CHAPTER 327: CHAPTER 205: KING’S FLASH OF BLACK AND WHITE, HIGH NOON

Xia Pingzhou did not disturb Ayase Origami, nor did he take the phone from her room. He quietly left the underground pathways, stepping into the connected alleyway. At that moment, the moonlight shimmered with thousands of lights, illuminating his dark eyes.

Just then, at exactly ten o’clock at night, Big Ben atop the Parliament Building chimed.

"Dong...dong...dong..."

Hearing the chime, Xia Pingzhou looked up and slightly raised his eyebrows. Atop Big Ben stood a gigantic red exclamation mark.

It was clearly the symbol of the Event Card.

"On the rooftop of the Parliament Building, how conspicuous. To be fair, since it’s the system’s guidance, nothing should go wrong... I’m really worried about being caught by Urushibara Ryuri as soon as I run over. I wouldn’t want the first meeting between my body and the main body to be in such a situation."

Xia Pingzhou thought as he raised his hand to put on the hood of the black coat, hiding his face in the shadow.

The evening breeze softly blew the brim of his hat as he stood in the alley, leaning behind a billboard, discreetly releasing the Celestial Driver. Flowing black and white halos surged like tides, rotating around him to form a Mobius strip-like pathway.

Now, with the enhancement of the "Spirit" attribute, the "chessboard" range of the second unit extended to sixty meters in diameter.

Xia Pingzhou closed his eyes, and from a high perspective, he could take in the entire brightly lit long street, clearly seeing the expressions and lip movements of pedestrians on the road, and the smile a child drew on a bus window with fog.

It was as if God lowered His gaze to overlook the human world.

He silently observed for a moment, then opened his eyes and reached out to pinch the chess shadow of the "Queen’s Statue."

When the chess shadow shattered, a crisp "crack" sounded, and a majestic and graceful giant shadow appeared in response, standing before him in a devout posture, nodding slightly in obedience.

As if realizing her substantial size might be seen by onlookers, the Queen’s Statue lowered her head like a punished middle school student avoiding classmates’ eyes, and took two steps sideways to hide behind the billboard, just like Xia Pingzhou.

Xia Pingzhou exhaled, leaning against the billboard behind him, his hands in the pockets of his coat, slowly lifting his head to look at the Queen’s Statue.

"You seem to be a bit of a model worker... Rescuing the Diaper Demon and taking me on the run. Aren’t you tired?"

The Queen’s Statue blinked slightly, then lifted her head to meet his gaze, gently shaking her head.

"Stop pretending, you should know what I’m thinking, right?" Xia Pingzhou suddenly said. "So... you know everything I’ve been through, including ’Xia Pingzhou is just a unit body.’

The Queen’s Statue blinked again, nervous, she nodded a little after a few seconds, indicating she could sense the thoughts of her lord.

Under Xia Pingzhou’s unwavering gaze, she lowered her head, nervously raised her finger, and wrote with a flame at her fingertip, explaining: "This is a special mechanism devised to facilitate the Chess Player in issuing commands to the Chess Species."

The Queen’s Statue also said that other Chess Species lack self-awareness and only execute orders mechanically. The Queen’s Statue, however, is different. She could sense Xia Pingzhou’s thoughts and his worries most of the time.

But out of respect for Xia Pingzhou, she usually only showed this ability during battles, acting as if she didn’t understand Xia Pingzhou’s thoughts in daily life.

"You’ve been a big help, then what do you think I should do?" Xia Pingzhou said. "With all my troubles, why don’t you ever help me come up with a plan? You’re the only person in the world who knows what I’m thinking, what I’m struggling with, why don’t you say a word?"

The Queen’s Statue first froze, like she was crashing, then waved her hands in a fluster, finally leaning on her chin, seriously thinking for a long while, the cold flames in her eyes flickering.

She lowered her eyes, suddenly recalling that her lord was only twelve years old. It was normal for him to be occasionally unreasonable, and he should receive positive encouragement and feedback.

Thinking of this, the Queen’s Statue nodded, curling her lips into a smile for him.

Then she raised her finger, a trace of blue flame wrapped around the tip, writing stroke by stroke in the air:

"No matter what decision you make, it is bound to be correct; even if not entirely correct, I will follow you to the end."

Xia Pingzhou looked at the flame words drifting in mid-air, only shifting his gaze away after the wind blew them apart into ashes.

At this moment, the Queen’s Statue watched him for a while, then suddenly leaned over, gently opening her silver-cast arms and hugged him. To prevent mistakenly injuring him, she withdrew the dagger into her skirt in advance.

Xia Pingzhou paused slightly.

At the moment of contact with this silver-white giant statue, her thoughts seemed to transmit over:

"I know how much effort you’ve put in, how much you’ve endured... Faced with different people, you must present different faces, continuously adapting to current environments with different appearances, your soul weary beyond measure, at times feeling like it’s about to be torn apart."

"But please remember, no matter when, I will always be watching your back. The current hardships and difficulties are only temporary. Someday you can leave that cage with that white-haired girl and then... travel the world."

Xia Pingzhou remained silent for a long while, lowering his head, his black bangs covering his eyes.

"How do you even know about our world travel plan? That’s supposed to be a secret between me and Kong Youling."

The Queen’s Statue lowered her eyes, the cold flame in her eyes flickering.

"Could you not do that?" Ji Minghuan suddenly sighed, "If the hacker sees this, he’ll mock me saying, ’You have another mom now, and she’s even cross-species.’ Wouldn’t that be utterly embarrassing for me?"

The Queen’s Statue released Ji Minghuan, hesitated for a moment, and then raised her hand to write in the darkness: "If you want me to play the role of mother, I wouldn’t mind."

"Just kidding..." Ji Minghuan shrugged, "I just wanted to test if you could understand my intentions outside of battle mode. I didn’t expect you to reveal everything directly, leaving no room for intrigue. Saved me the effort of probing."

He raised his hand to wipe his nose and said softly, "Let’s go. We need to get to Big Ben; there’s still an event card to complete. It might disappear if we’re any later."

The Queen nodded, held his body, and leaped into the moonlit London like a gust of wind, dancing above the Gothic spires. At this moment, her figure was pristine and noble, her neck elegantly long like a swan’s.

A silver-white giant shadow as bright as moonlight sped swiftly through the skies of London. Shortly, it reached the Parliament Building, racing up the wall to its summit.

She gently released Xia Pingzhou.

Xia Pingzhou stood atop the tower, raised his arm, and looked up into the fierce wind.

The massive red exclamation mark in the night sky slowly disappeared, replaced by a black-and-white event notification box.

[Event Card No. 1 of London, United Kingdom has been triggered — Defeat the "Clock Demon" at the top of Big Ben.]

"Another card event appearing alongside a demon?" he thought, "Just perfect for testing the strength of the King’s new authority."

The Queen’s Statue guarded in front of Xia Pingzhou, looking up at the twisted night sky without moving.

At that moment, the sky shattered like glass, and then a demon composed of three gigantic clocks squeezed through, its body structure resembling "Magneton" from Pokémon.

The three second hands of the Clock Demon spun simultaneously, the "click-clack" sounds overlapping in mid-air, followed by thirty-six numbers dropping from the clock’s face, eerily like a woman removing her makeup.

The thirty-six Arabic numbers spun rapidly in the sky, forming a numerical vortex, like a black hole irrationally dragging space and time inside. The closer one got to the numerical vortex, the slower time seemed to pass, with space wavering like a mirage.

Xia Pingzhou thought, "Just after defeating the Blue Arc Demon, now you want me to tackle the Ghost Bell Demon? Truly a family bond of filial piety. Ghost Bell Demon... I’m sending you to Hell to reunite with your son." With that thought, his eyes turned cold.

"Prepare to die... Ghost Bell Demon," he whispered, reaching toward the four chess shadows on the Black and White Ring Road.

Amidst the screech of shattering glass, the King’s Statue, the Knight’s Statue, and two Soldier Statues appeared in response, akin to a giant army surrounding Xia Pingzhou.

The Queen’s Statue, understanding Xia Pingzhou’s intent, silently stepped back two paces.

At the same time, a crimson glow suddenly burst from the empty eye sockets of the King’s Statue, as if a contract with a devil had been made, gaining power from Purgatory at that moment.

Xia Pingzhou closed his eyes, silently commanding the King in his mind.

Immediately, a black-and-white system notification box popped up in the darkness of his mind.

[Sacrificing "Knight Giant," and two "Soldier Giants," the conditions for authority release are met.]

[Notice: The ultimate authority of the King’s Statue—"King’s Flash" has been unlocked.]

Xia Pingzhou opened his eyes and said, "King’s Statue, release the authority ’King’s Flash’ on the Ghost Bell Demon."

As the words fell, the figures of the knight and soldiers turned into a storm of black and white blood, instantly converging into the scepter held high by the King’s Statue.

A small orb at the top of the scepter began to expand and contract, shifting between black and white, brimming with powerful life force, as if condensing an entire chessboard world.

The King’s Statue aimed the top of the scepter at the Clock Demon.

"Boom——!"

Amidst a deafening roar, the fingertip-sized orb shattered, and a massive black-and-white beam shot skyward, roaring as it tore through the atmosphere, consuming time and space, piercing through the vortex of Arabic numbers, then rushing toward the Clock Demon’s body, incinerating it into embers.

After this, the black-and-white beam, like a beast out of control, continued shooting upward, racing with the clouds and moon, tearing through the overcast sky, rendering the clouds that shrouded the moon nonexistent, leaving them to disappear into ash.

It was like opening a showcase in the sky, allowing moonlight to pour down without reservation, illuminating the heads of Xia Pingzhou and the Queen’s Statue, enveloping London’s Big Ben.

The atmosphere howled in lament, the wind ceaselessly whistling, a sound louder than Big Ben itself reached the ears of every citizen. They looked up in astonishment, as if witnessing snowfall, gazing toward the sky atop the Parliament Building.

The black-and-white beam had vanished, replaced by a massive hole among the clouds, with a giant moon hanging at its center, a touch of serene brilliance at the horizon.

Xia Pingzhou gazed at this scene, his dark eyes suddenly displaying a black-and-white notification box.

[Event Card No. 1 of London, United Kingdom has been completed.]

[As a reward, the event card "High Noon" has been added to the No. 2 unit’s event card album, where you can view the card’s effects.]