The work of the Go master

Now, that must be his last life, right?

Both sides were already catching their breath. They thought this rapid chess game would end quickly with a decisive local battle, but they didn't expect it to be deadlocked for so long.

"It's such a pity that this game wasn't played in an official match, otherwise the game record would have been passed down for a long time." Saito sighed deeply, his smile undiminished.

"Yes, there were about ten brilliant moves. If we could sell the game records by the number of brilliant moves, like by weight, then you would have a plan for your next trip, Teacher."

The two of them took a break from their busy schedules to tease each other, creating a sense of friendship despite their age difference.

Finally, 243 moves, the final stage of the game!

The fox god's last tail sank into the sea of ​​cherry blossoms. After a moment of sorrow, its main body closed its bewitching yet sacred fox eyes and sank as well.

As expected of a symbolic spirit of extremely high level, even its exit has its own set of rules.

"I won this game."

After a fierce battle that lasted 295 moves, the game officially ended!

After the last single-item was collected, all the special effects dissipated like dust, revealing every inch of the study.

The sun shines brightly outside the window, and Tokyo remains peaceful today.

"Aren't you going to count the number of eyes?" Ke Zhiguang leaned back in the back seat.

"Don't rush, let the game settle down a bit more. It's the same principle as letting a bottle of wine breathe. Don't rush to drink a good bottle of wine after taking it out of the cellar. Let it come into full contact with the air and oxidize for a while before drinking it. The same goes for a good game of Go. Don't count the points immediately after finishing the game. First, feel the tranquility after the battle." Saito looked out the window in a daze, muttering some nonsensical lines.

The gist is, let the bullets fly for a while.

"This is... your limit, you monster." Saito's smile was tinged with weariness. "If you could truly focus and delve deeper into the art of Go, perhaps in less than five years you could surpass Ishishin?"

Ke Zhiguang also laughed: "You said it yourself, Shi Xin is the one person you should never surpass."

"Oh, right, I almost forgot. Look at my memory after the game of chess."

Ke Zhiguang stood up from his chair and leaned against the window railing: "I only recently figured out how I should complete my own path in the world of Go."

"In what way?" Saito asked.

"In the world of Go, the freest person is the Go Saint." Ke Zhiguang blatantly copied a line from the ocean: "The freest person on the high seas is the Pirate King."

"So this is the result you coordinated?" Saito sighed.

"This is my summary of life."

After savoring the moment for a while, Saito began to count the points.

"result......"

"You win, by one and a half points."

Ke Zhiguang also breathed a sigh of relief: "I've heard a saying that winning by half a point depends on luck, while winning by one and a half points depends on skill, right?"

"Yes, that's your skill. A seventeen-year-old boy spent seven days studying my latest game record, and finally managed to take a point and a half from me by using the blitz rules that were unfavorable to me." Saito chuckled, put his feet up on the table, rested his arms behind his head, and struck a roguish pose.

"Well then, according to the bet, come with me to the school first. I have a strange feeling that my friends and family might be up to something, and I might have to stop them..." Ke Zhiguang slung his coat over his shoulder and moved toward the door.

"Oh, right, I have other important things to do tonight."

Chapter Thirty-One: Let's listen to "The Fierce Dragon" to calm our nerves.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was ablaze with a reddish-brown hue, resembling the scene of a major battle.

"Report! Battle report from the front! Ke Zhiguang has arrived on campus!" the scout reported.

"Send some people to delay him and prevent him from coming to the stadium. We'll be ready soon!"

Everyone was in high spirits.

Inside the gymnasium, students were making elaborate preparations, treating the event as a double celebration of graduation and school festival.

Excitement swirls among the students, creating the feeling of a cultural festival, as if an exciting bonfire party is yet to come.

And I also managed to skip a day of class, and tomorrow is Friday and Saturday again, it couldn't be better.

Just a few minutes ago, Shuicheng finally received the battle plan.

The title of the battle plan surprised her: "Farewell Party."

"This is... a farewell party? Isn't it something about forcing him to stay?" Shui Cheng looked at the name of the plan and expressed surprise.

"Otherwise what? Did you think we were going to mobilize ten thousand people to rush up and pin him to the floor and not let him leave?" Shao Gong put his hands in his arms and looked at Shui Cheng with a little smugness.

"Well..." Shuicheng looked speechless, as if he'd been shown up.

"To paraphrase Bai Meng, if it were just a few of us acquaintances, a small farewell banquet would suffice. But Guangjun already belongs to everyone. If he simply packs his bags, completes the formalities, and leaves, it would be too boring. A legend can't end like this... If I had to say, she was thinking from everyone's perspective this time," Shao Gong said with a smile.

"This reason is too... glorious, isn't it?" Hearing the phrase "Hikari-kun belongs to everyone," Mizuki couldn't help but give a wry smile.

"As brilliant and magnificent as ever, it's definitely in her style. This is the best solution she provided, satisfying both herself and Ke Zhiguang, and ultimately benefiting everyone," Shao Gong concluded.

"Of course, you also need to be mentally prepared. Bai Meng might slip some personal ideas into her speech. We'll just have to play it by ear."

"Yes, I will cooperate." Shuicheng also showed a relieved smile, dispelling his previous doubts about this series of actions.

There's a small sense of happiness that everything is back on track.

After noticing Shui Cheng's arrival, Bai Meng immediately stepped down from her command position and walked towards him: "Shui Cheng, you've come at the right time. I need your help here."

"no problem."

"Does Hikaru have any favorite songs?"

"Are you going to play some music later?"

"Of course, he's the star of this farewell party, and the background music is naturally prepared for him."

"I've never actually heard him talk about his favorite songs. He doesn't seem to care about these things at all." Shui Cheng tried to recall, but she couldn't even remember Ke Zhiguang humming a song occasionally.

Shao Gong suddenly remembered something: "Wait! I recall something about this; he seemed to have said something about City Hunter being a masterpiece..."

"Is Guang-kun really interested in animation?" Bai Meng asked, puzzled, and casually took out her notebook to jot down this information.

"They're pretty enthusiastic," Shuicheng admitted.

Suddenly, a male classmate's playful voice rang out from the side: "I agree that every song in City Hunter is a masterpiece!"

"Go away! Go about your business!" Shao Gong quickly sent the man away.

"Hurry, there's no time. Quickly pick a few songs so the music department can perform them live without needing records."

"Since you're not going to use a CD, I suggest you use 'Flaming Dragon'. I went to several stores before, and they all told me that nobody sells game CDs."

"Alright, let's use this song then. I'll go talk to the music department—wait! Hikaru-kun, how come you're here so fast!" Bai Meng was so startled that she stumbled.

"You should come out in a different way next time! Appearing and disappearing like a ghost all day long, are you trying to scare someone to death?" Shao Gong was also frightened.

"Sorry, I'll definitely do it next time... But I just heard from someone that you're throwing me a farewell party?" Ke Zhiguang asked, scratching his head in surprise.

The atmosphere at the scene fell into an eerie stalemate. This was backstage, and everyone stopped what they were doing the moment they saw Ke Zhiguang appear. They stared at him as if frozen in place, including the three girls in front of them.

According to Bai Meng's plan, she would wait until all preparations were complete before sending a scout to inform Ke Zhiguang to come to the stadium.

The moment he pushed open the door was the moment the cannons fired and the ribbons flew, followed by the various procedures of the farewell party, the interview session, the students saying goodbye, and finally, she herself read aloud a speech with a bit of personal commentary, ending Ke Zhiguang's legendary student era amidst tears and laughter.

As a result, they accidentally overlooked Ke Zhiguang's elusive nature, and he got close to them, causing the surprise to be lost before it was even revealed.

Looking at the people in front of him, Ke Zhiguang guessed that he might have stumbled upon their carefully prepared little surprise.

This is like a group of people planning a surprise birthday party for you. They secretly created a group chat, and your alternate account was accidentally added to the group, witnessing the entire planning process. Then, the night before your birthday, you were recognized, and the whole group fell silent.

Yes, it was indeed very awkward.

After an awkward silence, Ke Zhiguang raised his hand and spoke up: "Um... excuse me, can my 'Flaming Dragon' be scheduled for publication?"

"Y-yes," Shao Gong stammered, unsure how to converse in this unexpected encounter, and nudged Bai Meng with his elbow.

So what exactly is "Flaming Dragon"?

Just as Bai Meng was about to say something, Ke Zhiguang spoke first: "I know everyone has a lot of questions, but it's okay, I'll explain it clearly soon. Can I borrow the microphone?"

After taking the microphone, Ke Zhiguang walked out from behind the stage and stood under the spotlight. A cough to clear his throat attracted the attention of the entire audience.

"Thank you all for coming to my farewell party, but I didn't actually say I was going to drop out of school or anything. Just treat this farewell party as a regular party."

Countless question marks floated up in the audience, who all looked at Ke Zhiguang with surprise, while the three girls behind him were even more astonished.

"You still want to pay attention in class?" Cang Yuqiao asked, puzzled, from below the stage.

"Most likely not, but sometimes when I get tired of playing chess, I go back to the classroom to listen to a lesson and change my mood," Ke Zhiguang continued to deny.

"Then...then you still want to take the final exam."

“I will participate in this, and I guarantee I will pass.”

"You...you don't actually want to seriously take the entrance exams as a student and go to university, do you?" Cang Yuqiao was on the verge of collapse.

"That's impossible, but I don't rule out the possibility that after I obtain one or two big titles, the university might be tempted to admit me without taking the entrance exam," Ke Zhiguang said decisively.

"Then... what exactly do you want to do! Are you going to stay here and not leave?!" Cang Yuqiao roared with a sense of powerlessness.

How can you be so unreasonable!

"Don't you understand yet! What I want to do is become a professional Go player as a high school student, and then become the strongest in the world!" With these powerful words, Ke Zhiguang pointed his finger into the distance, towards the unseen starry sky.

The thoughts in my heart were finally revealed, and so many people were there to witness the beginning of a legend.

But after waiting for a long time, no applause came; instead, there was complete silence.

Ok?

Why does this seem a bit different from what I envisioned in my script? Aren't local students most receptive to lines like this, where someone makes grand pronouncements in public?

After a period of silence—

"Eh!!!!" Everyone exclaimed in unison, even the principal, who was standing on the edge of the gymnasium, was struck by this declaration and his dentures almost fell out.

What is this person saying?

How can a high school student become the world's strongest Go player?

This is insane!

But at that moment, the music department was in position, and the intense rhythm of "Flaming Dragon" suddenly descended from the sky, making everyone straighten their backs.

"it is good!"