After scolding the crowd, Liam quickly apologized to Nick. "Nick, I'm truly sorry. That was a lapse in discipline on my end. Don't worry, I personally guarantee that everything seen and heard in this room today stays within these walls."
"It's fine," Nick said, shaking his head with a smile. Since he had allowed the tour, he'd already accounted for these possibilities. He wasn't surprised, and he stepped in to comfort the still-fuming Garry. "Professor Frank, please don't be angry. I'm sure they were just overwhelmed by curiosity."
Garry waved a hand but kept his eyes glued to the screen, sighing softly. "Neural networks, fuzzy logic, deep learning—these are the bleeding edge of computer science. I never expected you to achieve such mastery in these fields, let alone deploy them into a consumer product."
"It seems I really did come to the right place. Researching behind closed doors is no match for reality; it feels like my old bones are falling behind the times."
Hearing the Professor's melancholy, Nick quickly reassured him. "Professor, our results are built entirely on the foundations laid by those before us. Without giants like you to shield us from the storm and point the way, how could we ever grow this fast?"
"Exactly, Professor Frank. When you drink the water, you don't forget the man who dug the well," Liam added. "It's not just these young guys; every person enjoying modern conveniences owes a debt to researchers like you. The country won't forget the comrades who dedicated their lives to modernization."
Garry shook his head and looked at Nick with a complex expression. "It's a pity. If you could just settle down and focus on pure research, in ten years—no, five—you'd shock the world. You could stand alongside the greatest scientific minds in history."
Nick smiled. "You flatter me, sir. But I'm too restless; I don't think I have the temperament to sit in a lab day after day for years on end."
"The path I'm on feels right for me. At least I can build things I love while giving back to the country to the best of my ability."
"The methods might be different, but the goal is the same. On a grand scale, it's about human progress; on a practical level, it's about strengthening the nation through technology."
"Of course, I also want to realize my own value. I'm not looking for crazy wealth—just a comfortable life. Making sure the people around me live better lives is my small wish."
Garry gave him a kind smile. "A sincere and simple ideal. In today's noisy world, it's rare to find a young man as grounded as you."
He turned back to the screen. "I heard you developed a brand new programming language, but looking at this, it doesn't quite seem that way."
Nick nodded. "There is a new language, but it's still in its infancy, so we only use it at a few critical nodes. The rest is a mix of Python and C++, with some Java in the mix."
"The reason people think it's a new language is because of how we packaged and encapsulated it. We used a custom encryption method we call the 'Gordian Lock.'"
"Gordian Lock? Like the Gordian Knot?" an expert in his forties asked from the side.
"Exactly," Nick said. "It's a metaphorical name for how the encryption interlocks; we didn't literally build a digital wooden block, but the concept is similar."
Director Kai leaned in, clearly intrigued. "Nick, can you walk us through this? Some of our military systems and software are desperate for a new layer of protection against high-level cyberattacks."
Director Kai's question shifted the energy in the room. Everyone turned to look. Nick smiled and tapped a few keys, bringing up a new schematic.
"Currently, there are two main ways to encrypt: embedding the encryption into the code itself or adding a protective 'shell' during the packaging process."
"But regardless of the method, they usually rely on three formats. First, real-time online monitoring that pings a server. Second, offline encryption that requires a one-time online activation. Third, using a key—whether it's a digital signature, a virtual key, or a physical hardware dongle."
"High-level systems usually layer these methods. But even then, if a hacker gets enough data, it's just a matter of time before they crack it."
"Our method takes a different approach. We aren't trying to build a wall to keep hackers out."
"Instead, we perform an encryption conversion on the original data, turning it into completely unordered, irregular information."
"So even if someone successfully steals the kernel, they can't restore it, let alone read it."
"But what if they figure out the conversion rules?" an encryption specialist objected. "Wouldn't the data be instantly restored? And doesn't this constant conversion kill your processing speed?"
Nick shook his head. "There is no static pattern to the conversion; it's entirely randomized. Furthermore, the encryption doesn't correspond to the content itself, but to a specialized encoding. That encoding acts as a password that is nearly impossible to reverse-engineer."
"The encoding is recorded by a string of sixteen to twenty-four digits. Each string corresponds to a specific snippet of code and its location."
"Without the source code as a map, even the fastest supercomputer on Earth would take millions of years to brute-force it."
"A program that complex should be massive, but I've checked your system—the footprint is tiny. How did you pull that off?"
"It's actually not complex at all," Nick said with a grin. "Think of it like a drop of poison in an organism. To save the animal, you have to identify every component of that specific poison to create an antidote."
"Manufacturing the poison is easy. Developing the antidote is what's nearly impossible."
"I think I get it," Garry Frank said, smiling. "It's like a mathematical formula that looks simple on the page, but is incredibly difficult to solve."
Nick nodded. "That's exactly right."