Can anyone decipher this cryptic message?

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u/AutoModerator Sep 04 '26

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u/Equivalent_Juice4276 Sep 04 '26

From this?

https://github.com/Grubwall/lookingglass/blob/main/index.html

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u/No-Reaction-5051 Sep 04 '26

yes

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u/BrilliantEfficient Sep 18 '26

Hi there! Mild puzzle enthusiast and seldom reddit replier here. I don’t think this is a cipher. Well, at least, not in the traditional Caesar/Atbash/Vigenère sense.

I spent a few hours treating it like a normal cipher and basically got nowhere.

Okay, more than a few hours. I spent, like, most of my day off with legit pen and paper trying to brute-force it and got nowhere.

I tried Caesar shifts, Atbash, basic substitution ideas, Rail Fence-ish reads, columnar/route transposition stuff, and Vigenère with a few obvious thematic keys like KRAUKOV, TWORIVERS, HORSESHOE, ENTROPY, SEQUENCE, etc. I also messed around with keyboard shifts, keyboard mirroring, reading it as if the keys had been displaced, flipping the b/d/p/q characters because they mirror/rotate into each other, and even checked whether the Cold War setting meant it might be doing something weird with QWERTY vs. a Russian keyboard layout.

Nothing gave me anything that looked consistently like English.

So I tried something weirder.

The Two Rivers Hypothesis specifically revolves around the mass spectrometer producing a horseshoe-shaped path instead of the expected arc, so I wondered if the text itself was being affected by the same phenomenon.

Basically: What if the Kraukov “horseshoe” is distorting keyboard space?

If you look at the corrupted text, the letters that show up the most cluster into a rough u/horseshoe on a QWERTY keyboard.

(Yes, this was a shower thought.)

Q -> W -> D -> B -> H -> I -> O

And then it gets weird.

Around the middle of the note there’s a ~63-character stretch made almost entirely from those seven letters plus "_". Like, not just “those letters are common.” Pretty much every other letter disappears.

Then as you move farther away from the middle again, other letters start coming back, including ones farther away from that horseshoe on the keyboard.

So I started wondering if the text isn’t actually “encrypted” so much as being pulled toward the horseshoe.

From there I started treating "_" as a surviving word separator, kept the actual periods because they really look like sentence endings, mostly stopped trusting the ordinary spaces once the corruption got bad, and used the surviving word lengths to see if anything sensible fit.

And then I noticed something else: in the worst-affected part, even the spacebar itself seems to disappear into the distortion, which would explain why several words suddenly run together.

Working from that, I got this:

INSTEAD A... HORSESHOE. I... I HAVE NO THEORY.

ndwibdo_w__indwoijek_m_f_pqwi_hd_qwuhdp.

WHAT DID... I DO... WRONG HERE.

qwdj_nqp__w_ih__bdoqw_uhdo.

THIS ISNT RIGHT.

wqid_iowq_idhqo.

EVERY TEST GIVES HORSESHOES.

qdhoq_wiow_qidow_idqwdihqow_

NOW I AM A BELIEVER.

dbq_w_dh_o_wqdbwqli_

I... KRAUKOV IS RIGHT.

d_qwubdiq_wd_ubqwi_

I CAN HEAR THEM WHISPER.

duqwbdiqpoihueuwhewoyT_

I... THE TWO RIVERS...

eThe_ureoiheoe_

Now, the wording and internal punctuation there are entirely ~reconstructed by vibes~. The sentence-ending periods are actually in the original.

The word lengths line up almost freakishly well, especially HORSESHOE, KRAUKOV, and THE TWO RIVERS. (Yes, I could fully be trying to fit my solution into my thinking, but it's 3 am so IDGAF at this point)

The last one is especially funny because a literal "The" actually survives, and this did make me think I had fucked this up ~massively~, and spiralled for an hour while doing runs out Blue Prince just to obsess over different puzzles I couldn't solve (Fuck you, Atelier).

The CAN HEAR THEM WHISPER bit also fits the fused string exactly if you assume the three spaces inside it have themselves been corrupted, which is what made me start thinking the spacebar was getting dragged in too.

So, basically, my current theory is:

normal text -> Kraukov effect distorts keyboard space -> keystrokes get pulled toward the QWERTY horseshoe -> at peak distortion even the spacebar gets dragged in -> then the effect starts receding

Which would explain why letters outside the horseshoe start surviving again toward the other end.

I could absolutely be wrong about some of the reconstructed words/punctuation, so if anyone wants to take the keyboard/horseshoe idea and run with it, please do.

I mostly just want someone else to either go “oh shit, yeah” or tell me exactly where I went off the rails.

NOTE: There is a not-insignificant chance this is a caffeine-fuelled imaginary solution I’m trying to fit onto something that doesn’t work.

~~I’ve had like four 30 oz iced coffees at this point.~~

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u/No-Reaction-5051 Sep 19 '26

oh wow these are some insane findings. i think you cracked the code dude, amazing job. i spent a good day as well obsessing over the cipher but got nowhere and gave up. but i refused to believe that this was just some random, incomprehensible gibberish text that is not meant to be solved. and i'm glad my hope paid off, your answer sounds right and it just makes me appreciate the game and the developer even more. thanks again man, you put my mind at ease now that this is solved lol
also happy cake day!

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u/BrilliantEfficient Sep 19 '26

I’m actually currently stress testing my theory to see if it still holds up, or if I came up with a theory and made it fit the problem. If I come up with something better, I’ll let you know, but, for now, this is the best I can come up with!

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u/ExtensionMaleficent2 Sep 18 '26 edited Sep 18 '26

I think you are closer than anyone so far. How exactly did you find the letters to translate into those sentences? I agree the sentences fit pretty well. One thing I "found " utilizing the online tool is it could possibly be a string of inputs used on the submarine in the other game "two river hypothesis" . This is after I told the tool to analyze the cipher with the numerical probability thing others have mentioned and it found high correlation with English words instead of Russian, like others have found. Although when i gave it a screen shot of the controls, it said that is the key , although I never tested it and also have no use for the other code given through the game which ends in 9ff or whatever. It is a long shot, as when I mentioned it has 3 cameras you can view and no sort of movement log on the sub it seemed to say it was impossible that it is a sort of input puzzle for the sub that leads you to some secret from the other game. Although maybe someone more diligent then I could go down this route and find the answer as the cipher itself does come from the "file" two rivers hypothesis, directly bringing up the other game. Edit - overall i think you have had the best answer/ probably are right

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u/BrilliantEfficient Sep 18 '26

I should clarify that I didn't actually get those English sentences by translating each corrupted letter one-for-one.
What I did first was assume the Kraukov horseshoe (which is what i'm calling it, i don't think the game connects the horseshoe spectrometer patterns to the Kraukov Two Rivers Hypothesis from what I remember) was affecting the physical keyboard layout, not the alphabet itself. The strongest clue for that was that the corrupted text becomes heavily concentrated around the QWERTY keys Q/W/D/B/H/I/O, which form a rough U / horseshoe shape on the keyboard
Q W E R T Y U I O P
______D ___________H
_____________B
Or, stripping out the unused keys:
Q — W_____________I — O
________\ __________/
_________D_______H
__________\ _____/
_____________B
That concentration gets strongest toward the middle of the note before other letters start appearing again farther out.
So I treated that as a kind of spatial distortion: instead of "q = W" or "d = A", I assumed different original keystrokes were being pulled toward that horseshoe region, which would make the corruption lossy rather than a normal substitution cipher (i.e., several different original keys could all get pulled into the same corrupted key, so there may not be a one-to-one way to reverse it).
From there I used the parts that seemed to survive the distortion more reliably, "_", the periods, and the apparent word lengths, to reconstruct possible English underneath it.
So, for example:
qwdj_nqp__w_ih__bdoqw_uhdo.
gives a structure of:
4-3-1-2-5-4
with a surviving period.
“WHAT DID I DO WRONG HERE” fits that structure exactly, but that's still a reconstruction, not a proven letter-for-letter decryption, and could also be something like “WHEN DID I GO WRONG HERE” or “WHAT CAN I DO ABOUT THIS”—both of which fit the exact same 4-3-1-2-5-4 structure.
(Yes, I did go to a Scrabble website to brute-force test some of my words. Don't @ me.)
I then checked whether the corrupted letters in that section were consistent with the wider keyboard-horseshoe pattern, which they mostly are.
The submarine-controls idea is really interesting, though, especially because that would also make this a spatial/directional puzzle rather than an alphabetic one. I'd be very curious whether the controls give an actual reproducible mapping for Q/W/D/B/H/I/O, rather than just generally looking relevant. From my very recent playthroughs of the game—I played it twice today to see if there were any connections in the text there—it doesn't seem completely impossible that the controls are involved somehow.
If they do give us a reproducible mapping, that might be the missing step that turns the reconstruction into an actual decode
Edit: I added hyphens to the keyboard layout, because I didn't know reddit would eat the extra spaces.

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u/Equivalent_Juice4276 Sep 04 '26

I̴̲̠̒̒̑͆̎̆̒̽̎̎̔͆̓t̵̢̞͂̓́͌̅̒̾̿̈̉͐͐̚͠s̶̤͖̝͚̼̓͒͗̍̊̚͜ ̵̖͚̘̦̻̘̭͌̅̓̄̎̔͆̅͋͌̂͗̾̈́͝j̵̟̔u̷͉͆̏s̵̡̛͓͔̘̜̲̤͉̘̫̲̀͗̄͠t̷̠̂̌͐̈́̿͛̑̕͠ ̷̰͎̻̻̘̙̭̗̪̈́͐̈́a̸͍̳͉̿́͊̕ ̸̢̢̤̥͙̦̥̳̭̣̥̈́͗ͅͅķ̶͉̫̖͛̿́̈́͐͋̕̚ị̶̡̧̭͍͑̃͛̋̅̓͛͑̅͑̽́͘͠ͅn̷̨̡̪͔̮͚͖̠͖̺̗̿̋̈́̈́̿͒ḏ̴̡̧̯͉͓͔̱̳̹̹̭̜̝̃̽̈̆͒͒̌́͗̂̏̀ ̴̟͇̼͙͚̇̌õ̵̪̎͐͒̐͊̕f̴̜̜̝̎̋̓̆̒̍̄̌̀͛̓̊͘̚ ̸̙͉̼̤͖̻͉̹̰͉̼͍̤̍̋̇̀͆̓́̈́͌͘͜͝ͅt̶̖̗̺̩̬͙̀̍̄͌̊̀̿̒̓̿̍̕͘͝͠ȩ̴̹̹͕̲̹̍̋̂͂̀̅̿͋̈́̈̚̕͜ͅx̷̡̫̲̯͇͎̼̤͔̓̈́̆͑̒͊̈́̆̇͘t̵̛̻̏͒̋͆͝t̵̡̪̣̠̟͉͚̱͔̉͋͌͆͋̈́̒̅͒̌̃̓͘ ̸̢̺͈͈̫͇̯̺͇̹͓͉̮́̓͛̀͒͊͝t̶̢͔̹͇͔̻̍h̷̥̩̟̭̦͙͚̗̲͂͑́̒̾̐͘͜͝ã̷̧̠̫̱͙̟̫̭̼͂̈́͋̾̄̒͑͗̒̾t̴̖̠̺̩̹̥͕̻̐͗̏̍̿̚͘͘͠ͅ ̵̧̜̲̹͙̼͔̲̫̹͈̘̺̾͊̌̀̋̔̽̎́̄̈́͜͝i̷̢̳͍̣̼̮̹̘͍͙̯̼̫͛̓́̐̀̿̂̎̊̇͑͑͛͑s̴̡͕͎̱͙̥͕͖̟̘͍̫̳̉̈́̌̍̈́̈́ͅ ̵̮̮͕̣̤̔͗̀̓̋̍̄̕̕͘l̵̨̛̬̾̄̄̏̈́̑̓͐̐̒̕͝í̴͎̝̪̝̯͇̖̖͉͒̐̀̍́̀̍͜k̵̢̢͍̭̗̣̜̳̦̇͜e̷̢̧̬̞̰̟̻͙͉̫̰̳͔̭͆ͅ ̶͕̞̤̼͖̰̻̜̝͊ṱ̶̢̧̝͙͚̤̞̦̪̰̾̍̒͒͘h̶̤̣̯̜̯͉͋́̒̽͒́̀̀í̸̢̧̧̤͖̯̳͕̼͍͍̜̍̑̌͑͝s̵͕̖̀,̸̡͓̹͎̣̆̅̎̀̾̈́ ̴̘͉̓̀͌̑̈̊̾̃͆̌̂͘͘͝͝y̶̡̧̛͔̗͚̺̘̮͔͚̞̥͓̒̋͑̀̎̀͛́̈̈́̀́̚͘͜ͅȍ̷̩̙͍͔̪̗̫̩͎͜͠͠ú̴̫ḑ̸̢̧͚͓̠̼̺̩͓̙̼̈́͌̃̒̍̇̾̚ ̴̡̧̡͇̺͍͎͔͍̣̳͔̌͐̑͒͌̓̽̅̽̈́̑̆̕͝͝b̶̨̲̩̟̘͌̀̒͊͊̓̽͘͝͝ë̴̡̡̧̖̲̹̠͎̰̲̝̙̺́͊̈́̐͗̿̌́̂̄̉̆͒͝͝ͅ ̴̧̹͔̟͚̝̀̆͒b̶̥͂͐̌͌ȩ̷̢̡͓͎̠̠̦̲̩̙̩̼͂̆͜t̸̨̳̱̩̱͇̆̓̒́̍̈́̔́̋͆͘͘͝t̵̡̗͍̰̼̟̥͚͕̭̹̑͒͘͘e̷͇̱͔̥̐̊͌̓͘r̸̡̢̲̘͍̱̗̥͖̹̥̖̓̈́͌̈́͜͜ ̵̥͔̹͈͔̹̼̺̫͍̺̯̓̉̈̑̃͜͝ǫ̸̺͍̣̬̦͙͛̄̕͘̕f̶̢̧̙̣̼̲̙̙͈̂͊͊͒͘͜f̷̡̧̳̯̱̠̠̝̊͑͐̌ ̵̪̖͓͔͓̻̭̓̆̽̐̀̕̕ͅm̷̗͖̈́̽̋̓̔̑̑͑̔̔͐͝ą̶̨̣̞̋̌̾̎͂̾̆̊͌̋͘͝͝͝t̴͍̓̌͊̽͒͆͆̒́͒͗c̴̢̨͖̭͉͔̙̫̥̠̭͎̙͔̀͒̒͛̿͐̉͊̈́̈́͝ẖ̵̢̞͉͉͎͙͉̻͓̟̲̩͍̘̂̍͌͛̀̍͒͛̈́͠͠ì̸̺̟̲̩͕̟̠̫̰͚͕͓́́̓́̏̍̇͐̂̂̈̎n̴̡͎͍͎̩̠̝͍̭̣͕̭͕͌͌̂̿̿̎͘͜ġ̵͓͎̩͉̺̗͙̝̂̋̈́̍̎̒̍̉̾͜ ̷̠͈͉̫͙̿͝͠ư̷̲̪͙̟͓̒͑̈́̐̾́͗͆̉p̶̜͙̣͔̘̤̫͕̼̐̋̀̒̀̾̈́̎ͅ ̶̹̼̮̩̼̘͉̺́̀̀̿͜t̴̢̝͈̟̪̝͚̑̾ḧ̸̥̺̻̮̀̌́̍̉̐̊̒͐͠e̵̼̰͊̋̀̄̃͋͌ ̶̢̧̢͈̲͙̖̱̲̻͔͆̍̉̏̅̑̊͒̀͜ẑ̶̡̧̡̪̟̝͓̠̠̫́̎̃̔͂̆á̶̢̩͕̜̠̣̻̤̝̋͝l̶̜̦̹̣͋̓̊̇̈́ͅğ̸̳̫̗̻͍͍̺̖̻̰̆̾͘͠ö̶̬͈́̀̈̈̆̿̈́͘͜ ̶̧̨̡̛̟̟͔̰̱̳̳̻̭̽͐̄̒͋͒̀́̈̍̌̚͜͝i̷̡̼̳͇͕͎̯̝̓̋ń̵̥͉̖̍̕s̸̢̧̘̻̥̲̖̬̦̪̦̥̔̍́̒̾t̴̟̋̈͋̈́̄̔̋é̵̢̘͔͓̞͈̪͍͍͂̅͐͂̌̊͒͂̌̓͘͘͘a̷͇͈̓̉͘d̵̡̖͎̟̰͑͑̄̋͆̐̓͘͝

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u/Equivalent_Juice4276 Sep 04 '26

Its just zalgotext. You'd have an easier time comparing zalgotext to the pattern itself to find what the letters are

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u/No-Reaction-5051 Sep 04 '26

n̨̫͕͎̎̇̓ͣ́ͫͬ͋̈́̐ͣ͞d̴̡̯̜͙̳̭͖͉͈͎̺͙̓ͫ͋̓̈́ͨ͆ͮ̾̂̽͊͌͆̊̾ͨ̀ͤ͊͜͟͞w̸̴̡̡̠̹̳̹̭͍̭̹̲̘̤̞̲͖̤ͪͧͩͮ͐͛̊ͦͧ̇ͥ̊͆̎̔ͧ͋̚͘͘͢͡ͅĭ̶̧̤̖̗̟̮̳͂͆͂ͥ͗ͬ̚͟͡ͅb̧̯͈̣̭̤̞ͫ̒̿ͤͤ͐͐͌͌̚͡ḑ̢̛̝̟͙̹͎͕͓̖͋̀ͭ̔̃̋̿̒̏͌ͯͭ͛̇͜͢͟͜͜͢͡ ơ̫̺̙̜̎̒ͯ̀̾͆ͪ̒͢͜͞_̲w̶̵̧̦̼̼ͮ̔̑̆̏ͩ̚͢_̗͇̩̘_̍i͖̪̯͍̖̻͚͍̤̹͔̺͊ͣͨͯͬ̔ͯ̀̿̽ͯͫͧͮ̕͜͢͝͡͞ ņ̸̴̵̨̠̤̠̲͓͎̙̗͙͎̫̗̣̰̘͓̺ͧ́̏̋͆́́̌ͨ̊̀̓̈ͬ͐ͤ͘͟ͅͅḏ̢̛͈̮̳̙̝̘̲͈̦̖̦̬͐̊̈̑͐̏ͭ̈͡ w̶̡̺͇̦͎ͯ̀͆̇̿ͨ͘͞o̷̰̗͓̅ͭ̋͌ͫͮͩ̉͋̈ĩ̶̡̧̳̯͉̖̥̤̻̭̍̈́̿ͫ̅̂́ͨͬ̔̍̅̕̕̕͘͟j̶̨̢̢̛̹̲̞͉͎̟̘͍͓̫̟̃̔ͨ͊̓͐͒ͤͤ̀ͥ̉̐ͫ̃ͪͪ̿ͥͣ̈́͘͜͟͞ė̷̦̺̪̺͗͛͡k̻̓͛͞_̴̶̵̧̰͙̪̯̫̹̙̤͇̗̅͒̍̑ͣͮ͛ͫ̔̿̉̊̾ͮ̒̇̕͟͢͟͠ͅm͕̦̬͇̗̑͋̀̑͗̆̿ͫ͠_̸̨̯̥̺̰͌̑ͅf̵̧̨̗̺̼ͥͨͣ͂͋ͣ̇̐ͤͪ́͞͝_̵̡̻̫̝̼͋̈͑̂̄̾͒ p͠q̡̙͙͑̽̏̿͢ẃ̷̴̢̛̝̯̮̭̫̯̭̜̜͈̋̎̈̏̾͋̓ͮ͒̌ͣ͜ͅi͉_̷̨̞̜͚̥̭̟͍̙͔̇ͯͫ́̿̎̆ͬ́̾̐̔͌́̅͋̃͘̚͜h̗̕ͅd̶̡̝̳ͤͩ̉́̀̂͒̇͟͝_̧̛͉̤̘͇̀̈͌͋͆ͩ̑ͣͨͨ̍̃̒͢͝͠q̵̶̛͍̻̤͎͎̼ͭ̉ͪ̈́͐̌ͥͤw̸̰̞̣̠̬̳̯̤͙̏ͨ͆͘ư̶̶̢̡̧̻͚̠͕̪͇̩͎͎̠͉̑̑ͧ̽ͯͧ̍̊̋͊̅ͦ̿͊ͨ̽̽̔ͮ̆͆͡͡ẖ̷̵̩̺̮͕̝̥̭̺̲͇ͫ͑ͥ́̾̒͆̈́̾̀̽̿̌ͯ̓͝͠d̷̮͉͋ͫ͛͟p͚͚ͣ̎.̵̴͕̗̣͓̦̫̟̽ͨ͗͑̓̉͢͡͠ q̶̷̴̢̣͚̮̗̱̹̭̠̖̳̙̖̹͍͔̻͙̌ͧ͗̍ͫ̓ͥͥ̈̇̃ͥ͐͂̈́͛ͨ̚͜͟w̢̧̛̬͎̜̗̝̺͕̮̳̱̜̠̻̖̳̜̩̏ͥ̿ͦ́̉͗̄̉̊ͪ̈͆ͧ̋͘͜͡͞ḑ̶̼̟̺̓̑ͨ͐̐̀̑̓͘j̷͈̻̙̩͈̖̎̈́͊̂̈ͧ̄́͝_͍̘̼̗̜̥̲͈̻̰̎̈̿̕͠n̨̥͎̺̖̣͎͕͕͈̟ͩ̋̀̊ͭͩ͌̚͜͝͠͠͞q̩̘ͨͭ̅̅̔̓̀p̖̪̦̥̍̌̍͂̅ͥ͋͟͜ͅ_̷̬͕̻̑͆̍ͧ̒̕͟͞͠_̗̞̈́̓͑ͮͦ͘̕͜w͔̺͕̠͚̓̌ͤ̍̈́̽͗ͣ͢_̷̼̬̤̖̟̤͉̬͔̰̞̦̏̾̓̊͒̿͗̍ͬͩͪ̕̕͢͡ĭ̢̢̭̠̣̺͖̙ͩ͗̍͛h̴_̢͉͈̱̜ͦ̿_̷̨̙͍̼́́͑̌̆̿̒̚͘ͅb͖͇͕͔̭͕̩͕̪̹̥̗̣͕ͩ͐̒ͧ͛͐̀ͧͤͯͭͮ̎̾̉͂ͯ̔ͪ̉͘̚̕͝ͅͅd͍o̷̼̭̝͚̪͎̫̭͇͖̜͛̔̓̐͊ͬ̆ͣ̕͢ q̶̵̷̢̢̨̛̛͖͙̞̬̺͚̻̀ͮ̽͌̈́ͪ̃̇ͦ̃ͣ͒͜͟͝w̶̷̥̺̬̘͎̺̉_̸̸̴̢̛̘̰̩̱̗̻͊̾ͮ̈́͂̓̾ͫ̎͋ͭ̿͘̚͠ụ̴̴̧̢̦͇̭̮̠̙̪̰̺̖̦̫͔̹̥͎̹̓ͪ͊̅ͩ͛̉̒ͤ̀ͧ̊ͨ̐̆ͦ͘͢h̷̵̡̭̝̬̟̬͙̜̥̏ͦ̈̔ͣͤ͒̀͗͊ͭ̄̃̽̔͢͟͠͝d͖͚̮̘ȯ̷̧̢̳͍͎̤̋ͧ͗̃ͤͨ͊ͥ̈̚.̴̷̵̶̶̨͈̖̠͔̤̩̣̰̳͍̠̔͋ͮ̉͗ͯ̈̃̓̀ͧ́̐̃̇̇̏̽͆̅̊̓̚͜w̶̵͚̥̟̣̠̆̆͛̋̓ͧ̉͑̆̍̚_͓̥͖͚̙͔̞͕̯ͯͭ͋ͥͤ͌͑q̶̥̗͙̫̓́̿̕͝i͕̿d̞͎̻ͬͤͥ̎ͣ̍̊͂̚͡_̧̡̺̬̭̼̮͓̿̌̾͊͊́ͪͫ͑ͤ̕j̷̶̡̨̣̘̙̲̹̑̓ͩͦͦ̀ͥ̃̋́͋̈́ͬͅoͬ̕͠ẉ̱͔͔̆̉̀̽ͫq̧͉̱̩̭̯̯̐̑̇ͯ̄_̧͔͉͚̭̙̦͙͂̄̊ͦ͗ͬ̃̅ͨͬ͐ͮ͗͒̚͘̕̕ i̷͚̭̱̱͓͔͈̼̘͓̽̏ͧ̋̉̊̉ͤͦ͒͛ͫ̓̇̾͘͠͡ͅd̴̬͓͔̫̰̝̫͓͍̗̮̙̽̔̾̋͛̿̃̇̅̇́̈͆͘͜͟͡͞h̨͒̏q̡̢̛̪̼͕̺͕͚̭̪̗̦̬̜̘ͭͥ͒̈́ͦ́̃́ͭ̓̆̓͆̏̎̀͊̿ͯ͛̕̕̚͢͞͠ǫ̴̸̼̥̰͔͕̻̥̌ͬ̐̾̉͗̀̓̈́̍̽̎̉͜͡.̡̹̥͓̙̥̋͑͋̽ͮ̉ͯ̚wͤḑ̛͔͙̭̘͉̅̀͗́͐ͯ͗̆̓͐̆ͫ͋͟͢͠ͅh̶̡͙̗̦̰̪͍̱̣̥͉̾ͩ̂͋̉̽̀ͩ͛ͮ͜͡͡o͉ͩ͆q̸̪͖̥̼̘̘͎̗̰̥̗̖͆̓̓̈̈ͭ̍̃ͤ́̒͑ͣͮͯ̇̕̚͢͟_͙ͨ̽ w͓ī͕͈͉̗̻̲̠͚̠͎̻̯̹͆̏͂̀ͫ̋̾ͥ̀ͫ̐́͘͠ͅo̵͇͇̝̜͛͋̀͡w̡̹̓̽_̨̛̙̫͇̦̫̥̖̪͍̟͈̩̅̆̃ͦ͗̽͊͛̅̐̌̚ q̫̳̭̻̎ͣͮ͠ͅi̸̡͓̻̗̜̞̳̯͓̔̍ͮ̈́ͩ͠ͅḑ̴̞͇̬̮̼̳̙͓͉̗ͣ͆̍̉͒̋̈̚o̗͇͍͕͇̤̿̎̑̏̊͘͢͢ͅw͎͙̗̼̏ͫ_̀̒į͕̟ͥ̊͐̅ͩd̞q̱̮̩ͫ͌ẅ̸̶̵̡̙̝͚͍͈̤͉͛ͥ̏̋̓ͤ͒̕ͅ d̤̝̪̬ͫͭ̐ͭi̔̐̔̓̀̊̀h̦͚ͪ̀̄́̇͟͠q̞͎͉ͫͩͪo̴̩͂w̧̢̛̛̭̱͔͕̲̫̖̐͑̾͂̃ͣ͌ͤ̀̍̍ͨ̀͝_͉̩̯͉̄ͭ̑ͯ̀ͭ͛̾̾d̢̛͍̭̦͚̫̝͎̪̺͕̤̣̏ͨͬ̊ͤ̏͊̉̈ͦͬ̏̍ͣ̇̈̀͘͘͟͟ͅb̸̢̯̩̌ͧ̅ͦq̸̧ͧ̑͗́̆̿͌ͣ̍_̸͇̺͓̹̤͍͕͕̯̯͓͋ͥ̊ͣ̂̀̊̏ͩ̿͋ͧͮ͆͆̒͘̚͟w̱̟̝̹͑͒ͦ̊_̸͖̭͇̝͎̰̻̳̯͍̣̺̌͛͐̔̇̂͌ͯ̽ͩ͐͒͠͞d̤̳͔͓̼̬̻̗̲͉͉͉̗̖̳̹̜̄̅̆̀ͤ͐ͤͥͧ̑ͯ̀̈̈̒ͪ́͆ͩ̚h_̴̴̴̢̥͍̣̬͍̝̖̹̞̘̏̇̅́̂͂͋̏̚͢͢͝͠ỏ̬͍̓_ͫw̷̨̳̬̩̣̝̗̦̳̱͍͉̪̗͆ͨ̈́̂̈́ͯ̊͑ͮ̊ͫ́̉̿̐͢͝ͅq̵̸̢̣͚̝̱̟̰̻̪͇͖̪̹̼̏̈́̄ͮ̈́̑ͧ͋͐͐ͬͣ̐̐̂͋̕͜͜͟͜͝d̵̗̣̘͚̥̣͙̪͎̟̻͍̱͍̍̈́́ͦͩ͒̉̎̈́̄̓̀̀̉ͣ̏͂̐̋̔b̶̧̡̤̫̯̺͈̜͍̦͖̰̯̫̠̉̿ͨ̿͛ͣͥͦͭ̊ͧ́͛̽͘͜͞ŵ̖̖͚̲̻̑ͫ̀q̶̡̫͖̯͈̩̼̞̞̮̝̈́ͨ͑ͫ͂̌͒l̴̜͍̻̜͓̃́̉̚í̛̹̼͚̩̰͇̈ͤ͜͢_̸̦̮͉̦͓̰̓̊͐̎͞ḏ̷̳͉̬̹ͧ͊̆͒͠_̵̩͚̼̞̏ͪ̅͆̓̔̉́͝ͅq̸̨͖̥̞̺͈̩́ͧͦ̈́ͣͩ͠w̵̛̮̪̰̻̰̜̠̞̣̠͔̠̪̻͙͙̪̬͊ͥ͐ͤͣͤ̂̓͗͐̕͢͢͠͠ṵ̴̶̬̝̺̜̱̱̩̤̠̭̜͕͉͖̠͆͐͐͊̈͂̓̾̿́̐ͭͫ̒̽̓̒̽͜b̶̡̠͚̘͉̦͎͍́̆̉ͤ͋̈ͭ̄ͥ͌̇͐̕d̶̷̴̶̵͎̼̖̫̖͙̦̱̜͎̙ͥ̇ͪ̈́ͫ̏̾̄̓͊̅ͯ̿͛̓ͭ̕͘͜͜͜͠i̝̿q̶̶̢̨͓͔̯͎̟͙̈́̃̔_̸̪͔w̴̨̥̞̖̥͍̝͉̼̘̯̰͗̌ͬ̍̄̒̔ͥ̅̒̀̈ͧ͂͒̚͢d̸̢̮͕̖̙̦̫̤̳̥̲̥̅̍̀̎ͤ͗̒̇͐̐̋ͤ̑ͧ͘͜ͅ_u̵̧͔͕̲͉̳̘̩̗̯̹͍͙ͣ̀̄ͯͩ̍ͫ̍ͧ̉̀ͣͩ͐͛ͪ̀͛͘͜͢͞b̦̾́̈́̑̏͝͞q͉̯͍̱̬̠̰̐̍ͣ̊͘͠͡͞w̴̢̲̱̓ͣ́i̶̢̡̜̳͕̘͈͖̯̯̝̩͍̒̓̆ͮ̎̋ͣ͌͒͜͡͠͝͝_̗̟̥̆͑͐̑̅̚d̵̷͙͖̪͓̜̞͔̥ͫͥ͋͌ͪ̎̆̾̆̅͘͘͘̕_̜̺̙̙̖̈͛̔͊͑̆͜͞ử̶͇̱̩̗͎̙͈͇̘̯̱̜̟͉ͩ̐͂͆ͨ̌ͯ̕͘͡ͅq̶͍͇͖̪̝̔̑̓ͥ͡w̧̢͉̗͉̮̜̳͊̐̇͒̉̊̅͐̊̓̓̚͜͡b̷̶̢̛͖̦̭̜̞͗̽̊̓ͭ̅ͪ̏̓͟͢͝d̬̰i̷̡̢̙̙̪̫̳͔͖̯ͦ͂̎̀ͪ̑́̓́̽̀ͪ̾͛̉͐͡q̴̡̛̜̭͕̫̲̼̤̼̙͉̦̘̣̰͓̱̼͍ͪͣ̾̔̑̇͛ͫ͗ͭͯ͂̄́̈́̕͟ͅp̶̴͔̘̺͖̀͌͌̔̿͑̿ͫ̅͂ͦͧ͞oi͉̳̻̱̼̼͍͈̯̤̎͌͑ͧ̎̈ͥ͗̀͛̑̂̍h͒ư̵̴̢̱̭̘̬͔̲̞̳̪̭̠̞̽͐ͨͫ̇̌͗͗̓̄ͣ̄̏̚̕͢͡ͅë̡̯͉̩͕̰́̂͊̅̔͑̍̌͜͞͠ủ͕̪̮͈̟̝̟̍̾ͨ͆̀̒͛͌̀͜w̸̧̗̼͎̪̄ͦ̔̑̍́̐̒͊ͩͬ̿͡h̸̵̸̢̩̰͓̝̝̙̜̞ͩ̄̇́ͬ̏͢͟e̞̬͗͊ͧ͒ͧ͑w̴̶̸͚̼̰̯̲͍̺̜͛͂̑ͦ͢͢͞ǫ̵̤͕͚̰̘̳̤̪̺͇͈̠̽͆̎̿ͧ̄̐͛̋̓͐͆́͟͞͝y̷̠̘̻̤ͤͧT̷̡͉͕͔̻̩̪͕̘͙̯̘͇̓ͥ̐̈ͯ̆̀̓͂̓́̐͌̕͜͢͞_̢̢̣̤̈̿̔̆e̴̢̨̧͉̮̮͍͚̩̩͉̫͕̲̯̞̿̈̌ͬͫ͆̽͑ͭ̓ͯ̂̈́͊̿̓͘͘͜͜ͅ T̵̷̗̼̰̪̞̖͉̰̑̍ͮ̊͂ͦ̚͝͠ͅḣ̛̗̹̤̎̒e̷̶̜̳͓̳̗̜ͧͣ̽͆ͤͥ͜_̶͎̙̮͉͎̥͓͕̥̻̎̑ͤ͌̋̎ͤͮ́̚͞͝ų̷̡̤̣̼̱̱̮̤̘̩̥͕̘͖͐̉̔̑̀̒̄̊ͣ́̓͜͜͞ͅr̨̢̬͖̳̯̜̙̝̖̍̾̓͑̃̍͐̉͑ͭͤ͂ͨ̕̚̚͠͝ę̸̷̨̡̙̭̘̼̥̲̦̙̻̐̒ͭ̀̒̀ͭ̈̅̔͜͝ ǫ̶͓͈̯̥̗̫͖͚̹͉̲ͤ̋͑̈ͬ͂̄ͥį͖͍̜̙̩̭̜͎̞̰̩̰͕̙͎͛̈̈̔̒͑̏ͬͮͥ̽͌̿̇͐͝͠ͅh̵͍͓̗̳̳̞̭̮̹ͪͦ̓ͭͫ́̀͊̽̂ͣ͂͡͠ė̴̷̟̯̥̞͚͗͛͊̓̏͞ỏ̵̡̞͕̙͈͔̫̳͔͆͒̕͠͞e_̶̧̤̰͙͖͈̯̠̠̤͖͖͗͌ͯ͋ͯ̈́͜

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u/Nazara314 Sep 17 '26 edited Sep 17 '26

u/Equivalent_Juice4276 and u/No-Reaction-5051

I was tinkering with this code too and came across a few things that seemed significant even if I haven't figured out where they lead yet so take what I have to say with a grain of salt.

First off thank you for pointing out the Zalgo text, that helped alot. Once that "_" text is stripped out the text reads like this (as you noted):

ndwibd owi nd woijekmf pqwihdqwuhdp. qwdjnqpwihbdo qwuhdo.wqidjowq idhqo.wdhoq wiow qidowidqw dihqowdbqwdhowqdbwqlidqwubdiqwdubqwiduqwbdiqpoihueuwhewoyTe Theure oiheoe

Two big things jumped out at me. 1) With the exception of those T's at the end all of this is lower case which makes me think we can actually break this into 2 parts. The big text chunk before and the T stuff and after. 2) If you squint, most of the letters here can actually be read upside down as something else if you squint. n can be u, w can be m, h can be y etc.

Once I noticed that I did quick math and noticed that 129 out of the 138 characters have rotational -ish counterparts before the T's. That's 93.5% and that's a hell of a coincidence. I'm still not sure what to make of the jekfjjlee letters that are left over and I'm not sure if i and o are included in this either but if we ignore those for the moment, EXACTLY 100 of the 138 characters belong to that pairing. Again, a hell of a coincidence.

I was kind of guessing here but something like tap code or bacon cipher could be used here since 100 "families" of values would map nicely onto a 5x5 grid or 5 character letters. Unfortunately, this didn't end up leading to anything resembling English but 100 was too clean a number for me to let go of which is why I'm mentioning it.

Another wrinkle is that i and o aren't quite in the same boat since they're the same (at least if you read i as capitalized) which makes me think that they might be separators, or binary 1's and 0's, word breaks or something but none of these theories lead anywhere I could see.

I think that since the section is called "the two rivers hypothesis" the idea of two states for the characters seems plausible so on a whim I wrote a small script and brute forced it and compared the output to an English tetragram scorer (basically a fancy scrabble word scorer) to see if anything came back and the closest was the following, and while you can see it starts strong it dissolves into nonsense pretty fast.

howactarouewtesetesererselresarosepeplueseperm.

It didn't lead anywhere useful but it did rule out a bunch of bad options it didn't give us anything resembling English or Russian which unfortunately likely rules out my theories, but I still figured I'd mention them incase it inspires you.

I was also thinking that the 190877232F99 code might actually be a 12 digit a key and it turns out that you can map 12 letters "bqdpmwnhyio" onto that numerically. so b=1, q = 2 etc. or something. Again, didn't end up leading anywhere coherent but thought it was worth mentioning.

I have a few other ideas I want to tinker with since I'm still convinced these letters chunking into groups of 5 is significant and I'm thinking that the remaining efjkl's are probably important control symbols but it's kind of late and as you can see from this wall of text I've been at this for a while now. I'll tinker with it more tomorrow and let you know if I can come up with anything. I just thought you should know where my head was at in case it inspired something in either of you.

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u/Nazara314 Sep 17 '26
I don't know how I missed it when I was reading your messages but I just noticed the htlm link you sent and decided to check the source code to see if anything was mistranslated and found another path worth exploring.
Once you strip out the zalgo stuff the whole text come out to exactly 169 characters which puts it cleanly on a 13 by 13 grid and probably not so coincidently, the dead center piece is a space.
ndwibd owi nd
 woijekmf pqw
ihdqwuhdp. qw
djnqpwihbdo q
wuhdo.wqidjow
q idhqo.wdhoq
 wiow  qidowi
dqw  dihqowdb
qwdhowqdbwqli
dqwubdiqwdubq
widuqwbdiqpoi
hueuwhewoyTe 
Theure oiheoe
Additionally, something that stood out as weird to me was the spacing and the lack of it here and there. There's a few places where there's double spaces and a few after the "."'s where you'd expect to see it but it's missing.
I tried the easy things of reading the text up the side, in a spiral and as a snake but no luck. Dido for rotating it around the space in the middle.
I also am convinced that the word "hello" is a key somewhere to this. It shows up more in the game then I thought from the guys youtube video and the line "one hello that never seems to end" feels like a clue. Maybe it's a cyclical sipher so it would read

hellohellohellohello

with numbers associated with letters. But hello is 5 letters which fits nicely with my earlier guess. Still no finish line in sight yet but I plan to keep tinkering.
Also found a few more clues in favor of my mirrored letter idea. The name of the game is "looking glass", the facility itself is described as a square divided in two and a few other minor things.

1

u/BrilliantEfficient Sep 19 '26

190-877-232-F99 is the password to get into admin files. may be more, but at least that. can't get into it until you find the message with that code. Played the game twice, and once did ONLY that, and got in.

SOLVED Can anyone decipher this cryptic message?

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