Chapter 32: Half an hour of hunting fun. I will definitely enjoy it if I have the chance...
"If I lose, you can make an unreasonable request." Bai Ling raised his chin slightly towards him, his voice cold, "How about it, isn't it a fair deal?"
"Very fair." Yu Chen smiled thoughtfully.
Unfortunately, the sincere Bird Warrior made a mistake. That is——
Never negotiate fairness with the devil.
Bai Ling was concentrating on placing the chess pieces when he heard the mermaid ask, "Do you need me to help you get familiar with the rules?"
"No need, I've played it before."
Yu Chen was a little surprised, because Xiaoniao had always left him the impression of being slender and powerful, with a rough technique of using small size to achieve great results.
He didn't expect that the other party could play something as literary as chess.
Yu Chen became more serious and tapped the table with his finger bones: "Very good. What kind of chess shall we play, classic, fast or lightning mode?"
"Classic chess is too slow, and lightning chess is not exciting enough. I prefer regular fast chess, which can be played in half an hour. What about you?"
"I can do anything."
"Then it's fast chess."
Bai Ling made the decision quickly and decisively.
The mermaid held her chin with her palm, her eyebrows gradually relaxed, and she shook her legs slightly, like shaking a fish's tail, and asked gently:
"Who taught you to play chess?"
Bai Ling raised his eyes and glanced at him. The old man seemed very happy, in a much better mood than when he opened the door just now. He answered casually:
"I learned it in school. The public elementary school has extracurricular activities every Friday afternoon. The school pays for it and there are teachers to teach us."
Yu Chen recalled that he had indeed allocated a sum of education funds to children who could not afford to attend extracurricular classes, so that they could cultivate their interests and hobbies from an early age.
Although it has been repeatedly opposed by the Ministry of Finance, which said it would be better to spend the money on land reclamation and land sales.
Yu Chen is still very relieved now.
Because the living example in front of him told him that his "willfulness" was not in vain.
Yu Chen asked again: "Did you only learn chess? Did you learn anything else?"
Bai Ling really wanted to complain. The old guy was like the kind of parent who only came home once a year and would dig into his children's minds whenever he got the chance.
He said coldly, "I need to buy protective gear to play ice hockey. I am tone-deaf in music class. Basketball and football are dominated by the Crow Gang. I don't have a good relationship with them and we often fight in groups. What's that expression on your face? Don't think too much. I was the one who beat up a group of them."
Yu Chen laughed softly when he heard this: "Have you been so restless since childhood?"
The white-collar worker sneered: "If I had behaved myself, I wouldn't have been playing chess with you here. I would have already--"
The voice stopped abruptly.
Yu Chen raised his eyebrows: "What did you say long ago?"
Bai Ling took a deep breath, lowered his eyes and said, "Forget it, I won't say it anymore. If I say it, it will spoil your fun, which is not a good thing anyway."
If I had just kept to myself, gone with the flow, and agreed to that scumbag Gram.
He should be sitting in an office in some corner of the military department now, binding reports day after day, numbly watching the mechas taking off outside the window.
It doesn't sound that hard to accept.
But for the rest of his life, there will be people pointing at him and saying, "Look, that was the raptor ace back then, and now he's not even a canary? What does that prove? It proves that omegas are just no good."
So Bai Ling would rather die standing than kneel and be insulted.
After arranging all the chess pieces, with one empty space on each side, Bai Ling bent down and looked under the table, but couldn't find it, so he said:
"It's impossible to play. We are missing two queens."
Yu Chen rubbed his finger bones, thinking back, "It must have been lost for a long time. There is a spare chess piece in the box, use that instead."
Bai Ling picked up the extra soldier: "There is only one."
"You can use it. I don't need the queen."
"No Queen?" Bai Ling asked in surprise, "Then you are doomed to fail, right?"
He was so confident not because he thought he was superior but because he was stating the facts objectively.
Chess is a game that simulates a conflict between two countries, and the chess pieces represent the qualities of soldiers at all levels. The performance of the players determines the success or failure of the "war".
Contrary to common belief, in the rules of chess, the most powerful chess piece is not the king, nor the cavalry, elephant or horse, but -
【Queen】
The reason for this can be traced back to, on the one hand, because there were many women in power in the West on ancient Earth.
For example, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt, Queen Elizabeth I of England, Empress Catherine II of Russia, etc., all had remarkable lives.
On the other hand, in the more ancient Shatraz period, the queen chess piece represented the "general" or "prime minister" and had great administrative power.
Therefore, the Queen on the chessboard is both a protected object and a participant in the war. It does not need to hide in the city, but can kill people anywhere on the battlefield. It is a fighter that the enemy fears.
In Italian, the figurative word is Robioso, which means violent chess piece.
In comparison, King's movement is much more limited.
In most cases, the King needs to stay behind the chessboard, hold on to power, and wait for the Queen to return triumphantly.
Therefore, lacking a "queen" is like cutting off an arm.
No matter how cunning, flexible, and strategic Yu Chen is, without a strong partner to fight for him, he is doomed to fail in the power game...
All is lost.
"It's okay. I'm used to sacrificing pieces to start the game. I can't see, so I'll trouble you to count and record."
Yu Chen said it lightly, but Bai Ling felt something strange when he heard it.
...This old guy must be crazy. Does he really think that he is the chosen one no matter what he does, and can fight against the wind with only a little health?
Yu Chen called over the AI to act as a stopwatch for the two of them.
In this game, he played with black pieces and Bai Ling played with white pieces.
"White moves first." Yu Chen made a gentlemanly "please" gesture.
Bai Ling chose the "Sicilian Defense" opening, which was the most frequently used opening in the chess field, without hesitation.
This opening is known for its fierce struggle and complex layout, and it tests the player's brain computing ability.
What's more worth mentioning is that this is a fast game. On average, each person has no more than 30 seconds to think about each move. It requires both sides to be tense, physically and mentally committed, and have their souls entangled and immersed in the fight.
...sense the opponent's train of thought, guess the opponent's ideas, get details from every micro-expression of the opponent's mouth, and then seize the opportunity to break through the solid fortress, and be so excited about conquering the city that your scalp numbs.
Until one side fell, he was pulled off the throne and became a prisoner.
Bai Ling called it "Half an Hour of Hunting Pleasure".
Right from the start, Yu Chen was slightly surprised by Bai Ling's crazy attack.
"Attack."
Bai Ling ate his horse without mercy and threw it aside with a "bang".
Yu Chen smiled and said, "So he is a mature and experienced berserker."
Bai Ling played with the King chess piece between his fingers, and threatened him meaningfully: "Give up the game as soon as possible. Since there is enough time, I can still make you feel comfortable."
Yu Chen replayed the chessboard in his mind and calmly analyzed the next ten moves in one second, while curling his lips:
"Thank you for your thoughtfulness. I will definitely enjoy your 'comfort' when I have the chance."
"Walk from E4 to C5."
The chessboard consists of 64 small squares, each of which has its own name. They are numbered A to H from left to right and 1 to 8 from bottom to top.
At the beginning, Yu Chen called out the number and Bai Ling helped him move the chess pieces.
Afterwards, the black and white pieces rushed into the center of the battlefield, creating chaos. Bai Ling felt that it was troublesome to make a move for him, so he threw the chess piece away, lay back on the sofa, closed his eyes and imagined the 64 small squares with interlaced shadows in his mind -
Start playing blind chess.
Blind chess does not require a real chessboard. Players can rely on their powerful memory to form a lasting three-dimensional image in their minds. Every time the formation changes, the brain needs to be refreshed.
Bai Ling used to dislike this way of playing.
It consumes too much brain power. People with insufficient mental strength will feel pain in their brain stem after playing for two or three minutes. Their scalp will feel tight and disappear in an instant, and they will forget all the control steps.
——A show-off game that belongs only to top players.
But Mr. D is particularly good at playing blind chess.
He attacked at an extremely fast speed and had terrifying computing power, leaving the opponent almost no time to breathe or think. He was once suspected to be an artificial intelligence under the skin.
Whenever Bai Ling was matched against him, he would always be defeated in less than three minutes.
At this time, the other party will send a message: "It's okay, three minutes is also great."
It carries a strong sense of pity, which can make people angry at the first sight.
Bai Ling was so angry that he repeatedly smashed his window and threw [Start Invitation Link] to him every day, which was more violent than dropping bombs in an air raid.
Mr. D had a good temper. He came online slowly, selected a link he liked, clicked on it, checked into a room, and waited for Bai Ling.
"Open?"
"open."
We were very quiet and kept in touch with each other, on and off for more than ten years.
When Bai Ling was 35 years old, he suddenly suffered from a mental disorder.
His concentration was poor and he had nightmares when he fell asleep. He would even lose focus when operating a mecha. Once he lost control in mid-air and nearly fell to his death.
The doctor diagnosed that this was a sequelae of his differentiation failure and hormonal disorder.
Conservative treatment is recommended, and taking some vitamins to improve energy.
Bai Ling took the medicine as prescribed by the doctor, but his condition became worse and worse. In serious cases, he even became unconscious and sent random messages to others.
[Compass]: &*#%I#@
[Desserped]: Broken?
[Compass]: ...Sorry, my hand slipped just now.
[Desserped]: This is the seventeenth time you've slipped this month.
[Compass]: Thank you for remembering it so clearly.
[Desserped]: Well, I'll review our chat.
[Compass]:?
[Desserped]: I feel mentally exhausted sometimes. Would you like to learn to play blindfolded chess with me? It may help warm up your brain and alleviate the problem.
[Desserped]: Even more wrong. "Drill" hotter.
[Compass]: As for the brain, you can do whatever you want with it. Come on.
Playing blind chess does not require physical objects and is not restricted by time or place. It can be started anytime, anywhere and ended anytime, anywhere.
Under the guidance of Mr. D, Bai Ling gradually developed the habit. He would use his spare time in the command tent on Yexing, where artillery fire was raging.
Whenever the revolutionary army was in a stalemate, short of supplies, and extremely exhausted physically and mentally, he would go online to challenge his opponents, madly attacking cities, looting and killing them all, in an effort to relieve the tremendous pressure in reality.
After winning a lap, the last stop is always Mr. D’s.
Mr. D's chess style is strong and sticky, and it is impenetrable. It is a classic romantic style of play with bold and open moves.
It's like an invisible giant hand pinching the back of a person's neck, curling up the tail of a poisonous snake in gentle suffocation, and slowly leading the person into the numb and excited brain. Until the moment of "death", the person is unaware of the danger.
Anyone targeted by Mr. D is like a trapped beast with nowhere to go, with every nerve stretched to the limit. They are forced into a corner, on the edge of collapse, unwilling to face death but with little hope. In the nervous tension of ultra-high voltage computing power, adrenaline is full, the whole body is supplying blood to the brain, and in that highly concentrated state, you can't even feel the existence of your limbs for a moment. You can only hallucinate the blood rushing, madly, and hotly in your cerebral blood vessels.
Checkmate
As soon as the mechanical prompt sounded, the game ended.
I fell suddenly from the top of the high waves into the valley, feeling sore all over. When Bai Ling reaches middle age, he would curl up in the cold quilt, sweating profusely, struggling to cover his face of shame, his hot naked shoulders trembling.
After the brain nerves are squeezed to the limit, the final relief will give people the illusion of bungee jumping-like relaxation and...happiness.
——On the battlefield, this is one of the few entertainment activities for a lonely veteran.
"Checkmate." A mellow and magnetic voice emerged in the background.
Got pierced.
Bai Ling opened his eyes suddenly as if struck by an electric current, and his lazy curly blonde hair dazzled his vision.
...The frequency is mixed up, this is not that gentleman.
It's that flirtatious old thing.
The air was filled with the intoxicating sour smell of fermentation. Yu Chen instinctively took a deep sniff and greedily took in the sea buckthorn pheromones into his nostrils.
A hint of darkness flashed across his eyes, and he asked carefully: "Your breathing just now was not right, are you feeling uncomfortable?"
"...No." Bai Ling grabbed his coat in an attempt to cover up his mistake and stood up panting. He swallowed his saliva to slow down his breath, and said as if he was escaping:
"You win."
He walked to the door with trembling calves, his wet pants sticking to his thighs, making him fall down leaning against the door frame in shame.
The AI monitored the pheromones exploding in the air, found the source of moisture, and lifted the blanket on the sofa where the oil-leaking mechanical bird had sat:
"Please move aside. I need to dry the blankets."
Dong, there was a violent sound of a door closing in the distance, and the bird ran away.
Yu Chen also stood up, took two unnatural steps toward the depths of the study, and suddenly stopped.
His blond hair rubbed his shoulders impatiently, he tugged at his abstinent collar, and metallic scales faintly appeared on the red neck.
The AI dutifully asked: "Master, you are going to the small bathroom. Do you need to prepare the bath water in advance?"
"No. I'll take a cold shower."
After saying that, Yu Chen licked his teeth impatiently, pulled out the belt from his waist, held his right hand with bulging veins, and ordered:
"Give me that blanket. I'll be in the bathroom for a while, so you don't have to come in and wait on me."
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