Ice Age Apocalypse: I Hoard Billions of Supplies-Chapter 1129: Chess

Chapter 1129: Chess

Compared to the elemental ore, Zhang Yi cared more about what lay beneath the Qinling Mountains.

What exactly had happened to make the strongest Shengjing Region willing to pay part of its high-energy ore as a price to invite the other five regions to help?

Yang Xinxin sat nearby, quietly sipping tea. She rarely spoke while Zhang Yi discussed matters, but she remembered other people’s words with crystal clarity.

Deng Shentong leaned against the sofa, legs crossed. The noble son aura about him had changed a great deal; gone was the deliberately polished elegance of the past, replaced by a more casual air.

“I heard that the Epsilon charged with guarding the Qinling Mountains for Shengjing Region, Zhen Yuanzi, ran into major trouble beneath the mountains.”

“No one knows the exact situation. All we know is that mutated creatures appeared underground and killed many people.”

“Even Zhen Yuanzi barely crawled out from beneath the earth, gravely wounded.”

Deng Shentong glanced at Zhang Yi and said in a leisurely tone, “Do you think it might be the same kind of existence as that black-armored strange man over in Mist Valley?”

Zhang Yi fell into thought.

“Another creature from the underground world? Is there any data?”

Deng Shentong said, “They say it’s a mutated creature called a Ground Centipede.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “You should know humans can mutate; naturally, other creatures in this world can too. Vast oceans, endless depths beneath the earth, who knows how many beings have been affected and mutated.”

Zhang Yi raised an eyebrow. Facing those unknown worlds, he felt deep reverence and an indistinct trace of unease.

The Dragon King’s final words still lingered in his mind, reminding him from time to time that the matter of Star Island was not over.

“Do you plan to go to Shengjing?”

Zhang Yi asked.

Deng Shentong nodded. “Of course. Our Deng Family still has some connections in Shengjing, so this trip will also renew a few old ties. With me there, many things will be much more convenient.”

“Besides,” he spread his hand and smiled, “Commander Zhu most hopes you can go, and I’ll act as your guide.”

Zhang Yi smiled at him. “So you must be very familiar with Shengjing’s situation.”

Deng Shentong replied calmly, “Naturally. I spent a lot of time there when I was young.”

“Then tell me about it, Shengjing Region’s situation.”

Zhang Yi took a sip of tea and adopted a listening posture.

His information channels weren’t broad; apart from the Jiangnan Region, he could pretty much say he knew nothing about the other regions.

So rushing into an unfamiliar area and meeting strangers naturally made him wary.

Deng Shentong had no reservations and immediately began to brief Zhang Yi.

As for Shengjing’s historical culture and military strength, those were common knowledge and required no special introduction.

What he focused on, instead, were Shengjing Region’s top combat powers.

“How many Epsilon-level superhumans do you think Shengjing Region has?” he teased, smiling at Zhang Yi.

Zhang Yi scoffed lightly. “You’re testing me? That won’t stump me.”

“The Qinling Mountains are crucial territory and need a top-tier superhuman to guard them.”

“The backbone of Shengjing should be Houtu, whose codename is Hell’s Guillotine.”

“Judging by the current situation, even though Shengjing Region controls a mysterious area like the Qinling Mountains, the number of top superhumans there can’t exceed other regions by much.”

“So I’d guess two or three.”

After hearing this, Deng Shentong couldn’t help but applaud.

“Smart. You guessed correctly. Shengjing Region has three Epsilons in total!”

He inhaled deeply and sighed, “It’s all thanks to the Divine Source!”

If he had been the one to obtain the Divine Source back then, with the Deng Group’s resources he could have certainly cultivated himself into an Epsilon.

But unfortunately, he hadn’t obtained it.

He then proceeded to carefully introduce Shengjing’s three top fighters to Zhang Yi.

“Before that, I think I should explain the subdivisions within the Epsilon level.”

“Compared to Delta, Epsilon is a much stronger tier. Once a superhuman reaches this level, their life layer is already a different realm.”

“In ancient times, they might even have been worshiped like gods by the ignorant.”

“And the classification within this ability level is more complex.”

This was the first time Zhang Yi had heard such a description, and he said, “Oh? Tell me more.”

Deng Shentong said, “The internationally recognized subdivision for Epsilon is based on the superhuman ability index and splits Epsilon into nine grades.”

“In theory, the Epsilon ability index—the power value as we humans understand it—is defined as above ten thousand points, with no known upper limit.”

“Of course, don’t ask me exactly where these figures come from. It can only be said to be a rough classification method humans currently use; whether it has a scientific basis, you’d have to ask the specialists.”

Zhang Yi nodded. That was reasonable.

The apocalypse had only begun a year and a half ago, and many of these so-called classifications were devised merely to facilitate statistics and measurements.

Deng Shentong continued:

“The national standard uses chess pieces as the analogy.”

“Chess has six piece types: pawn, rook, bishop, knight, queen, and king. Pieces come in black and white.”

“Under this scheme, superhumans below Epsilon are collectively called the ‘pawn’ tier.” 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝓌𝘦𝘣𝘯ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝑚

“At Epsilon, which starts at an ability index of 10,000 points, the first subdivision is the ‘rook’ tier.”

“An ability index of 10,000 to 20,000 is the White Rook; 20,000 to 30,000 is the Black Rook.”

“Next comes the ‘bishop’ tier.”

“30,000 to 40,000 is the White Bishop; 40,000 to 50,000 is the Black Bishop.”

“Then there’s the ‘knight’ tier.”

“50,000 to 60,000 is the White Knight; 60,000 to 70,000 is the Black Knight.”

“After that is the ‘queen’ tier.”

“70,000 to 80,000 is the White Queen; 80,000 to 90,000 is the Black Queen.”

“An ability index above 90,000 enters the theoretical pinnacle of the Epsilon realm—the ‘king’ tier.”

“The king grade exists only in theory; no one knows its upper limit.”

If summarized simply from Deng Shentong’s words, the data looks like this:

Below 10,000: pawn;

10,000–19,999: White Rook;

20,000–29,999: Black Rook;

30,000–39,999: White Bishop;

40,000–49,999: Black Bishop;

50,000–59,999: White Knight;

60,000–69,999: Black Knight;

70,000–79,999: White Queen;

80,000–89,999: Black Queen;

90,000–unknown: King.

These are the currently clear classification rules for superhuman ranks existing in the world today.

Author's Note