Naming Technique of the Night

Chapter 1722: Chapter 906: Courtesy Before Force

There are three types of chess players.

The first type of chess player doesn’t know how to strategize; his vision isn’t on the whole game, but just in one corner.

This type is considered unrefined.

The second type of chess player knows how to strategize. Though he can see the whole board, he doesn’t understand the nuances and lacks brilliance, never making any clever moves.

This type is considered to have crossed the threshold.

The third type of chess player holds landscapes in his mind, possesses moderation and cunning, understands the entire situation perfectly, seeing the snake in the grass and hidden lines stretching for miles. From the moment his first piece is placed on the board, he knows both that he wants to win and how to win.

This type has truly entered the room.

Zong Cheng belongs to the third type, or rather, he has transformed from the first type to the third type.

When he first emerged from underground, he was the first type of chess player, making many foolish moves, leaving a lot of hidden risks.

At that time, he had no teacher, just a blank slate that crawled out of an underground base, ignorant of human affairs, clueless on how to play the game.

Later, he suffered a big loss with the identity of ’Liu Yue’. He thought controlling an army would allow him to rival the corporations, but it wasn’t that easy.

Thus, Zong Cheng used hundreds of years of experience and lessons, slowly accumulating knowledge, finally becoming a third type of chess player.

Sometimes he felt the world was a bit unfair; certain people in Qing’s Family can learn the art of balance and maneuvering in just a few decades, or even a few years, whereas he needed several centuries to learn.

But he accepted this in the end and started laying hidden threads earnestly and attentively.

Yet today, he suddenly realized there was another type of chess player whose game exists beyond the board.

In the variables Zong Cheng calculated, he never considered the existence of the giants... He didn’t even know there were so many giants in the West Continent; how could he calculate that?

In the past ten years or so, his opponent was the old man Qing Xun on Ginkgo Mountain. His paths were indeed tricky, pulling the strings and connecting roots, uprooting quite a few of Zong Cheng’s forces, but not enough to cut to the bone.

His foundation is already solid, beyond the reach of conventional means.

Currently, his opponent is Qing Chen.

He began to provoke Qing Chen, forcing Qing Chen to take a gamble.

But now, giants suddenly appeared in City No. 10, using a miraculous method to identify and eliminate the Puppets he had embedded in the Parent Association one by one.

It’s like he’s sitting in a park playing chess with an elderly man, in the midst of a smooth game with victory in sight.

Then, suddenly, a giant foot measuring 120 centimeters comes out of nowhere, kicking him in the face, attempting to kick him off the chess table...

In the darkness, a Puppet laughed: ”What a surprise, this new chess player seems a bit unreasonable.”

...

...

Inside City No. 10.

The Parent Association Members are maintaining order: ”Everyone line up and pass by that giant, one by one. Hey, mister, why do your eyes keep shifty? Have you committed a crime?”

The crowd’s eyes fell on the man, who quickly explained: ”I’m not being shifty, I just have a slight squint...”

The event of Giants catching fugitives has become famous in the city. To help residents understand the role of the Giants, Xiao Qi even used a truck to parade some extremely heinous prisoners around, showing everyone the acts that invoke such rage, and how they were captured.

These were the more serious offenders; countless minor offenders were also apprehended.

For example, some thieves were identified during the scanning process, as they walked past the giants and were detected by them, even finding out through mental induction where the stolen items were hidden and how they were fenced.

In one day, dozens of thieving dens were dismantled, and thousands of stolen goods were recovered.

For this, the Parent Association even set up a lost and found office so those who lost items could search for their possessions.

A small trader had just arrived in City No. 10 to do business, only for his goods to be stolen. When he went to the lost and found office and retrieved his goods through verification, he was so excited he nearly kneeled before Xiao Si...

As a result, residents became less resistant to the screening process.

Though some were quietly wondering if personal theft would be detected by the giants...

Gradually, in just one day, more than half of the residents were screened. By the afternoon of the second day, the screening points were much less crowded.

The household registration system in City No. 10 is very stringent, one person per household, making illegal immigration impossible.

So by the afternoon of the second day, a list of more than ten thousand red-coded individuals emerged, who for whatever reason, simply refused to undergo screening.

In a city with the highest density of Parent Association Members, where the Parent Association is highly regarded, such refusal to undergo screening indeed poses a problem.

Xiao Wu said to Qing Chen in the conference room: ”Head, these addresses are easy to find. I can lead a team and burst in to capture them all.”

However, Qing Chen shook his head: ”No, that would harm innocents.”

Xiao Wu said: ”The Puppet Master spread this in some unknown way; if these people aren’t eliminated, what if he turns others into Puppets?”

Qing Chen replied: ”While I’m cautious about this matter, we shouldn’t be overly anxious. Think of it this way, if the Puppet Master only needs to touch someone to turn them into Puppets, then the whole world should be his Puppets by now.”

Qing Chen continued: ”Therefore, there must be limitations to making Puppets. I have a few guesses: Firstly, creating Puppets requires him to act personally, one by one. Secondly, the number of his Puppets has an upper limit; as long as the previous Puppets are still alive, he cannot create new ones.”