The work of the Go master

"Artificial intelligence?" Ke Zhiguang's heart stirred.

As if a stone had been thrown in, the calm lake water began to stir restlessly.

Something hidden deep in the lake is about to surface, and waves and bubbles are surging on the surface.

But the memory quickly faded.

It was as if some force was blocking it.

Zero smiled and shook her head: "Although I can tell you everything you want to know, you'll forget it the very next second. Even I can't help that, unless..."

"Unless I can win the title of Imperial Chess?"

"That's right, that's the power of fortune. If you want to know a secret of sufficient importance, you have to climb to a corresponding high position. That's the rule of this world."

She paused before saying, "I, and indeed we, are not the rule-makers. We are merely the behind-the-scenes referees who help it function better. You are the enforcers who take to the field."

Ke Zhiguang caught a key phrase full of mystery: "This world... so you are someone who followed me here from my past life?"

"You'll have to figure that out for yourself." Zero bowed with the demeanor of a head maid, her dog ears twitching.

Ugh, those dog ears, I really want to touch them.

Regarding his memories of his past life, Ke Zhiguang's knowledge is basically limited to the initial four "treasure map" chess scores. He knows who he is, what brilliant achievements he has made, how skilled he is at playing Dou Dizhu (a card game), and what the food in the Tsinghua University cafeteria tastes like, etc.

But the most crucial thing was something he could never recall.

For example, how exactly did I get here?

How old was I before I got here?

Whenever I try to recall these things, I find that my memory puzzle is missing a piece, and I can't find that most crucial part no matter what I do.

It's like someone having a pleasant dream, but suddenly waking up at the crucial part.

The most upvoted comment replied, "The lack of relevant rendering materials caused the entire system to malfunction and crash."

Ling suddenly spoke up: "Isn't the crucial rendering material right in front of us?"

Ke Zhiguang suddenly realized what was happening.

He turned his gaze to the game console loaded with a special cartridge.

The important memories are contained in this cassette tape.

It's really something. It's 1987 now, and it's already stuffing memory materials into game cartridges. If this were twenty years from now, maybe it would be getting USB drives instead, and chess tournaments might be called the Microsoft Cup or the Google Cup.

Once the game console finished loading, Ke Zhiguang, suppressing his excitement as if he were opening the door to a new world, picked up the controller.

result--

"Isn't this just a regular game cartridge?" Ke Zhiguang manipulated the controller, moving it up, down, left, and right through the game menu.

These are all familiar game names, such as Mario and Tetris.

The only difference is that this cartridge has far too many games. These days, a game cartridge only has so much capacity, and seven or eight games is already the limit.

The catalog of this cartridge has several pages, reminiscent of the classic "Little Tyrant 84-in-1".

As he continued scrolling down, Ke Zhiguang discovered even more unusual things.

The Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers series, Ninja Gaiden 2 and 3, even Metal Slug...

Although these are all NES games, they were all created after 90. Although the historical process of this world differs from that of the previous world, these games did not exist.

Zero thoughtfully explained, "Not only that, to prevent you from failing the test, I specially adjusted your life count to ninety-nine. If all else fails, I can even give you some cheat codes or something."

Ke Zhiguang complained wearily, "You're so amazing, can't you make some PC games that are ahead of their time? What's the point of staring at 16-bit pixelated mosaics all day?"

"There's nothing we can do about it, it's just the limitations of the Famicom. If you want, you can open your own studio to make it when you have the money later... Like I said, why bother with chess? Being a plagiarist is much more interesting."

“That makes sense. We’ll adopt this suggestion for now,” Ke Zhiguang replied, shrugging.

Before long, Ke Zhiguang flipped to the bottommost directory—weiqi.

Ke Zhiguang's attention became focused.

This is it, click on it—

A new catalog appeared on the TV screen, and surprisingly, it contained the records of my own game matches.

The names of the two players, the date of the game, and the score difference between the winner and loser are marked on the screen.

Ke Zhiguang opened the most recent game, the one he played against Jiang Yongqing a few hours ago.

The sixteen-bit pixel chess notation was displayed on the screen, creating a rather bizarre visual effect.

Below the chess notation, a line graph resembling a stock market chart rises and falls, with the word "win rate" labeled next to it.

"Win rate?" Ke Zhiguang asked in surprise.

Zero nodded and said, "From the very first move, the winning probability of each move is marked. Based on the game you are playing, with a komi of 6.5 points, Black's initial winning probability is 48%. Although it is still 2% away from absolute fairness, it is impossible for humans to perceive this 2% winning probability."

Ke Zhiguang used the left and right buttons on the controller to switch back and forth to track the progress of the hand count, watching the win rate fluctuate below.

From 1 to 20 moves, the win rate fluctuated, hovering between 40 and 60%. However, around move 37, I won a local battle, and the win rate immediately rose to 90%. After that, although the win rate fluctuated and declined, it always remained above 65%.

Then came the last 50 or so moves, and my win rate basically became a horizontal straight line, firmly stuck at 100.

After browsing through the tools, Ke Zhiguang was not only surprised by how convenient they were, but also had mixed feelings.

I never knew...

It turns out that the winning probability in Go can be calculated with such precision.

The freedom in the game of chess, and the boundless imagination in chess skills, seem to be confined within one number box after another, unable to break through this constraint.

Ke Zhiguang temporarily put aside this complicated matter and asked, "Then where are the materials for rendering my important memories?"

"Return to the initial Go interface, bottom right corner. Once you've achieved a certain number of victories, your rendering assets will be credited to your account."

Ke Zhiguang did as instructed.

He froze after seeing the option in the bottom right corner—

"Start matching."

Anyone who has played even a little bit of competitive games is probably familiar with this term.

this......

If I click on it, what kind of opponents will I be matched with?

Is the Holy Grail War about to begin? (Chapter 17)

In the moonlit living room, Ke Zhiguang stared thoughtfully at the screen.

Staring at the familiar "Start Matchmaking" button that most boys are familiar with... well, let's just say "Start Matchmaking," Ke Zhiguang was completely bewildered.

What kind of opponents will they encounter?

Ke Zhiguang's first thought was that it might randomly select chess players from the past and present, and use Zero's powerful computing ability to imitate their chess moves, but after thinking about it, he felt that it shouldn't be that awkward.

After all, real ancient chess players are currently wandering around this city. If you want to play chess with them, you can immediately switch to a Soul Chess Player and go out hunting.

If I can't figure it out from this angle, then I have to try a different approach.

The "Start Matchmaking" button exists not only in competitive games but also in online chess, from the older Yicheng to the later Yefox.

Thinking of this, Ke Zhiguang's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"Could it be that..." Ke Zhiguang's answer was already on the tip of his tongue.

“That’s right, just as you think. The opponents you were matched with using it... are from the network of your past life.” Zero’s voice echoed in the quiet living room.

Ke Zhiguang's thoughts lingered for a moment, as if he had heard the tolling of an ancient bell.

He turned his gaze to the start matching button on the screen, feeling as if he were peering into a time tunnel.

Spanning two worlds, decades, and locations, on one side is a computer from the internet age, and on the other is an old-fashioned game console that could be featured in Ao Chang's videos, all connected by a single button.

Zero's seriousness didn't last long before it relaxed: "Don't worry, nothing will happen where you'll be suddenly sent back after you click this button. You're already closely connected to this world, and no power can send you back."

Hearing this, Ke Zhiguang breathed a sigh of relief, but he wasn't entirely at ease.

This feeling is complex, with one side being one's past and the other being one's present moment, but both of them could potentially become the future.

This is probably the ultimate choice that every time traveler has to face—the trolley problem of the time travel world.

Zero continued, "Although it's called matchmaking, it's not for you to use as a ranked ladder game to practice against random players. Strictly speaking, it's more like a test."

Listening to this abstract description, Ke Zhiguang seemed to understand something again.

"So... after I click to enter a match and play a game, I immediately forget the details of the game?"

"You might even forget your opponent in this game, forget the chat you had with them in the chat box, in short... forget everything, you'll only remember whether you won or lost this game." Zero said in a hollow voice, which perfectly captured the meaning of the sentence.

It's like describing a pitch-black tunnel; even if you safely make it to the other end, you have absolutely no idea what's inside.

But what really stung Ke Zhiguang was this phrase, "chatting with the opponent."

In other words, the opponent you encounter after clicking in is indeed a living, breathing person, a chess player from your past life, and you might even have a good relationship with them.

Although you will forget everything after passing through the tunnel, you can indeed talk to it while traveling through it.

The drumbeat of my heartbeat began to amplify.

A long-lost sense of passion and exhilaration surged within me.

Unknown challenges, familiar past, dialogues across time and space—many emotions mingled together, ultimately transforming into a series of heart-pounding commands.

The night the secret was revealed was more meaningful than I had imagined.

Ke Zhiguang skipped the procedure, controlled the handle, and pointed the arrow to start matching.

The gamepad is really inconvenient, but it seems like you can't buy a mouse these days either.

Just as he was about to press the A key, which represented "Start", Ke Zhiguang paused.

"By the way... can I play against you?" Ke Zhiguang asked Ling.

He should have asked this question earlier, but he had been bombarded with a dense amount of information for the past few minutes and had overlooked it for a while.

Ling stared blankly for a moment before slowly speaking: "Of course—no, you can't."

"cut."