Chapter 127: A Game Of Chess 2
All five White Rooms moved within the same second.
The pieces slid across their respective boards in perfect, eerie synchrony, glass scraping glass. The boards lit up as they moved.
Every eye remained fixed on the screens.
When the light faded, Thinker’s board had gone dark, the pawn resting exactly where he’d placed it.
He allowed himself the smallest exhale of relief, already turning his attention toward the silence beyond his own walls.
Then his terminal chimed.
Not the soft confirmation tone he’d expected to hear.
It was something sharper.
Red text bled across the glass board in front of him, stark against all that white.
ERROR — WRONG MOVE
Thinker froze.
’How is that possible?’
A frown creased his brows as the warning burned across the board.
His gaze shifted as he noticed the changes in the room.
The walls drew closer.
All the chess pieces moved, resetting to their original positions.
The red warning message disappeared allowing him to catch a clearer view of the board.
Thinker stared at them.
’...So the pawn was wrong?’
That wasn’t supposed to happen.
He had considered every possibility before making that move.
The logic wasn’t flawed.
So why did they reset?
’If my conclusion was correct...’
’Then one of my assumptions wasn’t.’ Thinker paused for a moment.
Precognition allowed him to see every possible consequence of his next actions, and allowed him to weigh his options even before he acted.
He’d done exactly that and still failed.
’Except...’ a small smile cut across his face as his gaze slowly shifted toward the four pieces.
He didn’t touch the board.
Suddenly, a blaring sound came.
China’s three screens flashed gold at the same time.
"AND THAT’S IT!" Julie shouted. "CHINA CLEARS THE CRUCIBLE! All three coordinates were entered at the exact same microsecond!"
The Chinese heroes slowly rose from their seats as applause echoed through their section.
Mercury calmly placed her teacup on the table before giving a few light claps, her expression unchanged, as though she had expected nothing less.
Around them, the other Chinese heroes wore faint smiles. None of them celebrated loudly. It was almost unsettling how calm they remained after securing first place.
Tianzun slowly opened his eyes.
He glanced at the glowing scoreboard for only a brief moment before quietly closing them again, his fingers continuing to roll the prayer beads in his hand.
It was almost as though the first place had never been in doubt.
[Demiurge666: Told y’all. China always dominates the Crucible.]
[Will_1631: America’s still trapped.]
Dana didn’t react.
Her eyes remained fixed on the American screen.
Nile still sat staring at his board, he was surprised as the blaring notification appeared in front of him.
[Two Attempts left!]
He looked at the notification with surprise, ’How did Thinker fail?’ it was unthinkable.
He always sort the best possible option so there was absolutely no way for him to have lost.
’..What exactly is he thinking?’ Nile found it strange, ’Tsk, now those Chinese brat will be all over the place’
"I should check what is up with Thinker"
{Third Person POV: Activated}
Nile slowly closed his eyes.
The world around him disappeared. His consciousness drifted away from the room, moving through the walls as though they didn’t exist.
A familiar pressure settled over his mind.
Moments later...Thinker’s thoughts flowed into his own.
He could hear every thought clearly as though he was in the room with Thinker.
Every assumption.
Every line of reasoning unfolded naturally inside his own mind as though he himself had reached them.
It was a strange sensation.
But it was one he’d grown used to, after all, this wasn’t the first time he was using the ability.
Nile’s vision changed.
He found himself looking through Thinker’s thoughts.
The room.
The board.
The four pieces.
Everything became clear.
He watched Thinker replay the previous mistake inside his head.
’The pawn wasn’t the wrong move... They tricked us with perspective’
’They turned the board around so we’d confuse the pieces we were meant to play’ Thinker thought hitting his forehead lightly in disappointment.
It was a simple perspective trick that got him. So the main trick wasn’t the puzzle itself, but their own knowledge of the game.
’I hope you don’t make the same mistake’ Thinker thought.
Nile smiled.
’.... We’ve been teammates for so long you can basically tell when I use read your thoughts’
He wanted to talk with him.
But Third Person POV couldn’t communicate.
It only allowed him to observe.
His eyes shifted toward the board, he watched as Thinker quickly moved with his queen, sacrificing the queen. Pressing forward with his Knight and locking the king on a check.
’Nile can only move his king to g7 for safety, that’ll trigger the phase’ Thinker thought with a knowing smile on his face.
’You don’t have to spell out everything for me, I’m not dumb’ Nile thought back with a smile.
The two couldn’t see each other, but it was almost as though they could sense each other’s presence.
Nile slowly withdrew, Thinker had already made his move, it was his turn.
Back in the theater.
Nicholas watched the screen quietly.
"He hasn’t moved for over two minutes," Dana muttered, "Nile already played, the others might catch up"
"He activated his ability," Selena said.
Nicholas glanced toward Nile, the man hadn’t moved an inch.
His hands rested calmly on his knees, "What exactly does his ability do?"
Selena crossed her arms.
"He mirrors another person’s thought process," Selena explained. "He doesn’t read their thoughts. He recreates the reasoning that led them to a conclusion."
"He only needs to know the said person then he can carry out the process."
Nicholas frowned. "So he reads minds?"
Selena shook her head.
"Not quite, he doesn’t hear thoughts. He thinks the way they think and follows their reasoning then sees why they reached a conclusion."
Nicholas nodded slightly.
’Not mind reading...’
"He has conditions. He has to know them personally, or use something they’ve touched. His body also becomes completely defenseless while using it."
"That’s why I specifically requested those room placements."
Dana nodded. "It was my suggestion."
They looked back at the screen.
Nile didn’t waste even a second as he returned to his body, as though he already knew what to do.
He actually did.
Thanks to hanging around Thinkers mind for a few minutes, he immediately moved his king blocking the check.
’Now it’s all left to Oxord!’ He thought with a grin as his board lit up with a golden light.
’We don’t have to worry about him though’ Nile thought with a confident grin.
Oxord sat in the room, his board light up signaling that the others had already finished their parts.
The two spots where Nile and Thinker had placed their pieces lit up on his board.
The final path to clearing the Crucible was left to him and he would be the one to decide the success of the group.
In the theater, Dana leaned back into her chair, "I was wondering how long it’d take, I guess now we can rest easy"
Nicholas turned to her raising a brow, "The third guy hasn’t finished, if he takes time the others can catch up"
Selena chuckled, "You don’t have to worry about Oxord, his ability is rather unique." she said with a grin her gaze fixed on the screen.
Oxord looked down at the glowing board.
The final move belonged to him.