The few people returned to the chessboard, staring at each other blankly.
"Why don't we just make a few random moves and see what happens?"
Dai Xiaomei suggested, picking up a white piece to play.
"Wait a moment!"
Jiang Fan stopped Dai Xiaomei, a sense of foreboding growing in his heart.
"The characteristic of the Zhenlong Chess Game is that there is usually only one optimal move."
"In other words, one wrong move means we lose."
"Judging by the style of this Chi You tomb, making a wrong move might trigger a trap!"
Upon hearing Jiang Fan's words, Dai Xiaomei dared not move rashly.
If they made a mistake and triggered a trap, it would be extremely troublesome.
However, not playing any move was clearly not an option either. Lingering here would deplete their food and water.
Jiang Fan pondered for a long time and tentatively placed a piece on the board.
After placing the piece, the white stones in the lower right corner became significantly stronger. In Jiang Fan's opinion, it was a good move.
But as soon as he placed the white piece, a cold glint flashed, and sharp blades sprung out from all sides of the chessboard.
Jiang Fan, with his quick reflexes, narrowly avoided the blades, but his clothes were still slashed.
Dai Xiaomei and Zhou Niannian were terrified. Fortunately, they hadn't been leaning over the chessboard to watch.
Otherwise, if the blades had suddenly appeared, they wouldn't have had Jiang Fan's agility and would have been doomed.
Then, the white piece Jiang Fan had just placed on the board sprang up with a clink and fell back into the box.
Jiang Fan's expression changed. It was indeed as he had suspected: the chess game only recognized the single optimal move.
His move, though not bad, was still not the optimal one, and thus was not accepted by the game.
And making any wrong move would trigger a trap.
Once the trap was triggered, the game would reset, giving them another chance.
"This... this is too terrifying."
Zhou Niannian trembled all over. The seemingly calm chessboard was actually fraught with deadly intent.
"It's alright, I'll examine the game again."
Jiang Fan comforted Zhou Niannian and re-examined the chessboard.
After thinking for a long time, Jiang Fan came up with over a dozen potential moves but still dared not play impulsively.
His chess skill was not yet at the level required to solve the Zhenlong Chess Game.
Should he take a gamble? There were only so many places to place a piece on the board. If they tried them one by one, they might get lucky.
Jiang Fan quickly abandoned this thought; it was too dangerous.
The trap that sprang out last time was blades, which he could barely avoid. He didn't know what would appear next.
If it were poison darts or firearms, traps that couldn't be avoided, it would be disastrous.
It was possible the entire stone cave would collapse, leaving them with no escape.
Furthermore, he didn't know how many chances they had to reset; it might just be the one chance they had last time.
Jiang Fan pondered, completely hesitant to place a piece, his fingers trembling involuntarily.
Yao stared intently at the chessboard. He didn't understand Go at all, but he wanted to help Jiang Fan.
After watching for a while, Yao suddenly pointed at a section of the board.
"Dead!"
Jiang Fan's heart stirred. The situation of that particular group of stones was clear; it was indeed a dead group.
Yao then stared at the board for another moment and pointed at another group of stones.
"Alive!"
That was indeed a group of white stones that were guaranteed to survive.
Jiang Fan's heart stirred. Yao didn't understand chess at all.
However, Yao possessed an animal-like intuition, capable of foreseeing danger and sensing the presence of life.
Nothing in this place was ordinary. Even the chessboard and pieces emitted an aura.
Areas with live stones had a vibrant energy, dead stones had a deathly aura, and areas of intense conflict had a murderous intent.
These faint auras were sensed by Yao.
With this realization, Jiang Fan suddenly reached out and placed his hand on the chessboard.
The chessboard appeared to be carved from a single piece of jade, crystal clear throughout. As Jiang Fan pressed down on the stone table, he suddenly felt a flow of energy entering his body.
This energy was not cold, as Jiang Fan had expected, but extremely warm. After circulating through his body, it returned to the chessboard.
At this point, Jiang Fan understood the true mystery of this trap.
He mused, how could anyone set up a trap specifically to test chess-playing ability?
How many adventurers knew how to play chess? Those who did were likely in chess academies, not out exploring.
Such a trap, of course, was meant to test one's luck.
Just like the Zhenlong Chess Game in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, it wasn't really about chess skill, but about luck.
With strong luck, like Xu Zhu, one could stumble upon the solution.
Jiang Fan closed his eyes, placing his hands on the chessboard, and began to sense the luck within the game.
He believed that if Yao could sense it, he could too.
Meanwhile, chaos had erupted in the live stream.
The viewers had recorded the game and were inputting it into computers worldwide, asking AlphaGo to decipher the Zhenlong Chess Game.
As expected of AlphaGo, the top AI in the Go world, every computer equipped with AlphaGo reached the same conclusion!
That the optimal move was to place the white piece in the center of the board, the Tianyuan.
Because by placing the white piece at Tianyuan, all the white stones on the board would connect, forming a live group.
This Zhenlong Chess Game was a complete trick.
If someone, acting out a novel, made a foolish move and trapped their own white stones, they would bring about their own demise, triggering the trap.
The viewers were extremely anxious.
"Jiang Shen, you must play at Tianyuan!"
"Jiang Shen's exploration skills are superb; his chess ability should also be very high, capable of defeating AlphaGo, right?"
"Damn, you're making Jiang Shen sound too amazing. What can't he do? Does such a perfect person exist in the world?"
"Yes, yes, my monstrous prodigy, Jiang Shen, you must win!"
Suddenly, Jiang Fan's eyes snapped open.
The scene before his eyes abruptly changed, just as he had seen in his hallucination. The black and white chess pieces transformed into two armies locked in a deadly struggle.
War drums thundered, banners obscured the sun, and soldiers, wielding swords and sabers, engaged in fierce combat.
At the center of the battlefield stood a majestic city. Soldiers from both the black and white armies were desperately rushing towards it.
It was clear that whoever occupied this city first would win the war.
Jiang Fan finally sensed the aura of the chessboard. The city in the center was unmistakably the Tianyuan position.
The aura was telling him that playing at Tianyuan was the optimal move.
Jiang Fan picked up a white piece, his fingers holding it delicately, and slowly moved it towards the Tianyuan.
Those around him held their breath, watching Jiang Fan's every move with bated tension.
Midway through his movement, Jiang Fan paused, fine beads of sweat appearing on his forehead.
Even though he felt this was the correct move, he lacked absolute certainty.
He knew that this single move would determine his and his companions' lives.
After much hesitation, lifting and lowering the piece several times, Jiang Fan still dared not play.
The atmosphere became heavy as time ticked by.
Finally, Jiang Fan looked up abruptly, let out a roar, and firmly pressed the piece onto the Tianyuan position.
Zhou Niannian and the others tensed, unsure of what would happen next.
However, after a long pause, nothing happened!