"You little brat, you're completely unreasonable!" the Chess Ghost shouted angrily.
She moved the Pathfinding Compass aside, brought over a proper chessboard, and carefully set up the pieces one by one. "Didn't you want to play a proper game? Then today I'll show you what the Chess Ghost is all about!"
Nero lowered his head and glanced at the board. Without changing expression, he simply asked, "Who goes first?"
The Chess Ghost said, "You go first if you want. You think I'm afraid of you?"
Seeing the Chess Ghost react like this, Yanqing froze for a moment, then said, "It's over. That Pathfinding Compass thing already broke her mentally, and now she's playing chess with Nero. Her life is over."
Hearing Yanqing say that, the others asked in confusion, "Why do you say that? Could it be that Nero's chess skills are also..."
Yanqing nodded.
"You'll see."
Since the Chess Ghost let him move first, Nero naturally didn't hold back. He picked up his rook and slammed it directly onto the Chess Ghost's king.
"Check."
"What? Do you even know how to play? What are you doing?" The Chess Ghost's eyes nearly popped out.
"What do you know? This is my Flying Chariot."
"Huh?"
"Check."
"And what move is this?"
"This is called Heavenly Horse."
"Huh?"
"Check."
"Again?"
"Flying Elephant, Flying Elephant. Very reasonable."
"Huh?"
"Check."
"What's this one?"
"You've never fought in a war, but you've at least read books or watched films, right? This is a cannon. Area damage."
"Huh?"
"Check."
"No, why can this little pawn just take my king directly?"
"This is an elite force."
"I..."
"Check. This is the Seven Generals of the Reignbow Arbiter. Taking your commander's head in the middle of ten thousand troops."
"Check. I turned your officials against you. You're already trapped."
"Check. I commanded the Luofu Hunt forces to attack you with full coverage."
"Check. I invited the Reignbow Arbiter himself. Not one soldier in your army will survive."
"Check. I called my good buddy Aha and turned all of you into a joke."
"Check. I..."
After several games, under Nero's "strange" attacks, the Chess Ghost speedran every match and lost every game without understanding how.
By the end, her eyes were bloodshot, her whole body trembling, cold sweat pouring down, hair disheveled, looking completely insane.
"Ahhhhh! I'm not playing anymore, I'm not playing anymore! Ahhhhh!"
The Chess Ghost screamed crazily, then lunged toward Huohuo. Tears and snot streamed down her face as she immediately knelt and prostrated herself, almost hugging Huohuo's legs.
"Judge, I know you're a judge! Miss Judge, please take me back. I'll go with you, hurry and put me back in that gourd."
"I never want to play chess with this kid again. No, I never want to see him again! Please take me away, Miss Judge!"
"Wuwuwu... I don't want to play chess anymore... Hehehe... no more chess... Ah! Flying Chariot, Flying Elephant, Heavenly Horse, wuwuwu..."
Seeing the Chess Ghost in this state, Huohuo got so scared that she backed away repeatedly. It was only with Tail's help that she managed to grab the Chess Ghost and seal her back into the gourd.
Seeing the Chess Ghost's miserable state, Stelle scratched her head and couldn't help remembering the Horror Maze.
"Another one went crazy."
After watching Nero's performance, Fuyan felt her scalp go numb.
She had thought Nero was so confident because he was truly a chess master.
Who knew he was outstanding in a completely different sense.
Even she couldn't help blurting out, "My god, the Luofu Chess Saint..."
By Aha, the Elation Aeon must've had a great time watching this.
———
Nero had thoroughly enjoyed bullying the Chess Ghost.
After the Chess Ghost was captured, Yanqing sent those who had fallen unconscious under her influence to the clinic.
The others went to rest.
Of course, while Nero had enjoyed himself, such a major change to the story meant the System Secretary had to work diligently to revise things again.
What a hardworking and dependable little system.
Worth mentioning was that when Guinaifen posted about the Chess Ghost incident, the title was, "Shocking! Nero Is Actually the Luofu Chess Saint. Why Was the Chess Ghost Screaming Nonstop?"
The day after dealing with the Chess Ghost, they handled the so-called Ghost Ship incident.
After resting for some time, the Ghost-Hunting Squad gathered once again in Fyxestroll Garden.
"Let's begin today's operation." Huohuo said.
"The Ten-Lords Commission's Fugitive Heliobus Special Operations Team, or Ghost-Hunting Squad for short, is getting back to work! Yay!"
Guinaifen and March were full of energy. The two high-fived and shouted in unison, like a pair of Employees of the Year.
But Sushang, as a Cloud Knight, looked completely drained.
"Yay..."
"...?"
Hearing Sushang's voice, which sounded like someone who had gone to bed at three in the morning and still had to wake up at six, Huohuo blinked and looked at her in confusion.
The dark circles under the fox girl's eyes seemed to be telling a story.
Of course, they couldn't actually talk.
But at this moment, they somehow felt alive.
"Beep, clocking in," Stelle said.
Guinaifen turned around and looked at Stelle.
"Why do your eyes look as tired as those officials from the Realm-Keeping Commission?"
"Because I work from seven in the morning until eight at night and still haven't had a vacation," Stelle said. "This feels completely different from the Trailblazing journey."
Sushang yawned beside her.
"I'm exhausted. What miracle medicine did you two eat to be this energetic?"
"Every time I see my follower count shooting up, I get so excited I can't sleep. It's more effective than strong tea or coffee!" Guinaifen said.
March added, "Every time we see a different heliobus, it's like opening a treasure chest. Stelle, you understand, right? It's like finding a brand-new, different trash can everywhere!"
Everyone was still wondering why March had to bring up trash cans, but Stelle's eyes had already lit up.
"Yes, I understand."
Sushang curled her lips.
"I don't know what trash cans have to do with any of this... but this is your thing. Guinaifen is a content creator, so she obviously cares about follower numbers."
"And for you Nameless, experiencing different things is part of Trailblazing..."
"Ha... I'm different. Every time I close my eyes now, I dream about chasing heliobi all over the place... It's even more tiring than fighting myself."
"Maybe later we'll run into a heliobus that lets you enjoy fighting," Nero said.
"That's completely different, Nero..." Sushang said.
"Then next time you're sleeping, play recordings of the teacher's lectures from school."
"Hiss... good idea. You're really smart. I'll try that tomorrow."
At that moment, Guinaifen drawled, "Sushang, you've already slept through an entire day."
Sushang replied confidently, "Ghost hunting is nighttime work. Sleeping through an entire day is perfectly reasonable, isn't it?"
"Hey, how about this? Just treat me as someone possessed by the Demon of Sleep and sealed onto my bed. Let me sleep for another thirty or fifty hours, and we'll call it a completed report for the Ten-Lords Commission. How about that?"
Guinaifen narrowed her eyes, looked Sushang up and down, and said, "Hmm, you really look like someone possessed by that famous card player from the Divination Commission."
"Not exactly. Lady Sparrow would probably finish the Ten-Lords Commission's work first before going to sleep. She'd probably play a couple of rounds before bed too..." Nero said.
Guinaifen asked curiously, "The Divination Commission's card player? Aren't the people there all fortune tellers?"
"It's this person. Look at her post.", Guinaifen said.
[🙇🏻 You Can Support the Story Through P@treon—AmbitiousTranslator. It also has 40+ Chapters of all the novels and fanfics. Thanks for reading~]