhart!"

Nagulat ako nang marinig ang boses ni Mr. Montefalco. Naramdaman ko rin ang marahang paghawak nito sa kaliwang balikat ko.

"Are you okay?" sunod naman na tanong sa akin ni Neiza. Malinaw sa aking paningin ang mga mata nito na puno ng pag-aalala. Tumango ako bilang tugon sa kaniya. Umupo ako sandali sa upuan na malapit sa akin. Hindi ko maipaliwanag kung bakit nangangatog ang magkabilang tuhod ko. Hindi ko rin kayang pakalmahin ang sarili ko sa sobrang kaba na naghahari sa loob ko.

Ano ang mga ibig sabihin ng mga nakita ko? Alam kong malabo ang mga ito, pero nakikita ko pa rin ang lugar na binalutan ng dugo, maging ang dalawang tao na walang buhay na nakahandusay sa sahig na puno ng dugo.

Bakit ko sila nakikita?

At sino ang lalaking pumatay sa kanila?

Ibinalik ko ang atensyon sa nangyayari. Kung hindi ko lalabanan ang takot, sigurado akong matatalo ako nito at magagawang lumpuhin hanggang sa hindi na makabangon.

Nahuli ng lente ng mata ko ang mga kilos ng principal. Kanina ko pa ito napapansin, pero binabalewala ko lang. Nakapagtataka ang mga nakikita ko o ako lang ang nakapapansin?

Makailang beses na itong nagpunas ng pawis gamit ang likod ng palad nito, pakiramdam ko ay dahil sa sobrang takot na yumayakap sa kaniya dahil kaunting oras na lang ang mayroon kami para itigil ang timer.

Nabaling ang paningin ko nang marinig na magsalita si Nimrod, tila may mahalagang bagay itong nakita dahil sa reaksyon nito.

***

Neiza Tuazon Pov

The moon was at its highest peak tonight, illuminating the photo of Liam who was bathing in his own blood, and the stars were shining in the clear sky.

After Nimrod yelled, we immediately walked over to him, but I couldn't erase the image of Liam inside my head. It was such a brutal act. I couldn't believe they could do something like that.

We had to think of a way on how others won't be involved anymore. This was the best time to take action because there were no students inside the academy at this hour. Well, except for us. We needed to stop the bombs in time and to stop the blood from spilling further.

"Sa tingin ko, alam nila na may nag-access ng computer." May lumitaw na file sa screen. Kaagad namang hinawakan ni Nimrod ang mouse at pinindot ito. Sa unang tingin ay putting imahe lang ito, pero paglipas ng bawat segundo ay may mga letrang nabubuo, mga code.

V

K

H

O

Y

H

V

E

O

H

D

F

K

H

U

V

V

S

R

R

Q

Suddenly, I remembered something like this because of the clue that was left out. I could use the Caesar shift here.

"Caesar cipher is to replace each plaintext letter with a letter corresponding to a certain number of letters up or down in the alphabet. For example, with a left shift of three, D would be replaced by A. E would become B. And so on."

"So I can use the shift of three here. I'm going to use the decrypted Caesar cipher. All I have to do is replace the letter with an inverse alphabet shift—the previous letter in the alphabet."

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