The work of the Go master

Abandoning the mission will have consequences you bear.

Good grief, they've simply stopped writing down punishments altogether.

The game progressed very slowly, taking more than forty moves and half an hour. For professional players, this speed is already very fast, but for beginners, half an hour would be enough to play two games.

The battle in the game started in the upper right corner and spread to almost a quarter of the board. If I'm not mistaken... the upper right corner has been defeated and is now a dead piece, visually raising the French flag... no, the white flag.

From the very first move, every move of Shireshima Kashima makes is accompanied by special effects, sometimes a beam of light, sometimes a flash of lightning.

After the "stab" move that killed the piece in the upper right corner was made, the board cracked, as if it had been trampled by the Minotaur chieftain.

Incredibly, these strange special effects, including the surrounding dragon breath visual effects, did not disturb Ke Zhiguang's thoughts. On the contrary, they aroused his fighting spirit and calmness, as if he had two brain systems processing the chess game and the surrounding environment separately.

We must find a way to turn things around.

When you can't win on the chessboard, you naturally have to think of some off-board tactics, commonly known as off-board moves.

Of course, rushing up and beating up your opponent isn't considered a dirty trick; it's called flipping the table.

Ke Zhiguang is now less contemplating and more recalling, trying to find a way to defeat his opponent from his impressions of Go.

And so, I reminisced, and reminisced...

A gaming term popped into his mind.

Archive.

Saving before fighting a boss is a good habit. If you can't beat it, keep trying and gradually figure out the techniques and methods for defeating the boss.

If you still can't beat it after all that, it just means your level and equipment aren't optimized properly, and you need to go back and keep leveling up and farming for better gear.

Ke Zhiguang is now facing this second situation.

If you can't win, save your game!

"Speaking of which, it's already quite late." Ke Zhiguang sat up, leaned back in his chair, and rubbed his aching shoulders, feeling much more relaxed.

Seeing this, Shiro Shima relaxed. In her view, this was a declaration of defeat by her opponent, and perhaps he realized that the path of professional Go was not suitable for him.

She firmly believed that she had done the right thing and saved a person's future.

"Let's close the market for now and resume another day," Ke Zhiguang said casually, with a touch of the refined elegance unique to the ancients.

"What???"

Ke Zhiguang's words left Qingdaolu completely bewildered.

"Close the board" means to pause the game, but the game will continue later.

This kind of behavior was very common in ancient Japan. The four major Go schools would play six games for nine years to compete for the Go throne. On the surface, it was just two players playing against each other, but in reality, it was the masters of the two families who were frantically plotting behind the scenes.

But such rules have disappeared now; if a game of chess could last more than a week, the audience and sponsors would have all left long ago.

In the modern sense, a trading halt lasts at most one day, followed by the trading halt the next day, also known as a two-day system.

"Close the sale... Are you serious?" Harushima Shika's eyebrows twitched, still wearing a bitter expression.

Does such a low-level game, where nine players were eliminated, deserve a high-level rule like closing the betting pool?

Should we postpone the battle to another day?

Does this mean the game of chess will have to drag on for a few more days?

"That's right, this is a very important first step in my life, it concerns whether I can embark on this path, so it's worth following the ancient methods. If I remember correctly, the formal term for this behavior is 'playing the hook'?"

Indeed, "打挂" is the proper term, specifically referring to the superior player having the right to pause the game as a sign of respect for the inferior player.

But why are you, the one who was given nine sons and whose subordinates can't be subdued any more, calling for a pause?

This is insane!

Harujima Kashima had an urge to grab the lucky cat figurine on the counter and swing it at Koji's bald head.

"Well, that's settled then. It's getting late, Harushima-kun. Let's play again another day. Please take notes of the game record." Koji Mitsuaki generously got up from his chair and walked towards the door.

"Wait." Harujima called out to Koji Hikaru's retreating figure.

"Do you really want to finish this game?"

"Of course." Ke Zhiguang nodded. He was now standing outside the door, half of his body submerged in the night, the light and shadow on him clearly defined like chess pieces.

After taking only a few steps outside, he stopped and gazed at the moon, saying, "If there's a time limit, I'd like it to be one month. Is that alright?"

"You mean, within this month, you want to improve your chess skills to the point where you can win this game against me?" Harushima Shika understood what the other person meant.

"That's about it. Is that considered a foul?"

This isn't about breaking the rules, this is a mental breakdown! A psychotic breakdown!

Harujima looked at Keiji with disbelief in her eyes; she couldn't understand his thought process for a moment.

"Harujima-kun, in your opinion, how much of my nine-point advantage do I still have?"

After hesitating for a moment, Harujima Shika listened to the other person and took a careful look at the chessboard: "There are probably five pieces left."

"Five pieces? So I lost my advantage of four pieces in an instant," Ke Zhiguang said, rubbing his chin.

With the advantage of five pieces, there shouldn't be any problem... right?

"Goodbye, Harushima-kun. I'll bring some papaya milk next time I visit." After making up his mind, Ke Zhiguang strode away, waving his hand with his back to the Go room.

"Wait! What the heck is papaya milk?! Don't bring anything weird!"

Ke Zhiguang has already gone far away.

Standing in the empty Go room, it took Harushima Kashima quite a while to feel as if she had just woken up from a dream.

But the pile of Go problem books on the counter, and the unfinished game on the board, reminded her that a charlatan had indeed come by.

His name is...

Harushima Kashima then realized that she didn't know the other person's name, but fortunately she made him fill out a registration form.

Koji Hikaru, it doesn't sound like a Japanese name.

She remembered that name.

Take another look at the address below—

Wait a minute! How come he lives right across the street?!

Chapter Six: A New Storm Has Arrived

The streets looked exceptionally clean and open after being washed by the night rain, and the air was invigorating.

Ke Zhiguang waded through the puddles, his steps unsteady.

A strange surge of heat coursed through his body, causing a dizzying, boiling sensation that made him unsteady on his feet.

He repeatedly replayed in his mind each of the exercises he had just done, as well as the games from the first forty moves.

excited.

Trembling.

Passionate.

Playing Go is indeed quite interesting.

It makes you want to challenge even stronger enemies.

I have a month to improve my chess skills. Although it's just a verbal agreement, I really want to win this game.

"Is this the battle between black and white?" he said to himself, looking at his palm.

Even without any system tasks, I would probably treat this game of chess as an indispensable main quest, right?

Once he got home, he completely calmed down before carefully taking out his keys, pushing the door open so as not to wake Akio Masakazu and Kaoru who were sleeping.

Ke Zhiguang silently entered the living room, only to find that although the lights were off, the television was on, creating a cinematic lighting effect, with the distinctive, catchy music of the NES playing.

On the sofa in front of the TV, Akio Shoichi and Kaoru were holding controllers, playing a two-player side-scrolling action game similar to Double Dragon.

At first glance, this is still Ke Zhiguang's own Famicom, which is also the legacy left by the original owner. He saved up money for a long time to buy it.

This Famicom is placed in the living room, so everyone can play together when there's something fun.

The scene was both harmonious and somewhat incongruous, because tomorrow is not the weekend, and it's so late, with the father playing games with his son. Is that really a good idea?

"Dad, I've seen that the main characters in comics all have hidden special bloodlines. When can you tell me that I have a special bloodline too?" Xun said calmly, looking at the screen, the controller clicking rhythmically.

“Don’t be silly, child. I’ve been waiting for your grandfather to say that for a long time, but he never told me until he was buried in his grave,” Akimori Masakazu replied calmly, focusing intently on dealing with the boss in front of him.

A few seconds later, both of them were killed by the boss, and the game ended.

"Alright, the game is over. You can go to bed now. This was agreed upon beforehand. You'll go to sleep after this game," said Akio Masakazu.

Xun remained motionless for a while, staring resentfully at the words "game over," and said, "Dad, were you deliberately trying to get yourself killed just now?"

"How could that be? You have to think of it this way: Dad has been working hard outside all day. His fingers might not be able to react quickly enough, so it's normal for the character he's controlling to suddenly die... Okay, go to sleep now."

And so, Xun was sent back to her room.

"Alright, Zhiguang, can you explain why you're back so late?" Qiu Shouzheng said, leaning back on the sofa and lighting a cigarette.

Ke Zhiguang, who was lurking behind the sofa, shuddered—oh no, he'd been exposed.

"How should I put it? If I said I spent half a day playing Go with a beautiful girl in the Go room across the street, would you believe me?" Ke Zhiguang stood up frankly.

"So, did you win or lose?" Akio Masakazu didn't seem to care much about Ke Zhiguang's late return.

Ke Zhiguang: "It wasn't finished downloading; it crashed halfway through. We'll talk about it another day."

Qiu Shengzheng: "Hack? You even know the word 'hack'?"

Ke Zhiguang: "I also know the term 'cheating software'."

A cheat code is not the same as a hack.

Akio Masakazu didn't care what the cheat was and continued to ask, "So just how beautiful is the beautiful girl you mentioned?"

"It's hard to say exactly how beautiful she is, but her aesthetic style is probably about twenty years ahead of the industry." After answering, Ke Zhiguang realized that this statement was a bit strange, as the industry reference was somewhat unclear.

"Um, I meant the game and animation industry."

In about twenty years, female characters wearing Western-style school uniforms and with long pigtails will become very popular.