How to Solve the Cipher

The first case you have to solve in Chinatown Detective Agency is 'A Picnic at Midnight' which is an assignment given to you by Rupert Zhou and requires you to track down Phillip Ng who disappeared under mysterious circumstances. To solve the case you will need to decode the cipher. This How to Solve the Cipher guide will tell you how to crack it.

Rupert Zhou will give you a message from a book Phillip Ng checked out at the National Library before his phone went silent.

'A picnic at midnight, under the shade of a tree where a man became one with the universe.'

- Unknown Sender

You will need to go to the National Library to find the book. Approach the computer monitor on the desk in the lobby center. To find the book you need to search for the provided passage on a search engine.

The title of the book is The Histories by Herodotus and researching who the author is that is associated with the book and entering your answer into the directory you will be directed to the basement. On the basement floor you will be met by the librarian, Mei Ting, who will tell you who checked the book out last and where they live.

The person in question is:

Genevieve Goh, who resides at 42 Bedok North Avenue, Unit 12-4081.

When you reach the address of this apartment you must hack your way inside. Once inside you need to investigate the computer that is there to discover an email from Philip Ng to Genevieve Goh containing a long string of numbers.

Return to Mei Ting at the National Library with this information and she will explain that the highlighted letters on each book page are correlated. As you decode the message you need to type the deciphered message in the text box below the cipher.

This process is time-consuming, but eventually you will decode the message which will is:

'Ludstown Wednesday Sixforty'

This is a clue as to where Philip and Genevieve traveled.

Take a look at our Beginner Tips and Tricks to get help in Chinatown Detective Agency.