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Sea of Sounds - I can't hear anything with all that noise!

(Author Note) A while ago I made some puzzles for a now defunct puzzle hunt project, here's one of them. The answer to this (and most other puzzles of said hunt) is a single word. The puzzle itself is fully contained within the image above. Author notes don't matter.
I highly recommend you download the image for proper solving, the uncompressed version is also available.

Compressed version of the image - 10MB
Uncompressed version of the image - 50MB (Recommended)

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  • $\begingroup$ Do you have to download to solve or is it optional? $\endgroup$
    – Varun W.
    Mar 16, 2022 at 16:18
  • $\begingroup$ @VarunW. I would at least recommend you open the image alone in a new tab, if you can't do so, it might be very hard. Downloading it definitely makes things easier though. $\endgroup$
    – Auribouros
    Mar 16, 2022 at 16:53
  • $\begingroup$ Why can't you use i.stack.imgur.com to post the image? If it's too big, could you consider converting it to a JPG? For some reason my firewall is blocking the image. It would be nice if I could see the puzzle too. $\endgroup$
    – Sylvester Kruin - try Codidact
    Mar 16, 2022 at 18:46
  • $\begingroup$ computer-puzzle tag? $\endgroup$
    – Rand al'Thor
    Mar 16, 2022 at 19:17
  • $\begingroup$ @Randal'Thor I believe steganography tag was sufficient for what it is, it doesn't require any other tools besides the usual ones used for such tag. Sorry if some tags are missing, as this puzzle is a bit different from the others I've posted so far. $\endgroup$
    – Auribouros
    Mar 16, 2022 at 22:12

1 Answer 1

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The image contains the following (barely readable) lines of text:

  • I don't think this is correct...
  • The eighth fish is always the tastiest
  • Give me back my money!
  • We're gonna need a bigger boat.
  • No one should know about us...
  • I hate this.
  • Noise.
  • Can you imagine some people just eat grass?
  • March 18th? Sorry, I'm working overtime on that day.
  • Beep boop.
  • I just found twelve bricks.
  • And a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering, and to conquer.
  • Sometimes things in life are bad.
  • Are you gonna eat that?
  • Everything is ready, just count down from five.
  • I'm telling you, it's all a big conspiracy.
  • We need to go deeper.
  • Don't be afraid to light up the darkness.
  • This file was called Abyss.pdn .
  • With seventeen seconds left on the clock, George knew he couldn't get the speed award.
  • The party happens on the 21st, you better be there!
  • Moo.
  • I feel like it's never going to end...
  • Have you even thought about doing it?
  • Dithering was a mistake.
  • Truly puzzling.
  • Hell is divided into nine circles according to Dante's Divine Comedy.
  • I looked at the ocean.
  • And the ocean looked back.
  • I stared deep withing (sic) the abyss.
  • And the abyss stared back.
  • I offered myself to the darkest depths.
  • And the depths offered back.
  • Abandon yourself to the darkness.
  • You can be with us.
  • Join us. (×7)
  • Fourteen employees have been fired after purposly fighting with the resturaunt's leftovers.
  • You have reached the bottom, please wait for new chunks to load...

Some lines contain numbers:

  • The eighth fish is always the tastiest
  • No one should know about us...
  • March 18th? Sorry, I'm working overtime on that day.
  • I just found twelve bricks.
  • Everything is ready, just count down from five.
  • With seventeen seconds left on the clock, George knew he couldn't get the speed award.
  • The party happens on the 21st, you better be there!
  • Hell is divided into nine circles according to Dante's Divine Comedy.
  • Fourteen employees have been fired after purposely fighting with the restaurant's leftovers.

Applying the A=1 Z=26 cipher yields the answer:

HARLEQUIN

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    $\begingroup$ Is there some special image processing you used to be able to read those sentences? Because I can see where it's supposed to be but I can't read it at all... $\endgroup$
    – Avi
    Mar 17, 2022 at 3:44
  • $\begingroup$ @Avi I think you can use python c# or other coding launagues to create a program that can saturate a specific color so you can see better. But this is what I think so I am not 100% sure. This answer uses code to solve. $\endgroup$
    – Varun W.
    Mar 17, 2022 at 4:03
  • $\begingroup$ @Avi I used level adjustment on the bottom half and standard deviation filter for the top half. But it took a lot of fiddling with the parameters, and I couldn't find one set that worked well for the whole image. $\endgroup$
    – 2012rcampion
    Mar 17, 2022 at 5:40
  • $\begingroup$ @Avi To make the puzzle, I used a simple image editor (namely paint dot net) there are no real filters or such to make all of them appear, you can fiddle around with saturation, contrast and such to make most of them appear. If your screen is bright and very colorful, you can even see the sentences without needing much additional editing. $\endgroup$
    – Auribouros
    Mar 17, 2022 at 8:14

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