The work of the Go master

Burp—I felt much more refreshed.

Ke Zhiguang pulled out a chess piece and slashed it across the chessboard!

"The subsequent changes have emerged. White plays here, Black calls for a capture, White connects... and then, wait a minute, doesn't White's stone still get cut off?" Reiko analyzed, looking at the variation diagram. "We've been saying for so long that this stone can't be given up, but it just died like that?"

"Let me see, here..." Naoka Kuranosuke thought for a moment about the situation before him, and his first reaction was that White was doomed.

This is a very important piece, related to the connection between the two groups of black pieces. It is called the "muscle," meaning that it controls the connection between the pieces like a vein.

—He would never make such a disproportionate conversion.

But after staring at it for a few seconds, Naosaka suddenly exclaimed "Oh!"

“There’s a good move that can get this piece back through the first lane,” he said.

Inside the stadium, Ke Zhiguang's chess piece fell from a high place, and the spot in his eyes was like a teleportation point in some online games, glowing with a circle of light.

One move, and a whole path of sharp points!

A brick in the far corner of the prison was hoeed open, and seawater immediately gushed out!

White crawled out of the ditch along the first line!

Kumagai Akihisa was utterly astonished, feeling as if his entire body had been swept into a vortex.

"Well done! This way, the black stones that have already been played too heavily become a target for attack," Ping Shisheng said excitedly.

At the beginning, when only one black piece entered the game, it was naturally very light and could be discarded at will. However, after a series of entanglements and battles, it became eleven pieces, suddenly becoming eleven times heavier. It was no longer something that could be easily let go of; it became a heavy burden.

If we throw this burden out, we'll throw the whole game out of the bag.

If you've made a fatal mistake, you have to save it, even if you have to crawl on your knees!

As Harushima Shika watched the progress of the game in front of her, she unconsciously bit her lower lip, revealing a hint of unease.

Sure enough, after some time had passed, he had become much stronger.

The anticipation for the unfinished game of chess is only growing stronger; what will the final outcome be?

Just then, Mizuki Yuuki came over with drinks: "Everyone must be tired, have some water."

"Thank you," the vice president said.

"Here, this is for you." Mizuki Yuzuki also handed a bottle of drink to Shizuka Harujima.

"Huh? I have one too?"

"Huh, you don't seem to be a member of our club." Mizuki Yuuki said, rubbing her cheek after seeing Harujima Kashiro's appearance.

“But it’s okay, you can have mine,” said Mizuki Yuuki, cheerfully accepting the other person’s rather suspicious appearance.

"Thank you...."

"How's this game going? Is Xiaoguang gaining the upper hand?"

"We've basically won. It's just a matter of how many points we win. At least ten points, and if he finishes well, at least twenty," Harushima Shika said confidently.

But suddenly, she realized something was wrong.

"Wait, what did you just call him?" Harujima Shika turned her head sharply, an exclamation mark and a question mark appearing on her face.

"Light, isn't that a great name?"

It's indeed a great name, with a very fitting localized pronunciation and the meaning is expressed perfectly. In Japanese, if you really want to translate "执光" (shíguāng), you can only say "持光" (chíguāng), which is kind of cringeworthy and has a very long pronunciation.

But that's not what Harushima Kashima wanted to ask. What she really wanted to ask was—why does everyone else call him by his full name, but why is it that you're the only one who can call him by his nickname?

"Who...are you to Ke Zhiguang?" Qingdao Lu asked cautiously, her eyes narrowed.

"As for me," Mizuki Yuuki said, having never faced such a question before, she rested her index finger on her chin and thought for a moment before answering with a smile, "I'd say someone who takes care of his daily life at school."

this......

Harujima was choked up, only seeing the maternal glow emanating from the other person, like that of a temple priestess.

I can't beat them, I really can't beat them...

For A, if you can't afford it, then forget it!

......

......

Inoue Hoshino also came to the lecture hall. Although she was the commander, the person she might face tomorrow was among these vice commanders, so she had to come in advance to find out the situation.

A female classmate next to her stared blankly at the chess game being explained on the stage: "This Ke Zhiguang is the one who said he wanted to play against you yesterday."

"Is it him?" Inoue Hoshino asked, her eyes widening in confusion.

According to family rules, she shouldn't accept matches outside of her schedule, but she doesn't know why she accepted one yesterday. Fortunately, her classmate stopped her.

Unexpectedly, this person was actually a deputy general.

"He seems to have a significant advantage now," Inoue Hoshiaki said, looking at the board. "This game looks very exciting. The white stones in the upper part have crawled back home through a trench, there's a 'nightingale chasing a butterfly' formation on the right, and in the middle is a black dragon under attack. The traces of battle are all over the board."

"To be able to gain such an advantage in a strength contest with Kumagai Akihisa, that's really... impressive," the female student said.

"And who is Kumagai Akihisa?" Inoue Hoshia asked again, as she didn't know much about these students' information.

"I encountered this guy a few times during the training camp. He's an extremely aggressive player among players of his skill level. Among the average high school students I've met, there aren't many who can beat him in the middle game," the female student said, shaking her head.

"But this person named Ke Zhiguang won, didn't he?"

"Yes, that's why I was surprised. Yunjing is now down to -120 points, almost at the bottom of all schools. I thought they had fallen into decline, but I didn't expect that besides Bai Mengyinyu, there would be such a formidable character."

"So what are our scores?"

"Don't worry about that. We're almost at 200 points now, and we expect to reach 300 points by the end of the vice-general battle, ranking first among all schools. They are definitely not our competitors."

"But... now that you say that, I'm even more worried that they'll surpass us."

"Ah, this?" The female student was speechless for a moment.

Indeed, you can't say things like that carelessly. I didn't think much of it before I said it, but after saying it, I suddenly felt very uneasy.

"I remember now, our deputy general will be facing him today. I'll go and remind him to stay calm."

...

.....

On the chessboard, the scorching air penetrated Kumagai Akihisa's lungs, each move carrying the burning sensation of adversity.

97 hands, big jump.

98 hands, point stab.

99 moves, counterattack!

On the 100th move, this person's attack began from another direction!

A net of encirclement has been cast over the area, and the black dragon in the center is growing larger and larger. With the addition of the false points, the value of the fifty-point game is definitely there.

—We must find a way to turn the tide; we can't keep being attacked like this.

He has very little time left to prepare, but Ke Zhiguang still has half an hour. Once he enters the countdown phase, his skill level will definitely drop significantly.

Of course, it's possible that some players can actually play better under the pressure of time limit, which would be considered an anomaly, but in any case, he himself is certainly not such an anomaly.

"Backup time is over, countdown begins—" came the notification from the timer.

We can't wait any longer, let's take a gamble!

113 hands, forcefully pulled it out from the gap!

The cracks spread along the move, and a sense of downward pressure crept over Ke Zhiguang. With this feeling, his thinking began to accelerate, and one variation after another emerged.

Break, strike, charge, roll... In the end, it will be a massive killing intent.

Since that's the case, just avoid it!

"Black's move, the push, has a winning edge. We're hoping White will cut it off. If that happens, White's upper area will be encircled. Let's analyze this variation," Naosaka said. Reiko picked up the stones and methodically laid them out on the board, calculating in a straight line—

“No, Black can step out here, and then White will die directly, while Black can escape.” Naosaka immediately saw the trap.

"So now, White—as expected, didn't act impulsively, but calmly extended its piece here."

All the conspiracies and schemes were instantly resolved!

The scales, which were difficult to balance, suddenly tipped in favor of Akihisa Kumagai.

This large dragon with fifty points must make a choice: either cut off its tail to survive, using a move to pull out the last string of pieces, or quickly connect back home and abandon its tail.

This is... a very difficult decision. Normally, he would have just gone all out, but now it's a point-based scoring system. If things go wrong, he could lose over a hundred points, handing the championship to the other team and leaving himself at the bottom.

"Aaaaaah!" Kumagai Akihisa let out a desperate roar in his heart, finally deciding to cut off his tail and go home.

Then it was Ke Zhiguang's turn to place his piece, which he raised high and indifferently—

An invisible blade formed in his hand, probing the entire body of the dragon.

Aim for the vital area and strike with a single blow!

A dragon's tail was thus cut off, transformed into delicious protein, and lay on the cutting board.

"In the end, Black chose to cut off the tail to survive, cutting off all ten stones at the tail. This was a very wise move. If it had continued down the board, it would have only led to more and more stones dying." Naosaka moved according to the game record, but when he reached the crucial move, he stopped.

He revealed an appreciative smile.

"Although Black has decided to cut off the tail, White doesn't seem to want it to get away so easily. White—plays a point here! Leaving behind a huge endgame situation!"

Following the direct attack, another dart, like a hidden weapon, struck the weak point of the black piece, causing Kumagai Akihisa to feel another sharp pain.

—Basically, there is no room for them to win anymore.

As the countdown began, the pieces moved one by one, filling the final single-level position.

The game officially ended after move 273.

Kumagai Akihisa breathed a sigh of relief and lay back in his chair wiping away sweat.

He also glanced at his opponent and found that he was not really in a bad situation. He was just quietly resting with his eyes closed and his head nodding slightly.

"What's your name?" asked Akihisa Kumagai.

"Didn't everyone announce their names before the game started? My name is Ke Zhiguang."

"I'll remember this name."