Chapter 408: The Final Evolution of Chess, the Last Visitor (asking for monthly tickets)
The setting sun was about to sink to the bottom of the horizon. Sun Changkong sat in the field, surrounded by other children. The warm candlelight and the blood-red light of the setting sun covered their faces.
Sun Changkong put her hands together and placed them on her chest. She closed her eyes, pursed her lips, and muttered to herself. Then, with a slight puff of her cheeks, she blew out the candle with a whoosh.
Kong Youling was very supportive. She said "Oh oh", clapped her hands and blinked her red eyes.
Firion twitched his ears and asked curiously, "Big Sister, what did you wish for?"
"Wishes are irrelevant... Only strength can lead to ideals." Shang Xiaochi said coldly. The people around him were ashamed and frightened by this middle school student syndrome.
"It's a secret." Sun Changkong snorted, "Anyway, I won't be like someone who said 'Let's all die happily together'." As she said that, she turned her head and glanced at Ji Minghuan.
Ji Minghuan sat cross-legged on the ground, picking up a piece of malt and holding it in his mouth.
He turned his head to meet Sun Changkong's gaze, "I can actually guess from your lip movements what wish you made."
"Really?" Sun Changkong didn't believe it.
"Your wish is..."
"My wish is..."
Sun Changkong was slightly stunned, as if he was really frightened by Ji Minghuan, and his little fangs were exposed in surprise.
"I won't tell you." Ji Minghuan said, clasping his hands on his ankles and turning his face away.
“Why don’t you say it!”
"Why should I tell you your wish?" Ji Minghuan said, "It's not my wish."
Sun Changkong was stunned, and after thinking about it, it seemed to be true, so he hugged his shoulders, snorted coldly, and stopped looking at him.
"Eat cake!" Firion didn't hear what they said at all. His eyes were fixed on the cake, and his tail was wagging.
"Eat, eat, eat...you can eat anything."
Mario said this expressionlessly, holding the game console in one hand and a plastic knife in the other. Just as he was about to cut the cake, he was knocked over by the somersault cloud.
Sun Changkong picked up the flying plastic knife and said, "It's my birthday, I'll cut the cake."
"Why didn't you say so earlier..."
Mario pinched his swollen nose, sat up from the ground, and brushed off the grass clippings on his body.
Several children in hospital gowns divided the cake and ate it quietly while sitting in the field.
Ji Minghuan had no appetite. He quietly watched the others eat the cake. Suddenly, he reached out and wiped the cream from the corner of Kong Youling's mouth, pinching her cheek. She tilted her head, her snow-white hair swaying in the evening breeze.
He glanced at the ability-suppressing collar on Kong Youling's neck and thought to himself that it would be great if he didn't have this collar. He could remove the mental control over the others now, and there would be no need to fight a big battle with them in Iceland a week later.
Shang Xiaochi lowered his eyes, holding a fork dipped in butter in his mouth without saying a word.
Ji Minghuan took advantage of Sun Changkong's inattention, gave the cake to Firio, and stuffed it into the little werewolf's mouth.
Firion choked, wolfed down his food, and let out a breath while holding his stomach.
"What are you doing, Ji Minghuan?" He touched his belly with a feeling of grievance and satisfaction, and looked up at Ji Minghuan.
Sun Changkong turned around and looked at the two of them curiously. Ji Minghuan held the fork in his mouth and pretended that he had finished eating. Suddenly, he said, "By the way, let me ask you a question."
"What's the problem?" Sun Changkong tilted his head and asked curiously.
"If you die, where do you want to be buried?" Ji Minghuan asked as he glanced at their cheeks.
When the others heard this, they were stunned. They looked at each other and wondered why Ji Minghuan was talking nonsense lately.
"It's just a hypothesis." Ji Minghuan put the empty plastic plate on the ground and clapped his hands. "Don't be so serious... Just talking casually, where would you prefer to be buried?"
"A strong man like me... will definitely survive to the end." Shang Xiaochi snorted coldly.
"Didn't you say that we would die together? Then it's your decision." Mario said without raising his head.
"Yes, where do you want to be buried?" Sun Changkong asked curiously.
"Me?"
"Hmmmm." Firion and Sun Changkong nodded together, and Kong Youling licked the cream.
"I would like to be buried somewhere with sunlight," Ji Minghuan thought for a moment, "Hmm... preferably next to a cafe, by the sea, so someone can come visit me every day."
As he was speaking, he suddenly raised his head and looked at the last ray of sunlight above his head.
"Then there are no other requirements," he said.
"If I die, I'd like to be buried with you." Sun Changkong said without hesitation, "Then we'll be together forever. Good friends should always be together."
Ji Minghuan was stunned. "Okay, then let's do this."
He licked the cream on his fork and thought to himself that even if the world were to end, it would never be his turn to die.
After a while, when each child had finished their portion of cake and was sitting in the wheat field chatting, the surroundings suddenly changed. All that came into view was an empty, silvery-white space. The sunset on the hillside had disappeared, and so had the wheat fields on the hillside.
Instead, lab workers in white coats came in and took them away.
Ji Minghuan was the first to leave as usual. This time, the instructor hadn't given any advance notice.
"Happy birthday...sweet dreams."
He waved to Sun Changkong, wished him well again, and then walked into the elevator.
Ji Minghuan leaned against the cold wall of the car, took a last look at them through the gap, and then slowly closed his eyes.
[Synchronized to the perspective of Unit 2, Xia Ping Zhou.]
Iceland time, August 26, 16:50, Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.
The stone statue of the queen holding Xia Pingzhou fell from the sky and landed in the snow in the deep mountains; the blood descendant vibrated her dragon wings, pulled the human-shaped Bai Tanlang, and landed him on the ground.
It was fine for Bai Tanlang to fly in uninhabited areas in the form of a daytime wolf, as he would not be discovered; but in a country like Iceland, the sudden appearance of such a large wolf in mid-air would be too conspicuous, and if it was photographed by passers-by, its whereabouts would be exposed.
Xia Pingzhou fell from the giant statue and stood on the snowy field.
He came to the edge of the snow-capped mountains and looked down from the empty mountains, with a panoramic view of the city of Reykjavik.
Beneath the gray-blue sky, a dome-shaped glass building looks like a giant egg embedded in the building complex. It is the Pearl Building. It shines brightly in the twilight world.
Colorful, pitched-roofed houses clustered densely beside the bay like a deck of open cards, and several ferries on the sea left streaks of white water, spreading to the end of the horizon.
At the end of August, it hadn't snowed in Reykjavik yet. The city is surrounded by snow-capped mountains to the east and north, and the snow covering the cliffs is visible year-round and never melts.
"Let's go and stop admiring the scenery." said the Blood Descendant.
"Yeah." Xia Pingzhou said.
As the sun set, they walked slowly across the snowfield and found a villa on the snowy mountain north of Reykjavik.
The owner of the house was out, and the door was locked, but for extraordinary people like them, a simple jump from the snow would land them on the rooftop of the villa. There was an open-air swimming pool on the rooftop, and a huge screen in front of the pool for watching movies. It was hard to imagine the luxurious life that the people living in this mountaintop villa led.
The Blood Descendant stretched, took off her red dress, and soaked naked in the pool. Her body was covered in a layer of light dragon scales, which looked almost like a swimsuit.
Xia Pingzhou and Bai Tanlang sat down on the sofa in the house. The fire was burning, bringing warmth.
"Honestly, I can't believe I left with you."
In the silence, Bai Tanlang suddenly spoke.
Xia Pingzhou asked, "Isn't your purpose in staying in the brigade to find your child? If you don't come with me, what's the point of you staying there?"
"Do you really know where my son is?" Bai Tanlang asked in a deep voice.
"He's in Iceland," Xia Pingzhou said. "That's where the Salvation Society's base is. Your child, Firion, was captured by the Salvation Society. We've known this for a long time."
Hearing the name "Firio", Bai Tanlang raised his eyebrows slightly. He had never mentioned his child's name to anyone else in the brigade, but Xia Pingzhou knew that his name was Firio.
This name was given by Bai Tanlang's foreign wife, who had been eaten by her own son.
"Stinky boy, why are you so sure?" Bai Tanlang asked, crossing his shoulders. "Did that Black Pupa tell you where the Savior Society's base is?"
Xia Pingzhou was silent for a moment, then said, "The Salvation Society used some means to trick your children into eating your wife while you were away."
"What?"
Bai Tanlang's pupils suddenly shrank.
Xia Pingzhou picked up a glass from the table and took a sip of boiled water.
He continued, "This is to make Firion feel guilty and self-destructive, so that they can more easily control Firion. Their methods are despicable."
"Are you kidding?" Bai Tanlang's fangs were exposed at the corners of his mouth.
Xia Pingzhou put the cup back on the table. "And precisely because of this incident, Firion dared not see you. For so many years, he has been imprisoned in the tower of the Salvation Society. And that giant tower is now buried at the bottom of the Hofs Glacier."
Bai Tanlang lowered his head slightly, the blue veins on his forehead and the back of his hands undulated, and the muscles on the sides of his cheeks were tense.
"I heard that the Daytime Wolf has the ability to sniff out lies, but it doesn't seem to work on me, otherwise you wouldn't question me," Xia Pingzhou said. "Everything I said is true."
"I believe you this time." After a long silence, Bai Tanlang said.
"Don't worry, I'll let you see your son." Xia Pingzhou said expressionlessly, "But I need to warn you first. There's a psychic like the Doctor in the Savior Society, and he's already brainwashed your son."
"Whatever. I'm going to bring him back no matter what, and then I'm going to kill those bastards."
"Kill them all... I don't even dare to say that." Xia Pingzhou sighed.
After a while, the stone statue of the queen returned to Xia Pingzhou. She checked every corner of the house and disposed of every alarm device and surveillance camera without leaving any trace.
"Thank you for your hard work." Xia Pingzhou said.
The stone statue of the queen nodded silently and respectfully.
"You can still talk to your own Tianqu creation?" The blood descendant leaned against the edge of the swimming pool, put his arms on the handrail, and turned his head to look at the scene inside the house.
"She is wise." Xia Pingzhou said.
"So you chat with her every day when you're lonely?" The Blood Descendant said, "She's truly our stray kitten. She can even call a stone statue "Mom."
Upon hearing this, the stone statue of the queen hurriedly waved its hands in denial. For a moment, it was a little flustered, and the cold fire in its eyes ignited and extinguished.
Xia Pingzhou remained silent, too lazy to respond to the blood descendant's teasing.
"If we go to find the Salvation Society, what will happen to the eldest lady?" The Blood Clan thought for a moment and then asked.
"The leader will come to Iceland, and she will follow us to find the Salvation Society."
"What if she dies?"
Xia Pingzhou thought for a moment and said, "So what?"
The Blood Descendant was silent for a moment, looking down at the surface of the swimming pool. "It's better for people to be honest. I don't think your feelings for her are fake."
"I'm going out for a walk, you guys stay here." After saying that, Xia Pingzhou went downstairs with the stone statue of the queen and walked out of the villa.
They walked silently on the snowy field, and the Queen's statue used its keen senses to continuously perceive its surroundings to ensure that no enemies would suddenly attack.
Suddenly, the stone statue of the queen raised its eyes and looked towards the distant sky.
"The man has arrived," she said.
Xia Pingzhou also looked over and saw a group of black crows flying under the gray-blue sky, circling above the Pearl Tower. They were the supernatural products of the Lacquer Principle.
“That’s pretty fast.”
As Xia Pingzhou spoke, he withdrew his gaze and looked up at the black and white panel that popped up in front of him.
[Hint: The 24-hour evolution time required for the ultimate skill of the "Brave" branch, "Final Evolution", has ended. Do you want to evolve your chess piece to its final form immediately?]
Seeing this, Xia Pingzhou summoned Tianqu.
Black and white light swirled, forming a circle around him. The chess pieces' shadows drifted like satellites orbiting the Earth, flashing black and white dots.
He picked up the chess pieces one by one and summoned the "Colossus of Soldier", "Colossus of King", "Colossus of Bishop", "Colossus of Cannon Cart", and "Colossus of Knight" in one breath above the snowy field.
Together with the Queen's stone statue that was already present, these were his six basic chess pieces.
At this moment, the surface of the six chess pieces is covered with a thick layer of diamond. This is the previous evolutionary form "diamond body". Xia Pingzhou doesn't know what material they will become after the final evolution.
Xia Pingzhou raised his hand and clicked the "Yes" option below the prompt box.
[The "Final Evolution" process has begun. The entire process will take approximately 10 seconds.]
A dark light flashed across the prompt box, and blood-red text seemed to be about to appear. Then, each piece was enveloped in a layer of black and white light.
The surrounding snow turned into a huge chessboard, and the snow-capped mountains rumbled and shook. After a while, the halo faded.
Xia Pingzhou raised his eyebrows. What he saw at this moment were beings that looked just like real people. It would be a bit inappropriate to call them "stone statues".
They have skin, pupils, and facial features that are no different from humans, like giants standing on the snowy plain.
The King statue was wearing a black and white cloak and a black and white crown; the Soldier statue was also wearing black and white armor, and the sword and shield in his hands were shining with a layer of dark light.
The cannon cart statue was the only non-human creature, and at this moment it was grayish white; the bishop statue's robe was patterned with black and white chessboard, and the book he was flipping through in his hand was even thicker and heavier;
The knight colossus is wearing a black and white cloak and a pitch-black helmet. The spear in his right hand shines like sunlight. The pupil of his left eye is black and the pupil of his right eye is white. His face looks solemn and dignified.
[Congratulations, your chess game has completed its "final evolution."]
[The form of this evolution is——"humanoid".]
[In the final evolution, the comprehensive attributes of the chess pieces are comprehensively improved. Some chess pieces awaken a new ability - the "Final Sacrifice" of the Bishop Statue (sacrifice a chess piece, allowing another chess piece to gain its attributes for a short period of time)]
"So strong?" Xia Pingzhou thought, "Then my Queen's stone statue should be able to compete with the mythical level in a short time."
Thinking of this, Xia Pingzhou finally turned his head slowly and looked at the evolved stone statue of the queen.
The Queen Colossus wore a suit of iron-gray armor on the upper body and a black battle skirt on the lower body. Her clear black medium-length hair danced in the wind. She had a heroic temperament, heroic features, and pupils as blue as the Icelandic aurora.
She lowered her eyes and looked at the two daggers in her hands.
"Why do I feel weaker?" Xia Pingzhou thought, "The human body is much more fragile than a diamond. I hope it's just an illusion."
The next moment, he retracted all the chess pieces except the queen onto the circle, and then retracted the Tianqu.
Xia Pingzhou walked to a gray-white fir tree and suddenly stretched out his hand, pressing his palm against the trunk. Then, he activated the final skill of his "Soul" branch—"Repulsive Hand."
“Bang!”
A halo of black and white light burst out from Xia Pingzhou's palm, carrying a strong wind with it, instantly knocking the tree in front of him away. The tree flew backwards for hundreds of meters and finally rolled to the bottom of the valley.
"It's not bad." Xia Pingzhou thought, "If the king is destroyed, this trick can be used as an unexpected life-saving measure."
At this moment, he has already seen the effects of the final skills of the two branches. As for the final skill of the "group" branch - "Giant God Soldier", he cannot test it on the snow mountain.
Otherwise, the noise would be too loud and would immediately attract people from the White Crow Brigade, or perhaps Rainbow Wing, the Psychic Association, and so on.
Black Pupa has passed the information about the Savior's base to Hongyi through Yuriel. Hongyi will definitely come to Iceland to find out.
So, the person who ordered the rainbow wing may have arrived in Reykjavik on an international flight.
Xia Pingzhou pondered this as he and the Queen Statue slowly walked back to the villa. They strolled across the snowy plains, a chill wind blowing from the treetops, lifting their hair slightly.
"How do you feel now?" Xia Pingzhou suddenly asked.
"Excuse me, what is your question?" asked the Queen Statue.
"The feeling of evolution."
The Queen Colossus thought for a moment, then lowered her eyes to look at her gauntleted right hand. "My body feels lighter and less stiff."
"By the way... do you have a name? In the background story of my superpower setting." Xia Pingzhou asked.
The Queen Colossus shook her head and said softly, "I don't have a name, and for someone like me, a name is not important."
"Then I'll give you a name," Xia Pingzhou said. "It's not nice to keep calling you the Queen Stone Statue. You don't look like a stone statue anymore."
The Queen's statue was stunned and turned to look at Xia Pingzhou.
"Don't you want to?"
The Queen Colossus panicked and shook her head. "How could that be?"
"How about Shigagur?" Xia Pingzhou said, "It's the name of a Valkyrie in Norse mythology, some kind of goddess of war. I don't remember it exactly, but I think I've seen it in a book before."
The stone statue of the queen was silent for a long, long time.
"Yeah." She nodded. "I like it very much."
"That's good."
Xia Pingzhou glanced at her and then looked away. To be honest, his neck was quite sore from talking to her, as there was at least a four or five centimeter height difference between them.
After a while, they moved back into the villa and came to the top floor.
Xia Pingzhou looked at the empty living room and did not see Bai Tanlang.
Suddenly, a dull thumping sound came from a room in the corner. Bai Tanlang seemed to be punching sandbags in the villa's gym. No one knew how many sandbags were enough for him to punch.
Xia Pingzhou looked towards the rooftop and did not see the figure of the blood descendant in the swimming pool.
"The leader is here."
Suddenly, the faint voice of the blood descendant came from a corner of the rooftop.
Xia Pingzhou walked onto the rooftop and turned to look at the silhouette of the Blood Descendant. By then, she had left the pool, put on her clothes, and stood on the edge of the rooftop, folding her arms, gazing at the distant view of Reykjavik.
Following her gaze, I saw a flock of crows scattered on the harbor fence, their blood-red eyes scanning the surroundings.
"So?" Xia Pingzhou asked, "I would find it strange if he didn't come."
The blood descendant raised his lips, "It seems that he still cares about our rebellious kitten."
Xia Pingzhou said calmly, "The captain's crow can't fly that far. He should look for us in Reykjavik. Once he finds us in the mountains, we can move to another place."
He paused. "We only need to hide until September 1st. That's when we'll all meet at the Hofs Glacier anyway."
"Have you won the title of leader now?" the blood descendant suddenly asked.
Xia Pingzhou thought for a moment and said, "He used playing cards to steal Zhou Jiuya's Sky Drive. If he uses it properly, combined with his two original abilities, he should be even stronger than Lin Xingshi."
The Bloodline spread his hands and said with emotion, "He is not only an exorcist with two Heavenly Drives, but also a person with superpowers. This is our leader."
"But he still can't beat me."
Xia Pingzhou spoke lightly, picked up the glass and took a sip of iced whiskey.
"How on earth did you do it?" the Bloodborn asked. "In just two months, you went from Dragon-level to Scourge-level, and even defeated our Ripper Sister."
"Wait until you meet 1001, and you'll know the truth."
Xia Pingzhou was silent for a moment, and finally just said this.
The Bloodborn stared at him. "This makes me look forward to meeting 1001 even more. I'm curious, what is your relationship with him, and why was he imprisoned in the Salvation Society?"
"I have a good relationship with 1001," Xia Pingzhou teased. "When we were together, I hung him up and whipped him every day."
Hearing these suggestive words, the Blood Clan fell silent, and the restricted level 1001 in Xia Pingzhou's mind also fell silent.
"So he likes men?" The Blood Descendant tilted his head. "No wonder he didn't take me with him a hundred years ago."
"Yes, he likes it..." Xia Pingzhou hesitated to speak.
At this time, R1001 suddenly said, "Don't talk nonsense."
"Yes, sir." Xia Pingzhou replied in his mind, "You really do care about her."
The Bloodline said, "Rather than avoiding the Captain, I always feel that you are avoiding our Kimono Lolita Miss. You don't know how to face her disappointed expression, right?"
"Whatever you say." Xia Pingzhou said.
At this time, the Queen's statue came over from the living room.
"Why did you suddenly bring back a beautiful girl?" The Bloodborn raised an eyebrow. "She's just a little taller. You look like a child next to her."
"My Sky Drive has evolved," Xia Pingzhou explained. "It has become a more advanced form, so its appearance has also changed."
"Can your Sky Drive evolve once more?"
The Bloodline was stunned. She remembered that Xia Pingzhou's stone statues were originally made of black iron, then silver, and then diamond, but now they had become spirits.
Xia Pingzhou nodded, reacting as if this was a common occurrence.
"I'm truly impressed by you..." The Blood Child glanced at him, crossed his arms, and sighed, "By the way, didn't you say that that big moth was your and 1001's informant? I have some questions for him, too."
"Do you want to infiltrate all the social circles of 1001?" Xia Pingzhou asked.
The Blood Descendant said nonchalantly, "I'm just curious about what he's been doing in the past hundred years while hiding from me..." She changed the subject, "So, where is the black chrysalis?"
"Black Pupa, on the way."
As he spoke, Xia Pingzhou turned his head, facing the cold wind on the top of the mountain, and looked up at the brightly lit Pearl Tower.
Another perspective emerged in his mind. At this moment, in another corner of the world, Hei Pupa was holding Su Zimai and flying towards Lijing International Airport holding the restraints. An international flight to Iceland was about to take off.
Of course, they were not regular passengers.
(End of this chapter)
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