The work of the Go master

Of course, it won't interfere with Ke Zhiguang's normal thinking and calculations.

So far, this skill has not shown any particularly strong effects.

The strongest emotion Ke Zhiguang has received so far is heartbreak. The chess player he was playing against at the time was in the midst of grief after being dumped in a love triangle, and every move he made was filled with a strong sense of melancholy. The background music of "Unreachable" played throughout the entire game.

Oh, and there was another game, a match against a middle-aged chess player who had just been cheated on, making him even more depressed. The background music playing at that time was... "All the Way North".

At this moment, the emotions conveyed by Xingcai's move seemed even stronger.

Thorns grow in abundance, and flames burn.

Anxious and uneasy, stubborn and rebellious.

Ke Zhiguang suddenly conjured up this scene in his mind... Xingcai, like a gangster girl, exposed half of her tattooed arm, her chest wrapped in bandages, dragging a short knife in her hand, her face covered in blood, and carrying the raging flames on her back, walking into the dark moonlight overgrown with thorns.

Thinking about it that way, it's actually quite cool.

But this feeling only lasted for a moment.

Because Ke Zhiguang had already made a decisive counterattack on the chessboard, or rather, a punishment for Xingcai's rash attack.

To be honest, the industry terminology uses the word "punishment," and this is really not some weird color.

As if a bucket of ice water had been poured over her, Xingcai's eyes flickered, and she immediately understood how reckless her previous move had been.

Often, playing chess is like this: one second you've placed a piece on the board, and the next you start to regret it.

It's like an online novel author who publishes the latest chapter one second and then immediately thinks about whether they can delete it the next.

Xingcai sighed, "I acted impulsively without thinking, giving you such a good opportunity to retaliate, senior."

"Do you want to take back your move? If you're nice and ask me sincerely, I might actually accept it."

"Really? I also think that if you had been a little nicer, I might have actually brought up the idea of ​​backing out." Xingcai gave a light snort and flicked her eyes at the other person.

Even in online chess, if you accidentally slide your paddle onto a line, you can't bring yourself to take back a move, let alone face-to-face.

The game continued, and Xingcai, provoked by Ke Zhiguang, became even more aggressive.

Thus, the game quickly came to an end.

Star color, light speed death.

"Senior is truly a master of psychological warfare. Knowing that he couldn't win by playing normally, he started to use psychological tactics outside the game." Xingcai slammed the chess piece into the corner, indicating that she was admitting defeat, looking rather unconvinced.

"Was it really not you who made the wrong move on impulse? If Saito were sitting across from you, he would definitely have given you a piece of his mind after the game."

So, does that mean I should thank you for being lenient and not harshly reprimanding me?

"That's right, aren't you already eager to praise me as a gentleman?" Ke Zhiguang shook his collar.

"Yes, yes, yes, Asahi Sassi."

It's 9:30 PM now, and this game of chess has only been going on for 45 minutes, about the length of a class period.

The nightlife outside is just beginning; Tokyo is more like it's about to awaken than to fall asleep.

After leaving the chess hall, the two continued their journey together for a while.

"Have you been feeling anxious lately?" Ke Zhiguang asked directly.

"Actually, I've always been anxious, and it's not something that's been happening recently or recently," Xingcai replied calmly. "Anxiety is a normal part of life for young people. A neurotic optimist like you, senior, is extremely rare."

"Thorns." Ke Zhiguang suddenly uttered this word.

"Huh? What?" Xingcai asked, confused.

"flame."

Is this a riddle?

"A gangster girl, tattooed arms, holding a short knife, face covered in blood." Ke Zhiguang poured out all the images he had imagined.

"Senior, are you imitating some comic book line?" Xingcai asked, looking puzzled.

"It's nothing, just performance art. Occasionally speaking abstractly can help improve my chess skills."

It seems that simply engaging in abstract activities is not enough to resonate with the other party.

Perhaps it's true, as Xingcai said, that anxiety is the main theme of young people's lives.

Even if you dig deep into the source of her anxiety, you won't find anything earth-shattering or earth-shattering. Instead, you'll only find some trivial details of her life, such as her reluctance to get up early, her frustration when her gums bleed while brushing her teeth, or missing the early bus and the crowded subway.

If we're not strong enough, we might be swallowed up by the city of Tokyo... Ke Zhiguang thought of what the other person had just said.

Logically speaking, Xingcai should already be powerful enough, with her wealthy family background, knowledge of fortune, outstanding personal abilities, and so on.

Even so, is she still unable to defeat this city?

Or is there another enemy she has?

“Hey, Xingcai, if you have any problems or difficulties, be sure to ask us for help,” Ke Zhiguang suddenly said.

"Oh?" Xingcai turned her head in confusion.

“At the very least, if you have any complaints, please be sure to talk to Qingdao first. Although I don’t expect her to have any good solutions, at least she will listen carefully to you finish venting your frustrations,” Ke Zhiguang said.

Putting everything else aside, Harushima Kaori is born with an aura of liveliness. Wherever she appears, the air is filled with joy. She is like a modern-day Kong Yiji, guaranteed to dispel any unpleasant gloom like a sunny day.

After a moment of stunned disbelief with wide pupils, Xingcai chuckled softly: "Well, if I really had this kind of trouble, I would definitely tell her. But based on my experience, she usually comes to me to pour out her troubles, and I listen attentively."

"this......"

I almost forgot, Harushima Kaoru is, after all, just a 15-year-old underage girl, and really doesn't have the ability to be someone else's life mentor.

No, she's already 16 this year, which means she's not far from the legal marriage age in the area.

It's all Xingcai's fault for calling everyone "senior" here, which gave Kezhiguang the illusion for a moment that Qingdaolu was the big sister.

Her seniority mainly refers to her status in the world of Go; in real life, Harushima Kashima would have to call Hoshia-neechan (older sister).

"By the way, speaking of Harushima-senpai, I should tell you that she will be leaving Tokyo again for a while."

"She just arrived in Tokyo yesterday, and she's gone again today?" Ke Zhiguang asked.

“This afternoon after dinner, her mother knocked on the door, saying she wanted to take her back to her hometown to see her grandparents. Last year she couldn’t go back because she was preparing for the princess title competition, but she has to go back this year. She’ll be gone for about half a month,” Xingcai said.

"I see, I understand." Ke Zhiguang nodded, seeing that his grandparents' behavior was perfectly reasonable.

Unfortunately, it was impossible to find out the points she carried immediately.

Where is her hometown?

"In Seto, her family's main business is a ceramics factory, which is a well-established enterprise that has been around for hundreds of years, but it is the woman's family's business."

This reminded Ke Zhiguang of something. He had indeed heard that Harujima Isshin was originally a worker at a ceramics factory in Seto, but he suddenly became good at Go, which led him to a remarkable turnaround and, incidentally, he married the boss's daughter... It had a very capitalist fairy tale feel to it, encouraging workers to work hard so that they too could marry the boss's daughter.

"But you don't need to worry about not seeing her. The local TV station and the chess academy's newspaper branch plan to produce a program for her. In a few days, you will see her on camera again."

Ke Zhiguang recalled that some time ago, Qingdaolu was offline for two months because of the Women's Cup.

However, during that period I could often learn about her through news and television, so I had the feeling that she was still alive and kicking around beside me.

They soon arrived at the women's dormitory. After saying goodbye to Xingcai, they watched her figure disappear into the women's dormitory elevator.

Damn, my hands are so itchy, I really want to go in and grab another bunch of plush toys.

However, the security guard next to me looked quite fierce, so I decided to give up on that idea.

Ke Zhiguang stood downstairs for a moment, until the living room light in room 2509 came on, before he turned and left with peace of mind.

After thinking about it, I decided that Xingcai should solve her own problem.

Everyone has their share of difficulties, and they don't want others to interfere; they just want to solve them on their own.

After all, during the game just now, in addition to anxiety and unease, Ke Zhiguang also sensed a strong rebellious spirit.

It's like having a resolute expression as you move forward through a thicket of thorns, no matter how many times you get pricked, you'll reach the other side of the thorns.

Now, he has to take care of his own things.

Back in his room at Peach Blossom Studio, Ke Zhiguang unveiled the curtain on the chessboard, where a stack of chess scores lay laid out.

There are 13 chess scores in total. According to the rule of "10 points for each exchange", it corresponds exactly to his current score of 133 points, with 3 points left over.

Each chess notation includes instructions for one move, as well as a diagram of 19 variations.

These game records are all derived from his past game records, but he cannot specify the game records or which move to guide.

Basically, you can think of this "divine move" optional task as a lottery system. Whichever chess game record you draw, that's the game record you get, and whichever move you draw, that's the move you get.

Fortunately, this task can be done infinitely, essentially making it a daily task.

But besides the game record, there was something else on the chessboard—

[Location Description Card: Inoue Shrine]

This... actually got shipped.

The location information card, which I haven't seen in a long time, makes me feel very warm and familiar.

Xingcai had always shown two unexploded items. I had played against her a few times before but they didn't drop. I didn't expect that one would drop in just one game.

Could it be that... the trigger condition is that you have to let two pieces go?

So, does the last item she carries have to be upgraded to the third level?

Ke Zhiguang browsed through the location information card—

The Inoue family's ancestral shrine, a sacred site situated in the middle of a lake, is a place where shrine maidens are responsible for communicating with the gods.

Could this deity be the god of quantum mechanics? Or perhaps one of its kind?

Every year, many retired chess players come from far and wide, hoping to play a game with the priestess and receive divine blessings.

This is easy to understand. According to Ke Zhiguang's understanding, this is also a way of transmitting fortune.

The Go community regularly holds matches between veteran 9-dan players and celebrities, supposedly so that these celebrities can share in the fortune of their matches.

These retired Go players also like to visit this shrine, play against the gods, and reap the benefits of their blessings.

Even gods make mistakes.

The word "we" was used intentionally. So, gods can exist in plural form?

That makes sense, since it's Shintoism, where gods are clustered together.

So, where does the god of quantum mechanics rank among these gods?