Highschool Detectives (File 1 Part 2)

CHAPTER 1: THE PERILOUS TRIUMVIRATE

A/N: Again, this is raw and unedited version from chapter 1 to 50. Kapag natapos kona ito saka ko lamang po i-edit at i-proofread. Thank you for reading ang voting po!

Also, this chapter has very detailed scene, kaya umabot ng 6.4K ang wordcounts nito. There's no such fillers in my story, at kung mayroon man puro landian at jokes lang ito.

Happy reading!!

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Lumabas kami at hinanap siya. Sinundan lang namin kung saan papunta si Xavien. Wala kaming alam sa nakalagay na code sa papel na hawak ko. Hindi ko ito maintindihan dahil parang halo-halo ito ng mga letra at numero.

If Larken is missing, sino ang dumukot sa kanya?! Who the hell is ZV?!

Sana lang ay walang mangyaring masama sa kanya. I bit my lower lip, trying to calm myself from the gravity of this situation. Pati ako ay lumilikot ang isip dahil sa nabasa naming sulat.

Nagpatuloy lang kami sa pagtakbo hanggang sa marating namin ang isang malaking bahay. Hindi ko alam ang tumatakbo sa isip ni Xavien, na tila siya ang nakakaalam kung nasaan ngayon si Larken.

"Teka, alam mo ba kung nasaan siya?" hingal kong tanong kay Xavien.

Halos tumulo na rin sa kanyang damit ang mga pawis nito. Saglit itong huminga nang malalim bago nagtama ang tingin naming dalawa.

"Someone took him while we're fixing our things. Ang papel na hawak mo ngayon ay may tatlong cipher, and I know who wrote that," he muttered.

Kumunot ang noo ko. "Three... ciphers?"

He quickly nodded. "Yes. Three ciphers, and those are Monographic, where each letter is replaced by another letter or symbol consistently throughout the message. It's a basic form of encryption, but in our case, they're all mixed with spiral and roman numerals ciphers," he explained.

"You can't easily decipher it because once the cipher is mixed with others, it could lead to a wrong message that the sender is trying to convey," he added.

Tila namangha ako dahil isang tingin pa lang niya kanina sa papel ay alam na niya ang nakalagay dito. I was impressed to his prowess when it comes to deciphering code, mukhang kailangan ko pa nga na magbasa ng maraming libro ni Sherlock holmes at iba pang mga deciphering books para mapantayan ko ang kanyang galing.

"Then... what's the message behind it?" I asked.

Lumapit siya sa amin at kinuha ang papel na hawak ko sabay balik ng kanyang tingin sa papel na puno ng ngisi sa kanyang labi.

"The first four letters, he used a monographic cipher which if we decipher this letter we can get C-O-M-E, then the numbers next to it were spiral which is where numbers are aligned to the letter which is A-N-D, then monographic ulit na ang word na lumabas ay G-E-T," mahabang litanya niya.

"Ang sumunod ay roman numerals. Kaya naging madali lang ito if we convert it into letters we will get the word H-I-M, but the last letter that followed is mixed up of the two ciphers, where the letter I on the second letter is used by monographs. And in the third of the last letter, he used a spiral cipher."

Medyo naguguluhan ako sa sinasabi niya, pero kalaunan ay naintindihan ko rin. At kung mapapansin nga ay halo-halo ito at mas lalong nakakalito sa mga nauna kong na-decipher na code. I have knowledge when it comes to roman numerals, pero itong dalawang ciphers ay hindi ko pa masyadong gamay.