The work of the Go master

The meeting unfolded amidst this beautiful scene of a hot spring town, where the elderly, like ancient trees thriving with life, were immersed in nourishment, while an empress in a kimono oversaw the entire situation from the shore.

Saito silently cracked his onsen egg on the side, not engaging in much lively discussion. When he expressed his opinion earlier, he had abstained from voting.

“Brother Saito, it seems you’re not too interested in these things.” Xia Fuying swam over to him.

"What's there to care about? It's like the US presidential election. Just watch the show," Saito said, cracking an egg.

"It's not really appropriate to compare it to the US presidential election. They have a good system that ensures the whole system can function properly even if a dog is elected. Our situation is more like being forced to choose sides by two bad guys with guns at our hands."

Saito said, "I also discussed this issue with Koji Mitsuhiro. He said that this system has a drawback, which is that it cannot cope with situations where the elected people are worse than dogs."

"This..." Xia Fuying was stunned for a moment, and immediately felt that the question was full of flaws.

Should we focus on whether this system can function under a president who is worse than a dog, or should we focus on whether a president who is worse than a dog will emerge?

Do people like that really exist?

"He also said that if I live another thirty years, I will be able to see this day."

"Well... that's fine too. I look forward to seeing that day come. But as for you, do you really think you can live that long?"

As soon as the question was asked, Saito frowned.

"It's acting up again?" Xia Fuying asked worriedly.

"No, it's just that the cold wind has intensified."

Xia Fuying also noticed: "Yes, the cold wind has been blowing non-stop since just now, which is not like the normal climate here."

Saito looked up at the uneasy sky. As someone who was constantly exposed to the wind, he also vaguely sensed that something was wrong with the wind.

A blizzard might be coming.

.....

......

the other side.

Ke Zhiguang emerged from the hot spring area, his body steaming hot, feeling full of energy, especially his fists, which were perfect for unscrewing bottle caps and drinking some milk.

I heard that after soaking in the hot springs, it's a local tradition to stand in a row, put your hands on your hips, and drink milk in one gulp. Anyway, that's what the anime said.

Hokkaido milk is famous all over the world. The 1000 yen box of Shiroi Koibito (White Lover) milk sold at the airport used to be a must-buy souvenir for tourists from their home country. And the 25 yen Hokkaido ice cream at KFC is indeed exceptionally delicious.

Upon reaching the sales area, I grabbed a standard glass of milk, tilted my head back, and gulped it down in one go—glug glug glug!

That's right, that's the feeling. It's the authentic milky flavor, not the kind of milky milk that's been diluted with more than 60% water. In short, please leave your comments below.

The women's bath was ready, and a group of girls, hand in hand, filed out from behind the noren curtain, like a small group going to the toilet together after the school bell rang.

Upon seeing Ke Zhiguang, Xiong Ying immediately approached him excitedly: "Hey, comrade, we've finally met!"

"Hello, comrade." Ke Zhiguang waved politely.

Harushima Kaoru pointed at Ke Zhiguang and said, "You've already started drinking the milk! Don't you know that milk is only meaningful when everyone drinks it together?"

Oh, so there really is such a local tradition.

"So what should we do next?" Ke Zhiguang looked at the suddenly large tour group and suddenly felt a little lost.

To be honest, I'd really like to play against Otto Kuma and Horie Takami. After all, female Go players are a rare breed in the industry, and female players with a Cold War mentality are even more unprecedented.

Regardless, I'm shipping this couple!

However, if I were to say "Let's play a game" when everyone is busy relaxing and on vacation, I'd probably get beaten up, right?

“Let’s play a game—” Ke Zhiguang resolutely decided to court disaster.

"Rejected! Click! OUT!" Harushima Shika made three X's, and the others did the same.

The female guests all turned off their lights with a single click.

"According to tradition, after soaking in the hot springs, we play ping-pong," Ke Zhiguang said, pointing to the ping-pong table next to him.

In this day and age, there shouldn't be any claim that Homelanders are born with a natural talent for table tennis; everyone would probably gladly accept this suggestion.

Then you can show off your racial talents, hehehe.

Before coming here, Ke Zhiguang had already farmed the table tennis skill scrolls and skiing skill scrolls. Whenever he hoped to get the skill he wanted, the person carrying that skill scroll would most likely show up soon and appear on the opposite side of his chessboard.

Bai Meng rolled up her sleeves and said, "Okay, I've always been very confident in my table tennis skills, so go ahead and try..."

"Here, take your vocabulary list for tonight." Shao Gong suddenly pulled an English book out of the bathtub.

"Why do you bring this kind of thing into the bathroom?!"

Bai Meng was thus dragged back to her room by Shao Gong to study.

"Bai Meng seems to be having a really tough time lately," Ke Zhiguang muttered, feeling that her public image had undergone a complete transformation recently.

Shuicheng responded with a smile: "Everyone is working hard in their respective fields, Xiaoguang, you should keep it up too."

"clear."

After the two left, Yingmei picked up the bathtub, turned around and left, saying, "I'm not very interested in this. I'm going back to my room to rest."

And just like that, in the blink of an eye, only four people remained.

I feel like we could make a mahjong table.

"Tch, Takami's gone, this is so boring. Let's just go skiing tomorrow," Xiong Ying said, picking her ear.

"Then let's decide on this. We've been traveling all day, it's time to rest. Goodbye."

Squad mode has been officially discontinued, and the game has returned to single-player mode.

So what should we do now?

After soaking in the hot spring, I was indeed a bit sleepy, but looking at this huge and empty hotel, I couldn't resist the urge to explore and find some excitement.

But Ke Zhiguang ultimately decided to rest first, lest he encounter something and lose because he wasn't fully recovered, which would be a disaster.

Before returning to his room, he made a special trip to check on the bamboo knife forging. The man was still unconscious and was expected to recover by tomorrow. It was estimated that he would be able to lift the chess pieces by tomorrow night.

Ke Zhiguang returned to his room and began to ponder the snow scene outside the window.

The snow had lessened considerably, becoming a fine, misty blanket, but instead, a cold wind swept through the air.

As a result, Ke Zhiguang increasingly felt that something was about to happen.

Unfortunately, Ke Zhiguang did not bring a chessboard with him this time.

He also tried other chessboards to see if the item teleportation effect could be achieved, but it didn't work.

Having played professionally for so long, Ke Zhiguang's chessboard has been constantly updated. It has been changed from the plastic chessboard that the school club gave him for free to the bamboo chessboard, and now it has been changed to a slightly more advanced spruce chessboard. The location where the items spawn has also changed on these chessboards.

Specifically, Ke Zhiguang will only use a particular chessboard and then apply the skill to that board. In other words, if Ke Zhiguang goes out and brings back any random chessboard, it won't be able to apply anything.

But... that's not necessarily true.

With his current chess skills, his connection with the god of quantum mechanics is much stronger than before, and he might be able to break a small exception.

Ke Zhiguang borrowed a chessboard from the hotel's front desk. As a health resort specializing in chess players, it naturally had no shortage of such items.

In order to achieve the effect of "using it", playing a game of chess on it is also necessary.

So he knocked on the door of the deer on the island: "Hey, wake up, come out and play chess."

"Get out! I'm already in bed. Go play chess with yourself in your dreams!"

Oh?

This actually reminded Ke Zhiguang that as long as the conditions for using this method are met, it should be possible to attack and suffer a setback on one's own, right?

"Thank you for reminding me, I'll go play it by myself now."

"?" Harushima Deer typed this.

Ke Zhiguang came to the chessboard, began to concentrate, and then placed the pieces.

Whether this method will work or not is not important. At worst, we can just pretend nothing happened and this trip was just a trip.

Concentrate your energy and divide yourself in two, one side holding black and the other white.

The ticking sound on the chessboard was especially clear in the snowy night.

An hour passed, and the game finally ended.

Ending the self-inflicted attack and defense, broaden your perspective and take a look at the overall game—

It turned out that a problem really did occur.

The game was unexpectedly unfamiliar; many parts were different from what I remembered.

This is simply a completely different game of chess.

In other words... he might not have been playing against himself, but against something else.

Ke Zhiguang looked around but found nothing and felt nothing; only the cold wind howled outside the window.

this.....

Wait, what... am I playing chess with?

Strange things, even though they didn't appear, this absence is, in many ways, a kind of appearance.

Moreover, this "appearance" is much more sinister.

Chapter Seven: Highbrow Art

Ke Zhiguang pursed his lips, realizing that something was wrong.

How best to describe the current situation?

Simply put, he thought he was playing chess with himself, but he was actually playing chess with some strange thing.

This thing, secretly and without anyone noticing, sat down opposite itself and finished the game of chess.

He recalled the last time he was on a mission at Peach Blossom Village, when he played a game of chess with Ghost Lord in the chess hall. His opponent couldn't even display a symbolic spirit, which was quite strange and left him completely stunned.

But this time, they didn't even show their opponents.

Ke Zhiguang's first reaction was, of course, that the god of quantum mechanics had directly entered the game and made his move.

But after carefully studying the game, he felt that this was not the case.