Chapter 491: The Mu/Shang Treaty
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The game was simple. It would take place in a simulated environment of Gray Valley. All three of them would have a fleet each. It would be a kind of Battle Royale. The last one standing would win the game.
That sounded simple..."Sounded" simple.
Day 1: Ye Chong was the first to leave the game. Mu won in the end.
Day 2: Ye Chong again became the spectator in the first 10 minutes. Shang, with a twist, won in the end instead.
Day 3: Ye Chong lost everything in the first round. Mu won.
Day 4... Day 5... Day 6....
The days went on.
Haskel was leading the gigantic fleet as they advanced forward. The fleet was having intense training. The modification project was carried out aggressively. Everything was smooth outside, contrary to what was happening inside Ye Chong.
He was troubled, very troubled. He was tortured, as if a real torment.
They had played the fleet game for 20 days already and he was always the first to leave the war field. If it was not his chilled personality, he would have flipped out. He settled down and figured, formulating a new strategy again and again.
Everyday when he became the spectator, he would observe the exchange between Mu and Shang. Well, it would be easier for Ye Chong to understand the dynamic of a war field from a god's view being a spectator. Gradually, he started seeing something.
Both Mu and Shang won on a rate of 50:50 while both of their performances were shocking to Ye Chong. Mu had fully expressed his efficiency and horrifying logical processing ability, as every step of his was meaningful and ahead of time, well-connected to each other. This could be seen especially during the few micro-matches where he clearly had an upper hand. Meanwhile, Shang took a different approach. His strategy was rather unpredictable, always able to surprise Ye Chong. A twist would take place the moment he was completely cornered. It was hard to imagine a humanoid to contain such cunning, creative schema in things.
One thing's for sure, Ye Chong was not able to harm either of them. Neither of the artificial intelligence's approach could be imitated by him momentarily, yet either of their strategies could set him on fire. As long as one side of Mu/Shang turned against him, he would be joining the spectators' seat in no time.
He started learning, bit by bit. He wanted to learn how Mu/Shang handled their own fleets. He had the brain for it, he was naturally talented in learning. Even though he was always the first to leave the battleground, the time he remained in it increased considerably over time.
It had been over 20 days. They had at least played 200 games and Ye Chong won none of them, nor he lasted to the later phase of each game. It was a horrible experience to lose so quickly that usually people would have given up and lost faith in life at the 100th game mark, unlike Ye Chong.
He was the one who had undergone far worse, far more boring training before. Moreover, it was not like he had no knowledge in his head. He had experienced a great deal of battles with individuals from all walks of life, even an actual war consisted of hundreds or even millions. The war game he had with Mu/Shang resembled greatly to whatever he had encountered in real life before. A lot of the details he had missed in the fights before somehow came to his attention out of a sudden after each game with Mu/Shang.
Ye Chong had always perceived himself as anybody but a commander. When he was with the Sangs, Sang Pu was the commander in every operation. He had no idea why Shang would suddenly think of training his charisma, his capabilities as an actual leader. Well, if the game had only shang, he could have pretended it as the artificial indulgence being indulgent and capricious again, but there was Mu too.
What made the logical, the probable, the feasible joined such pointless-looking game?
Wait, could it be that even Mu felt the need of training my capabilities as a leader?
When Shang mentioned about "being a hero" that day, he thought the artificial indulgence was making a joke, since it was clear, almost a common sense, a law that he wanted something else in his life, as known among the three of them. Mu was more understandable in his behavior compared to Shang. He hardly interrupted whatever Ye Chong was doing, he only would, when there was a need, a need to improvise for better efficiency.
So judging all the premises...
Ye Chong's heart skipped a beat.
Does Mu seriously think I need this? These thinking training?
"HAHA! Take that you tin can!"
And the explosion in the field recaptured his attention. "What was I thinking...," muttered Ye Chong as he put his attention back to the field.
Meanwhile in the field, it was the final stage of the game. Both Mu and Shang would be taking out either of each other soon. Mu had cornered Shang. Obviously, Shang would lose the game. Well, if only Shang did not have anything up his sleeves, he was the professional, awarded actor to play victim and eventually engulf people with his palate. Given Shang managed to perceive one opening in Mu's formation, he would make a turnabout. Mu could certainly processed Shang's pattern of behavior, only if there was a pattern to begin with. It would still be a 50:50 even if Mu had produced a trend on Shang's behavior, let alone Ye Chong who did not have a super computer brain.
To be honest, Ye Chong preferred Mu's battle style which weighed everything on accurate calculation. The catch was, such style required everything mathematical, logical. Creativity, picking openings, playing off tricks were not allowed at all. If one did any of those, one would plan to fail. Ye Chong had not the necessary mathematical capabilities, he could only succumb to any of the techniques that looked useful to him between Mu and Shang.
Humans learned from their mistakes and only pressure could make them grow. Ye Chong's style had changed noticeably over the time fighting against the two extremes. His vision had improved greatly. Nevertheless, he was too engaged in handling Mu/Shang that he did not notice a thing on him.
Both Mu and Shang were too strong!
The exclamation kept ringing in his mind.
Few weeks lapsed again and finally he could last to the later portion of the match. Well, that only happened about 3 months since the game had started. Ye Chong used to feel powerless in every match, that it felt like he was lifting the wrong weight - everything felt too much to handle. However, as time passed by, he got stronger and would not give up even if he was losing. He would look for a turnabout to make.
Such tendency had gotten stronger each match.
In one match, he was left with only 100 pilots alive but somehow he managed to break free from the siege. He then allocated these 100 pilots in every gap between Mu and Shang's proximity, which the technique lasted him to the middle of the game. Even though he was wiped out at last, it gave him the confidence to work harder.
Three months were not too long for an intergalactic trip. However, the fleet had changed.
The fleet constantly received requests from neighboring spaceships. The request was accepted of course, but with one condition - obedience. Most spaceships joined the fleet lastly since Gray Valley was chaotic at the moment. They might have lost the freedom but they got protection in the end.
Both Shu and Xi Qing seemed different than before. Xi Qing had turned calmer, yet bold. He really had the look of a commander now. People respected him.
Shu had gained a different charm. He had glasses on him, looking scholarly with his slender body. Not a single dirt or wrinkle could be found on his uniform. His tone was gentle as his personality yet people were seemingly cautious of him. Even the crew members who were not under his lead did not dare to speak senselessly in front of him.
They were also from the extreme, still they worked with each other well. Their instructor had been looking engaged inside the Virtual World, so they had to shoulder the duty of leading the team instead. They planned things carefully, fearing that something would go wrong. So their rapports grew.
It was not simple to seek a living in a chaotic world. Most spaceships in the fleet had completed the assigned modification. They now had traps to provide better security.
Nonetheless, both Xi Qing and Shu had never put the spaceships against the red-tailed beasts.
These little clusters of red-tailed beasts would be perfect for training their troops. Even though that would inevitably lead to some casualties but it was the only best way they could currently think of.
They looked at the report. Hmm, 1704 red-tailed beasts cleared since the past 3 months, while having 52 deaths and 109 wounded. It might look like a pessimistic figure, yet it was more than enough to shame those actual commanders at the front-line.
Such tedious training was extremely effective in bringing up the troops. Now both of the squads had reached a number of 2000. Xi Qing and Shu should feel proud for they were able to achieve this in as little as three months.
However, none of them were smiling, not even a brief lift of their lips' corners.
There had been discovery. The detection, the alarm had been wailing more frequently. The likelihood of encountering red-tailed beasts had been escalating, now that they would at least have an alert of red-tailed beast flocks everyday. Well, there were more opportunities to train troops. The rapports turned stronger among the soldiers too. But, the stress of safeguarding the people only increased at a horrendous rate.
And today, they had encountered the 5th flock of red-tailed beasts.
"We can't be doing this forever!" said one of them as they looked at each other. Worries were locking their brows.
...(Back to Ye)...
"Ye, we are taking a break from the games now," said Mu.
"Sigh." Even though Mu's decision was almost unshakable, Shang ranted, "Looks like we won't be having more fun anytime soon."
Taking a break. That indicated there would be more.
Well, it was a relief for Ye Chong. He really could use some breathers at the moment. He seriously could not imagine how he spent the last 3 months. The matches were endless, with the two extremes pressuring him the whole time. He had to fight back yet it was challenging. His nerves were tightened for so long. They did have short breaks in between but those were the time when Ye Chong would collect his thoughts on whatever happened on the field before.
He removed the helmet and remembered his squads and the two great leaders-to-be. He wondered how they were doing since he had been playing games for so long and it was Shang who provided the little bit of guidance to the outside world during the game.
Xi Qing and Shu were troubled indeed. And they were happy to see the instructor marching towards them.
They immediately briefed the instructor on the situation and awaited his wise words. To them, the instructor was the core, the soul of this fleet... uhh... maybe the instructor and his mysterious friend*.
Ye Chong tried calling Shang, the mastermind.
"Yeesss...?" said Shang lazily.
Ye Chong repeated the summary, wished for a discussion.
"Oh, that?" Shang waved Ye Chong away in nonchalance, "Sorry, can't help you on that buddy. Hah. You do know why Master Mu accepted our treaty of playing games in the first place, right? Oh you did not? Here's the thing. He agreed on condition that I would no longer be interfering with your works. It's all up to you now. Can't help it, mate. I do not want my days ahead without any form of entertainment, like the games we had for example. Sorry, bruh."
And he faded out.