King's Gambit

"Damn it, these big guilds are going way too far!"

"Exactly! Just because they have more people, they think they can sacrifice our interests. They purposely chose this remote town as the meeting point, claiming it's to avoid conflict. That Smiling Jazz is just using public matters to settle personal scores."

"Since it's a 'big guild matter,' the small guilds' interests have to be sacrificed? They didn't even notify us. What the hell is that about!"

"Are we just supposed to swallow this insult, Guild Leader?" someone asked anxiously.

"Outside is full of people from other guilds—thousands of players. The ownership of the outpost doesn't even belong to us anymore. What can we do even if we can't swallow it?"

A man wearing glasses sat across from Xu Xiaoyou, the two of them facing each other over a chessboard.

Facing the crowd's frantic questions, Xu Xiaoyou did not answer directly. Instead, she lifted the white pawn at e2 and moved it to e4.

The man with glasses decisively moved the black pawn at e7 forward two squares to e5.

Xu Xiaoyou let out a soft chuckle and moved the white pawn to f4. After a moment of silence, the man used his black pawn to take her pawn at f4.

The man looked up and pushed his glasses up his nose.

"Guild Leader, you mean... the King's Gambit?"

Xu Xiaoyou remained silent, following up her offensive by moving the white knight from g1 to f3.

The King's Gambit was an ancient chess opening.

Just like its name suggested, the white side would sacrifice a pawn in exchange for a chance to continuously weaken the black side's kingside, gaining open files and the initiative.

The man moved the black pawn from g7 to g5, consolidating the f4 pawn while attempting to block the opponent's advance toward h4, giving up the kingside's defense.

Xu Xiaoyou moved her h2 white pawn to h4, beginning her layout against the enemy kingside as countless thoughts raced through her mind.

In the current situation, how could they break the deadlock?

Light-Chaser Garden had only just captured the Mist Village Harbor outpost not long ago. Two days of ranking points for the occupation had sent them to thirty-third place on the overall leaderboard.

The black pawn moved from g5 to g4.

The white knight jumped from f3 to e5.

Xu Xiaoyou knew very well that the guilds behind them were biting at their heels. Light-Chaser Garden had no other outposts to gain points. Losing this pawn of Mist Village Harbor was equivalent to standing still; they would soon be overtaken by the guilds behind them, buried in the rolling dust of the battlefield.

The battle was like the chessboard before her—every second brought shifting winds, the clashing of steel, and earth-shattering roars.

Both sides went back and forth, placing and capturing pieces, and the situation fell into a brief stalemate.

The white pawn moved from d2 to d4.

The bishop at f1 stepped to c4.

The white king performed a short castling, moving from e1 to g1, while the rook at h1 charged into f1.

The crowd held its breath, quietly watching the progress of the game. Initially, white had fallen into a brief disadvantage after Xu Xiaoyou sacrificed a piece, but as the control of the open files gradually fell into her hands, piece after piece was placed, continuously pressuring the black side's kingside. Without realizing it, the situation had reversed. Black was now on the defensive as the white piece, Electric Whale Slash, launched attack after attack against the fragile kingside.

Pawns roared the king's command, and knights neighed as bishops sang.

The knight moved to g4, the queen came out to d3—the kingside fell!

A drop of sweat rolled down the man's forehead. Through a single moment of carelessness, he had completely lost the initiative on the board.

Reduced to meat on the chopping block, he could only watch helplessly as the defensive lines he had carefully laid out collapsed one after another.

The kingdom that was once impregnable crumbled like a pile of loose sand overnight!

Facing the young girl's relentless offensive, the man was forced to flee with his king to h7, attempting to use the queen at d8, the rook at h8, and his remaining pawns to boost morale and rebuild a line of defense.

Xu Xiaoyou gave him no time to breathe. Though his experience was greater than hers, her lightning-fast moves left the man with no extra time to think. Exhausted from responding, he would inevitably make an oversight, and an enemy's oversight meant an opportunity.

And she was someone who never let an opportunity pass.

The white rook charged into f4, capturing a pawn and seizing the king!

The smoke of war rose as the black king on the battlefield looked around with sword in hand, left with nothing but bewilderment. The royal city was already in ruins. Trapped deep in the enemy's encirclement, he saw the Empress holding a long whip walking toward him. Her steps were steady, followed by thousands upon thousands of soldiers, every one of them with blood-red eyes full of killing intent, swearing to hunt him down to the last man!

The white queen moved to g7. Checkmate.

The Roman columns that held up the heavens collapsed with a crash. The rising dust obscured the sky, and the kingdom on the board was relegated to a grain of sand in history.

"I... : .. lost." The man let out a long sigh of relief and looked at the blonde girl across the board, speaking respectfully. "Your skill is still superior, Guild Leader."

"Thank you for the game, my logistics head," Xu Xiaoyou said with a smile.

"So, Yuzu, what should we do next? Do we withdraw from Mist Village Harbor?" Akabane asked worriedly. "If we do that, which outpost should we attack next?"

"No one has ever been able to take something from my hands," Xu Xiaoyou stood up, her gaze indifferent.

"However much they eat, I'll make them spit it back out twofold."

"Well said, Guild Leader! Let's just blow up the meeting room and send all those damn bastards to the sky!" Tyrant Bear shouted.

The crowd looked at him helplessly, and Xu Xiaoyou was even more speechless.

Was there a possibility that your dear Guild Leader would also be in that meeting room?

"Of course we can't do that. Just like the game just now, my strategy is the King's Gambit."

The crowd pricked up their ears, while Angelina at the door symbolically twitched her wolf ears.

"With our strength, it's impossible to go head-to-head against the entire server's guild alliance. The Mist Village Harbor outpost must be abandoned."

"But... but we worked so hard to capture it," someone said unwillingly.

"Exactly! We clearly captured it. You even drove away those hundred-odd people from The Crave, Guild Leader. For them to just take it over like this is too much!"

"Why don't we just fight them!" someone suggested. "Just give the word, Guild Leader, and we'll drag that Smiling Jazz right in front of you. We'll show him that there's a price to pay for messing with Light-Chaser Garden!"

Xu Xiaoyou sighed.

Was her core cohesion too strong? What kind of armed force had she actually raised?

If these words reached the ears of those outside, they would be surrounded and annihilated by hundreds of people within a minute, wiped out in this basement under the banner of justice.

She raised her hand to interrupt the crowd who were about to voice even more violent opinions, especially Fei Yueyue, who was constantly muttering in the corner.

"Hmph, how annoying. How dare he not give the Guild Leader face? Smiling Jazz, is it? One day I'll kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you kill you..."

Hearing someone call her name, the pink-haired girl with cute buns in her hair turned around and revealed a sweet smile.

"What is it, Guild Leader?"

"No matter what the Guild Leader's next command is, I will gladly accept and execute it. I will never do anything out of line!"

The crowd remained silent, simply moving a few steps further away from the murderously aura-drenched Fei Yueyue.

Xu Xiaoyou rubbed her temples. Facing the guild members whose eyes were glowing with excitement, she cleared her throat and continued.

"Unsurprisingly, when the meeting starts, they will propose dividing the outposts. At that time, we will propose to independently capture an advanced outpost within the royal city. I imagine that logically and reasonably, they won't refuse. They might even send some men to reinforce us."

"The choice of this advanced outpost is extremely important. It can't be an easy-to-attack one like Death Avenue or Aliford Brewery, as that would attract the jackals' greed. It also can't be a core outpost like the Bastion, Royal Botanical Garden, Venomous Sewer, or King's Castle, as those would conflict with the interests of the big guilds."

"Excluding all the unfavorable options, the final answer is obvious. We want the prison beneath the Bastion. Due to the terrain and enemy density, this outpost is the hardest to capture. Plus, its daily point yield is the lowest. It's a tough bone that no one wants to chew on."

"However, it can influence all four directions. Whether it's the path to the Bastion, the Venomous Sewer, the King's Castle, or the Botanical Garden, the prison is a mandatory path."

"Regardless of what they think privately, what we need to do for now is be submissive on the surface while rebellious in reality, ensuring that our sword..."

Xu Xiaoyou looked up.

"...can silently grip the throats of all the guilds before we turn against them."