The Scam-God Statue screamed, ["Aaaah! I don't want to!"]
"You don't have to," Ethan said, stopping what he was doing. Then he quickly asked, "Then can you still win without the pair of elephants?"
["Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!"]
"Do you still want spirit stones? Still want payment?"
As Ethan spoke, his hand continued lowering the statue.
["No! No! I don't want anything anymore!"]
The Scam-God Statue was practically in tears.
If it had tears, that would definitely have been terrifying.
Ethan took the opportunity to squeeze out a better deal.
"So when you help me make predictions in the future, are you still going to charge me?"
["No! No more charging! You can make as many predictions as you want, alright?"]
The Scam-God Statue was really giving it everything it had just to save itself.
"Then swear it!"
The instant Ethan said those words, the Scam-God Statue was less than a centimeter from the ground.
At that moment, the elephant's square, under the Saint of Formations' influence...
Released an incredibly powerful force. It seemed that the moment the Scam-God Statue touched the ground, it would immediately be transformed into one tiny chess piece on this enormous chessboard.
["I swear! I swear!"], the Scam-God Statue roared, ["As long as you don't turn me into a chess piece, I'll agree to anything!"]
"Now we're talking."
Only then did Ethan happily put the Scam-God Statue away.
But after watching Ethan fuss around for so long without changing anything, the Saint of Formations said irritably, "What are you trying to do? After all that, do you even want your pair of elephants or not?"
"After thinking it over, I feel like being single is better after all," Ethan said vaguely, "How about we just start, Senior Saint of Formations?"
"Hmph! At least you know what's good for you."
Only then did the Saint of Formations lower the sword he had been pointing at Ethan.
"Pawn nine forward one."
Ethan thought to himself, 'You've already pulled a sword and were about to cut me down. How the hell would I dare not start the game?'
'What am I supposed to do...'
'Play If we're brothers, come slash me with you?'
"Nine-Tailed Turtle Opening," Charlie said, "Senior's opening is quite aggressive."
"Pawn seven forward one."
This time, the Scam-God Statue stopped playing tricks and simply gave the move.
After saying it, it deliberately mocked Charlie.
"That broken radio only knows how to analyze. If analysis alone worked, what would AlphaGo be for?"
"You know AlphaGo?", Ethan was stunned when he heard that.
But the Scam-God Statue sounded completely confused, as though it had no memory of saying it.
"What's AlphaGo? Is that a dog's name?"
"Forget it. It's nothing."
Ethan immediately moved his pawn according to the Scam-God Statue's suggestion.
On the opposite side, the Saint of Formations barely even paused before waving his hand.
"Horse eight to nine!"
The speed... it was as though he had already thought through this move thousands upon thousands of times. There was no need to think at all.
On Ethan's side, he also quickly followed the Scam-God Statue's ten-thousand-simulations strategy and began playing against the Saint of Formations.
For the first several moves, both sides were simply developing their positions.
On the giant chessboard, it was just a group of bronze-statue-like chess pieces running back and forth.
Until... one of the Saint of Formations' horses suddenly charged across the Chu River and Han Border, splashing water with its hooves as it galloped all the way to the pawn in the center of Ethan's formation.
Then it raised its front hooves and kicked one of Ethan's pawns to death.
The bronze pawn was instantly shattered by the white horse.
The white horse even reared up proudly, curled the corners of its mouth upward, and let out a triumphant neigh.
"Neigh!"
"Horse three to five!"
The Scam-God Statue called out another move.
Without hesitation, Ethan followed its instructions and sent his own horse to capture the enemy horse.
The next moment...
He saw... the black horse charge up beside the white horse, and then...
The black horse climbed onto the white horse?
And proceeded to do something inappropriate for children.
For some reason, Ethan seemed to hear the David Attenborough's voice in his head: ["Spring has arrived. All things are coming back to life. Once again, it is the season for animals to mate."]
'Isn't the tone getting a little strange here?'
"Ahem..."
Even the Saint of Formations seemed embarrassed by his own chess pieces' bizarre behavior.
"This wasn't my doing. These pieces have stayed in this little world for too long and developed their own intelligence. So what they do isn't something I can control."
"...", Ethan was speechless.
Soon enough, however, the black horse finished what it was doing.
The white horse hadn't died either. Instead, it stayed pressed against the black horse and even rubbed its neck affectionately against it.
The two of them had apparently become... A horse couple?
"Cannon three to four!"
The Saint of Formations seemed unable to watch any longer.
He pointed his sword directly at the two horses.
Immediately, a huge bronze cannon in the middle of the white side turned toward them.
Then, with a deafening Boom!, a fireball like a miniature sun shot toward the pair.
Panic appeared on both horses' faces.
The black horse even reared up completely, letting out a frightened neigh.
But no matter what they did, their hooves seemed glued to the square beneath them.
They couldn't leave their grid at all.
BOOM!
The cannonball traced an arc through the air and struck both horses directly.
In an instant, they were blasted into pieces, turning into countless chunks of bronze scattered around the square.
Only after firing did the cannon slowly roll forward into the square where the horses had originally been standing.
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