The Wandering Chess Game (Part 2)
Shixu did not reply to that text message.
He turned off his phone screen, and the room fell into a tense silence once more. The light cast a soft shadow on his calm profile, obscuring the true emotions in his eyes.
"What do you think?" Yunxi broke the silence first. Her voice was soft, but exceptionally clear. She didn't ask him if he was going or not, but rather "what do you think?" This in itself represented her attitude—she implicitly agreed that he would go, and that she wanted to participate in the decision-making process.
"The probability of it being a trap is seventy percent." Shi Xu's voice was calm, as if he were performing a probability calculation. "The other party knows Lin Feng, knows that we are investigating, and chose this location. Their purpose is nothing more than a few things: to test our strength, to convey specific information, or... to physically eliminate us."
The fact that he said the words "physical removal" in a calm tone only added to the chill.
“But the remaining 30% is the breakthrough point,” Yunxi continued, his eyes sharp. “What we lack is information. If the other side really wanted to harm us, they wouldn’t use such an easily exposed method to give advance warning. This is more like… a cautious approach.”
Shi Xu looked at her, a barely perceptible hint of approval flashing in his eyes. Their thought processes always seemed to align at crucial moments.
“So, I’ll go,” he decided, then changed the subject, “but not ‘alone’.”
He stood up, walked to the whiteboard, picked up a pen, and quickly sketched the outline of the map around the junkyard in the south of the city, his strokes precise and neat.
“I won’t let you out of my sight completely,” he said as he drew, his tone leaving no room for argument. “You don’t need to get into the core area. Here,” he pointed to a high point on the map with his pen, “find a location that overlooks the entire site and allows for real-time communication. I need an eye and a brain to provide support from the outside.”
He didn't say "protect," but rather "need." This stirred something within Yunxi; a feeling of complete trust and being entrusted with a great responsibility welled up within her. She wasn't a burden excluded from danger, but a crucial link in his plan.
“Okay.” Without any hesitation, she followed his pen tip closely, her mind racing as she began to consider the best observation points and evacuation routes.
“I will wear a miniature earpiece and a camera.” Time continued to deploy, the details were chillingly meticulous. “You will monitor the situation on site in real time, paying attention to any unusual movements and personnel deployments. If the situation changes, I need you to make an immediate judgment: whether to intervene, notify the pre-set emergency contact, or…” He paused, looking at her, “…execute the ‘disconnect’ contingency plan we discussed earlier.”
The "disconnection" contingency plan means severing all communication and evacuating through pre-designated safe passages as a last resort. This means that he has also entrusted his own escape route to her.
Yunxi took a deep breath, feeling the heavy weight on her shoulders. "Understood," she replied solemnly.
The plan took shape quickly through efficient communication. Without excessive words, every instruction and every glance was precisely understood and absorbed. This tacit understanding of working side-by-side was more touching than any sweet talk.
The next day at noon, the sky was rather overcast. Thick clouds hung low, making it hard to breathe.
The junkyard in the south of the city was like a graveyard for steel behemoths, with mountains of rusty vehicles exuding a dull stench of metal and engine oil. The wind howled and wailed as it passed through the empty car windows and twisted frames.
Shi Xu walked alone through the pebbles and weeds into this desolate place. His steps were steady, and his expression was calm, as if he were just visiting an alternative art exhibition.
A gap in the clouds had already been lurking on the rooftop of an abandoned factory building several hundred meters away. She had set up her high-powered binoculars and equipment with a telephoto lens, her gaze fixed on the figure in a simple black coat. The sound of his steady breathing came through her miniature earpiece, which calmed her racing heartbeat slightly.
Time passed by, and apart from the sound of the wind, the junkyard was deathly silent.
Suddenly, time seemed to stand still.
Ahead of him, from the shadows of a pile of wrecked cars, a figure slowly emerged. The person was also dressed in inconspicuous dark clothes, with the brim of their hat pulled low, obscuring their face.
"You're right on time." The other person's voice came through the voice changer, carrying an inhuman electronic quality.
"I'm here." Shi Xu's voice came through the earpiece, calm and composed. "I have the information you wanted about Lin Feng. And what about the answer I need?"
"The answer depends on the value of the information you can provide." The mysterious man seemed to chuckle. "However, before the deal is done, I'd like to confirm... are there really no 'signals' around you that shouldn't be there?"
Before he could finish speaking, Shi Xu felt the screen of his phone suddenly light up for a moment, then go black instantly, and he couldn't turn it on no matter what he pressed!
It's strong electromagnetic interference, or rather, directional signal shielding and attack!
"Shi Xu!" Yunxi could see clearly through the binoculars. Although she couldn't hear the conversation, her heart jumped when she saw Shi Xu's unusual action of picking up and putting down his phone, and the sudden tension in his jawline. She tried to call him through her earpiece, but all she heard was a jarring busy tone.
Communication has been cut off!
The other party is using the most direct method to verify whether he "came alone" and to deprive him of immediate contact with the outside world.
In the center of the junkyard, Shi Xu put his completely unresponsive phone back in his pocket, looked at the mysterious man, and his eyes turned cold: "Is this your sincerity? Or are you afraid not of Lin Feng, but of any possible variables beyond your control?"
His words were clever; they expressed his dissatisfaction while also probing the other party's motives and the source of their fear.
The mysterious man remained silent for a few seconds, seemingly assessing his reaction.
“Caution is the first rule of survival.” The mysterious man finally spoke, his electronic voice devoid of emotion. “It seems you have more courage than I thought. Alright, let’s begin the real deal. Lin Feng approached you not just because of the Shi family. What he truly values is the underlying architecture of the ‘Mirror Realm’ algorithm you’re developing…”
On the other end of the communication, Yunxi quickly calmed down after her initial panic. Looking at Yunya's still upright and composed back in the camera, she forced herself to take a deep breath.
He was still there, he wasn't panicking, he was dealing with it.
She couldn't afford to panic. She immediately pulled out her spare equipment and tried to re-establish the connection, while simultaneously focusing intently on observing every detail of the scene through her binoculars, including the mysterious man's body language and any corners where others might be hiding. She became his only, but silent, eye at that moment.
She knew that they had just weathered the first truly dangerous move in this game. Trust had undergone its most direct test the moment communication was cut off. And both she and he had passed the test.
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