"Then I won't be polite," Sima Xingkong said, glancing at Diana, who was watching from the side, before turning to Russian and asking.
This time, Diana was very accommodating and replied in Chinese, "Miss Sima, I can speak Chinese."
"Oh," Sima Xingkong nodded, then turned back to me. "I just asked the Whale God if she plays chess. What do you think, does she?"
"No," I said directly, having asked before.
"So, she's only here to protect you?" Sima Xingkong taunted with a laugh. So, she was waiting to mock me here!
I smiled and said nothing. It was probably a psychological tactic to disrupt my focus. But she underestimated me. I didn't need a stable mind. However, since she, like me, could also practice qi manipulation, I had to show some emotional fluctuation to appear normal. Especially during the game, if I remained completely calm while playing against her, she would definitely detect something abnormal.
"Please," I took out my cigarette case and offered her one.
"I don't smoke, you can. I don't mind."
"Thank you."
Sima Xingkong pondered for a moment and then made a very common opening move: advancing the central pawn.
Also known as "Immortal Pointing the Way," it's not a particularly aggressive tactic, aiming for a defensive posture.
I pretended to think, should I advance the pawn, or play the safer Pawn-in-Front-of-Cannon, or ignore her and set up my Central Cannon?
A reminder came through my earpiece from Zheng Bingbing: Cannon 2 moves to 1, Pawn-in-Front-of-Cannon.
I decided to follow the computer's advice and moved my cannon, aiming at her advancing pawn.
Sima Xingkong didn't seem to care, knowing I wouldn't attack. Only beginners attack. She, however, chose to move her horse in a natural development.
I knew what to do without Bingbing's reminder: advance my own pawn to challenge hers. She wouldn't dare to capture it because my cannon in the rear was targeting her horse. If she didn't move her pawn, my pawn would advance, and the cannon would still be aimed at her horse. Moreover, with my pawn crossing the river, her horse's mobility would be restricted. If I advanced another step, it would threaten all her pieces on this side of the board.
Bingbing's suggestion was also to advance the pawn.
I pushed my pawn forward, and Sima Xingkong, without thinking, placed her red pawn on top of mine. I thought she was going to capture, but instead, she looked up and asked, "Who is this you have here?"
"Huh?" I was taken aback. "What do you mean?"
"I'm asking, who is playing this pawn of yours? I don't know if my pawn can capture it!"
Damn it, she's playing chess like this? If I tell her, won't I expose our strength? Or is her purpose in coming here precisely to probe the strength of each of our pieces!
How could I possibly tell her that our overall strength was already weaker, and we had been relying on the strategy of using inferior horses against their superior ones to have any chance of winning? If I told her, she would use that strategy against us. No, she wouldn't use it like that; she would employ King Wei of Qi's racing method: top horse against top horse, middle horse against middle horse, and bottom horse against bottom horse, ensuring that the Mountain Sea Demon Race would be stronger than us in every position, matching the strength of the chess pieces with the strength of the demons playing them.
In that case, no matter how we raced, we would lose.
"Miss Sima, today we're just supposed to be playing a regular game of Chinese chess, right? A friendly match?" I said with a smile.
"What, scared to say?" Sima Xingkong chuckled.
"You don't need to use taunts. This is a matter of military secrets. I definitely won't tell you." I no longer cared about losing face. Was a bit of pride worth the cost of dozens of comrades falling?
Sima Xingkong pouted. "Fine, then let's just assume I can capture this piece."
"Everything will be according to the rules of chess," I added emphatically.
"Attack the horse," Bingbing reminded me.
I captured her horse. Sima Xingkong, I'll turn you into a dead horse, then we'll see how you can be so "xingkong" (free-roaming).
Sima Xingkong still looked unconcerned. She moved her chariot, threatening my cannon. I retreated my cannon to the riverbank, leaning on her pawn. Sima Xingkong's chariot followed. I moved it to the flank, keeping all directions clear. Her chariot chased again. I returned to the scholar's corner. She still pursued relentlessly. I moved my advisor forward to support the cannon, thinking she would finally stop chasing.
But to my surprise, she directly captured my cannon and clapped her hands, laughing, "Haha, you can't escape now, can you?"