80: Chapter 81 Long Chen's Third Bet: The Lost Talent!

"Bre... break off a piece???"

"Holy crap!"

"This thing can actually be broken off?"

Shen Mo's look at Long Chen changed entirely!

"This is what a real big shot looks like!"

He had originally thought that when Long Chen gambled against the deities, it was nothing more than national resources, tech trees, or at worst, some sci-fi Jax, but he never expected Long Chen to play for such high stakes!

Now, Shen Mo recalled Old Man Li saying that the arrogant aura he exuded while standing on the stage was a bit like the Long Chen of the past...

Shen Mo felt a bit ashamed!

"Old Man Li, you're giving me too much credit..."

"So, now you know why I can't participate in the competition, right?" Long Chen gulped down a mouthful of wine, clicked his tongue, and said, "Those guys are dying for me to participate in the competition so they can have a chance to take back this 'fragment of the gods arena'."

"But I refuse to let them have their way!"

Shen Mo was speechless, "... Brother Chen, but didn't you lose two rounds later? Did those deities... err, those guys, never think about winning this thing back?"

"How could they not!"

Long Chen smiled disdainfully, "But they couldn't do it! Kid, gambling is one thing, but it also requires fairness and justice... It's like a balance scale; the chips placed on both sides must be equal, otherwise the agreement isn't valid!"

"In the first round, I bet everything and won the right to split the Gods Arena, although it was only a very small piece..."

"In the second round, I bet the technology, resources, and all the item cards and national points I had obtained during the first competition. And the result was... I lost."

"I realized something was wrong at the time!"

"Although it was very subtle, and I didn't even know how they were cheating... but!"

"I trusted my Intuition!"

"I wanted to quit while I was ahead."

"In the third round, they seemed to sense my intention to withdraw. They raised the stakes crazily, all the way to the limit, just to gamble for the fragment of the gods arena in my hand..."

"You have no idea how astonishing the stakes were in the third round; even I couldn't help but tremble!"

Shen Mo listened with surging emotions, "So, Brother Chen, you went for it?"

"Do I look like an idiot to you?"

"Would you still play a game you knew you were bound to lose?"

Long Chen let out a heavy sigh, "I told Old Man Li and the others! The deities are cheating! The third round was impossible to play! But they didn't believe me! Those fools had long been blinded by greed!"

"They frantically issued orders to the command center, hoping I could win the third round..."

"In the end, Old Man Li and the others compromised..."

"Heh..." A self-deprecating look appeared on Long Chen's face.

Shen Mo also let out a deep sigh. Although he hadn't personally experienced that era, he could feel the madness of that time just from Long Chen's understated description!

They had believed too much that Long Chen could win!

Perhaps greed had overcome reason; gamblers at the table all feel they are the chosen one!

On one side was the nation's command, and on the other was a game he knew he would lose. Anyone could imagine how difficult it was for Long Chen at that time!

No wonder everyone from the Northern Plains had a look of guilt on their faces whenever they mentioned Long Chen. It turned out that such a thing had happened back then. It could be said that their orders led to today's outcome!

Long Chen was the most miserable one; he clearly hadn't done anything wrong, yet he had to bear all the consequences.

The audience of the Dragon Kingdom now all think... it was Long Chen's arrogance back then that caused everything to be lost!

Little did they know, Long Chen was just executing the nation's orders!

Seeing Shen Mo silent, Long Chen smiled and patted Shen Mo's shoulder, "Kid, don't blame the nation. The nation is like your elders, like your parents. They might be pedantic, they might not understand your choices, but they love you deeply."

"When you are bullied outside, they will be the first to shield you, even if you are wrong."

"When you make a mistake, they scold you, but in their hearts, they are worried about you, afraid that you will suffer because of it. So... I've figured it out over these years. Actually, it wasn't just the nation that was hot-headed back then; didn't I also make mistakes?"

"Playing against deities sounds impressive, but it was my choice after all, and I can't blame anyone else."

Shen Mo nodded slowly, "I understand, Brother Chen, but you still haven't told me the result of the third round."

Long Chen laughed and scolded, "You brat, do you think I'm telling you a story? There's nothing much to say after that. I received the order, and although I knew I would lose, I had to bite the bullet and go on..."

"It's just that I still didn't want to let them have their way. How could I return what I had already gotten into my hands... It's a pity that the chips placed on the opponent's balance were too astonishing. Besides the fragment of the gods arena, I had already brought out everything, but it still wasn't enough..."

"So in the end... I bet my talent."

Shen Mo suddenly looked up, disbelieving, "Talent?!"

Long Chen looked up at the sky with a faint smile on his lips, "Ah~ talent. In their words, this kind of talent that is different from ordinary people seems to be called... an Augment? I don't really understand, but that's the general idea."

Shen Mo suddenly froze! He remembered! When he used Long Chen's 'Gold Duel Card', besides points, a few things he didn't recognize appeared!

The display at that time clearly showed... [Points], [Items], [Augments], [Tier], [???].

"I called my talent 'Intuition'. Hmm... I don't have it anymore, and it's hard to describe that feeling to you. It's just that the moment both sides' pieces refreshed, I could feel the win or loss of that game."

"Not only that, I could also find the vulnerabilities in the opponent's pieces, such as positioning, the patterns of skill releases, damage, and so on. In short, at that moment, my brain would enter an 'overclocked' state. In that state, no one was my opponent!"

Shen Mo was dumbfounded. That exaggerated?

Long Chen glanced at Shen Mo, "What's that expression on your face, kid? Don't you also have a similar talent? Otherwise, how could you discover so many team compositions and beat those countries to a pulp?"

"..." Shen Mo's expression stiffened. Very good. He had been misunderstood.

He had no talent at all. His only advantage was the foresight that came with being a transmigrator! After all, S12 had just been released in this world, but in his world, S12 was already a thing of the past!

Various team compositions and the damage of various pieces had already been clearly researched by all kinds of experts in that world.

Shen Mo just needed to take them and use them directly!

For any version update, while people here were still researching what kind of impact it would have, Shen Mo already understood what version this change corresponded to, which team compositions had been nerfed, and which ones would rise to power.

If this could be considered a talent...

"Alright!" "I've told you so much, it's made my hands itch!"

Long Chen stood up, pointed at the dilapidated house with a smile, "How about it? Although it's just a scrap of the Gods Arena, playing a few games of chess is no problem. Are you interested in playing a few rounds with me?"

Shen Mo was dumbfounded. Chess? Now?