Deceitful Game

Chapter 162 [Chariot] Ai Shiping

"Here I am, here I am!"

Upon hearing the doorbell ring, Ai Shiping rushed over, shouting.

He cautiously glanced through the peephole before opening the door for Mingpo.

Ai Shiping looked at Mingpo with some surprise: "Are you going on a blind date? Why are you dressed so extravagantly?"

Mingpo took off her original clothes and put on a pure white long trench coat.

Ai Shiping knew that Mingpo quite liked light-colored and simple-designed clothes.

Most of the clothes in his wardrobe are white, gray, and sky blue. Only a few are brown or black, which he only takes out when he has to wear dark clothes.

As for the style of these clothes… well, anyone who knows Mingpo can immediately recognize that this aesthetic is his own. These clothes range from inexpensive to expensive, from tens of dollars to tens of thousands. Mingpo doesn't care much about the price, or even "comfort." He cares more about whether the style of these clothes can highlight his charm.

They all look very simple, with almost no fancy patterns or designs.

But just like Mingpo's hair—his shoulder-length wolf tail hair, although seemingly casually messy, actually requires a lot of careful styling to achieve that "messy" look.

Mingpo's long trench coat was impeccably tailored, with top-notch quality. However, it bore no brand labels—this was a custom-made coat, with the tailor's personal label sewn into the lining. The double-breasted buttons on the coat were also custom-made silver buttons by a craftsman.

The buttons on the trench coat looked like crosses, or perhaps a clock with four perpendicular minute hands. At the very center was a sapphire… not a natural sapphire, of course, but a cultured one. Otherwise, with two rows of buttons of that weight, the coat would likely be worth six figures. But in reality, this handcrafted, custom-made trench coat only cost four figures.

In Ai Shiping's words, Mingpo is this kind of "reservedly flamboyant show-off".

However, Mingbo was not angry at all, and even showed a rare happy smile.

For him, such praise was actually a compliment.

This means that this outfit simultaneously satisfies two diametrically opposed and awkward needs of Mingpo.

In other words, it's about being "low-key" versus "pretentious".

"You've emerged from the promotion game."

Mingpo didn't answer Ai Shiping's question, but simply straightened the collar of his trench coat and casually asked, "Looks like everything's going smoothly?" "Of course."

Ai Shiping said with considerable pride, "I am now the Japanese pseudo-gold."

"Did you get the new title?"

Mingpo nodded and went into the house. Ai Shiping casually closed the door for him.

"How are ratings determined? A perfect score leads to promotion!"

He straightened his back, chest puffed out, and said with a grin, "Celebrate! I'm no longer that weak beast, the 'fox'." "What? You've become a powerful beast?"

"What are you saying! Is this even reasonable?!"

Ai Shiping shouted, following behind Mingpo, "My new title is [Chariot]! Sounds awesome, right!"

"...A tank?"

Mingpo stopped and turned around in surprise: "Is it the Domain of Power? You can also hold the title of Domain of Power?"

When the Chariot is mentioned, Mingpo immediately thinks of the Chariot element in Tarot cards. Not long ago, he was designing the Major Sin card for his character "Aivas," and he studied Tarot cards for a long time.

Chariots are a concept associated with "power" and "victory." It's reasonable for Mingpo to think that way.

"I knew you'd guess wrong!"

Ai Shiping said with a hint of smugness, "Since you can guess wrong, others will probably guess wrong too. Actually, it's still the Hengzhi Domain."

"The Chariot of the Balance Domain? What kind of chariot is that? It's not the kind of chariot that Cú Chulainn drives, is it?"

Mingpo found it very strange.

"The active ability is called 'castling'."

Ai Shiping answered straightforwardly, "It's the teleportation of Vengeance Spirit... Ah, if you don't understand, you can think of it as 'exchanging locations'." Mingpo doesn't really like playing online games, and he rarely plays online esports games either. However, he does play Pokémon.

Switcheroo is a commonly used move in Pokémon double battles, where the user and their teammate swap positions. This can allow the user to absorb some damage for their teammate and may even nullify the opponent's attacks after the swap, significantly increasing the opponent's strategic pressure. However, in reality, the situation is different.

In reality, there is no such thing as "attribute advantage" or "damage immunity." If you instantly switch positions to take damage for Mingpo, wouldn't that mean Ai Shiping would get injured?

"...The chariot of chess."

Mingpo frowned, somewhat displeased: "Can such an ambiguous title really be considered a unique title?"

"It is indeed the only title."

Ai Shiping knew the specific effects of "Frankenstein".

He shook his head and replied seriously, "However, my effect isn't as strong as yours. The passive effect only increases defense. And the inherited title can't be upgraded—that's the same as yours."

"...Just to increase defense?"

"Xiao Fan said this ability is quite rare and also quite practical."

Seeing that Mingpo seemed to be frowning, Ai Shiping quickly explained.

He had a fleeting illusion—as if he had spent money to buy some useless large appliance, and then his thrifty father said, "What's the use of spending so much money to buy this thing?" So he quickly started explaining, "It's actually quite useful," and so on.

"Its increased defense isn't too weak. And it has a strange principle: 'The faster my instantaneous speed, the higher my immediate defense.' You hit me hard, and I'll test my defense when I'm stationary—hit me hard!"

Ai Shiping had barely finished speaking.

Mingpo kicked Ai Shiping hard in the stomach without any hesitation.

Ai Shiping flew backward with a "whoosh" sound, crashing into the living room table.

He rolled twice on the ground before clutching his stomach and grimacing as he got up: "So you're that strong? You're not driving Frankenstein, are you?"

"...I've never seen such a strange request before."

Mingpo curled his lip: "Not bad... If I activated Frankenstein, you'd be smashed against the wall right now."

As the tester, he could clearly feel the feedback from that kick.

If Ai Shiping hadn't used that title, with Mingpo's strength, Ai Shiping wouldn't have been able to get up after that kick. It was like those old, locked wooden doors at the Water Mirror Resort; Mingpo could kick them open in three kicks at most.

The moment Mingpo kicked Ai Shiping, he felt a "heavy solidity" from the other party, somewhat like kicking a bag of rice, or like a sandbag hanging from the ceiling.

...This title actually works quite well!