Ark Chess Player

"I know a little Longmen dialect, let me handle the negotiations, no problem."

Yeti Number One patted its chest confidently, exuding an air of pride.

"Wow, you can speak Lungmenese?!" Big Bear from the Yeti Squad's eyes widened in disbelief. He had the education of a second-year junior high school student and always boasted that he was the most educated person among the Yetis! How dare this mere Yeti Number One stand above him! Damn it, he wanted to show off his blindness in front of Big Sister, but his limelight was completely stolen!

"Hehe, watch closely!"

Yeti One thought for a moment, then took off his mask, revealing a young and fair face.

Perhaps because he looked harmless, the middle-aged woman was not as nervous as before.

Yeti Number One pulled a crumpled little comic book from his pocket. It was only the size of a palm, with some illustrations, and he had flipped through it countless times. In the quiet of the night, Yeti Number One would always sit by the fire, endlessly reading this book he had exchanged with an infected person from Lungmen. The words were annotated, so even he could understand them.

"Cough cough."

Yeti Number One squatted on the ground, disregarding his image. He opened the book, glanced at it, and almost got engrossed again, quickly shaking his head to clear his head. He looked up at the nervous middle-aged woman, carefully considered his words and pronunciation, went over them in his mind, and then smiled.

Yeti Number One said with great emotion: "You damn airport gossip, so many bastards have died, but you haven't been poked in the head and pierced through. What are you so afraid of?"

The middle-aged woman's face changed drastically. She hugged her daughter and tried to back away, but she was already hiding in a corner with no way out.

She yelled, "What are you doing?! Don't come any closer! If you come any closer, I'll kill you!"

Yeti One was taken aback. Although he could recite what was in the book, it didn't mean he could understand it.

The other Yeti team members in the ruins didn't understand either, but seeing the middle-aged woman respond, they instinctively assumed Yeti One had successfully communicated with her. Everyone burst into applause, a thunderous roar erupting in cheers. They praised Yeti One, and some even removed their masks to wipe away tears of relief, never expecting to have another cultured member among their brothers and sisters besides Big Bear.

Although he still had to read from the translated book, at least he could speak it. This was probably the feeling of having a top scholar in the village.

Big Bear was stunned. This kid actually did it?

Amidst cheers and applause, the middle-aged woman was stunned.

"You people are devils!" She merely asked this seemingly sunny and handsome young man what he planned to do, and casually warned him not to come any closer, or she would die right there in front of him! As soon as she finished speaking, everyone excitedly applauded, the applause was thunderous—were they implying she was being forced to die? Sure enough, none of the infected are good people; they've invaded this city and intend to kill everyone!!

"Everyone, calm down! Calm down! Don't scare them!"

Yeti Number One couldn't stop smiling. It was the first time he had been admired by so many people. This feeling was absolutely amazing!

Perhaps because everyone's impression of Yeti One had changed, when he spoke, everyone stopped and watched him quietly.

Enjoying the admiring gazes of the crowd, Yeti Number One shifted his position, flipped through two more pages, and found suitable dialogue from the scenes depicted in the illustrations.

"Don't be scared, it's no use being scared, I'll still kick you. We're the Reunion Movement, here to keep an eye on you! We're your strongest big brother! If you have any questions, you can tell us! We'll kindly explain it to you, I'll throw you a rem!"

"You can kill me all you want! I'm begging you for one thing: don't hurt my son!"

The middle-aged woman broke down. She couldn't understand why this young man could utter such threatening words with such a pure and innocent smile, nor could she comprehend why these infected people were toying with her. She was just an ordinary person; why should she suffer such treatment?

"Uh-huh."

Yeti No. 1 nodded as if he understood, and quickly flipped through the comic book to find the most suitable scene.

His expression was solemn as he said in a deep voice, "Don't worry! The most important thing for a family is to be together. Your dad, your mom, your younger brother, your younger sister, and your son, Tseung Kwan—no one should be missing. The most important thing in life is to be happy. Are you happy? I'm very happy!"

The middle-aged woman fell silent; she even put down the fire poker in her hand, and the child in her arms stopped crying as well.

"He did it!"

When the soldiers of the Reunion Movement saw the mother lay down her weapon, they applauded excitedly, and some hugged each other to commemorate the moment.

This was the first time in history that an Oripathy patient had moved people with sincere words, and both sides laid down their weapons and sat down to talk properly! This was a historic moment, worthy of being recorded in history, and the Yeti Squad was proud of Yeti One.

"It's nothing, it's nothing."

Yeti Number One stood up with a flourish, winking at the intellectual bear, feeling incredibly pleased with himself.

Big Bear looked strange. No matter how he listened, he couldn't believe that what Yeti Number One was saying was human language. It felt like... it was uncensored Lungmen profanity.

"What did you mean by those words?" Big Bear asked.

"Want to know? Beg me, and I'll tell you."

Yeti Number One stood proudly with his hands on his hips, feeling more exhilarated than ever before, and couldn't help but chuckle to himself.

No wonder Big Bear always looks at him with the eyes of someone who cares for intellectually disabled children; that feeling of being superior is just too good!

Big Bear didn't speak; he silently drew his sword.

"Stop, friend, don't be like this, it's not that serious!" Yeti Number One quickly backed down, honestly saying, "What I meant before was that you don't need to be afraid! There are no bad guys here, and I will protect you. We are the Reunion Movement, here to rescue you. We, the Reunion Movement, are your best big brothers. If you have any questions, you can tell us, and we will answer them kindly!"

Big Bear sheathed his knife. "And the next line?"

"Next line? Let me see... I've got it!" Yeti Number One said confidently. "I told her not to worry, the most important thing for a family is to be safe and sound. Your dad, your mom, your brothers and sisters, and your pets, none of them can be hurt. I also comforted her, saying that you can't keep looking at the past, you have to be happy! Like me, no matter how difficult things are now, you have to smile and be strong!"

"Good! Good! Good!"

The soldiers of the Reunion Movement applauded again, their applause thunderous, to support this cultured young man!

What a kind person! If ordinary people were willing to treat them like this boy, who would be willing to fight to the death?

Big Bear's expression instantly turned strange. He looked at the Lungmen civilians who were radiating an aura of despair and roughly guessed the reason.

—What Yeti One said can be understood in reverse.

Froststar noticed it too. She sighed helplessly and asked, "What kind of book is that?"

"Let me see, 'Emotional Intelligence,' is there a problem? The person who gave me the book told me that by relying on this book to get to Longmen, and persisting in communicating with people for a month, I could get promoted and become successful. I traded a day's rations for it with him. He said that if he had gotten this book earlier, he might not have ended up in this situation."

Feeling a little uncomfortable under Frostnova's gaze, Yeti Number One scratched his head, flipped through the contents, and explained, "There are a lot of comforting words in here, such as... Strawberry, apple, orange... Sorry I forgot to pay you last night... Go see a vet if you're sick!"

"Wow ah ah ah!!!"

The middle-aged woman finally couldn't hold back anymore; she held her young child and burst into tears.

Who could bear such injustice?

The crowd fell silent instantly, and no one applauded.

Yeti One, under the gaze of countless people, was momentarily panicked.

He wanted to show the book to Froststar, but then remembered that his older sister had never been to school, so he pushed the book to Big Bear instead.

"Take a look and see if there are any problems."

Big Bear looked helpless, reached out and took the book, and found that the words on the cover translated to "Emotional Intelligence".

but……

Why is there a layer of tape on the book title?

Big Bear picked at the tape stuck to the book cover, peeled it off, and found that a word was being covered up.

"Low Emotional Intelligence"

The author's signature is also on the side.

"Lin Lu."

Big Bear turned to the first page.

"This book is dedicated to those who are frustrated in their careers. By avoiding the above behaviors, you can get promoted, receive a raise, marry a beautiful and wealthy woman, and become a CEO in no time."

Big Bear turned to the second page.

"Special online sale! Scan the QR code to order the sequel 'High Emotional Intelligence' now and get 50% off! Plus, a free set of 'Five Years of College Entrance Exams and Three Years of Make-up Exams'!"

"What kind of books are you reading?!"

Big Bear angrily threw the book on the ground and hurriedly told the frightened mother in broken Lungmen dialect that things were not as she thought, trying his best to comfort her, but his Lungmen dialect was not as fluent as Yeti One's.

Yeti Number One blushed and quickly put on the mask, hiding behind Petrova.

"Embarrassing."

Petrova retorted mercilessly.

"Misunderstanding, misunderstanding, it's all a misunderstanding," Yeti Number One whispered.

Froststar sighed softly. She picked up the book that Big Bear had thrown on the ground and looked at the words on it.

Although Frostnova was illiterate, she had learned some simple words from a friend named Alina.

"Lin Lu."

She recognized the name.

Froststar brushed the dust off the book, carefully put it away, and came to the commoner mother and daughter.

"do not be afraid."

Froststar knew the other person probably wouldn't understand what she was saying, but that didn't matter; sometimes actions speak louder than words.

As the temperature dropped slightly, a fine Originium Arts technique was applied to the middle-aged woman's hands, which were scalded and ulcerated from holding a fire poker. Although it could not heal her injuries, it could alleviate her pain.

The middle-aged woman was stunned.

Froststar smiled, and beautiful ice crystal flowers bloomed in her hands, twirling and dancing before the weeping little girl. Gradually, the young child's gaze was drawn to the beautiful magic, and a smile slowly appeared on her face as she reached out to grasp the flowers.

The next moment, a strong tremor struck, and the floating ice crystal flowers shattered.

The dazzling ice crystals reflected the girl's helpless face.

"Enemy attack—!!"

The heart-wrenching roars of Reunion soldiers echoed from outside the ruins.

Chapter 422 Damn it, why?! (Bonus Chapter)

"Take them away quickly! You few, escort them to a safe place!"

Froststar quickly stood up and gave orders to the members of the Yeti Squad.

A soldier from the Reunion Movement frowned. "I've been wanting to say this for a while now: they're not infected, and we still have many compatriots who haven't been evacuated. How long are we going to waste?"

Froststar stared at him silently, her eyes flashing with a fierce light, which frightened the talkative man so much that he retreated repeatedly.

Big Bear rolled his eyes at the man helplessly and complained, "What time is it? Why do you still care if they're infected or not? If we just stand by and watch them die, what's the difference between us and those Ursus soldiers? What's the difference between us and those raincoats who kill anyone they see? Uh, Mrs. Big Bear, let's call it a day and go home, shall we?"

Big Bear tried to explain to the middle-aged woman in broken Longmen dialect, and after a few words, they finally reached an agreement.

"Big sister, we'll be right back. If necessary, we can withdraw your power. We'll be fine."

Big Bear adjusted the backpack on his shoulder, which contained Originium that Frostnova had enchanted, imbued with Frostnova's power.

Froststar smiled, picked up her Originium Staff and short sword, and said confidently, "By the time you come back, I may have already taken care of them. Let's go."