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

Chapter 388 Only the Strong Are Worthy of Being My Children
"Wow, that's amazing! I was watching in the lobby today, and that young Chinese player was just so incredibly smooth. I've never seen anything like it."

"More than that, I feel he's already capable of going toe-to-toe with AlphaGo."

"Even the best player has to lose one game, right? It can't be another AlphaGo, can it? Who do you think can beat it?"

"Anyway, it wasn't me, hahaha!"

"But I didn't see Yi Zheng, the 9-dan, during the meal?"

"It is said that he was surrounded by a bunch of chess fans in the lobby and couldn't get away at all, so he could only hold an autograph session in the lobby. But he didn't expect the fans to keep coming. He couldn't leave even after half an hour. He wanted to pamper his fans, but he ended up not having enough to eat."

The hotel's dinner buffet had almost turned into a small Go seminar. The crisp sounds of cups and plates clattering, the scraping of knives and forks against porcelain plates, and the low murmurs of conversations in various languages ​​mingled together, creating a unique background soundscape for the Go players' "game review."

The air was filled with the aroma of food, but even stronger was the invisible smell of gunpowder and a sense of amazement.

Chess players who came from all over the country to attend the awards ceremony couldn't help but discuss today's highlight match, since many of them watched the entire match from the hotel lobby.

Almost all the chess players marveled at Yi Zheng's strength and invincibility in this game, or rather, in this period of time.

For the average viewer, Yi Zheng's story is that he defeated all the top-ranked players in the world and climbed to the top of the world rankings with an invincible attitude.

Even the opposing team's fans stopped talking; everyone was playing dead because Yi Zheng was currently in such a dominant position that even die-hard fans rarely played when things were going badly. Everyone was waiting for Yi Zheng to lose a game before they could come out and take a bite out of him.

However, laymen only see the spectacle, while experts see the details. Every player on each team in the top league is a world leader in Go, and it is precisely because they have reached this level that Yi Zheng's formidable strength becomes apparent.

Or rather, the more powerful a person is, the more they can sense the terror of Yi Zheng.

At this point, ignorance may be a blessing.

Ethan, who was sitting in the corner casually picking out something to eat, looked increasingly worse as he listened to what the others were saying.

Although everyone praised Yi Zheng's strength and no one said a bad word about Ethan, some even said that Ethan was not at fault in battle, which made him even more upset.

Because if anyone says that Ethan played poorly in this game, or that he played terribly, Ethan feels he can find an excuse for himself.

My loss to Yi Zheng was due to some problems on my part.

But now, it's a blatant case of being outmatched.

A complete failure!
Everyone thought that Ethan was inferior to Yi Zheng.

"..."

Ethan was in so much pain that he couldn't even speak. He just kept stuffing spaghetti into his mouth and felt that the spaghetti was really salty because his tears had mixed in.

"Ugh……"

Alexander, not far away, sighed as he watched Ethan sitting in the corner. He had been worried about this very situation, which was why he had considered avoiding playing against Yi Zheng and Ethan. After all, he himself had deeply felt the pain of such a gap, the self-doubt, and even questioned whether he should play Go.

The only difference is that back then, the opponent was Li Junhe, but now this generation of young Go players has Yi Zheng as their opponent, which seems to be even more painful.

Not to mention that Ethan was hailed as a prodigy from a young age, and was treated like royalty throughout the entire Alica chess academy. Everyone said, "You must be number one in the world, you are the best!"

No matter what small achievement Ethan made, everyone praised him endlessly. Growing up in this environment, Ethan had long believed that it was only natural for him to be the best in the world. His talent did indeed support him for quite some time in believing that he would be the best in the world in the future.

Encouraging education can naturally boost a person's confidence and further amplify it when a person has not encountered setbacks.

The problem is that once a person discovers that they are not much better than others, or even worse, they will feel a particularly large sense of disappointment.

This discrepancy was caused by the chess academy's actions.

Ethan's mentality was broken by Li Junhe last time and it took him a long time to recover. This time, he was broken even more badly by Yi Zheng, who is from the same generation. It is unknown how long it will take for him to recover.

Not to mention, Yi Zheng is younger than Ethan, and his peak career period will inevitably cover Ethan's entire career...

This means that Ethan will always live in Yi Zheng's shadow.

Ethan either needs to adjust his mindset, face his own strength, and continue to challenge Yi Zheng, or his mentality will continue to collapse throughout his entire career.

Not to mention, Alexander knows the true nature of the Amelica Chess Academy better than anyone else: only the strong are worthy of being his children; if you are ruined, he will train another one.

Thinking of this, Alexander couldn't help but pick up the plate and walk over, wondering how to comfort Ethan.

There's no need to question the starting lineup tomorrow; let Brian go for it. Hopefully, Ethan can regain his confidence against the others.

Brian: Mother ***! Aren't I human?! I'm asking you, am I not human?!
But unexpectedly, Ethan looked at Alexander, who was sitting opposite him, rubbed the little pearl on his face with the back of his hand, and said, "Captain, let me play in the main battle again tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Alexander was stunned. He hadn't expected Ethan to actually want to target Yi Zheng.

Ethan wiped away his tears, his tone no longer showing his usual impatience, but rather extreme calm: "Today it's 2-2. Tomorrow's decisive game will either be 2-2 with the captain winning, or it will have to be 3-1 to win."

"If we put Brian in the starting position and he loses a game, then we have to win the other three games 100% of the time. There's absolutely no room for error; the risk is just too high."

Alexander knew this was risky, but the problem was the ease with which he could put the others in this situation. He felt it wouldn't matter who went up, so he decided to concentrate his firepower to eliminate the other three.

Ethan clenched his fists, which trembled slightly, as if he were using all his strength to fight against the deep-seated fear and resentment: "Can't win? I only know that I can't be afraid like this anymore. If I continue to be afraid... my life is over!"

His voice was not loud, even a little hoarse. Alexander stared blankly at the young man in front of him, seeing that his face, which had not yet completely lost its immaturity, was filled with pain, but even more so with a kind of resolute determination to live on the brink of destruction.

Perhaps, not letting Ethan play this time will really ruin his life.

(End of this chapter)