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In January 2012, an image was posted on a 4chan forum, leading to a complex puzzle by Cicada 3301. It involved QR codes, book codes, and references to King Arthur. After deciphering the book code from William Blake's "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," a .onion link to the deep web was discovered. The puzzle required finding a specific edition of the book to decode the message, and it ultimately led to a deep web link, marking the beginning of Cicada's second chance puzzle, the details of which remain mysterious.
1. In January 2012, a post on the 4chan forum included an image with a link.
2. The link led to another image, which led to another link, and eventually to a book.
3. Cracking the code of the book revealed a website with a list of coordinates.
4. Going to the coordinates led to posters with the logo of a cicada and a QR code.
5. Scanning the QR code revealed different messages depending on the poster.
6. One message included a poem that could only be read once and then automatically encrypted and deleted itself.
7. The poem was inspired by the story of King Herod Agrippa and was part of a book called "Agrippa (A Book of the Dead)".
8. The book was published on a floppy disk and could only be read once.
9. The message also included a book code that required finding a specific book to decipher.
10. The book was the British Encyclopedia, and using the book code revealed a message with a link to the Deep Web.
11. The Deep Web link led to a website that required creating a new email address to access.
12. Creating an email address and entering it on the website led to a unique code and a link to the next part of the puzzle.
13. The next part of the puzzle involved finding a second chance to enter the Cicada 3301 puzzle.
14. The second chance involved a series of files and puzzles that were not well-documented online.
15. The puzzles led to a website with a blank page, but analyzing the source code revealed a hidden message.
16. The hidden message was encoded in the spaces between the lines of code and required replacing small spaces with 1 and large spaces with 0 to decipher.
17. Deciphering the code revealed a binary code that translated to ASCII text with a PGP signature from Cicada.
18. The PGP signature confirmed that the puzzle was official and part of the Cicada 3301 puzzle.
19. The final step of the puzzle involved entering a link with a unique code to access the next stage of the puzzle.
20. The final stage of the puzzle was the most difficult and creative part of the Cicada 3301 puzzle.