“The team leaders will now have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to their respective members. The game will officially begin after five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused, then added, “The losing team will be completely eliminated, so please be prepared. If you have any new questions during the assignment, feel free to ask.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began murmuring among themselves. The game sounded simple in theory, but something about it felt unsettling in practice.
Steal radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters—whoever assembles twenty-eight first wins.
Such straightforward rules, yet it was clearly no simple game.
Seeing Qi Xia remain silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned and asked, “Hey, which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief pause, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze chimed in.
“Great, just great. Dream team, huh?” Chen Junnan nodded with forced confidence before turning back to Qi Xia. “Hey, Lao Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Cut it out,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “There are only three of us who know chess! How are we supposed to play this team game?”
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Junnan… I… I don’t know either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know gambling rules but not *chess*?”
“I only know gambling because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “Chess isn’t played in those places.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a deadpan expression. “Lao Qi, go negotiate with Earth Dragon. See if we can switch to checkers—there’s no way we can play this.”
“It’s fine,” Qi Xia reassured. “The chess-related rules probably won’t be too complex. Even though each of you carries a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’re acting as chess pieces. Since the rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ you technically don’t have to follow traditional chess moves like ‘horses moving in L-shapes’ or ‘elephants moving diagonally.’ Just remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we do this…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opposing team’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was puzzled. “What, do they have animal chess or something?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed in exasperation and shot him a cold glare. “Chen Junnan, could you talk less?”
“Who’s ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan immediately grabbed Zheng’s head. “Call me *bro*!”
Ignoring the commotion, Qi Xia walked to the wall and used a metal chain to etch several characters:
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game sounded simple in theory, they couldn’t shake the feeling that executing it would be far more challenging than expected.
The objective was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly straightforward rules, it was clear that this was no simple game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. Dream Team, huh?” Chen Junnan nodded with feigned confidence before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle a team game like this?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules for gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I only know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But they don’t have ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t impose any restrictions on ‘movement,’ so theoretically, you won’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ You just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opposing team’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What did you just call me?” Chen Junnan immediately went over and pressed down on Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘brother’!”
Qi Xia shook his head and walked over to the wall. Picking up a metal chain, he began carving several characters into the wall:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied before carving another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opposing team’s characters.”
Upon comparing the two sets, everyone immediately noticed the differences.
“As for ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said, ‘Please use the 「兵卒」 for the experiment.’ This indicates that we are the 「兵」 side, and the opposing team is the 「卒」 side.”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the strategic focus for both sides will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon initially asked us to choose sides, he mentioned that regardless of which side we picked, the difficulty would remain the same—only the tactics would differ. This makes it clear: the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? 「车」?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin several commonly used simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia interjected. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—high in demand—while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we’ll have to find ways to snatch certain radicals or components from the opposing team. These characters will be ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded thoughtfully. “I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character 「相」 can be broken down into 「木」 (wood) and 「目」 (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our 「相」 is relatively vulnerable. On the other hand…”
He then pointed at the opposing team’s character 「象」.
“Their character 「象」 doesn’t offer as many combinations, so it won’t be a primary target for us. Conversely, their character 「仕」 contains the ‘single person’ radical, so we should prioritize capturing it as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character 「炮」 likely has other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively risky, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opposing team into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “In that case, 「马」 and 「车」 are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t need to prioritize snatching these.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be 「马」 and 「车」. Even if these characters are snatched, it won’t significantly impact us. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who gains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take the next minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t chess the same for both sides?” Chen Junnan asked.
“No.” Qi Xia then carved another set:
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game didn’t sound particularly difficult, they felt somewhat uneasy about how it would actually play out.
The objective was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clearly not going to be an easy game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han Yimo awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. What a dream team,” Chen Junnan remarked with a sarcastic nod before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle this team game?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked in disbelief. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I only know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, we don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ We just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opposing team’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“Who’s ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan retorted, grabbing Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head and walked over to the wall. Picking up a metal chain, he began carving a few characters:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied as he carved another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opposing team’s characters.”
Upon comparison, everyone noticed the differences.
“Regarding ‘Chinese chess,’ we only need to remember this one rule,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said, ‘Please use the 「兵卒」 for the experiment.’ This indicates that we are the 「兵」 side, and the opposing team is the 「卒」 side.”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he mentioned that no matter which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would differ. This makes it clear: the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? 「车」?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia interjected. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—highly sought after—while others are ‘cold.’ To form as many characters as possible, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals and components from the opposing team. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character 「相」 can be broken down into 「木」 (wood) and 「目」 (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our team’s 「相」 is relatively dangerous. On the other hand…”
Qi Xia then pointed at the opposing team’s character 「象」.
“Their character 「象」 doesn’t offer many combinations, so it won’t be a primary target for us. Conversely, their character 「仕」 contains the ‘single person’ radical, so we need to secure it as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character 「炮」 likely has other combinations,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively risky, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything possible to trick the opposing team into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “In that case, 「马」 and 「车」 are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t be priority targets for snatching.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be 「马」 and 「车」. Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a significant impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who obtains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“These are theirs.”
Upon comparison, the differences became clear.
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game didn’t sound particularly difficult, they couldn’t shake the feeling of uncertainty about how it would actually play out.
The objective was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clear that this was no ordinary game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. Dream Team, huh?” Chen Junnan nodded with feigned confidence before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just surrender now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play chess. How are we supposed to handle a team game like this?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked in disbelief. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I learned the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can change it to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, we don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ We just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opponent’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“Who’s ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan retorted, grabbing Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head and walked to the wall. Picking up a metal chain, he began carving a few characters:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opponent’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“As for ‘Chinese chess,’ we only need to remember this one rule,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said, ‘Please use the 「兵卒」 for the experiment.’ This means we are the 「兵」 side, and the opponent is the 「卒」 side.”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus and requirements for both sides are different.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he mentioned that no matter which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would differ. This makes it clear that the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? 「车」?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, note that no matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret,” Qi Xia emphasized.
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’ while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opponent. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Ah…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character 「相」 can be broken down into 「木」 (wood) and 「目」 (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our 「相」 is relatively dangerous. On the other hand…”
He pointed at the opponent’s character 「象」.
“Their character 「象」 doesn’t offer many combinations and won’t be a primary target for us. However, their character 「仕」, which contains the ‘single person’ radical, should be seized as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character 「炮」 likely has other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively dangerous, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opponent into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “It seems like 「马」 and 「车」 are the safest since both sides have them. They won’t be priority targets for snatching.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be 「马」 and 「车」. Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
After everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who obtains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“About half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong how to read all these characters. I have a task for him.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “So both sides prioritize different components.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When choosing sides earlier, Earth Dragon mentioned that neither choice would affect difficulty—only tactics. This implies that our required ‘characters’ differ.”
“Next, the two team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game sounded simple in theory, they couldn’t shake the feeling that executing it would be far more challenging than expected.
The objective was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly straightforward rules, it was clear that this was no simple game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han Yimo awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. Dream Team, is it?” Chen Junnan nodded with feigned confidence before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just surrender now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle this team game?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I only know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t impose any restrictions on ‘movement,’ so theoretically, you don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ You just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opposing team’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What did you call me?” Chen Junnan immediately went over and ruffled Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head and walked over to the wall. Picking up a metal chain, he began carving several characters into the wall:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied before carving another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opposing team’s characters.”
Upon comparison, everyone immediately noticed the differences.
“As for ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said, ‘Please use the 「兵卒」 for the experiment.’ This indicates that we are the 「兵」 side, and the opposing team is the 「卒」 side.”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the priorities for both sides will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he mentioned that regardless of which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would. This makes it clear that the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? 「车」?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin several commonly used simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia interjected. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—highly sought after—while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opposing team. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character 「相」 can be broken down into 「木」 (wood) and 「目」 (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our team’s 「相」 is relatively vulnerable. However…”
He then pointed at the opposing team’s character 「象」.
“Their character 「象」 doesn’t offer many combinatory possibilities, so it won’t be a primary target for us. On the other hand, their character 「仕」 contains the ‘single person’ radical, so we should prioritize capturing it.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded simultaneously.
“Additionally, our character 「炮」 likely has other combinatory possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively risky, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opposing team into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “It seems like 「马」 and 「车」 are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t need to prioritize capturing these.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be 「马」 and 「车」. Even if these characters are captured, it won’t significantly impact us. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who gains or loses a ‘character,’ make sure to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“Junnan, what’s this? ‘Chē’?”
“Yeah, obviously, genius,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing. “Oh right, you use traditional script. Here, let me explain.”
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the officers beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused briefly before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game didn’t sound particularly difficult, they felt somewhat uneasy about how it would actually play out.
The objective was to snatch radicals and components from opponents to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clearly not going to be an easy game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze began.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. What a dream team,” Chen Junnan remarked with a sarcastic nod before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle a team game like this?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head somewhat sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, we don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ We just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opponent’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What did you call me?” Chen Junnan immediately went over and pressed down on Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head, walked to the wall, picked up a metal chain, and began carving a few characters:
「兵」、「炮」、「车」、「马」、「相」、「士」、「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that standard for Chinese chess?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters on the wall:
「卒」、「砲」、「车」、「马」、「象」、「仕」、「将」.
“These are the opponent’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“For ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said to use ‘soldier’ and ‘pawn’ for the experiment. This means we are ‘soldiers’ (兵), and the opponents are ‘pawns’ (卒).”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides at the beginning, he mentioned that no matter which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would. This makes it clear: the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? ‘Chariot’ (车)?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin several commonly used simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 (chariot) and 「马」 (horse), which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this,” Qi Xia continued. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—highly sought after—while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opponents. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical (亻) can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical (氵)…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character ‘minister’ (相) can be split into ‘wood’ (木) and ‘eye’ (目), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our ‘minister’ is relatively vulnerable. On the other hand…”
Qi Xia then pointed at the opponent’s character 「象」 (elephant).
“Their ‘elephant’ (象) doesn’t offer many combinations and won’t be a primary target for us. Conversely, their ‘scholar’ (仕) contains the ‘single person’ radical (亻), so we need to secure it as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our ‘cannon’ (炮) likely has other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia added. “These two characters are relatively risky, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything possible to trick the opponents into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “In that case, ‘horse’ (马) and ‘chariot’ (车) are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t need to prioritize snatching these.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia said, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be ‘horse’ and ‘chariot.’ Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia continued, “Later, no matter who gains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these ‘characters’ do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take the next minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these ‘characters.’ I have a task for him.”
“Next thing to note,” Qi Xia continued, “no matter what character I assign you, keep it secret.”
“Secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea.” Qi Xia pointed at the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot targets,’ while others are ‘cold.’ To form more characters, we’ll need to prioritize stealing certain radicals from the enemy—those are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hmm…” Chen Junnan nodded. “Got it. So these ‘characters’ can be broken down—my ‘person radical’ can pair with your ‘water radical’…”
“Just realizing that now?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If you come up with any new questions during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game didn’t sound particularly difficult, they couldn’t shake the feeling of uncertainty about how it would actually play out.
The goal was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clearly not going to be an easy game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. What a dream team,” Chen Junnan said with a sarcastic nod before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just surrender now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play chess. How are we supposed to handle this team game?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can change it to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, you don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ You just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we handle this…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opponent’s,” Qi Xia said.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan retorted, grabbing Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head, walked to the wall, picked up a metal chain, and began carving a few characters:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opponent’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“Regarding ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said, ‘Please use the 「兵卒」 for the experiment.’ This means we are the 「兵」 side, and the opponents are the 「卒」 side.”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also be different.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he said that no matter which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would differ. This makes it clear that the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? 「车」?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan said before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and added, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia said. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—highly sought after—while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opponent. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can actually be broken down. For example, my ‘single person’ radical can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character 「相」 can be broken down into 「木」 (wood) and 「目」 (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our 「相」 is relatively vulnerable. On the other hand…”
Qi Xia then pointed at the opponent’s character 「象」.
“Their character 「象」 doesn’t offer many combinations and won’t be a primary target for us. However, their character 「仕」, which contains the ‘single person’ radical, should be prioritized for capture.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character 「炮」 likely has other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively dangerous, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything possible to trick the opponent into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “It seems like 「马」 and 「车」 are the safest since both sides have them. The opponents won’t need to prioritize snatching them.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia said, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be 「马」 and 「车」. Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who gains or loses a ‘character,’ make sure to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If you come up with any new questions during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game sounded simple in theory, they couldn’t shake the feeling that executing it would be far more challenging than expected.
The goal was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly straightforward rules, it was clear that this was no ordinary game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han Yimo awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. What a dream team,” Chen Junnan said with a sarcastic nod before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking around,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle this team game?”
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head apologetically. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, you don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ You just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opposing team’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What did you call me?” Chen Junnan immediately went over and ruffled Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head and walked to the wall. Picking up a metal chain, he began carving a few characters:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t Chinese chess the same for both sides?” Chen Junnan asked.
“No,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opposing team’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“Regarding ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said to use the ‘soldier’ and ‘pawn’ for the experiment. This means we are ‘兵’ (soldier), and the opposing team is ‘卒’ (pawn).”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he said that regardless of which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would. This makes it clear that the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? ‘车’ (chē)?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan said before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and added, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia said. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—highly sought after—while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals and components from the opposing team. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Ah…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘单人旁’ (single person radical) can pair with your ‘三点水’ (three drops of water radical)…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character ‘相’ can be broken down into ‘木’ (wood) and ‘目’ (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our ‘相’ is relatively dangerous. On the other hand…”
Qi Xia then pointed at the opposing team’s character 「象」.
“Their character ‘象’ doesn’t offer many combinations and won’t be a primary target for us. However, their character ‘仕,’ which contains the ‘单人旁’ (single person radical), is something we need to acquire as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character ‘炮’ likely has other combinations as well,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively dangerous, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opposing team into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “In that case, ‘马’ and ‘车’ are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t be priority targets for snatching.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia said, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be ‘马’ and ‘车.’ Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone agreed, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who gains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game didn’t sound particularly difficult, they couldn’t shake the feeling that executing it would be challenging.
The goal was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clearly not going to be an easy game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. Dream Team, huh?” Chen Junnan nodded with feigned confidence before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle this team game?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you carries a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’re acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, you don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ You just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opponent’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was puzzled. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan retorted, grabbing Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head and walked to the wall. Picking up a metal chain, he began carving several characters:
「兵」、「炮」、「车」、「马」、「相」、「士」、「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters on the wall:
「卒」、「砲」、「车」、「马」、「象」、「仕」、「将」.
“These are the opponent’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“For ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said to use the ‘soldier’ and ‘pawn’ for the experiment. This means we are the ‘soldier’ (兵), and the opponent is the ‘pawn’ (卒).”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he mentioned that regardless of the choice, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would. This makes it clear: the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? ‘Chariot’ (车)?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin several commonly used simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 (chariot) and 「马」 (horse), which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia interjected. “No matter which character I assign to you, keep it confidential.”
“Confidential?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—highly sought after—while others are ‘cold.’ To form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opponent. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical (亻) can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical (氵)…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia stepped forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character ‘相’ can be split into ‘wood’ (木) and ‘eye’ (目), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our ‘相’ is relatively dangerous. On the other hand…”
He then pointed at the opponent’s character 「象」.
“Their character ‘象’ doesn’t offer many combinations and won’t be a primary target for us. Conversely, their ‘仕’ contains the ‘single person’ radical (亻), so we need to secure it as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our ‘炮’ likely has other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively dangerous, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything possible to trick the opponent into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “It seems like ‘horse’ (马) and ‘chariot’ (车) are the safest since both sides have them. They won’t be priority targets for snatching.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be ‘horse’ and ‘chariot.’ Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who obtains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these ‘characters’ do you recognize?”
“About half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these ‘characters.’ I have a task for him.”
“Next, the two team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If you come up with any new questions during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game didn’t sound particularly difficult, they felt somewhat uneasy about how it would actually play out.
The goal was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clearly not going to be an easy game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han Yimo awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze chimed in.
“Alright, alright, fantastic! What a dream team!” Chen Junnan nodded with feigned confidence before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just surrender now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess! How are we supposed to handle this team game?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head somewhat sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you is assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’re acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, you don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ You just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we handle this…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opponent’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly upon hearing this and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan immediately went over and pressed down on Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head, walked over to the wall, picked up a metal chain, and began carving a few characters into the wall:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t Chinese chess the same for both sides?” Chen Junnan asked.
“No,” Qi Xia replied before carving another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opponent’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“Regarding ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said to use the ‘soldier’ and ‘pawn’ for the experiment. This means we are ‘兵’ (soldier), and the opponent is ‘卒’ (pawn).”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s needs is also different.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he said that no matter which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would differ. This makes it clear: the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? ‘车’ (chē)?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan said before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and added, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He then proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia said. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia explained, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’ (in high demand), while others are ‘cold’ (less sought after). If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opponent. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can actually be broken down and used. For example, my ‘单人旁’ (亻 radical) can pair with your ‘三点水’ (氵 radical)…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character ‘相’ can be broken down into ‘木’ (mù) and ‘目’ (mù), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, they can form more characters, so our ‘相’ is relatively dangerous. On the other hand…”
Qi Xia then pointed at the opponent’s character 「象」.
“Their character ‘象’ doesn’t offer many combinable possibilities, so it won’t be a primary target for us. Conversely, the opponent’s ‘仕,’ which contains the ‘亻’ radical, should be captured as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our ‘炮’ likely has other combinable possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively dangerous, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opponent into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “In that case, ‘马’ and ‘车’ are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t need to prioritize snatching these.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be ‘马’ and ‘车.’ Even if these characters are snatched, it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who obtains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia nodded before turning to Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze murmured in unison.
“Next, the two team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game sounded simple in theory, they felt somewhat uneasy about how it would actually play out.
The goal was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly straightforward rules, it was clearly not going to be a simple game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. Dream Team, huh?” Chen Junnan nodded with a confident expression, then turned to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle this team game?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, you don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ You just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we handle this…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opposing team’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“Who’s ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan retorted, grabbing Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head, walked over to the wall, and used a metal chain to carve a few characters:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters on the wall:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opposing team’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“Regarding ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said, ‘Please use the 「兵卒」 for the experiment.’ This means we are the 「兵」 side, and the opposing team is the 「卒」 side.”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also be different.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he said that no matter which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would differ. This makes it clear: the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? 「车」?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia interjected. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—high in demand—while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opposing team. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Ah…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can actually be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character 「相」 can be broken down into 「木」 (wood) and 「目」 (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our team’s 「相」 is relatively vulnerable. On the other hand…”
He then pointed at the opposing team’s character 「象」.
“Their character 「象」 doesn’t offer many combinations and won’t be a primary target for us. Conversely, their character 「仕」, which contains the ‘single person’ radical, should be prioritized for capture.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character 「炮」 likely has other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively vulnerable, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opposing team into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “In that case, 「马」 and 「车」 are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t need to prioritize snatching these.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be the ones assigned 「马」 and 「车」. Even if these characters are snatched, it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone acknowledged this, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who gains or loses a ‘character,’ make sure to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod. He then turned to Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the officers beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused briefly before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If you come up with any new questions during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game didn’t sound particularly difficult on the surface, they couldn’t shake the feeling of uncertainty about how it would actually play out.
The objective was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clear this was no ordinary game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan quickly turned and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. Dream Team, huh?” Chen Junnan nodded with feigned confidence before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle a team game like this?”
At this point, Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked in disbelief. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I learned the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can change it to checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, we don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ We just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opponent’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“Who’s ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan retorted, grabbing Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head and walked over to the wall. Picking up a metal chain, he began carving a few characters:
「兵」, 「炮」, 「车」, 「马」, 「相」, 「士」, 「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters:
「卒」, 「砲」, 「车」, 「马」, 「象」, 「仕」, 「将」.
“These are the opponent’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“Regarding ‘Chinese chess,’ we only need to remember this one rule,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said to use the ‘soldier’ and ‘pawn’ for the experiment. That means we are the ‘soldier’ (兵), and the opponent is the ‘pawn’ (卒).”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon let us choose sides earlier, he mentioned that no matter which side we picked, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would differ. This makes it clear: the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what’s this character? ‘Car’ (车)?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan replied before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and said, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 (car) and 「马」 (horse), which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this,” Qi Xia continued. “No matter which character I assign to you, you must keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia said, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot’—highly sought after—while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opponent. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical (亻) can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical (氵)…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character ‘相’ can be broken down into ‘wood’ (木) and ‘eye’ (目), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our ‘相’ is relatively dangerous. On the other hand…”
He then pointed at the opponent’s character 「象」.
“Their character ‘象’ doesn’t offer many combinations, so it won’t be a primary target for us. However, their character ‘仕’ contains the ‘single person’ radical (亻), so we need to secure it as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character ‘炮’ likely has other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia added. “These two characters are relatively dangerous, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opponent into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “In that case, ‘horse’ (马) and ‘chariot’ (车) are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t be priority targets for snatching.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia said, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be ‘horse’ and ‘chariot.’ Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone agreed, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who obtains or loses a ‘character,’ remember to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod. He then turned to Tian Tian. “Take one minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these characters. I have a task for him.”
“Next, both team leaders will have five minutes to assign ‘characters’ to the generals beside them. The game will officially begin in five minutes.”
Earth Dragon paused for a moment before adding, “The losing team in this round will be completely eliminated. Please be prepared. If any new questions come to mind during the assignment process, feel free to ask me.”
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia and the others began whispering among themselves. Although the game sounded simple in theory, they couldn’t shake the feeling that executing it would be far from straightforward.
The objective was to snatch radicals and components from the opposing team to form new characters. The first side to assemble twenty-eight characters would win.
Despite the seemingly simple rules, it was clear this was no ordinary game.
Noticing that Qi Xia had remained silent for a while, Chen Junnan turned around and asked, “Which of you knows how to play Chinese chess?”
After a brief moment, Han Yimo raised his hand. Just as Chen Junnan was about to praise him, Han awkwardly admitted, “I don’t know how.”
“Me neither…” Zheng Yingxiong said.
“Same here…” Tian Tian added.
“I…” Zhang Chenze trailed off.
“Alright, alright, fantastic. Dream Team, huh?” Chen Junnan nodded with a forced smile before turning to Qi Xia. “Old Qi, maybe we should just forfeit now?”
“Stop joking,” Qi Xia replied. “It’s not that bad.”
“Not that bad?!” Chen Junnan exclaimed. “Only three of us know how to play Chinese chess. How are we supposed to handle a team game like this?”
Qiao Jiajin scratched his head sheepishly. “Handsome guy… I… I don’t know how either.”
“…?” Chen Junnan blinked. “You know the rules of gambling, but you don’t know ‘Chinese chess’?”
“I know the rules because I used to watch over gambling dens,” Qiao Jiajin explained. “But there’s no ‘Chinese chess’ in gambling dens.”
“Well, isn’t that just perfect?” Chen Junnan said with a look of utter despair. “Old Qi, why don’t you negotiate with Earth Dragon and see if we can switch to Chinese checkers? This is impossible.”
“It’s fine. The rules related to ‘Chinese chess’ probably won’t be too extensive,” Qi Xia reassured. “Even though each of you will be assigned a ‘character,’ it doesn’t mean you’ll be acting as chess pieces. The rules don’t restrict ‘movement,’ so theoretically, we don’t need to follow traditional chess rules like ‘the horse moves in an L-shape’ or ‘the elephant moves diagonally.’ We just need to remember a few key rules.”
“So how do we proceed…?” Chen Junnan asked.
“First, note that our ‘characters’ are different from the opponent’s,” Qi Xia explained.
“Different…?” Chen Junnan was taken aback. “What do you mean? Are they playing animal chess?”
Zheng Yingxiong sighed helplessly and shot him a cold look. “Chen Junnan, could you please talk less?”
“What ‘Chen Junnan’?” Chen Junnan retorted, grabbing Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “Call me ‘bro’!”
Qi Xia shook his head, walked over to the wall, and used a metal chain to carve a few characters:
「兵」、「炮」、「车」、「马」、「相」、「士」、「帅」.
“These are our characters,” Qi Xia said.
“Isn’t that how Chinese chess usually is?” Chen Junnan asked. “Both sides are the same.”
“Not quite,” Qi Xia replied, carving another set of characters on the wall:
「卒」、「砲」、「车」、「马」、「象」、「仕」、「将」.
“These are the opponent’s characters.”
Everyone compared the two sets and immediately noticed the differences.
“For ‘Chinese chess,’ this is the only rule we need to remember,” Qi Xia explained. “Our ‘characters’ are different. Earlier, when Earth Dragon asked us to demonstrate, he said, ‘Please use the 「兵卒」 for the experiment,’ which means we are the 「兵」 side, and the opponents are the 「卒」 side.”
Zhang Chenze nodded in understanding. “So, the focus of each side’s strategy will also differ.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia agreed. “When Earth Dragon asked us to choose sides earlier, he mentioned that regardless of the choice, the difficulty wouldn’t change—only the tactics would. This implies that the ‘characters’ we need are different.”
As Chen Junnan pondered this, Qiao Jiajin pointed at the character 「车」 and asked, “Handsome guy, what character is this? 「车」?”
“Of course it is, you big dummy,” Chen Junnan said before suddenly realizing something. He wrapped an arm around Qiao Jiajin’s shoulder and added, “My bad, I forgot you use traditional characters. Come here, let me explain.”
He proceeded to teach Qiao Jiajin a few common simplified characters, especially ones like 「车」 and 「马」, which are highly simplified.
“Next, pay attention to this…” Qi Xia said. “No matter which character I assign to you, keep it a secret.”
“Keep it a secret?”
“Yes. I suspect Chu Tianqiu will have the same idea,” Qi Xia explained, pointing at the characters on the wall. “Some characters are ‘hot,’ while others are ‘cold.’ If we want to form more characters, we must do everything we can to snatch certain radicals or components from the opponent. These characters are ‘hot’ for both sides.”
“Hiss…” Chen Junnan nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is… I think I get it now. You’re saying these ‘characters’ can be broken down and used. For example, my ‘single person’ radical can pair with your ‘three drops of water’ radical…”
“Did you just figure that out?” Zheng Yingxiong remarked.
“Shut up.”
Ignoring Chen Junnan, Qi Xia took a step forward and pointed at the character 「相」 on the wall. “Our character 「相」 can be broken down into 「木」 (wood) and 「目」 (eye), both of which can serve as radicals or components. Theoretically, it can form more characters, so our 「相」 is relatively dangerous. On the other hand…”
Qi Xia then pointed at the opponent’s character 「象」.
“Their character 「象」 doesn’t offer many combinations, so it won’t be a primary target for us. However, their character 「仕」, which contains the ‘single person’ radical, needs to be captured as soon as possible.”
“I see…” Tian Tian and Zhang Chenze nodded in unison.
“Additionally, our character 「炮」 should have other combination possibilities,” Qi Xia continued. “These two characters are relatively dangerous, while the others are safer. So, the key to survival here is to avoid revealing your own ‘character’ while doing everything you can to trick the opponent into revealing theirs.”
Zhang Chenze nodded. “It seems like 「马」 and 「车」 are the safest because both sides have them. They won’t need to prioritize snatching these.”
“Exactly,” Qi Xia said, giving Lawyer Zhang an approving look. “So, our vanguard will be 「马」 and 「车」. Even if these two lose their ‘characters,’ it won’t have a major impact. However, all characters with left-right structures need to be handled with extreme caution.”
Once everyone agreed, Qi Xia added, “Later, no matter who gains or loses a ‘character,’ make sure to return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong and asked, “Zheng Yingxiong, how many of these ‘characters’ do you recognize?”
“More than half,” Zheng Yingxiong replied.
“Good,” Qi Xia said with a nod before addressing Tian Tian. “Take the next minute to teach Zheng Yingxiong all the pronunciations of these ‘characters.’ I have a task for him.”
Once everyone acknowledged, Qi Xia added, “Later, if anyone gains or loses a character, return to me immediately.”
He then turned to Zheng Yingxiong. “Zheng, how many of these characters do you recognize?”
“Most of them,” Zheng replied.
“Good.” Qi Xia nodded and said to Tian Tian, “Spend a minute teaching him all the pronunciations. I have a task for him.”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage