Chapter 431: A Chess Match

Fang Raon walked into the common room. There were few members of Rose Records present. Over at the corner, Machary was playing chess against Waylen.

"Hey," Fang Raon sat down on their table. "Chess? I didn’t know you could play, Machary."

"Why did you think that?" Machary asked with a smirk. "I am smart, you see."

Waylen rolled his eyes. Then he moved his bishop across the board. "Checkmate."

"Ah?" Machary looked at the board and then shook his head. "No, it’s not... No... no... Shit!"

He flicked his King, then slammed it down in defeat.

"...You alright, Raon?" Waylen crossed his legs and asked. "You had quite a fight today. Your strength has improved impressively."

"Yeah, I am fine," Fang Raon said. "The outcome of the fight wasn’t what I was hoping for."

"Did Rock grill your ass out?" Machary asked with a smirk. "So you are dating those two total babes. When did you get this lucky?"

Fang Raon rolled his eyes. Honestly, even he didn’t know why he was this lucky. He never thought that he would have a chance to date someone in the first place.

"Have the two of you heard about the news?" Waylen asked. "About people turning superhuman because of Virtual Reality Pod X?"

"Yes, I have. I already ordered Virtual Reality Pod X. I thought it was too expensive before, but now it is a total bargain.

"I am worried that the price will jump soon, so I bought it as quickly as possible!"

Machary said.

"What do you think, Raon?" Waylen asked. "The world is getting more dangerous."

"I don’t know. The government might try to shut down Black Online. Maybe they’re trying to be the only ones with access.

"So only they will have a superhuman army."

Fang Raon said.

"I never thought of you as a conspiracy type, Raon," Machary laughed. "I doubt Kuroganehara Izan lets that happen."

"Kuroganehara Izan has completely disappeared. No one knows where he is. It sounds like he knew that the governments would come after him."

Waylen said.

"What are the three of you talking about?" At that moment, Miranda walked over. "You guys have heard about the Superhuman Syndrome too?"

"Superhuman Syndrome?" Fang Raon’s eyebrow jumped. "Is that what everyone is calling it?"

Miranda nodded. Then sat down on the table. She looked at the chessboard in front of her and started placing the pieces in their starting positions.

"It sounds like we are sick or something. These Virtual Reality Pod Xs won’t kill us, right? I hope our brain just doesn’t melt off suddenly."

Machary shuddered.

"I highly doubt Kuroganehara Izan did all of this just to kill everybody in the world. I think he has some deeper plan in mind."

Waylen said.

’He does...’ Fang Raon thought. ’But what is the plan exactly?’

"Does someone want to play a game with me?"

Miranda asked, looking at the chessboard with an expectant look, like she was a little child wanting to play.

Waylen and Machary immediately crossed their arms. It was like they were saying, "Hell no," as they knew how good of a chess player she was.

"I’ll play with you," Fang Raon said. "I can be black."

Miranda smiled happily. Like a little kid during Christmas morning. She was more than happy to start as white.

Machary and Waylen looked at Fang Raon with pity. He had no idea what was coming. He was going to get beaten to a pulp!

The chess match started.

Miranda pushed her pawn to the center of the board. Fang Raon moved his pawn one space forward.

She then pushed another pawn to the center. Right next to her other pawn. Fang Raon moved another pawn to block her pawn’s advancement.

"Interesting..." Miranda moved her knight to protect her queen.

Fang Raon also moved his knight forward to make it active.

Miranda moved her pawn forward, attacking his knight. She was playing very aggressively.

"Hmm..." Fang Raon moved his knight back.

Miranda moved another pawn of hers. She was definitely trying to take control of the center of the board.

Fang Raon moved his bishop, then Miranda moved her knight. Neither of them was making a move, and they were just trying to get their pieces active.

"Who is winning?" Machary asked of Waylen. "I’ve no idea."

"Neither, I think. It does look like Miranda has a slightly better position, but it’s still a very early game, so anything can happen."

Waylen said.

Fang Raon then castled.

Miranda pushed her bishop forward.

Fang Raon pushed his black pawn forward. It was attacking the center pawn of Miranda.

Miranda moved her bishop over at the back. Then Fang Raon moved his knight to put more attacking power on the center.

"Mmh..." Miranda frowned, and then she captured his pawn. "I’ll take that."

Fang Raon moved his knight and then captured her pawn. Miranda moved her white pawn to attack the knight!

He moved the knight out of the way of the danger. Miranda grinned, and she then moved her queen at last!

"I can do that too."

Fang Raon moved his queen. It was putting pressure on the center pawn. Miranda reacted by putting the bishop diagonally behind the pawn, protecting it from the queen.

He then moved his pawn to attack the center piece. It was getting attacked from everywhere. Miranda frowned.

’No other choice...’ she thought and then captured a pawn with that pawn.

It was hanging, but Fang Raon didn’t take it. She then noticed that she had accidentally another piece of her hanging.

The bishop was hanging at the far back!

’Oh no!’

Miranda’s eyes shook.

Fang Raon smiled and used his queen to capture the bishop. She just lost a very valuable piece of hers!

Miranda used her pawn to capture his bishop in return. But it was a small reward. Fang Raon used his knight to capture that pawn.

She then moved his knight. It was attacking Raon’s queen. Then Fang Raon quickly moved his queen further back in the line.

Miranda moved her rook.

Fang Raon moved his pawn. He had complete supremacy over the center board.

Miranda moved her bishop to attack his knight.

But then, Fang Raon moved his bishop across the board and captured Miranda’s knight. It caused a frown to appear on her face.

She responded by using her bishop to capture his knight.

Fang Raon used his bishop to capture her pawn. Miranda captured a pawn with her bishop as well.

He then moved his king to the far corner of the board. It was protected by two pawns, a rook, a knight, and a queen.

Nobody could get through that protection!

Miranda captured his pawn. Fang Raon moved his rook to get away from the bishop.

She then moved her pawn. Fang Raon captured her rook. Miranda moved her king to open up an attacking line for her rook.

Her rook was attacking his bishop!

Fang Raon easily moved his bishop out of the way, but she didn’t let him leave that easily. She chased after the bishop with the rook!

Instead of moving his bishop, Fang Raon moved his queen. She moved her bishop diagonally across the board.

It was left hanging!

In that moment, Fang Raon captured that bishop with his knight. She then used her rook to capture his bishop.

They were just trading pieces at this point.

Fang Raon moved his knight. A checkmate attack. Miranda was forced to move her king back to the back row.

He then captured her rook. Miranda pushed her pawn forward to attack his queen.

Fang Raon moved his queen across the board to protect his knight that was under Miranda’s king’s mercy.

Miranda moved her knight to capture his pawn. At the same time, it was putting pressure on his queen.

It was a brilliant move!

"Wow..." Machary whispered. "This is a very high level match. I didn’t think Fang Raon was this good at chess!"

Fang Raon moved his queen. Miranda moved her king behind his knight. However, she couldn’t take the knight, as the queen was still protecting it.

Fang Raon then took the hanging knight. She couldn’t do anything to protect that from the queen.

"Mmh..." Miranda frowned. "Not good..."

She then moved her queen.

Fang Raon moved his knight to put pressure on her queen. In that moment, Miranda made a really risky move and moved her queen across the board.

Attacking Fang Raon’s king!

However, it was completely hanging, and Fang Raon took it with his king. She responded by taking his knight with her pawn.

Fang Raon moved his queen to put her king in a checkmate. She was forced to move her king to the corner.

"It’s over."

Waylen said.

Fang Raon pushed his rook across the board. All the way to the back row. It trapped the king. It couldn’t move anywhere!

"Checkmate," he said with a smile. "Good match."

"Ah..." Miranda pouted, but she looked like she enjoyed the match, and she offered a handshake. "Good match. Let’s play again another day."

He shook the hand with a smile.

"Raon actually beat Miranda..." Machary said with a shocked look. "I knew that he was good at strategy games like the General’s Game, but I had no idea he could play chess too!"