CHAPTER 230: CHAPTER 151: AUTHORITY, DEMON CHESS SPECIES, PREY OF THE BLACK COCOON

July 23rd, in some five-star hotel in Venice, in some double-bed room.

The white curtains gently swayed, blocking the bright afternoon sunshine, with dappled light and shadow falling on the floor, slightly undulating like fish swimming under water.

Ayase Origami and Xia Pingzhou indulged in a long-lost lie-in, both sleeping until 2 PM without waking.

Their sleep postures were disordered and unsightly: one was lying on the edge of the bed, with an arm extended off the bed, the loose sleeve of a kimono hanging down; the other had rolled straight onto the room’s floor, face buried in the carpet, and right hand still making moves as if holding chess pieces.

Moments later, Xia Pingzhou finally woke up, slowly turned over, glanced at the ceiling, then looked at Ayase Origami’s sleeping face, and picked up the phone that had fallen to the floor.

Entering the password, he unlocked the screen, tapped the app with the skull icon, and immediately a map of Venice spread open on the screen, with a light spot flickering on it.

"Demon..."

Xia Pingzhou exhaled slowly, got up and headed to the bathroom, turned on the faucet, splashed water on his face, wiped it with a towel, and then left the hotel. He moved quietly, not waking Ayase Origami.

Soon, following the map’s guidance, he arrived at the location of the red dot.

It was a dilapidated and quiet deep alley, with black liquid flowing in the gutter, like blood. The trash can lids were shaking weirdly as if blown by a strong wind, with intermittent "bang bang" sounds emanating.

As if some monster was about to leap out of them.

As expected, in the next moment, two giant blue rats sprang from the garbage bins.

Their bodies were charged, blasting like two electric soccer balls in midair, continually bouncing off the alley walls at high speed, the afterimages forming intercrossed blue beams in midair, advancing toward Xia Pingzhou.

Xia Pingzhou was silent for a moment, feeling relieved that he didn’t call the other members of the brigade to assist.

"Good thing I didn’t bring the other members; I must handle these two demons myself to make it ceremonial..." he murmured.

Your own brother must be eliminated by yourself, meet your demise, Blue Arc!

Thinking this way, Xia Pingzhou’s expression turned stern as he suddenly unleashed Celestial Driver, with a Mobius-shaped Black and White Ring Road appearing around him, chess shadows orbiting the ring slowly like satellites.

He raised his hand to pinch one of the chess shadows, and with a "crack," it shattered, bringing forth a piece never before seen in a real battle.

It was the "Knight," which evolved from an ordinary "Soldier Chess Species" into a "Cavalry Chess Species" after adding the "Troop" branch in [Cavalry Training].

Clad in silver armor, holding a shield in his left hand, and a luxurious silver lance in the right, beneath him was a horse with hollow eye sockets yet burning with ghost flames. The horse was silver from top to bottom, its hooves searing two black pits into the alley ground.

The majestic silver knight remained unmoved, quietly seated on the horse waiting for the king’s command.

Xia Pingzhou raised his head, focusing intently on observing the two blue electric entities that kept bouncing in the alley, seemingly capturing the trajectory of the two blue demons’ bounces.

Soon he closed his eyes, using the "Chessboard Perspective" to overlook the scene in the alley.

In that instant, the bouncing speed of the two electric rats seemed to slow down, their figures no longer just afterimages in his eyes, but complete outlines, as if the playback of a videotape had hit a "slow mode."

In fact, it wasn’t just the two giant rats; even the falling leaves swirling in midair and the black liquid flowing in the gutter seemed almost stationary in Xia Pingzhou’s eyes.

This allowed him to see clearly the paths of the two giant rats, to see every bounce and collision, and even predict where they would land in the next second, with a view even several seconds ahead.

Suddenly, this stillness was broken, and only then did Xia Pingzhou realize he seemed to have entered a super-fast thinking mode, where the world seemed as slow as a time freeze relative to his thinking speed.

This should be a certain ability of Celestial Driver, which is triggered when he must close his eyes and focus on the "Chessboard Perspective."

The world started to move again, leaves in midair continuing their spinning fall, slicing the sunlight into fragments; dirty water in the gutter began to flow with gurgling sounds.

The two blue giant rats rebounded off the walls at high speed, transforming into charged beams sweeping toward him.

However, Xia Pingzhou had already seen through their forward rules and directions, so their astonishing speed lost its intended significance, instead becoming a guillotine leading them to their doom.

In the next second, he expressionlessly ordered, "Might, Charge."

The moment the order was heard, the knight sharply lowered his body, slapping the saddle!

The horse underneath let out a long whinny, then charged forward irresistibly, its figure accelerating to the point of leaving only afterimages, looking from afar as if the two had merged into a single entity, turning into a silver shooting star!

[Cavalry Might: "Charge" — The cavalry charges on horseback, transforming into a high-speed shooting star, entering an "unstoppable" state (charges won’t halt) within two seconds, dragging along any enemies collided with to the endpoint.]