"So there really was an original image."
Everything had gone just as Xia Xu expected.
Once Pan Long brought the old digital camera from home, Meng Bochao and the others soon exported an original image identical to the group photo.
They then compared it with the group photo on the "Sailing Far Away" blog and immediately found a large amount of differing pixel data. They compared that data against character encodings such as ASCII, eventually decoding it using GB2312, China's national-standard extension to ASCII.
Once the decoding was complete, a "letter" hidden within the group photo emerged.
"Haha, if you found this letter, that proves your IQ isn't all that low, son. I always said my son couldn't possibly be an idiot.
"Your grades really weren't very good before, though. Have you been smearing poop on the walls-no, I mean, knuckling down and bettering yourself?
"Oh, almost forgot. You might not be my son. Whatever. It's not like I lose anything by calling you son..."
Meng Bochao, who was the first to see the "letter," instantly looked like the old-man-on-the-subway meme. Pan Long, who hurried over eagerly after hearing that they had finished decoding it, also wore quite an expression.
"I'm sure your dad absolutely didn't mean he'd always thought you were an idiot."
He Qing patted Pan Long's shoulder with earnest words, as if comforting him.
Pan Long would have been better off without that consolation. Hearing it only hurt him more.
"What does he mean, idiot? At the very least, I started out with a normal person's IQ."
He muttered indignantly, dissatisfied and somewhat questioning his life.
"Maybe he was just joking with you to soften your grief. After all, he probably realized it would be years later by the time you discovered this hidden letter."
Fortunately, Xia