A Ruthless, Reckless Ferocity

Yu Shao had barely entered the chess hall when he noticed that every gaze in the place had turned toward him.

The people in the chess hall had not held out much hope. They had merely glanced toward the entrance out of habit, but when they saw who had arrived, their eyes immediately lit up, and they grew excited!

"It's him!"

"That high school student from the day before yesterday!"

"He finally came! Little Zheng has been waiting for him for two days!"

"Finally! I've been waiting too!"

Zheng Qin, who had been sitting in the game room studying records, finally rose from his chair when he saw Yu Shao. He walked toward him and soon stopped in front of him.

"You finally came."

Zheng Qin looked at Yu Shao and said, "I've been waiting for you for two days."

"Sorry."

Yu Shao said apologetically, "My friend dragged me off to play video games yesterday."

"It's fine."

Zheng Qin shook his head to show that he did not mind. Then he took a deep breath and said, "Can you play another game with me?"

Yu Shao looked into Zheng Qin's battle-filled eyes and fell silent. After a moment, he slowly nodded. "All right."

Zheng Qin took another deep breath, and even his bearing seemed to change. Turning to the receptionist, he said, "Sister Su, put his hall fee on my tab."

The receptionist froze. It was her first time seeing Zheng Qin wear such a serious expression.

After coming back to herself, she immediately nodded. "All right."

"Come with me."

With that, Zheng Qin led Yu Shao straight toward the game room.

The moment he entered the game room, Yu Shao spotted Xu Ziqin in her school uniform. She happened to be looking at him as well, and their eyes met briefly in the air.

So she really had come.

Yu Shao still did not quite understand why Xu Ziqin was here, but he did not ask. He merely gave her a slight nod.

Before long, Zheng Qin led Yu Shao to the Go table where he had been studying records earlier. The two pulled out their chairs and sat on opposite sides of the table.

Seeing them take their seats, everyone else in the chess hall—even those currently in the middle of games—set their matches aside and gathered around.

Very quickly, the small Go table was packed tight on every side, surrounded inside and out by people.

"For this game, I'll give it everything I have."

Zheng Qin looked at Yu Shao and said, "I hope you will too."

Yu Shao looked at the crowd surrounding them, his expression turning somewhat strange. After a moment, he nodded.

"Let's guess for the first move."

Zheng Qin reached into the stone box, grabbed a handful of stones, and spoke.

In guessing stones, one player first grabbed several White stones without revealing them. The other then took Black stones—one Black stone meant they guessed the White stones were odd in number, while two Black stones meant they guessed the White stones were even.

If they guessed correctly, they played Black; otherwise, they played White.

Zheng Qin's attitude toward today's game was clearly completely different from before—one could even call it a world apart. In their previous game, they had not even guessed for the first move. Zheng Qin had simply let Yu Shao play Black.

This sense of formality now also showed just how seriously Zheng Qin regarded the coming game.

Though the game had yet to begin, the air was already filled with the tense feeling of a storm about to break!

Yu Shao also reached into the stone box, picked up some stones, then opened his hand.

There were two White stones in his palm.

At that moment, Zheng Qin opened his hand as well, and the Black stones clattered onto the Go board.

"Two, four, five."

Zheng Qin raised his head and looked straight at Yu Shao. "Odd. This time, I'll play Black first."

Yu Shao nodded, first putting away the stones before setting the box of White stones beside the Go board.

"Please guide me."

After gathering up the Black stones as well, Zheng Qin sat upright and said to Yu Shao.

"Please guide me."

Yu Shao immediately returned the courtesy.

Zheng Qin reached into the stone box, his eyes fixed on the Go board.

He had waited a full two days for this game. Ever since their game the day before yesterday had ended, he had been waiting.

Whether he played Black or White, he had repeatedly simulated countless games in his mind.

He took a stone from the box, raising his wrist high.

The next instant, the stone fell!

Clack!

Sixteenth column, fourth row—Star Point!

With that single stone, the entire room fell silent.

Though it was merely a common Star Point move, for some reason, everyone could feel an immense pressure.

In the silence, Yu Shao also picked up a stone. After thinking briefly, he quickly placed it.

Fourth column, fourth row—Star Point.

Zheng Qin immediately followed with another move.

Sixteenth column, seventeenth row—Mokuhou!

"Star-Mokuhou? Little Zheng really did choose the opening formation he's best at."

"It seems Little Zheng is truly determined to fight that kid down to the very last point this game."

"Little Zheng is serious!"

Seeing that move, the people around them could not help whispering among themselves.

The Star-Mokuhou Formation was an extremely flexible opening. It could advance to attack or retreat to defend, but its drawback was precisely that it lacked both the sweeping aggression of the Star Point Formation and the intricate entanglements of the Mokuhou Formation.

Yet because of this, the Star-Mokuhou Formation was often favored by Professional Go Players. It could develop into all kinds of positions and was not easily constrained by an opponent.

And the formation Zheng Qin was best at was precisely the Star-Mokuhou Formation.

At Shanhai Chess Hall, countless people had suffered defeat beneath Zheng Qin's Star-Mokuhou Formation.

Yu Shao lowered his eyes and looked at the Go board.

"Star-Mokuhou?"

"The most common, and most reasonable, move here would naturally be to claim the lower-right corner."

"But if I do that, the battle lines of this game will be drawn out..."

If he had ample time, Yu Shao would not have minded playing slowly.

But now he needed to finish the battle quickly and get home. That was also why, in their game the day before yesterday, he had chosen the Two-Star Formation, drawing the game into a complicated attacking confrontation and shortening the game time as much as possible.

He was not actually an attacking player.

In his previous life, his style had leaned more toward being meticulous and cautious. He was often soft on the outside but hid needles within—meeting force with orthodoxy, winning through surprise, and prevailing with precise calculation and a broad view of the whole board.

After thinking for a moment, Yu Shao finally picked up another stone.

Clack.

Accompanied by a crisp sound, the White stone landed to the lower right of the Black stone.

Fifteenth column, seventeenth row.

Small Knight!

At the sight of this move, everyone froze, then widened their eyes in shock!

"This... he approached the corner directly?!"

"So soon?"

"Even if that kid plays an attacking style, there was no need to approach the corner and attack right from the start. It's not like he can't do it, but he's being too hasty—and far too aggressive."

Someone nearby heard that and nodded.

"Exactly. The key is that even if Black can't form a Worry-Free Corner in the lower right with a Small Knight, Black can still claim the lower-right corner. Wouldn't White lose out a little that way?"

"This kid's moves are a little too aggressive. Is he the type who can't play unless he attacks?" someone else wondered.

Zheng Qin was stunned when he saw that Small Knight move as well.

He had imagined playing Yu Shao in his mind countless times before, but he had never expected Yu Shao's second White move alone to exceed his expectations.

Mokuhou, Star Point, High Mokuhou, Mokugai... He had considered every kind of corner claim. Yet he had never imagined that Yu Shao would not claim a corner with this move, but instead make a Corner Approach!

This move was not bad, but it was far too forceful. One could even say that, at the cost of losing a little, he was forcibly dragging the board into the fiercest kind of life-or-death struggle!

This move could be called—

Ruthless!

It was a ruthless ferocity that did not care for its own life!

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