Chapter 1871
by 林方方Chapter 1871 The Annihilation of Hidden Gods
An Qingyu walked to the chessboard, looking down at the scattered pieces, lost in thought.
“What? Has your soul recovered from its injuries?”
Lin Qiye’s voice came from inside the room. He opened the door and looked at An Qingyu standing before the chessboard.
Lin Qiye certainly hadn’t been resting. At his current level, unless his soul was damaged like An Qingyu’s, he didn’t need sleep to recover. He had been sitting cross-legged in meditation in the room, only because he had devoted all his energy to his Burning Angel avatar.
When he heard An Qingyu get up, he immediately diverted part of his consciousness back.
He wanted to interact and communicate with An Qingyu as much as possible. Only this way could he gather more intelligence.
An Qingyu didn’t look up at him, just stared at the chessboard and slowly said, “You’re trying to imitate my chess style… unfortunately, you can only achieve seventy percent similarity.”
“Is that so?”
Lin Qiye sat down beside the chessboard and waved his hand to return all the pieces to their basket. “You’re right. After all, I’m not you. No matter how much I imitate, it’s just copying the form… Rather than playing against an imaginary you, it’s simpler to face the real person.”
An Qingyu calmly replied, “We’ve already played against each other many times, haven’t we?”
“Those few games in the Beijing courtyard, your thinking was impaired, so they can’t be considered true matches… The game in the hospital, we both know what the purpose was, so that doesn’t count either. When you think about it, we’ve never truly played against each other.”
An Qingyu glanced at him, hesitated for a moment, then sat down across from Lin Qiye.
“I’m very busy. This chess game might be our last.”
“The last game, huh…”
Lin Qiye moved the basket with the white pieces in front of himself. “For me, it’s the same.”
“You’re taking the white pieces this time?”
“I took black before because I was already making the first move… Now, who goes first has no meaning.” Lin Qiye held a white piece and gently placed it on the board.
An Qingyu looked at the basket of black pieces before him and nodded slightly. “Indeed.”
He picked up a black piece and placed it right next to Lin Qiye’s white one.
“Do you know what I was thinking about yesterday when I was playing chess here alone?” Lin Qiye asked while making his move.
“What?”
“I was thinking that both our true selves are actually in this courtyard, seeing each other every day, so close it’s almost like attending a summer camp together… Yet through our avatars, we’re engaged in a game that affects the entire world’s situation.
The world is vast, so vast that even the highest gods are merely pieces within it; the world is small, so small that on this tiny chessboard, the final victory can be determined.”
An Qingyu narrowed his eyes. He looked up at Lin Qiye and spoke unhurriedly:
“Comparing the world to a chessboard is fine… However, if you take the game on this board as the basis for determining victory, perhaps you’ll never win.”
Lin Qiye’s hand paused mid-move.
He frowned, looking into An Qingyu’s eyes, and asked in a deep voice:
“Are you saying… that what determines victory isn’t on this chessboard?”
“The world is small, and the chessboard is small… Some things are bigger than them, much bigger.” An Qingyu made his move, capturing the surrounded white pieces and casually tossing them to the side of the board. “Chess is a game between pieces, but games… are just games after all.”
Lin Qiye pondered An Qingyu’s words and was about to make his next move when An Qingyu stood up and walked toward the courtyard exit.
“The game isn’t finished. Where are you going?” Lin Qiye asked.
“The game outside isn’t finished, so naturally the moves on the chessboard won’t have a conclusion…”
An Qingyu returned to the edge of the misty wall, lightly traced his finger, and the mist immediately parted to both sides, leaving a path to exit. “I will continue to make my moves, but not here.”
As the black figure disappeared into the mist, the entire courtyard returned to silence.
Lin Qiye sat alone by the chessboard, looking at the unfinished game of black and white pieces, lost in thought.
…
Mist.
A black giant shadow skimmed across the sea surface like lightning, treading on waves.
Lina stood on Fenrir’s back, her gaze fixed ahead, the wild wind making her clothes flutter. As if remembering something, she took out a mask from her bosom and put it on, concealing her face.
As the magical wolf Fenrir sped forward, the outline of an island emerged from the mist.
The island wasn’t large; one could see its complete coastline just by flying up a little. In the center of this desolate, barren island stood a majestic ancient volcano crater.
Lina, riding Fenrir, leapt from the shore, soaring above the volcano crater and then plunging straight down.
Darkness rose continuously around Lina. After a moment, a white light appeared from below. She and Fenrir plunged into the light, and when the brightness faded, they had arrived in the middle of a vast desert.
Lina quickly determined her direction and continued forward.
This was a small space independent from the outside world, similar to Asgard and Takamagahara, those divine realms, just much smaller in area.
This desert space was once the divine realm of a forgotten mythology in the mist. Later, Si Xiaonan found this place and, using a combination of force and persuasion, brought the indigenous deities under his command. At the same time, this became the headquarters of [Hidden God].
Although the area was not large and the environment was rather harsh, it was well-hidden and difficult to find, which suited the low-profile nature of [Hidden God].
Woof—!
Halfway through, Fenrir suddenly stopped beneath Lina.
This wolf from the netherworld kept sniffing the air, emitting low growls from its throat, appearing as if facing a great enemy.
Lina’s expression changed. She quickly jumped off the wolf’s back, patted its leg to signal it to shrink, and cautiously advanced toward the center, using the surrounding obstacles as cover…
By this point, even Lina could smell the blood in the air. Her frown deepened. As the ruined palace complex gradually came into view, shattered corpses lay scattered everywhere, as if they had been forcibly devoured by some enormous beast!
These bodies were covered with some deep yellow viscous liquid that emitted a strong stench. The entire divine realm looked as if it had been soaked and swollen, bloated and bizarre.
Fenrir’s fur stood on end as it stared fixedly at the sticky liquid covering the bodies and palaces, its eyes blood-red.
It was the scent of a Cthulhu deity.
Lina stared in shock at the familiar corpses strewn across the ground. In the scorching desert, an icy chill crept into her heart!
[Hidden God] was no more.