Welcome to Rewind World Game

[Both sides make their moves, first round.]

[Red side: Pawn (C2) moves forward to (C4).]

[Blue side: Queen (D8) moves forward to (D5).]

...

There is no stalemate on this board, the red side's [Pawn (C2)] is the first to act.

Su Ming'an sees the causal lines vibrating around him — this is not a true game of chess, but rather driven by Su Rin, the General, affecting all causal lines related to C2. The consequence it produces is instantaneous, akin to a system command — once the "cause" changes, the "effect" is realized instantly.

One second before, Su Rin is still in the sky, and the next second appears by the seaside, with a dead tentacle monster beneath his sword edge. Hundreds of battleships float on the sea surface, smoke rises from their cannons, clearly indicating a fierce sea battle has just ended, with the tentacle monster slain at sea.

...

[Your first move has altered part of the causality: one hour ago, the navy eradicated the tentacle monster in the Northeast Sea Area, deepening the fusion of 372 nearby timelines.]

[A total of 38,291 soldiers and 132 Players participated in this battle, rewards have been settled.]

...

[Please make your next move.]

...

At the same time, the Players who were originally observing from the ground, 132 of them suddenly appear by the sea, memories of "battling the tentacle monster one hour ago" emerge in their minds, with corresponding battle marks and wounds on their bodies, as if a real war had occurred.

"Huh… Huh?" They looked at each other, shouting: "What's going on? How did I suddenly appear by the seaside?"

"I've gained an extra memory — 'I participated in the eradication of the tentacle monster one hour ago, even my Experience Points have increased'. But an hour ago, I was clearly preparing to observe on the ground!" The Players exclaimed.

"Whoa! I get it, this is the meaning of making moves — instantly altering causality!" Someone analyzed: "Originally, we were all doing nothing, this tentacle monster eradication battle never happened. But Su Ming'an made one move, and the past changed… this tentacle monster eradication battle occurred, it changed from 'non-existent' to 'existent', we became part of it."

"This is…" Eli gazes at the distant Stars above, billions of causal lines interweaving and branching. He places a hand over his chest, suppressing the excitement within: "... controlling [Destiny]?"

One move can revise the past, present, and future.

Above the Stars, Su Ming'an finally understands the significance of making moves — the affirmation and denial of billions of "possibilities".

In one probability, this tentacle monster battle would not occur, 132 Players an hour ago would be in a state of idleness, Su Rin as well floating in the sky, having no thoughts of leading the navy to eradicate the tentacle monster.

Yet in another possibility, under the involvement of certain variables, Su Rin decides to lead the navy to fight the tentacle monster, and among them, 132 Players participate due to various reasons, perhaps seeking Experience Points, or perhaps completing tasks… altogether, 132 Players joined the battle.

Su Ming'an's move is akin to confirming the latter world's timeline possibilities, rejecting the former world timeline possibilities, allowing the latter to replace the former, appearing in the real world timeline — letting [an undeclared war] be confirmed as [war occurring], letting [Players doing nothing] be confirmed as [Players participating in war], letting [Su Rin floating in the sky] be confirmed as [Su Rin leading the navy to eradicate the tentacle monster].

However, this "change of world line" cannot override the Players, Su Rin, and other Players clearly perceiving: this is a modified world line, only settling on a result. Similarly, in the Organizers' and audience's perspective, truly, Su Rin and 132 Players an hour ago did not participate in the war.

"More potent than a Word Spirit, this is an instantaneous change of fact." Noel's eyes slightly bright, staring at the causal lines about.

While making moves, Su Ming'an can influence causal lines around the Chess Piece. However, some lines can be moved, some cannot, and some will trigger a series of chain reactions.

Su Ming'an considers that his first move is likely a waste. Sending Su Rin to eradicate a seaside tentacle monster does not benefit the overall situation, nor can it serve as a foundation for the next move.

"No problem, play well on the next move, respond flexibly." Noel tilts his head, reassuring.

Su Ming'an nods.

On the other end of the board, Dieying's move takes effect — the blue side's [Queen] advances, billions of causal lines are pulled.

Su Ming'an frowns intently, nothing changes on the board. But exclamations rise from the ground:

"—The Black Mist advanced!"

"—Help!!"

The defenses of 182,719 seaside cities begin to retreat.

In the Union Government conference hall, several MPs suddenly disappear.

At the frontlines, hundreds of troops suddenly vanish within the military's units, people's bags are filled with a pile of relics. Memories emerge in their minds of "the Black Mist advanced suddenly three hours ago, soldiers suffered heavy casualties, hundreds of teams died," even remembering where each relic came from which deceased.

—Dieying's move targets the Black Mist.

Confirmed the cause of "the Black Mist advancing three hours ago," resulting in the effect of "heavy human casualties three hours later." Whether military, Union Government, or seaside cities, all impacted by chain reactions. The MPs who suddenly vanished in the Union Government conference hall, are precisely "having left the meeting because they heard the Black Mist advanced three hours ago."

"—Li Cheng, Li Cheng!" The military's Major General Su Ping, frantically shaking the corpse beside him, a comrade who was lively just a second ago now turned into a corpse polluted by Black Mist due to the world line changing. It's unacceptable to anyone.

Crying and shouting resound worldwide.

Above the Stars, Su Ming'an's brows knit tightly, the burden on his shoulders grows heavier.

One move, millions of lives. By the time of the final judgment, one move could mean the disappearance of an entire civilization.

Dieying's first move involved the Black Mist, then next most likely will target the Nine Serenities. After all, Nine Serenities is pivotal in their contest.

For his next move, Su Ming'an decides to move the Nine Serenities Chess Piece [Bishop (F1)], first sending up the Life Hard Drive.

"What we need to consider is the chain reaction." Noel decisively sits on the throne armrest, sideways, holding onto the Scepter in Su Ming'an's hand, the Scepter's tip connects 16 Chess Pieces: "Discard ingrained thought patterns, this is fundamentally different from conventional chess, in chess each move counts as only one, but in ours every move influences other Chess Pieces. For example, look when Dieying moved the first [Queen], our[Knight (B1)]and [Bishop (F1)]were both suppressed."

Su Ming'an stares into the distance.

Dieying's first move resulted in massive military deaths in The World of Old Days, hence on Su Ming'an's side, representing "each nation's economy" [Knight (A1)], and representing "military of various forces" [Bishop (F1)] both are affected. Causal lines around these two Chess Pieces weaken, as many humans capable of being influenced by them have disappeared.

"Is Dieying planning to gradually weaken?" Su Ming'an murmured to himself. If this continues, most of his Chess Pieces will be suppressed. If Dieying decides to weaken step by step, he will have to play fast. Otherwise, as time goes on, the population of The World of Old Days will be completely wiped out.

At this moment, the voice of the Deity came from Du's wristwatch: "Su Ming'an, move the second piece [Elephant (C1)], direction tilted left-up 42°, move 1.72 squares."

The Deity has come to make a move through Du's wristwatch.

He possessed the wristwatch Du to give Su Ming'an suggestions. Although the "move 1.72 squares" seems indistinguishable from "move 2 squares" on the chessboard, it is a definite landing coordinate for the Chess Piece, meaning moving the concept represented by [Elephant (C1)] to a specific timeline, causing a definite causality determination.

Su Ming'an glanced at it, and the grid position represented was exactly Nine Serenities, apparently aligning with the Deity's perspective, both choosing to move Nine Serenities first.

"What does tilted left-up 42° mean?" Su Ming'an asked.

"Observe carefully, the Causal Line connected to [Elephant (C1)] primarily relates to millennium plans," the Deity's voice was steady, like a patient teacher: "The twelve thickest lines on this Chess Piece are the Causal Lines of the twelve Principals. Among them, can you identify which is Chao Yan's?"

Su Ming'an's gaze shifted slightly and he quickly identified Chao Yan's Causal Line. This Causal Line connected to the Life Authority, ocean, candy, stars, Judgment Angel concept, Principal concept, and hundreds of other Causal Lines, making it easy to discern this as Chao Yan's.

"Yes, keep observing this way. You'll find that the Causal Line tilted left-up 42° is primarily centered around the Life Hard Drive, including General Qin and others. You need to locate General Qin's line, precisely at the 1.72 squares distance," said the Deity.

Su Ming'an slightly raised the Scepter and quickly identified the intersection of Causal Lines belonging to General Qin, Life Hard Drive, and Nine Serenities.

The method the Deity described was challenging, requiring finding specific lines among billions of Causal Lines, but Su Ming'an quickly found the desired lines with proficient movements. This is likely the buff bonus brought by the [King], facilitating command and understanding.

In retrospect, his first move was indeed too simple, casually calling out "move forward two squares." Upon closer inspection, after moving [Pawn (C2)] forward two squares, the surface of the grid was dominated by the Causal Line of tentacle monsters, no wonder the result of the first move was Su Rin exterminating the tentacle monsters.

Chess Pieces and the chessboard, Chess Pieces and Chess Pieces, chessboard and chessboard, create magical chemical reactions. Together they nurture the outcome of each move.

... Alright.

He has now fully grasped how to play.

"Alright, you've now preliminarily mastered the basic causality chess skills," said the Deity: "Now try facing Dieying with billions of operation experiences."

...

[Both sides make their moves, second round.]

[Red side: Elephant (C1) diagonal to (E3).]

[Blue side: Queen (D5) diagonal to (E4).]

...

The red light blazed, and Su Ming'an's Chess Piece moved first. He utilized the [Elephant] related to the millennium plan, moving the [Elephant] to the Nine Serenities grid, causing the appearance of Nine Serenities.

The next second, tens of thousands of troops appeared in Nine Serenities.

—The Chess Piece moves, ten thousand troops emerge.

The earth trembled, and a series of sounds reminiscent of glass shattering "crackling" filled the air. The ice-white Underground City officially revealed its silhouette kept secret for millennia.

Like a slowly emerging phantom, it broke free from the heavy pull of the earth, unfolding with a majestic elegance, carrying ancient secrets and unfinished reincarnations.

The yellow springs gushed, dark whispers, and Manzusha Flowers bloomed competitively.

"This is... the mythical Nine Serenities... actually a technological city..." People watched in shock, treading over the trickling red Long River.

"Wow. I was still sleeping a second ago, how did I end up here the next second... But the scene is so spectacular, I want to take photos and record..." There were also many Players moved by causality.

But Su Ming'an didn't look closely, since he needed to quickly move his next Chess Piece—

...

[Both sides make their moves, third round.]

[Red side: Pawn (E2) straight to (E3).]

[Blue side: Queen (E4) straight to (E2).]

...

Dieying's Queen moved from E4 to E2, only one step away from Su Ming'an's position at E1. Su Ming'an's decision was to let the Pawn Chang Ge, originally at E2, walk straight forward, sending out the only Pawn in front of him, leaving himself exposed against the opponent's Queen. On the surface, Su Ming'an seemed extremely dangerous.

"Check." Dieying's voice echoed from afar, He squinted: "The next move, I'll capture you."

Su Ming'an remained calm, without a single taunting word.

At this moment, due to his third move, Chang Ge advanced to (E3). Simultaneously, the Elephant representing Nine Serenities was also at (E3), achieving overlap.

The next second after the move, Chang Ge disappeared from the chessboard and appeared in Nine Serenities.

The purpose of Su Ming'an's move was—to dispatch Chang Ge to Nine Serenities to unseal the Life Hard Drive (Exotic Species King).

The psychological confrontations between the two sides were vividly illustrated in this round.

If Dieying played defensively, he would protect E3 this round, have other Chess Pieces resist E3, preventing Chang Ge from unsealing the Life Hard Drive. But Dieying didn't, opting instead to command the Queen to directly attack, advancing to E2 to threaten Su Ming'an. Because Dieying believed, knowing the opponent's Queen was on the same row, Su Ming'an dared not dispatch E2 Chang Ge to unseal Nine Serenities, only dared to use the Queen at D1 for restraint. In this way, Su Ming'an would fall into passivity, with the offensive rhythm falling into Dieying's hands.

However, Su Ming'an unexpectedly let Chang Ge advance directly, dodging Dieying's Queen, without a hint of protection for Su Ming'an at E1. This resulted in a double loss scenario of "Dieying failing to block the unsealing of Nine Serenities" and "Su Ming'an facing the opponent's Queen head-on."

The sides attacked at every turn, with each strike aiming for a kill, not giving the opponent any chance.

"Once more." Su Ming'an sat poised on the throne, raised the Scepter towards Dieying in the distance, arching his eyebrows as if in provocation.