Global Games: Old Chess Players

9 years ago, Japan, a small village near Tokyo.

Songs can be heard in the empty and quiet fields. The rice fields that stretch for several kilometers are particularly peaceful at sunset, just like a golden ocean wave, gently swaying under the caress of the wind.

The setting sun is about to sink into the horizon, elongating the shadows of the rice fields and casting them onto the train tracks in the distance.

The girl wore a straw hat and a light white skirt. With her hands behind her back, she walked briskly on the rusty track.

The man was sitting nearby, flipping through a book, and he raised his head.

In her gentle eyes, a girl as delicate as a doll walks on the rusty track, her strands of hair dyed pale golden by the afterglow blowing in the wind.

He smiled slightly and said something.

The girl turned around and met the man's gaze, "Really?!"

"Really." The man smiled lightly at her.

"That's great, Dad!"

"Let's go, Asuka." He slowly stood up and picked up the heavy suitcase, "It's still a long time before we get to Tokyo."

"Yeah!" Asuka nodded vigorously.

"Remember what I said, never show your dragon side to others." The man touched Asuka's hair and said in a gentle voice, "Asuka, this is a secret between us."

"I will, Dad."

The dream suddenly shattered, everything was drawn into the end of the track, and all the fragments were reorganized again and released outward.

The scene this time is a middle school classroom.

A classmate with a bandage on his face looked at Asuka Uesugi who walked into the classroom with a stunned expression, and shouted hoarsely:

"Monster, Asuka is a monster, stay away from her!!!"

"Matsumoto, wasn't your wound bitten by the Maruyama family's dog? What on earth are you talking about?"

"Maruyama, Iwata, you believe me!" the bandaged classmate yelled, "It's Asuka, it's Asuka. I saw it with my own eyes. It can't be an illusion. She turned into a dragon!"

"She is a monster!!!"

"Why don't you believe me!!"

"She's not human at all!!!"

The gazes of everyone in the classroom were like a tide of insects, climbing up the girl's body one after another, eating away at every corner of her body.

Her whole body became weak.

Asuka Uesugi clenched her fists and bit her lip.

"I....."

She seemed to want to say something, but couldn't.

"It's his fault. He's too close to me. He should stay away from me." She whispered.

I did not do it on purpose......

I obviously don't want to hurt him...

Brown hair obscured her eyes, but her eyes could be seen as scarlet and fragile as those of a vampire.

"Wouldn't it be better if you don't get close to me?" She grinned and said disdainfully.

I don't......

I'm not......

That's not what I thought at all...

"Look, she admitted it, I didn't lie!" The boy with the bandage said tremblingly, "I didn't, why don't you believe me, she is a monster, and you all listen to a monster?"

"yes!!"

Asuka raised her head suddenly, her tearful eyes filled with blood red.

The corners of her mouth were raised high, but tears kept flowing down her face, and her voice was clear and full of resentment.

"I am a monster!"

"I hate you, I hate all of you!!!"

"Everyone should stay away from me, everyone should stay away from me!!!"

...

...

December 25, late at night, in a room in the stateroom of the Titanic.

Asuka Uesugi woke up from her dream.

She was breathing heavily, and her pupils, which gradually turned scarlet, reflected the unfamiliar ceiling. They shrank like a beast, then gradually expanded, returning to their original state.

Violent emotions dominate the heart, as if there is a wild beast growing in the heart, feeding on hatred, fear, and indifference. It keeps growing like thorns, spreading to the entire heart, wrapping it tightly.

Asuka Uesugi's eyes dimmed.

She lowered her head and looked at the extended nails, revealing the dragon's claws.

"boring......"

She whispered softly, her long brown hair covering the side of her face.

"boring......"

She tore at the bear pillow with her sharp nails and made a gash.

"boring......"

Cotton kept coming out of the holes in the bear's pillow, and once it opened, it couldn't stop.

"Are you OK?"

Anson's voice came from outside the stateroom, and Asuka remembered that there was someone standing guard outside.

She was silent for a moment, put down the pillow, and whispered:

"fine."

"Oh, I think I heard you talking in your sleep."

"Ha..." Asuka Uesugi frowned slightly, "What did I say?"

"You said..." Ansonlu paused and said, "Dad, I'm sorry, I miss you so much."

Asuka Uesugi's pupils narrowed slightly.

In the deathly silent and dim room, the crimson color emanating from her eyes was as bright as blood, but it quickly dimmed, like a beam of extinguished firelight.

"Eavesdropping is not a good habit," she said coldly.

Ansonlu dismissed, "You shouted too loudly. A normal person who has a nightmare would do this."

Asuka's face suddenly turned red. She bit her lips and threw the pillow away.

"Shut up!"

"Bang."

It is the sound effect of failed minesweeping.

Ansonlu put away his cell phone and yawned.

"Okay, I'm sorry, Mr. Long, it was my fault. You can sleep peacefully. You will have to take over my shift later."

A long silence enveloped the two of them.

Ansonlu didn't say much, he just played another game of Minesweeper.

"To be honest, you are so hypocritical that it makes me sick..." Asuka said.

"What?"

Asuka Uesugi hugged the "exposed" bear pillow and curled up into a ball in the room. She whispered:

"Is it really fun to lie and act stupid?"

Ansenlu was silent for half a second and teased:

"Haha, I just said goodbye to 'Crow No. 1' and here comes 'Crow No. 2' again. I'm really tired."

"Crow No. 1, who is that?" Asuka Uesugi felt confused.

"Don't worry..." Ansonlu scratched his hair, "So, we have only known each other for a long time, why do you think you know me well?"

"Huh, I just understand."

"Okay, I'm sorry, I'm hypocritical, I'm disgusting, I'm ashamed of humanity."

"That's not the case either."

"What's that like?" Ansonlu said, "Speaking of which, as a young lady, shouldn't you reflect on yourself? You are arrogant, aggressive, and self-righteous. I think you are quite disgusting."

"Wow——"

The sound of the ocean tide.

Then, there was silence for two seconds.

Ansonlu paused while playing with minesweeper. He was a little worried that he had gone too far.

"Well, that's the kind of person I am."

Asuka surprisingly did not retort.

Ansonlu sighed, feeling inexplicably guilty, "Actually, you're okay, you're not that annoying."

"As you said before, I really don't understand you." Asuka said softly:

"Everyone has gone viral. Regarding your video, I thought you were a stupid idiot who then suddenly gained abilities. But after I actually got to know you, I realized that it was completely different."

"Oh, what's the difference?"

"You are ten times stronger than I thought, and you are very calm and will not be afraid of anything..." Asuka Uesugi tucked her cheek into her knees and said slowly:

"The look in the video is just an act, right?"

"So what if you're just pretending?"

"Aren't you tired?"

"If I don't cater to others, my situation will only become more troublesome." Ansonlu turned off his phone and leaned against the door, "So, what do you want to say?"

"I feel quite tired." The girl said softly, "Be careful not to reveal any flaws. This... is really exhausting."

"You have nothing to show off. You can afford to go to a high school in New York. I guess you are a rich lady, right?"

"That's half of it."

"Right." Anson Deer raised his head and said calmly:

"It's good to have money at home, but unlike me, I can't even afford steamed buns with my pocket money. At home, I don't dare to pick up a bowl when others don't use chopsticks. At school, I don't have any friends, and everyone laughs at me for being a dead man.

My parents' orphans had to live in other people's homes and be a parasite. When they were showing off their toys during class, I hurriedly hid in the toilet like a fool."

Asuka Uesugi was stunned for a long time and said in disbelief:

"So you are so miserable."

Anson Lu touched his nose and said, "It's okay."

silence.

There was silence as before, as if everything was swallowed up by the night.

"If I say..." she said.

"What did you say?" Anson Deer asked.

"I said..." Asuka Uesugi tilted her head, "I have been a dragon since I was born. It is not a player's skill at all. In fact, I was like that from the beginning. Do you believe it?"

"Believe it." Anson Deer said, "This world is so magical, what else is impossible?"

"Well, so I can't have friends, it's better to say I can't have close friends. I might hurt them, and they might hurt me. Once I'm found out, I have to transfer to another school. My dad will take care of everything.

Take care of it." She said:

"Every time this time, he would look at me with disappointed eyes and say, 'Asuka, I told you, no, you can't expose yourself to others.'"

"That's pretty miserable..."

"So, every time I see that look in my dad's eyes, I feel very guilty. I feel guilty every time. I feel guilty about why I don't hide better, why I want to make friends, and why I want to get close to others."

"It's not your fault either."

"It would have been better if I had not been born."

"Think on the bright side, in fact, your ability can also bring you some benefits."

"Like what?"

"For example, you can open a winter swimming club, and then throw the idiots who signed up one by one into the Atlantic Ocean like Xiong Haodong did." Ansonlu yawned, his voice a little confused.

"Ha, hahaha..." Uesugi Asuka was amused. She held her belly and chuckled, and said angrily:

"I'm really impressed by you."

Anson Deer's eyes were full of tears from yawning, and he said calmly:

"It's not good for you to be like this. What I hate the most is people pretending to be serious. I hope that no matter how painful I am, I can still live happily, even if I am just pretending."

"Okay, then I will learn from you, great old chess player comrade." Asuka said respectfully.

"Can you please stop being awkward all of a sudden, Comrade Crimson Dragon Wing." An Senlu was helpless.

Asuka Uesugi hugged the broken bear, huddled under the quilt, and said with a hint of joy in her voice:

"I won't, Comrade old chess player, the revolution has not yet succeeded, you continue to stand guard, I will sleep first."

Anson Deer said, "Go to sleep. We really don't want the two of us to be torn to pieces by that pirate ghost ship with dark circles under our eyes."