# 1388
Chapter 1389: Playing Chess
Li Kengqiang held two fragrant grilled fish skewers in his hand, walking through the dim dense forest, and finally stopped at the peak of a mountain.
Beneath the star-filled night sky, a figure in white robes was sitting at the edge of a cliff, gazing at the silhouettes gathered around a bonfire in the clearing below, lost in thought.
"I brought you one." Li Kengqiang sat down beside him and handed over a skewer. "After all, you were the one who personally caught the fish for them. You might as well try some? An Qingyu's grilling skills are pretty good."
Tang Yusheng glanced at him, smiling helplessly, and accepted the skewer: "Why are you leaving already? Don't you want to chat with them more?"
"You want to chat, go chat with them yourself. Why do you always want me to accompany them? I'm not their babysitter." Li Kengqiang took a bite of the skewer and said casually.
Tang Yusheng opened his mouth as if to say something, but after a long while, he just sighed.
The two of them sat there on the cliff's edge, silently eating their grilled skewers, the air falling into silence.
After an unknown period of time, Li Kengqiang gazed at the mountain below and suddenly spoke:
"I'm sorry."
Tang Yusheng was slightly stunned. "What?"
"The performance of these young ones—you've seen it too." Li Kengqiang smiled bitterly. "If we could have been like them back then... those tragedies wouldn't have happened."
"Uncle Li, you're overthinking it." Tang Yusheng shook his head repeatedly. "If you hadn't fought desperately, I would never have been born. If you hadn't worked so hard to raise me while leading the special squad, I could never have grown to where I am now... Lin Qiye and the others did indeed do very well, but history is history. Without you, there would be no Tang Yusheng."
Li Kengqiang said nothing. He sat quietly for a long time, patted Tang Yusheng's shoulder, and stood up, walking toward the distance:
"Try spending more time with these young ones. You're just too reclusive..."
Li Kengqiang waved his hand under the night sky and vanished into the forest. Tang Yusheng remained seated on the spot, his eyes slowly closing...
...
Asylum of the Gods.
"Good evening, Director."
"Mm, good."
Lin Qiye, wrapped in a white coat, nodded slightly to the two orderlies walking toward him, continuing down the corridor.
Suddenly, as if remembering something, he turned back and asked: "By the way, where's your Director Li?"
"He's in the courtyard playing chess with... well, Yeland." the orderly replied.
Playing chess?
With Yeland?
Lin Qiye was stunned for a moment, then turned and walked toward the courtyard.
Playing chess was never Li Yifei's style, let alone playing chess with Yeland. Could it be that during his absence, Yeland's condition had improved?
Lin Qiye's mind raced as he quickly made his way to the spacious courtyard.
Night had fallen. The hazy moonlight spilled across the grass, casting a veil of silver over the courtyard. Under the large tree at the center, two figures sat motionless at a small square table.
One was Li Yifei, and sitting across from him was a kindly old man draped in cloud-like white robes—Yeland.
Lin Qiye approached the chessboard silently without calling out to Li Yifei, standing behind him and peering at the board.
The board was a Go board, the pieces were Go pieces, black and white covering most of the grid—but the play style was neither the Go Lin Qiye remembered nor Gomoku... The entire situation was in chaos, as if there were no rules at all.
Li Yifei rubbed his chin with one hand, brow furrowed, as if deep in thought...
"Uncle Ye, what kind of move is this?"
After a long silence, Li Yifei finally couldn't hold back and asked.
"You did very well, child." Yeland smiled warmly, lifting his gaze to glance at Lin Qiye standing behind Li Yifei.
Li Yifei sensed something too and turned to look behind him. Seeing Lin Qiye in a white coat in the middle of the night, he was startled, jerking his wrist and knocking the entire board and pieces flying, scattering them across the ground.
"Qiye? Why didn't you make any sound?" Li Yifei recognized Lin Qiye's face, patted his chest while complaining.
"What were you two doing?"
"Playing chess, obviously?"
"What kind of chess?"
"...I don't know either." Li Yifei scratched his head. "Originally, it was me and A Zhu playing Gomoku for fun, then Uncle Ye came over. Me and A Zhu played over a dozen games, and he just watched the whole time, not moving, occasionally saying 'You did very well, child'...
So I figured, since he's been watching for so long anyway, might as well let him play a bit. I had A Zhu make room for him, and then Uncle Ye just sat down by himself."
Li Yifei pointed at the scattered pieces on the ground, speaking with a pained expression:
"I thought, even if he's never seen Gomoku before, he's好歹也是 the Holy Sovereign of the Holy Church, and he's watched me and A Zhu play for so long—he should be able to learn the rules... But I didn't expect, he still just played randomly. I was completely confused."
From Li Yifei's account, Lin Qiye understood the whole story. After some contemplation, he spoke:
"It's fine, go do what you need to do... I'll play with him for a while."
Lin Qiye picked up the board and pieces, set them back on the table, and took Li Yifei's seat.
Whether Yeland's moves were correct or not, this was the first time he had done something other than "overlooking" since coming to the asylum. Perhaps it was a breakthrough in his condition.
Lin Qiye pushed both containers of black and white pieces to the center of the table and politely extended an invitation:
"After you."
"You did very well, child."
Yeland smiled kindly, reaching out to grab the container of black pieces, scooping up a handful, and scattering them all across the grid in front of him.
Lin Qiye's mouth twitched.
"Um... Yeland, this game doesn't work like that. Let me briefly explain to you..."
Lin Qiye patiently began explaining the rules of Go to Yeland. After finishing, he added: "Do you understand?"
"You did very well, child."
"Good, so you understood."
Lin Qiye gathered the black pieces on Yeland's board, placed them back in the container, and gestured with a "please" motion:
"After you."
Yeland smiled and again grabbed a handful of pieces, scattering them on the board.
Lin Qiye: ...
Lin Qiye sighed helplessly. Just as he was about to play a few random moves with Yeland, his gaze fell on the board, and he froze in place.
On the board, the chaotic black pieces were scattered randomly in front of Yeland, without any pattern... But the strange thing was—无论是 the number of pieces scattered and their positions were exactly the same as the first time Yeland had scattered the pieces.