Before the middle-aged man looked up at him, Qing Chen had thought he was deaf.
Now that the man looked up, Qing Chen almost thought he was the one who was deaf because the noisy area fell silent instantly.
People around them stared at them with unreadable expressions.
Moments ago, this middle-aged man never paid any attention to others' requests for help.
Suddenly, Qing Chen sighed in relief because all this proved that he was right.
The middle-aged man didn't say anything to him but calmly advanced the red pawn as Qing Chen told him to do so.
Then, the man moved a black bishop from five back to seven and captured that pawn that just advanced.
From a distance, Qing Chen quietly watched the chessboard. The "Four Bandits" endgame was well-known back on Earth. It had two different variations, and the one on the chessboard right now was the harder one.
The so-called endgame generally meant that the black side had a definite win, and the red side couldn’t even make a draw. If it was a draw, the endgame would be considered victorious.
However, Qing Chen wouldn't be satisfied with just a draw.
The "Four Bandits" endgame had a unique setup. All four of the red pawns had crossed the border, and both rooks were still on the board.
The situation seemed to be evenly matched for both sides, but every move had the potential of murder and traps. Black could win the game easily with one move, and it would only take one careless mistake for the red to lose the entire game.
This was an endgame that started full of hope and ended in despair.
"Continue," said the man softly.
"Pawn on two, move to three horizontally," replied Qing Chen.
The middle-aged man's eyes lit up. At this time, he seemed to be interested. He was too lazy to fiddle with the chessboard, so he started the game in his mind with Qing Chen, "King advance one on six."
Qing Chen also closed his eyes. "The rear rook advanced four."
"Bishop on seven, retreat to nine."
After the sixth round, Qing Chen suddenly said loudly, "Rook on one, advance to seven!"
The middle-aged man opened his eyes again. He looked at Qing Chen in surprise, "Bishop on five, retreat to seven."
There wasn't much in the first five moves, but now, after this sixth move, both sides would be exchanging pieces every move!
A massacre would be inevitable! Death was just around the corner!
Both sides were filled with courage and determination, prepared to face the cruel endgame.
The two of them were the generals on the battlefield, willing to sacrifice everything to obtain their final victory.
The "Four Bandits" endgame brought up the excitement and bravery of both sides, but behind the excitement were careful calculations of what might happen next.
At the beginning of the game, Qing Chen's red side looked more overpowering, but he sacrificed them one by one in exchange for a better formation, leaving only one left on the board!
Rook on one, shift to four horizontally.
King on four, move to five horizontally.
Cannon on four, move to five horizontally.
Rook on three, move to five horizontally.
On the fifteenth move, Qing Chen finally let out a long suffocating breath. "Pawn on five, advance one forward!"
The fate was determined.
Capture the king!
It was also at this moment that the final rounds of the "Four Bandits" finally burst out their true value. The conflict on the chessboard's borders made the man feel like he was actually on the battlefield mobilizing thousands of troops.
In this game of chess, every move was extremely dangerous.
The middle-aged man was impressed by the fact that the young man in front of him didn't seem to have much life experience yet was able to accurately tell when he should sacrifice and when he should capture.
Not abandoning or giving up was indeed crucial, but in a war, nothing could be won with some sort of sacrifice.
He quietly looked at the young man, who was also looking into him. The young man looked dignified and stubborn.
He seemed to be in a desperate situation, fighting a way out to start a new life
He got it now that he was considering this a simple game of chess, yet his opponent was struggling to survive in an environment surrounded by beasts of steel. Their attitude was fundamentally different.
No one noticed that at that moment, 81 of the 210 surveillance cameras had turned to Qing Chen.
The lenses of the black camera shifted slightly, trying to focus on his face.
No one knew or noticed who was trying to see Qing Chen’s face.
The middle-aged man smiled and placed his black King upside down on the chessboard. "It's interesting that you still know how to play chess. Not many people understand this ancient game anymore. We shall continue tomorrow."
After speaking, he walked toward the reading area, leaving the chessboard behind, which no one dared to touch.
The gray cat on the table stood up and quietly followed the middle-aged man.
The cat looked like a fur ball when it was napping and didn't look very big.
But after it got up, Qing Chen saw that the cat was over a meter long and looked extremely healthy.
When ordinary cats walk gently, people would call that catwalk, but when this cat walked, it could be described as a tiger walk.
All the prisoners on site froze in place. The teenager won the endgame?
To be honest, none of them understood how to play chess, and after they started playing in their minds, the people around them were lost.
There were just too many entertainments in this era, and anything was probably more entertaining than chess.
People could obtain pleasure by inserting a chip directly or bringing their consciousness into the virtual network. It was an era where happiness could be reached cheaply.
Despite the lack of chess's entertainment value, the prisoners were shocked at how Qing Chen won his victory over the middle-aged man.
He had never lost to anyone. No matter if it was a fight or a game of chess.
Honestly, Qing Chen felt a little strange as well. This middle-aged man obviously doesn't even have any mechanical limbs, and his two followers didn't have any on them either, so what made him so respected by the steel beasts in this jail?
The young man who stopped Qing Chen from approaching the middle-aged man blinked and said, "Wow, my name is Lin Xiaoxiao, and his name is Ye Wan. See you tomorrow."
Then he turned and left with the other young man called Ye Wan.
Until now, Qing Chen still hasn't figured out the middle-aged man's name, but knowing his two follower's names was a good start.
The intense atmosphere finally loosened after all three of them walked into the reading area.
Those who were entertaining themselves with the novice inmates were still pulling more of the novices into the cells. There were a total of 12 novice inmates including him, and 9 of them had already been there.
Qing Chen looked around the prison again, no one dared to take advantage of him anymore.
Suddenly, a young man with mechanical legs ran up to Qing Chen and said in a panic, "I'm new here, too. Please help me out. I'll listen to you from now on."
The prisoners around them looked at Qing Chen coldly. After this strange situation, they were unwilling to touch Qing Chen anymore, but if Qing Chen interfered with their normal procedure, then they would be unhappy with that.
Unexpectedly, Qing Chen ignored the young man begging him for help and acted as if he couldn't hear anything.
The other prisoners laughed and dragged the young man away.
He could hear the young man screaming, "My uncle is the director of the Changming Corporation in City 17. I'll make all of you pay…"
Before he could finish his last words, the other prisoners laughed and interpreted, "Unless you are from one of the top five companies, none of the others are mentioned. Even if your uncle comes here, he still can't do anything to help you.
Qing Chen quietly listened to every word, picking out the useful information. He was checking if any more of those novice inmates were from the earth.
After he got transmigrated here, he didn't have any memory of what was happening in this world. He didn't even know how long his prison sentence was.
Qing Chen guessed the others were probably no different than him, so if the young man said that he had a background from the "outside", then he must not be from earth.
Among the 12 novice inmates, the only ones that were from earth were probably the collapsed teenager and him.
For some reason, Qing Chen doesn't feel depressed at all. Instead, he felt… excited to enter this new life.
A completely different life.
This sentence sounded very tempting.
Let's say that your current life is a complete mess, and someone places a button in front of you and says: Press this and it will bring you a new life.
There could be two possible outcomes from pressing this button:
A better life.
Or a worse life.
Would you press it?
Qing Chen felt that he would.
On earth, he felt like someone unnecessary. His father considered him a burden, and his mother no longer saw him as family. He had no other friends and family to talk to.
Qing Chen had already spent two Spring Festivals alone.
Therefore, if his past life was nothing but darkness, then no matter how dangerous, unknown, or terrifying the new world might be, he would still look forward to it.
This was a completely different world. It gave Qing Chen the feeling of rebirth.
If it wasn't because of this countdown, he would be studying hard, trying to earn enough money for everyday living, and later attend a college far far away from home. He would never come back.
But that life was boring.
He believed that there weren't many people that got the chance to transmigrate from the earth, and even if there were thousands or tens of thousands, compared to the vast majority of the earth's population, it would still be a minimal number.
This made him feel special.
Return Countdown 39:31:29.
Qing Chen looked at everything around him silently. He wanted to record all the information in his memory so he could use it later. He could always go back and slowly analyze it later when he was alone in the cell.
On top of an alloy gate next to the open space was a blue holographic projection showing the ticking time. 8:29 AM.
The three-dimensional projection looked novel and eye-catching.
When he was studying his surroundings, another young man saw that other people were walking away and whispered beside Qing Chen’s ear and said, "You finally came, just like the way others have said about you. I'm Lu Guangyi. Qing Yan sent me to wait for you here about three months ago."
Qing Chen: "???"
He looked at this weird person in front of his eyes.
This man named Lu Guangyi was about 24 or 25 years old. With inch-long black hair, Qing Chen noticed his right arm and left leg were replaced with mechanical limbs. His eyes were also mechanical, and Qing Chen could see the inner gears turning as they focused on him.
The mechanical parts of his body seemed different from the other prisoners. In terms of shape and material, his parts looked much more sophisticated.
Qing Chen searched in his memory for this person's behavior.
Only now did he realize that Lu Guangyi had looked at him a total of 21 times during the past hour, and that was only counting when Lu Guangyi was in his field of vision.
Qing Chen didn't know who this person was, but the person's tone told him that they knew each other well.
It must be that he had a specific purpose of entering this prison.
Fearing that too much interaction might cause him to reveal his identity as a transmigrator, he didn't want Lu Guangyi to follow him around for too long, "I don't need your help for the time being. I need some time by myself."
Lu Guangyi's head shook like a rattle toy, "That won't do, sir. I must serve you well."
Qing Chen also shook his head and said, "Here, no one is nobler than anyone else, and there is no need for you to serve me."
Lu Guangyi said flatteringly, "Please use me however you want in the future. I'll be your most loyal dog, the kind that would lick your feet if you so wish!"
Qing Chen was taken aback, what kind of person would utter such shameless words?. "What if I had athlete's foot?" He asked.
Lu Guangyi replied without embarrassment, "Then I can lick it clean for you!"
Qing Chen was silent for a while: "…disgusting."
He tried to force himself to not respond to this nonsense, yet still couldn't help scoffing in disbelief.
Qing Chen was a little confused now. It was obvious that he was still in his original body, but why did he have such a weird relationship with the people of this world?
In other words, has he already existed in this world for many years?
Lu Guangyi, seeing that Qing Chen did not respond, whispered: "This morning I was wondering why you didn't come to me as soon as possible, but never did I think you would use your beginner’s advantage to seek Li Shutong's help. You’re a genius for that move. If we get Li Shutong's assistance, our plan will go that much smoother."
Qing Chen: "…"
What plan?
What are you talking about?
Can you please explain yourself?
Lu Guangyi seemed to be talking to himself at this point, "I have already been here for more than three months, and I have gathered a group of people that you can use. Don't worry, I'll make sure that they will listen to you when you need them."
The man kept going on and on.
Qing Chen felt that this man was ridiculously talkative, but he didn't know how to respond, so he could only listen.
He searched in his memory and found that there were hundreds of people gathered around Lu Guangyi, and all of them were equipped with mechanical limbs.
They must be the “useful people” that he was referring to.
Seeing that Qing Chen still did not speak, he said again in a low voice, "I should warn you about Li Shutong, being close to that man is no different than sleeping with a tiger… one misstep could land you in deep trouble… oops, I said too much."
Qing Chen realized that the Li Shutong he was talking about must be that middle-aged man.
When Lu Guangyi saw that he started playing chess with Li Shutong, Lu Guangyi mistakenly thought it was part of his plan.
However, his true purpose for approaching Li Shutong was not for some fucking plan, but rather, to survive.
"What instructions do you have for me this time?" asked Lu Guangyi all of a sudden.
Qing Chen slowly turned his head to look at the young man, "A llama hopped in from the South."
The young man: "???"
Qing Chen ignored him and turned away, leaving a puzzled Lu Guanyi trying to understand what he said "A llama hopped in from the South? What’s a llama?"