82: Chapter 82 Come on, we can always trade!

The only ancient civilization from the old era that has never been interrupted?

Chen Aoyun's words in the Land of Judgment were like a nuclear bomb, causing an uproar in the real world.

Many people didn't believe it.

Huaxia Civilization... ancient? And it has never been interrupted? And it's the only one?

Picking just one of these three adjectives would be enough to elevate a civilization's status by several levels. With all three combined, just how incredible must this civilization be?

As everyone knows, the older, more long-standing, and more brilliant a civilization is, the more powerful and diverse the [Heroic Spirits] and [wonders] of the country inheriting that civilization will be in the Game of National Destiny.

Most people didn't believe it. They didn't believe that a country which had long lacked even [Heroic Spirits] in the Game of National Destiny could inherit such a special civilization.

But it doesn't matter if you don't believe it; the massive The Scales in the Land of Judgment believed it and acknowledged it!

If it didn't acknowledge it, how could Chen Aoyun's words have transformed into weights?

For a moment, the livestream chat went silent.

Of course, the most dumbfounded ones weren't the viewers in the livestream, but Sakura Country's [Strategist], Saku Kenichi.

So much National Destiny was thrown away, only for it to turn into a promotional event for Long Country's own civilization.

Sakura Country has plenty of National Destiny and can afford to lose. But the recognition of their own civilization among Long Country's citizens, stirred up by this Judgment, is something Sakura Country absolutely does not want to see.

"Pursue them, we must publicly execute that [Roleplayer] from Long Country and get back at least some of our face!"

...On the Star Chessboard.

Chen Aoyun moved the chess piece Zhao Hongxiu ahead, while Sakura Country's Togaya Atsuto's [Cavalry +7] chased from behind.

As the chess piece moved, Zhao Hongxiu did not spare her praise for Chen Aoyun's strategy,

"We won the Judgment and obtained National Destiny, not to mention that. More importantly, we've increased the distance between us and the Sakura Country chess piece. Plus, I still have seven [Advance] characters of [Zhao Yun] in my hand; even if caught, I can disengage from battle once more! If we keep dragging this out, unless the Sakura people are willing to 'trade pieces', there is absolutely no possibility they can eat this chess piece of mine!"

Chen Aoyun corrected her, "Those are the seven [Advance] characters of [Wen Yang]..."

Zhao Hongxiu nodded. Whether it was Wen Yang or Zhao Yun, the effect of [Seven In, Seven Out] was the same.

On the contrary, regarding National Destiny—mentioning National Destiny made even the usually composed Zhao Hongxiu ask like a curious child,

"Having won two consecutive [Divine Judgment]s against Sakura Country, how much National Destiny have we obtained?"

Chen Aoyun had also been wanting to ask Zhao Hongxiu about National Destiny, not knowing if it was because they had won too much or if some unexpected situation had occurred.

The National Destiny won from Sakura Country had changed from a simple numerical value into a unit of measurement: 'Hu'. 12 Hu of National Destiny!

When Sakura Country was judging [Emperor Zhu Di], just activating The Scales took as many as 120 times. Counting the subsequent payments, Chen Aoyun won 10 Hu of National Destiny for Long Country from that Judgment alone.

Then, in this Judgment regarding [Seven In, Seven Out], because of Chen Aoyun's intense, tireless popularization and frantic moves, he won another 2 Hu of National Destiny for Long Country.

Chen Aoyun said, "We won a total of 12 Hu of National Destiny, but I don't know what unit this 'Hu' is. Is it a lot or a little?"

Zhao Hongxiu's eyes widened. She knew Chen Aoyun had swindled Sakura Country a lot, but she hadn't expected it to be this much!

"'Hu' is the proper unit of measurement for National Destiny. Winning the Game of National Destiny once, the top three places receive ten, five, and three Hu of National Destiny respectively. When each Hu of National Destiny is broken down and converted into a numerical value, it equals one million.

In other words, setting aside the outcome of this Game of National Destiny for now, just from these two rounds of Judgment, you have won 12 million in National Destiny for Long Country! 12 Hu, 12 million in National Destiny—even if Long Country doesn't participate in a single Game of National Destiny from now on, it can sustain itself for 12 years!

Of course, not participating in any Game of National Destiny is impossible; every country must participate at least once a year, and there's also a forced probability... but even so, this National Destiny is enough to keep Long Country from worrying about its National Destiny bottoming out or disasters descending for a long time!"

Chen Aoyun did not lose himself in the praise; instead, he asked with some confusion, "12 Hu, 12 million in National Destiny is only enough to sustain Long Country for 12 years? The Game of National Destiny has been going on for over a thousand years, right? If it consumes so much National Destiny a year, why did Long Country only recently face a crisis of its National Destiny bottoming out?"

Mentioning this made Zhao Hongxiu angry, "Selling goods cheaply, disguised selling of sovereignty... Long Country relied on the blood and sweat of its citizens and every inch of its territory to trade for the charity of National Destiny from other countries. It's not that the Long Country officials are corrupt; it's mainly because National Destiny is too important. If they hadn't traded like that, Long Country's territory would have long since become a graveyard.

Just like the authorization of Heroic Spirits, for some reason, in the last two years, the major powers have started to tighten the sale of National Destiny. Without the transfer of National Destiny from other countries, insufficient National Destiny or even bottoming out became inevitable!"

National Destiny could be sold; this surprised Chen Aoyun.

Just as Chen Aoyun was preparing to get to the bottom of it and ask more questions about National Destiny, Sakura Country's [Cavalry +7] caught up to Zhao Hongxiu's side again. The chess pieces collided, and both descended.

Zhao Hongxiu didn't waste words. She used all the remaining seven [Advance] characters, disengaged from the battle, and left the mini-map ahead of time, putting a small distance between them again.

"Next is the time for a 'Game of Chicken'! Everyone's torches have long since gone out, and we are all relying on 'Prophecy' to hold on. If Sakura Country is afraid of 'trading pieces' and doesn't save enough 'Prophecy' to return to the Home Base, then keep chasing me!"

Zhao Hongxiu always believed that Chen Aoyun's killer move was trading pieces.

Long Country is a weak country; it would have been amazing if Long Country could just squeeze into the top three. It doesn't matter if Long Country doesn't take first place, but does it not matter to you, Sakura Country? You Sakura Country have an Lv13 [Roleplayer] participating in this Game of National Destiny; aren't you afraid that if you don't take first place, this Lv13 [Roleplayer] will be in trouble?

Trade pieces? All countries only have four [Roleplayer]s who became chess pieces, seizing resources on the chessboard. If you, Sakura Country, trade pieces with my Long Country, the four chess pieces will become three. How will you restrict Long Country after that? Bring another chess piece over to watch the remaining three Long Country chess pieces? What about the Ottoman side? The Ottoman side hasn't traded any pieces. Trading pieces means one less chess piece; if you move another chess piece to watch Long Country, only two chess pieces will be left to compete for resources with the Ottoman side. The Ottoman side is not a T0-level major power, but they aren't weak either. Two against four—are you, Sakura Country, going to hand over first place?

Sakura Country's [Strategist] also seemed to have seen through Long Country's plan. On the Star Chessboard, after weighing the pros and cons, [Strategist] Saku Kenichi said to Togaya Atsuto,

"Return to the Home Base first to replace the torch item. The Prophecy is only enough to maintain your return to the Home Base; if you don't go back now, it's no different from trading pieces with Long Country. Long Country is not worthy of trading pieces with my Sakura Country. No need to worry about Long Country obtaining more identity resources; their Prophecy is bottoming out too. If you withdraw, he will have to withdraw too. Once you have replaced the torch and blocked him near the Long Country Home Base again, it will be the same result as before."

Is it the same result? At the very least, Long Country's Fan Ling chess piece has used this time to seize quite a few resources in the 'Farmland Area'.