Squeezing this in at the very end of the day. I was out almost the entire time, then came home, finished the She-She Hunt meta, and overloaded my pig brain so thoroughly that the diary had to wait until now.

Today’s meeting and the subsequent public lectures were exceptionally inspiring. The lecturer spoke about “a testimony as bright as a host of stars,” and since I’ve always loved stargazing, this resonated deeply with me. Even though Paul had never been to Rome, he knew so many co-workers there; this made me reflect on my weakness in remembering names and face-blindness and whether I need to improve…

At noon I had lunch with a friend again, then rode on the back of a brother’s motorcycle to sit in on a parenting class. A classmate’s verdict: “People are competing over this now too?” Jokes aside, the course was excellent and the lecturers were genuine heavyweights. One of them is even giving an art-history lecture tomorrow. Extremely excited!

On my way home in the evening, I stopped by Banjiaota Village, where I successfully found a treasure dating back to 2017. Along the way, I had the following conversation with a villager:

Me: “Excuse me, where is the Half-Section Pagoda (Banjiaota)?”

Local: “The pagoda? We’ve lived here for decades and have never been there. What are you planning to do?”

Me: “…It’s fine, just tell me how to get there.”

Additionally, because this sheet of paper had been through so many vicissitudes, it had become extremely fragile. I unfolded it with absolute care, fearing I might tear it and make it impossible for future seekers to find. Now I finally understand why other caches are packed in plastic test tubes (

Upon returning home, I was reminded by the organizer that tonight was the deadline for the Snake Hunt (the one I wrote a Write-up summary for before) Meta, so I started writing and solving furiously. Solving to the very end, I found out I had to repeat the crazy pen-and-paper puzzle “Stargazing at Night,” but during the main competition, that puzzle was handled by my teammate Jilupian (a giant in the pen-and-paper puzzle field), so I had to learn it on the fly. In the end, I got stuck on an even crazier base-7 extraction, and finally got the ultimate answer 10 minutes after the deadline.

While writing, it has already become March 3rd. So, which day’s diary does this actually count as?