Seeing that everyone had quieted down a bit, Ed continued, "The third round also uses eight numbers. The first four numbers will be played against the last four numbers, and the winners will continue while the losers are eliminated. The fourth round is the same, with the first two numbers playing against the last two numbers. The winners will compete for first and second place, and the losers will compete for third and fourth place."
Ed has finished explaining the rules of the game, and everyone in the audience understands them. In fact, the rules are relatively simple: just keep winning.
"Alright, the competition begins now. The first round of number drawing will take place below the stage." The platform is too small to accommodate thirty people, so the first round of number drawing has to be done below the stage.
So, the drawing of numbers for the first round of the competition began on the open ground where the contestants were located.
Among the contestants, the youngest was Oak Barrel from Taoyuan Village, and the oldest was Old A Qi from Windmill Village. Because Windmill Village didn't have enough people, they just randomly sent someone to make up the numbers.
The only female player was Alice from Windmill Village. Because the other female players lacked the skill, none of them made it to the finals.
Oak Barrel was pleased with the number 30 on his slip of paper, while Old A Qi was indifferent with the number 1, since he was just there to make up the numbers anyway.
And so the game of chess between the old and the young began on the high platform.
"Look, what a strange combination!" The old man and the child attracted a lot of attention.
"That's Oak Barrel, and he's really good. Even I'm no match for him." Villager A tried to make Oak Barrel sound more impressive so that it would be more believable that he lost to the kid.
"You're just average. I definitely wouldn't lose to Oak Barrel." Someone shook their head at Villager A. The more he didn't want to talk about something, the more others would bring it up.
"You…" Villager A held back; the cost of fighting was too high for him to bear.
In another corner of the square.
" Oak, do you think our Oak Barrel has a chance to win the prize?" Oak Barrel's mother, Mint, looked at her son and the prize on the stage, her eyes full of anticipation.
" Mint, I don't think it's possible. Although he made it to the finals by chance, his opponent in the first round looks like a tough opponent. At his age, he probably doesn't have much work and spends his days studying chess. I think this old man must be a master."
Oak had been learning to read from Alice at his own expense for a while, and it was clearly making some use of his knowledge. He analyzed things logically and spoke in a coherent manner, making it easy for people to believe what he said.
"Well, what you said makes some sense, but it's already quite good that Oak Barrel made it to today's competition. He's still just a kid."
Mint was still very happy for Oak Barrel.
"Hey? Oak, look! The game at Oak Barrel looks like it's over."
While the other matches on stage were still in full swing, Oak Barrel and Old A Qi both stood up and left the match at the referee's signal.
"I knew it. That old man must be a master. Everyone else was still playing, and Oak Barrel had already lost." Oak didn't think highly of his son.
"Sigh, it seems that's really the case."
Mint also realized that Oak Barrel was just there to make up the numbers in the finals.
Before long, the contestants on stage also determined their winners and losers, but no one knew who had won yet, as there were still other groups to compete in.
We have to wait until all the winners come on stage to draw numbers for the second round to find out who won the first round.
Soon all the matches were over, and the winners prepared to come up on stage to draw numbers for the next round.
"Oak… look, Oak Barrel seems to be on stage too, haha, you might not be right." Mint said excitedly.
"Really? Let me take another look." Oak looked closely and sure enough, it was his son on stage.
That's really strange. Could it be that the old man wasn't a chess master at all? Was he just someone with exceptionally good luck?
But there was nothing he could do; he had met someone even luckier, Oak Barrel, Yu Mu thought to himself.
"Hehe, Mint, I think I misspoke, but Oak Barrel's good luck should be coming to an end."