Author: 木尺素 / Mu Chisu

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 172

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet; seven colors. These were the parameters the Peach Blossom Corps designed for this instance.

Now, while the red-colored killers observed the players’ duel from outside, only the remaining six colors would truly participate in the checker match.

Excluding red and white, each of the remaining six colors had 25 wristbands, totaling 150. But with only 100 players, the surplus wristbands meant that some people could hold multiple colors, giving them greater freedom to choose which faction to join during the game.

Six colors, six factions.
But due to previous confrontations, the actual chessboard was split into just two sides: Zhou Qian’s side and the Peach Blossom Legion.

Originally, Zhou Qian’s faction only had yellow, but after collaborating with Hidden Blade and absorbing most of Feidu’s members, he now controlled a large number of violet. Additionally, orange had been used by Xu Yang for a “betrayal” strategy. They had initially controlled violet, then moved to the orange region, and after using up green bands, managed to recruit two players with orange bands as well.

So Zhou Qian’s team had violet, yellow, and orange.

The Peach Blossom side, on the other hand, had green, blue, indigo, violet, and orange.

Violet was sparse on their end. There was only two bands. Violet originally belonged to Feidu. Xu Yang and his follower, now with Peach Blossom, brought over two violet bands.

Next sparsest was orange. Xu Yang had buried five orange bands behind the estate. Later, when his sister Xu Feiyu was captured, a loyal follower retrieved them at great risk and delivered them back to him. Those five bands then entered the Peach Blossom faction.

Before the match began, players were given time to move to starting positions according to their band color.

Zhou Qian’s team hadn’t moved yet; they were awaiting his command. The newly joined members trusted him because He Xiaowei had hyped him up relentlessly. 

As for older followers like Meng Bie, they had witnessed firsthand how Zhou Qian could tip the scales with minimal effort.

He Xiaowei couldn’t resist asking, “In regular life, when we play Chinese checkers, there are usually 6, 10, or 15 pieces per color, right?”

“Mhm.” Zhou Qian nodded. “Six would be arranged in three rows: 1, 2, 3. Ten is 1 through 4, and so on.”

“Tsk, this instance has 21 tiles per faction, more than the real-life version with 15. The system is so sly. It must’ve known lots of people would die. Also, Qian’er, are you sure we can win this?”

Looking at He Xiaowei, Zhou Qian smiled. “Actually, it’s all thanks to you guys.”

He Xiaowei blinked. “Us? I don’t get it.”

“Just wait and see.” Zhou Qian tilted his chin upward. “We’re definitely going to win.”

“Then… mind if I analyze a bit?” He Xiaowei asked.

Zhou Qian nodded. “Go ahead. You seem to have something on your mind.”

He Xiaowei said, “This game is very different from traditional checkers. In real checkers, each color has the same number of pieces. Ours doesn’t.”

“Correct. That’s a crucial point,” Zhou Qian said.

“Also, it’s not six factions competing. It’s just two. That simplifies things. We might have three colors, but we only need one to win. The other two? They’re just support pieces. Used to build bridges or block enemies.”

He scratched his head. “Right? Did I understand it correctly? The key to checkers is laying paths for yourself and blocking the enemy!

“All three colors are yours. So whichever wins, you’ll gain the killers’ info. So just focus on one color and let the other two assist!”

Zhou Qian gave him a sincere look of approval. “I completely agree.”

He Xiaowei beamed when he got Zhou Qian’s approval.

He rubbed his hands together and added, “Then here’s more! Our orange has only two pieces. Moving just two to the opposite end should be easy than 21 pieces… This is how it looks like at face value, but the reality is, it’s not…

“If the system forces them to start at the first and second rows—just the single tile and two-tile rows—they can only leap over each other. That wastes many rounds. Meanwhile, enemy pieces with more coverage can already rush forward!

“And with four enemy colors, Peach Blossom can easily block those two oranges. So, we can’t use orange.”

“Mhm. And another reason not to choose orange is that most of it is in their hands. If orange wins, the crucial points are controlled by them. So orange is out,” Zhou Qian said.

“Right. So we’re left with just two colors against their four?”

“But even though Peach Blossom has green, blue, indigo, violet, and orange… their violet is also weak. There’s only two, like our orange. So they won’t choose violet either.

“The main color must not be too many or too few. Something in the middle is best. So they’ll likely go for… Oh crap, Qian’er! I get it now!

“Are they thinking…”

“Fuck! I gotta praise myself! I’ve improved. I’m catching up to you!”

“Shh.” Zhou Qian made a hush gesture and walked toward the board. “Let’s see if the system announces entry order and who plays first. That matters.”

……

On the other side, Priest sat calmly in a corner.

Ke Yuxiao walked up and said in a reporting tone, “I talked with Shan Sheng and Ren Yi. Zhou Qian can’t use orange. It’s a dead end. We can use our remaining four to block him. We’re going to win.

“He thinks having more people gives him the edge? It’s actually a disadvantage in this game. Think how much effort it’ll take to move all of them across the board.”

Sneering a bit, Ke Yuxiao continued, “We’ll use three colors as support to protect a main force. The main color should be small. Our violet only has two, from Xu Yang and his man. It’s not good enough. But we have five oranges. That’s just right. I’ve told five of ours to equip orange bands. If we move them to the opposite corner, we win.”

After Ke Yuxiao finished talking about his tactics, Priest nodded. “Good.”

Ke Yuxiao hesitated. “But what if Zhou Qian sees through this? Should we change our tactics”

“Then let him. There is no difference. If you pick a different main color, he’ll still figure it out. May as well use orange and cut violet out from the start. The rest depends on how your performance goes.”

Ke Yuxiao looked at the green wristband on Priest’s hand. “You’ll command personally?”

“I will. I’ll go meet with Zhou Qian. It’s my first direct confrontation with him. I’ve been looking forward to it. I want to see him when he thinks he’s about to win.”

Priest, who had been sitting the entire time, finally stood. “He’s cute when he smiles smugly at the end. Don’t you think so?”

Ke Yuxiao: “……”

“I always felt he had a strange innocence. Maybe others don’t think so, but I do.”

As he said this, Priest glanced across the field toward Zhou Qian

At this moment, Zhou Qian was already arranging his troops, dispersing the crowd so his line of sight was less obstructed. With the obstruction removed, Priest didn’t see Zhou Qian, but met Bai Zhou’s indifferent, but cold eyes.

What kind of eyes were those?

It was eyes forged through countless bloodbaths and darkness that had been removed from the world for countless years.

There was little warmth in them that only showed when they were looking at Zhou Qian.

But even then, it seemed like that was just an illusion.

More often, it was like frost and snow that could freeze for thousands of miles.

At this moment, those eyes that looked over felt like the God of Death passing through the crowd, giving him a warning.

Priest’s eyes didn’t change, and even a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

He turned around and patted the iron pillar with a meaningful look.

Bai Zhou, Bai Zhou. No matter how powerful you are, what’s the use? You’ve been trapped in a cage all your life. Can you really accept that?

……
Moments later, the match began.

The system updated the rules:

First of all, if the number of pieces of a certain color exceeds 21, the extras may be left out; aside from this situation, no one is allowed to refuse to go on the board.

Under this rule, the two orange-band players in Zhou Qian’s hand had no choice but to join the five-member orange team on Peach Blossom’s side. Thus, the orange pieces composed of people wearing orange wristbands totaled seven.

As soon as these two orange-band players stood on the enemy’s grid, guns were already pressed to their heads. They were ordered to act strictly according to Priest’s commands and were unable to help Zhou Qian by bridging gaps or blocking paths.

Secondly, the board consisted of six rows, with each row containing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 grid spaces, respectively. The system stipulated that movement must begin from the first row. That is, the row with only one space.

This rule meant that trying to secure a quick victory using only a few pieces wasn’t very feasible.

As a result, Zhou Qian could only opt for the yellow pieces, which had relatively fewer members.

Bai Zhou, Hidden Blade, and He Xiaowei, on the other hand, remained within the violet faction, which had the most members on the opposing side, serving to assist Zhou Qian.

This was clearly not a fair match.

Priest’s side only needed to move the seven orange pieces to the opposite corner.

But Zhou Qian’s yellow faction, including himself, had as many as 21 people. In comparison, the difficulty level was far higher.

Before the “pieces” of each color took their positions, the system announced one final rule.

When choosing which corner to move toward, each color’s choice order would be determined by a random drawing conducted by the system.

At first glance, a random draw sounds fair, but only in a balanced 3-versus-3 setting.

Zhou Qian only had control over two colors from the start, placing him at a natural disadvantage.

How the six colors were distributed across the six corners was ultimately up to Priest.

In the end, the corner assigned to Priest’s seven orange pieces happened to be the one occupied by his own faction’s violet pieces. And there were only two violet pieces, Xu Yang and his confidant. This setup minimized the risk of the orange pieces being blocked.

Every aspect of this game board favored Priest.

He could easily move all seven orange pieces to the opposite corner.

Compared to Go or Chinese chess, checkers wasn’t nearly as complex and didn’t require a high level of skill.

So, although Zhou Qian made some beautiful moves, Priest’s advantage was simply overwhelming. By the time he had moved six of the orange pieces to the opposite corner, 30 minutes still remained in the game.

As for the seventh piece, Priest didn’t need to give further instructions. Anyone with eyes could see that one more round was all it would take for Priest to win.

When it was Priest’s turn to “move”, the grid he stood on happened to be very close to Zhou Qian’s position, close enough for the two to clearly see each other’s expressions.

Priest looked at Zhou Qian with some regret. “It seems you’ve lost.”

“Is that so?”

Amid the rising murmurs of alarm and doubt from his teammates, Zhou Qian narrowed his eyes and smiled. “Not necessarily.”

Surprisingly, Priest’s expression showed a hint of appreciation. “Oh? You’ve got a reversal move? I thought I wouldn’t get to see any brilliance from you this time. That would’ve been such a shame.”

Zhou Qian merely raised a hand and pointed to his ear, smiling as he asked, “Do you hear something that sounds like a countdown?”

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