How to decode the killswitch in the Broken Chains case in Chinatown Detective Agency
Dust off your Enigma Machine.
Jamie Moorcroft-Sharp 
Image via General Interactive
During the Broken Chains case in Chinatown Detective Agency, you’ll find an insider from the local strike who can give you some useful information. It’s a killswitch that will allow you to shut down all the drones in the area, but you’ll need to decode it first. This guide explains how to decode that killswitch, so you can advance without fear of being gunned down.
How do you decode the killswitch?
The killswitch you’re given comes with a series of instructions that you may not understand. These are as follows.
- Version M3 UKWB
- Rotor II: A Ring A
- Rotor I: A Ring Q
- Rotor III: A Ring L
- Plugboard – f-z, a-i, b-d
- Killswitch: cyykc dqfmk nqtcq nctmz lzymx jag
The only clue you have up to this point is that the person who designed this killswitch is a World War II enthusiast. That may be enough for you to figure out that this is a code that must be decoded with an Enigma Machine, but you can also call Mei Ting, and she’ll tell you the same thing.
You’ll need to use an online Enigma Machine simulator to decode the killswitch. Even once you’ve found one, you’ll need to arrange everything correctly. First, pick the correct version of the machine, in this case, a combination of M3 and UKWB in two separate boxes. Next, arrange each Rotor according to the above data. While the information you were given wasn’t in Rotor order, you need to match up the right Rotor with the correct ring sequence. Finally, enter “fz ai bd” into the plugboard. You don’t need the hyphens.
Now you can type the coded killswitch into the machine to get the decoded version. while the letters will be jammed together, you can clearly see it spells out “whatever he might do it is but wind.” You don’t need to use the killswitch until you enter the factory, but it’s worth remembering because another character tells you this quote earlier in the game.
About the author
