The Heartbeat of the Cruel Elves

A thought suddenly flashed through the Sapphire Dragon's mind.

This cunning human bug - in fact, it has no confidence of winning at all!

That's why it has to provoke itself in this way, making itself lose its mind and reducing its chances of winning!

The Sapphire Dragon's azure eyes suddenly shone brightly, and his confidence instantly increased.

However, in a flash, a hint of doubt flashed across its eyes.

But...what happened to its previous confidence?

I have undoubtedly felt the confidence coming from its heart, which is the main reason why I am willing to condescend to play a game with it.

For a moment, the Sapphire Dragon almost subconsciously used telepathy to detect the mental activities of the tiny insect, but it remembered the previous agreement between the two parties in time and stopped its behavior.

It fell into deep thought again, and decided to rely on wisdom rather than psychic power to uncover the truth behind the fog.

After a while, the clever Sapphire Dragon felt that he had grasped the truth. Undoubtedly, the guy's previous confidence revealed that in his subjective mind, there must be a winning routine for this game of chess, and he had come into contact with this routine before, so he burst out with such strong confidence at the first time.

However, for some reason, although the little human bug knew there was such a "sure win" routine, he himself did not fully master it. That's why he frequently resorted to this "out-of-the-box trick". In his own words, it was because he had no confidence in himself and tried to win unfairly!

Once he figured this out, the Sapphire Dragon's confidence became even more unwavering.

Could it be that this was the reason why it had asked him to stop telepathy? The Sapphire Dragon thought about it for a moment, and then realized something else. The little human bug was afraid that he would directly detect the fact that he had no confidence in winning through telepathy.

As for why he didn't notice it at first... The clever Sapphire Dragon's eyes turned and he understood the key point without any effort. The little human bug probably realized that he didn't fully understand the chess game until he went far away to catch the dark elf bug, so he didn't immediately know his idea.

After connecting the causes and consequences of the incident, the clever Sapphire Dragon lowered his head and looked at the bottom of the pit in front of him.

The blood-stained human bug was still wriggling, and it was unclear whether it was in pain or a natural physical reaction to anxiety when thinking about the chess game.

It stared at me for a while, its blue eyes sparkling with wisdom, its upper and lower jaws gently opening and closing, its teeth touching each other, and a soft, clicking sound of laughter:

"Stop struggling you stupid human bug!"

"The great dragon has seen through the truth of everything!"

Du Feiya translated the Sapphire Dragon's words truthfully, with a hint of confusion.

Li Yin, who was lying at the bottom of the pit, stopped twisting instantly. He looked upwards, his face pale and his eyes frightened, obviously he was very frightened.

As time went by, his body continued to heal. The left chest part that he had removed voluntarily had healed for the most part, and now a small section of tender stubble had grown at the end of his left shoulder - that was his regrowing left arm.

When the Sapphire Dragon spoke, he turned sideways and used his body to cover his left arm, which had grown back from the sleeve of his clothes, to his waist, so as to avoid being exposed too obviously and letting the dragon directly notice the regeneration of his broken limb.

The Sapphire Dragon's words startled Li Yin. He thought he had been exposed, but its next words made him feel relieved.

"You're not actually sure of winning, right?"

"That's why you keep using all kinds of boring methods to provoke the dragon, trying to make it lose its mind."

"You despicable and shameless human bug, you are clearly such a filthy person, yet you still want to be the first to complain, slandering this dragon as 'lacking confidence' and 'winning unfairly'."

"I think you are the one who lacks confidence and tries to win unfairly."

Li Yin maintained his shock on his face and replied with some difficulty: "Nonsense, nonsense."

Of course, the information given by the dragon was shocking enough to make Li Yin react as above without any disguise. However, the danger of this information was much less than that of discovering that his body was healing quickly, so it did not make Li Yin lose his composure.

The sapphire dragon's huge jaws swayed gently up and down, and its bright, large vertical pupils were full of playfulness:

"Still trying to deny it?"

In its view, Li Yin's panicked behavior confirmed everything.

This was exactly Li Yin's purpose, to let it deepen its judgment and focus on it, and not pay attention to some "insignificant" details.

"Do you think that the great dragon will not be able to see through your little tricks without using mind detection?" Its bright vertical pupils flashed with the light of wisdom, and it continued very confidently.

"Listen carefully, you stupid human bug with a brain not much bigger than an almond. The great dragon tells you that a true wise man can understand his opponent's psychology through subtle observation and careful logical analysis, even without relying on mind detection!"

"I say it again, you have failed!" it announced in a high-pitched voice.

"It's hard to say who will win or lose," Li Yin said coldly, "forcing himself to remain calm."

"I don't know when the 'Great Dragon Clan' became so keen on verbal battles. Why don't we fight it out with our own hands?"

"It's your turn, play chess now, you lousy chess player!"

"You——" The dragon's eyes widened.

Then, it stretched out its paw, stroked its chest, and made an expression that said "I'm not angry" and "I'm not angry".

It opened its mouth again, and without Du Feiya's translation, Li Yin knew what it was going to say this time. It was nothing more than "clumsy provocation" that had no effect in front of "a calm and wise dragon" and so on.

After a series of magnificent and high-pitched gibberish, the dragon moved its chess piece again with Du Feiya's translation.

This move made Li Yin frown slightly.

Because the move it made was not the last move that Li Yin remembered clearly.

Of course, Li Yin did not dare to underestimate this move at all - the fact that it was inconsistent with the chess record did not mean that it was a wrong move. Although he subconsciously believed that there was no possibility of breaking this "dead end", that is to say, the dragon did not have a better solution than the chess record. But reason told him that the dragon race was indeed a race far more intelligent than humans, so he should not be careless.

What made Li Yin anxious was that he had previously used his brain power to the utmost and had already deduced the chess game to the last nine moves, but the results of these deductions were based on the fact that Julong's responses in the previous moves were exactly the same as those shown in the chess record. Now Julong suddenly made an unexpected "stupid move", which invalidated all his previous deduction results and also made it possible that Julong, who had been worried before, would "make mistakes by mistake".

"It's okay," Li Yin comforted himself. It's nothing more than rethinking. As for the opponent's chess moves being different from what he expected, this is a fact that will happen sooner or later - after all, this is the last move he can clearly determine, and every move after that is likely to be beyond his expectations.

Thinking for a long time, another way of thinking is to give yourself more time to recover. He felt his left arm growing by his side, and said to himself silently in his heart, and then immersed himself in thinking about the chess game itself again.

After a few more moves, as the chess pieces moved forward step by step, Li Yin's confidence grew little by little.

Although he no longer had the clear guidance of the map, his transformed brain gave him more careful, extensive and forward-looking thinking about the chess game, and all these thoughts told him that he was moving towards victory.

Meanwhile, the dragon on the ground hadn't heard the sound of chess pieces moving for a long time. It was thinking for longer and longer periods of time. The dark void was silent, with only the occasional sound of the dragon waving its claws to scratch its head or its tail impatiently sweeping across the ground.

"Li Yin," suddenly, Du Feiya's voice came from the ground.

"What's wrong?" Li Yin noticed something was wrong. Du Feiya called him by his name, which should not be a message to the dragon - besides, the dragon did not make any sound at this time, but she had something to tell him.

"Um, are you going to win?" Li Yin had told her earlier that he was "sure of winning" in order to comfort her. Now Du Feiya could tell who was better based on the expressions of both parties.

Li Yin did not answer. Although he did have a clear advantage, he was too conservative to underestimate the potential of the dragon race, so he could not make a final conclusion.

But Du Feiya took his silence as a sign of affirmation, so she continued carefully:

"Can you think of a way... to tie the game instead of winning?"

"There is no draw in military chess." Li Yin immediately responded as a matter of course.

Du Feiya seemed surprised. "What?"

Li Yin immediately noticed her abnormality, so he asked in confusion: "Why?"

"Um..." Du Feiya said hesitantly, "While you were playing chess, I took the opportunity to recall more knowledge about the Sapphire Dragon."

"They are avid military enthusiasts who not only love fighting, but also love games related to war - this is probably why they are so obsessed with this military chess game."

"However, it is precisely because they are so passionate about this field that it is difficult for them to accept failure in this field."

"I've seen similar cases in the Book of Dragons. In short, when playing this kind of game with them, you can't act too weak, which will make them lose interest, but at the same time, more importantly, you can't overwhelm them and win - unless you want to bear the dragon's wrath of failure!"

Du Feiya's delicate voice was very stern and cold, as if she was the angry sapphire dragon at this moment. Li Yin's heart tightened when he heard it.

"So, what you're saying is that we can't actually win it if we want to survive?"

"Yeah," Du Feiya responded softly.

"But," Li Yin muttered softly, reiterating, "There is no draw in the military flag..."

This is going to be difficult...

If you can neither win the game nor draw it, then there is only one possibility - losing!

How is this just like serving the boss in a game of chess, where you can only lose, not win... Thinking of this, he couldn't help but feel a little restless.

"Excuse me for being blunt," Du Feiya replied in a low voice, "It holds the power over our lives. Its current status is much more authoritative to us than a leader."

But... Li Yin remembered the agreement the dragon had made with them, which clearly stated that they must defeat it in order to survive.

This is harder than playing chess with the leader. He was at a loss. Winning is also losing, losing is also losing...

For a moment, this scene gave him a sense of déjà vu. Thinking carefully, wasn't this the same situation as before when he had to prove to the dragon whether he was a "real warrior"... If he was, he would have to die, right? That was even more so!

Chapter 180: Peace Chess Game

"This time is different," he thought about it carefully, and then said to Du Feiya with a tone that was more like convincing himself than trying to convince Du Feiya, "We have an agreement with it."

"As long as we beat it, it must fulfill its promise."

"Agreements can be changed," Du Feiya said after a moment of silence, "As long as it is unhappy, it can change the agreement at any time."

"The effectiveness of the agreed performance is based on the premise that both parties have equal strength, but we currently do not have this guarantee."

"On the contrary, the psychological emotions of a living thing are real, and if it wants, it can change its agreement at any time."

Li Yin fell into silence.

He totally agreed with Du Feiya's point of view.

Originally, he was not too worried about the dragon's trustworthiness, but if the other party was in a state of extreme anger, it would be hard to say.

"I let you win, and you really dare to win?" A scene flashed in his mind, with a giant dragon opening its mouth wide, laughing wildly, and then suddenly breathing out a breath of dragon breath to beat him into pieces. He couldn't help but tremble all over.

"So what you mean is..." he asked Du Feiya in a deep voice.

"My original plan was to suggest that you make it a draw. This would not only show off your chess skills, but also save the dragon's face."

"If we flatter it a little more, it might be so pleased that it will let us go."

"But since we can't draw the game..." Du Feiya said carefully, "Can we lose... but not lose too badly?"

"However," before Li Yin could respond, she continued in a very skeptical tone, "If we lose the game, firstly, we will be accused of not being as skilled as it, which is completely contrary to your previous bet. Secondly, this dragon is treating this game of chess as a real battle. Given its previous attitude towards the 'loser', even if we give it face and make it happy, will it... send us away in a good mood..."

Finally, she raised her eyes and looked at Li Yin again, with a helpless smile on her face: "Anyway, I don't have any good solution now."

Li Yin bit his lip, pondered for a while, and reluctantly admitted that there was no perfect solution. He gritted his teeth, looked at Du Feiya, and said firmly and decisively: "Anyway, there are only two results, losing or winning, which one do you think is better."

Du Feiya was stunned at first, then a slight smile flashed across her lips, and her eyes looked at him brightly:

"You are the one in charge of this game, Li Yin. I don't know much about military chess. I am only offering some suggestions based on my past experience, and these suggestions have proven to be completely ineffective." She sneered at herself, then smiled at him, "The final outcome of this game should be decided by you."

She paused for a moment, and then said with a slightly hesitant tone, "And I... want you to know that I believe in you, no matter what decision you make..."

"…No matter whether we win or lose in the end, no matter what the final result is, I believe in you. Because you have done everything you can."

Du Feiya's trusting gaze made Li Yin feel warm.

He looked at Du Feiya silently and nodded.

"What are you two little bugs mumbling about?" At this moment, the dragon's deep and rumbling voice suddenly reached Du Feiya's ears, "I don't have anything for you to translate? Could it be that you are colluding to cheat?"

After Du Feiya translated it truthfully, Li Yin sneered:

"Is there any need for collusion and cheating? If she is better than me, then why didn't we just let her play? If she is not better than me, then what is the point of our discussion? If you want to accuse someone, you can always find a pretext."

The dragon was stunned for a moment, and then roared with a little less confidence: "Then why are you two chattering non-stop?"

"Boring," Li Yin yawned lazily, "Just chatting about family matters."

After that, he added: "You can't blame me for being distracted. It's just that your chess skills are too poor and you can't put pressure on others."

"You--" The dragon hesitated to speak, his whole body shaking, obviously very angry.

In fact, it was very worried that these two shameless guys would collude to fight against its own dragon - although the great dragon race should not be afraid of two insects joining forces with their brain power, but...

...It is said that three white crystals (dragons) are worth one blue sapphire. When you go out, it is always better to be cautious.

"When you are not needed to translate," it thought for a moment and yelled at Du Feiya, "just shut up."

Du Feiya immediately nodded repeatedly, remaining silent.

She didn't want the dragon to have another excuse if he lost later.

The dragon lowered its head and pondered for a while, snorted, as if it was still a little resentful, and then it pushed its chess piece forward again with a rumble.

After listening to Du Feiya's report, Li Yin thought for a while and gave his next plan.

This is a chess move towards victory.

If losing means death and winning also means death, then of course he would choose to die after winning.

In addition, deep down in his heart, he was not completely pessimistic about the dragon's integrity. Now that things had come to this, he could only hope that the dragon would keep its promise even in the anger of failure.

Of course, there were more than just these two reasons that made him determined to win the game.

There was another more important reason, which was that he still clearly remembered that the dragon once said with a weird laugh that if he lost - his asshole would pay the price!