"Hm?"
Li Guanqi lifted the hem of his robe and crouched at the southeastern corner of the board, staring at the white piece at his feet with a faint frown of confusion.
In seventeen steps, he had committed the entire board to memory. The positions of every white and black piece were stored in his mind, but this white piece had not been in this square before.
It was not just the white piece. The black piece nearby should not have been here either.
Now, at the southeastern edge of the board, two black pieces and two white pieces stood in confrontation, an unmistakable tension simmering between them.
The black pieces in this endgame had firmly seized the initiative. They were only one move away from forcing the white pieces into a fatal position.
The pitifully few white pieces had been routed, retreating at every turn, with no strength left to mount an offensive.
Their only hope lay in Li Guanqi, this "lone piece," and whether he could find the position where he belonged and breathe life into the entire board.
But now, Li Guanqi had noticed something strange in one small section of the board.
For some reason, the "two black pieces and two white pieces" that should not have been here had suddenly moved to the edge of the board on their own, forming an unexpected confrontation.
The white pieces were especially strange. Despite their side being so weak that it hovered on the brink of death, one of them had actually launched an attack on a black piece. Its assault was ferocious, as though it intended to capture that black piece at any cost.
Li Guanqi abruptly raised his head toward the eyes in the starry sky and understood the reason.
"Everyone on Shancai Avenue must have