"Forget it. There's no point talking about it. This guy clearly isn't the fighting type. Even if you came here, your swordsmanship wouldn't improve at all."
Nero looked at Yanqing and said, "Instead of wasting time here, we'd be better off carrying the Gold Golem ten thousand times."
After saying that, Nero turned around and looked at the Chess Ghost, who still couldn't speak. His gaze swept across the table she had set up.
"Let's play then. Where's your chessboard? Huh? This is chess? What kind of chess is this?"
Looking at the maze-like thing in front of him, Nero showed a puzzled expression.
When Nero spoke, the Chess Ghost suddenly realized she could open her mouth again. She immediately said disdainfully, "Tch, what an ignorant brat. This is called Pathfinder. It's a puzzle game that originated from your Luofu Divination Commission.
"Creating and solving Pathfinder puzzles is a contest that pushes one's intelligence to the limit. Can you solve my puzzle?"
"Then let's play," Nero said.
"Heh. You've got some courage, kid. Unlike that Xianzhou swordsman over there, who's so timid and hesitant," the Chess Ghost said.
"Just play your game. Why are you talking so much? You can't even shut your mouth while playing some niche board game. Looks to me like you couldn't beat people at real chess, so you came up with this instead."
The moment the Chess Ghost finished speaking, Nero glared at her and continued, "Do you think Yanqing came here to play puzzle games with you? He's here to fight you."
"You should be happy he's too lazy to deal with you right now. If he starts fighting, you'll be a piggy bank head in the next second."
The Chess Ghost opened her mouth.
Countless curses gathered in her throat.
'How is this kid's mouth so deadly?'
But when the words came out, she instead said, "Hehe, I only started studying this because I couldn't find any worthy opponents in regular chess..."
"Then play regular chess," Nero said before she could finish.
The next moment, a chessboard dropped from the sky onto the table.
Pieces came with it.
Then the Chess Ghost saw a familiar figure descend from above and circle around Nero.
Cirrus looked at the Chess Ghost with a teasing smile.
At that moment, the Chess Ghost's face turned red. She stammered for a long time without saying anything.
After holding it in for quite a while, she stubbornly said, "Fine. Since you want to challenge me, if you can beat me at Pathfinder, then I'll play that game with you."
After saying that, she raised her head and shot Cirrus a vicious glare, as if she wanted to swallow the floating eyeball burning with spirit fire whole.
But Cirrus only smiled.
"Oh my, someone's upset. You're so red. Why don't you come out of that body, Chess Ghost? Let me see if you're the same color as a Origami Bird right now! Hehehe..."
Seeing Cirrus's smug look, the Chess Ghost was furious.
But there was nothing she could do.
She could only stomp her feet in place, grab a piece from the board, and slam it onto the chessboard.
Yanqing saw that Nero was deliberately playing with the Chess Ghost and knew she was doomed today, so he stepped back a couple of paces.
He wasn't worried that Nero would lose.
Although Nero's chess skills were full of "creative ideas" and his moves were always "completely unconstrained," the one who would suffer from that was inevitably the Chess Ghost.
After all, even the General had no choice but to endure it when playing against Nero.
And even if the Chess Ghost got angry, she still couldn't beat Nero in a fight.
Ahead of them, Nero and the Chess Ghost sat facing each other and prepared to start with a game of Pathfinder.
However, when everyone saw how Pathfinder was played, they froze slightly.
Then Yanqing heard suppressed laughter behind him.
Turning around, he found Stelle and March trying their best not to laugh out loud.
The others looked confused, so Yanqing asked, "Teachers, why are you laughing?"
Stelle and March waved their hands repeatedly before finally saying, "Just keep watching and you'll see... This is the first time we've seen someone dare play a maze game against Nero."
"Sure, her route is pretty simple, but it requires controlling your number of moves. For Nero, though, none of that matters."
After hearing the two of them, Huohuo seemed to suddenly realize something as well and showed a look of understanding.
Mr. Tail outright laughed.
That only made everyone else even more confused.
They were familiar with Nero, but none of them had ever seen how he dealt with maze-like illusions.
Still, they suddenly felt an itch of anticipation.
Based on Nero's usual personality and behavior, they could more or less guess what was coming.
Meanwhile, Nero lightly flicked a finger.
The obstacle blocking the mechanism he controlled flew away.
Then he simply moved the mechanism forward.
He cleared the puzzle before even using all his available steps.
The move left the Chess Ghost completely stunned.
"What? How are you using your hands? That's cheating!" the Chess Ghost shouted.
"Why are you yelling..."
Nero covered one ear.
"I'm playing chess, not letting the mechanism play chess. I didn't ask someone else to move the board for me. If you can do it too, then go ahead."
With that, before the Chess Ghost could react, Nero reset the Pathfinder board.
The exit wasn't far away, but he surrounded the mechanism layer after layer until it was completely boxed in.
"Come on. You've already given me your puzzle. Now it's my turn."
The Chess Ghost came back to her senses and stared at the board Nero had set up.
The mechanism was sealed in on all sides.
She glared at Nero.
Then she copied what Nero had done earlier when solving her puzzle.
Thinking, "If you can cheat, so can I," she flicked one of the obstacles with her finger.
A dull thud sounded.
The obstacle was solid metal all the way through.
It didn't move in the slightest.
Instead, her finger hurt badly.
"What kind of puzzle is this? There's no way to solve it at all!" the Chess Ghost shouted as her composure broke.
Then she saw Nero gently pick up the mechanism and place it directly at the exit.
What he said next stabbed into her chest like a sword.
"Idiot. Mechanisms can fly."
"Huh?"
The Chess Ghost let out a cry that sounded like she was questioning her entire life.
———
"Cheating Nero is adorable." Siberian Duck couldn't help laughing.
[Pom-Pom: I'm dying. The Chess Ghost is questioning her existence already.]
[Knight of Beauty: You don't know anything, streamer. This isn't cheating. It's creative thinking! It's a display of magnificent imagination and extraordinary wisdom. It's as brilliant as a flower in full bloom!]
[Aha's Emanator: One day, Nero played chess with the Chess Ghost. Nero was surrounded by walls on all sides, so he moved the mechanism directly to the front gate. The Chess Ghost angrily said, "Who plays chess like that?" Nero smiled and replied, "Don't you have common sense? Mechanisms can fly."]
[Belobog Savage: Chess Ghost: "Young people on the Xianzhou are getting more and more disrespectful. Coming here to bully and trick an old person who's thousands of years old."]
[Put Nero's Feet in My Mouth: You're all focused on Nero cheating, but that final line, 'Idiot. Mechanisms can fly,' made me tremble.]
[Put Nero's Feet in My Mouth: Just imagine it. A rare day off. A sunny afternoon. You're out having fun with Nero, and while playing Pathfinder, he cheats and says that to you too!]
[Put Nero's Feet in My Mouth: Oh my god! That's too wonderful! Then we'd start fooling around, and I'd suddenly tackle him to the ground... Hehehehehe...]
[Glue Man: Uh oh, guys. One sentence and Yellow Pee Bro got turned on again.]