Go: Is the portable old man the nine-time champion?

Chapter 383 Yi Zheng's Mission

At the entrance of the Go League match venue, several well-connected media outlets were still able to secure brief interview opportunities. Yi Zheng, wearing a team jersey with the company logo, stood at the entrance and gave interviews to the media.

A middle-aged reporter wearing black-rimmed glasses asked, holding a notebook, "Yi Zheng 9-dan, what are your thoughts on your crushing victory over Li Junhe 9-dan in this match?"

When asked by reporters, Yi Zheng calmly replied, "I've said it before, the legend has come to an end."

Lee Jun-hyuk 9-dan is still among the top players, but he has fallen behind the times.

When I was relatively weak, he didn't play any crucial games with me during the transition between the old and new generations, so it's hard for him to play games that people would consider to be significant turning points now.

However, Lee Jun-hyuk 9-dan has indeed completed his historical mission. He not only brought Silla Go to the historical stage, but also suppressed his contemporaries. From all perspectives, his professional career is still very successful, and he has fulfilled his historical mission well.

Just as he replaced Gu Jianhun at the ninth level back then, my replacement of him now is also an inevitable trend of the times.

Therefore, I often think about what will happen to me ten years from now? By then, will I still be as solid as a rock, able to withstand the erosion of time without falling?
But after thinking about it, I realized that these things might be too unrealistic and distant for me. Right now, I feel I still want to play each game well and continuously improve my skills.

"So what do you think your historical mission is? Is it to completely suppress all other top players of the same era and become the new generation's unparalleled 'ruler', just like what Lee Jun-hyuk 9-dan did back then?"
Furthermore, could you please provide a specific evaluation of these "peer powerhouses" in your eyes? For example, Ethan 9-dan, who is often compared to you?

Yi Zheng pondered for a moment after hearing this; he had actually thought about this a lot himself.

Yi Zheng did feel that he was special, just like the protagonists in novels.

He has a powerful old man from another world who can grant him special advantages, and his talent is also second to none. With countless favorable conditions piled up for him, he is definitely not just aiming to achieve the small goal of becoming the world's number one.

Even without Coach Ke, Yi Zheng was certain that he could dominate the world, suppress everyone of his generation, and become the undisputed world number one.

Therefore, now that I possess these qualities, I must have other missions.

And this mission had already been told to him by Old Ke.

So Yi Zheng spoke with a heavy tone, because he knew what his mission would be and what he would face in the future: "If it were just this kind of mission, I would have already accomplished it, and it would have been too easy. I have already surpassed other players of the same generation."

But I feel that it's definitely not just these missions; there will be a bigger event, and that's what I really need to do. I think this event will happen in the near future, or it may already be on its way.

The current generation of players is arguably the strongest in the last hundred years, as the number of Go players is increasing and the rise of online Go provides better training opportunities for players from smaller countries.

There are more and more strong players from various countries, but I'm not too worried. No matter how strong they are, they are not as strong as me.

Currently, the better players are the few well-known ones, but each has their own shortcomings. People always compare Ethan to me, but I feel that his style is more comedic, and in my mind he is a comedian.

So there's no point in comparing; I just need to keep beating him.

"Do you have any short-term goals right now? Or is it like before, to win a career Grand Slam?"

Yi Zheng smiled slightly upon hearing this: "Currently, I feel that achieving a Grand Slam shouldn't be too difficult. After all, I feel my professional career is quite long, and a double Grand Slam isn't impossible. If I can participate in the Olympics the year after next, I can participate in another Olympics six years later. At that time, I'll be twenty-four years old and should be at my peak. I don't think there's anyone in Go who has two individual Olympic gold medals yet. I hope to become the first, but that's a rather long-term goal, and it will take at least six years to achieve it."

As for short-term goals...

Yi Zheng glanced at Ke Lao, who seemed to be trying to quit his internet addiction and hadn't been watching dramas much lately: "I think the short-term goal should be to defeat AlphaGo first."

Because when I said I was the world's number one, many people didn't agree. The reason for their disagreement was quite simple: AlphaGo had previously demonstrated tremendous strength, enough to crush all the world's crises, and I had lost to it.

Therefore, to become the true world number one, even if AlphaGo doesn't compete, you still have to defeat it, which means defeating it online.

No matter how many honors you receive, people won't acknowledge you as the world's number one until you defeat AlphaGo.

So this is my next challenge: defeating AlphaGo.

This is not just a problem for Yi Zheng; it's a problem facing everyone.

Even if AlphaGo never participates in official competitions and appears and disappears mysteriously on the internet, if no one defeats it, everyone will only say that AlphaGo is the world's number one.

Therefore, Yi Zheng was certain that he had to defeat Ke Lao in every aspect.

Of course, this victory must be achieved through direct confrontation, not simply by using Mr. Ke's account to start a game and then surrendering.

After answering a few questions briefly, Yi Zheng left, while Jiang Mobai was also being interviewed at the same time.

Because the coaching staff had already submitted the second round roster today, Jiang Mobai was forced to take the main player position.

Unfortunately, the first round ended in a 2-2 tie. Although Jiang Mobai acted as a strict father and gave Yun Linglei a good talking-to in the first round, and Lian Qiao unsurprisingly defeated Yan Ran 7-dan, Shen Guhong won against Chu Tianjiao, resulting in a 2-2 tie between the two teams.

Therefore, the victory of the main general in the second game becomes extremely important. At this point, if a strategy like the "Tian Ji horse racing" is used, the risk will become extremely high.

In the coach's opinion, Li Junhe's performance in the first round was indeed not very good, as he was completely suppressed by Yi Zheng.

Considering that this mentality would continue into the second game and his performance would be poor, the coach still chose to let Jiang Mobai play.

Jiang Mobai: I'm calling Yi Zheng, is that true?
However, Jiang Mobai did not say it. Instead, Jiang Mobai said, "Okay."

After all, he had previously said that he was not afraid of Yi Zheng, but simply that he couldn't beat him.

And indeed, just as Jiang Mobai had predicted, there was no way to back down.

Team Kinoko has advanced to the finals.

(End of this chapter)