The work of the Go master

Yabu glanced outside, then quickly looked away, adjusting his posture, the position of his chair, and the position of his watch on both wrists.

These pre-match adjustments are very important, as they are crucial factors affecting performance.

Neither he nor Ke Zhiguang spoke to each other; at this moment, attack had become the only language they could understand.

At 3:00 sharp, Xia Fuying stood up from the referee's seat and loudly announced: "The 17th Rising Star Tournament, Ke Zhiguang vs. An Yongxin, the rules are two hours of preparation time for each side, and three 30-second countdowns... The match begins!"

The two, who had been relaxed just moments before, immediately sharpened their eyes and entered battle mode!

The battle horn finally sounded, the shutter flashed, capturing the contestants and the waterfall behind them. Judging from the effect in the lens, the two were almost playing in an open outdoor area, with the rain being held up in mid-air by divine power.

Since they were under the watchful eyes of everyone, the two of them lowered their heads slightly to deal with the outside world before they began to guess.

Yatake catches the child!

Ke Zhiguang slapped out two chess pieces with a backhand!

Guess, guess, guess, guess wrong again!?

The standard ending, with the white-clad character.

As if waking from a long, dark night, Yabu exhaled a breath of gloomy air, as if to say... "Finally, this moment has come."

He raised the black pieces to a high position, like a spear about to be thrown, and Ke Zhiguang's heart skipped a beat at that moment.

It's finally coming.

A symbolic spirit that has undergone evolution through the dragon's ritual.

All we know is that it is a dragon, but we have no idea what it looks like or what its name is. Our initial guess is that it is a Western-style evil dragon, with the wings of a bat and the long neck of a snake.

The chess piece suddenly fell!

Darkness descended at that moment.

Chapter Ninety-Two: Ghidorah!!!

A deafening roar descended from the sky, and the rain outside the window vaporized into white mist under the intense heat.

A king-level aura appeared on the other side of the chessboard, like detonating a Tsar-class nuclear bomb, shaking the entire world.

In the raging storm, Koji finally saw Yabu's symbolic spirit.

Its enormous wings blotted out the sky, and three pairs of crystal-red eyes were like stars embedded in the air; it was a monster that defied all reason.

That was a... a three-headed dragon!

[Symbolic Spirit: Ghidorah!!!]

King of Monsters!

Surprise filled Ke Zhiguang's eyes, and he hesitated for a long time before placing the chess piece.

Just by looking at its appearance, you can tell that its power is beyond imagination. Moreover, the symbol of spirit even has three exclamation marks inside the brackets, which has never happened before.

Previously, Yabu's symbolic spirit was a three-headed lion, but now it has evolved into a three-headed dragon, its size has increased countless times, and it has become a mythical creature in other works of art.

King Ghidorah is one of the most enduring bosses in the Godzilla film series. It is a three-headed Western dragon and Godzilla's strongest nemesis. With its cool appearance and powerful strength, it is one of the symbols of masculine romance. Its love-hate relationship with Godzilla runs through the entire Godzilla series, comparable to that of Batman and the Joker.

More clues have come together; it turns out the Godzilla toy found at the Kano family's house on Harushima Island a while back was hinting at this...

This level of strength is definitely not below Saito's Inari God Fox. We can even boldly assume that Yabu's current strength warning color is already black.

On another note, can monsters and bosses in other works of art also serve as symbolic spirits?

Actually, from a timeline perspective, Ghidorah's appearance is quite reasonable. Ghidorah first appeared on screen in 1964, and there have been three generations of Ghidorah so far.

Ke Zhiguang had a feeling that if he could go back another twenty years or so, what appeared before him might not be Ghidorah, but Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon.

So the question arises: is King Ghidorah a Western monster or not? Although it resembles a Western dragon in appearance, its parent company, Toho, is a thoroughly Japanese enterprise.

Ke Zhiguang exhaled a breath of cold air, calmly placed his piece, and slammed the clock down. The first few moves involved a very rapid exchange of corner positions, with neither side making any extra moves.

Black 5 hangs.

White 6 jumps.

Black 7 retracted, and Yabu shot a black light at the right side of the edge star!

The chessboard vibrated, and many of those watching the game seemed to be struck by a profound effect, revealing expressions of surprise.

"This is the Light Flow layout that Ke Zhiguang excels at? And it's actually being used by An Yongxin?"

After the brief incident, Ke Zhiguang quickly regained his composure.

Black's privilege as the first mover is to determine the style of play. It seems that Yabu has been studying Koichi Hikaru's game plan every day. However, instead of learning how to counter this strategy, he has learned how to use it.

A common strategy in esports is to pick the enemy instead of banning them.

After a brief moment of thought, Ke Zhiguang pulled out a piece and rammed it into the opposite piece hanging upside down.

The 10th move was like a sudden attack, directly penetrating Black's side extension!

With pincers, corner attacks, leaps, and flying blocks, the chessboard spread out to the left and right with incredible efficiency. In just a few moves, half of the chessboard had been dragged into sporadic battles.

In the metaphysical underworld, buildings begin to collapse, streets sink, and cities are destroyed by monsters, but in the camera's lens, only two extraordinary young men sit quietly in front of a chessboard, with rain as their backdrop.

—Able to see!

Lightning flashed from Yabu's eyes, and the chess piece fell like thunder!

On move 19, the pieces of both sides made contact with each other for the first time. Black made a flying move that directly hit the head of White's single-point jump!

Lightning flashed across the window!

Ke Zhiguang's eyebrows twitched slightly, and his fingers felt as if they had been electrocuted and were in pain.

Moreover, this electric current sensation is different from the special electric effects in other games. Ghidorah's electric current is more ferocious and menacing, and the pain is increased several times over.

This is already a standard dark game.

Come to think of it, King Ghidorah's only skill seems to be generating electricity...

In the room, Shizuka was also lying on the bed, kicking her legs and setting up a chess game while chewing on potato chips. When she made this move, she stopped chewing the potato chips.

—These Koreans are falling way too fast!

Although this move looks good and is a brilliant one, it's not difficult to calculate; it only takes two or three minutes.

But Harushima Kashima noticed that An'ei made this move in just over ten seconds, which could almost be called a flash!

Ke Zhiguang was already fast at playing chess, but I never expected there would be an even faster player!

While setting up the chess pieces, he idly flicked the small hole at the end of the folding fan with his finger, and as he flicked it, it flew away.

Qingdao Lu's face darkened.

Normally, if a fan flies away while playing like this, I wouldn't bother with it. I'd just let it sit on the ground and fend for itself, and pick it up when I'm in a better mood.

But Ke Zhiguang had warned him not to let it out of his hand, otherwise he might lose.

After thinking about it, she got out of bed and picked it up, then continued to lie on the bed and set up the chess pieces.

As she was engrossed in studying the chess game, the rain outside the balcony continued unabated. However, some of the raindrops seemed to have gained self-awareness and slowly condensed together, like a constantly deforming transparent slime floating in mid-air.

.....

"As expected of a final-level match, both sides are very strong. This game could very well become the highest-quality new star championship match in history." Inoue stood at the commentary booth, watching the game unfold on the large chessboard.

“Yes, it’s only been 30 moves, and both sides have already efficiently drawn half the board into battle. Although Black has successfully broken through, it feels like it will still be under considerable attack. As for the next move…” Naosaka said.

“In the next move, Black will most likely consider attacking from the corner to test White’s response,” Inoue interrupted him mercilessly.

Naosaka was stunned. Wasn't this supposed to be his line? Why was his partner interrupting him?

Was her original persona really this strong?

"31. Black cuts off in the corner to test the waters. What an annoying move. It feels like being struck by an electric current, a tingling sensation." Inoue placed this move in the lower left corner.

Testing the waters involves probing at a crucial point and deciding your next move based on the opponent's response. It is a very advanced chess technique. This kind of move often results in a break in a strange place. Although the broken piece can be easily captured, the problem lies in how to capture it.

There's a saying in the industry that every time you test your opponent's skills, it will make them feel numb all over, as if they've been struck by a weak electric current.

"Ke Zhiguang, you have to be careful. The changes here are very complicated, whether it's blocking the inside or the outside."

"Moreover, it is related to the thickness of the eye position of the group of stones on the right, and then it affects the group of stones further to the right... It seems that the entire side is affected by this local situation."

As the game unfolded on the large chessboard, more and more incredible yet logical variations emerged.

An unstable bomb, brimming with energy, has been planted in the lower left corner. Its power is increasing over time, and the outcome of the entire game could potentially be decided here.

Time slipped away like sand through an hourglass, and Ke Zhiguang had long since entered a state of deep thought, with the changing images flashing through his mind like a movie theater.

I couldn't have predicted such a brilliant move.

Instead, they anticipated that the opponent had a clever move lurking on the second path.

If it were Yabu now, he would have found this move to be easy, right?

Ke Zhiguang sighed and colored the gray-white change diagram, turning it into a colorful reality.

Miaopai!

Miaopai!

Another second!

Both sides made their moves very quickly, almost simultaneously reaching this point in the diagram!

On the 39th move, Ghidorah roared!

Yabu plunged his hand deep into the Go box, pulling out not a Go piece, but a thunderous spear, which he hurled fiercely into the depths of the white stones—

As expected, Yabu had also foreseen this, and his decisive and resolute move was probably even faster than Yabu's...

"Another cut... another cut, but this time it's on the second line. This is a good move that connects with move 31. In this way, although White has cleaned up the corner, Black has also sealed off the outside with the initiative."

The sound of a circuit breaking came from the corner of the white chess piece!

Under the tempering of the electric current, a thick black wall is formed on the outside, as indestructible as steel!

A shower of orange-yellow lightning descended, nearly shattering the entire screen!

Beep beep beep—the sound of the health bar rapidly decreasing.

LP8000 → LP3500!