"[Open a window. Let in some fresh air.]" This was Monika's hint.
As for the "window" in it, Alain originally thought it referred to windows in the broad sense.
But upon closer thought... isn't a "program window" also a window?
In English, a physical window is "window", and a computer window is also "window". Even adding an "s" can turn it into the name of an operating system.
For an Electronic Life form like Monika, a system window is also her window.
"Isn't the window through which Electronic Life peeks at the desktop and even the outside world simply a [Window]?" Alain thought this as he looked at the photograph in his hand.
If he wasn't guessing wrong, Alain believed he had figured out the [Window] in Monika's puzzle. But there was still one question:
That is the verb "Open" in [Open a window].
Opening a window... how should he open this system window in his hand? Is it an "abstract" opening, or a "physical" opening?
"Could it be..." Alain connected it to the second half of the hint: Let in some fresh air.
Letting in fresh air implies letting the things inside the window come into contact with the outside air. This again created a link between the system window and the physical sense of "opening a window".
Therefore, the true content of Monika's hint should be:
"Use the method of opening a real window to open this photograph of a system window."
When Alain voiced his conclusion, even he wanted to laugh a little; wasn't that too ridiculous? Seeing the comical smile on Alain's face, Mila probably understood that he had reached some absurd but surprisingly feasible conclusion.
"Alain, what did you think of?"
"Mn, of course. It's just that... there's only one chance," he said, his gaze focused on the photograph in his hand.
Alain held the photo frame flat before his eyes. Sure enough, compared to ordinary photo frames, this one in his hand was somewhat thick.
Alain knocked on the glass backboard of the photo frame... it made a "hollow, hollow" sound. As expected, it was hollow. Something should be placed inside.
Alain opened the glass photo frame. Without the protection of the glass, the photo of the system window seemed to become much more fragile.
He raised his hand, attempting to dig open that photo.
Rip—
With a tearing sound, he tore a slit in the photo. Where the light couldn't reach, there was deep darkness.
Alain extended his index finger, groping around the bottom of the photo frame through that slit. It was hollow, with nothing there.
"..." He didn't feel discouraged; instead, he completely tore open that photo.
The next moment, he placed the backing of the photo under the light. The light illuminated the shadows of the tear, making it no longer mysterious.
Alain smiled.
"Just as I thought."
Beneath the photo, upon the frame—was Monika's hint. It wasn't an object, but a written hint.
Under the illumination of the lamp, that string of elegant English text shone brightly. And the content of the English was—
[Your Reality]
Alain quickly sat back in the computer chair, pressed the computer's power button, and turned on the monitor.
As the sound of system music rang out, after the short yet long boot-up time ended... it was time to enter the password.
Alain glanced at the English text that served as Monika's hint, then looked at the input box on the computer.
Tap, tap, tap...
He swallowed his saliva, took a deep breath, and with a light and slow speed, typed the password letter by letter.
[]
Alain didn't miss a single case or space. Looking at the 12 "*" symbols in the input box, he exchanged a glance with Mila, nodding to encourage each other—
Tap!
The Enter key on the keyboard.
Next to the box, a rotating loading icon appeared, like a doorman verifying the validity of an invitation.
Alain leaned his elbows on the table, his fingers tapping on the computer desktop. Amidst the light "tap, tap, tap" sounds—
[Welcome Back]
After this string of characters appeared on the screen, a desktop wallpaper of blue sky and green grass appeared before Alain's eyes.
"Phew..." He heaved a fierce sigh of relief, feeling that he wasn't even this nervous when having sex with Misha.
"We're in?" Mila walked quickly to his side, observing the icons on the computer desktop.
"Yeah, hard work pays off. It wasn't a waste of all those calls you made earlier." Alain cracked a small joke.
Mila chuckled twice. "Alright, let's see if there's the information we want first."
"Okay." Alain observed the computer desktop.
The shortcuts on the desktop were particularly simple, basically still the default set. There weren't even any extra files.
Alain didn't linger; instead, he opened "My Computer".
"Tsk... this looks like a brand new computer." Looking at the storage of the C and D drives, at most they had been partitioned; everything else seemed untouched.
Alain checked the contents of the C drive and D drive successively but didn't find anything suspicious.
"Sigh... nothing?" Mila sighed, though Alain didn't feel discouraged.
"It's not the critical moment yet, don't give up."
He clicked on [View] in the top left corner of the system window, proceeded with further settings, and clicked the checkmark for [Hidden items].
Soon, many semi-transparent folders appeared.
"Eh? You can do that?"
"You didn't know?" Alain asked back. His black pupils continuously flashed with the semi-transparent filenames.
Before long, he saw his target—
[Learning Materials].
"Huh?" This string of familiar filenames, combined with the "Hidden" file attribute...
Could it be that Monika herself really has some unexpected hobbies? Right, Electronic Life is life too; it's not strange to have needs in that regard.
Alain silently took a picture with his phone, planning to blackmail Monika later. Then he clicked the [Learning Materials] icon.
Soon, a password box popped up.
"Another password?" Mila was about to be driven crazy by the locks and passwords of this mansion.
"Don't worry, we probably don't need to look for it this time."
Alain nimbly tapped the keyboard, typing English letters one by one. The letters were neither too many nor too few; 12 "*" appeared inside the password box.
If he guessed correctly, Monika likely wanted to tell him something, and also set this password for security reasons.
This was a 12-character password mixed with numbers, English, characters, and spaces. Even if Yang Wanhua were to crack it, it would take a significant amount of time.
The file "monika.chr" came to Alain's mind. He shook his head, realizing this was definitely not the goal at this moment; he planned to think about it after finishing this incident.
Right now, his attention was still focused on—that all-important Enter key.
Tap!
Pressing Enter, the contents of [Learning Materials] were completely presented before Alain's eyes.
____
New Story: Starting from Their Seventeen Years Old
🔥We're handing out that '30% bonus' that makes your wallet smile. 😄
✅ Get immediate access to 40 early chapters for all stories.
✅ Enjoy exclusive material and special announcements!
Help us unlock these community rewards:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters across ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan