The work of the Go master

His old friends, who were about the same age as him, gathered around him, chatting and laughing, smoking, and playing chess.

A life monitor was placed next to the old man, ticking away... That was the tinnitus that Ke Zhiguang had been hearing these past few days, and now it turned out to be coming from here.

A beam of light fell in front of the old man. It was a newly developed display, weightless and without any physical form, pure light and shadow.

The light and shadow reflected a 19x19 chessboard, densely packed with chess pieces.

Is he playing online chess?

So who was he playing against?

"Oh, you've finally arrived." The old man lying in bed noticed Ke Zhiguang's presence and smiled faintly.

It seemed like he was the only one in the room who noticed Ke Zhiguang.

Ke Zhiguang walked over quietly to the bedside and carefully examined the other person's face, his heart pounding with anxiety.

It was a face so familiar it was unbelievable.

"You've heard my story, now it's perhaps your turn to tell yours." The old man revealed a wicked smile, as if looking at his younger self.

He added, "Tell the part of the story that I don't know."

Just as Ke Zhiguang was about to speak, he suddenly felt as if something had locked his throat and his memory, and he couldn't remember anything. Even if he could remember something, it was difficult for him to form words on his lips.

Whenever he tried to break through the shackles of this memory, the majestic roar of the black dragon would descend from the sky, erasing all memories.

“It doesn’t matter if I can’t explain it clearly, but I can guess that it’s a very fantastical story, and what a wonderful world it is. You should love that world more than this one, right?” The old man said to Ke Zhiguang, as if he could see right through him.

Ke Zhiguang nodded: "Yes, I have countless ties to that world, and there are still many things I want to do, but is it really okay to leave this world like this?"

This question, like a door, stood behind Ke Zhiguang, severing his past memories.

It was like a crossroads of fate, a choice between going back or staying. He began to wonder if there was another version of himself on the other side of the door, standing in front of it, making a choice.

"There's nothing wrong with that. You've already fulfilled your mission in this world. Looking back on your life, you have no regrets other than your obsessions. A new legend awaits you."

The old man reached out, touched the screen, and opened a long list of battle records.

The list, stretching for dozens of pages, flowed down, mostly winners and a few losers, and their dates were all concentrated in 1988, as if they had traveled through time.

At this moment, all the old friends around him stood up and looked at Ke Zhiguang, casting longing glances at him.

Ke Zhiguang looked around at his old friends, and many long-forgotten memories suddenly opened up. Although they were all old, Ke Zhiguang could still accurately recall their names.

Not only Chinese players, but also Japanese and Korean players—each of them was once his friend…and also his rival.

Their faces matched the avatars on the stats panel. This was the group of people who had gathered here recently, playing against teenagers from another world and another era.

"To mobilize everyone's power, or something like that... This power doesn't just refer to the friends you made in that world, but also to us in this world. Everyone will become your power." The old man opened his chest and arms, as if trying to frame everyone in the same shot.

"Come on, let's play our last game, face to face." The old man smiled at Ke Zhiguang, and an antique chessboard was placed in front of him.

After a long while, Ke Zhiguang also showed an almost identical smile, as if time itself had been erased in an instant.

The locked door was suddenly pushed open, and Ke Zhiguang walked gracefully into the world on the other side of the door under everyone's gaze.

......

......

Ke Zhiguang opened his eyes naturally, as if he had just woken up naturally after a perfect sleep.

(10/10)

The number was displayed on the television screen.

Customs clearance complete.

The opponent in the final round had the same old man as before. He was smiling unexpectedly happily in the photo, like a meme captured by an unscrupulous photographer.

The opponent's name is... Ke Zhiguang (Chess Saint).

This is really... Everyone else has a rank title after their name, but this person has "Chess Saint" as a suffix, which makes him look particularly irritating.

"By the way, this is the Chess Saint title conferred by the General Administration of Sport, and it's the real deal," Zero's voice rang out from the side.

Ke Zhiguang put down the handle, slowly stood up, raised his head and looked up at the ceiling, his gaze seemingly reaching a distant shore.

"So, back to question three, what kind of artificial intelligence do you think qualifies as artificial intelligence?" Ling sipped a cup of hot coffee, speaking casually as if he were talking to Ke Zhiguang on a quiet afternoon.

"This question... I can't think of a particularly literary answer right now, so I'll just use quotes from other novelists," Ke Zhiguang said.

“If you beat me, that’s not artificial intelligence. If I beat you and you get angry and hit me on the head with the chessboard, that’s real artificial intelligence.”

"Alright, I'll assume you got it right for now, Ke. This is a reward for you." Zero pulled out a cup of hot chocolate from somewhere and gave it to Ke Zhiguang.

"So, where did you get this from...?" Ke Zhiguang took the hot chocolate, but something felt off.

But the moment Zero took the hot chocolate, the coffee cup in his hand was knocked over and spilled all over the floor.

The two of them stared blankly at the scene, and Ke Zhiguang was stunned.

Zero's expression remained calm as she watched her hand gradually transform into light particles, showing no surprise whatsoever.

"Looks like I can't keep you company like this anymore. I'll probably have to change my persona next time I see you." Zero smiled, a rare occurrence, with a hint of farewell in his expression.

"It's...it really is Alpha?"

"Oh? It sounds like you're not too happy with the role of Alpha?"

"It's alright, but the thought of the maid and the dog ears being gone makes me... cough cough, it's nothing." Ke Zhiguang thought for a moment and then held back.

The phenomenon of light particleification is still ongoing; zero is gradually becoming transparent, and the light in the entire living room is gradually dimming.

"When will we meet again?" Ke Zhiguang thought of many questions, but in the end he only asked this one.

"I don't know, maybe it will be a long time, maybe it will be soon..."

Before the last syllable could be uttered, it vanished instantly, leaving only the faint glow of the screen in the entire living room.

The living room was quiet, the clock ticked, and Ke Zhiguang stood still like a statue for a long time before raising his head to look at today's date.

December 24th.

The date the fourth game of the Imperial Castle Go Tournament will begin...

I never imagined that three days would pass in the blink of an eye.

It's 3:30 PM now, and the start of the match is just around the corner.

Chapter 52 The Beginning of Ragnarok

A blue lightning bolt shot out of the residential area's gate and drifted onto the street!

Ke Zhiguang was already pedaling furiously on the bicycle, which was his ride for the day, not the special vehicle provided by the event organizers.

Because of the snow, the car that was supposed to pick him up was stuck on the road, so he had to walk to the scene himself.

Looking at the scene before him, Ke Zhiguang held his breath, wondering if he had wandered into the wrong anime set.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was dark and deathly silent. Snowflakes danced wildly in the air, covering the world in a sacred silver-white. Pedestrians struggled to walk through the streets, and the snow on the roadside was cleared to a height of about 1,000 meters.

The once bustling streets were now shrouded in darkness, apparently due to a large-scale power outage. Sparks danced on the power lines, and engineers with overhead lights were frantically trying to repair the damage. The sounds of pedestrians complaining and swearing filled the air, and the wailing of ambulances could be heard from afar. A sense of apocalyptic anxiety hung over everyone.

It's hard to imagine that this place is in Chuo Ward, Tokyo, and not a scene from some disaster movie.

In the few days that I was unconscious, the whole world seemed to have changed.

but......

That's just right.

The venue is warmed up!

With that thought in mind, he stomped his foot hard, and the bicycle almost took off with the wind, leaping into the air and soaring into the sky.

Bicycle skills, unleashing full power!

As he sped along at high speed, his thoughts became clearer and clearer, and he began to gradually recall the few seconds before he lost consciousness.

The deadly piece flowed from the fingers of Yagami Kunijō, while Nidhogg also opened the sharp teeth of the iron thorns and spat out the dragon's breath that proclaimed victory.

At the same time, a giant axe, wreathed in black flames, was drawn from his sheath and slashed straight at Ke Zhiguang.

The Axe That Rotten Axe

This is the final display effect that Kezhiguang saw.

This was the item that Yagami Kunikyo obtained from him after defeating him.

The story of "Rotten Axe Handle" is also a classic tale related to Go (the board game).

During the Jin Dynasty, a man named Wang Zhi went up the mountain to chop wood and saw two children playing chess. When the game ended, he realized that the axe he used to chop wood had rotted away. In the blink of an eye, decades had passed, hence the name "Rotten Axe Handle".

[Effect]: All those who are killed by it will return to their original positions.

[PS: The programmer's rage! Bugs, die!]

It's a vivid metaphor. Compared to this world, I am indeed like a huge bug, challenging its original order and framework, and even carrying the tools to eliminate the bug.

However, I'm not the only one with bugs.

A giant axe of black flames descended from the sky, accompanied by a deathly hurricane. Zero walked over from the side and gently caught the sharp blade of the axe. Yagami Kunikyo was stunned, and Koji Hikaru was also speechless with surprise.

She turned back to Ke Zhiguang and smiled: "See? I told you, even if you lose to the other party, nothing terrible will happen."

Judging from the visual effect, it does appear as if she easily reached out and stopped the rapidly descending axe. However, in reality, the effect of the Rotten Axe did indeed work.

The black flames pierced through her body and through Ke Zhiguang... The two of them shared the blow.

Ke Zhiguang suddenly thought of the nuclear explosion that Ye Shen Guojing had experienced. The power of the atomic bomb radiated down from above, engulfing everything. At that time, was there someone, or something else, standing above him and taking the hit for him?

He had withstood the blow through luck; in other words, the gods who were with him had shielded him from the nuclear explosion. Ke Zhiguang suddenly understood this.

And this scene was playing out on him now, except that what bombarded him wasn't a nuclear explosion, but something equally mystical, like a data deletion command.

For the next few days, he was essentially being hosted, repeatedly trying to reach the final level of the game console... and finally, he's reached this point.

By the way, it was managed by Zero Trust; who knows what I did during the time she managed it?

Facing the strong wind and speed, Ke Zhiguang closed his eyes and breathed in the cold air. His mind felt clearer and more refreshed than ever before, as if a heavy shackle had been removed.

As previously speculated, the final level of the game console contains his important memories and so-called obsessions.

Now, this obsession has been resolved.