In search of the missing programmer. New Year's quest

Hello everybody.

On the eve of the new year, I decided to write such an experimentally entertaining post-quest. I no longer have the strength for a serious article, and mentally being already on vacation, I decided to entertain the “habro-population” a little with this creation. Those who decide to unravel this mystery will have to get out of the "habr" a little and investigate the mysterious disappearance of one unlucky programmer.
But seriously, these are some entertaining, simple puzzles connected by a simple plot. I think it will suit connoisseurs of the genre, and just those who love logic puzzles. To solve it, it will be enough elementary knowledge in programming.

Happy reading everyone, I hope you enjoy it.

Prologue

— The subscriber does not answer, or is outside the network coverage area. You can leave your message after the beep.

This is a standard message that I have been hearing for two days now, trying to get through to my friend and colleague Valery N. And at the moment my patience has reached the limit, and all because we need to hand over the project in a day, and he (Valera) disappeared somewhere and does not get in touch. Not in social networks, not in instant messengers, not even on the phone.

Visit to a friend

Well, everything. Patience ended, and ended so much that even laziness was overcome to go out into the street and drag the subway through half the city to his home! Of course, Valera chose an area for life that was not exclusively life-affirming, which was immediately confirmed. As soon as I entered the entrance, it struck me that in a row of mailboxes hanging on the wall opposite the entrance, one was opened in the most barbaric way. And of course it turned out to be my friend's box. With the thought that I would now rise and hand him the heroically rescued correspondence, I pulled out a letter from the box and put it in my pocket. Even then, the letter attracted attention because it was signed by hand and did not look like spam, I even managed to be surprised that someone is still writing letters.

When I got up to the seventh floor, I found that his door was ajar. Footsteps came from within. Of course, I’m not an alarmist, you never know, I forgot to close the door, but still I somehow felt uneasy. A person has not been in contact for two days, and then his apartment is almost open. I decided to turn on the camera for recording just in case.
- Valera - I shout at the ajar door
- He is not at home.
The voice of his girlfriend Marie (actually she is Masha, but requires everyone to call her Marie). Damn, I didn’t know that they were already living together, just like a week ago Valery complained that she wouldn’t let him take a step, and then they already gathered on you. Of course, not the most pleasant conversation we had, or rather it was not a conversation, but an interrogation, mixed with excuses. As a result of unsuccessful attempts, due to the fact that I myself do not know anything, to find out from me where her beloved was disappearing, I quickly lost interest for Marie and was “let go” home.

The weirdness continues

I was able to find out from the conversation that Valera disappeared suddenly, their mutual acquaintances do not know anything about it, did not leave any notes, did not send letters and messages, but instead, for some reason, hung a strange map on the mirror, on which there was nothing noted. Here she is:

All the way home, I was wondering where Valera could have disappeared so unexpectedly. Something haunted me, but I could not understand what, and only at home I understood. Letter. I did not give the letter, and of course with remorse, but realizing that there might be a clue, I opened the envelope. Here's what was in it:

Ясность нашей позиции очевидна: реализация намеченных плановых заданий позволяет выполнить важные задания по разработке переосмысления внешнеэкономических политик. Идейные соображения высшего порядка, а также сложившаяся структура организации предопределяет высокую востребованность модели развития. И нет сомнений, что независимые государства, превозмогая сложившуюся непростую экономическую ситуацию, представлены в исключительно положительном свете. Каждый из нас понимает очевидную вещь: экономическая повестка сегодняшнего дня предполагает независимые способы реализации экономической целесообразности принимаемых решений. Равным образом, повышение уровня гражданского сознания выявляет срочную потребность благоприятных перспектив.

Some kind of gibberish. Who could write this? In general, at this point, I was already starting to worry in earnest. This is a clear psycho could only write such a thing. Apparently, Valera got into something not very good. Remembering the useless map that hung on the mirror, comparing the loss and the letter in the opened box, the thought came, and what if all this is not so useless, maybe something is simply missing to complete the picture. It's good that while I was talking with Marie, I did not turn off the video recording on my phone, and now is the time to look at it in more detail.

Leads

And that's what first caught my eye. For a long time I also could not understand what was wrong here, it seems that the table is like a table, littered with all sorts of rubbish, but something is wrong on it, something does not fit there.

Original frame link

Having reviewed the video almost frame by frame, in one of the frames we also managed to notice something strange, but illegible. After many attempts to bring this frame closer, like in a movie, and attempts to make it somehow readable by changing the contrast and color, this is what happened:

In total, we have: an envelope with illegible handwriting; a meaningless letter inside an envelope; a map stuck to the mirror and two screenshots from the video. Not a lot, of course, but I think this is enough to solve this insidious crime!

Hints, if needed, will be later 🙂

Source: habr.com