The work of the Go master

"Heh, I'm used to his way of making an entrance." Harushima Shika spread her little arms.

"Excuse me, Senior Xiong Ying, would you like to play a game of Go with me?" Ke Zhiguang asked somewhat abruptly, but considering that the other party was older and more experienced in the industry than him, he simply used the term "senior".

Harushima Deer was speechless for a moment, and could only sigh... I knew you were going to do this.

"Shall we play chess now?" Xiong Ying asked.

"Yes, we can't get out now anyway, so there's no better time for a duel, right?" Ke Zhiguang's lips curled up slightly, revealing the provocative smile he had been practicing for many days.

Anyone in the underworld must master this provocative technique.

The living room dining table, which was incredibly boring just a moment ago, suddenly became subtly interesting. There was a restless energy in the air, and Xiong Ying's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, as if she wanted to respond to this provocation.

"Enough talk, let's duel!" Xiong Ying kicked herself up from the table, the force of which shook the table slightly. "I don't know what happened, but we're going to fight, right?"

"For chess players, when they get together, this is the way to do it... By the way, senior Takami, can you be my next opponent?" Koji Hikaru turned his challenging (provocative) gaze to Takami again.

Takami's gaze darted left and right, from the enthusiastic Kuma Sakura to the resigned Harujima Shika, and then to Koji Hikaru's expression that said, "I won't let you leave until I play a game."

She downed the cup of green tea in one gulp and slammed it down on the coffee table.

"Then come on. Since you're already itching to come here, I have no reason to back down. But there's one thing you need to understand: although both Silly Bear and I are female Go players, if we're really talking about raw skill, you might not be as easy to defeat as other female Go players." Eagle Beauty and Sakura Xiong stood on the same line, unleashing an astonishing aura as if they were combined.

Cold War group, join forces!

“Yes, according to the first law of Tom and Jerry, no one can get away unscathed after messing with both Jerry and Tom at the same time.” Xiong Ying smirked, pretending to be a fierce and ruthless woman who had been licking blood from the knife’s edge, but in reality, she was simply wiping away a trace of food left from eating dessert earlier.

Her analogy... sounds really amazing! Throughout the whole story, anyone who dares to mess with both Tom and Jerry is already hanging on a rack, spinning around and getting a spanking.

But... is this "Tom and Jerry" analogy really that versatile?

To be fair, Ke Zhiguang himself likes to use "Tom and Jerry" as a metaphor and example.

Before the chessboard, Ke Zhiguang and Xiong Ying sat facing each other, with the sky outside the window about to go out.

The moment Xiong Ying sat down in front of the chessboard, her aura was completely renewed, and her eyes were filled with the resolute light of a warrior. Her posture was also quite standard, and her figure was perfectly accentuated. A fiery red ponytail draped behind her like a phoenix feather.

Like Takami, she is exceptionally tall, standing out among Japanese women, almost at eye level with Kazuhiro.

Their teacher was Kiko Seinoka, and under the old princess's orthodox education, their aura was naturally beyond question.

From that moment on, the person sitting opposite him was no longer the carefree and silly bear he usually was, but a top female chess player who was extremely bloodthirsty and warlike on the chessboard.

"You can handle the timeframe yourself; I won't make any demands, just resolve it as soon as possible," said Ke Zhiguang.

"No problem." Xiong Ying nodded gently.

"Then, let's begin!"

A handful of pieces were drawn from the chess box for the coin toss, and Ke Zhiguang immediately made a single move for the coin toss.

It was a rare occurrence that they guessed correctly and successfully got the black pieces.

With a deep breath, Ke Zhiguang raised the chess piece high—

Thud! It landed in the fourth row, sixth column!

"This? This is the game you came here with such fighting spirit?" Harushima Shika complained, looking at the nonsensical move that floated on the sixth line.

So you just came here to download it for fun?

Chapter Fourteen: You two should hurry up and get your marriage certificate!

"Starting with these moves, does this mean this game can be played for entertainment?" Xiong Ying asked calmly.

"Please take this very seriously. You will be the first player to test your skills against my latest opening strategy," Ke Zhiguang replied earnestly.

"If that's how you put it, then I won't hold back." Xiong Ying frowned, her long, straight fingers reaching into the chess box.

As her chess piece fell, a dark curtain poured down like water, and the howling of a bear stirred up gusts of bloody wind.

The symbolic spirit is indeed a bear, this person.

Lord of the Arctic

The largest land carnivore

[When facing the Lord of the Sky, all abilities reach perfection.]

A giant, silvery-white bear emerged from behind Xiong Ying, its massive body resembling a white-painted chariot, each breath carrying an icy effect.

This thing is truly enormous; it's the largest land carnivore, even more ferocious than tigers or lions. No wonder in some works, A-class hybrids can be chased by it.

As for the Lord of the Sky mentioned in the third paragraph, it definitely doesn't refer to the Sky Dragon, but rather to Eagle Beauty... to put it bluntly, it's Eagle. The names of these two symbolic spirits are written all over their faces.

He also knew Xiong Ying quite well. When she played against other players, her strength seemed average. Although she was a top female player, she was still not strong enough to challenge top male players like Qingdao Lu or Xingyue.

However, her games with Takami often achieve results beyond imagination. If the names of the players were covered up, one might mistake them for two top-tier, fiercely competitive players engaging in a passionate battle.

Conversely, the same applies to Takami. She can only reach her peak condition when fighting against Kuma Sakura. If nothing unexpected happens, Takami should also have the effect of "achieving perfection in all aspects when facing the Lord of the North Pole".

So—when the hell are you guys going to get your marriage certificate?!

The third move, placed on the 64 point, unleashed an even more magnificent and sweeping wave of energy across the board than the first move at the center point.

"Yang Chunliu, please enlighten me." Ke Zhiguang felt as if he were speaking to Shen Shang.

"Yangchunliu, well, it just means spring, right? Then let me turn it into winter!"

As expected, there's no future in discussing one's ancestral culture with someone of Japanese and Soviet descent.

Although there was no upper limit set on the timer, the game continued to progress at a high speed thanks to the tacit understanding between the two. The chessboard and the sky were both swept by wind and snow, without a trace of spring.

On move 36, Ke Zhiguang swiftly removed a piece and placed it on the high position of the board, creating a huge pocket shape in the air above the board, forming a subtle but powerful envelopment on the lower side.

A giant net, spanning half the sky, was cast down upon the polar bear!

On move 48, the polar bear's nose twitched, sensing a perfect opportunity. Xiong Ying immediately raised a piece, forcefully extending a piece that was hanging on the corner of the Ke Zhi Guang! A bloody local battle erupted.

Now is not the best time to fight...

But it's pointless to talk about these things with female chess players. Besides the fact that female chess players have a higher rate of making mistakes than male players, the biggest difference lies in their playing style. They are almost all uniformly aggressive. In terms of fighting spirit, female chess players have always been more hungry than male players. It can be said that they are like tigers at the age of forty.

In terms of combat techniques, female chess players at this level naturally have no technical flaws, but they often lack a keen sense of timing in combat.

"Starting the fight now is too early!"

Based on professional judgment, Kezhiguang immediately launched a strong counterattack!

The thinking time was less than ten seconds. An unusual move was made to collide with the opponent's piece. It seemed like a soft move hitting a hard one, but in reality, the soft piece hit the weak spot on the hard one!

With a snap, the polar bear was struck hard in the face, and one of its fangs broke off.

"There are such localized tactics?" Xiong Ying exclaimed. "Is this the strength of Masaka, the Rising Star title holder who hasn't had his three-peat broken yet?"

"You should keep those words in your mind! Don't you feel ashamed to say them out loud?!" Harushima Shika couldn't help but retort.

"Actually, the only one who's embarrassed is Luluko herself."

"puff--"

Despite her playful antics, Xiong Ying quickly refocused on the game of chess, her pupils shrinking.

"Since that's the case, then—"

The move that tore through the storm came from between Xiong Ying's pieces; it was an equally elegant and stylish counter-attack, which was exactly the optimal solution for the current situation.

The polar bear's sharp claws came hurtling down!

With a hissing sound, Ke Zhiguang felt a burning gash on his chest, as if he had been scratched hard by a cat.

The aggressive style of chess player truly lives up to its reputation.

Although the actual pain felt is just a light thud from the kitten.

The night began to spill over into the sky outside the window, and the glass window vibrated slightly, perhaps because of the cold wind, or perhaps because of the atmosphere created by the game of Go.

The cold wind from the north continued to howl, and the appointed time drew ever closer, pressing in like the rapid beat of a drum.

We need to speed things up!

On the seventieth move, the final strike, the flying shield, shot out like an arrow, hitting the polar bear in its vital spot. Ke Zhiguang immediately leaped up and punched the polar bear in the cheek, turning it into a panda emoji-like image.

We're in a rush right now, so we should just take action against the symbolic spirits we need to defeat and forcefully persuade them to retreat.

That said, why does this bear feel so good to pet?

Wait, don't go! Give me a few more rounds!

After being punched and its art style was distorted, the polar bear also fled in panic, along with its owner, who lost the will to fight back and obediently lay down.

"Ugh, Shinsei-kun is so strong! He wiped out our house in a single battle." After a flurry of thoughts, Xiong Ying deflated and sprawled out on the tatami mat, striking a defeated pose.

"Hey! What are you doing? Put your clothes on properly!" Harushima Deer noticed that the other person's collar was open and immediately rushed over, quickly straightening it for her, interrupting this wave of "perfection."

Hmm... to be honest, you weren't dressed very neatly either at the hotel last time...

"LuLu, you've become so much more like a wife lately."

"Go away! Only a fool would become a married woman."

"So here's the question: are you doing this because you're worried I'll be seen, or because you're worried Shinseong-kun will see me? If Shinseong-kun were another boy, would you still be this enthusiastic...?"

"Pah! Pah! Misty Butterfly, Missy Parissa!" Qingdao Lu suddenly became incoherent, forcefully drowning out Xiong Ying's words with his voice, so that no one around could hear what Xiong Ying was saying.

Speaking of that standard pronunciation, it seems her princess title refers to Sun Daolu, right?

"Get out of the way, it's my turn." Ying Mei took Xiong Ying's place as a matter of course, sat opposite Ke Zhiguang's chessboard, and revealed a cold and serious fierce look.

She tied up a strand of hair on the side of her head that had been highlighted with blue, turning it into a single side ponytail in the style of a ram's horn, which looked very fashionable and powerful.

This isn't just a Cold War couple, it's a red-blue couple? Or even a mature woman couple? Just how high can this buff stack?

“Very good, then let’s continue.” Ke Zhiguang said without hesitation.

Skip the pointless rest time and start the second game immediately.

Chapter Fifteen: The Blizzard Is Coming

After the initial guessing, Ke Zhiguang continued playing black, and then—Yangchun Liu, a second bloom!

When Yingmei's chess piece was placed, what appeared behind her was indeed a bald eagle, but its size had been magnified many times over, making it a giant creature of the same weight as the polar bear from before.

As expected, the bald eagle also displayed the characteristic of having "perfect all-around abilities when fighting the Lord of the North Pole."