Night’s Nomenclature

Chapter 906: 1 Courtesy, Then Force

There are three types of chess players.

The first type of chess player doesn’t know how to strategize; their vision isn’t on the overall game, but only on a corner.

This type is considered unremarkable.

The second type of chess player knows how to strategize; although they can see the whole board, they don’t understand the details, lack any intuition, and never have any brilliant moves.

This type has merely crossed the threshold.

The third type of chess player has a deep understanding of the game, possessing fairness, ingenuity, and a complete grasp of the overall situation. From the moment the first piece is placed on the board, they know how they want to win and how they will win. This type is considered a master.

Zong Cheng belonged to the third type, or rather, he had completed the transformation from the first type to the third.

When he first emerged from underground, he was the first type of chess player, making many foolish mistakes and leaving many hidden dangers.

At that time, he had no teacher, just a blank slate emerging from an underground base, unfamiliar with the ways of the world and clueless about how to maneuver.

Later, he suffered a major setback under the identity of "Liu Yue." He thought that controlling an army would allow him to stand toe-to-toe with the Conglomerate, but it wasn’t that easy. Thus, using hundreds of years of experience and lessons, Zong Cheng slowly accumulated knowledge, finally transforming himself into a third-type chess player.

Sometimes, he felt that the world was somewhat unfair. The strategies that certain individuals in the Qing Family could learn in just a few decades, or even a few years, took him centuries to master. But later, he accepted this reality and quietly laid the groundwork.

However, today he suddenly discovered that there was another type of chess player in this world—their chess pieces were beyond the board.

In Zong Cheng’s calculations, he never considered the existence of giants. He didn’t even know that there were so many giants in the West Continent. How could he calculate that? In the past ten years, his opponent was the Old Master Qing Xun on Ginkgo Mountain. The opponent’s moves were indeed tricky, connecting threads and roots, eliminating many of his forces, but not to the point of crippling him.

His foundation was stable, beyond the reach of conventional methods. Now, his opponent had changed to Qing Chen.

He began to challenge Qing Chen, forcing Qing Chen to gamble.

But now, giants suddenly appeared in City 10, using a miraculous method to uncover his puppets one by one within the Guardians’ Union.

It was as if he was playing chess with an old man in a park, playing brilliantly and on the verge of winning.

Then, suddenly, a 120-yard giant foot appeared,

kicking him in the face and knocking him off the chessboard.

The puppets in the darkness laughed, "What a surprise! This new chess player seems a bit unreasonable."

Inside City 10.

Guardians’ Union members were maintaining order: "Everyone, line up and pass by the giant one by one. Sir, why are you looking around so shiftily? Did you do something wrong?"

Everyone looked at the man, who hastily explained, "I wasn’t looking around shiftily,

I just have a bit of strabismus."

The giant’s apprehension of fugitives had already become famous in the city. To help residents understand the giant’s role, Little Seven even used trucks to parade some extremely heinous criminals, allowing everyone to see what heinous crimes they had committed and how they were caught.

These were the more serious offenders; the number of petty criminals was countless.

For example, during screening, some pickpockets passing by the giant were detected, and the giant even used telepathy to find the hiding places and methods of disposing of the stolen goods.

In a single day, dozens of pickpocketing dens were dismantled, and thousands of stolen items were recovered.

The Guardians’ Union even created a lost and found specifically for this, allowing people who had lost their belongings to search for them.

One small businessman who had just come to City 10 to do business had his goods stolen. When he went to the lost and found to retrieve his goods, he was so excited that he almost knelt down before Little Seven.

As a result, the residents were no longer so resistant to the screening.

Only some people muttered to themselves, wondering if thieves would be detected by the giant.

Gradually, in just one day, the city-wide screening was mostly completed. By the afternoon of the second day, the screening points were no longer so crowded.

City 10’s household registration management is very strict; each person has one household registration and cannot sneak in or out.

Therefore, by the afternoon of the second day, a list of people still marked in red was released, totaling more than 10,000 people.

These people stayed at home, for whatever reason, refusing to come out for screening.

In a city with the highest concentration of Guardians’ Union members, and where everyone highly approves of the Guardians’ Union, these people refusing to be screened were indeed problematic.

Xiao Wu said to Qing Chen in the meeting room: "Leader, the addresses of these people are easy to find. I’ll take people to arrest them."

However, Qing Chen shook his head: "No, it would harm innocent people."

Xiao Wu said: "The Puppeteer doesn’t know what method he used to spread the puppets. What if these people aren’t eliminated, and he turns others into puppets again?"

Qing Chen replied: "Although I am also wary of this matter, everyone doesn’t need to be so tense. Consider this: If the Puppeteer only needs to touch someone, and that person would become a puppet, then the entire world should already be his puppets."

Qing Chen continued: "Therefore, the creation of puppets must have limitations. I have a few guesses. First, the creation of puppets must be done by his physical body himself, one by one. Second, there’s a limit to the number of puppets he can create. As long as the previous puppets are still alive, he cannot create new puppets."

Otherwise, why would he be wasting his time here with us? He could just directly control all of humanity.

Hundreds of years should be enough for him to control all of humanity, right?

He looked at Black Widow and asked: "Does West Continent have any experience with this?"

"No," Black Widow shook her head. "West Continent only feels that his method of spreading is too strange and requires careful vigilance, but they haven’t summarized any rules."

Qing Chen nodded: "So, at this stage, we don’t need to rush."

This time, even Luo Wanya couldn’t help but speak: "Boss, this is wartime; it cannot be compared to other situations. Among these more than 10,000 people who did not participate in the screening, there are potential criminals, puppets, and spies from various organizations. We don’t need to be polite to them."

Qing Chen glanced at him: "Old Luo, do you know what’s most important to the Guardians’ Union?"

Luo Wanya was stunned, and Xiao Wu said first: "It’s our strongest power now."

He looked at Luo Wanya, but after hearing Qing Chen’s words, Luo Wanya sighed: "The most important thing for the Guardians’ Union is not strength, but the hearts of the people."

Qing Chen smiled: "Old Luo has made progress. You haven’t been reading for nothing recently. Xiao Wu, after this matter is over, you should read one book a day and send me your reading notes."

Xiao Wu: "Ah this!"

Qing Chen said: "Do you think I’m being polite to my enemies?" Luo Wanya and the others looked at each other. This Leader wasn’t being polite to his enemies; he was simply ruthless.

Qing Chen smiled and continued: "Of course I know that most of these 10,000 people are problematic. In the past, I would have directly broken in and arrested them. But it’s different now. If we forcefully enter people’s homes and deprive residents of their political rights, how would the residents view us? Where would the Guardians’ Union’s credibility lie?"

"Yes, the giant is miraculous, and everyone knows it’s miraculous,

the Guardians’ Union is doing good deeds. But if we forcefully break into homes without evidence, we will certainly be criticized. Everyone, remember, we must uphold the rules we set and be wary of using only violence."

Invaders can act unscrupulously, but once you decide to protect, you will bear many burdens.

But Qing Chen believed that this was necessary for the Guardians’ Union to go further.

‘Not taking a single needle or thread from the masses’ is considered a discipline by many, but in Qing Chen’s view, it is a wisdom to establish a solid foundation among the masses.

Xiao Wu scratched his head: "Then we’ll just ignore them?"

"Of course not," Qing Chen smiled: "Don’t worry, I’m not that merciful to my enemies."

Immediately, the Guardians’ Union members, according to the list of names, went to each house with giants for on-site screening!

The giants walked silently through the crowded stairwells, following the Home Families around. Now, one-tenth of the giants had joined the Guardians’ Union, and this was part of their duty.

Knock, knock, knock. A knocking sound. "Is anyone home?"

An old man came to open the door, somewhat bewildered. "Who is it? Who are you looking for?"

Xiao Wu glanced at the giant beside him, and the giant shook his head.

Xiao Wu smiled: "We are the grid chiefs from the Guardians’ Union grid downstairs. Seeing that you are old, we’re delivering rice and cooking oil." He put the rice and cooking oil into the house and took the trash out for the old man.

The old man’s eyes welled up with excitement: "So it’s the Guardians’ Union! You’re too kind! Thank you!"

After going out, Xiao Wu had someone check with the life detection device: "Is there anyone else in the house? Are there any areas shielded by tin foil?" The Home Families beside him shook their heads: "No."

"Let’s go to the next house." Xiao Wu felt that the Leader’s decision was wise.

As they went from house to house for screening, more than half of the more than 10,000 people were elderly people with poor eyesight, and some were visually impaired people; they genuinely didn’t know what was going on.

If they had really broken in, they might have felt ashamed now.

Yes, the Guardians’ Union is to protect the people. If you hold power and trample on the rights of the people under the pretext of killing enemies, then you are not a qualified protector.

This isn’t feminine kindness, nor is Qing Chen particularly saintly, but the hearts of the people are the foundation of the Guardians’ Union, and he clearly and calmly knows that this foundation cannot be destroyed.

Arriving at the next house, Xiao Wu held the life detection device provided by the Qing Family and saw a person walking restlessly inside, but showed no intention of opening the door.

He didn’t say anything more and left six Home Families at the door with the life detection device.

These Home Families were tough, bringing their own dry food and cushions, sitting at the door without intending to move.

Six people were left, partly because two Shadow troops Gene Soldiers were brought with four C-Class members, which was the highest configuration of the Guardians’ Union tactical team at present.

With this configuration, even if an A-Class came out, they could barely fight for a while, supporting until the Shadow troops arrived and killed the enemy.

Of course, the probability of an A-Class being inside was extremely small.

On the other hand, they could play two rounds of Dou Dizhu (a Chinese card game) and wouldn’t be too bored.

These Home Families were shameless. When gold-coded residents went out, they were shocked: "What are you doing here?"

The Home Families smiled: "There’s a red-coded person who refuses to come out,

we’re waiting for him."

"Then how long will you wait?" the residents exclaimed.

The Home Families didn’t care: "Until he’s so hungry he can’t take it anymore."

The Guardians’ Union didn’t even cut off the water and electricity to this house; they just waited.

First, these people refused to come out, but they couldn’t possibly stockpile a lot of food at home; they would have to go out eventually.

As long as they go out to eat, I can immediately call the giant over for screening, and I don’t even need to fight with them; I’ll just confirm if they have a problem.

If you really have a problem, then don’t blame me.

Second, even if they starve to death at home, so what? Qing Chen just wants to control their movements, preventing puppets and spies from moving freely.

Staying at home is imprisonment; being in jail is also imprisonment. The Guardians’ Union can afford to spend some manpower and material resources on you; it’s okay, we’ll wait with you!

Qing Chen didn’t have any tricks; he simply used this sticky method to peacefully resolve the problem. Anyway, the Guardians’ Union now had many people and sufficient financial income.

Although not many people were needed.

In just one day, more than 10,000 people on the list were screened, leaving only 3,190 people whose identities had not yet been determined.

Among them, 3,121 people were stuck at home, and 69 people tried to escape, but they couldn’t even leave the city; accommodation, meals, and transportation all required gold codes.

They suddenly found that during this special period, in City 10, even buying a protein bar required a gold code.

If you can’t show a gold code, the boss will immediately call the Guardians’ Union, and a wave of arrests will immediately follow.

With nowhere to go, they were all arrested and investigated by the Guardians’ Union. After the giant screened them, 90% of these 69 people were spies from Shendai, Koshima, and Chen Family, 5% were spies from Li Clan, and 5% were puppets.

On the fourth day, people inside finally couldn’t take it anymore.

A young man opened the door and looked sadly at the six Home Families outside. He knew that no matter how much longer he waited, even if he starved to death in the room, he wouldn’t be able to escape.

The Home Families dropped their poker cards and stood up happily, laughing: "Brother, you’re finally willing to come out. You must be hungry. What do you want to eat?"

The young man said indignantly: "I just stole a few things; you don’t have to do this!"

The Guardians’ Union didn’t say what they were screening for; the people still thought they were arresting criminals.

The Home Families laughed: "Alright, let’s go with us. Don’t try to get close to us or touch us. Remember, violating this rule will result in death. If you don’t violate this rule, you can even dance on the road."

With that, the six Guardians’ Union members, three in front and three behind, escorted the young man to the unified screening point.

The six of them were all excited; they were finally going to break through these people’s defenses!