The work of the Go master

Subsequent events proved that this outfit was indeed very stylish; people would frequently come up to take photos with it, appealing to both men and women.

Strangely, the men all got their photos taken without any problems, but when the women were about to come up for a photo, they suddenly seemed to see something terrifying next to Ke Zhiguang, and they apologized repeatedly before running away.

Ke Zhiguang looked around in confusion. Aren't they just three harmless girls? What's so scary about them? Look how sweetly they're smiling... But isn't Bai Meng's sweetness a bit too much? Shao Gong's smile was more like a bitter smile, stiff and awkward, with a kind of helplessness of being forcibly dragged onto the boat by Bai Meng. As for Shui Cheng, she had a maternal expression of happiness for everyone.

Oh well, whatever. Let's just say she's a random girl who's a bit shy standing between three beautiful girls, so as not to hurt her self-esteem.

At the summer festival, Koji finally understood what his [shooting skill] was for—in short, he ended up on the toy shooting shop's blacklist and was kicked out by the owner.

Following claw machines, another game has blacklisted him.

The three of them each received a large number of dolls, making their trip a very fruitful one.

Finally, there was the fireworks display. The youthful energy and summer vibe spread with the fireworks. The last time I saw such a brilliant sky was during the Chinese New Year.

Of course, it's the New Year celebration of my past life, still in the suburbs of the city or countryside, in areas where fireworks are allowed.

The embers of summer, burned away in the dust of fireworks, leaving behind beautiful memories.

"It's time to get going."

After reminiscing and packing his luggage, Ke Zhiguang left the room, heading to the hotel where the New Star Wars competition was being held.

But as he was leaving, he turned back as if he had remembered something.

"You come here too."

He also took the chessboard from the desk and stuffed it into his suitcase, ensuring that he could get the items that appeared as soon as possible.

It's like having the god of quantum mechanics by your side.

Chapter 78 This kind of building would be blown up in Detective Conan.

The opening day has arrived; it's the first day.

Near the coastline in Gangdong District, a towering building rises, its crystal-like structure scattering fragments of sunlight, shimmering like the sea.

Since its completion more than a decade ago, the annual New Star Battle has been held here, witnessing the birth of one new star after another.

To be honest, if this kind of building appeared in a Conan movie, the audience would all assume it would explode.

Inside the hotel, flames burned quietly.

A dazzling light fell from the sky, coating each chess piece with a shimmering glow.

The chess pieces are clearly of a high quality, complete with special effects.

In the large living room, four chess games were being played simultaneously. There were eight more living rooms like this, with a total of thirty-two chess games. The game was a sixty-four-to-thirty-two round. After today, half of the people would be left on the first floor, while the rest would continue to advance.

Opposite Ke Zhiguang sat a young man covered in sweat named Nishikusa. He repeatedly wiped the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief, but the sweat poured out like a burst dam, and his heart was pounding uncontrollably.

Is this the pressure of a formal competition? Or is this the skill level required for a preliminary third dan ranking?

Although the young man is a fourth-dan player this year, to be honest, this is the first time he has broken through the preliminaries and come to the competition venue to enjoy high-level treatment.

Yesterday, he left his residence and arrived at this high-class hotel. This was the first time in his life that he had entered such a place. As soon as he entered, a waiter politely helped him with his luggage and escorted him to his room. The room was surrounded by foreigners, which made his heart pound, even though he was good at chess but had never seen much of the world.

The group draw was unlucky for him. He was about to face the seeded player of this tournament, Ke Zhiguang, a legendary player who was initially determined to be a third-dan player, a position that stood on the back of the crown prince, Yabu Ruijin.

Nishisakusuke was also quite interested in this newcomer. After the professional ranking tournament, he waited at the Go Academy for several days to see Koji Mitsuko, but he didn't even get to see him. In the end, he guessed that this might just be a genius who was just playing around, who would get a third dan ranking and then leave, as a way of mocking the Go world.

But right after Nishisaku gave up on him, this kid immediately stood out in the Go academy. Later, after inquiring, it was found out that he was actually preparing for his high school final exams... This seems to make him even more of a genius.

Geniuses are always hated by their peers, and since Nishikusa had been dabbling in this for two years, he naturally felt no psychological pressure.

But when he actually sat down at the chessboard, he found that the situation was a little different from what he had imagined.

Why are all the cameras pointed at this spot?

Why are all the reporters around here waiting like wolves?

—This kid's popularity has attracted them all!

—This could be considered an underhanded tactic!

This was the first time he had received such intense attention from the outside world, which made him extremely nervous. Coupled with the great significance of the competition itself, this increased his pressure, causing his technique on the chessboard to become slightly distorted, and he made many moves that made him want to slap himself.

Koji Hikaru maintained a calm and upright sitting posture opposite Nishisakusuke, and didn't even notice that the other party had actually slapped himself.

However, he did notice that his opponent's symbolic spirit was in a state of agitation, pounding his chest and beating his feet, so he guessed that he was probably mentally broken.

Occasionally, I would look up and inadvertently discover that the table was already piled high with cameras.

Ok?

Is this table really that popular?

Then there was no response.

Is being pointed at by a camera really that bad for my performance?

After a ten-minute deliberation, Ke Zhiguang decided to take advantage of the time to make a bold move.

The chess piece was crisply taken out, then transformed into a sharp light that slashed towards the chessboard. The timer was then slammed down, and Nishikusa's expression grew increasingly bitter.

He was surprised. Why wasn't this person nervous at all? Logically, shouldn't a newcomer be very nervous participating in a competition surrounded by countless cameras for the first time? Why did this person seem so unafraid?

"Nishikusa has been at a disadvantage from the very beginning of the game, which is quite frustrating. Maybe he's under too much pressure," said Naoka Kuranosuke, frowning. He's now practically becoming a dedicated commentator for Koichi Hiroshi's games, watching them all day long and feeding them his praise.

“We’ve always said that Kezhiguang’s layout was a weakness, but it seems that this weakness has been made up now, right?” Lizi asked.

"You could say that his strategy has been improving ever since the ranking tournament started. We still don't have a good way to deal with strategies like those of the Light series."

Of course, there's a bit of an exaggeration in saying that. So far, the strategy of "Light of the Stream" has only shone in the ranking tournament and hasn't attracted much attention in the industry. If it can be successfully used in this new star tournament, then the name patent of "Light of the Stream" can be successfully registered!

The match ended quickly, with Ke Zhiguang winning the decisive battle, blood spurting from the neck of the opponent's dragon.

"I lost." Nishikusa threw down his shovel.

"Thank you for your guidance." Ke Zhiguang spoke as per procedure, and seeing that the other party had no intention of reviewing the situation, he got up and left.

The moment I stepped out of the game room—

Speed ​​up, run faster!

All the reporters crouching at the door were thrown off balance by Ke Zhiguang's sudden acceleration. In their view, a newcomer like Ke Zhiguang should be happy to be surrounded by cameras.

"Don't let him get away! He's a walking treasure trove of materials!"

A group of people chased after him for a while, but Ke Zhiguang was physically strong and had long legs, so he quickly left everyone behind.

Hiding around the corner, waiting for all of them to finish running away.

"Phew." Ke Zhiguang took a breath.

It's not that he's uninterested in showing off in front of the camera, nor is it that he's afraid of certain slightly inappropriate questions.

Rather, he had more pressing matters to attend to at the moment.

Just as he was about to turn around, a familiar voice came from behind him—

"What a fantastic match! Is this the strength of a team battle hero, the Black Chamber Destroyer, Saito's disciple, the third-dan beginner, the master of the Light Stream...?" Kiyotaki Ayumu walked over while clapping, and handed a can of coffee to Koji Hikaru. This was probably his interview fee.

"My buffs have stacked up this many times?" Ke Zhiguang was a little confused by the long list of names, but he wasn't surprised by Qinglong Bu's appearance.

Because this person was the one he summoned.

"These are just the titles that have already been cashed out. There are also future titles lying in the bank, existing in the form of checks. If we were to read them all out, perhaps only a title like 'Tsar' would be appropriate?"

This guy, Ke Zhiguang, actually understood it.

Fun fact: The title of Tsar is composed of dozens of honorary titles, which could fill a lot of words if listed together.

Ke Zhiguang took a sip of the cheap canned coffee. As expected, it didn't replenish a large amount of energy like the coffee at the chess academy.

"Let's restart Murphy's Law, shall we? Tell me what you told me back then, about a certain professional Go player whose Go skills improved by leaps and bounds for a period of time, but whose friends and family kept dying. Tell me about that incident," said Ke Zhiguang. This was the reason he summoned Kiyotaki Ayumu.

Chapter 79 Murphy's Law on the Road to Detection and Strike

"Is it finally my turn to come in handy?" Kiyotaki Ayumu said with a smug expression.

Before coming here yesterday, Ke Zhiguang called Qinglongbu and asked him to reveal the Murphy's Law spell that Ke Zhiguang had interrupted a few months ago.

Therefore, he spent the whole night going through old materials and reviewing the relevant urban legends in the chess world.

At that time, Ke Zhiguang had just finished dealing with the ghost incident at Taohuazhai and did not want to play chess with strange things for the time being, so he forcibly interrupted Qinglong Bu's narration.

Now it's time to reveal this face-down spell/trap card; Koji has a feeling that this is the way to open up the game.

"You seem to be in such a hurry to hear about this, have you encountered a similar situation recently?" Kiyotaki Ayumi said with a smile.

"More or less, or rather, I feel like I'm about to encounter it," Ke Zhiguang said, gulping down his coffee.

"Ha! As expected of you, you always manage to attract all sorts of bizarre events! And forget about the Tsar title, for you, maybe the title of protagonist is enough!"

Although it was just a joke made unintentionally by Kiyotaki Ayumu, it still touched Koji Hikaru quite a bit.

Perhaps this is fate; he was born with the destiny to be at the center of the vortex.

“Five years ago, there was a professional 3-dan player named Kitagawa Yu, who was 32 years old. However, his talent was mediocre, and 3-dan was almost his limit. But for a period of time, his skills suddenly improved. First, he defeated a strong professional 7-dan player in a training match, and then he defeated several 9-dan players in a tournament, winning a certain real estate cup championship. He became famous overnight.” Kiyotaki Ayumi said, flipping through his notebook.

"Perhaps it was just a chance trip that suddenly gave him a breakthrough. This happens often in the chess world. That's how Shi Xiangxia caught up with Fan Xiping," Ke Zhiguang said.

“If that were the case, it wouldn’t have attracted our attention. But the problem is that as his chess skills improved, the people around him also got into trouble one by one, which attracted the attention of the police. That’s when I started to have the idea of ​​investigating him.”

Kiyotaki continued, "But I later discovered that before the people around him all got into trouble, something strange happened: a large number of students dropped out of the Go classes he had opened."

"Loss of chess skills?" Ke Zhiguang sensed a hint of heretical martial arts in his words.

"As a professional 3-dan player who couldn't reach the professional level, he did run classes outside. However, after my investigation, I found that in the early stages of his improvement, some of his students who were relatively good at Go dropped out one by one. I later asked those students why they dropped out, and their answer was that they played a game with their teacher before dropping out. During that game, they felt an unprecedented fear and coldness. As for the result of the game, of course, they lost because it was an even game. But after the game, these students lost their Go skills."

"One game of chess, and it absorbed all the students' chess skills?" Ke Zhiguang asked bluntly.

"That's pretty much it. Sounds amazing, right?" Kiyotaki Ayumi thought about it and agreed that this was the only possibility.

As someone who has been exposed to the industry's inner workings, Ke Zhiguang felt it was alright; compared to that, the deaths were far more shocking.

But even as a marginal figure, Kiyotaki Ayumi found these phenomena quite amazing.

"After playing his last game with his students, this professional third-dan player gave them some hush money, telling them not to tell anyone and to obediently leave the class. In the end, all the students in his class left, and then accidents started happening to people around him, like his wife and children."

The temperature dropped several degrees without anyone noticing.

Koji Hikaru could sense the presence of a devil in Kiyotaki Ayumu's description. This devil was only interested in the strength of the players. When it found that the students' strength was not enough, it set its sights on the people around this professional 3-dan player, using their blood to strengthen itself.