Monteria sat cross-legged next to the stone platform, leaning on his head, staring at the chessboard on the platform, and moving the chess pieces slowly.
However, he was the only one beside the chessboard.
Every time he moves the chess piece, the timer next to the chessboard will automatically make a 'click' sound, and then the chessboard will rotate silently, showing the other side of the chess game in front of the player.
"——When I realized that Nia's experiment failed, I wanted to seek your advice immediately, Professor."
In the dim cave, Thomas silently knelt behind the professor, with most of his body submerged in the shadow of the cave. Against the background of the monotonous clicking sound of the timer, his voice seemed particularly depressed: "...I don't know.
What should I do? But in the end, I restrained this idea. Because I knew that I had caused this trouble myself, so I had to make the final decision. So I didn’t tell anyone. In this way, at least I
I can control this matter...or in other words, control the trouble of this matter within my scope."
When he spoke, he lowered his head and others could not see his expression clearly.
There is a crow mask on his left hand, and two jars on his right. One jar is stuffed with a transparent amber, and in the center of the amber is a thumb-sized piece of fresh flesh. The other jar is filled with
He picked up a blood bag. Crushed ice was piled around the blood bag, and pale white water mist accumulated at the mouth of the bottle, as if it would spurt out in the next second.
Click——
The timer rang again, and the chessboard rotated steadily for a week. Professor Monteria picked up the black horse, considered it for a long time, and finally did not drop the chess piece in his hand: "...you mentioned 'control', do you know what control is?
?”
Thomas raised his head and glanced at the professor who was playing chess.
He is very familiar with this kind of conversation. The professors in the school all follow this tone, so he knows that his answer is not important. What the professor wants to say next is the key.
"...It's like playing chess."
As expected, this thought flashed through the former assistant teacher's mind, and his ears stood up straighter.
"——What most people think of as 'control' is that the chess player controls the pieces on the chess board, but for a truly powerful chess player, control means controlling the winning or losing of the chess board. And if you want to win, you want to
The only way to consistently win at chess is to play chess with yourself."
With that said, Professor Monteria put down the horse and whispered: "——General."
The white chess queen sighed, took off her crown, and threw it at the black horse's feet. The black chess pieces on the chess board cheered, while the white chess pieces fell to their knees and burst into tears.
"——In this game of chess, I am the black chess piece, and I am also the white chess piece."
The professor looked meaningfully at the slightly absent-minded young wizard: "I can win or lose. For me, winning or losing has nothing to do with the outcome, it's just a choice. With enough time, I can even win-win.
Just like what Wallace Stevens said - I am the world I walk in, everything I see, hear and feel comes from myself - the only thing you need to pay attention to is not to pay too much attention to yourself.
Identity. When your eyes are limited to a certain color, it is easy to ignore the pieces of another color."
"Then how should I play chess with myself?" Thomas couldn't help but ask.
Professor Monteria shook his head.
"In this game of chess before you, both you and Gan Ning have lost your identity as the white chess piece."
With a flick of his hand, the chess pieces on the chessboard immediately stopped cheering and crying, and were rearranged neatly in the criss-cross grid. The black knight put his sword into its sheath, and the white queen picked up the crown: "...but only playing black chess is not enough.
This is totally a disadvantage. Black has the first move advantage, and every move you make will cause White to carefully consider and respond.
Back to this accident.
You are like a white stone on the chessboard. During the game between the two sides, you suddenly turned into a black stone, approached the white queen, and caught everyone off guard. And now you want to take this responsibility yourself, is it possible?
The white chessmen will not put down their swords and guns and let the other black chessmen go just because a black stone is willing to take responsibility; nor will the black chessmen choose to coexist peacefully with the white chessmen just because they have an extra teammate. So, stop saying those childish words.
, put on your mask and be a real crow.”
Thomas picked up the mask on his left.
He sighed softly.
The lonely and rhythmic sound of the professor playing chess could be heard in my ears.
When the timer clicked again, Professor Monteria suddenly said: "Tom, do you know why I like crows?"
"Because they are often misunderstood as unknown." Thomas replied without thinking.
"There are reasons for this, but not all."
The professor nodded, then shook his head: "Because these lovely elves symbolize wisdom, art, and the harmony between magic and nature. They stand on the two shoulders of Odin, one symbolizing thought and the other symbolizing memory.
In that dark thousand years, they saved the Baiding world that was on the verge of collapse. Do you remember what I often tell you? Death turns us into angels, allowing wings to grow from our shoulder blades like crow's claws.
.
I don't expect you to save the world.
But I hope that you can be like the two crows on Odin's shoulders, maintaining the balance between rules and freedom. I know that you think that I have always been very strict and care about the rules in the laboratory, so this loss of control makes you
Somewhat apprehensive.
This emotion is unnecessary.
For real crows, there's nothing wrong with doing whatever you want, as long as you know you're still within the pre-set rules. Like these labs we have outside the school, there are all kinds of signs that they're out of the school's rules,
But you and I, and the other crows, know that these experiments still follow our original rules.
So, stop blaming yourself.
Moreover, this adventure is not without value. You sacrificed yourself to obtain the most precious experimental materials that we have been waiting for, which is of great significance to each of us.
If you want to learn anything from my years of life experience, I would say that you are more likely to regret something you didn't do at a certain point in time than something you did do."
With these last words, the professor was obviously talking about something else.
Thomas was in a much better mood at this time, and his face turned slightly shy when he heard this: "...Don't you think we did something wrong?"
"In many choices, no matter whether the result is right or wrong, doing it is better than not doing it." The professor moved the white elephant in his hand and glanced at the assistant who looked a little embarrassed: "——Don't kneel down.
Here you go, go change your robes and use a new set of robes to welcome the new world outside."