Beyond the Chess Game, Thoughts of Twin Stars

Night lay deep as ink.

Shrek Academy, freshman dormitories.

No lights were on in the room. Only moonlight filtered through the window, casting two cold patches of light that happened to fall upon Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.

The two sat cross-legged facing each other. Neither spoke, yet an unprecedented heaviness hung in the air.

After a long while, Wang Dong finally broke the silence. Her voice carried a trace of reluctance and confusion. "Yuhao, did we... really lose that completely?"

Huo Yuhao did not answer at once. He slowly closed his eyes, replaying every detail of the battle in his mind again and again.

Ji Juechen's utterly ordinary sword strike, the strike that had precisely pierced the energy fault line, the sword path that seemed able to foresee the future...

"No." Huo Yuhao finally spoke, his voice hoarse. "We didn't 'lose.'"

Wang Dong abruptly raised her head.

"We were... 'vetoed.'" Bitterness tinged Huo Yuhao's voice. "Like a student taking his proudest perfect-score exam paper to a university professor. The professor does not say whether he is right or wrong, only tells him that his entire method of solving the problem is fundamentally flawed."

Wang Dong's heart sank. She understood what Huo Yuhao meant.

Ji Juechen had not been "competing" with them. He had been "grading" their way of fighting.

"Just what is his sword path...?" Wang Dong could not comprehend it. "That wasn't a soul skill, nor was it technique. It was more like... a 'rule.'"

"Rules..." Huo Yuhao savored the word, a sharp glint flashing through his eyes. "That's right, rules! He wasn't breaking our moves; he was breaking our 'principles'!"

He suddenly rose to his feet and paced back and forth through the room, his mind racing at an unprecedented speed.

"Mental Probe Sharing—I thought it was an information advantage, but before him, it became a 'link' that could be disrupted."

"Simulation—I thought it was perfect camouflage, but before him, it became an illusion with a 'phase difference.'"

"Extreme Ice—I thought it was absolute power, but before him, it became energy that could suffer 'structural collapse.'"

The faster Huo Yuhao spoke, the more a blazing fire ignited in his eyes instead of despair!

"I understand! I understand it all now!" He stopped, turned to Wang Dong, and said each word with deliberate emphasis, "Wang Dong, we have always been doing 'addition'! We gained Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, then added spiritual origin; gained the Ice Empress, then added Extreme Ice; gained the Tang Sect's secret arts, then added combat techniques... Like greedy collectors, we have constantly been adding powerful 'parts' to ourselves."

"But him..." An unprecedented light burst from Huo Yuhao's eyes. "He is doing 'subtraction'!"

"Subtraction?" Wang Dong froze.

"That's right! Subtraction!" Huo Yuhao's voice trembled slightly with excitement. "He breaks down all our attacks into their most basic 'data' and 'structures,' then uses his sword to precisely cut away that core 'one'! Making all the 'zeros' after it meaningless!"

"H-how is that possible?!" Wang Dong was deeply shaken. This way of thinking had already surpassed everything she knew about soul master combat.

"I used to think it was impossible, but now..." Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, his gaze becoming incomparably resolute. "Now I think this is another 'path' to the pinnacle! A completely new 'sword path,' unlike Senior Tang San's and unlike that of any Titled Douluo!"

Wang Dong stared blankly at Huo Yuhao. She realized that this crushing defeat had not broken him. Instead, it had become a key that opened a door to an entirely new world for him.

"Then what should we do?" Wang Dong asked. "Should we... learn his sword path?"

"No." Huo Yuhao shook his head, wisdom gleaming in his eyes. "We cannot learn it. His sword path is built upon those 'eyes' that can see through everything, as well as logic we cannot understand. That is his 'path,' not ours."

"However," he continued, shifting his tone, "we can draw from it!"

"Draw from it?"

"That's right! Since he can see our 'structure,' why can't we make our own 'structure' flawless?" Wisdom flickered in Huo Yuhao's eyes. "Doesn't he like doing 'subtraction'? Then we will forge every one of our soul skills and every ability into a perfect 'circle'! A 'circle' with no 'nodes,' no 'fault lines,' and no 'phase differences'!"

"So that there will be nothing for him to 'subtract'!"

Wang Dong's heart began pounding wildly!

In an instant, she understood Huo Yuhao's idea!

If Ji Juechen was a "top hacker" who sought out and cracked every program, then they would build a "perfect system" that not even gods could breach!

"You mean..."

"Exactly!" Huo Yuhao clenched his fists. "We will turn the link of Mental Probe Sharing from a single line into a web, even a domain! So cutting off one node will not affect the entire network! We will turn Simulation from copying illusions into a 'domain' that distorts reality! We will make Extreme Ice no longer mere energy, but 'Absolute Zero' containing 'rules'!"

"Yuhao..." Wang Dong looked at Huo Yuhao, her eyes filled with shock and admiration. Even in the most desperate situations, he could always find the most difficult yet brightest road.

"Ji Juechen gave us the most precious 'gift.'" Huo Yuhao walked to the window and gazed toward Ji Juechen's dormitory, his expression complicated.

"He showed us that beyond talent and fortunate encounters, there exists an even more terrifying power called 'wisdom.'"

"He denied our past, yet also... pointed out our future."

Wang Dong walked to his side and stood shoulder to shoulder with him.

"Then... are we going again tomorrow?"

"We are." A fighting smile curved Huo Yuhao's lips. "Of course we are. The Chess Player is already in position; how could the two of us, these 'interesting Chess Pieces,' be absent?"

"Next time, I will show him just how interesting this game can become when the Chess Pieces possess 'will,' and even wish to become Chess Players!"

That night, after a crushing defeat, two future peerless geniuses found a new path of their own toward godhood.

Their growth had only just begun.