Chapter 415

Abigail was a strong woman in the Freedom Alliance. She was a Three-star Higher Deity, yet possessed the battle prowess of a One-star Supreme Deity. This allowed her to have thousands of universe territories in the shallow sea. The size of her territory was no less than a 4-star cosmic nation.

As a member of the Freedom Alliance, the areas under her jurisdiction were all free zones. As long as they weren't anti-human forces or alien races, they could enter and leave as they pleased. She was not averse to Interstellar Pirates either. That was because Abigail had the combat prowess of a Supreme Deity, and she had two colleagues who also had combat prowess close to that of a Supreme Deity. No one dared to plunder her territory.

This was also the main reason why Neptune chose Abigail's base as a replenishment point. Even if someone were to fight here, they would not dare to use force on a large scale. Gu Ding's crew, on the other hand, did not have an advantage in terms of numbers against many other forces. Another reason was that this planet was the trade center of the area under Abigail's jurisdiction. The area under Abigail's jurisdiction was ranked in the top 20 of the entire shallow sea region. More than 70% of the materials that could be found in the shallow sea region could be bought here.

The spaceship soon landed at Norman's port. Gu Ding and the rest quickly got off the spaceship. After being cooped up in the spaceship for nearly ten days, Gu Ding and the rest wanted to come out and get some fresh air.

After getting off the spaceship, Gu Ding felt that the atmosphere of the planet was very good. Even at the port, other than the roar of the spaceship, it was relatively quiet. Although there were many people near the port, it did not feel noisy.

"Let's find a tavern and sit down. We'll come up with the list tonight. We'll buy it tomorrow and leave the day after." Gu Ding quickly made the arrangements.

No matter where Gu Ding's crew went, good food was a must. They also had to visit the tavern.

"There's a tavern about eight hundred meters ahead. It's the most famous tavern on this planet. It's called the Thorn Bird Tavern. The owner is a beautiful lady. I heard that she used to be an Interstellar Hunter." Neptune's words piqued the interest of Gu Ding and the rest.

In fact, be it Interstellar Pirates, Interstellar Hunters, or Interstellar Mercenaries, they were all occupations with a high mortality rate. Therefore, many people would choose to return to ordinary life after experiencing the glory of their lives. It was possible to open a shipyard repair shop, a restaurant, a tavern, or something like that. After all, very few people could travel for their entire lives. That would be too tiring.

Gu Ding looked up and saw the signboard of the tavern. It was a three-dimensional projection of a golden bird standing on a thorny vine.

"Thorn Birds. What does that mean?" Gu Ding asked curiously.

"The Bramble Bird is a bird that flies for its entire life, never resting, its entire life is spent flapping its wings. Only when they were exhausted to death would they find a place to rest and let the thorns pierce into their bodies, but they would also let out the most beautiful cry of their lives. It means that the end of life may not be as beautiful as we hope, but even so, we must learn to face it calmly and be the best we can in the face of adversity. "Neptune's explanation made Gu Ding and the others fall into deep thought.

The group walked to the entrance of the tavern in a few steps. Squatting beside the entrance was a little boy who looked about ten years old. His fringe was neatly cut in front of his forehead. However, the pair of big blue eyes were unfocused. It was obvious that he was blind.

In front of him was a projection of a paragraph of text. Next to it was a small bowl with more than ten Universe Credits in it.

Gu Ding did not look at the text. He took out a handful of Universe Crystals but did not throw them into the bowl. Instead, he handed them to the little boy and said in a low voice, "Keep this money. Don't let anyone see it."

Although the little boy had never come into contact with a Universe Crystal, he had heard people talk about what a Universe Crystal looked like. As soon as he touched it and heard what Gu Ding said, he knew what Gu Ding was giving him. He quickly refused, "I can't accept this much money."

One Universe Crystal was equivalent to ten thousand Universe Credits. Just by buying food, it would be enough to feed this little guy for a year. This was why Gu Ding asked him to hide the money. If it was thrown into the bowl, it would definitely be stolen. The little guy might even be targeted by someone with ulterior motives. His future would be even more difficult.

"Take it. Go buy something delicious." Liliath also felt sorry for the little boy.

"I don't want it." The little boy shook his head firmly. "You guys are playing chess with me. I can only collect the money if I win. One Universe Credit at a time. If I lose, I don't want the money. If you guys don't want to play chess, I don't want it either. "

At this time, someone in the tavern seemed to have heard the noise. A tall woman pushed the door open and came out. At first, she frowned when she saw Gu Ding and a group of people surrounding the little boy. However, when she saw the handful of Universe Crystals in Gu Ding's hand, she knew what was going on.

"You don't have to worry about it. That's how Miko is. He won't collect money until he wins the game. He won't accept any more than that." The woman smiled apologetically.

"You guys go in first. I'll play a few rounds with him." Gu Ding turned his head and said to Liliath and the others.

"I'll bring out the milca for you later. You can lose a few more rounds." Liliath smiled mischievously.

"I'm pretty good at most board games, as long as it's not particularly advanced space-time shogi. It's just that I haven't played for half a year, so I must have regressed a lot." Gu Ding grinned. He used to play board games with Reid a lot, and he was basically crushed. However, in reality, he was good at many board games.

Liliath and the others filed into the tavern. Gu Ding sat down cross-legged opposite the little boy. "My name is Gu Ding. You're Miko, right?"

"Yes." The little boy nodded. In the past, there were not many people who struck up a conversation with him like this, so he seemed very shy.

"What do you know how to play?" Gu Ding asked.

"I can play anything." Miko looked confident.

"You even know space-time shogi?" Gu Ding was a little surprised.

"Yes." Miko nodded vigorously.

"That's amazing. I don't even know how to play space-time shogi." Gu Ding was not being modest. He really did not know how to play the game because it involved too many calculations. He did not have the patience to play the game, so he had never learned it.

"It's actually very simple. Compared to other board games, you only need to take the two variables of time and space into account," Miko explained very seriously.

"Let's play the simpler one." Gu Ding did not think that the child was very good at chess. He just wanted to play a few rounds with him and keep the money. However, in order to take care of the little boy's pride, he could not choose space-time shogi, which he did not know how to play at all. "Why don't we play ancient Chinese chess, do you?"

"Yes!" Miko nodded confidently.

Ancient Chinese chess was actually a game known as chess in modern times. It was once popular on Cerule. There were a total of thirty-two pieces, sixteen on each side. The winner would be the one who defeated the other side's king.

"Ancient Chinese chess!" Miko issued a voice command to the civilian intelligent wristwatch on his wrist.

His wristwatch immediately projected a chessboard. On the chessboard, thirty-two pieces stood on the black and white sides.

"You go first!" Miko held out her hand confidently.

"Alright then." Gu Ding smiled and moved a pawn.

A woman's voice rang out immediately, informing him of Gu Ding's position.

Miko reached out and firmly grabbed one of his pawns. Then, he moved forward. Gu Ding had thought that Miko would use his voice to control the direction of the pieces. He did not expect Miko to only use his hands. Although he could not see the chessboard, he seemed to know the position of the chessboard and the position of each piece.

Gu Ding walked a few steps casually. He was still thinking about how to lose so that his opponent would not notice. However, when it was his turn for the eighth time, he realized that his opponent only had one move left to checkmate him.

"Huh?" Gu Ding could not help but exclaim in surprise.

Miko showed his white teeth. "You lost, big brother. I still have one more move."

"That good?!" Gu Ding was actually a little surprised. "Again!"

In the second round, Gu Ding did not get distracted this time. However, he was still checkmated on the tenth move.

Neptune finally understood. "This kid isn't simple … You did a decent job just now, but you still fell into his trap."

"Again!" Gu Ding had rarely lost so badly in front of Reid in the past. He usually lasted until about fifteen moves before he lost. His best was nineteen moves.

In the third round, Gu Ding tried his best but still lost on the tenth move.

"Let me see how good he is." Neptune was a little interested in Miko.

"Let's try again." Gu Ding's weapon was just a tool. Neptune was the one who told him how to use it.

In front of the chessboard, the two moved the pieces like they were flying. Ten minutes later, the game ended in a draw.

"Let him play Space-time Shogi with me." Neptune did not expect someone to be able to tie with him in chess. Of course, this was also because there were too few variations in chess and it was still within the range of the human brain. However, Space-time Shogi was different. With the addition of the calculation of time and space variables, the movement of the pieces was at a level that could not be calculated by the human brain.

Gu Ding agreed to Neptune's request and asked Miko to change the Chinese chess to Space-time Shogi. Under Neptune's control, Gu Ding played with Miko.

This game of chess lasted for more than three hours. Miko and Neptune each played more than three hundred moves before Miko completely collapsed.

"Big brother, you're amazing. I lost." Miko did not look unhappy after losing the game. Instead, she looked very happy.

Neptune kept nagging in Gu Ding's ear. "Gu Ding, you must get this kid to join our team. He's too scary. He doesn't even have the ability of a player. He can play more than three hundred moves with just the brain power of a Rank 1 Gene Body. Do you know what that means? He's likely to become the human with the highest IQ in the entire Cosmic Sea!!! "