The work of the Go master

The moonlight began to calm down, and the reflections on the pond became clearer.

"Inoue's relationship with her parents must not be very good, right?" Ke Zhiguang suddenly asked.

That's the impression Inoue gave him.

"It's really not good. Otherwise, she wouldn't have thought of coming to Tokyo alone. At home, she lives the life of a pampered young lady, and at school, she's treated like a star, adored by everyone." Harushima Shika lowered her eyebrows slightly. "I always felt she was strangely stubborn, as if she was fighting against something..."

Ke Zhiguang was somewhat surprised; it turned out that Qingdaolu had also sensed these things.

A young lady from a wealthy family gives up her comfortable life of being taken care of to become a roommate and junior at Qingdaolu's place, relying on herself and sometimes even having to take care of Qingdaolu. She might even be in charge of all the poop-scooping activities for that Border Collie. It sounds incredibly inspiring.

Moreover, she moved into Harushima Kano's house not through her parents' connections, but through her older sister's.

"Like a rebellious runaway girl..." Ke Zhiguang recalled the emotions he felt through the moves she made during their game that day.

Recalling, recalling—

Ke Zhiguang burst out laughing.

Because whenever I recall that day, I'll think of the image of a gangster girl I've conjured up in my mind, with most of her shoulder showing, like a casino owner's wife, which makes me want to laugh until my stomach hurts.

"I... I'm rebellious too! Didn't you see yesterday? I've been waiting for a chance to overthrow my mother's tyranny!" Harushima Shika suddenly retorted excitedly.

Well...rebellious doesn't seem like a good word, does it?

Why did she react as if Xingcai had been praised while she herself hadn't, and therefore she was very unhappy?

"Okay, okay, you're rebellious too, you're rebellious too."

However, judging from the gruesome scene yesterday where she was spanked by Madam Harushima, she has two ways to overthrow her mother's tyranny.

The first, more realistic approach was that Martians arrived and helped her overthrow Lady Harujima's tyranny.

Another approach is through science fiction, where she uses her own power to push Mrs. Harushima away.

After dinner, a burp escaped his lips, and Ke Zhiguang suddenly remembered the card he had gotten from Xingcai earlier—

"They are watching her."

Sure enough, "they" refers to the Inoue couple.

The meaning expressed is the degree of control they exerted over Xingcai, and Xingcai's decision to come to Tokyo alone to live is a rebellious response to this control.

Of course, her coming to Tokyo must have been with her parents' consent. Thinking about it that way, it's just a typical family conflict, the kind that often occurs when children are around 16 years old.

Can things that quantum mechanics specifically emphasizes really be ordinary?

The answer, like the night in the courtyard, is elusive and unpredictable.

After dinner, Ke Zhiguang returned to his room. Tomorrow's match was still early in the morning, and without his dog-girl maid... oops, without the comfort of his cozy little house, he couldn't stay out too late.

But as he passed through the courtyard corridor, he suddenly noticed that in addition to the car that the Inoue couple had just driven over, there was also a flashy pink convertible sports car parked at the entrance.

This... no need to think about it, this is Nishi Chiaki's car. In the Go world, there shouldn't be anyone else who drives such a flashy thing besides him.

The moonlight began to dim again, and the evening breeze started to grow chilly.

It seems that some force is quietly changing the landscape tonight.

......

......

In the middle of the night, the entire mansion fell asleep, and even the room where the bamboo sword was forged was dark.

The only place where the lights were still on was the living room where Xuan Yuzhi was; it seemed he wasn't planning to sleep tonight.

Nishi Chiaki walked out of the mansion. Before leaving, he glanced back at the brightly lit living room and could vaguely see a figure sitting in front of the chessboard, anxiously arranging the chess pieces.

"You're really working hard, but you're going in the wrong direction. No matter how hard you work, it won't work." Nishi Chiaki sighed helplessly, and then walked out of the courtyard gate.

He got into his car, raised the roof, and then called out to Tatsumi Koshikawa.

"Hello, is this my dear Akira?" Besides Tatsumi Koshikawa's voice, there was also the sound of ice cubes swirling in a wine glass.

"I've successfully taken care of the clock. I swapped it with the original one without Xuan Yuzhi's permission and did it secretly on my own," Nishi Qianzhang said.

This may be what Tatsumi Koshikawa meant: some acts of "help" do not require the consent of the person being helped.

"To make it easy for him to recognize that it was the clock I gave him that day, I specially left a mark on it so that he could immediately understand that we were helping him." Nishi Chiaki rubbed the ring on his ring finger.

Although it's just an ordinary red ring, it's easy to scrape off powder if you scratch it hard.

During his meeting with Xuan Yuzhi that day, he kept dangling the ring, leaving a deep impression on the other party.

When the match starts tomorrow, Xuan Yuzhi will be surprised to find a faint red mark on the same type of clock that looks exactly the same as the one used in today's game.

Then he will understand that he has been helped.

Nishi Chiaki asked hesitantly, "I have a question. Does that clock really work?"

Chapter Forty-Eight: Meeting in the Dark

"I tried that timer myself, but it didn't seem to have any obvious effect," Nishi Chiaki said, expressing his doubts.

According to Tatsumi Koshikawa, its effect is to give one side 2 seconds in the 20-second countdown, but when Chiaki Nishi actually tried it, he couldn't really feel this time fluctuation.

But that's alright. His Dosaku title is a two-day, super-long-duration Go tournament, with each side having up to 10 hours of time. He's not really sensitive to the time limit.

But wouldn't a professional fast chess team like Ke Zhiguang and Zhudao Duan really feel the impact of this?

"Whether it works or not depends entirely on Tomosuke himself... Just keep an eye on it tomorrow, Tomosuke won't let us down," said Tatsumi Koshikawa.

He continued, "But let's not forget that Zhi Shang's goal is to win the championship, but our goal is just to make him a teammate."

Nishi Chiaki said, "I understand... Speaking of teammates, have our other teammates been finalized yet?"

"The only one missing is Zhi. He should contact us the day after this tournament ends. We'll need you, Zhang, to help him out then."

“Understood.” Nishi Chiaki nodded easily.

After spending some time together, he became more familiar with Tatsumi Koshikawa, at least confirming that he wasn't a lunatic who would suddenly pull out a pistol and kill his subordinates while gracefully dancing Swan Lake. The dialogue also didn't contain much riddles.

Although he was mad, he was also full of rationality.

Honestly, this kind of person is much scarier than a mentally ill person.

Now, besides thinking about the upcoming Dragon Throne Battle, Nishi Chiaki is also thinking about how to sever ties with Koshikawa Tatsumi after the Dragon Throne Battle so that he can continue to work in the industry.

"However, there's one thing I need to make clear beforehand: under the pressure from Yagami Kunikyo, assembling a strong and trustworthy team isn't easy. When you meet the other two teammates besides me and Tomokazu, don't be disappointed, Akira."

Nishi Chiaki smiled with his eyes closed: "I understand, the main force is the three of us, right?"

"That's it. By the way, the lineup for Yagami Kunikyo has also been finalized. He's using an all-ninth-dan lineup, with Saito Sanmichi as the main commander and Kiko Seinoka as the vice commander. I don't know the rest of the list."

"A full 9-dan lineup? Can those people still play Go?" Nishi Chiaki was somewhat surprised.

"Never underestimate their strength. Back in the days before the concept of fortune existed, they were already playing chess. It was pure chess, completely devoid of any pursuit of profit. The prosperity of the chess world today is built on their hard work."

"But their current strength is already..."

"That's not a problem. As one of the powers of the Imperial Chess, Yagami Kunikyo's ability is to grant them the ability to regain their youth. After three months of intensive training, they will be incredibly strong."

The ability to regain youth—this was the first time Nishi Chiaki had heard this concept.

But that's not surprising at all; just look at how young Yagami Kunikyo looks.

"So this team of pure 9-dan players is our biggest opponent this time?"

"Of course not. Our biggest rival has always been Ke Zhiguang's team."

Nishi Chiaki sighed softly, "As expected, we still can't get around him. Who will his teammates be?"

"Judging from his network of connections, Harushima Shika is very likely to join. He may have developed some camaraderie with Taketsukagi during this tournament. As for the other two spots, I don't know."

"This... does someone with this kind of strength really deserve to stand on the final stage?" Nishi Chiaki was somewhat embarrassed.

After watching the matches over the past two days, in terms of raw strength, Koji Hikaru and Taketo Tsukasa are probably good enough. However, to reach the finals of the Dragon Throne Battle, what is needed is not just raw strength, but also another kind of indescribable power.

Bamboo swords likely do not possess this kind of power.

I don't know what Ke Zhiguang said.

It's quite surprising that Shiorishima Kashiwa managed to get into this team.

Given this level of strength on paper, the remaining two spots seem even more precarious.

The final lineup might only be described as a makeshift team.

Koshikawa Ryuki's laughter was tinged with drunkenness: "I'll say it again, don't underestimate them. As for Koji Mitsu, you just need to wait and see. As for Taketo Forge, I've always regarded him as an equal to Gen-gyoku Tomo. And as for Harushima Shika... don't forget, she's Harushima Isshin's daughter. Isshin-senpai's soul resides in her Go board."

“Yes, I will be wary of them,” Nishi Chiaki nodded, not intending to continue on this topic.

Although they were talking about other players, Nishi Chiaki was terrified of being called out by name and receiving a negative evaluation that was full of subtle undertones.

If it were negative comments from other players, Nishi Chiaki would only think it was jealousy from his peers, but when Koshikawa Tatsumi points it out, it gives people a sense of fatalism, like a judgment.

Thus, the meeting under the cover of darkness came to an end, and the sun rose the next day with its last rays of red.

......

......

The second day of the competition started as scheduled, and the commentary team was in place in advance.

"Hello everyone, this is the second day of the Grand Tournament Final Round Round. I'm Lizi."

"Uh... I'm Harushima Deer."

"Princess Qingdao gave a commentary all day yesterday, but is she still not used to the commentary environment?"

"Well, you can't say that. I just didn't sleep well last night. After all, today might be the last day, so I'm a little nervous." Harushima Shika yawned, looking like she wasn't thinking before she spoke.

"Do other people get nervous in the finals too?"

"Ah, no, I mean... uh, the thought of possibly saying goodbye to this commentary booth tonight is making me nervous all night," Harushima Shika immediately corrected, feigning modesty.

She was too embarrassed to admit it, but even though it was someone else's final, she inexplicably spent the whole night rolling around in bed like crazy, feeling wave after wave of pressure on her chest.

The more optimistic she was about Ke Zhiguang winning the championship, the stronger the pressure became.

—This, they probably didn't actually plant a flag for him or something, right?

Reiko said to the screen, "Xuan Yu Zhi Shang is already in place. He doesn't look very well. He probably spent the whole night studying alone in the training room... The referee team has also entered the arena. You can see that the chief referees of this tournament, the Inoue couple, have arrived."

Inside the match hall, the 17-dan couple sat upright on the referee's table, their powerful aura causing those around them to tremble with unease.