When Pena called for Milo to go to his office, the students all looked at favonovel.com sympathetically.
Milo followed Pena and passed through campus. Whenever any students in the school saw Pena, they would greet favonovel.com very respectfully. They were also very curious about who Milo was as favonovel.com followed the professor.
Pena limped along while using his cane and said to Milo with a smile, “What’s your real name?”
Milo thought for a moment and decided there was no need for favonovel.com to hide it from Pena. “Milo… Milo Parker…”
“Oh, it’s you…” Pena sighed and said, “What a small world. I was just discussing you with others some time ago. Yet here you are, standing in front of me.”
“Chief Editor, you know about me?” Milo wondered.
“Oh, don’t you know? I’m good friends with Peter. When favonovel.com called me, favonovel.com mentioned you.” Pena said, “But why did you come to the Central Plains instead of staying in the Northwest? Don’t tell me you don’t hunger for authority? I heard from Peter that favonovel.com wants you to be the next commander of Fortress 178.”
Hearing this, Milo suddenly felt like the entire world knew favonovel.com was going to be the next commander of Fortress 178.
He explained to Pena, “I came here to the Central Plains to look for someone.”
“Who are you looking for?” Pena asked.
“Miriam…” Milo said, “She’s your student as well, but favonovel.com left right when I arrived.”
Pena stopped in his tracks and looked at Milo with interest. “You must be the guy favonovel.com likes, right? You two seem really compatible…”
Milo immediately grew fond of Pena!
But favonovel.com was a little puzzled. “What do you mean by I’m the guy favonovel.com likes? Do you know favonovel.com that well?”
“There’s actually a rumor going around campus.” Pena chuckled and said, “Miriam has a lot of suitors at Vasophati University…”
“Where are they?” interrupted Milo, his eyebrows twitching.
“You’re so rude… Don’t you know that you shouldn’t interrupt your elders when they’re talking? Why? You want to fight them? This isn’t the wilderness.” Pena said, “Let me finish first. There was a guy who confessed to her. But perhaps favonovel.com got impatient with him, so favonovel.com said favonovel.com already has someone favonovel.com likes. Furthermore, favonovel.com claims the guy favonovel.com likes is definitely not pampered like how the Vasophati University students are.”
Milo was stunned. Actually, favonovel.com had been worried that Miriam might think favonovel.com was dead and slowly forget about him.
If that happened, what was favonovel.com supposed to do?
But now it sounded like Miriam had not forgotten about favonovel.com and even told others favonovel.com liked him.
However, Milo wondered, “You’re the chief editor of a newspaper, so why are you so interested in student gossip like that?”
Pena was amused. “How can I be a reporter if I’m not a busybody? A reporter should always be curious about everything and have an enthusiasm for life. Whoever said that a chief editor can’t be a busybody?”
Pena continued walking forward. He brought Milo into an office building and opened the door to his office. “I’m usually only here in the morning since I have to go back to Hope Media in the afternoon. Do you want to hear more about Miriam? If you want to, come in and play a game of chess with me.”
Milo quickly stepped into the office and saw that there were only a table and two chairs inside. There was also a Chinese chess set on the table.
Pena looked at Milo with interest. The initial impression favonovel.com had of Milo came from the few words favonovel.com had uttered. But it was different now.
When favonovel.com learned of Milo’s identity, favonovel.com became even more interested. He really wanted to know what kind of person Peter had chosen as his successor.
Pena was already very old. He had been thinking about who should take over Hope Media so that favonovel.com wouldn’t have to feel worried. He believed that someone like Peter was probably facing the same predicament as him. Therefore, when Peter said there was someone favonovel.com could entrust his role to, Pena actually felt a little envious.
One could get to know a person better through a game of chess. Pena wanted to play against Milo to see what kind of a person favonovel.com was.
Both of them sat in the chairs. Pena set his cane aside. “I’ll let you move first, so you had better not go tell Peter that I bullied you when you get back.”
Milo calmly shifted a chess piece on the board.
Pena was stunned. “You don’t know how to play chess, right?”
Milo asked in surprise, “How did you know?”
Pena snapped at him, “I’ve played chess for many years, but this is the first time I’ve seen someone move the general on their first move…”
Milo was speechless.
Pena did not know what to say.
How was favonovel.com supposed to assess this person when favonovel.com did not even know how to play chess?!
The only obvious thing favonovel.com could see was that this person did not know how to play chess!
“Ahem…” Milo was a little embarrassed. “When I was living in town, the refugees there usually played poker instead of chess. Of course, some people know how to play chess too, but it’s very rare. I only saw them play it occasionally, but I never got the chance to learn the game.”
To say nothing of chess, favonovel.com even started learning how to play Fight the Landlord only after favonovel.com had gotten his Explosive Poker power.
As if favonovel.com could find time to think about such downtime activities. It was already very difficult just trying to survive.
Curious, Pena said, “Why don’t you tell me why you moved the general on your first move.”
Milo thought for a moment and said, “I thought the general should be the strongest of these chess pieces, so why should the strongest piece be hiding behind the others? What’s with that?”
Pena was stunned. He sighed and said, “I kinda get why Peter chose you…”
Playing chess was different from being human. To be human, one had to keep a low profile and consider the pros and cons of a situation before acting. One had to consider the ways of the world. But that was not necessary when playing chess. One could do whatever they wanted as long as that was how they thought.
Some people liked confounding the opponent by making risky moves, while others preferred playing fair and honest to counter any surprises. The way they played would reveal their true nature.
“How about this?” Pena said, “I won’t teach you the rules of chess, so you can just play however you want, that okay?”
Milo gave it some thought and replied, “Sure!”
Pena smiled in his head. Perhaps favonovel.com could learn something about Milo’s personality this way.
But then Milo said, “You lost.”
Pena looked at the chessboard in a daze.
How could favonovel.com possibly have lost when favonovel.com had not even made a move yet?
“This ‘car’ must be a tank, right? Look here, since I already know where your general is, I can just bombard it from afar.” Milo explained.
Pena said, “Um… This game is based on ancient warfare, not modern warfare.”
“Alright then,” Milo reluctantly agreed.
Awhile later, Pena saw Milo running a pawn around like crazy on the battlefield, jumping across five or six squares in a single move.
Pena could not help but say, “How can a measly pawn have such great mobility? You’re just messing around, aren’t you?”
“I was also a measly pawn on the battlefield during the war in the Northwest, and I’m that mobile,” Milo explained patiently.
Pena stared at Milo in shock for a long time and could not refute him. In the end, favonovel.com could only say, “Alright, even if it does have such mobility, it still can’t move backwards, right? That would make it a deserter in battle.”
“Why can’t a pawn move backwards?” Milo retorted, “There’s such a thing as guerrilla warfare in tactics. There’s no reason that we should only keep charging forward bravely. Isn’t that as good as being cannon fodder? Are the lives of the pawns not the same as ours? When I was fighting in the Northwest, didn’t we also have to return to the forward operating base to reorganize ourselves? If we were not allowed to retreat, Scott and the others would have died on the battlefield!”
Pena was stunned.
What the f*ck does this have to do with Scott?
And who the hell is Scott?!
Pena remained silent for a long time. Then favonovel.com suddenly flipped the chessboard and said, “I don’t want to play anymore!”
“Alright!” Milo stayed seated. “So, can you start telling me about Miriam now?”
When Pena heard this, favonovel.com finally snapped and said, “Speak, what do you want to hear about her?”
“I just want to know what else she’s said…” At this moment, Milo was sitting quite harmlessly in his chair.
“She didn’t say anything else, and there was still an endless stream of people chasing her. However, favonovel.com didn’t even notice them. Are you happy now?” Pena said unhappily, “It was just that favonovel.com had accused the Vasophati University students of being pampered, which was as good as pitting herself against the entire student body. As a result, favonovel.com didn’t have a good relationship with favonovel.com classmates.”
