The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

"It is impolite not to reciprocate. As a great dragon, it cannot allow a lowly two-legged insect to make a lot of demands without making any demands of its own. This is disgraceful."

"Therefore, it also has a condition that you need to accept."

When Li Yin heard this, a hint of surprise flashed across his eyes.

He raised his head with difficulty. Seeing this, Du Feiya quickly stretched out a hand to rest on the back of his neck, and with her help, Li Yin finally raised his head and looked at the dragon.

But he saw that the crystal clear, mountain-like sapphire dragon still had its huge jaw slightly open, staring at him with its big, flickering eyes that were full of wisdom.

Li Yin noticed that its upper and lower jaws were trembling slightly at an extremely high frequency, and the teeth of an oversized crystal sword were colliding with each other, making a clicking sound.

Based on his previous memories, Li Yin discerned that this was the dragon smiling, especially the expression when it was sneering.

He felt a chill down his spine and suddenly had a bad feeling.

"What are its requirements?" He choked up and asked Du Feiya nervously, "If I lose, we will die. Isn't this condition enough?"

Du Feiya fell silent for a moment. Li Yin couldn't easily turn his head due to his broken cervical vertebra, so he didn't notice Du Feiya's face flushed instantly.

"It has already predicted your words," Du Feiya said. "It said that it is not enough, especially for... for a despicable, arrogant, and shit-mouthed human insect like you."

“So, it says…”

"Say you just said something ridiculous, like you could beat it with your asshole."

"If you can't prove that your chess skills are on the same level as your boasting."

"—your asshole will pay for this."

Li Yin's butt, which was about to lose consciousness, suddenly felt cold, and the core area tightened.

"Seriously?" he confirmed subconsciously.

"It... said this," Du Feiya answered in a soft voice, very embarrassedly.

Li Yin grimaced and gasped.

But when the time comes, all you can do is go ahead.

"No need to help me," he told Du Feiya after a slight hesitation, "Just stand up and tell it to start."

Du Feiya took her hand away from Li Yin, stood up, and began to talk to the dragon. Then she suddenly realized that she didn't need to stand up. She could still communicate with the dragon even if she sat on the ground and stayed beside Li Yin, which was what she did just now.

The reason why she stood up was because she did it subconsciously at Li Yin's instruction. Li Yin couldn't have said such nonsense for no reason - her keen intuition told her. But why?

Just as this doubt arose in her mind, she suddenly heard Li Yin's scream of "Ouch" beside her.

She turned her head hastily, and saw that Li Yin, whose bones were all broken, had somehow managed to stand up with half of his body supported. He raised his head, pointed at the dragon, opened his mouth wide, and seemed to be preparing to declare something. But his toughness only went so far. His trembling body completely lost its balance in the next moment, and he fell forward.

Du Feiya looked in the direction where his body was leaning forward, and couldn't help but screamed "Ouch". In front of them was not flat ground, but a big pit that was previously smashed by the dragon's force field breath! Du Feiya's heart sank, and she reached out to grab him, but it was too late. She was much taller than Li Yin. At this moment, she stood straight, but Li Yin was half bent and kept falling to the ground. She reached out her hand, but only caught nothing, and heard a plop. Then there was a series of rolling sounds accompanied by screams. She watched Li Yin tumble into the bottom of the pit, and his broken body twisted and convulsed at the bottom of the pit.

"Li Yin!" Du Feiya called out in a panic. She carefully moved her feet to the edge of the huge pit, squatted down, grabbed the ground with both hands, and was about to climb down.

"No, no, just stay there." Li Yin's voice suddenly came from the bottom of the pit. He groaned in pain and said, "It hurts so much, I don't want to go through this again."

Du Feiya was slightly stunned. She knew that Li Yin was covered in wounds and the slightest touch would cause him unspeakable pain, so she didn't want to go down and help him up herself.

"Then..." Du Feiya asked hesitantly, "We won't come up, I'll just... come down to look after you?"

“No, no, no,” Li Yin said quickly, “You have to stay up there to prevent that guy from cheating.”

Chapter 178: Beginning

Du Feiya rolled her eyes and felt that what Li Yin said made sense. There couldn't be no one there. This was a matter of life and death for them. If this giant dragon had poor chess character and secretly tampered with the chess game, then it really wouldn't work.

Of course, she was also very worried about the safety of Li Yin who had fallen into the pit. However, although he was groaning in pain, his voice was still strong. He once said that he had a special physique, which could be compared to those nearly immortal constructs...

So Du Feiya suppressed the uneasiness in her heart and stood up again.

At this moment, another series of screams came from the dragon. It was confused by the inexplicable behavior of the two little bugs and asked them impatiently when they could start. Du Feiya briefly explained the situation and then conveyed the dragon's answer to Li Yin:

"It is outrageous that a lowly insect would question the character of a great dragon."

"But it's okay. You narrow-minded bugs can just watch from above, so that you won't judge others by your own standards and refuse to admit your mistakes after losing."

"But," it tilted its head again and asked in confusion, "how can we play chess if the human bugs stay down there all the time?"

"Should we switch to the Elf Bug and me?"

"Tell it," Li Yin's painful but still teasing voice came loudly from the bottom of the pit, "I can remember all the chess pieces and their positions on the chessboard. I will do the talking and you will be responsible for moving the chess pieces."

"This is a simple matter. Can't a great dragon's brain even do something as simple as memorizing a chess game?"

"This is a small matter that a great dragon can certainly accomplish easily with its brain, and it's easier than for human insects." The dragon's voice was calm.

"Also, when you translate, tell him that the last sentence can be cut out. I've already said that this kind of pointless provocation will have no effect."

There was a rumbling sound overhead.

The dragon has begun to move the chess pieces that had been pushed over, restoring the chessboard.

It did not lie, both sides had the ability to remember the chess game. Before, it accused Li Yin and Du Feiya of ruining its chess game, but it was more angry about the scratches on the chess pieces and the smashed chessboard. As for the claim that the results of many days of research and thinking were destroyed, it was somewhat taking advantage of the situation and making trouble.

Since the dragon had previously refuted Li Yin's claim of a "dead end", it was only natural that this game would be played on the basis of the previous endgame. Li Yin played the black pieces, which was the side that had set up the "secret sword killing tactics". The dragon played the white pieces, which was the side it originally occupied. It had been thinking about how to break this "dead end" and claimed that it had found the secret to winning and was now going to show it.

Before starting the game, to be on the safe side, Li Yin first checked the positions of each chess piece with Du Feiya to confirm that the chess pieces that were knocked over during the fight had returned to their proper positions in his mind.

Then, he went over the rules of the game with the dragon in detail. Although based on the image of the chess pieces and the format of the chessboard, he judged that this game called war chess by the dragon should be the same as the military chess he played on the surface world, but it is not ruled out that the two sides differentiated their own game rules during the process of transmission and evolution.

And if the rules of the game were slightly different, what he had previously called a "dead end" would probably become a joke.

Fortunately, after a comparison, Li Yin found that the rules of "war chess" and "military chess" are exactly the same. The magician chess is extremely powerful and can launch long-range attacks, but it needs to "chant" for a round before launching an attack, and it cannot move during the chanting. The knight chess can charge and charge, but the longer the distance, the more you need to be vigilant about the path you pass, because once you pass near the ambushed "thief", you will be eaten by the thief's "trap". There are also priests who can defend against magic attacks around them... The identities of other chess pieces are also revealed one by one as they are checked. The corresponding chess pieces can be found in the military chess in Li Yin's memory, and the usage is exactly the same.

only one……

"Dragon chess?" The words coming from Du Feiya made Li Yin confused, "What kind of chess is this?"

This character does not exist at all in Lahya's military chess.

Du Feiya looked at the dragon statue near the center line of the field. It was obviously two sizes larger than the surrounding chess pieces and looked like a smaller version of the dragon in front of her. She listened carefully to the sapphire dragon's serious and arrogant description:

"This is the Dragon Lord, the key to the entire chess game. All the other chess pieces are servants of the dragon, responsible for guarding the Dragon Lord and sacrificing their lives to protect their Dragon Lord when necessary."

"I see." Li Yin chuckled, "In the world above, we call this chess piece the king."

The only condition for either side to win is to kill the other side's king.

The last bit of doubt is cleared up.

"Lucky lady," he breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the localization of these dragons was not too extreme, only the names were slightly changed, and no changes were made to the rules. You know, rules are the basis of the game. If the rules of the game are slightly different, the so-called "dead end" he had previously thought would probably become a joke.

There was another rumbling sound of friction coming from the ground.

"The dragon moved its 'Guard' located in the second row of the fifth column forward one space." With Du Feiya's clear explanation, the game officially began.

Li Yin breathed a sigh of relief again, as this move was consistent with the opponent's response method recorded in the chess book.

"Sixth column, third row, knight chess, three squares forward," Li Yin gave instructions according to the diagram in his memory.

Du Feiya pushed the chess piece with difficulty. With her strength, it was not easy to push these tall statues. Li Yin, who was lying at the bottom of the pit, could even hear her heavy breathing.

After a moment, the friction sound stopped and the chess piece fell into place.

The dragon did not respond immediately, but fell into silence, apparently thinking about the next solution.

Li Yin also took this opportunity to use his brain as much as possible to recall the chess game.

But no matter how hard he tried, he found in despair that he could only remember the next three steps clearly at most, and the position of the fourth step was uncertain... The future trend could only be "deduce by himself" by him, a novice in military chess, and he had been wandering in the underground world for a long time and had never touched military chess.

But then again... for a newbie like him, is there really a big difference between being inexperienced and being experienced?

Li Yin reluctantly gave himself a negative answer.

A few minutes later, the heavy friction sound was heard again.

According to Du Feiya's report, this time the dragon moved his "palace" back three squares. This was also in line with the move recorded in the chess book, not surprising.

The reason why a dead end is a dead end is that the loser has already calculated all possible optimal solutions for each move in the endgame, but even so, he cannot win. If he does not do this, he will only die faster.

Of course, the specific situation needs to be analyzed specifically. For example, the current situation is a little different. Its opponent, Li Yin, is a half-baked chess player who is not very good at chess. He doesn't even remember all the chess records and can't even recite them by heart. In this case, if it can make one or two "stupid moves" that are not in the chess records, and accidentally make Li Yin lose his composure and reveal some flaws, it may be able to find a glimmer of hope...

This is one of the reasons why Li Yin had previously asked the dragon to stop its mind detection. If the dragon detected that its memory was incomplete during the game of chess, it would most likely do so.

As for the other reason... After avoiding the mind detection, Li Yin could also think about how to escape after the defeat - although the possibility of success was very small. But if he did not avoid the mind detection, the probability of failure was 100%, because no matter how perfect the plan was, it would be transmitted to the dragon's mind in detail along with the excitement the moment it was thought of.

In fact, at this moment, Li Yin was already executing a small part of his "escape plan".

Because now he is at the "bottom of the pit".

Feeling countless tiny streams of cool air entering his body through the parts of his body that were in contact with the ground, Li Yin felt an indescribable sense of comfort rising from his originally painful limbs. The original painful feeling gradually subsided, replaced by a sense of vitality like a germinating seed.

Possessing the special physique of a ghoul, he has the ability to recover quickly in the tunnel!

Covered by the dripping blood, the bloody wounds were healing rapidly. Inside the body, the originally broken bones were gradually returning to their original positions and reorganizing, giving Li Yin's body, which was as soft as a pile of dead meat, a full sense of support.

If Li Yin had not negotiated with the dragon to turn off its mind detection ability, he would not be able to lie leisurely at the bottom of the pit now. The moment this thought came to his mind, he would most likely be fanned back up by the dragon's tail before he could fall to the bottom of the pit.

After pretending to be in deep thought for a while, Li Yin again instructed Du Feiya to move his chess piece according to the chess record.

The dragon once again fell into long thoughts.

Taking this opportunity, Li Yin recovered from his injuries while calming down. He began to think about his future moves according to the predictions made by the giant dragon and the chess record.

Secret Sword Killing Technique… He began to recall some other information about this endgame—even if he couldn’t remember the entire chess record, if he tried to stick to the original idea of ​​the chess game when thinking, it should be easier to make the same moves as the original ones. “Secret Sword Killing Technique”, which sounds a bit like the name of a foolish young wandering warrior’s dream story, is actually a very realistic name. Secret represents the magician, and the sword represents the knight. This endgame mainly relies on the cooperation of the magician and the knight to put the opponent to death. Therefore, the focus of his next move should also be on these two types of chess.

It is worth mentioning that this move is quite straightforward and easy to understand, and it is widely spread, so it is easy to be discovered and avoided during the layout stage. But at this moment, since the situation has already been established, Li Yin does not have this worry. He only needs to consolidate his advantage, try not to make any mistakes, and continue the game.

One step, two steps, three steps... Li Yin's eyes flickered as he immersed himself in thought. As time passed, he was surprised to find that the chess move he had deduced had reached seven steps.

An important indicator of the strength of a military chess player is the player's calculation ability. Li Yin remembered that when he was in the earthly world before, he could only deduce military chess to three or four steps at most - this was of course also because he was not interested in it, and he would stop immediately when he felt a little troublesome, automatically emptying his mind. However, the many chess pieces on the chessboard have endless variations, and the calculation power required for each additional step of deduction increases exponentially. He can now deduce as many as seven steps, and still have spare power, which should not only be due to the burst of potential under the pressure of survival.

Perhaps... Li Yin recalled his previous experience, and the fusion with the Mind Flayer larva was also an important reason. This was the second time he felt that his brain power had been significantly improved.

What's more interesting is that as his mind continues to expand and his brain runs at full speed, he suddenly discovers that the ghoul's quick recovery property not only affects his body, but also his mind. In the past, Li Yin's body was tireless due to the characteristics of undead creatures, but after overusing his brain, he would still feel exhausted on the mental level.

But now he was lying at the bottom of the pit, and as the cool air trickled in, he suddenly realized that the anxiety of his brain running at full speed was gone in an instant, as if it was neutralized by the cool air pouring in from under his body. After a long period of thinking, his brain did not feel any effort or fatigue.

This is a good sign for his next game.

He felt slightly excited and began to deduce the eighth move.

After a while, there was another heavy friction sound on the ground—the dragon moved the chess piece again.

After listening to Du Feiya's report, Li Yin burst out laughing.

As expected, the dragon's moves once again matched the records in the chess book.

However, his laughter was not meant to mock the dragon sincerely - he was not sure of winning at the moment, and all his energy was focused on winning, so he would not do such a boring thing...

On the ground, the Sapphire Dragon, who had just finished his move and immediately fell into deep thought, suddenly heard a slight but very obvious sneer coming from the bottom of the pit.

This guy... The muscles around the dragon's eye sockets twitched slightly. Did this dragon take the wrong path?

It raised its paw and scratched its head, feeling a little uncertain and even a little anxious.

No, that's not right. After it thought for a moment, a ray of light suddenly burst out from the depths of its pupils.

This guy once said that the chess game he was studying was a dead end with no solution. In other words, in his eyes, there should be no correct way to play chess. Since there is no "correct" way, what is "wrong"?

Chapter 179 Hiding a Hand

In that case, there shouldn't be any reason for that guy to laugh at me. So...

The dragon's azure vertical pupils glowed, and it was still using the same old tricks. Was it deliberately mocking me and angering me? This damn cunning and despicable human!

But wait - in the midst of indignation, the dragon thought for a moment and suddenly keenly realized that there was something indescribably wrong.

It tilted its head and pondered for a while, and finally figured out where the abnormality came from.

If - it means if, if this cunning human insect really has the confidence to win, then why would it make itself angry by adding unnecessary trouble?

From the perspective of the human insect, at this moment, shouldn't it flatter me as much as possible and try every possible way to please me in the hope that I will fulfill my promise faithfully after the end?

It is not a wise move to mock and provoke me so blatantly.

Of course, there is another possibility, that is, the human insect laughed at itself because the path it took was the same as it expected.

However, this was already their third move. If the first three moves were exactly the same, then it would have laughed at me long ago, without waiting until now. And, more importantly, if the moves I made were not beyond its expectations, it would mean that it was still confident of winning. So, based on the above reasons, it should not laugh at me or anger me...

The Sapphire Dragon did not think that the arrogance and joy of victory would be enough to overwhelm the minds of the human bugs and make them rashly show such contempt. Especially, it had seen the extremely respectful attitude they had deliberately displayed in front of it in order to survive. These cowardly bugs...don't look at them so arrogant, if survival requires, they can be very "humble"!

So, why is that…?

unless--