251: Dialogue in chess

Li Dong stepped out of the Void Realm passage, and a strange sensation came from beneath his feet.

It was not a solid substance, but a form of resonance.

He was standing on a "line" of that magnificent chessboard, a line composed of pure Law. With every step he took, the orbital trajectories of billions of stars and the information regarding the birth and death of countless worlds flooded into his perception like an electric current.

Every "chess piece" on this board was a genuine galaxy. They flickered in the light or dark, quietly suspended at the intersections, collectively forming an ultimate order that left one's mind utterly tranquil.

"What a grand gesture."

Li Dong whistled. The sound could not travel at all in this absolutely silent Void Realm, but he knew the other party could hear it.

The blurry figure in the center of the chessboard began to change with his arrival.

Light and shadow intertwined, Law and order reconstructed, and finally, it condensed into an entity without a fixed face or specific form.

You could not say if it was tall or short, fat or thin, because it was the very synonym of "harmony" itself. Any thought attempting to define it would be dissolved by its own existence.

"Hand of Order."

A voice sounded directly in Li Dong's consciousness, peaceful, ancient, and devoid of any emotional fluctuation.

"Are you that 'Observer' who likes to peek?" Li Dong stuffed his hands into his pockets and sized up this strange entity. "That name is really straightforward; why not call yourself 'The Rules Themselves'?"

"You may call me Hand of Order."

The voice ignored his teasing and continued to communicate with that consciousness transcending time and space. "Variable, you ended the malignant proliferation represented by the 'True Lord'; that was a necessary purge. For this, the balance of the Universe should be affirmed."

"Oh? Praise, too?" Li Dong raised an eyebrow. "So, do I count as having passed my probation period?"

"However," Hand of Order changed the subject, "your intervention regarding 'Mother of Wither' broke the cycle of 'stillness'. The 'new life' you created is, on my chessboard, a new form of 'disorder'."

As the words fell, the scene of the chessboard in front of Li Dong changed.

A vast scroll of Universe evolution unfolded before him, with countless points of light being born and dying within it.

Hand of Order used this image to demonstrate its philosophy to him: creation and destruction, prosperity and decay, vitality and inertia... everything existed within a grand and precise cycle, not a fraction more, not a fraction less.

In its demonstration, the extreme "inertia" represented by "Mother of Wither" was a necessary link for the Universe to head toward heat death and restart, an indispensable weight in the balance.

"So, in your script, a world should just be slowly drained dry by that thing, and then return to deathly silence—that’s what you call 'balance'?"

Li Dong finished watching the demonstration and couldn't help but laugh. "You call this balance? I call this sitting idly by."

"That is the natural flow of Law."

"Bullshit."

Li Dong retorted unceremoniously. "Things like the 'True Lord', you say it's a cancer cell, I'll accept that. Because it only devours, breaking all rules. But 'Mother of Wither', it is not natural decay; it is imprisonment! It locks a world alive, not letting it live, nor letting it die completely, just hanging there. You tell me, a prisoner slowly rotting in a cell, that also counts as the natural flow of Law?"

He took a step forward, and the line of Law beneath his feet hummed.

"My philosophy is very simple; I call it 'Attunement'."

Li Dong extended a finger, his own power of Law lingering at his fingertip. "If something is broken, you fix it. If a melody is out of tune, you adjust it."

"A Universe that is full of vitality, constantly moving upward, and occasionally having small problems but capable of self-repair—that is the balance I want."

"Not like this game of chess of yours, where every piece is placed in a fixed position and doesn't move for hundreds of millions of years. That is not called balance; that is called a stagnant pool of water."

Hand of Order fell silent.

The light across the entire chessboard seemed to freeze for a moment. It was understanding, analyzing this completely different "heresy" of Li Dong's.

After a long time, the voice sounded again. This time, it seemed to carry a trace of imperceptible... emotion?

"...Interesting."

"Your 'Attunement' is a very subjective intervention. It is, in itself, the greatest 'Variable'," Hand of Order said. "I need to verify your theory."

"Verify? How do we verify it? We have a fight, and whoever wins, their theory is correct?" Li Dong stretched his wrists.

"Violence is the most inefficient method of verification," Hand of Order rejected his proposal. "On this chessboard, there are some unbalanced 'pieces'."

"They have deviated from their preset orbits, creating chaos that cannot be contained by 'balance'. Now, I will give you a chance."

Its consciousness pointed to a corner of the chessboard.

"Go choose an 'abnormal' galaxy, use your method of 'Attunement', and guide it toward the 'vitality and balance' you speak of."

"Let me see if your method can create a new order that I can recognize."

"What if I succeed?" Li Dong asked.

"You will gain the qualification to implement your theory within this Universe."

"And what if I fail?"

"Then, everything you have 'Attuned', including the newborn star clusters you created, as well as your home world,"

Hand of Order's voice remained flat, yet it exuded an unquestionable majesty. "Will all be 'recalibrated' by me, returning to the order they should have."

The smile on Li Dong's face slowly faded.

This guy was not joking. It would really take action, and according to its program, "format" his home, everything he protected.

This was no longer a threat; it was an ultimatum.

"Fine." Li Dong was instead stirred with interest. "Using my hometown as a bet? You really know how to motivate people. However, I like it."

He knew this was the other party's test, and also his only chance. He had to prove that life was not a chess piece, and the Universe was not an immutable chessboard.

His gaze scanned across the chessboard, sweeping over one galaxy after another marked as "abnormal".

Some were deathly still, some had exhausted energy, but his gaze finally rested on an extremely special place.

That was a galaxy shrouded in blood-red light.

Just by looking from afar, Li Dong could feel the violent rage and chaos contained within it, almost overflowing from the chessboard.

The Law there had been completely twisted; it was no longer creation or destruction, leaving only pure "fury".

The living beings within it were killing each other at every moment, turning the entire galaxy into an endless meat grinder.

This place was simply a super-doubled version of a "Genesis Storm".

"That's the one." Li Dong pointed to that blood-colored galaxy.

"This is a world completely eroded by the Law of 'Fury', an extreme manifestation of 'disorder'," Hand of Order confirmed. "Are you sure?"

It seemed to want to see how a Tuner like Li Dong, who advocated "harmony", would deal with such pure, extreme chaos.

This was not a problem that could be solved by Attunement; this required complete erasure and reconstruction.

"Of course I'm sure." Li Dong grinned, revealing a mouthful of white teeth. "As it happens, I've been a bit hot-tempered lately too."

He said no more, took a step out, and his figure turned into a stream of light, charging straight toward that blood-colored galaxy representing extreme chaos and fury.

Since you want to see, then I'll let you see clearly.

This "renovator" of mine doesn't just paint walls; I can also tear down load-bearing walls!