The work of the Go master

I always feel like I'm walking down a road of no return.

The store manager walked in at that moment: "Good morning, Harushima."

Thinking she'd been caught red-handed, Harushima Kashiwa immediately bristled: "No! I didn't do that!"

Store manager: "Huh? What?"

Harushima Kashima: "Uh...it's nothing, good morning, shop manager."

Store Manager: "It's good that everything's alright. But what's your plan for putting these past issues of magazines at the very front of the bookshelf?"

As the store manager said, the top shelf in front of the counter should only display the latest issue of magazines such as "Between Black and White," but today the top shelf is filled with older issues, released a month ago.

Harushima Shika answered somewhat hesitantly, "Well, I... because there's an interview with me in this episode."

The store manager took a few seconds to process what he meant and immediately understood.

"You want that boy who's been coming here a lot lately to get to know you, right?" the shop manager bluntly pointed out.

Harujima Deer felt a tightness in her chest.

"No, that's not it. I just wanted him to know how amazing I am."

"Then why don't you just tell him who you are?" the store manager continued to ask.

“How can that be? Manager, he should be the one to find out. If I tell him myself, wouldn’t it make it seem like I’m desperately wanting him to know my identity?” Harushima said, hands on her hips, not at all thinking there was anything wrong with her statement.

The script in her mind is probably like this—

"Harushima, I didn't know you were this amazing?" he said with great admiration after reading the magazine.

She pretended not to care and said, "Oh, speaking of which, I do seem to have had an interview with me in that episode."

The script is just that perfect.

The store manager was speechless for a moment, not quite understanding the way young people think.

Ke Zhiguang's voice suddenly came from outside the door: "Qingdao, good morning, I've brought you some maternal... oops, papaya milk again."

"Isn't today Friday?" Harujima Shika asked in surprise, as this person should be in class.

"Our school is going to be the venue for the first round of the upcoming National High School Go League. The staff came to inspect the venue in advance, so the school simply let us go," Ke Zhiguang said.

As expected of a relaxed education system, the students were all released for such a trivial reason, which made Ke Zhiguang suspect that it was just the teachers who wanted to take a vacation.

"Has Yoshida been here these past few days?" Ke Zhiguang asked.

"It's strange, really. He hasn't come these past few days. Usually, if he loses money one day, he'll definitely come back the next day to try and win it back. Don't let his appearance fool you, he's actually quite wealthy and has a lot of free time. The money he lost to you is nothing to him." Harushima Shika recalled the comings and goings of customers these past few days, but didn't see Yoshida anywhere.

"I see."

Ke Zhiguang frowned in deep thought.

A few days ago, he met Yoshida, who was afflicted by the "plague rats," in a somewhat gloomy commercial district in Chiyoda Ward, and watched him walk into an unnamed underground shopping street.

It was like watching someone possessed by a demon walk into a demonic realm.

He really did seem to have vanished; he hasn't shown up for the past few days.

Ke Zhiguang took a deep breath and silently prayed for him for a few seconds, considering it his way of showing his affection.

After placing the milk on the counter, Ke Zhiguang's gaze naturally fell on the binoculars next to it.

"What is this telescope?"

"Ahhh! That's it!"

As Harushima Kashiwa reached for the binoculars, Koji Hikaru grabbed them first and examined them closely.

It's all over; the evidence has been discovered.

The art style of Harushima Kashiwagi was so bad it made me lose my sense of color. I imagined myself being handcuffed and thrown into a police station, charged with something like voyeurism.

"Using a telescope instead of a lucky cat is a really good idea," said Ke Zhiguang.

Harushima Deer: "Hmm?"

Ke Zhiguang was pleasantly surprised. He hadn't expected Qingdaolu to be so punk, using something as steampunk as a telescope to replace the lucky cat as a decoration in the store.

No wonder he praised her as a beautiful girl whose aesthetic sense is years ahead of the industry.

Unfortunately, it was just a telescope and didn't show any signs of spiritual entities.

"Uh, yeah, it was an idea that just popped into my head," Harujima Shikachi said, picking up the thread smoothly.

The store manager suddenly said to Ke Zhiguang, "Young man, I see you come to the store often. Would you be interested in reading magazines?"

"You mean Go magazines or something like that?" Ke Zhiguang asked.

"Yes, although it doesn't teach any serious techniques, it's great to read about the stories between chess players from time to time. How about I give you a copy?"

The store manager gave Ke Zhiguang the book "Between Black and White" that was placed at the front of the bookshelf.

"Read it carefully, pay attention to every page, you might be pleasantly surprised, hahaha." The shop manager laughed heartily and left, walking out of the shop.

Harujima Kashima watched the shop manager leave with a black line on his face, his feet splayed outwards.

This must be the elderly people's way of helping out.

After Ke Zhiguang sat down, he also opened "Between Black and White". According to the table of contents, the first few sections talked about various competitions, with interviews inserted in the middle, some landscape photos at the end, and some food pictures at the end.

The first game featured the Dosaku title match, including game analysis, footage of the two players' game, and some witty remarks from the commentators.

"The Throne Tournament..." Ke Zhiguang repeated the tournament name in a low voice, "Harushima, how many title tournaments are there now?"

"Generally speaking, there are only seven. First, there are three major titles: Imperial Chess, Dragon Throne, and Moon Heaven. Then there are four minor titles: Daoce, Famous General, Rising Star, and Dream Paradise."

Ke Zhiguang raised an eyebrow after hearing this.

Why does this last title seem a bit different in style from the others?

In the current timeline, Dream Paradise is Nintendo.

"This last title was set up by Dream Paradise a few years ago. The biggest difference between it and the other six title tournaments is that it requires playing chess on a video game console on TV, and there are also age restrictions for participating players. Serious chess players treat this title as a hobby, even though the prize money is very high..."

Harushima Shika continued, "The Castle Go title is the most prestigious of all, with a prize of over 200 million yen and many privileges. Then there's the Dragon Throne, 160 million yen, and the Moon Goddess, 130 million yen..."

Following this order, the lowest prize money is for Rising Star, at only 4500 million.

Based on my past life's impressions, the highest prize money in Japan's celebrity title fights was only 4500 million yen. What was the ceiling in my past life is just the floor in this world.

Such a huge prize amount instills a sense of fear and trepidation in people.

From the perspective of cultivation novels, he is currently just an ordinary sect in the mortal realm. Becoming a professional chess player is what it means to ascend. These titles are like the highest peaks standing above the clouds in the immortal realm, each peak guarding an ultimate powerhouse who looks down on both the mortal and immortal realms.

Thinking about it this way, this chess game has instantly turned into a cultivation game.

"Who is the best chess player right now?" Ke Zhiguang was naturally interested in this question.

“It’s hard to say. Although the title of Oshiro Go is the most prestigious and fiercely contested of all, I don’t think the person who currently holds the title is the strongest.” Harushima Shika shook his head and said, “My opinion is the same as most people’s. The strongest player is Hanno-sensei, who is the undisputed Go master.”

"Mr. Hanno..."

Ke Zhiguang wanted to ask who this person was, but after carefully considering the respectful tone in Qingdaolu's voice, he realized that if he suddenly blurted out who he was, she would probably grab his binoculars and beat him out of the house.

"Master Hanno truly deserves to be called the Go Saint." Koji Hikaru nodded repeatedly, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

Harushima Shika narrowed her small eyes, looking at the other person suspiciously: "Hmm... judging from your tone, I always feel like you don't even know who Hanno-sensei is?"

“How could that be? Professor Hanno is so famous.” Ke Zhiguang remained calm.

Harujima Shika didn't delve into the matter and continued to say to himself, "It's a pity that after Mr. Hanno was in a car accident, he injured his brain, and his chess skills gradually declined. He faded out of the professional chess world, which is basically equivalent to retirement. His current chess skills are definitely not as good as those of the new generation of young chess players."

Ke Zhiguang understood. From the perspective of the rankings, this Mr. Banye is considered top 0. Although his skill level is not as good as the number one, he is placed at the level of 0 due to his special status.

Suddenly, as if recalling something unpleasant, Shiro's eyebrows twitched twice, and he said, "If we're talking about who has the strongest Go skills right now, there does seem to be someone, but that person isn't a professional Go player."

"What do you mean?" Ke Zhiguang asked.

"It's nothing. But you, you've been reading this book for so long and haven't finished it yet. Aren't you going to finish it quickly and then find a rival?" Harushima Shika suddenly changed the subject and urged.

—Stop asking! You're almost at my page, hurry up and turn the page!

Her gaze remained fixed intently on the pages Ke Zhiguang was turning, her heart pounding with anxiety.

Seeing that the other party was unwilling to answer any further, Ke Zhiguang had no choice but to give up.

The strongest player, yet not a professional Go player... well, let's just assume there's some kind of charlatan out there.

Turn the page, then turn the page again, getting closer and closer.

—One page to go.

Harushima Shika turned her body away, already prepared for her true identity to be discovered.

Just then, a cunning voice slowly emerged from a corner of the game room: "Hey buddy, I've been waiting for you for so long, shouldn't our match begin?"

Ok?

Harujima turned around blankly and saw a well-dressed, seasoned old man holding a teacup slowly walking over, his smile tinged with malice.

Ke Zhiguang also remembered this person; his symbolic spirit was the "White-tailed Fox," and he was also the most skilled person in this Go room.

His chess strength is a genuine amateur 3-dan, with a certificate issued by the chess academy, unlike Shang Xixing who claims to be a 3-dan.

Moreover, this person has been playing chess consistently, maintaining a very good feel for the game, and his chess skills have been continuously improving. He might already be an amateur 4-dan player by now.

"Yeah, it's time to give you a good review before we know it." Ke Zhiguang adjusted his non-existent glasses and stopped flipping through the book.

Hurry up and turn the page!

“Oh, do young people these days use ‘brush’ to mean ‘defeat’?” said [White-tailed Fox].

“No, this is just my personal way of using words, but it will become popular later,” Ke Zhiguang said. “Judging from your expression, it seems you’ve been waiting for me to come?”

“That’s right. Ever since you won eight games in a row here on Monday, I’ve been wanting to play a few games with you. Of course, we’ll have to bet something.”

Is 1000 yen enough?

"enough."

With that, Ke Zhiguang snapped the magazine shut and pushed it aside. [White-tailed Fox] sat down and instantly entered game mode.

Looking at the magazine that had been closed and pushed away, Harushima Shika felt like she was about to vomit blood.

Chapter Twenty-Five: How about we play that game of chess again? (Please vote!)