Absolute Choice
Absolute Choice - Chapter 414: Truly realistic acting

The corner of Shi Xiaobai's mouth suffused a wry smile as he said, "Hand slipped."

The Infernal Queen was surprised as she looked Shi Xiaobai seriously in the eye and said, "Then it doesn't count. Try rolling it again?"

Shi Xiaobai immediately shook his head and said firmly, "Of course not. Making a mistake while rolling the die is a mistake. A true gentleman never regrets a move he makes in chess. How can I freely roll it again? Furthermore, it's only a tiny mistake. It has little effect, so let's carry on."

The Infernal Queen fell silent.

Was it really a tiny mistake?

By rolling a '6' a third time, it meant that Shi Xiaobai had consecutively rolled three '6's. According to the rules, three consecutive rolls of '6' would result in a punishment.

All of Shi Xiaobai's airplane pieces were immediately sent back to the hangar, including the pieces that had reached the end point. Furthermore, it was a forced end to his turn, and immediately switched to the Infernal Queen's turn!

This was none other than a huge, fatal mistake!

The Infernal Queen gaped, but when she saw Shi Xiaobai's resolute attitude, she did not attempt to persuade him any further. She found it rather unfortunate that such an intense game would quickly come to an end.

But out of respect for each other, the Infernal Queen did not go easy on her round. She had three pieces on the board, so the Infernal Queen made three moves, sending all three pieces away from Shi Xiaobai's kill zone!

Shi Xiaobai was helpless regarding this. In the next round, he threw '6', '6', '5'. He made three airplane pieces take off, but he could no longer prevent the Infernal Queen's three pieces from reaching the endpoint!

"It looks like I have quite the advantage."

The Infernal Queen sighed. After hesitating for a moment, she finally decided not to go easy. In the next round, she sent all three pieces to the endpoint!

And at the moment, the situation was that three of Shi Xiaobai's four pieces were still at take off over the hangar, but had yet to advance. As for the Infernal Queen, three of her pieces had reached the end point. As long as she sent the last piece to the end point, she would win!

The Infernal Queen was holding a big advantage.

However, Shi Xiaobai laughed instead. It was a deep and meaningful smile.

"You say that you have quite an advantage?"

Shi Xiaobai threw his die and let the fourth piece lift off. He sent two pieces into the board and said with a chuckle, "You can always try and see if you can send your last piece to the end point under This King's defense. The despair of what it means to never 'fly to the finishing point' begins from this moment!"

The Infernal Queen looked up in surprise as she gave a surprised smile. "I see now. Does Darling plan to switch from offense to defense? Interesting. Then, let me see if Darling can withstand my attacks!"

With only one piece left, the Infernal Queen had easily entered an unbridled offensive stance. As for Shi Xiaobai, the only thing he could do was defend against the Infernal Queen's last piece!

And to speak the truth, using four pieces to defend against one piece was much easier than the Infernal Queen's usage of four pieces to defend against four pieces. With Shi Xiaobai's meticulous thinking, the Infernal Queen's only piece would never cross his defense as long as he did not make another mistake.

The Infernal Queen attempted for forty rounds but failed to pass through Shi Xiaobai's iron defense. Therefore, she joked, "If Darling had any desire to attack by first sending one, two, or even three pieces towards the end point, Darling's defense would fall apart. However, Darling did not do so and maintains a full-out defense of four pieces. It seems Darling doesn't want to lose? Or is it because Darling really wants to be with me for the rest of his life?"

The Infernal Queen only had one piece left. If Shi Xiaobai had sent one or two pieces to the end point, his defense would show flaws and allow the Infernal Queen's last piece to escape the encirclement and obtain victory!

However, Shi Xiaobai had completely abandoned taking the offensive. He only defended as though he was a loser without any ambition!

Such a struggle could indeed delay the Infernal Queen's victory, but it appeared as though he was afraid of failure.

This made the Infernal Queen slightly disappointed.

However, was Shi Xiaobai a person afraid of failure?

Of course not!

Shi Xiaobai slowly picked up the die. On the forty-first round, it was his turn once again. Shi Xiaobai said with a chuckle, "This King doesn't have that much time to waste on you. This game has already ended."

The Infernal Queen was stunned as she cast her gaze at the board.

At that moment, Shi Xiaobai threw '6', '6', '1'. He managed to stack four pieces together!

The Infernal Queen's pupils constricted slightly as she looked at her own piece. She was horrified to discover that her piece was exactly 43 spots away from Shi Xiaobai's stacked piece!

On closer look, there was no way for her piece to reach the end point during her round. She was short of one step!

As for Shi Xiaobai, his stacked piece could reach the endpoint by moving its maximum distance.

The Infernal Queen's smile gradually turned stiff.

Her piece could only move 42 steps at most, and it was short of one step to strike Shi Xiaobai's piece.

And her piece required two rounds to reach the end point!

But in the next round, Shi Xiaobai's stacked piece would simultaneously reach the end point, allowing him to clinch victory!

She was short of one step!

But this miss was as good as a mile!

The Infernal Queen gaped as she looked incredulously at Shi Xiaobai.

She had lost. She had lost in such a manner?

During the calm and peaceful attack, she had not revealed any flaw, but it had suddenly resulted in death!

Was all of this a coincidence?

Or was it...

"Darling, you did it on purpose!?"

The Infernal Queen said with an uncontrollable laugh, "That mistake roll Darling made was not a mistake—Darling chose the moment when I could send three pieces to the end point in two rounds to make a mistake. So it was to deliberately let me send three pieces to the end point?"

Shi Xiaobai nodded.

The Infernal Queen's eyes shimmered as she whispered, "Darling had already planned everything from the moment he deliberately made the mistake. Darling had 'seen' the situation at the forty-first round and knew that victory was at hand at the forty-first round. Is that it?"

Shi Xiaobai nodded his head once again.

The Infernal Queen's eyes flashed a look of disbelief as she said in astonishment, "How did Darling calculate every step I would take up the forty-first round? How did you do it?"

Shi Xiaobai looked the Infernal Queen seriously in the eyes and whispered, "Because you are too perfect. Your every step is the most perfect move that This King can think of. Your every step is done with the most precise calculations such that This King is unable to find any flaw in it. However, perfection is its biggest flaw! You only play a perfect game, so considering what is the most perfect move in every round is sufficient to calculate what moves you would make."

The Infernal Queen's eyes glazed over for a moment. She had never realized of such a simple reasoning—perfection had become her biggest flaw!

Although Shi Xiaobai had said it in such a simple manner, to put it into practice was actually impossible to imagine. How much reasoning was needed to deduce the forty-one rounds in his head while also needing to consider his own moves as well as the perfect response of his opponent and eventually set up a trap? How clear was his logical reasoning as well as how powerful was his psyche?

The Infernal Queen could not help but feel a sense of admiration. However, her mouth did the opposite by saying, "Darling's acting is truly realistic to make me think that Darling had made a mistake. Darling won the game in such a crafty manner!"

Shi Xiaobai gave a faint smile and calmly said, "All is fair in war!"

The Infernal Queen gave Shi Xiaobai a meaningful glance and whispered, "What an appropriate saying. I have lost. Darling, ask any question you have. Other than my identity, I will definitely answer you truthfully, even if Darling asks which part of my body is the most sensitive."

..... IChooseDogLeading (我选择狗带) when read in Chinese sounds like I Choose Go Die. It was a meme that resulted from a former member of famous Korean boygroup, EXO, TAO (Huang Zitao). At a concert, there was a part in a rap that where he said "", but due to a mispronunciation, it sounded like he will not easily choose to be led by dogs. This phrase now means 'I'd rather die/I choose death'.