Gu Ding's Crushing Defeat

The Communication Crystal connected quickly, projecting Gu Ding and the environment behind him into the Communication Crystal. Kepu could see it clearly from the other end of the crystal. He hadn't expected Gu Ding to enter the ruins so quickly. In fact, he hadn't expected Gu Ding to find the ruins at all.

He had concealed himself while tracking one of the guardian beasts of the Three-Headed Demon Dragon to find the location of this ruin. This place was virtually impossible to detect unless one approached within a meter or two. But the Three-Headed Demon Dragon was dead, meaning all eighteen guardian beasts were also dead. He suddenly became curious about how Gu Ding had found this ruin.

"I never expected you to have some skills to get in here." Kepu's tone sounded strange, but it was genuine admiration. "It seems you really have a lot of secrets to hide."

"I've found this site," Gu Ding, knowing the other had recognized his location. "Your game is too easy, and I'm tired of it. I wonder if you dare to play my game!"

"Your games?" Kepu laughed. "Besides fighting, you know other games too?"

"Don't you think you're very smart? How about playing a few rounds of Space-Time Chess with me?" Gu Ding grinned, knowing that the other party would definitely fall for it.

"Space-Time Chess? Are you sure you can handle it? That kind of thing requires an IQ over 300 to even begin to learn," Kepu couldn't help but mock. "Although humans have developed their brains to a great extent through various methods, an IQ of 300 is still considered a minor genius. My IQ is only 560, which is far from the level of a true genius with a brainpower of over 1000, but beating you shouldn't be a problem."

"It seems you're quite interested in this suggestion," Gu Ding, showing no fear of a chess match. With Sea Emperor around, even a genius with X's extraordinary brainpower would be utterly crushed in this kind of deductive and computational board game. Within the entire Universe Sea, the only one who could probably beat Sea Emperor at chess was probably SkyNet itself.

"Since we're going to play, let's have a wager. If you win, I can return your beautiful senior sister to you intact. But what if you lose?" Kepu was very confident in himself. Although he guessed that Gu Ding had a ulterior motive in proposing this kind of competition, he felt that if it was a chess game, no matter what tricks Gu Ding used, it would be meaningless to him, because his intelligence could completely crush Gu Ding.

"This isn't very interesting," Gu Ding narrowed his glasses slightly, thought for a moment, and then said, "Let's play for higher stakes. If you lose, first you must return Pa Ma to me intact, and second, I want your life."

"And what if you lose?" A cold glint flashed in Kepu's eyes. "Besides your life, what else do you have?"

"You know I possess a forbidden, sealed ability, right? That ability was obtained from a Time Reversal. Besides obtaining this ability, I also acquired a special method from the ancient witch clan. It allows one to seize the abilities within another person." Gu Ding's words were actually half true and half false. The Sea Emperor's database did indeed contain a complete description of this witch clan's secret technique, but even if this technique were placed before Kepu would be completely unable to use it, because this technique could only be used by those who possessed witch clan blood.

"If you win, I will give you the secret technique to steal my abilities. You can first extract my forbidden power from my body, and then kill me." Gu Ding's expression was indifferent, as if he were not talking about himself.

"Why should I trust you?" Kepu was indeed somewhat tempted, but he was also a cautious person, and he always felt that Gu Ding must have some kind of conspiracy.

"You may not believe me, but this is your only chance. If you miss this opportunity, you might find another chance to kill me. But you will never obtain the secret techniques and forbidden abilities within me." Gu Ding was clearly planning to take a huge gamble.

"Hmph, fine, let's bet. You think I'm afraid of you?" Kepu had actually thought a lot about it. The secret technique Gu Ding mentioned and the Sealing Taboo Ability were incredibly tempting to him. Moreover, this was a game of chess. Not only was it impossible for him to lose, but even if he did lose, he could simply deny it. After all, Gu Ding was weaker than him, and if it really came down to a fight, he was even less likely to lose. "Wait a few minutes. I'll loot all the treasures here and come out immediately."

About five or six minutes later, the boulder was finally pushed aside, and Kepu emerged alone.

"Where are the Pa Ma?" Gu Ding asked, even though he already knew the answer, because he didn't want Kepu to know that he could see inside his domain.

"You don't need to worry about that. She's doing well in my domain." Kepu walked to a position about ten meters away from Gu Ding and stopped. A faint layer of divine energy rippled around him, so that Gu Ding could not touch his body and seal him away.

"You're quite cautious," Gu Ding said with a mocking expression, clearly indicating that the other party wasn't entirely without reservations about him.

Kepu completely ignored the sarcasm, saying, "I'll set up the game; just connect your watch wirelessly."

He said this because he knew Gu Ding had hacking skills and was worried that Gooding would tamper with his watch.

"Whatever." Gu Ding shrugged, looking indifferent.

Then Kepu used his own wristwatch to project the chessboard and pieces into the air.

Space-Time Chess is a very complex game of chess. Each side has 108 pieces, and each piece moves in a different way. Among the pieces, there is one called the Queen; only by capturing the Queen can a player win.

The chessboard is shaped like a giant Rubik's Cube, and certain special positions on the board can trigger various effects. These effects are set randomly; no one can predict what will happen, and the positions are also random, making each game different.

It's called Space-Time Chess because the board is three-dimensional, and certain pieces can trigger time acceleration or reversal effects when they reach certain requirements.

Because of its extreme complexity, Space-Time Chess is also known as a high-IQ game.

After projecting the chessboard, both players placed their pieces.

"You go first." Kepu didn't think Gu Ding could beat him, and letting Gu Ding go first would better show his sportsmanship.

Gu Ding looked at the chessboard and felt a bit overwhelmed. He'd never actually played this kind of game before, but he knew that Sea Emperor liked to play it on the SkyNet when he had free time, always crushing his opponents. Speaking of playing Space-Time Chess, Sea Emperor happily played for Gu Ding, completely controlling the pieces on the board while Gu Ding sat to the side, lost in thought.

"Excuse me, General!" Gu Ding grinned. "Looks like I won the first round."

This game ended in less than ten minutes, and that was even though Sea Emperor didn't play very well.

Kepu was furious. He hadn't expected Gu Ding to have such skill, but in the previous game, Gu Ding's level was only about the same as his own. Gu Ding won only because he made one mistake. He said somewhat defiantly, "Best of three! Let's play again! This time I'll go first!"

In the second game, Kepu racked his brains, but was still easily outmaneuvered by the Sea Emperor, losing even more miserably than in the first game, with the Sea Emperor swallowing up most of his 108 pieces.

"You lost this game again." Gu Ding looked up at Kepu. Kepu's eyes were fixed on the chessboard, bloodshot from staring so intently.

"How could this happen? How could I possibly lose..." Kepu was clearly frustrated.

"You said it was best two out of three, and I've already won two rounds. Now you can hand Pa Ma back to me," Gu Ding grinned.

"No, best of five, let's continue!" Kepu roared at Gu Ding with a ferocious expression.

Gu Ding didn't refute it. His purpose in choosing this game was simple: to completely destroy Kepu's confidence. Crushing him in terms of intelligence, which he was most proud of, was undoubtedly the best method.

In the third game, the result was the same; Kepu suffered another crushing defeat.

In the fourth game, the fifth game... Kepu continued to challenge relentlessly, but he was never able to turn the tide.

"Hey, you've lost ten games in a row. I never expected you to be so bad." Gu Ding couldn't help but chuckle to himself when he saw Kepu's dejected look.

"Impossible... You definitely cheated!" Kepu then looked up at Gu Ding. His eyes suddenly turned blood red, and his hair also turned blood red as he stared intently at Gu Ding.

"Are you planning to deny your defeat after losing?" Gu Ding had anticipated the possibility of the other party's rage, but he hadn't actually thought of a good way to deal with it. "If you lose, you'll accuse me of cheating. When have you ever heard of cheating in Space-Time Chess? Besides, you're the one who started the game, not me. If anyone was going to cheat, it would be you. I'm just an ordinary player when I connect to the game."

"Hmph, sharp-tongued!" Kepu gradually calmed down a bit. "I'm not going to admit it today. Not only am I not going to admit it, I'm going to kill you! After I kill you, I'll inject your beautiful senior sister with the virus, making her a virus-infected organism too..."

Gu Ding frowned and quickly pulled the other party into his domain.

After Kepu's Combat Strength- boosting ability was activated, his Combat Strength surpassed the level of Five-Star Mid-rank God, reaching the level of a six-star god. The domain's suppression could only limit Kepu's transformed Combat Strength to the level of Five-Star Mid-rank God. But this was far from enough, because Gu Ding's strongest Combat Strength was only One-Star Mid-rank God.

"Interesting. Your domain level is actually above two stars..." Kepu looked around and realized that he had been pulled into Gu Ding's domain. "It's a suppression-type domain, but my Combat Strength is still at the level of Five-Star Mid-rank God. Do you think it will be useful to me?"

Gu Ding didn't reply. He activated his Combat Strength, took Shadow Step forward, and appeared directly behind Kepu. His Finger Force strikes shot out, aimed directly at the back of Kepu's head.

Unexpectedly, Kepu's actions were faster than his own. He turned around and grabbed Gu Ding's wrist. There was a faint layer of divine energy separating his palm from Gu Ding's wrist, preventing them from making contact.

With a snap, Gu Ding's right wrist was broken. "You're too weak. You don't even inspire me to fight."

Gu Ding gritted his teeth and tried to clamp down on Kepu's wrist with his left hand, but Kepu's movement was faster than his own, breaking Gu Ding's left hand as well. "His attack speed is not even up to the level of One-Star Mid-rank God. In my eyes, it's as slow as a snail."

But seeing that Gu Ding remained silent, Kepu's lips curled up slightly. "You're quite tough, aren't you? I'd like to see how long you can keep up this tough act!"

Snap, snap, snap... All ten fingers on Gu Ding's two hands were broken.

Then there were two more cracking sounds, and Gu Ding's leg bones were also shattered by the kicks.

Then the ribs... the spine... the soles of the feet...

In just a few minutes, almost every bone in Gu Ding's body was broken. An ordinary person would have already fainted from the pain. But he remained standing, without uttering a single cold snort, his gaze fixed on Kepu, filled with rage.

"What an annoying look! You might as well just die!" Kepu grabbed Gu Ding's head with one hand...