Infinite Terror: Infinite Reversal

Chapter 339: A Game of Chess?

The training of the Zhongzhou team was not intensified or accelerated because of the next team battle. They maintained the original rhythm and took a break from team sparring every few days. After a simple training session, everyone was allowed to go back to their rooms to practice or rest on their own.

One day before lunch, before everyone had arrived, those who had arrived earlier chatted in Zhang Jie's living room.

Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha sat facing each other, a chessboard in front of them... The two picked up black and white pieces, silent, as if contemplating their next move. The others chatted while watching their game.

"Sorry, sorry, the inflatable soldiers were blocking the door. It took me a lot of effort to move them." Zhang Heng rushed into Zhang Jie's house with a loud voice.

Seeing that no one responded, Zhang Heng leaned over with some surprise: "Playing Go? A game must take a long time, right? Don't make us wait for you two... Hey, what the hell?"

Zhang Heng rubbed his eyes, his gaze shifting back and forth between Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha's serious faces. Finally, he took a deep breath and said in a deep voice:

"This is Gomoku, right?"

Mu Xiang pondered for a moment, placed his black piece on a dot, and then pushed up his glasses: "Looking down on Gomoku?"

Liu Xi's indifferent voice rang out: "If there are no forbidden moves in Gomoku, it does lack competitiveness... unless neither of you knows how to play."

“You’ve misunderstood. It’s Zheng Zha who doesn’t know how to play Go,” Mu Xiang said, gazing at the Go board.

Zheng Zha held a white piece, looking at the black and white pieces on the chessboard that were attacking each other, and seemed unable to make up his mind for a while.

“If you can’t figure it out, why don’t you just simulate Mu Xiang’s thinking? It’s just Gomoku, so it’s easy to simulate his thought process, right?” Zhang Heng brought over a small stool and plopped down on the coffee table. “Besides, didn’t you say that the computing power of the third-order gene lock is the same as that of a supercomputer? ... But your thinking time is longer than that of a simple computer on a TV.”

Zhan Lan looked at the chessboard, shook her head, and then said to Zhang Heng, "You took the little sister's stool."

Lingdian was sitting on the other end of the sofa, holding his little sister. Hearing this, he waved his hand to indicate that he was fine, and then stared intently at the chessboard.

Zhang Jie, smoking a cigarette, seemed quite interested in the game as well. He exhaled a puff of smoke towards Zhang Heng, the smoke seemingly held back by something, not dissipating anywhere else: "What's that saying again? A true gentleman observes chess without speaking."

"I'm an assassin, not a gentleman..." Zhang Heng muttered.

Seeing that Zheng Zha hadn't made a move yet, the others showed no impatience whatsoever. Only Zhang Heng, who had just arrived, was confused and wanted to urge him but was afraid of being scolded by Zhang Jie again. Seeing his almost scratching-headed appearance, those who glanced at him couldn't help but smile.

Zheng Zha breathed a sigh of relief and carefully placed the white piece on the chessboard.

It was only then that Zhang Heng realized that this piece was not a single-sided piece like in Gomoku... but a double-sided piece!
He was stunned for a moment, because all the pieces on the chessboard were clearly convex on top and flat on the bottom!
Zheng Zha's white piece landed on the chessboard, and then the raised area below it seemed to disappear into thin air, merging directly into the chessboard.

This move was merely a last resort. Although Mu Xiang had already restrained his strategy and hadn't even used much thought... the white pieces were still somewhat under pressure.

Just as Zhang Heng was waiting for Mu Xiang to make a good move, Mu Xiang laughed and said, "Can't maintain the balance anymore?"

Zheng Zha shook his head with a wry smile, then looked at Mu Xiang's hand holding the zither.

Mu Xiang casually placed a black piece in a certain spot, leaving Zhang Heng bewildered once again, letting out a "Huh"... This move seemed utterly useless, and might even give the white pieces a chance to counterattack. But Zheng Zha's expression grew increasingly helpless; he didn't reach for a piece, seemingly having given up the struggle.

"Are they both terrible at chess?" Zhang Heng wondered to himself. The next moment, the protrusion below the black piece also merged with the chessboard. When Mu Xiang's finger left the piece, the chessboard suddenly shook, and then all the white pieces bounced into the air.

Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha casually caught the white pieces in the air and put them back into the white pieces' box.

“You win, I admit defeat.” Zheng Zha waved his hand at Mu Xiang, “I am indeed still lacking in the subtlety of pure power.”

As the white pieces were flying around, Zhang Heng's gaze was not on anything else... He stared intently at the chessboard, and saw that the original positions of the white pieces were now covered with indentations.

It turns out that Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha used micro-pressure to directly press the pieces into the board, and the key to their victory was not in Gomoku itself!

The real deciding factor is who can maintain the stability of the entire chessboard and their own pieces...

What astonished Zhang Heng the most was that the chessboard pattern remained unchanged within each of the indentations, as if the chessboard had been reduced in size out of thin air, with the surface grid points simply moved down.

Mu Xiang smiled at Zhang Heng: "Well, do you understand now?"

Zhang Heng remained staring intently at the chessboard, silent for a long time. Then he slammed his hand on the coffee table and looked at everyone: "Don't you find it an eyesore to watch people play chess like this?"

"Hey kid, don't break the coffee table!" Zhang Jie snapped.

"Damn, aren't you afraid they'll break the coffee table, but you're afraid I'll break it?"

Zheng Zha seemed lost in thought. He reached for the chessboard and flipped it several times, but none of the black pieces fell off, as if they had truly become one with the board. After flipping it a few more times, he placed the chessboard back on the coffee table, his fingers resting on it intentionally or unintentionally.

The chessboard's internal structure was completely different, leaving no room for concealment under the touch of his fingers... but he knew this was inevitable; what mattered to him was how Mu Xiang would exert his strength. His fingers trembled almost imperceptibly, and then a force surged upwards, striking all the black pieces on the board.

The force wasn't meant to knock the black piece away; it was perfectly timed, weakening the instant it touched the piece and bouncing back as if it had hit something hard. When the force returned to Zheng Zha's hands, he couldn't help but nod.

When Mu Xiang and Zheng Zha's power ceased to clash, all the moves and methods of exerting force became clear. Zheng Zha lost for two reasons: first, he had only just entered the fourth rank and his expertise lay in the subtle manipulation of energy, which was somewhat inferior to Mu Xiang's, so he was the first to lose his balance; second, during the game, he found it difficult to directly discern Mu Xiang's exertion of force through the changes on the board.

However, Mu Xiang could easily sense the direction of Zheng Zha's force, understand the angle at which each white piece entered the board, and understand the hidden interconnected structure of all of Zheng Zha's white pieces... It was naturally much easier to pop the white pieces off the board.

Lori jumped up from the side and patted Zheng Zha on the back: "You're still the same lousy chess player!" With that, she skipped and hopped to the kitchen.

Zheng Zha watched her leave, then couldn't help but pat his head. Playing Connect Four was a major pastime for the two of them when they were kids, but Zheng Zha could never beat her.

“You’ve just entered the fourth rank, but your control over energy is already very strong… You should compare yourself to Zhang Jie in this regard. I can’t give you much inspiration, or rather, I should rely on the two of you for inspiration.” Mu Xiang pushed up his glasses. “As for the control of power… your level is definitely far above the passing mark of the fourth rank. Don’t worry, just practice slowly.”

Zheng Zha pondered for a moment: "But I'm following the energy path... it has nothing to do with physical strength. I'm afraid I'll be too weak in this area and then hold everyone back."

"It will be related to physical strength, it will be someday..." Mu Xiang smiled.

(End of this chapter)