Chapter Twenty-Five: Chess Pieces

  "I knew, of course, that this forest was planted in the 1960s, a time when we were preparing for war and famine. At the time of planting, it was guided by a master to defend against imperialist invasion. So, including the planting of trees, the development of terraced fields, and even the layout of small ditches and hills, everything was built according to the grid of a chessboard. The nineteen ridges and rivers formed a rotating array with two centers: one is here, where I am, the red general's position, and the other is 30 miles north, the black general's position. People who enter the array will be bewildered by the plants and trees, and eventually, under the guidance of the array, they will either come to the general's position or the marshal's position. There was originally a very deadly mechanism here. Anyone who came here would lose their life once they fell into it. Later, as the international situation eased, the array lost its function, and the mechanism was destroyed by the person who set up the array. However, because the array was too large, it could not be completely destroyed, so every year, people are trapped inside and cannot get out. I am a disciple of the person who set up the array. My master did not want people to die in the array, so he ordered my brother and me to guard the general's and marshal's positions. One reason is to cultivate our character, and the other is to guide lost travelers like you. Now, I have lived here for over 20 years." The old man laughed even louder.

  After listening to the old man's words, the little snake understood in his heart. No wonder he always had a feeling of spinning around. It turned out that the flowers and grasses in the array were playing tricks on him. But he still didn't understand why the old man knew he was trapped here.

  The old man saw him listening attentively, and naturally continued to say: "This chess formation has a terrible place. As long as someone enters, it will inevitably lead to the obstruction of airflow in the formation, and the entire formation's airflow will converge here, so I can know that someone has entered the formation. I also know that you suddenly appeared above the good red three four points."

  "What is Hong San Jin Si Dian?" the little snake asked in confusion.

  The old man pointed to the chessboard, and the snake looked down to see that the pieces on the board were all in their initial positions, which meant that the old man had not been playing alone just now.

  The old man pointed at the second pawn from the right on the red side: "This is it."

  "Okay." The little snake nodded in understanding.

  The old man pointed to the chessboard: "You suddenly appeared from here, and I don't know what's going on either, so I paid extra attention. Then you walked along the border river, walked a section along the border river, and finally turned back east, all the way to here."

  "Yes, I was clearly walking in the city at that time. As soon as I walked distractedly, I found myself coming to the mountain. It's really weird." The little snake frowned.

  The old man held a chess piece in his hand, lost in thought for a long time. Finally, his gaze fell on the little snake's face, his expression solemn and serious, with a hint of gloom in his eyes. The little snake felt a chill run down its spine. After a while, the old man's expression relaxed, he took a deep breath, looked up at the sky and said: "You're actually friends with him, no wonder, no wonder."

  "What's strange about it?" The old man muttered to himself suddenly, and the little snake asked in puzzlement.

  "Alright, nothing much, young fellow, I'll see you out." Despite the many questions still in Xiao He's mind, the old man remained silent, stood up and picked up a pine branch, walking stop-and-go in the forest, two hours later, he led Xiao He out of the formation.

  When parting ways, the old man sighed and said: "Young man, although you may encounter some difficulties, I see that there is a noble person protecting you. This person is not ordinary, but rather someone who appears once in a hundred years. You will be able to turn bad luck into good fortune. However, remember to think thrice before acting, and for things that can be avoided, don't go looking for trouble."

  The little snake thanked him for saving his life, turned to leave, and the old man called out to him again, handing him something. The little snake took it and looked at it - it was a red chess piece.

  "Take this back and give it to him."

  "Who for?" asked the little snake.

  "No need to ask, those who understand will eventually understand." The old man said mysteriously.

  The little snake wanted to ask more questions, but suddenly a white mist rose up in front of it. When the mist dispersed, the old man was gone too.

  "Is it gone?" Xu Ming asked in surprise. He and Hong Jun both thought of the small coffin that had suddenly appeared and then disappeared just as suddenly.

  "Hmm. I'd like to ask another question, what kind of unfortunate event will happen, who is that noble person, and who should this chess piece be given to? Just as I was thinking about it, the old man suddenly disappeared, I searched around for a few times but couldn't find him anywhere, I thought he must have gone back up the mountain. That mountain is an array, ordinary people easily get lost in it, I've already gotten lost once and almost couldn't come out, if I go in again, I won't make it, so I gave up on searching for him." The little snake said, "After escaping, I asked passersby and found out that I was currently in the territory of Wugong County, Shaanxi Province."

  "Shaanxi Wugong County?" Fat Chen exclaimed, then took out his phone to check, "That place is over 1,200 kilometers away from Binhai, and you mysteriously appeared over 1,200 kilometers away in just 20 minutes."

  "I don't know, but the fact is that I really did arrive in Wugong." The little snake nodded, "Although I was extremely shocked, I still asked around and stumbled upon the train station. Luckily, I had some money on me, so I took a bus and then a train, and after two days, I finally returned to Binhai." As he spoke, the little snake pulled out a train ticket from his pocket and waved it around, "On the train, I was afraid of running into another strange encounter, so I didn't dare sleep or eat. I just endured the hardship and made it back."

  "Wait," Hong Jun suddenly realized something was off, "From what you said, you got lost for only four or five days, and adding the time it took to get back, that's less than a week. But you've been missing for over a month...!" However, he found that Xiao She had already fallen asleep from drinking too much.

  "Ah, poor kid, must have been scared stiff and is drowning his sorrows," said Fat Chen as he and the others helped the drunk Xiao She onto the bed and tucked him in.

  The little snake's hand was clenched around something, and Hong Jun gently pried it open to reveal a chess piece and a train ticket. Hong Jun first looked at the chess piece, which was just an ordinary xiangqi pawn with a red general on top of it.

  But when he turned it over, he found out that this was not an ordinary chess piece at all.

  Because on the other side is a black 1 container. This is a chess piece that combines the two opposing sides' highest heads into one.