Chapter 997: The Rules of Cangjie Chess
Qi Xia led the six people behind him to the far left end, then reached out and turned the doorknob.
The door looked light and flimsy, opening with a gentle push.
Everyone cautiously peered inside. Beyond the door was still a corridor, not very long. They stood at its far end, looking toward the other side.
On the left side of this corridor was a bare, towering white wall, while the wall on the right had another row of doors.
These doors were painted with red lacquer, also spaced about three to four meters apart, five in total.
Chen Junnan craned his neck to look inside, then nodded. "So this is our 'Preparation Zone'?"
Not sure of the situation, everyone filed into the corridor. Once they were all inside, the black door behind them slammed shut with a clang.
Qi Xia walked a few steps forward to the center of the corridor and noticed an old electronic screen on the left wall. On the screen, a rough pixelated image showed a scale tilting back and forth.
He reached out and touched the screen. It felt similar to the device used earlier for the "Appointment of Generals"—probably touch-sensitive for writing.
Right above this electronic screen, on the wall, was a square piece of black metal, about the size of a regular tablet computer. On it were inscribed five characters:
「Phoenix Bearing the Writing Table」
Qi Xia touched it. It was cold, and he had no idea what it was for.
"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to 'Cangjie Chess.'"
A raspy voice crackled with static. Everyone looked up. The walls here were very high, and there was no ceiling.
High up on the wall hung a speaker. The voice was coming from it.
"Next, you will play a game in my venue for two hours," said Di Long, gripping his walkie-talkie. "First, the winning condition: if either side can obtain twenty-eight 'characters' within two hours, they win. If neither side reaches twenty-eight 'characters' within the time limit, the characters each side has formed will be placed on the scale, and the side with more characters wins."
"Obtain twenty-eight characters…?" Neither Chu Tianqiu nor Qi Xia immediately understood.
"Legend says that Cangjie created writing," Di Long continued. "But in reality, Cangjie organized and recombined the commonly used characters of his time, forming his own system. It is said that Cangjie wrote down 'twenty-eight characters.' Now, you must emulate Cangjie."
As soon as he finished speaking, the black metal panel inscribed with "Phoenix Bearing the Writing Table" in front of Chu Tianqiu and Qi Xia moved slightly, then slowly opened like a safe, revealing its contents.
Qi Xia reached in and pulled out a clattering string of metal objects.
The others gathered around to look. It turned out to be a bunch of small items that looked like keychains or necklaces.
Qi Xia separated them. There were seven chains in total, each with a unique "pendant" shaped like a character.
Looking closely, the characters were: "Soldier," "Cannon," "Chariot," "Horse," "Minister," "Advisor," and "General."
"Ah…?" Chen Junnan and Han Yimo both let out a soft gasp of surprise.
"Aren't these the characters from Chinese chess?" Chen Junnan picked up one of the chains casually and found it was a bit different from what he'd imagined.
Some characters were whole pieces hanging on the chain, while others were split into two parts.
For example, "Horse," "Chariot," and "Advisor" were carved from a single piece of dark gray metal.
But "Cannon," "Minister," and "General" were split into left and right radicals, hanging on the same chain.
For instance, "Cannon" had "Fire" and "Bag," while "Minister" had "Tree" and "Eye."
The most special was "Soldier," which was split into top and bottom parts—"Hill" and "Eight"—hanging together. If you didn't look carefully, you wouldn't even recognize it as "Soldier."
At this moment, Di Long's broadcast sounded again: "Both sides should now have received your 'initial characters.' Please have the Commander-in-Chief distribute them freely. When the game officially starts, every person must have a character on them. Anyone without a character can only stand by in the 'Preparation Zone' until they have a character to enter the 'Battlefield Zone.'"
"Freely distribute…" Qi Xia muttered, then picked up the characters again to examine them.
"For the duration of the game, these 'characters' are the chips you carry," Di Long said. "You may seize any character from anyone, and you are free to conduct 'gambling matches' in the 'Battlefield Zone.' We have prepared many 'gambling matches' and 'referees' for you. In short… you may use any method or means to put your opponent's characters into your own pocket."
Before everyone could fully digest this rule, they felt something was off above them.
Looking up, they saw Qing Long had leaped up with Di Long, standing on a patch of pitch-black darkness.
There seemed to be an invisible black platform up there, blending into the surrounding darkness.
"Hey!" Chen Junnan shouted upward. "Sister Long, do we score a point once we get a character?"
"Of course not," Di Long's voice came through the broadcast again. "Only the Commander-in-Chief can score points for each side. In other words, no matter how many 'characters' you get or what kind they are, you must deliver them to the Commander-in-Chief as soon as possible."
Hearing this, Qi Xia looked up and asked, "Can we exchange characters midway?"
"No. You can only assign extra characters to vacant people when a character is lost."
Qi Xia nodded slightly after hearing that.
Di Long continued, "The Commander-in-Chief places all obtained 'radicals' or individual characters on the black metal panel behind you labeled 'Phoenix Bearing the Writing Table,' either combining them or inserting them whole to score one point. But note: after the game starts, no character may be stored in the 'Preparation Zone.' The Commander-in-Chief must hand over characters not on their person to their subordinates."
Seeing that everyone was still quiet, Di Long added, "Since this is the first run of 'Cangjie Chess,' both Commanders-in-Chief can try it once. Pick up your 'soldier' piece and place it on the metal."
Qi Xia frowned, feeling he had caught something important from this statement.
Then he came back to his senses, picked up the character "Soldier," and brought it close to the black metal. Immediately, he felt a magnetic pull. The "Hill" and "Eight" were both sucked onto the metal.
At the same time, the display screen below the metal flickered and lit up with a line of text:
「Received character prototype 'Soldier'. Please write a homophone.」
"Homophone…?" Qi Xia frowned.
"You should have noticed," Di Long explained. "To prevent commanders from exploiting obscure 'rare characters' to cheat, every character you write must be one you recognize and can pronounce."
"'Rare characters'…" Qi Xia nodded. "I see."
Without such a restriction, commanders might blindly test combinations of existing characters on the screen, creating bizarre ones like '骉' or '犇'—which test luck, not knowledge.
Then Qi Xia reached out and wrote the homophone for 'Soldier'—'Ice.'
The screen flickered again and displayed:
「Creation successful.」