At this moment, Charlie was just like a middle-aged man engrossed in a game of chess. Calm and composed, he said, "It's simple. If we want to win, we need to play at our own pace."
"We need to pretend we're weaker first, then..."
"Trap and kill him."
["That's still just nonsense!"], the Scam-God statue complained, ["Just tell me what move to make! Skip all the rest!"]
"We have one more cannon than he does, so we need to make use of that advantage."
Ignoring the Scam-God statue, Charlie continued, "First, move the cannon to the bottom rank. That creates a smothered mate opportunity for the chariot. But because his horse is protecting his cannon, we first need to force him to move the horse."
"Cannon 7 to file 8."
Before the Scam-God statue could say anything, Charlie had already given the next move.
The Saint of Formations also seemed surprised that Ethan had such a move. It looked passive on the surface, but it completely shifted from defense to offense. And it was a move he had no choice but to answer.
Otherwise, the opponent's cannon would reach the bottom rank, and he would soon be smothered with ease.
To save himself, he could only grit his teeth and play...
"Horse 9 advances to 8!"
To stop Ethan's cannon from reaching the bottom rank, the horse had no choice but to move up and block.
Unfortunately, Ethan had one more cannon than the Saint of Formations.
The moment the opponent's elephant lost its protection, Charlie immediately dropped the cannon to the bottom rank and captured it.
BOOM!
In an instant, Ethan's black cannon fired nothing more than a pitch-black bronze ball.
Compared to the Saint of Formations's white cannon, the difference was enormous. His cannon fired what looked like a miniature sun, while Ethan's was only a black bronze ball.
Whether in visual effects or power, they were worlds apart.
No wonder the Saint of Formations insisted on taking the white side.
It really did look cooler.
BANG!
The elephant holding a feather fan on the Saint of Formations's side was blasted into pieces by the bronze ball.
Of course, there was no blood or anything like that. Only shattered bits of stone flew everywhere.
At first glance, these statues looked just like real people. They even waved the feather fans in their hands from time to time. But once smashed apart, they were still nothing more than stone.
After destroying the white elephant, the black cannon's bronze wheels finally began to roll with a rumble.
It rolled all the way to the black elephant's position.
Now, all Ethan had to do was drop his chariot to the bottom rank, and the Saint of Formations would be smothered on his king's square.
["We can win just like that?"]
The Scam-God statue stared in shock.
It had simulated thousands of possibilities. No matter which move it analyzed, there were countless possible continuations, leaving it trapped in endless indecision. It simply had no idea which move to choose next.
But Charlie had changed the entire game with just two moves. The Scam-God statue casually predicted the continuation and found that, as long as Black didn't do anything stupid, the chance of victory was over ninety percent.
"It's not that simple," Charlie said, "I also make predictions. I just don't predict as many possibilities as you do."
"Because I understand chess, I only need to predict what move the Saint of Formations will make next."
"No matter how skilled a player is, everyone has moments of oversight."
"Just now..."
"I took advantage of the instant he was shocked by Lord Ethan. I captured his elephant and forced him into making a bad move while he was thrown off balance."
["So you only predict the possible continuations of one move at a time?"], The Scam-God statue hadn't expected that approach at all. It stood there in a daze for quite a while before saying, ["Wouldn't that make things much easier?"]
"It's not bad," Charlie smiled, "If I had this ability and played against top chess masters, I'd be confident I could beat them."
"Damn it!"
The Saint of Formations also seemed to realize that defeat was inevitable, and he flew into a rage.
He pointed his bronze sword directly at Ethan, "Kid, did you cheat? You clearly said you didn't know how to play Chinese chess. Then what's this?"
"I don't know how to play, but that doesn't mean my friend doesn't," Ethan smiled, "Besides, I asked you earlier whether outside assistance was allowed. You agreed."
"Damn it!"
The Saint of Formations roared in anger and waved his hand.
Instantly, countless chess pieces shattered into dust and began spinning wildly throughout the world inside the chessboard.
At that same moment, Ethan was expelled from that world.
The next second, his vision went dark, and he found himself back on the mine surrounded by floodwaters.
The flood, which had previously only reached the foot of the mountain, had now risen to the summit. It looked as though every last piece of dry land would soon be submerged.
[You have subdued the ownerless Wonder Item, Chessboard!]