I, holding a long sword in my hand, only know one move

Not being well received by Rick, Cheng Rang couldn't stay shamelessly, even though the progress of the mission had been increasing at a rate visible to the naked eye while they were together.

But the most basic courtesy must still be respected.

Before leaving, he took one last look at the layout of Rick's room. Cheng Rang's eyes were attracted by the chessboard on the bookshelf.

Would this thing be in the room of someone like Rick?

The question would not be answered. Thinking of the heartfelt smile on Rick's face when he played chess with himself in the ruins, Cheng Rang slowly closed the wooden door.

Click....

At that time, there was light in his eyes.

"...Rick, do you want...to play a game?"

There was such a conversation in the room. Even through the wooden door and in the closed cave passage, Cheng Rang could still hear it very clearly with his five senses.

"Why?"

Rick held the fork stiffly.

Hubie pointed to the bookshelf without saying a word.

What was there was the chessboard that Cheng Rang had discovered before. It was also the only object that Rick took with him when his original hometown was destroyed.

Rick looked at the thing with extremely dim eyes, and replied with a tone of contempt: "I refuse. At that time, I agreed to play the game out of helplessness. Games like this are just boring things to trick children."

".....Why?"

"Because reality is not as simple as games."

Cheng Rang stopped and turned his head to listen.

Rick was right. The reality here has neither rules nor victory or defeat. Everything has nothing to do with humans.

Either live or die, that's the next best thing. In such a world——

"I have neither time nor margin to spend needlessly on trivial games like games." Rick answered.

"...What if it's not...pointless?"

Unknowingly, Hubie had opened the chessboard without authorization, and while arranging the chess pieces, he said: "...As long as he can beat Hubie... Hubie will disclose the information that Rick wants."

"What?"

"For example, the reasons why the war started...the reasons why the war ended...and so on..."

But for that proposal, Rick refused.

"Ha...boring information."

"I'm not interested in that kind of thing, and I don't need to know. If there's anything I want..."

Cheng Rang sighed softly, shook his head and took steps again. Rick's answer completely overlapped with the muttering in his mouth——

"This is the only way to survive."

He knew Rick would answer this way, and he understood why Rick would answer this way.

Because now Rick only has this question in his mind and wants to find the answer.

But in this world, there is no standard answer to this question for him.

Chapter 19 Broken Heart Lock (3000)

The knowledge, mathematics, and design technology possessed by one of the guys who drove humanity to destruction, the Ex-Machina.

This is the information that Rick is eager to obtain now, so that mankind can continue to develop and survive——

"If I win, I want that knowledge."

Yes, knowledge.

There are humans who use that kind of power for survival and for the present.

"Oh, I see....."

Hubie nodded in agreement, but she seemed a little regretful.

At this time Rick continued to ask: "What if I lose?"

She will definitely ask for something anyway, whether it is mechanical or calculated.

Rick asked with a wry smile, and Hubie's answer was concise and to the point.

"communicate

She looked into Rick's eyes, "I want to know the heart...the definition of 'heart' that Rick knows...I demand that kind of information."

"Didn't I say that it can only be understood by reading between the lines?"

"Well...so I ask for it, use the implication between words...and try to communicate with Hubie..."

"--Can."

Rick said, moving the meal aside, sitting in front of the chessboard and starting to play.

Staring at the black and white grids on the chessboard in front of him, Rick began to think seriously for the first time in a long time.

When it comes to judging the best chess moves, it is impossible to surpass the Ex-Machina's calculation ability.

However, judging from Hubi's actions, his lack of understanding of the heart, and his failure to interpret the underlying meaning...

All show that [uncalculated elements] do exist.

You can't beat her by just looking at the chessboard.

"Because I can easily win her." This was the lie that Cheng Rang had put down in front of him, at least that was how he understood it at the time.

"After all, even a machine has its limits - in terms of games alone, she can't understand people's hearts."

It cannot penetrate people's hearts... In other words, in terms of psychological warfare, it is likely to be effective.

"General."

Rick set a simple trap based on this, Hubie easily fell into the trap and was defeated by Rick.

I have to say that from this result, Cheng Rang did make sense, and he discovered this a little earlier than himself.

Rick was even considering taking back his comment that the guy was a "dumb".

"....General."

But Hubie immediately took this situation into consideration and responded to it.

As if to say: The same trick won't work the second time.

No, it should be said that her racial characteristics are presented based on facts.

So what to do? ——The method is very simple, that is, don’t use the same trick a second time, and constantly change your strategy.

If psychological induction, luring the enemy deep, and even psychological warfare elements are added, the number of strategies will be infinite!

If you can calculate infinity, then do it, Ex-Machina!

Fatigue seemed to be swept away, and Rick's accelerated thinking even made his body feel lighter. Suddenly -

"Rick...you're smiling..." Hubi's eyes were filled with information flow again.

".....What"

The moment he heard these words, Rick's eyes widened and he subconsciously touched the corner of his mouth with his hand.

——Indeed.

His eyes widened when he noticed the corners of his mouth rising.

"In the game, Rick doesn't shut down."

"Eh? What?"

Ke Long, who was busy in the kitchen, suddenly heard a voice behind him. Looking back, he saw Cheng Rang leaning against the door with his arms folded.

"The chess set in Rick's room doesn't look like something that could appear in his room."

"What are you talking about..."

Kelon smiled bitterly and wiped his hands on his apron, "That was the only thing he held tightly in his hand when he met Rick."

"Has anyone ever played with him? Or maybe it's you, it's just you." Cheng Rang nodded lightly as he spoke.

"No."

Ke Long denied: "Although I rarely see him touching that thing now, when I was a child, about four or five years ago, he would often do it to me."

"Playing chess with yourself?"

"Well...compared to these, I care more about what you said at the beginning. What did it mean?" Kelong's eyes revealed longing. She must also be very worried that Rick has been closing herself off and the pressure is too much. A situation that accumulates and wears down the body.

"That..." Cheng Rang raised the corner of his mouth as if he was trying to show off, and said slowly: "It seems you haven't seen it... At that time, in Rick's eyes, There’s even light.”

————————————

"....Rick...will not be closed in the game..."

Stop talking, don't ask, don't speak, don't listen to her!

A voice shouted in Rick's head.

but.....

"What are you talking about?" The language broke through the constraints of reason, and seemed to come out of the mouth subconsciously.

"......'Heart'......."

It was obviously Hubie who spoke, but Rick seemed to hear the crackling sound of nerve current in his mind, as if something was breaking.

Jili....like this.

"...In such a world, for humans to survive...biologically speaking...is an anomaly."

"That reason...I want to know...Rick's 'heart'..."

Hello....

Something clicked in Rick's mind.

Boom! It's like the chains are breaking and the walls are crumbling.

"You guy, do you look down on others?"

collapsed.

Rick had no memory of this. When he came to his senses, he had already grabbed Hubie's slender neck with such strength that his fingers could be crushed, and lifted her up.

But an attack of that level is nothing to the Ex-Machina. They don't need oxygen to maintain their functions at all, and strangling their necks will not cause them to feel pain due to suffocation. To put it more bluntly, Ex-Machina cannot feel pain at all, they have no such awareness.

Hubie just stared at Rick's eyes quietly with her glass-like eyes, in which her own figure was clearly reflected.

"Don't you understand your position?"

When encountering this mass-killing machine, Rick locked up countless emotions and memories, wrapped them in chains, and locked them up tightly.

Hatred, anger, taboo, disgust, resentment, hate, hate hate hate hate hate hate...

bitter--

All the emotions accumulated infinitely.

This is the [lock] he forcibly imposes on the mind, memory, and emotions that are too reluctant.

Now it finally couldn't hold on any longer and made a crashing sound.

Both rationality and sensibility are asking themselves in their minds - who is that person? He is one of those guys who comes to trample on human beings; how can he keep calm when such a person is right in front of him?

"Kill so many of us, take everything from us, repeat that behavior forever, and what do you think you are going to say..."

Five years ago, her mother, who turned to dust like coke in the arms of her thirteen-year-old self, died in order to protect herself.

The picture of hell where families are broken and people are dead, it is flames and spiritual corpses that burn as red as blood. People are dead.

Companion, dead.

The overwhelming machinery formed a square array and soared high in the sky.