The night breeze was constant in the dark of night, but Pym, who was in a well-ventilated tent, was drenched in sweat, and his nose and sideburns were soaked with sweat.

The situation in front of him had completely deprived him of the ability to think, and if he hadn't tried his best to control his brain and try to keep the situation going, he would have been overwhelmed by the tremendous stimulus.

The chess pieces on the chessboard are criss-crossed, but the overall situation is such that even the layman is incapacitated, and white suppresses black with an absolute advantage. Of course, this is not Pym's incompetence, even if today's chess king is in the mood to play against an opponent who cannot be seen or touched.

Pym could only try to keep himself from making basic mistakes, and manipulated the pieces according to his bodily memory of playing chess, and nothing else.

...

"Hehe, now that I think about it, I really admire myself at that time, I was able to persevere under such pressure, although I lost and retreated again and again, but there was no operational error. ”

Pym, who was lying on the sickbed, smiled and said to his son Liard.

Although Pym said it quite lightly, Lird was stunned at this time, his mind was filled with extremely strange scenes, and a chill rushed over his body, which could not be expelled.

Pym continued: "And just like that, the second game between us ended, and the result was, without any doubt, without any suspense. ”

Lird said: "Nothing... What..."

Pym shook his head and smiled bitterly, "There is no punishment, but there are more terrible things than punishment, which is that the pieces are restored to their original positions again, and the [power] is ready to start the third game with me." ”

Lird felt like he was going to collapse, and he couldn't imagine what he would do if that scene appeared in front of him.

Pym said: "At that time, I was naturally about to collapse, and in a trance I really couldn't stay awake, and strong dizziness and nausea swept over, and I didn't know if this was the cause of my body or the influence of this mysterious [power]. ”

Lird felt that his nerves were a little overwhelmed, so he asked Pym, "And what about the result of the third game?"

Pym shook his head and said, "The third game didn't take place, and after that game just started, the new priest returned. ”

The entry of a third party finally broke this strange situation, which could not help but make Lird breathe a sigh of relief, and he almost fainted, and after calming down, Lird continued to listen to his father's story.

"When the new priestess stepped into the tent, it was a wonderful scene, and the look on her face was so exaggerated that it was evident that she was astonished by my presence, and I had no worries or remorse, and I was only glad that I had been freed from such danger," said Pym. ”

"I can't remember what happened after that, but when I saw hope, the extreme nervousness was suddenly released, and my body was extremely repulsed, and even though the vertigo passed, although it was not long, it was about an hour. ”

Lirde said, "You got a glimpse of that [power], but they didn't kill you. ”

Pym nodded, "Yes, as you can see, although I am in a bad state now, I am still alive. ”

Lird gasped slowly, he was not angry about the reason why the Atlantean remnants did not hurt his father, or that it didn't matter anymore at this time.

Maybe it was because Pym had saved the nation, or maybe it was for other reasons, but my father survived.

Pym continued: "When I woke up, I found that my mind was very clear, and I was very impressed by what had happened, and I thought that the stimulation would damage my brain, but I didn't want to be very impressed by it, as if everything had happened not long ago. ”

Lird swallowed a mouthful of spit, then said, "So, how did the new priest treat you?"

Pym laughed, "What do you think, even if you don't kill me, you're going to lock me up in a dungeon, aren't you?"

Lird showed a wry smile and said: "At least it should be like this, if you think about it from another perspective, as the newly succeeded patriarch, it is impossible to say that the biggest secret in the clan has been discovered." ”

Pym nodded and said, "That's right, your thoughts are normal, including me at the time." However, none of this happened, and when I came to my senses, she checked my condition and let me go back to my tent to rest. ”

Lird shrugged his shoulders and said, "It's that simple?"

"Of course it won't be that simple. Pym laughed.

"Now that things have begun, there is no reason to end them easily, even if they appear to be calm on the surface, they will eventually manifest themselves in other things. ”

Lird nodded, and then thought to himself about the possible reason for this.

Pym continued: "I was also surprised by this behavior at the time, first of all I realized that the reason why the other party was not surprised by what I had experienced was that he knew about it for a long time, and that this was most likely the biggest secret that existed in the tribe. ”

At this point, I also understood why the tribe had always kept such a low profile, barely communicating with the outside world, and that was what it feared. At that time, although I knew the people here quite well, there were still very few people who could communicate with me due to the language, so I didn't know the real name of the tribe. The old priest told me that their name was Soma, but I didn't see this name after reading some information, which is obviously a lie. ”

"I couldn't sleep at all that night, and compared to the surprise and fear I had before, I was worried about the outcome I would face later. ”

"But what surprised me even more was that for the next three days I was safe, as if all of a sudden I was being ignored by everyone. ”

When Lird heard this, he said, "Didn't you think about escaping during this time?"

"Escape?" Pym laughed.

"It seems that you don't know much about this shortcoming, have you ever thought about a question, how did the Atlantean remnants, as a race with their own independent culture that have existed on this planet for thousands of years, survive after the destruction of most of the tribe?

Lird was stopped by his father's words, and he realized that he had overlooked many questions.

Pym said: "Although I didn't know the true face of the Atlantean remnants at that time, I had seen the strength of those Soma warriors before them, and their combat power was unimaginable, if the priest didn't want me to leave, even if I had two revolvers, I would definitely not be able to leave here." ”

It dawned on Lird that he had finally realized that he was so young and innocent, and that he had always been blinded by the peace and beauty of this place, and that the strength of a nation that could continue to gallop around the world should not be underestimated.

"But I didn't dwell too much on these issues at the time, because I didn't have any thoughts of running away in my head, and I only thought about one question at the time, and that was what it was that night playing chess against me!"

...

Near noon, Lird walked out of his father's tent, and the moment he stepped into the tent, the warm sunlight projected on his body, similar to the warm red sunlight, made Lird feel extremely warm, but the chill released from his body could not subside for a while.

Lird stretched long and tried to soothe his emotions in this way, and then he suddenly found that there was no one outside the tent, not even Jim's figure was completely gone, and then Liard's heart panicked, and a very ominous premonition came to his heart.

But this feeling quickly faded, for he suddenly saw Jim's figure more than twenty meters away.

Confidential was lying on the green lawn, leisurely crossing Erlang's legs, with a handkerchief covering his face, actually basking in the sun leisurely.

Lird approached Jim with a wry smile, and Jim ripped off the handkerchief covering his face when he heard the voice, and then said, "The conversation is over?"

Lird said: "It's over for the time being, after chatting with my father all morning, he is also very tired, and he will have to be treated in an hour, so I will quit first." ”

Jim got up from the grass, dusted off the turf and dirt and said, "It's okay, I'm a little tired compared to you, so I'll rest and relax, and then we'll have lunch." ”

Lird nodded, he really needed rest and recuperation now, so that he could digest what his father had told him.

The two of them walked slowly down the mountain, and suddenly Lird spoke, "You... How old are you sacrificial?"

Jim rolled his eyes and said, "Why are you suddenly asking about this?"

"You don't have to think about anything, I'm just curious, I've been listening to you talk to your father about the sacrifice mentioned in the last few days, but I haven't seen him yet. ”

Jim smiled: "So what's so difficult, our sacrifice is not the head of the United States, and there is no difficulty in meeting each other once." ”

Lird said: "To correct you, the United States does not have a head of state, only a president. ”

Jim blinked and said, "It's all about the same, it's not bad! In my eyes, they're all representatives of dictatorship." ”

Lird smiled bitterly and said, "Isn't that the case for your priest?"

"Of course!" said Jim, proudly, his expression full of faith and pride.

Lird didn't want to divert the conversation from politics, so he continued with the question he had just asked: "I heard my father say that he became a priest last year. ”

Jim nodded and said: "After the old priest passed away last year, because the new priest was in charge of the clan, it is said that our current priest is almost the youngest inheritor, although I can't directly say her age, but I think it is about the same as you." ”

"Oh? That's pretty remarkable. Lird said indifferently, although Lird has many things in his heart that are quite curious, but at the moment he is not suitable to ask these questions, Jim noticed the change in Lird, but he is also less likely to intervene in this kind of thing, Lird did not take the initiative to ask him but was happy to be quiet.

Next, the two of them moved forward together with a pair of hearts in their hearts, and the two of them did not even talk to each other in the chaos.

After returning to Jim's house for lunch, Jim offers to wait for Leard to go out for a walk, to which Lird readily agrees. For one thing, this place is located in an off-the-beaten-path way, and there are no entertainment items to read in newspapers and magazines, so it would be really boring to keep an empty tent, and Lird can secretly investigate and grasp the situation here if he goes out for a walk.

The two of them walked leisurely through the dense forest through which Lird had taken the branch of the river when he came here, and if he continued along the bank of the river, he would have reached the main trunk of the Ganges.

Lird and Jim walked along the river, admiring the scenery and chatting with each other.

"No matter how many times I watch it, I can't help but be amazed, this is like an outdoor paradise in fairy tales, and really, even if I wanted to break my head, I would never have imagined that there would be such a wonderful place in this world. ”

Jim smiled: "It seems that the reinforced concrete of the city limits your imagination, you must know that although there are not many such places, they are not rare in this world, if you walk enough, you will find that there are many beautiful cities and people in this world." ”

Leard laughed when he heard this: "You said this, but it made me awaken the idea of crossing the United States on foot. ”

Jim said, "Trekking through America? Haha! Such a ridiculous thing may only be thought of by a boy like you." ”

Lierd pouted and said, "Brother Son like me, could it be that my performance along the way is not good enough to win your excellent praise?"

Jim smiled and shook his head: "It's not for this reason, it's just that the concept between you and me is completely different, your so-called hiking plan is more for walking, and there are many things that can be pursued along the way, and we... Just to live. ”

Jim's words surprised Liard, who knew that there was a knot in Jim's heart that could not be untied, and that was the threat of the outside world to his clan.

Lird hesitated for a moment and said, "Is there really anyone who will occupy this place?" Based on my observation of this place, it seems that this is not a marching place, and there should not be any commander who will lay the battlefield here. ”

Jim smiled bitterly and said, "In the middle of the war, how can you think with common sense, you can say that anything is possible." Last night, I heard Trista say that in the days I was away, I could often hear the sound of planes flying by at midnight, and the sound was so loud that I thought it was very close to the ground. ”

After that, Jim sighed and said, "It feels like the danger is getting closer and closer to us..."