# 1832
Chapter 1825: A Game of Chess, A Wager
Asylum of the Gods.
Shadows of leaves swayed in the wind, and beside a black-and-white stone chess table, a figure sat as motionless as a stone sculpture.
Those gray eyes reflected the position of every piece on the board, their depths glinting with light—sometimes puzzled, sometimes enlightened—as if lost in deep contemplation.
"See anything?"
A voice came from behind him. Lin Qiye, wearing a white lab coat with hands in his pockets, walked slowly to his side.
An Qingyu didn't look up, only asking in confusion:
"Who was this game against?"
"【Chaos】."
"No wonder…"
Lin Qiye's gaze fell upon the dust-covered chessboard. This board was left from four years ago, when he and 【Chaos】 fought for control of the asylum. It held no particular significance. Later, 【Chaos】 seemed to lose interest in chess and simply left it there, untouched.
"What did you see?"
"Nothing. It's a mess. Can't make out anything."
Lin Qiye sat down on the other side of the chessboard. "When was the last time we played?"
"Four years ago." A trace of nostalgia surfaced in An Qingyu's eyes. "Back when we were at Shangjing University, when I was still trying to recover from my soul injuries."
"Has it only been four years… It feels like a decade has passed."
Lin Qiye swept his gaze across the chessboard and waved his hand gently. All the pieces floated automatically back into the two chess cups, and the dust on the board's surface vanished instantly.
"Another game?" he asked.
"Sure."
"Playing chess alone is a bit dull though… How about we add some stakes?"
An Qingyu glanced at him. "So you're actually here to fish for information."
Lin Qiye smiled without a word.
"Fine." An Qingyu didn't hesitate much. "If you win, I can answer one question for you… but not just any question will do."
"That's an awfully vague standard. Whether you answer still comes down to your discretion."
"Then let's not play."
"…Fine. But what if you win?"
"If I win, I want to go somewhere."
"Go somewhere?" Lin Qiye paused. "Alright, but not everywhere is acceptable… And I have to come with you. If you make any unnecessary moves, I'll bring you back immediately."
"Deal."
Whether by intention or coincidence, this time the chess cup in front of Lin Qiye held black pieces… He pinched a black piece between his fingers and placed it somewhere on the board. An Qingyu immediately followed by placing a white piece beside the black one.
Seeing this, Lin Qiye's brow lifted slightly. He placed another black piece in a corner of the board, and the second white piece followed, landing beside it again.
"Your style… seems different from four years ago." Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes slightly.
"People change."
A breeze rustled through the tree shadows, producing a crisp, whispering sound. The two sat silently in the courtyard, locked in their match. Li Yifei, who had been carrying tea, hesitated upon seeing their intense concentration, and after a moment's thought, quietly sat down by the stairs.
Unconsciously, black and white pieces had spread across the board in a dizzying array.
When Li Yifei suddenly startled awake from his nap, the two beside the chessboard had already withdrawn their hands, as if the game had ended.
Li Yifei immediately stood and walked over, asking curiously:
"Well? Who won?"
"Draw."
Li Yifei shrugged, saying helplessly, "You two played for so long and it ended in a draw? That's boring…"
Lin Qiye and An Qingyu exchanged a glance, and both fell into silence…
Their previous wager had been based on "winning" as the criterion. Now that it was a draw, neither of them would get what they wanted.
"…Actually, a draw could be seen as both sides winning." Lin Qiye spoke after hesitation.
"Agreed." An Qingyu nodded immediately.
"In that case, answer my question first." Lin Qiye fixed his gaze on him,
"Why did you betray Great Xia?"
An Qingyu seemed to have anticipated this question from Lin Qiye and didn't hesitate in the slightest. "I decline to answer."
"How does the Cthulhu Faction plan to deal with Great Xia?"
"I decline to answer."
"What is your trump card?"
"I decline to answer."
"How to break the Temporal Maze?"
At the last question, An Qingyu's eyes sharpened.
He stared intently at Lin Qiye, and after a long silence, finally spoke in a low voice:
"You… found the Gate of Truth?"
"I'm asking you."
Under Lin Qiye's steady gaze, An Qingyu finally said:
"The Temporal Maze is essentially a time field left behind by the remnants of the 【Key to the Gate】 after its eternal slumber… Within it, the boundaries between time and space are broken. So any form of spatial movement becomes a dual-state transformation of both time and space.
To break the Temporal Maze, you either need power stronger than the 【Key to the Gate】 to shatter the time field directly, or you can only find your way out by constantly trial-and-error, discovering the maze's pattern."
Hearing this, Lin Qiye's brow furrowed tightly.
Using power stronger than the 【Key to the Gate】 to shatter the time field—currently, almost no one in the world could accomplish this… 【Chaos】 might be able to succeed, as the strongest positive-force combatant among the Three Pillars. Beyond that, the only other hope was Zhou Ping in Sword Cave.
The Three Pillars' combat power far exceeded that of Earth's Supreme God realm. Back then, three Heavenly Venerables combined with Michael barely managed to nearly kill the 【Black Goat】. Zhou Ping's earlier sword that shattered the sea demonstrated his combat power was likely above Michael's, but how he compared to the Three Pillars was uncertain…
Even if Zhou Ping could sword through the Temporal Maze, Lin Qiye wouldn't let him. After all, doing so would cost him his life. Using his sword on a maze would be a terrible waste.
"Your answer is no different than saying nothing." Lin Qiye frowned.
"…" An Qingyu considered for a moment. "In broad terms, those are the only two methods, but actually, the second method has a simpler approach…"
"How simpler?"
"Think of it this way—the Temporal Maze itself isn't a three-dimensional existence. It's formed by countless mazes from different points in time stacked vertically on top of each other. Picture it as a skyscraper: the first floor you enter is 'now,' all floors below are 'past,' and above is 'future.'
Every step taken inside this maze sends you to the corresponding position on a random floor above or below. Generally, someone who enters can't control which floor they end up on after taking a step—it's entirely random.
But since there are floors, there must be something like an 'emergency exit.' As long as you find this 'emergency exit,' you can freely choose which floor to go to…"