I am Really a Superstar 3

by Little Merger

Zhang Ye was originally a mundane college graduate with aspiring dreams to become a star, but unfortunately has below average looks and height. However one day, he woke up and suddenly found himself in a parallel world!It’s like the same world, but wait a minute…many brands, celebrities and even famous works from his world changed and are gone in this new world!

10. 1111 - 1140

I am Really a Superstar #Chapter 1111: Just who could this godly person be? - Read I am Really a Superstar Chapter 1111: Just who could this godly person be? Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 1111: Just who could this godly person be?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At Zhang Ye's parents' house.

He snorted!

What are you doing? You said that we would play again some other time after agreeing to end the last match yesterday as a draw. Oh, you're already going back on your word? You won't play me anymore? You even kicked me out of the room? What have I said? Why did you have to kick me?

Don't make me mad!

You're pushing your luck!

You want to challenge my computer skills?

Do you think this bro's world-class hacker skills are meant for messing around with you?

On the other end.

Old Wu's parents' courtyard house.

Wu Changhe could be heard shouting nonstop!

"Who wants to play against you! I'm going to kick you out!"

"Whoa, you can still come back? I'll just have to kick you again!"

"Hahaha, keep being cocky! Go on, keep at it!"

"Damn, why am I not the administrator anymore?"

"Damn! You little bastard, how dare you kick me?"

"Are you trying to play dirty with me! I'll fight it out with you!"

Li Qinqin pushed open the door in a speechless manner. "What's with you?"

Wu Changhe said furiously, "That rascal Zhang is playing dirty with me! How dare he come looking for trouble! I'll show him what he gets for disrespecting me!"

Li Qinqin said in amusement, "He's looking for you again to play Go? Then just play him for a little while."

Wu Changhe rolled his eyes. "Why would I play him? Who wants to play him! He's not worth my time, understand?"

Li Qinqin smiled but did not say anything.

Not worth your time?

You're clearly just saying that because you can't beat him!

…

The netizens also learned about this!

They all came over to watch when they heard what was going on, and all bent over laughing!

"YE and Wu Changhe are fighting again!"

"Do they have to be this funny?"

"What's with this YE? Why did he come here again today?"

"Why is he so insistent on targeting Changhe 9-dan?"

"How did he manage to steal the administrator's role?"

"Who knows? Pfft, this person is so funny!"

Wherever Wu Changhe went, YE followed. These two started an epic chase!

…

At the SARFT.

Wu Zeqing was in her office.

Secretary Bai fast walked in. "Chief Wu."

"Yes?" Wu Zeqing looked up.

Secretary Bai hesitated a little before saying, "It seems like your father has met with some trouble. There's someone on the Internet who's arguing with him. It's been going on for two days."

Wu Zeqing asked a few probing questions before powering on her computer to take a look at the Go server. She then had a laugh and said, "OK, I see."

Secretary Bai blinked and said, "Why don't I get someone to check out who that YE—"

Wu Zeqing waved it off and said with a smile, "Don't worry about them."

"Uh, alright then," Secretary Bai said.

…

At China Qiyuan.

A lot of people could not help but laugh at the happenings.

But the disciples of Wu Changhe who were gnashing their teeth in hate.

Hu Liang remarked angrily, "Teacher, get him! Fight it out with him!"

Chen Ying, Xu Han, and the others all looked at him but did not say a word.

Fight it out with him? Even Xiang Rong 9-dan could not beat him! Fight? What fight! This person's Go skill was just too crazy. Other than Xiang Rong 9-dan, who else would be a match for him?

The Qiyuan's president, Dan Donghe came over. He was also at a loss for words when he saw what was going on. "Why are they at it again? Didn't they play all of yesterday? Which jinx has Brother Wu offended!"

Suddenly, a professional 8th dan player pointed at the computer screen and said, "Teacher Changhe went offline!"

Beside him, a professional 5th dan female player clicked with her mouse and said, "No, he's not offline. Teacher Changhe switched over to the Xiangqi server!"

"Xiangqi?"

"Pfft! Teacher Changhe has been forced to the Xiangqi server?"

Dan Donghe shook his head and laughed.

The Go server and the Xiangqi server were both operated by the same company and were accessible using the same account. The only difference was that their login pages were different. But the account status of those on the friends list could still be seen, like which server they were currently playing on, which room they were in, and even if they were in an active match at the moment.

The next moment, everyone discovered that YE had actually followed him over!

When those at China Qiyuan and many of the netizens realized this, they all headed into that room to watch the fun!

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Now, even the Xiangqi players were alarmed. This was because Wu Changhe was also known to be a good player in the Xiangqi world. Although his achievements here could not be compared to that of the world of Go, Wu Changhe was one of the very few who could play both Go and Xiangqi at the master level. This was a rare phenomenon in the history of both games. Even now, Wu Changhe's Xiangqi skill was maintained at a very high level. His skill might not be at the same level as that of a grandmaster, but it was still comparable to a master. In the past, he had even dabbled in many of the Xiangqi world's tournaments. This was why Wu Changhe was also very well-known within the Xiangqi world. Some of the professional Xiangqi players who had just debuted would not even be a match for him!

…

Inside the room.

Wu Changhe and YE were coming face to face for the umpteenth time!

Wu Changhe was almost going crazy. "Rascal, why do you keep following me around? Ah?"

Zhang Ye typed: "To play Go."

Wu Changhe harrumphed. "You're not worth my time!"

Zhang Ye said: "Then take back what you said the other day."

Wu Changhe said: "Why would I do that? I'm not taking back any words!"

Zhang Ye said: "Then let's decide things on the board of Go."

"I'm not playing you!"

"Then take back what you said!"

"I'm not taking them back! Let me tell you this: you definitely have a questionable character!"

"Then lay the terms."

A moment of silence ensued.

Suddenly, Wu Changhe laughed loudly and said: "If you want me to take back what I said, fine! Why don't we play a game of Xiangqi? Do you dare?"

Xiangqi?

Zhang Ye was taken aback. But at the same time, he was very happy about it. "Sure!"

…

Li Qinqin could no longer watch on. "You couldn't beat him at Go. And now, you're challenging him to Xiangqi? Is there any meaning to that?"

"Of course there is!" Wu Changhe laughed heartily. "I think this is going to be particularly interesting! If I don't show this kid something, he's going to get all arrogant!"

Li Qinqin rolled her eyes and said, "Your Xiangqi skills are at the pro level. How do you expect him to be able to play against you?"

"I don't care about that!" Wu Changhe said, "He wants to win over my daughter? He'll have to get past me first!"

Li Qinqin shook her head and said, "You're really intent on bullying others!"

Wu Changhe harrumphed, "What do you know! This is my way of testing him!"

Li Qinqin pursed her lips and said, "How's this a test? You're only doing this because you lost to him at Go and have nowhere to hang your head."

Wu Changhe pretended not to have heard her. He immediately hunt and pecked at the keyboard and sent a message to Zhang Ye: "Hurry up already. We're starting. Faster! Faster!" He was finally feeling spirited again!

If I can't beat you at Go!

Then I will make sure to thrash you at Xiangqi!

Hahaha!

On the other end, YE clicked the "ready" button!

The game commenced!

…

The netizens exclaimed.

"Wow!"

"Yesterday was Go. And today it's Xiangqi?"

"Pfft, what fun this is!"

"Teacher Changhe can finally vindicate himself today!"

"Yeah, Teacher Changhe's Xiangqi is very advanced too!"

"YE has been tricked. He probably does not know that Teacher Changhe's Xiangqi skill is at the level of a pro as well!"

"Hur hur, Wu Changhe is even going to move first."

…

Indeed, Zhang Ye really did not know that Wu Changhe's Xiangqi skill was at the professional level.

Moving the horse. 1

Shifting the cannon.

Advancing the soldier.

But after playing for a while, he suddenly let out an exclamation when he realized something was up.

Hey! This standard of play is pretty good! Only then did Zhang Ye realize that Wu Changhe could actually play so professionally. He realized that Comrade Changhe was actually trying to trick him, so he immediately focused and continued playing on!

Trying to trick me?

You're overrating yourself!

If you had played me yesterday, I might really not be able to beat you!

But today? Hur hur! You're as good as walking into my direct line of fire!

Zhang Ye didn't expect that the five skill experience books from Lottery Draw (Two) could actually be put to use so quickly!

"Come on!"

"Whoa, you're sending out your chariot already? Watch this!"

"Haha. I've got your horse's leg hobbled 2 , haven't I? Jump! Why aren't you jumping!? 3 "

…

At China Qiyuan.

At the beginning, no one really gave much thought to the game since everyone knew that Wu Changhe was an expert in Xiangqi. But when they got to the middlegame 4 , everyone was dumbfounded!

Chen Ying was taken aback. "This…"

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Xu Han was wiping away his sweat. "Damn!"

Hu Liang could also see it. "Teacher Wu is at a disadvantage? How's that possible!"

Beside them, there were quite a few Xiangqi pros who also came to watch the game. At first, they thought it was a game of Go being played. But when they came over, they saw it turned out to be a Xiangqi battle. Further, it was an extremely high level game!

At this point, those people from the Xiangqi world were also stunned!

"Fuck!"

"Who could he be?"

"Why is he so good?"

"He can even play Xiangqi?"

"This is bad! That was a bad move by Teacher Changhe!"

"Aiyo, this horse is done for!"

Indeed. With the next move, Wu Changhe's horse was captured and taken by YE!

"This formation was really well-planned!"

"Yeah, Teacher Changhe has been tricked by YE again!"

"That move earlier by YE was actually just a diversion!"

…

At the courtyard house.

Wu Changhe had started off the game with a big smile on his face. It later turned into a slight smile before he turned completely expressionless, and then finally looked like he was about to vomit a mouthful of blood!

The game lasted only half an hour!

Check!

When YE moved his cannon, Wu Changhe was checkmated!

Li Qinqin was also dumbfounded from watching. "This Little Zhang, he's…"

Wu Changhe was so angry that he was trembling. He typed: "Again! I dare you to play again!"

"You're up for another game?"

"Best of three!"

"Sure."

The second game was won by YE. It took one hour.

"Again!"

"Isn't it supposed to be a best of three?"

"Do you even know how to play Xiangqi? Any proper official tournament states that a match is decided in a best of five!"

"Oh, OK."

In the third game, YE won. It took 45 minutes.

"Again!"

"But I've already won three times."

"A pro match requires a best of seven!"

"Oh, so it's like that."

"Come on!"

"OK."

In the fourth game, YE won in 50 minutes.

For the entirety of the daytime, Wu Changhe played ten games against Zhang Ye, not believing that this was happening. In all ten games, Wu Changhe lost. He even lost all of them very quickly and easily!

Wu Changhe was dumbfounded!

China Qiyuan's people were dumbfounded!

The observing players were also dumbfounded!

Yesterday, Wu Changhe had been utterly demolished in Go!

But who could have thought that today in Xiangqi, Wu Changhe would get utterly demolished once again by YE!

Just what sort of person was he!

Which fucking godly person was this!?

They were all so shocked that they didn't know what to say!

…

At the courtyard house.

Wu Zeqing came back to her parent's place after work.

The moment she entered the house, she saw Wu Changhe with a dark look on his face and not saying a word. Every now and then, he would even bang on the table out of anger.

Wu Zeqing smiled and said, "Dad, what's going on?"

"You dare to ask? You have the cheek to ask me that?" With her question, Wu Changhe got even angrier!

Li Qinqin laughed and said, "Your dad lost again."

Wu Zeqing said, "Isn't that very normal?"

Li Qinqin shook her head and said, "This time, he lost to Little Zhang in Xiangqi. Out of ten games, he did not even win once. Just look at how he's throwing a tantrum now, hur hur."

Wu Zeqing was taken aback. "Little Ye knows how to play Xiangqi as well?"

"He more than knows how to play it," Li Qinqin said with a giggle. "This boyfriend of yours is really no ordinary guy."

1. https/en./wiki/Xiangqi#Pieces

2. https/en./wiki/Xiangqi#Horse

3. The horse does not jump as the knight does in international chess. Zhang Ye hobbled/trapped Wu Changhe's horse.

4. The opening in Xiangqi is basically the first 10-15 moves by each person, that is, 20-30 moves in total.

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Chapter 1112: An artificial intelligence issues a challenge to humanity!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

It was another morning.

An entertainment circle without Zhang Ye was always going to be missing that bit of liveliness. Although there were still countless celebrities involved in all kinds of news and scandals, those were mainly either hyped up by their companies to promote a new film or show, or the headlines themselves being hyped up when in fact the news was nothing that interesting. It was always lacking that realism and impact that Zhang Ye brought when he was active. He would so often start some trouble that was so shocking that it would send everyone into panic. Everything was definitely more exciting when he was around.

On Weibo.

"Is Zhang Ye still on break?"

"It's only been three days."

"Ai, I'm starting to miss him already!"

"Me too! I wish that Teacher Zhang would return soon and create yet another masterpiece!"

"I wonder what Zhang Ye is doing right now."

"Could that fellow be sleeping every day?"

"What about that girl who is like the lilac? How's it going with her?"

"@ZhangYe! Wake up!"

"@ZhangYe! Wake up!"

"@ZhangYe! Don't sleep anymore!"

In the end, someone kicked off a mass mention of Zhang Ye, with a lot of people gleefully joining in. In an instant, several hundred people on Weibo started to @ZhangYe to make this fellow get up from bed.

But unknown to them, Zhang Ye had awakened long ago.

…

Back at home.

7 AM.

After breakfast, Zhang Ye eagerly went back to his room and logged on to the Online Go Server again.

Then a call from Wu Zeqing came in.

"Old Wu?"

"You're awake?"

"Yes, I am. I'm getting ready to play Go."

"You still want to play?"

"Yeah, I have nothing to do anyway."

"Don't play anymore. My dad is starting to get frustrated. If you keep beating him, I think he might really get into a fight with you. Don't overdo it."

"Ah? Surely not, right?"

"Why not? When I got back yesterday, I heard my dad cursing you for the entire night, hur hur. Oh yes, my mom wants me to ask you something. She wonders if you'd be interested in joining a pro Go tournament. A Go celebrity is also a celebrity; they get a lot of attention too. My mom asks if you will consider it for a moment?"

"No thanks."

"Why is that?"

"With my level, I can only occasionally come up against someone like your dad, who's a retired pro."

"Have some faith in yourself. You're very good."

"Forget it. I'll just stick to the entertainment industry and make an honest living there instead."

"True. Alright then."

"Old Wu, what about the two of us?"

"It won't be an issue with my mom. But as for my dad…"

"I've won so many games against your dad. Is he still not going to recognize and accept me? Then wouldn't I have done all that for nothing?"

"It's not for nothing. This time, you've really changed the way that my parents perceive you. My dad may be cursing you very fiercely, but I can see that he has been moved. As for my mom, she rather likes you too. How about this: I'll bring you to my parents' place again in a few days' time."

"Sure."

"Then you rest well today. I need to get to work."

The call ended.

He has been moved?

Zhang Ye smile slightly, thinking about how there was finally some progress, at last.

He wasn't at all thinking of becoming some Go celebrity. Although it was good to have another title, and would contribute to the course of his career as well as add some shine to his résumé, the intensity of the tournaments was too high with too much competition and spanned too long a duration. Every day for the entire year, they would be required to train and compete against one another. All those professional and world rankings were actually earned by sacrificing one's time. Zhang Ye did not have such time to do something like that. If it were not for the matter with Wu Zeqing, and his differences with Wu Changhe, he would probably not have touched Go and Xiangqi at all in his lifetime. These sports celebrities might look very glorious and positive, and also gain the respect of many, but it was simply too high of a price to pay. Besides, Zhang Ye had always thought that his Go skill was mediocre. He couldn't even beat a retired pro who couldn't play in professional games and had even nearly lost to him too, so why would he want to join any pro tournaments? Wouldn't he be looking to get abused then? Even if he got matched against a pro 5th or 6th dan Go player, he probably still couldn't win!

Suddenly, the door opened.

His mother came into the room. "Oh, you're not playing Go today?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "No, I'm not playing anymore. I won so much that I got bored."

"Keep bragging, kid!" His mother naturally did not take his words seriously. She said, "If you have nothing to do, get changed quickly. Come with me and your dad and do some grocery shopping. Your three sisters will be coming over this afternoon to have fun."

"Bring me to the market with you?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"What if I get surrounded by people at the market?"

"If you get surrounded, then so be it."

"Whoa, you're really throwing me out there huh?"

"It wasn't easy for me to have such a famous son. Why aren't you allowing me to flaunt you?"

"Alright then!"

"Hurry up, we're leaving!"

…

Meanwhile.

At China Qiyuan.

Exceptionally more people came here today.

President Dan Donghe, Xiang Rong 9-dan, Li Yi 9-dan. It was especially crowded here at the Go association. Basically, all those who were called celebrity professional Go players were here. The remaining professional players who were not that highly ranked also gathered around. Everyone had looks of incredulity on their faces!

Chen Ying said in shock, "Is the news true?"

"Yeah, th-that can't be impossible!" Xu Han said in a stunned manner.

Dan Donghe said sternly, "I've just received the news. It's true, the news is indeed true. This will be reported on the news very soon!"

No one cared about YE anymore!

They also stopped caring about the dispute between YE and Changhe 9-dan!

That was because at this moment, the world of Go was facing a battle of life and death. Everyone was unable to react to the news. They were even completely unprepared for it because this news had come about too suddenly!

"Chen Chi 9-dan lost?"

"How could he have lost!"

"That's impossible!"

"How could that thing possibly win against Chen Chi 9-dan?"

"Could it have been a one-off?"

"It definitely did not get lucky. It won two games in a best of three. Chen Chi lost two games in a row."

"Heavens…this…"

"I just called Chen Chi and asked him what was going on. He didn't say much except to warn us to be careful! I could hear that he sounded very defeated!"

Wu Changhe just arrived, walking rapidly. "Is it true?"

Li Yi 9-dan sighed and said, "Yes."

Wu Changhe's expression darkened. "Old Dan, I want to look at that game."

Xiang Rong 9-dan spoke, "I would like to see it too."

Dan Donghe nodded. "I've already requested for it. They'll be sending it over soon."

Soon after, the game record was sent.

Chen Ying volunteered, "I'll recreate the match."

She operated the computer and recreated the match from the first move on the big screen.

Everyone's face turned sullen the longer they watched. The atmosphere in the entire Qiyuan fell into a very oppressive tension!

…

At home.

His three sisters arrived.

Zhang Ye was unaware of these developments in the outside world.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "What made you girls want to come over today?"

His eldest younger sister smiled. "We came to look for you to play of course."

"Brother, aren't you on break now? The three of us are on our summer break, and we're bored to tears," his second sister said with a giggle. "How boring!"

Zhang Ye was amused by them. He pointed at the cabinet behind him and said, "You all came at the right time. I have nothing to do today either. That's right! After the show's recording ended a few days ago, Beijing TV handed out a lot of freebies to us. I also received some gifts from other people. Things like VR headsets and perfumes, just take whatever you like. Since you're here today, there's no need to be a stranger. Just tell me whatever you want. As long as it's something that I have, you can take it if you like it. There's no need to be polite—" Before he finished speaking, Zhang Ye looked back and was stunned.

His third sister was already holding a pile of boxes in her arms. "These are all mine!"

His second sister was panicking. "Damn, leave some for me! And leave some for Big Sis as well."

His eldest younger sister said, "I want the perfume. Don't take it from me!"

Zhang Ye said, "Can you guys be a little more polite? Can you?"

In the end, his three sisters stared at him in confusion. "Didn't you insist for us to not hold back?"

"But you should still have listened to me and let me finish. Oh, look at this. Even before I finish speaking, everything is already gone?" Zhang Ye didn't know how to react. "Are you bandits raiding a village?"

His parents laughed at that.

His mother said, "Take as much as you want. Little Ye doesn't have any use for them anyway."

"Yes, ma'am! Thank you, Auntie!" His third sister playfully gave a military salute to her.

Zhang Ye couldn't do anything about them and just shook his head. He turned on the television with the remote control as he wanted to watch the news. Although he was taking a break from work, he still saw the need to keep up with the entertainment industry and society's news and affairs.

However, when the television turned on, the news that was currently being reported on TV stunned Zhang Ye!

On Central TV News Channel.

The anchor: "An artificial intelligence named Peter that was developed by an American company has shockingly made its debut by defeating the American-born Chinese Go player, Chen Chi 9-dan, two to zero in a match that ended at 5:10 AM Beijing Time. At the same time, the artificial intelligence Peter officially issued a challenge to humanity. According to information our reporters gathered from China Qiyuan, Peter's development company has already sent out official letters of challenge to the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean professional Go players. The reason they chose Go was that it was acknowledged as the most difficult and complicated board game. It is also a game that represents humanity's wisdom. Could a machine's intelligence soon surpass the wisdom of humans? This is destined to be an unprecedented battle!"

Zhang Ye was stunned!

Peter?

An AI?

A challenge to all humanity?

Go?

Damn!

Wasn't this that famous AlphaGo 1 from his previous world?

1. https/en./wiki/AlphaGo

Chapter 1113: Xiang Rong? I think I've heard of him before!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

When the news was released!

It created quite the stir throughout Asia!

On Weibo.

"Challenging all of humanity?"

"Holy shit!"

"The Americans are way too arrogant!"

"Didn't they only beat one person? What's that to brag about!"

"The issue here is that the AI defeated Chen Chi 9-dan. Old Chen is an American-born Chinese, and although he has never represented China as a participant in international tournaments, he has caused many problems for our national team at that level. He is one of the best Go players in the world and is ranked in the top 10 of the world rankings. Do you understand what this means? Don't tell me you guys don't know. It would be fine if it was just an ordinary amateur or pro Go player who lost to the artificial intelligence. But here, it's Chen Chi 9-dan who lost and got crushed by a score of zero to two! This news is really hard to believe!"

"It's only a machine. How can it be that strong?"

"Yeah, Go is too complicated. How can an AI possibly handle it?"

"The Americans claim that the machine can consider its moves."

"No way, right? Wouldn't that be really troublesome?"

"Yeah, the entire world of Go is faced with a huge crisis!"

"No, it's not only the world of Go. This is a calamity for all humanity!"

"Intelligence is humanity's most powerful and last line of defense. If humanity were to lose to a machine in the domain of intelligence, then…the consequences would be disastrous! This would subvert all that we have previously known!"

"Humans will become inferior to machines? Damn!"

"Fuck! What bullshit is this Peter!"

"Right, show them how powerful we humans are!"

…

Japan.

These netizens were also making a netizen!

" Nani? 1 "

"A letter of challenge?"

"Don't they know that we have Shinji 9-dan?"

"They're really overestimating what that AI can do!"

"Yeah, let's show them what we're capable of!"

"They wish to compete with humans on intelligence? What a joke! A machine is still not good enough to do that!"

How can an intelligence designed by humans possibly surpass the wisdom of humanity?

"But Chen Chi 9-dan already lost!"

"He must have been too careless!"

…

Korea.

"Peter?"

"It only won against one person and it's already issuing a challenge to all humanity?"

"How arrogant!"

"This is an insult aimed at Go!"

"It's taking Go to be too simple!"

"I don't believe that it can win. There are still so many outstanding Go players who are better than Chen Chi 9-dan. For example, Elder Park Yuhee, Shinji 9-dan, and Korea's great warrior—Xiang Rong 9-dan! I strongly believe that humanity's last line of defense will not be defeated by just a machine!"

"Ah? Isn't Xiang Rong 9-dan Chinese?"

"No, he's Korean, but that's another story…"

…

The news blew up!

News of this was overwhelming!

"Machine issues challenge to humanity!"

"Will humanity be able to preserve its last shred of dignity?"

"Peter—The strongest AI in history!"

"A machine that can think out its moves!"

"The greatest threat to humanity in history!"

"The International Go Federation 2 holds an emergency meeting to discuss strategic countermeasures!"

"The match between the AI and Chen Chi 9-dan revealed!"

Go is a very popular game in Asia, and everyone was no stranger to games played against machines. They could basically play against the computer with any of the Go software available on the market. Publishers refer to them as artificial intelligence. Although they were referred to as intelligence, those who understood the subject knew that it was not intelligent at all. These softwares would often commit a lot of mistakes that a normal Go expert would not make. They were also prone to making many bizarre moves. Some Go beginners would probably lose to it very frequently, but to any of the stronger amateur players, they would basically be able to thrash the computer opponent every time. Moreover, everyone disliked playing against a computer opponent as there were too many bugs in the program and the moves were too predictable.

But now, Peter had appeared out of nowhere!

This "artificial intelligence" program seemed to be completely different from the usual computer AI that they had come across and had completely defeated Chen Chi 9-dan. Although a lot of people were insulting and looking down on it, they were actually feeling quite afraid of it. That was because they couldn't understand what this thing was and if it could really consider its moves before making them!

…

At home.

His sisters were dumbfounded by the news!

His parents were also surprised and scooted over.

His second sister blinked and said, "Is it that strong?"

His mother said puzzled, "An artificial intelligence?"

His eldest younger sister's face paled a little. "If this Peter actually manages to defeat all the top Go players in the world, does it mean that machines could replace human intelligence in the future?"

His third sister exclaimed, "This is terrible!"

Zhang Ye just stared at the television and remained silent.

His eldest younger sister wanted to hear Zhang Ye's opinion. "Brother, what do you think?"

A lot of people were caught completely off guard by this news, including China Qiyuan, which was also plunged into a chaos. Many people were still in a state of shock. Perhaps only Zhang Ye remained the calmest among them. Other than the parent company that developed Peter, he was probably the only person who had an in-depth understanding of the program in this world!

Zhang Ye said, "To say that it can consider its moves, that's impossible."

His eldest younger sister asked puzzled, "Really?"

Zhang Ye nodded and said, "But if it is the thing that I know it is, it'll be very difficult for humans to win against it." In his previous world, not only was AlphaGo famous, it also captured the attention of all of Asia. Even Lee Sedol, number one in the world at the time, had lost to it. If this Peter was really the same thing as AlphaGo, then…it would cause a headache for the Go players of this world.

This program was really very strong!

It was definitely not the usual type of computer AI that people were used to!

At this moment, another astonishing event occurred that would capture the attention of all of Asia!

Someone had finally responded to the letter of challenge by Peter the AI!

All over Asia, televisions, newspapers, and the Internet suddenly released a piece of news simultaneously!

Shinji 9-dan, Japan's best Go player and ranked in the top 5 in the Go world, had announced in a press conference held in Japan that he would accept Peter's challenge!

The American company gave a response very quickly!

They didn't say more than what was needed!

There weren't any pleasantries exchanged either!

The reply only consisted of eight words: "In two days' time, let's battle in Tokyo!"

The battle was going to begin soon!

The Japanese had accepted the challenge!

Some people were feeling worried!

Some people were feeling excited!

The "war between humans and machines" was immediately hyped up!

…

His father said, "Shinji 9-dan? With him playing, we should be able to win, right?"

Zhang Ye shook his head and said with a smile, "That could be difficult."

His third sister asked in surprise, "He can't win?"

Zhang Ye said, "I wouldn't know about that. But in any case, it would be very difficult."

His eldest younger sister clenched her teeth and said, "But humanity still has Xiang Rong 9-dan. If there's really no way out, Xiang Rong 9-dan will be able to hold the last line of defense!"

"Right, Xiang Rong is very strong!" His father also knew about him.

Zhang Ye wondered out loud, "Who?"

"Xiang Rong 9-dan!" His eldest younger sister said, "He's currently the number one player in the Go world. Brother, don't you also know how to play Go? You don't even know him?"

Zhang Ye blinked and said, "This name sounds a little familiar. I think I've seen it somewhere before."

His father said, "Of course it would sound familiar. There's no one in this world who can play Go as well as him. If you play against him, you couldn't win even if he gave you a handicap of 20 stones."

His eldest young sister laughed as she corrected, "He would have to give him a handicap of 30 stones."

Zhang Ye wondered if there was really such a strong Go player in China.

Xiang Rong?

Xiang Rong?

Eh, where did I see this name?

Zhang Ye had forgotten.

1. What?

2. https/en./wiki/International_Go_Federation

Chapter 1114: Zhang Ye's contribution!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Noon.

At China Qiyuan.

Reporters were swarming the outside!

They came from all over the place, from the television stations to the newspaper firms to the online media outlets. Right now, China Qiyuan was the focus of discussions all over the country. Even the equivalent organizations in Japan and Korea were watching China Qiyuan's actions very closely. After all, China led Go in Asia. In the top ten of the world rankings, half of them were taken by Chinese citizens. The remaining places were then made up of those players from Japan and Korea!

"Is President Dan around?"

"Is Xiang Rong 9-dan here?"

"I'm from Central TV. Could you grant us an interview?"

"I'm from Beijing TV. Could you let us have an interview with Changhe 9-dan!"

"If Shinji 9-dan loses, will we also send a representative?"

"Is Xiang Rong 9-dan confident in winning?"

China Qiyuan was bursting with people!

"Please wait!"

"The players are holding a meeting right now!"

"Don't squeeze! Please be patient!"

The staff were all busy attending to the media reporters.

Inside.

Dozens of professional Go players gathered around in a gloomy atmosphere. After Chen Ying had recreated the match, and with the analysis given by Xiang Rong 9-dan and Li Yi 9-dan, everyone finally finished studying the game between Peter and Chen Chi 9-dan. As a result, they were all shocked by the "intelligence" of Peter!

Xu Han 8-dan exclaimed, "This is so ridiculous!"

"He really knows how to consider his moves!" Tian Weiwei paled!

Hu Liang 7-dan could not believe it. "This is impossible!"

Li Yi 9-dan gasped and said, "But these moves should only be possible if a human played. A machine would never be able to make them, so how could this AI manage to do it? This simply cannot be done through big data analytics!"

"Will Shinji 9-dan be able to win?"

"I don't know!"

"Everyone is still in a state of confusion!"

"Yeah, no one knows anything about Peter!"

"We don't have enough understanding of the program. But using all the game data from the Internet and television broadcasts, it has all the information it needs about the other world-class Go players!"

"How does it work exactly?"

"How can they say that it has intelligence?"

Everyone was in disbelief!

In those two games of Go, they saw many frightful insights that convinced many of them that this AI could really think like a human. Further, the thought process was even more detailed than a human could muster, with the considerations of every move much more comprehensive! This was too scary!

…

Back at home.

After lunch.

Zhang Ye called Wu Zeqing.

Zhang Ye asked, "Has the Go community met with some trouble?"

Old Wu confirmed, "My dad has gone to China Qiyuan for an emergency meeting to discuss the strategic countermeasures to take. If Shinji 9-dan wins, it'll be fine. But if even he loses, then that will be problematic. Right now, the Qiyuan is also quite in the dark about the developments. Without any technical data and a blueprint of how Peter operates, no one has any idea of what kind of machine it is. The enemy is in the shadows while everything about my dad and the other Go players is known, so that makes it a very tricky situation.

Zhang Ye replied, "If it's about that, I might know a little."

"Oh?" Old Wu said.

Zhang Ye thought about it for a moment and said, "How about this? I'll send you some information about what I know of AI. It might not necessarily be correct, but it should be good enough for reference."

Old Wu said, "Alright, I'll forward that to my dad."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye went online and found the match between Chen Chi 9-dan and Peter. After studying it for a long time, he managed to get an idea of the inner workings of the program.

His third sister pushed open the door and came in. "Eh, Brother, what are you doing?"

Zhang Ye smiled, typing and saying, "I'm writing a document."

"Aren't you on leave from work for half a month?" His eldest younger sister also came into the room.

Zhang Ye said, "Hai, I'm helping someone with something."

…

At China Qiyuan.

Dan Donghe was getting interviewed.

Meanwhile, Xiang Rong 9-dan declined to get interviewed. He sat there and continued to analyze the game between Peter and Chen Chi 9-dan, at times shaking his head, at times frowning.

A distance away.

Wu Changhe received a call.

"Daughter, I'm busy right now."

"Dad, I sent you some information. Take a look at it."

"What information?"

"Little Ye sorted out the working principles of Peter."

"Him? What could he possibly know!"

"Take a look at it first, alright?"

"Is the information reliable?"

"Have you forgotten what Little Ye does? He's a world-class mathematician and all computer programs are based on binary, so don't you think it's reliable? In this area, he's the real professional. Depending on a world-class mathematician's research information is better than listening to a group of Go players analysis of a program, isn't that right?"

"Alright, I'll take a look then."

After hanging up, Wu Changhe downloaded the document onto his cell phone.

Soon after, Dan Donghe came back. He was exhausted from handling the interview with the several dozen reporters. This was because he was unable to give them a proper conclusion about the meat of the matter.

Everyone gathered again.

Wu Changhe suddenly said, "Come, everyone! Take a look at this!"

"Ah?"

"What is it?"

"Teacher, what's the matter?"

Everyone looked to him.

Wu Changhe said, "Someone sent me a document regarding that P-whatever thing's working principles." He handed it to his disciple Tian Weiwei. "Put it up on the big screen for everyone to see."

Tian Weiwei immediately said, "Yes!"

Everyone was skeptical.

"Working principles?"

"Did someone manage to analyze them?"

"Is it real?"

"How can it be so fast?"

Dan Donghe's eyes lit up. He hurriedly strode over and said, "Brother Wu, who sent it to you?"

Wu Changhe scowled and said, "Don't ask about that. It's just someone who works with math."

The document was quickly shown on the display!

Everyone looked up!

Xiang Rong also looked up at the screen!

Peter.

This is an AI program written for Go.

It mainly consists of four parts:

1. Policy Network: Picks likely moves to play at every step.

2. Fast Rollout: Has the same goal as 1. A rollout policy that is 1,000 times faster but less precise under certain conditions.

3. Value Network: Learns to look at a board state, and predicts who is likely to win.

4. Monte Carlo Tree Search (MCTS): Combining the three parts above, it forms a complete program.

The main theory behind it is deep learning. Deep learning refers to multilayer neural networks and its training. A layer of neural networks can take in a large number of inputs, and through a nonlinear method to obtain appropriate weights, finally obtain a final output score. It works just like biological brains. Using an appropriate matrix, multiple layers are connected together, forming a neural network "brain," allowing for complicated manipulation, just like how humans process image recognition. It has two "brains." It uses these two neural network "brains" to play Go. These brains' neural networks are similar to how image search engines search for images. They begin with the multiple layers to handle the Go board's positions and deal with it like a picture classification website. Through a filter, a 13-layer policy neural network will analyze the setup presented. These layers are able to classify and reason logically.

The first brain: Move picker.

The second brain: Position evaluator.

And so on and so on!

It was a 2,000-word report. It looked like a research paper and was written highly professionally.

Many of the professional Go players were dumbfounded. There was many professional jargon they did not understand at all. They could only guess, but they gained a rough idea of what Peter was!

Xiang Rong 9-dan asked in shock, "Who wrote this?"

President Dan Donghe quipped, "Brother Wu, you even know an expert like this? Which mathematician is he?"

"Why do you care who he is?" Wu Changhe did not understand a thing anyway. "So is it of any use?"

"Of course it's of use!" Chen Ying was the most excited of them all. Not only was she a top female Go player, she was also an academic. She was a Tsinghua math student. "This analysis and information is incredibly important! This has exposed how Peter works! If it's true, then this AI can't think like how the Americans bragged. It can't think at all. It just makes people believe that it can think. Its core is still based on data processing!"

Two "brains"?

Deep learning?

They finally knew!

They could finally see Peter's true face!

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Chapter 1115: Humanity vs. Artificial Intelligence (Start)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

The AI, Peter, was once again dominating the news throughout Asia!

The cause of this was China Qiyuan's revelation of Peter's operating principle, a magnificent analysis report over a 1,000 words that was written in great detail. At the end, the author of the report was also indicated. It was signed as: An anonymous mathematician who does not wish to reveal his name.

The netizens were stunned!

"So that's what it is!"

"It actually plays Go in this way!"

"Thinking? Bullshit! Who are the Americans trying to bluff!"

"Those Americans really love bragging too much!"

"Who wrote this report?"

"This is so awesome!"

"It's only been a day?"

"An anonymous mathematician who does not wish to reveal his name?"

"Thank you for contributing to the cause of humanity!"

"An unsung hero!"

Both domestic and international experts were very surprised. After going through a lot of reverse verifications, they discovered that 90% of this analysis report was true and reliable! In just a short span of a day, and after just two games of Go, Peter's operating principle had been analyzed? Who could have done it?

At Old Wu's parents' house.

Li Qinqin was very shocked. "Changhe, was this analysis conducted by the Qiyuan?"

Wu Changhe mumbled, "Ah, er…"

"The only person who studied math at the Qiyuan should be Chen Ying, right?" Li Qinqin was doubtful.

Wu Changhe said, "Why do you care who analyzed it?"

Li Qinqin said, "I just want to know. So who was it?"

Wu Changhe scowled and muttered, "That Zhang kid!"

"Little Zhang wrote it?" Li Qinqin laughed. "I knew it. How could the people at the Qiyuan possibly come up with something this impressive. With one glance, I knew that this report was written by some career academic. What do you think now? I told you Little Zhang wasn't bad, right? And you're still displeased with him. Look at how concerned he is with your problem. He immediately got to work and researched the problem when he knew that you all met with trouble. He's even this thorough when the task was supposed to have been done by others!"

Wu Changhe stared at her and said, "Has that kid cast a spell on you or something? Why do you keep speaking up for him!"

Li Qinqin laughed and said, "Hur hur, I wonder that too. I like him no matter which side of him I see."

…

The Japanese were watching the developments very closely.

"It's finally been figured out!"

"So that's how it is!"

"Shinji 9-dan's chances of victory has increased by another percentage point!"

"Thanks to the Chinese!"

…

The Korean Go community was the same.

"This report has proven very valuable!"

"So that's what it really is!"

"The Chinese mathematicians are really awesome!"

…

Over in America.

The company that developed Peter was thrown into disarray at the same time!

The management flew into a rage and gathered up the program's core developers!

"Who was it? Who leaked the information?"

"Goddammit!"

"How did the Chinese get their hands on the information!"

"It's alright. Even if they know how Peter works, they can't win all the same!"

"But what I want to know is, how the hell did they find out? How?"

Everyone looked at one another in silence.

But what the American company would never be able to figure out was that other than them, there was actually someone else who had seen a similar AI program that could play Go. And that someone was Zhang Ye—a person who couldn't truly be considered someone from this world.

…

A day later.

Noon.

Zhang Ye had a room booked in a restaurant for a lunch date with some people.

Dong Shanshan, Yao Jiancai, Chen Guang, Fan Wenli, Xiaodong, Amy, Li Xiaoxian, Zhang Xia, and most of the other guests and contestants from King of Masked Singers had been invited. There were also a few others that Zhang Ye had informed but were unable to make it as they were busy with work.

"Come. I said that it would be my treat today!" Zhang Ye said as he arranged for the guests to get seated.

Dong Shanshan sat down and crossed her legs. "Don't worry. No one is going to fight you over the bill today."

Yao Jiancai laughed heartily. "Yeah, we'll be helping ourselves."

Chen Guang flipped open the menu and remarked, "Let's see, what's the most expensive item in here."

"There's no need to scrimp for Director Zhang," Fan Wenli chorused after her husband.

Zhang Ye didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "Can we hold back a little? I'm just a salaried employee, and it's not easy to earn money, so please don't overdo it. Just order enough to eat, please."

Dong Shanshan glanced at him. "You're a domestic superstar. Why are you still so stingy?"

Xiaodong giggled and said, "Yeah, amongst all of us here, you're the one who's the most popular. Since everyone took time out of their schedules to celebrate for you, you better not be thinking of trying to save money today!"

Li Xiaoxian was relatively quiet. She did not speak much and just laughed.

Everyone was talking and laughing, and the atmosphere was great.

Suddenly, Dong Shanshan called a waiter over to get him to turn on the television.

Amy asked, "What's going on?"

Dong Shanshan said, "Don't you all know? Today is the first time that an AI challenged a human. The battle's about to begin."

Yao Jiancai slapped the table. "That's right, I nearly forgot!"

Zhang Xia smiled widely and said, "I'm rather looking forward to it as well."

Xiaodong said, "Haha, I dare not speak about other areas. But when it comes to intelligence, a machine would never win against a human. We don't even need to watch!"

Li Xiaoxian said, "That's not necessarily true."

Chen Guang agreed. "Yeah, the Americans came bearing down so menacingly this time. If they weren't confident about it, they wouldn't have dared to issue a challenge to all humanity."

The television was turned on.

Central TV Sports Channel.

The image was one of the live broadcast of the match from the competition venue in Tokyo. The competition had not started yet, but Shinji 9-dan had already made his appearance. The international referee was speaking to him, and there were no spectators around them. This was to ensure absolute silence during the game, so there would only be the referee 1 and players present.

From the Central TV commentary box, Yu Yingyi's voice rang out. "We can see that the match will begin soon."

Zhang Ye said, "Yingyi went too?"

Dong Shanshan said, "Yeah, she's the host."

Yao Jiancai asked, "Who's she?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "She's mine and Shanshan's uni classmate. We were in the same class, and she's currently a host with Central TV Sports Channel. I never expected that Yingyi could play Go as well."

Yu Yingyi was actually just the host. Her main duty today had nothing to do with commentary.

The person in charge of that was Chen Ying 7-dan, who was sitting beside her. She was a pretty female Go player.

10 minutes later.

The match began!

As the best Japanese Go player, Shinji 9-dan was very composed today. He picked the black stones and started the game calmly. As his opponent was an AI, it could only display its moves onscreen. Since traditional Go players were still used to playing physically at a proper Go board, Peter required a representative to be the middleman to input Shinji 9-dan's moves after he made them. Then, when Peter responded with its move onscreen, the middleman would place a stone on the physical Go board at the corresponding position—the middleman was a Caucasian person who was a representative from Peter's development company.

Dong Shanshan and the others ate as they watched the game.

Some of them could understand what was happening, while those who didn't could only rely on the commentary.

Zhang Ye was actually quite concerned about this match too, even if he felt that this matter had nothing to do with him.

Five stones.

Ten stones.

Twenty stones.

As the game progressed faster and faster, Zhang Ye's frown became more and more obvious.

Li Xiaoxian put her chopsticks down. She exclaimed, "How amazing!"

Amy blinked and asked, "Who's amazing?"

Xiaodong knew that Li Xiaoxian knew how to play Go. "Who has the advantage?"

"PETER!" Li Xiaoxian said.

On TV.

Yu Yingyi said, "Teacher Chen Ying, what do you make of this move?"

Chen Ying 7-dan said in shock, "Shinji 9-dan has miscalculated his move. It seems like this game will end early!"

Yu Yingyi said in surprise, "It's going to end this soon?"

Sure enough, a short while later, Shinji 9-dan finally resigned from the game after spending a long time thinking and becoming frustrated and annoyed.

The referee immediately came over to confirm his decision.

Yu Yingyi exclaimed, "My goodness! We see that Shinji 9-dan has resigned from the game!"

Chen Ying 7-dan said, "If Peter can even beat Shinji 9-dan, then this would be really too frightful!"

Yu Yingyi said, "We'll be showing the second game between Peter and Shinji 9-dan tomorrow at the same time. Let's hope Shinji 9-dan catches up in the next game!"

The competition was based on a best of three!

If he were to lose again tomorrow, Shinji 9-dan would officially lose!

Later, during the post-match conference, Shinji 9-dan answered some of the reporters' questions looking rather dejected. He was clearly distracted!

When it was time for the American representative to say a few words, he was clearly very excited and spoke loftily.

Xiaodong could no longer watch. "This American is too arrogant!"

Yao Jiancai said, "Even Shinji 9-dan could not win?"

Chen Guang said, "Could there really be no one who can defeat them?"

"There's still another game tomorrow. Let's not speak too early," Li Xiaoxian said.

Zhang Xia said, "If it still doesn't work out, we still have Xiang Rong 9-dan around."

…

At this moment, all the attention throughout Asia was focused on this battle of the century in Tokyo!

"Did we lose?"

"Shinji 9-dan lost?"

"How could that be!"

"This…we couldn't even win?"

"Could it be that Shinji 9-dan was unable to play to his potential?"

"That shouldn't be the case!"

"Damn, we'll have to wait for tomorrow!"

"Right, we'll definitely win tomorrow!"

"If not, there's still Park Yuhee 9-dan, and also Xiang Rong 9-dan!"

"That's right, Peter cannot possibly win every time!"

"Humans can't possibly lose to an AI!"

"Intelligence is the last bit of dignity that we humans have!"

"Humanity will prevail!"

"Humanity will prevail!"

This game of Go had ignited the fears of many people. On this day, countless people started panicking. They suddenly felt a chill in the depths of their hearts and were feeling a little afraid. If humans were to lose to AI in a test of intelligence, then…that was something that was totally unimaginable to them!

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Chapter 1116: Humanity vs. Artificial Intelligence (Middle)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In China. On the Internet.

Things were blowing up.

On this day, countless people were posting proclamations of "Humanity Will Prevail!" across the Internet. Everywhere, in workplaces, hotels and bars, from the streets to the alleys, discussions were being had about this war between humans and machines. If it was chaotic before, now nearly everyone knew about it! The reason for this was because a lot of people did not believe it at first. They felt that it was just a gimmick arranged by the Americans, spending money to arrange for a showcase match between Peter and Chen Chi 9-dan as a fancy way of hyping up the promotion for their artificial intelligence program. But now, even Shinji 9-dan had lost in unexpected fashion!

He couldn't lose again!

If he lost the next game, then everyone would lose!

Shinji 9-dan could not afford to lose any more!

Humanity could not afford to lose either!

…

With the public's attention.

The second game showdown commenced!

Many countries across Asia were broadcasting the game live!

In Tokyo, countless foreign and domestic reporters had gathered outside the competition venue. They were all waiting for the final moment!

A diagonal move!

A knight's move!

A horizontal stretch!

A push through 1 !

The game lasted for a full five hours!

Back at home.

Zhang Ye's father had been watching the game the entire afternoon.

His mother was forced to watch alongside her husband without any knowledge.

"Aiyo, this move isn't good!

"Push through!

"Don't retreat 2 !

"Make a knight's move over there!"

His father was watching excitedly while commenting on the game like a layman would to a professional. He was actually not good at all. He was just watching for the fun of it.

However, the only person who really knew about Go at home did not even bother watching the game.

Zhang Ye was listening to music in his room. After watching the match between Shinji 9-dan and Peter yesterday, he did not pay any further attention to the match. This was because he felt that Shinji 9-dan's level was just average. Even the seemingly on steroids "WuChanghe" from the other day was better than him. And what exactly was Wu Changhe's level? He was a professional player retired for over 20 years who probably had not even retained half his skill from back then. Since Shinji 9-dan was not any better than him, it would have been a wonder if he could actually win against the AI. This program was definitely not as simple as everyone thought it to be. It would be very difficult for any Go player to win against it. Or at least to Zhang Ye, a computer program that had compiled all the data of the Go players and the millions and millions of games played would already make it unfair for any human players to play against.

Indeed, a cry from his father rang out from the living room!

"He lost!"

Shinji 9-dan had lost!

He suffered a terrible defeat, 2-0!

On TV, Commentator Chen Ying looked horrified!

Host Yu Yingyi said in pity, "It was only a difference of five points! Only five points!"

Chen Ying gave Yu Yingyi a look but did not say anything else.

Only five points?

Isn't a difference of five points already a lot?

And throughout the game, PETER had been constricting Shinji 9-dan's play! If it weren't for Shinji 9-dan taking a defensive strategy right from the start, would he have lost by just a five point difference? In this game, the machine had taken the advantage almost from the start. Up until the end, Shinji 9-dan did not even get a chance to turn things around!

The Japanese netizens blew up!

"No!"

"That's impossible!"

"He lost?"

"How could this be?"

The netizens in China were also gripped by the developments!

"Humanity has lost?"

"That was a really bad loss!"

"What's with Shinji 9-dan! Did he even get serious?"

"That goddamned AI!"

"This is as good as giving the Go world a slap to its face!"

The reason why Go was so highly praised by so many people was that it was the most complex and most challenging board game around that only humans could play. But now, a machine had suddenly appeared from nowhere and issued a challenge to all of humanity. Then, it won twice in a row against Chen Chi 9-dan and Shinji 9-dan, which subverted the mindsets of a lot of people. It also crumbled the firm beliefs of many professional Go players and amateurs. The appearance of Peter had struck a heavy blow to the international Go world!

There was news all around!

"Shinji 9-dan swept!"

"Will machines rule over humans in the near future?"

"Will intelligence no longer be just a privilege of humans?"

Some experts also claimed that this development would be a good thing. The reason they gave was that the appearance of Peter would raise the entire standard of play in the world of Go. This was because if they popularized the game through the program, every Go enthusiast would be able to play against a world-class Go "player" anytime they wanted. Xiang Rong 9-dan could not possibly be there to play with the netizens every day. Shinji 9-dan could not possibly be there to play with every Go enthusiast either. But Peter could. An AI could. This would undoubtedly train many professional Go players and raise the overall standard of play of the game.

However, the opinions of these experts were very quickly refuted by Wu Changhe, Dan Donghe, Chen Ying, and many other professional Go players!

Raise the standard of play in the world of Go?

Bullshit! This was obviously a disaster for the Go world!

If you were matched against a human player like yourself in a game, even if you lost, you would probably not mind it. You would think that you still stood a chance of winning in the next game. Even if you lost countless games, you could accept that it might be because your opponent had performed too well. However, that was a kind of performance that you could imagine and know to be within the limits of a human being. You would be able to admit that you were not better than this person, but that would not be enough to affect your love for this game. That was where the charm of games laid.

On the contrary, if your opponent was just a cold and emotionless computer playing the same game, you might lose once, twice, a thousand times, or even ten thousand times. But when you finally realize that even after you have put in every effort that you could in your entire lifetime and still not beat this opponent, that all humans would not have a chance of winning against it, then at that time, who would still want to play such a game?

If they were to really allow the machines to dominate the Go world's highest powers, it would definitely lead to a terrible ending. In the future, there would be fewer and fewer people playing this game called Go, leading to its inevitable extinction!

That was too frightening an outcome!

It was also the reason why so many of the Go world's professional players were stepping forward!

Because there was no longer a path of retreat, they had to step into battle!

…

On the same night.

The Koreans came forward!

The best player of the Korean Go world, Park Yuhee 9-dan, called for a press conference. He announced that he had accepted Peter's challenge and would battle against it in Seoul the day after tomorrow!

Park Yuhee!

Ranked second in the world of Go!

Park Yuhee's appearance once again lifted the hopes of many people!

"Go for it!"

"You must definitely win!"

"Humanity will prevail!"

"Park Yuhee will prevail!"

"Show that machine what we can do!"

"We can't lose anymore!"

"If you win, you'll become the hero of the Go world!"

"Please save the Go world!"

The Koreans were extremely confident and were all showing their support for Park Yuhee!

Park Yuhee had even pushed away two upcoming professional tournaments to focus on his preparations for the match. It could be seen just how much importance he placed on the artificial intelligence program!

The Korean media and television stations' promotions for the match that would be held two days later went into full swing. The media labeled this match as "The Battle for the Salvation of Humanity"!

But as it goes, the greater the expectations, the greater the disappointment!

On the day of the first game, no one expected that it would turn out this way.

With the full attention of all of Asia, Park Yuhee committed a mistake during the middlegame in the first round of the match. As long as one was human, there would always be mistakes. Even Xiang Rong 9-dan was not an exception to that. However, Peter did not have that problem. The machine made no mistakes. Not long after moving into the middlegame, Park Yuhee was forced to resign!

The next day.

The second game.

Park Yuhee started the game in full pursuit. He dominated with a three-point advantage right from the beginning. But when they got to the middlegame, a beautiful "push through" move by Peter disrupted the opening setup of Park Yuhee's stones. Park Yuhee was left struggling and unable to turn things around from there. In the end, after adding the compensation, he actually lost by ten points!

Two to zero!

Peter was victorious again!

It was awful!

It was just too awful!

At the post-match press conference.

The American representative raised the microphone and said happily, "Peter is the most perfect and advanced version of an artificial intelligence program that we have developed. We're confident that it can defeat every human Go player around!"

When it was Park Yuhee's turn to speak, he held the microphone for a very long time while hesitating. Finally, he just said, "I'm sorry that I disappointed everyone." He then left the stage dejectedly and offered no other comments!

Everyone fell silent!

Immediately, Asia turned its attention to China.

1. 冲/Chōng/De - To push or poke through. https/senseis./?PushThrough

2. 退/Tuì/hiki - Drawing back, pulling back, or retreat. https/senseis./?PullingBack

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Chapter 1117: Humanity vs. Artificial Intelligence (End)

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In China.

In the morning, Zhang Ye went outside to exercise.

In the end, all he could hear on the streets and alleys were sounds of discussion.

"The whole Go world is going to get destroyed!"

"This will really look bad on them!"

"Do you think that it will only be the Go world that gets affected? Peter is challenging the intelligence of all of humanity!"

"Yeah, it wouldn't look good on any of us!"

"Will Xiang Rong 9-dan accept the challenge?"

"I don't know. There's been no news from China Qiyuan at all."

"Xiang Rong might not necessarily win either. This AI is too strong!"

"The key issue was that it won so easily. Both the world number two and three suffered terrible losses. If they had been only marginal losses, there would still be some hope!"

The situation was starting to get worse!

The discussions were also becoming more and more pessimistic!

All this was because of humanity suffering a terrible defeat. Admittedly, Xiang Rong 9-dan had still not stepped forward yet. But even though he was at a higher level than Shinji 9-dan and Park Yuhee 9-dan, it wasn't that great of a difference. In the regular international tournaments, even he would not be able to win ten out of ten games when he came up against either of those two, and he would still suffer one or two losses occasionally. The outcome of a Go match was too uncertain, and no one could be guaranteed to always win. If the situation was analyzed from this angle, Xiang Rong 9-dan would probably not be Peter's equal either! Of course, this was just an analysis.

On the way back, Zhang Ye bought two copies of the newspapers.

Flipping one of them open, the headlines were all about the "war between humans and machines." Seeing how the representatives of each country were getting defeated one by one, Zhang Ye did not have anything to say and could only sigh. Then he took a slow jog home to eat breakfast.

As expected, Peter and AlphaGo were the same thing!

In fact, this AI might be even stronger than AlphaGo!

The Go world was in danger!

…

Online.

The call for battle was getting louder and louder!

"Fuck! Fuck it!"

"The Americans are too arrogant!"

"How can you compare the intelligence of humans to a machine?"

"If you think it's so good, why don't you compete with humans on complex reasoning? Compete in art? Compete in creative works? Do you people dare to do that? Using Go to compete with humanity on the intelligence of humans! They were basically targeting us right from the start!"

"The Americans are too abhorrent!"

"Let's win against them! Fuck!"

"Xiang Rong 9-dan, fight it out with them!"

For the past two days, the Americans had constantly been making their stance known. They were very arrogant and were aggressively provoking the Go world. They posted a statement or a challenge almost every few hours. Their eyes were already turning to China. This was because everyone knew that when it came to Go, if China claimed that they were second, no one would dare to proclaim themselves first. In the end, the Americans even called out Xiang Rong 9-dan!

A lot of people to become angry over this!

"Fuck!"

"They're being so arrogant!"

"You people gathered all the Go players' data and analyzed it, then copied all of the matches and game record data into the machine as well. That in itself is already unfair! That in itself is the crystallization of humanity's intelligence. It is the collective acquired wisdom of the Go players throughout history. By using that to fight against us, how can you people still be so arrogant?"

"I'm so pissed off!"

"I don't believe that no one can win against it!"

"Right, I don't fucking believe that either!"

…

At China Qiyuan.

In the Go association.

The courtyard area was overwhelmed with reporters. Many of them had been here since two days ago. Some of them even decided to set up tents and spent entire days there. In the surrounding area, many foreign reporters were also present!

This place had become the center of attention through Asia!

Everyone was watching and waiting for them!

Outside, there were also quite a few Go enthusiasts and common folk holding up signs and protesting!

"Vanquish Peter!"

"Vanquish Peter!"

"Vanquish Peter!"

Their shouts were deafening!

It could even be heard clearly from inside the Qiyuan.

In here, almost all of the professional Go players were present. Some of them had not been home for two days. They stayed up, bags under their bloodshot eyes, to research the games in the Qiyuan, analyzing every move Peter made. This was a catastrophe for the Go world, so who could possibly rest?

Li Yi 9-dan said with a dark look, "It's too difficult!"

Another 9th dan player shook his head. "Peter's data is too complete. Every move it makes takes into account all kinds of considerations. There isn't much hope if we want to win against it!"

Xiang Rong said calmly, "Go and inform the media outlets."

"Old Xiang!" Li Yi 9-dan exclaimed.

Dan Donghe added anxiously, "You must think this over carefully!"

Xiang Rong said, "I've already considered it very carefully."

Chen Ying came up to him. "Brother Xiang, if you accept the challenge and lose, the entire Go world will no longer have a place to stand!"

"Yeah!" Xu Han also said in disagreement, "You're the last line of defense and the last card that our Go world has. If you lose, what will we do?"

"Right, just ignore them!"

"Let the Americans continue being arrogant. We can just pretend to have not seen or heard them!"

"You cannot accept the challenge!"

"Master Xiang!"

"Master Xiang!"

Wu Changhe looked at him. "What do you think your chances are?"

Xiang Rong thought about it and said truthfully, "At most 20%."

20%?

This was as good as a certain loss!

If even Master Xiang himself could say this, then what was the point of accepting the challenge!

Wu Changhe said, "Have you thought over this carefully?"

Xiang Rong acknowledged, "Yes. No matter how it goes, I still have to give it a try. We're at this juncture, so if I retreat from here, that would be even more embarrassing than losing. I cannot retreat!"

Wu Changhe grit his teeth and said firmly, "OK, gather the reporters!"

President Dan Donghe said angrily, "Brother Wu, I am the President of the Qiyuan!"

But Wu Changhe said, "Stand aside! They've come knocking on our doors to seek a fight and you're still thinking of hiding? Where can you hide? Even if we fucking lose, our China Qiyuan will still lose with pride!" Wu Changhe's temperament had always been this way. He was always the aggressive type!

Immediately, some people responded!

"Right!"

"Teacher Changhe is right!"

"We cannot be frightened by them!"

"I don't believe that the machine is really going to be so difficult to overcome!"

"Master Xiang will prevail!"

…

Half an hour later.

China Qiyuan made its announcement!

—Xiang Rong 9-dan has accepted the challenge!

The venue: China Qiyuan.

Time: Tomorrow morning.

Weibo instantly exploded!

"Xiang Rong has stepped forward!"

"Oh God, he's really come forward!"

"This is going to be big!"

"Whoever wins this match will surely send a shockwave across Asia!"

"Master Xiang, you can do it!"

"You're the trump card of the Go world!"

"Good showing, Master Xiang! I was afraid that you wouldn't step up to the challenge!"

"Fight against it!"

"Fight! Fight! Fight!"

Unexpectedly, many of the Go enthusiasts from Japan and Korea also sent their full support to him!

From Japan.

"Let's go Chinese players!"

"Thrash that Peter!"

"You can do it!"

From Korea.

"Don't lose!"

"Xiang Rong, avenge us!"

"Show that machine the conviction of us humans!"

A lot of the well-known international professional Go players also voiced their support for Xiang Rong 9-dan. There was an unprecedented show of unity throughout the Go world!

Almost everyone in Asia was on Xiang Rong's side!

…

The next day.

This news had spread everywhere!

The newspapers sold like crazy!

The entrance of China Qiyuan was filled with people from very early in the morning.

"Xiang Rong will prevail!"

"Humanity will prevail!"

There were a lot of people shouting this catchphrase to show their support!

Central TV Sports Channel, Beijing Television, and many other foreign television stations also received the rights to broadcast the event live. They gradually entered the building and waited for the game to begin after setting up their equipment.

No, perhaps this shouldn't be called a game!

This was a war!

A war between humanity and artificial intelligence!

Before the game began, only Central TV managed to secure the rights to a pre-game interview. The person interviewing Xiang Rong was Yu Yingyi.

The live broadcast began.

All cameras focused on Xiang Rong.

Yu Yingyi gripped her microphone and said, "Teacher Xiang Rong, as everyone should already know, you're the number one player in the international Go community. Faced with the AI's challenge, everyone would like to know what your chances of winning are."

Xiang Rong looked at her and said, "The odds are not great."

With that said, everyone burst into an uproar.

Yu Yingyi was also stunned. "If you lose as well, the Go world will have lost its last line of defense. So why did you agree to the challenge?"

Xiang Rong said calmly, "First, I have no reason not to accept. Second, I would also like to play against the computer program. Third, what you said just now was wrong. I could never be the last line of defense for the Go world. Even if I lose, I believe that someone else will step forward to battle against the machine!"

There was still someone else?

There was still someone other than you?

Yu Yingyi said astounded, "Is there really someone who can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with you in the Go world?"

Xiang Rong smiled. No one knew if his words were directed at Yu Yingyi or to the camera, or perhaps even to the artificial intelligence program. "Never, ever look down on humans!"

The interview ended.

Xiang Rong strode up into the room holding the game and sat down.

A lot of people could not understand what he had just said!

…

Back at home.

All of Zhang Ye's family was watching the live broadcast.

His father said in surprise, "What does Xiang Rong 9-dan mean by that?"

His mother said, "Isn't he the best player in the world of Go? There's still someone else other than him who can play against the machine?"

"Who could it be?" Zhang Ye wondered.

His father said, "Who knows?"

Zhang Ye looked at the TV showing Xiang Rong 9-dan. He suddenly had a feeling that he would not win. He probably knew this himself as well, but still chose to sit down there.

Zhang Ye suddenly gained a bit more respect for this man!

This type of person who would still enter into a battle knowing that he would not be able to win truly deserved respect!

But he wondered who that person he was referring to could be.

If he really lost this match, would there really still be someone else who could take on this AI?

The game began.

However, Zhang Ye quietly walked away. He did not want to watch this, nor could he bear to watch it.

His father asked, "Where are you off to?"

"I'm going for a stroll." Zhang Ye went out. He wasn't a member of the Go world, but he did not wish to witness for himself this darkest day that was going to descend upon the Go world. He did not wish to see all the defeated expressions of everyone. He knew that in this world, there should not be anyone who could win against that machine called Peter.

He strolled about.

He turned in and out of the alleyways.

And had a meal outside.

The television was on, and many of those who were eating were also watching the live broadcast at the same time. Amazingly, no one recognized Zhang Ye.

"Dammit!"

"He still lost!"

"How could that be!"

"Even Master Xiang has lost? Then who can win?"

"Ah, Xiang Rong is requesting for the second game to begin immediately!"

"But why? Why doesn't he want to take a break first?"

"Yeah, why isn't he spreading it out over the day?"

"Continue?"

Zhang Ye looked up at the television.

The first game of the match ended after only three hours. He did not watch how it progressed and only saw the final layout of the board. Xiang Rong had lost by a mere two points!

The second game began immediately!

Everyone was feeling regretful about the result.

"He nearly won!"

"Yeah, it's only two points!"

"What a shame!"

"He's indeed the best player of the international Go world. He's so strong!"

"What's the use of that! He still lost!"

"Let's watch the second game. There's definitely still some hope!"

However, after another hard-fought five hours, Xiang Rong lost the second game. He lost by a mere one point this time. Peter had managed to turn things around at the critical juncture right in the endgame!

Xiang Rong was defeated!

Humanity was defeated!

Chapter 1118: Approaching YE for help?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At Zhang Ye's parents' house.

Zhang Ye opened the door with his keys when he came back. "Dad, Mom, what's the matter?"

His mother pouted. "Your dad is upset."

"About Xiang Rong 9-dan's loss?" Zhang Ye asked.

"Yeah." His mother said.

He saw his dad looking annoyed as he had a sip of tea and said, "Just what in the world is that stupid machine? Why hasn't anyone been able to teach it a lesson yet?"

His mother said, "It was such a pity. He only lost by a little bit!"

His father said angrily, "If they played again, Xiang Rong 9-dan would definitely be able to win!"

Able to win?

That might not be the case.

Zhang Ye could see very clearly that this AI called Peter was very rigorous in its decision making. Anyone would commit a mistake as long as they were human, but Peter was not human and almost wouldn't make any mistakes. For every move it made, it could meticulously predict the most beneficial position to take through big data analytics and the use of its two special "brains." Just this alone was already an advantage that was too great and beyond comparison for humans. Furthermore, it even had a massive set of game data to support it. The Americans had probably reconfigured Peter's settings before the match against Xiang Rong 9-dan to cope with his playing style and come up with the best strategy to ensure the highest chance of victory. So, even if Xiang Rong 9-dan were to play another game against Peter, he still might not be able to win against it. Although on the surface, the difference did not seem that bad.

The television was still on.

A post-match press conference was being held.

Xiang Rong was seated up on stage. His first words were, "I'm sorry."

Xiang Rong had lost, and a lot of the reporters looked discouraged.

"Teacher Xiang, could it be that you were unable to play to your potential today?"

"Why didn't you rest for a day before continuing with the second game?"

"Could it be that there is really no one who can win against the AI?"

"Master Xiang, what did you really mean when you said those words in the pre-match interview?"

All the reporters immediately raised their equipment in anticipation.

Afterwards, it was time for the representative of the Americans to be interviewed.

This man was called Smith. The moment he went up, he spoke arrogantly in Mandarin, "Today is a memorable day because an artificial intelligence has triumphed over the wisdom of humanity!"

Quite a few reporters in the audience booed him.

"Get over it!"

"Aren't you pontificating a little too early!"

"There are still plenty of smart people around!"

"You dare call that Peter thing intelligent?"

Nobody acknowledged this, and neither did they want to acknowledge it!

Smith waved them off in response and announced, "Our claims remain the same as before. Peter will accept a challenge from anyone. In the field of Go, no one will be a match for Peter! This latest AI that our company has developed is way beyond what any human player in existence can achieve. We're not afraid of any challengers. The current world number one who is also the publicly acknowledged best Go player has suffered a defeat at the hands of Peter. It is now our turn to be challenged. If there is anyone who thinks that they can defeat Peter, let them issue us a challenge. We will not turn anyone down!"

After saying that, Smith left the stage.

Countless people raised objections in condemning voices on Weibo!

"What is he acting all high and mighty for!"

"Damn, this is infuriating!"

"This American has a death wish!"

"There are so many top Go players in China! Why should we be afraid of him?"

"Let's get him! Fuck him!"

"What about Li Yi 9-dan?"

"What about Liu Hong 9-dan?"

"Isn't he totally holding us in contempt!"

"Right, all of them should go for it and have a simul match 1 against it!"

"The opponent is a machine and does not have any limitations of stamina or mental fatigue. So it will always be in the best form to play. What's the use of having a simul match against it? Even Xiang Rong 9-dan has lost!"

"Is there really no one else left?"

"There are so many people with great intelligence in Asia. Don't tell me there's no one who can win against it?"

In Japan.

"Even Xiang Rong 9-dan couldn't beat the AI?"

"Humanity has lost!"

"Go is done for!"

"Yeah, Go is done for!"

In Korea.

"There must still be someone else!"

"Right, didn't Xiang Rong say it himself? That he's not the last line of defense!"

"Who else can step forward?"

"We can only look to the Chinese now!"

"But I don't think there's anyone else left in the Chinese Go world that stands a chance of winning?"

Citizens from all over Asia burst into an uproar!

This was especially true for the Go enthusiasts and professional players in Asia, as they were all unable to accept this result and the prospects of the Go world heading towards destruction from here on out. If a computer became the strongest player in the Go world, it would really be the end of Go. No one could accept such a setback as it felt like one part of humanity's culture was getting slaughtered. Today, it was Go. But tomorrow, it might be Xiangqi. Then the day after, it could be mathematics. Someday, they might just set their sights on the arts. When all the industries had been dominated by artificial intelligence, how would humans be able to survive?

There was no retreating any further!

Someone had to step forward!

Many celebrities gradually appeared and gave a show of support as well!

The famous singer, Chen Guang: "Come on, people, don't let the machines get so arrogant!"

The A-list movie star, Huo Dongfang: "I don't believe there's no one left!"

A Heavenly King said: "Xiang Rong 9-dan is right! Don't look down on humans!"

Famous girl group leader, Xiaodong: "Are there any Go experts left?"

The famous A-list celebrity, Ning Lan: "We can't let the dignity of humanity get tarnished in this generation of ours! I refuse to believe that there's no one left who can do it!"

Although Xiang Rong 9-dan lost, it stirred the fighting spirit in a lot of people!

Humanity had not lost yet!

Humanity must not lose either!

…

On the same night.

The public was in chaos!

There were news reports everywhere!

"Has humanity lost?"

"An era of AI dominance upon us?"

"The Go world's No. 1 loses!"

"Where is humanity's last line of defense?"

"Japanese citizens hold a demonstration to protest AI!"

"Three Korean pro Go players announce retirement!"

"The impending decline of Go!"

"Challenging the dignity of humanity!"

"Who shall be the 'savior'?"

At China Qiyuan, newspapers were scattered all over the table.

When Dan Donghe saw this, he screamed, "Clear away all the newspapers!"

The interview had ended, and the reporters had also left, leaving China Qiyuan's people standing there looking beaten and terrible. Everyone was in a very bad mood and did not know what to say.

Chen Ying 7-dan asked anxiously, "What can we do now?"

"We'll issue a challenge to it!" Hu Liang said.

Xu Han 8-dan said, "But who's going to challenge it? Who can we send?"

"Let's request a simul match!"

"Right, we'll all take turns to play!"

"No, we've already lost too many matches! We can't lose again this time!"

"We can't have a simul match! That would make us humans look even more powerless!"

"We have to snatch victory in one fell swoop! We must win the next time we play!"

"How can we win?"

"The opponent could even defeat Master Xiang!"

It was a messy spectacle as everyone was getting confused and flustered by the events!

Wu Changhe gave Li Yi 9-dan a glance and said, "Little Li!"

Everyone looked at him immediately.

Next to Xiang Rong, Li Yi 9-dan was the strongest player in the Qiyuan.

However, Li Yi 9-dan just gave him a look and said immediately, "I can't do it. Even Old Xiang lost to it. I definitely couldn't win against it!"

President Dan Donghe turned his attention to yet another active 9-dan player. "Liu Hong!"

Liu Hong 9-dan also said immediately, "I also can't win against it!"

Dan Donghe said, "Even if you have a 10% chance of winning, you still have to step up to the challenge!"

Liu Hong gave a wry smile. "I don't even feel like I have 10% chance of winning!"

They were all professional Go players and had witnessed Peter's strength for themselves. As such, they had an idea of its capabilities and knew that it was impossible for them to win against it. If there was anyone capable of winning against Peter, it would have been Xiang Rong 9-dan. But since Master Xiang had lost…

"You're too afraid to even step up to the challenge?" Wu Changhe was furious.

Dan Donghe said loudly, "Whoever is confident of restricting Peter's playstyle, step forward now!"

No one came forward!

Nobody moved!

"There's no way to restrict it!"

"It's a computer and its playstyle is not fixed!"

"Right, it does not even have its own style!"

"Even Master Xiang could not win. There is no one in the entire Go world who can equal Peter!"

Dan Donghe was also panicking now. He was not the kind of person to take an offensive stance and initially did not want Xiang Rong to accept the challenge. That was because he knew that their chances were really slim. If Xiang Rong had not played against Peter, even if it would be a loss of face, they would at least still be able to preserve the dignity of humanity. But now that even Xiang Rong had lost, they did not have any other choice and could only step up to the challenge. They had to win!

Was there no one else left?

Was there really no one else left?

Suddenly, Chen Ying thought of something. She froze for a moment before shouting, "We still have a champion! There is someone! There is at least one more person who has the chance of defeating Peter!"

Everyone looked at her!

"Who?"

"Who is it?"

"Little Chen, tell us quickly!"

Chen Ying said something shocking. "Did you guys forget about him? That guy called YE!"

Suddenly, everyone realized who it was and thought of him!

YE!

Yes!

That YE!

Li Yi 9-dan slapped his thigh and said, "Right, he's an amazing player. When I played against him, I had to resign in the middlegame!"

Xu Han also said excitedly, "That's right, that's right. Even Master Xiang could only manage a draw with him!"

Chen Ying said, "If there is anyone other than Master Xiang who can go against that Peter, then it can only be that YE!"

Everyone nodded in full agreement as they had witnessed YE's skill!

Dan Donghe banged the table and said, "It's him then! How could I forget him! How could I have forgotten about him!"

Liu Hong 9-dan said, "But we don't even know who he is!" He then turned to look at Wu Changhe.

Instantly, everyone at the Qiyuan stared at Wu Changhe. In here, only he knew who YE was. From the words that YE had said to him, everyone could see that the two of them had a conflict. They couldn't be blamed if they thought that there was a huge grudge between them!

1. https/senseis./?SimultaneousGo

Chapter 1119: The Go world's last line of defense!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At China Qiyuan.

Everyone's hopes were kindled!

YE!

This was the last straw that they could clutch at!

Wu Changhe grunted, "Why are you all looking at me?"

Chen Ying asked anxiously, "Teacher, who is YE, really?"

A 6-dan player said, "Teacher Changhe, he's the only one who can step up to the plate!"

Wu Changhe scowled and said, "But he's just an amateur!"

"A person who can play to a draw against Little Xiang, so what if he's an amateur?" Dan Donghe said, "Brother Wu, hurry up and tell us. Don't hide it from us anymore! There's no one else besides him!"

Li Yi 9-dan asked, "Who is he?"

Wu Changhe sighed and shook his head. "Believe me, you all definitely won't want to know who he is."

Dan Donghe said, "But what choice do we have now?"

Wu Changhe was silent.

Dan Donghe said, "Brother Wu!"

"Teacher!"

"Teacher Changhe!"

"Please tell us!"

"We can only send him!"

"Just because there's a grudge between the two of you, you can't…"

"Right, if you can't convince him to join, we'll do it!"

"That's right. If the two of you have a conflict, there's no need for you to ask him. Let us do it instead!"

Wu Changhe did not like hearing that. He was always concerned with his honor, so he stared at them with wide eyes and said, "He has a grudge against me? He would have to dare to hold a grudge against me first! I can't convince him to join? Are you all kidding or something?! If I point east, that kid would never walk west. Do you believe that? Ah?"

Dan Donghe smacked his lips. "Is there any point in boasting about something like that?"

"Me? Boasting?" Wu Changhe said angrily, "That kid would be more than willing to get into my good books. Do you think I'm bullshitting you? That kid was the one who supplied us with the research information related to that P-thingy!"

Everyone was shocked!

"Eh?"

"It was him who gave us the information?"

"No wonder!"

"He's a mathematician?"

"No wonder he's so good at Go!"

When Dan Donghe heard that, he got even more excited. "So it's like that? That's great! That's really great! He knows that AI program so well and even has the skill to draw with Little Xiang. Based on all that, our chances of winning will be even greater if we can convince him to represent us. Brother Wu, please tell us quickly who this mathematics expert is?"

Chen Ying asked, "Is he from Peking University or Tsinghua?"

Wu Changhe was forced to reply, "Peking."

"Peking University?"

"Could it be Old Pan?"

"It can't be him!"

Then, Wu Changhe reluctantly uttered a name.

When this name was spoken, everyone was dumbfounded!

All of them knew who he was!

There was no one who didn't know this person!

"What?"

"Holy fuck!"

"It's him?"

"How could it be him?"

"Oh my God!"

Curses and expletives flew through the air!

Nobody, none of them, wanted to believe it!

The man who had swept aside the entire China Qiyuan several days ago turned out to be him?

…

At home.

Zhang Ye's father was asking him to check for news updates on the Internet.

His father asked, "Has anyone offered to challenge the AI yet?"

"Not yet."

"Why hasn't anyone stepped forward yet!"

Zhang Ye smiled wryly. "If even the top Go player could not win against it, who else would stand a chance?"

"Xiang Rong 9-dan said that he was not the last line of defense!"

Zhang Ye threw his hands up. "In any case, there's no one offering to challenge it yet."

Regarding this war between humans and machines, Zhang Ye was pessimistic. He thought the entire time that no one would win against Peter as it was a completely different artificial intelligence system from its predecessors.

His mother said, "Since Xiang Rong 9-dan said that there was someone else, there must be someone else."

"That's right!" His father also deeply believed that there would be someone who could win against the AI.

When they still found nothing after checking for a long time, his father got even angrier. "Don't check anymore. I'm going to go out for a stroll. This is so infuriating!"

So his parents went out for a stroll together. Before they left, they were still rambling on about this matter.

The whole of Asia was now watching with their eyes wide as they waited for a hero to step forward and trample on the AI named Peter!

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye shook his head.

There was still someone?

Who else could there be!

It would be useless no matter who came forward!

He returned to his room to listen to music. He never felt that this issue had anything to do with him.

Awhile later, there was a sudden knocking at the door.

Zhang Ye was startled. Did his parents forget to bring their keys? Why were they back so soon when they had just stepped out a moment ago? He opened his bedroom door and walked out to the living room. "Who is it?" Then he opened the front door.

When he saw what was outside the door, he got a scare!

There were over a dozen people squeezed outside in the corridor. The two who were standing right at the front of the group were Wu Changhe and Li Qinqin. As for the others, Zhang Ye did not know a single one of them. Getting a sense of the situation, Zhang Ye decided not to open up security gate. How could this fellow open it up for them!

Damn!

They've even found their way to my doorstep now?

Zhang Ye said warily, "Uncle, why did you come to my place? We played Go together, but I didn't cheat or play dirty against you. For heaven's sake, I won our games fair and square, OK! Are you trying to pick a fight? You even brought along this many people to back you up? You can't do this! Are you being a sore loser?"

Wu Changhe was made speechless.

As was Li Qinqin.

The same went for Dan Donghe and the others.

Without waiting for them to explain, Zhang Ye pointed at them and said, "Don't do anything foolish. Let me warn you, I know kung fu. Not even eighty or a hundred people can get near me. Hurry up and turn back. If you try to get close, I will really injure you! When that happens, it won't look good on anyone! Don't blame me for not warning you!"

Wu Changhe said angrily, "Open the door!"

Zhang Ye grunted, "I'm not opening it!"

Wu Changhe was starting to get anxious. "Open up!"

"Do you think I'm that stupid to open the door?" Zhang Ye rolled his eyes at him.

Dan Donghe came forward and said, "Professor Zhang, we came here today for a reason."

"Of course I know you all are here for a reason!" Zhang Ye sized him up as he smirked and said, "It's not that I want to criticize you, old comrade, but why are you so lacking in your common sense and awareness? I'd let it pass for those young people standing behind for coming here to start a gang fight. But you are already in your fifties or sixties, what are you joining in the fun for! With that physique of yours, who can you beat up? I'm afraid that your high blood pressure will shoot up if I just cough out loudly! Hurry up and turn back. Otherwise, I'm going to call the police!"

Dan Donghe nearly fainted!

Xu Han said anxiously, "We are not here to start a gang fight!"

Zhang Ye stared at him and said, "What do you want then? A one on one?"

One on one?

One on one your sister!

What kind of math professor are you! Why are you always only thinking about fighting!

Li Qinqin quickly said, "Little Zhang, don't get it wrong. They're here to discuss something with you. Why would you think that they are here to start a fight? Open the door first. With Auntie here, they wouldn't dare to lay a finger on you. I will hit whoever dares to pick on you!"

"I'm just afraid that I will injure them instead." Zhang Ye's tone started loosening up a little as he still gave face to Old Wu's mother. Then, he could only open up the door for them. "Auntie, please come in."

Li Qinqin entered first.

The others behind her also gradually entered with Zhang Ye's unfriendly gaze on them.

After closing the doors.

Zhang Ye wondered and asked, "Auntie, why did so many of you come to my place for?"

Li Qinqin nudged at Wu Changhe and said, "You speak."

Wu Changhe was so angry that he turned his head away. "I'm not talking to him!" He was still upset over what happened earlier.

Zhang Ye was really getting confused.

What is going on here?

What is this turnout all about?

Then when he looked closer, he recognized another person amongst the crowd. He pointed at Chen Ying and said, "Eh, weren't you the person on television for the past few days..."

Chen Ying's eyes lit up. "You know me?"

Zhang Ye said, "Yeah, you were the one beside Yu Yingyi!"

The one beside...

Chen Ying was left speechless for a long time.

Dan Donghe said, "Let me say it. Professor Zhang, I'm the current President of the China Qiyuan and my name is Dan Donghe. Since you can play Go so well, you probably should know me."

Zhang Ye blinked and was in a daze as he looked at him.

Everyone could tell from this expression that Zhang Ye had clearly never heard of him before.

Dan Donghe felt a little embarrassed. He had forgotten that he was facing a complete layperson who even took Xiang Rong 9-dan for a newbie. "Alright, it's fine even if you don't know me. Anyway, I still represent the entire China Qiyuan." Then he pointed at the people around him and said, "These are all the current top professional players of the Go world in our country. I don't think that you would know them, so I won't bother with introducing them to you one by one."

Zhang Ye was baffled. "What you are looking for me for?"

Dan Donghe asked, "Do you know about the challenge by the artificial intelligence to the Go world?"

"Of course." Zhang Ye said, "I've watched it on television."

Dan Donghe said, "Even Xiang Rong 9-dan has lost."

Zhang Ye nodded and said, "Yeah, and then?"

"We are here for that matter." Dan Donghe spoke seriously.

It suddenly dawned on Zhang Ye. "Are you all looking for me to help with the advertising? To propagate the message out to the masses over Weibo? To see if there are any Go experts who are willing to stand up to PETER? You all are expecting too much. Even the Go world's top player has lost, so who else can still win against that artificial intelligence? There's no use even if ask me for help with the promotion of that matter. Oh yes, didn't that Xiang Rong 9-dan already say it? That he was not humanity's last line of defense and how there was someone else other than him. Why don't you all get him to look for that person instead?"

"Advertise?" Wu Changhe was totally exasperated by that reply!

Chen Ying opened her mouth and said, "Yes, Master Xiang is not humanity's last line of defense."

Zhang Ye threw his hands up and said, "Yeah, then you guys should go and look for that person. Why did you all come to my place for? I'm not well-liked by people. Even if I advertise, there won't be many people responding to it. Of course, if you insist on me helping with the advertising, I could still give face to auntie and do it for you all. I can also not charge any advertising fees since we are all friends."

"Little Zhang, are you pretending not to understand or do you really not understand?" Li Qinqin was at a loss whether to laugh or cry.

Zhang Ye blinked several times. "Understand what?" He really did not understand.

Li Qinqin looked at Zhang Ye and said, "That last line of defense that Little Xiang was referring to was you!"

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Chapter 1120: For humanity's sake, I am willing to accept the challenge!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In the house.

Zhang Ye was dumbfounded by what he heard!

The Go world's last line of defense?

What?

Me?

He was tickled at once. "Auntie, are you joking?"

Li Qinqin gave a wry smile and said, "I'm not."

Zhang Ye pointed to himself and said with a smile, "I'm just a layperson to Go and a hick amongst hicks. When did I ever become the last line of defense for the Go world? You are so funny."

Chen Ying directly said, "Professor Zhang, we need your help!"

Even though Hu Liang 7-dan got crushed by Zhang Ye a few days ago, he knew that he had lost convincingly. He spoke up, "Professor Zhang, you are the only person who can help us now!"

Xu Han said, "Please, help the Go world!"

"Professor Zhang!"

"Please come forward and play against the AI!"

"Only you are good enough to beat it!"

"Professor Zhang!"

"We're earnestly asking for your help!"

"The survival of the Go world lies in your hands now!"

Immediately, all the professional Go players in the house gave him pleading looks!

Zhang Ye quickly waved it off. "Whoa, can you guys not scare me like that? What is all this about me saving the Go world? Aren't you thinking too highly of me?" He found it both a little funny and ridiculous. "Don't you all know the level of my play? Why would you come looking for me? My Go skills might be quite alright, but they're only average at best. Aiyo, you people are really funny." He immediately looked at Wu Changhe and pointed at him. "If you don't believe me, just ask Uncle. I nearly even lost to him even though he's just a has-been who retired from the game 20 years ago. I just barely managed to play him to a draw!"

What?

A has-been?

Who the hell is a has-been! You better get it straight!

Wu Changhe became annoyed on the spot. "You rascal…"

"Changhe, stick to the topic!" He got pulled back by Li Qinqin.

"This is so infuriating!" Wu Changhe could only sit down and sulk.

Many of the professional players were feeling very helpless. They were thinking in their minds that Zhang Ye was indeed just like what the rumors said about him. The way he spoke was really too sarcastic. It was little wonder then that this fellow offended so many people in the industry!

Zhang Ye pointed at Wu Changhe. "See, Uncle agrees to it as well, doesn't he? I really don't have such a high level of accomplishment in Go. You're all professional Go players, right? Any one of you here would be able to thrash me in a game!"

Thrash you?

Any one of us?

Chen Ying said bitterly, "But the problem now is that everyone who is present here has already been thrashed by you!"

Zhang Ye was stunned. "Ah?"

Xu Han sighed. "Almost all of us here have already played against you."

Hu Liang said rather embarrassed, "That time, it was us playing against you on our teacher's account."

Zhang Ye said in a startled manner, "What?"

"It means," Chen Ying said, "that our teacher only played you in the first two games. We were the ones who played against you for the remainder of the games. All of China Qiyuan's top Go players were defeated by you that day!"

Wu Changhe was not the one playing?

It wasn't him?

Zhang Ye immediately recalled the games from that day. It felt like the skill of "WuChanghe" had improved with every game that he played, and he had found it rather strange at the time but did not give much thought to it. He thought that the has-been Go player was experiencing a revival of sorts and had managed to regain part of his past skill. But when he heard what they had to say, Zhang Ye's face turned green with anger!

He immediately pointed at Wu Changhe and said angrily, "Uncle, you played dirty against me!"

Wu Changhe's face reddened from embarrassment.

Zhang Ye said angrily, "So you found helpers to play on your behalf! Aren't you being too evil! That's basically cheating! Cheating!"

Wu Changhe rolled his eyes. "What helpers! I was just testing your skill, understand?"

Zhang Ye was infuriated. "And there I was thinking that something felt amiss. I was wondering why you were getting stronger and stronger with every game. It was like you on steroids or something! So you had been scamming me all the while! So it wasn't you who played against me! Uncle, how can you behave this way! And you even insisted that I had a questionable character? Aiyo, what the heck!"

Wu Changhe felt somewhat guilty but pretended not to have heard him.

And so, Zhang Ye looked at the group. "But you guys still should not be approaching me for this. That last person I played against was rather good too and I didn't manage to win that game. Since I couldn't win, how could I be qualified to challenge Peter?"

Dan Donghe said with a bitter smile, "Do you know who you were playing against in that last game that day?"

Zhang Ye said in a daze, "Who?"

Dan Donghe said, "Xiang Rong 9-dan!"

Zhang Ye said in surprise, "What?"

"So now you understand why we came looking for you?" Dan Donghe said.

Xiang Rong 9-dan?

The world's number one Go player?

I played against him that day?

And we even drew?

Zhang Ye could not process this sudden revelation and his mind went blank. That was because this fellow had always thought that his Go skills were just average. However, now that there was suddenly a group of people who came to inform him that he was actually an expert at Go, who would be able to accept something like that?

Holy shit!

Am I really that awesome?

Is this how good I really am?

Chen Ying said sincerely, "Professor Zhang, you were the first person who managed to accurately research how the AI's data processing and operating principles worked. This shows that you have a greater understanding of the AI than any of us. You also have the Go skills to rival Xiang Rong 9-dan, so your chances of winning are definitely higher than ours! Now that Master Xiang has lost, we can only approach you for your help. We can't look for anyone else, nor is there anyone who can challenge Peter! You are the only one left!"

Zhang Ye took a deep breath and said, "You guys think too highly of me. Actually, it's useless even if I have a deeper understanding of that AI. What's the use of that? We still won't be able to defeat it. This machine is clearly not as simple as you think. You guys don't understand this, but that machine is not something that can be defeated by humanity!"

Li Qinqin said, "Little Zhang, just give it a try!"

Zhang Ye wiped his sweat away and said, "Auntie, there's no need for that. If even Xiang Rong 9-dan could not win against it, I wouldn't be able to either!"

Li Qinqin said, "You are different from Little Xiang. You're a world-class mathematician who also has an understanding of AI. Your Go skills are not any weaker than Little Xiang's, and you're also hailed as the smartest person in the world who only comes along once in a hundred years. You are at the top in literature, hosting, crosstalk, mathematics, calligraphy, and music. There's no other person in the entire world who is smarter than you! This is publicly acknowledged by all the professionals and industry insiders!"

Zhang Ye was overwhelmed. "Auntie, you really think too highly of me. If we are on the matter of other subjects, I might still be able to handle it. But I'm really no match for that PeterGo!" He knew that it would be very difficult for him to win. No, it should be said that it was basically impossible for him to win. From the beginning, he had not intended to get involved at all!

Hu Liang said loudly, "Please help the Go world!"

Xu Han said, "No matter how it turns out, we will still owe you a favor, alright?"

"If you don't accept the challenge, the Go world is really done for!"

"We can only depend on you!"

"Professor Zhang!"

"For the sake of humanity, please accept the challenge!"

"Please accept the challenge!"

"We don't have anywhere else to retreat to!"

"Humanity does not have a place to retreat to either!"

For humanity's sake?

Bullshit!

Then what about me?!

I would only be asking for a thrashing if I step forward!

Zhang Ye kept waving them off. "I really can't do it. Please find someone else. It's not that I don't have a sense of responsibility, but this is really beyond my abilities."

Dan Donghe cried out with a long face, "Professor Zhang!"

Chen Ying fretted, "You're the only one left that the Go world and humanity can depend on. If you don't accept the challenge, there won't be anyone left to stop Peter!"

Zhang Ye waved it off firmly. "I really can't do it!"

Seeing this, everyone started sighing.

"We're done for!"

"This is the end for the Go world!"

"What can we do then?"

"There's nothing else that we can do!"

Wu Changhe suddenly stood up and said, "Kid, come with me!"

"Ah?" Zhang Ye said.

Wu Changhe pushed open the first door he came upon. It was Zhang Ye's bedroom. Zhang Ye followed him in. Wu Changhe closed the door behind them.

There were only the two of them in here.

Zhang Ye quickly said, "Uncle, don't try to persuade me. I really can't do anything about that AI—"

"Kid, if you can defeat that machine, I will allow you to get together with my daughter!" interrupted Wu Changhe as he looked Zhang Ye straight in the eye.

Zhang Ye was stunned. Then he turned around, opened the door, and walked out of the room.

Wu Changhe was dumbfounded. What was the meaning of that? Why did he just walk off like that?

But the next second, he nearly fainted on the spot!

He heard Zhang Ye saying loudly, "For the sake of the honor of humanity! I will fight it out with that fucking PeterGo bastard!"

Everyone outside was stunned!

Chen Ying exclaimed, "You're willing to help us then?"

Hu Liang said excitedly, "That's great! That's really great!"

Dan Donghe could not hide his excitement either. "Professor Zhang, you will forever be remembered by all of humanity! The Go world will remember you! On behalf of the Go world, we owe you this favor!"

Zhang Ye waved it off in a serious manner and said righteously, "There's no need for that, President Dan. Aren't you looking down on me a little too much? This is a matter of our honor as humans and concerns our national cause as well, so how can I just stand by and do nothing? How can I possibly not even have the conscientiousness to take up this responsibility? Hur hur, I just wanted to test everyone. I wanted to know how determined the Go world was. Indeed, I wasn't disappointed at all. Everyone has not given up yet! Alright then, I'll accept this challenge and play against that PETER!"

When everyone heard this, they were in awe of him!

The way that Chen Ying, Xu Han, and the others were looking at Zhang Ye had done a 180!

What a good "matter of our honor as humans"!

What a good "concerns our national cause"!

"Thank you!"

"Professor Zhang, thank you so much!"

"Your grace and kindness will not be forgotten!"

"No matter how it turns out, the Go world shall owe you a huge favor!"

"Professor Zhang is the greatest!"

"Kill off that goddamn PeterGo!"

Everyone responded loudly!

Hearing Zhang Ye's barrage of rhetoric, only Wu Changhe was left nearly vomiting a mouthful of blood!

Our national cause?

A matter of our honor as humans?

Your sister!

You're obviously doing this just to woo my daughter!

Shameless!

This kid is way too shameless!

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Chapter 1121: An uproar at the press conference!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Night had fallen.

His parents had just returned from their stroll. They opened the door and came back into the house.

"Why is there still no news?" his father complained.

His mother closed the door. "There are so many people in Asia, so there must definitely be someone who can step up to the challenge. Why are you so anxious about it?"

His father said angrily, "How can I not be anxious? They're bullying us to our doorsteps!"

"Eh? Where's Little Ye?" His mother went to look for him.

From his room, Zhang Ye's voice sounded out, "I'm in my room."

His mother asked, "Did someone come to our house? Why is it so messy?"

Zhang Ye said, "Yes, yes."

His father asked, "What are you doing?"

Zhang Ye said, "I'm busy with something. I'll talk about it later."

His father acknowledged, "Then go do whatever you need to do."

In Zhang Ye's room.

Zhang Ye faced his computer and studied the game records between Peter and Xiang Rong 9-dan, Shinji 9-dan, and the others. After China Qiyuan's people left his place, he had been reviewing the game records over and over again. As Sun Tzu said, if you know your enemy and yourself, you'll find naught in fear for a hundred battles 1 . He would definitely have to do his research before stepping into battle. But the more he studied the games, the more he discovered just how powerful Peter was. Every move that Xiang Rong and the others made seemed to have been predicted by the artificial intelligence. Some players could think ahead by two or three moves, while others could plan ahead by four or five moves. But it felt like Peter went far beyond that, simply because it was a computer!

How could he play against it then?

How the fuck was he going to play against it?

Zhang Ye was already pessimistic about the Go world's battle against Peter in the first place. He still felt the same way about it now and did not have any confidence in winning. This fellow had never liked fighting an unsure battle, but he could not avoid it this time. For those words that Wu Changhe had said to him, for Wu Zeqing, he had to do it no matter how difficult it was!

What should he do then?

Perhaps there was only one way to it!

Zhang Ye lowered his head and looked at the ring on his left pinky finger. The look in his eyes hardened as he immediately brought up the virtual screen to play the lottery! The last lottery draw hadn't been too ideal after he had drawn five Xiangqi Skill Experience Books. Even though they came in handy later, they were not items Zhang Ye needed urgently. For his lottery draw this time, Zhang Ye was hoping the Lucky Halo would work more effectively as he did not need anything else other than the Go Skill Experience Books!

He activated the Lucky Halo (Upgraded)!

Then tapped on Lottery Draw (Two).

He placed the additional stakes!

The lottery draw began!

Together with the usage of the Lucky Halo, over 100 million Reputation Points were spent!

Two minutes later, a loud laugh came from Zhang Ye's bedroom!

"Hahahaha!"

Even the Heavens are helping me!

The Heavens are helping me!

The prize was drawn!

It was the higher level Go Skill Experience Book, a total of ten of them!

Zhang Ye immediately studied them all!

Come on, PeterGo!

Let's see how this bro is gonna demolish you!

For this lottery draw, Zhang Ye's luck had exploded forth!

…

Meanwhile.

Something big happened online!

"Other than Master Xiang, who else is there from the Qiyuan?"

"Just Li Yi 9-dan!"

"Yeah, only Li Yi 9-dan is the next highest ranking player."

"But he's only the world number four! If even the top three ranking players in the world lost, then wouldn't it be more unlikely for the world number four to win?"

"What else can they do?"

"Yeah, who else can they send?"

"Surely they can't just admit defeat like that, right?"

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"Of course not! They must not admit defeat no matter what!"

"I think Liu Hong 9-dan can do it!"

"No, they won't be able to. None of those people would be able to go against Peter!"

Just as everyone was crying with worry, China Qiyuan sent out a breaking news announcement. They unilaterally proposed to challenge Peter!

Everyone had been waiting for this news for a long time. When they saw that the Qiyuan had finally made a response, some people got extremely excited while others shook their heads pessimistically.

"They've responded!"

"The Qiyuan has responded!"

"They've finally said something!"

"Who is it?"

"Who's going to represent them and play?"

"Li Yi 9-dan?"

"Liu Hong 9-dan?"

"Why did they not say anything!"

"Quick, they're going to broadcast the press conference live!"

"Which channel is it on?"

"It's simultaneously broadcasting live on Central TV News Channel and Central TV Sports Channel!"

"Quickly turn on your TVs! Hurry, hurry, hurry!"

Many people went to turn their televisions on!

…

Back at home.

Zhang Ye's father slapped his thigh. "The Qiyuan has sent someone out as their representative!"

His mother took notice as well. "Turn on the TV!"

"It's on, it's on!" His father watched eagerly.

His mother said in anticipation, "Let's see who their so-called last line of defense is going to be."

…

At a villa.

Fan Wenli said with a laugh, "I heard that someone has accepted to the challenge."

"Is that so?" Chen Guang immediately said, "Let's have look!"

…

At the Heavenly Queen's house.

Ning Lan was visiting today. "Eh, Sister Zhang? Are you following that matter regarding the Go world as well?"

Zhang Yuanqi smiled. "Surely I have to pay attention to some news and current affairs, don't I?"

…

At a Go club somewhere in Beijing.

"Aiyo, they're holding a press conference now!"

"Are they going to challenge the AI?"

"The Qiyuan didn't chicken out! Nicely done!"

"Who will they be sending?"

"Li Yi 9-dan?"

…

In Japan.

"The Chinese have responded?"

"What's the point of that!"

"Yeah, there's no one left!"

"There's no one else from the Go world who can do it!"

…

In Korea.

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"The Chinese are still going for a last-ditch attempt?"

"Let's wish them luck, but I don't have high hopes."

"They're definitely going to send Li Yi 9-dan to try their luck, right?"

"But then how would they win?"

…

At China Qiyuan.

The venue of the press conference.

The place was so packed to the brim that there weren't enough chairs to seat everyone. The staff added another dozen chairs for the members of the media. Outside the door were some reporters from the smaller newspaper agencies and tabloids that had not been officially invited to attend. They were all stopped outside as the venue was getting too overcrowded!

The entire country had its attention on this press conference!

Go enthusiasts from all over Asia were watching with wide eyes!

Central TV began the live broadcast of the press conference!

The live signal was synchronized to the actual event!

On the stage, the Americans and members of China Qiyuan had all arrived. A few of the key personnel got seated, and there was a microphone attached to the front of each of their tables.

The Qiyuan's president, Dan Donghe, lowered his head slightly to speak into the microphone, "Dear members of the media, regarding the furor surrounding the 'war between humans and machines,' I believe that everyone already knows about it. Right now, I would like to officially announce on behalf of the Qiyuan that we will be issuing a challenge to Peter!"

Immediately, applause sounded from the audience!

The American representative chuckled for a bit before saying, "Alright, we accept the challenge. We will be returning to our country in three days' time since Peter has other, more important research to handle, and we won't be able to stay here indefinitely either. As the results have already proven, Peter's intelligence is much greater than humanity's since it has already won against three of the top players in the Go world. We'll still accept the challenge, but this will be the last time that Peter will accept a challenge from the Go world!"

Dan Donghe looked at him. "Peter's intelligence is greater than that of humanity's? Isn't it too early to make such a statement?"

The American representative said with a laugh, "Alright then, I'll wait until after the match is over before repeating that."

"I'm just afraid that you all won't have the chance to say it." Dan Donghe was at war of words with him.

That American said, "Then let's just wait and see."

Everyone from the American side was amused. This was because they were extremely confident about Peter and knew that no humans would be able to win against it!

The time for the challenge match was set!

It would happen tomorrow!

The venue would be China Qiyuan!

But as for who would be representing the Qiyuan, no one knew. This was the last chance to make a stand, so they really could not afford to lose. So everyone was very concerned about who would be sent into the ring this time!

A female reporter asked, "Can we know who you will be sending out as the representative for the match?"

A Beijing Television reporter asked, "Xiang Rong 9-dan is the strongest player in the international Go world. Do we really have someone we can send out?"

Dan Donghe said, "Of course!"

"Who is it?"

"Yeah, who is it?"

"Which Go master are we talking about?"

All the reporters were staring with wide eyes!

The television viewers pricked up their ears!

Dan Donghe calmly said, "The Americans have developed an AI that they claim surpasses humanity's wisdom and intelligence. Therefore, they used this world's most complex game, Go, to challenge all humans. But as everyone knows, Xiang Rong 9-dan's Go skill might be very advanced, but he is not the smartest person in the world. Coincidentally, the current smartest person in the world who only comes along once every hundred years lives in China. He even lives in Beijing!"

The Americans did not understand!

But when those words were said, the reporters in the audience reacted like they had their tails stepped on. Many of them reacted there and then with stunned expressions and stood up immediately!

The smartest person who only comes along once every hundred years?

Could it…

Could it…

Damn! Surely not, right?

Don't tell us it's that fellow!

Please don't tell us it's that fellow!

Then they heard Dan Donghe loudly announce, "The person we've chosen to represent the Go world and challenge Peter is the world famous mathematician—Zhang Ye!"

Zhang Ye?

Who?

The Americans snorted as they did not know who this person was.

However, the reporters in the audience were all greatly shocked!

The entire venue fell silent!!

1. https/en./wiki/Sun_Tzu#Chapter_III_%C2%B7_Strategic_Attack

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Chapter 1122: The final battle of the war between humans and the machines!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Zhang Ye?

Which Zhang Ye?

Was it that Zhang Ye?

After a full two seconds of silence, there was a sudden uproar at the press conference venue. Nobody could believe what they had just heard and was shocked by this news. The foreigners might not know who he was, but how could they not know about him. This person was simply too well-known to them. In their country, no one had not heard of Zhang Ye's name. But no one could have expected to hear it spoken from the mouth of China Qiyuan's president at such a venue and in such circumstances!

Zhang Ye would represent them and play?

Have you gone crazy?

Or have we gone crazy!?

…

In front of the television.

His parents were dumbfounded by what they heard!

His mother said in a daze, "Old Zhang, who did he say it was?"

His father said dumbfounded, "He said…Zhang Ye!"

"Holy shit!" His mother nearly jumped up from her seat. "It's our son? Little Ye is representing the Go world for the challenge? He was the last line of defense they were talking about?"

His father was floored. "With our son's lousy Go skills, how would he know how to play!"

…

At Old Yao's house.

Yao Mi's mouth was hanging wide open. "Did he read the wrong name?"

Yao Jiancai was so shocked that his jaw almost fell off. "He didn't read it wrong! He was really referring to Zhang Ye!"

Yao Jiancai's wife asked, "Is it someone else with the same name?"

"How many mathematicians are called Zhang Ye?" Yao Mi said, "Besides, to be publicly acknowledged as the smartest person to come along only once a hundred years, there's no other person than Teacher Zhang! Dammit! Goddammit!"

Yao Jiancai nearly vomited blood. "That guy even knows how to play Go?"

His wife was also shocked. "Could they have gotten it wrong?"

…

At the Heavenly Queen's house.

Zhang Yuanqi was stunned!

Ning Lan was stunned and scared out of her pants. "What? Zhang Ye? That fellow is even getting involved with the Go world now? Isn't he on a two-week break? Why did he appear again? Why does everything have something to do with him? Pfft! I really have to take my hat off to him! Teacher Zhang just can't stay idle for too long!"

Zhang Yuanqi asked, "He can play Go?"

"Who knows!" Ning Lan exclaimed.

…

At the Rao house.

Rao Aimin was watching the television when she got a surprise.

Yang Shu was also at her place today. She exclaimed, "It's Senior Bro!"

Chenchen said in a speechless manner, "Aunt, you are going to get busy again."

Rao Aimin said, "This Little Zhang, why is he always stirring up things for me!"

As Zhang Ye's agent, the media was sure to come looking for her.

…

All of the Chinese audience was shocked!

It also went crazy online!

"Did I hear it wrong or did he say it wrong?"

"You didn't hear wrong!"

"Zhang Ye?"

"Holy motherfucking shit!"

"Why is it him?"

"When did Teacher Zhang become a part of the Go world?"

"As a host and an entertainment celebrity, why would he go and play Go? Does he intend to become a Go celebrity too? The issue here is whether Teacher Zhang can do it or not, since even Xiang Rong 9-dan lost!"

"Has China Qiyuan gone crazy?"

"Who knows which of their fucking brain circuits got wired wrong!"

"They could have gotten anyone to step up for this challenge, but it never should have been Zhang Ye!"

"Teacher Zhang is simply too omnipresent!"

We've only gone a week without hearing about him, but Teacher Zhang is popping up again and catching our attention?"

"I admit that Teacher Zhang is smart and his ability to learn is strong. He always manages to get to the top of every field that he dabbles in. He's probably the smartest person in the world right now! But this is Go that we're talking about!"

"Does he even know how to play Go?"

"Who knows!"

The netizens found it totally unacceptable!

The citizens from Japan and Korea were also dumbfounded!

They basically did not know anything about Zhang Ye, nor did they recognize him at all. But with the Internet so advanced, they could easily do an online search and find out everything there was about him!

The Japanese:

"A Chinese superstar?"

"What? It's him?"

"Was he the guy who verbally abused our countrymen at Peking University?"

"Isn't he a celebrity from the entertainment industry?"

"It's that bastard? I've heard about him!"

"Damn, why did they get him to represent them?"

The Koreans:

"I know him!"

"He's the person who beat up Lee Anson!"

"Right, he's a hooligan of the showbiz industry in China!"

"Are China Qiyuan's people crazy? Why did they get a layman to represent them to play Go?"

"This is the last time that Peter will accept a challenge! It's the last chance for the Go world to turn things around! Yet they're treating such an important match like a child's game?"

"It's over. The Go world is doomed!"

"He definitely has no chance of winning against it! They're sending him to his death!"

…

The outside world was causing an uproar!

It was the same thing at the press conference venue!

During the live broadcast, a reporter immediately raised some doubts.

That female reporter raised her hand and asked, "President Dan, did you get it wrong? Why would you ask a layman to play in this important match?"

Dan Donghe said, "Believe me, we know very well what we're doing. It's precisely because this is an important match that directly affects the honor of the Go world that we're asking Professor Zhang for his help. We cannot afford to lose, nor can we lose again! We will do our best to take on the AI this time!"

A male reporter said, "But Zhang Ye is an outsider to Go!"

Dan Donghe retorted, "Who says that a layman would not know how to play Go? Professor Zhang is publicly acknowledged as the smartest person to come along only once in a century. As for his achievements in the other fields, I believe everyone already knows about them without needing me to explain further. If everyone doubts his Go skills, then I can assure all of you here that Professor Zhang knows how to play Go. And based on what I know, he learned when he was young."

The reporters didn't know how to react!

He learned Go when he was young?

I, too, fucking learned Go when I was young!

Would that be of any use? Would that help with anything? The opponent was an artificial intelligence program that defeated Xiang Rong 9-dan and Park Yuhee 9-dan!

Dan Donghe looked into the audience. "Are there any more questions?"

A reporter from Shanghai Television raised his hand. "Do we stand a chance of winning?"

Dan Donghe said, "That will depend on Professor Zhang! But no matter what the outcome is, we still want to thank him for stepping forward boldly for the Go world! That is because this matter has nothing to do with him. Professor Zhang is already famous and does not lack money or fame. He has no reason to get involved, but for Go and for the honor of humanity, Professor Zhang had chosen to step forward without any hesitation. Therefore, we definitely must be grateful to him!"

When the Americans heard this, they finally understood who this person was that China Qiyuan had gotten to represent them!

A layman?

He was not a professional Go player at all?

He was not even considered an amateur player?

The Americans were extremely tickled!

You Chinese are totally looking down on this artificial intelligence program of ours!

…

At Zhang Ye's parents' house.

His mother pulled her son out of his bedroom.

Zhang Ye cried out, "What's going on, Mom?"

His mother stared at him. "Are you representing the Go world and competing against the AI?"

"Yeah. Eh, didn't I tell you two already?" Zhang Ye blinked.

His father yelled, "When did you say anything about that!"

Zhang Ye said, "I must have been busy and forgot about it. Didn't I say that someone came to our house earlier? They were people from China Qiyuan who came over to ask me to accept the challenge and help the Go world."

His father exclaimed, "And you agreed just like that?"

Zhang Ye said, "Yeah, I did."

His mother was floored. "You accepted the challenge just because they asked you to? You sure are audacious! You only picked up some beginner Go when you were in elementary and middle school, and now you have the courage to compete against the AI?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I'll just have to give it a try, I guess"

His father asked, "The match will take place tomorrow?"

Zhang Ye nodded.

Ring ring ring. His cell phone rang!

It was Chen Guang.

"Old Chen, what's the matter?"

"What do you think is the matter! What are you thinking, Director Zhang!"

"Ha, you heard about the news already?"

"Of course! Are you sure you can do it?"

"I have to. I'll try my best and fight them!"

Then Dong Shanshan called.

"Zhang'er! Was what was announced at the press conference really true?"

"It's true."

"You're really going to challenge it?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"When did you learn how to play Go?"

"During elementary school. I've always known how to play."

"I could never have expected that the Go world would invite you!"

"I did not expect this either."

The calls came one after another.

Zhang Ye's group of friends, including Yu Yingyi, Zhang Xia, Yao Jiancai, Xiaodong, Ning Lan, and Ha Qiqi, were all startled as they called him to confirm the news!

The press conference ended!

Rao Aimin's cell phone exploded with calls from the media!

It was the same thing over at China Qiyuan!

On Weibo, many experts were starting to openly question the announcement!

On the same night, news started spreading everywhere!

"Zhang Ye to represent Go world to fight the final battle!"

"The fourth Go player to represent humanity is Zhang Ye?"

"Zhang Ye vs. Peter!"

"The fourth battle in the war between humans and machines—Zhang Ye steps up!"

"China Qiyuan's shocking decision!"

"Zhang Ye has once again become the talk of the town!"

"Can humanity regain its honor?"

"Just how good is Zhang Ye at Go? "

"Humanity's strongest brain versus the most powerful AI: Who will be the winner?"

The outlook was very pessimistic!

Not even Zhang Ye's fans believed in him, much less the professionals and media!

"Teacher Zhang, can you stop fooling around?"

"Why don't you do something proper instead?"

"You're even getting involved with the Go world now?"

"Pfft, didn't you say you were on a break?"

"I can already picture how Teacher Zhang will look after suffering a miserable defeat!"

Even though there was doubt and pessimism, one thing was without a doubt:

The future of Go?

The honor of humans?

Now, all that fell onto Zhang Ye's shoulders!

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Chapter 1123: The match begins!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

In the morning, a sea of people formed up outside China Qiyuan.

Several thousands of people had gathered around like they were out on a tour.

The entire street was blocked off and the traffic police department had to dispatch emergency manpower to carry out traffic control. Traffic on both sides of the road had to be rerouted to a different location.

"It's starting soon!"

"Damn, why are there so many people here?"

"This is crazy!"

"Of course, it's Zhang Ye who's going to battle against the machine!"

"It's the final battle of the war between humans and machines! Who wouldn't want to come and watch!"

"Even if we humans lose today, we still want to come and see it for ourselves!"

"Zhang Ye! You can do it!"

"Bring down that PeterGo!"

"I only ask that Teacher Zhang does not lose too badly!"

There were people all around, grouping into crowds and occupying the entire street!

Some of these people lived in the area and had come down to join in the bustle. There were also some people who traveled from afar with placards in their hands to show their support. There were all kinds of slogans written on them and some were especially funny.

—Cheering Face-smacking Zhang on!

—Teacher Zhang, don't mess this up!

—Teacher Zhang, don't get face smacked!

—Zhang Ye, are you sure you can do it?

There were also dozens of students from some school carrying a horizontal red satin banner that had the words "Warmly celebrating the arrival of Teacher Zhang Ye to the Go world!" written on it.

The reporters were also here!

Some of them had already headed into the building, while others were setting up their equipment outside.

A female reporter from the Beijing Television Sports Channel reported, "Hello, everyone, I'm currently at the main entrance of China Qiyuan. In front of us, we can see that the venue is filled with many of our citizens. In another hour at this place, we'll be bringing to everyone the war between humans and machines, where the world's most advanced artificial intelligence program will take on the world's smartest person in a century! Today will be coverage of the first game of Peter vs. Professor Zhang's match. As for who will emerge victorious, please stay tuned to the live broadcast brought to you by BTV-Sports Channel. Look forward to the coverage!"

The image onscreen cut back to the studio.

At the BTV-Sports Channel's live studio.

The male host said, "Alright, thanks for the report by our field reporter, Little He." He then turned to the person next to him and continued, "Teacher Li, what are your views on today's match?"

Li Nian, a famous Go commentator.

Li Nian said, "Today's game is going to be very difficult to play."

The male host said, "Yes, Peter has already displayed its extremely strong and advanced Go skills. After Xiang Rong 9-dan's defeat to it, no one else in the world dared to claim that they would be able to defeat it. However, much to our surprise, China Qiyuan has actually invited Professor Zhang to participate in this match under such circumstances."

Li Nian said, "Yes, I'm curious about that as well. Because up until now, no one has ever seen Zhang Ye play Go before. No one knows how good he is, so it's really impossible for me to estimate his chances of winning. We can only slowly analyze his play during the match itself. I believe that many of us, including me, would especially like to find out just how good Zhang Ye is as the smartest person in the world."

"Yes, how good Professor Zhang is is still a question mark."

…

At China Qiyuan.

In the spectator room.

Zhang Ye was meeting Xiang Rong 9-dan in person for the first time.

Zhang Ye shook hands with him. "Hello, Teacher Xiang."

Xiang Rong said, "Hello, Professor Zhang. Let me give you a simple talk about my understanding of Peter. First, it is really very intelligent, so don't see it as just a computer. I believe you know that better than me. I tried to test it out with a move when I played it and found that it does not respond like a normal AI would. Second, no matter how complex the board layout gets, it will not have much of an effect on it. So if you're going first, I wouldn't suggest that you pick a diagonal opening fight 1 against it. And then, you must also remember not to let the game drag out for too long. Finish it as quickly as you can, since playing for too long will affect your strength and stamina greatly. That would make you more error-prone but would not affect Peter at all as it does not get limited by those factors. That is also its most terrifying advantage."

Zhang Ye nodded. "I will remember that."

Dan Donghe also came up to him. "Professor Zhang, you must keep calm. Start the game calmly and get the first advantage!"

Zhang Ye said, "Alright, I'll try my best."

Wu Changhe came over at this time as well. "Your advantage is that the AI does not have your game data. It doesn't know what your style and standard of play are, so you can use that to your advantage and surprise it. It's almost starting, and you better not mess this up!"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I understand, Uncle."

A female professional Go player brought over a cup of hot tea. "Professor Zhang, please have something to drink."

"Ah, thank you." Zhang Ye took it from her.

Li Qinqin asked him in concern, "Have you had breakfast yet?"

"I've eaten already, Auntie," Zhang Ye said.

Li Qinqin said, "Today's game will surely be long. Do pay attention to your energy level."

Hu Liang 7-dan cheered, "You can do it!"

Xu Han 8-dan encouraged, "Professor Zhang, you can do it!"

Chen Ying 7-dan said, "We're depending on you! You must win this!"

Everyone was shouting their encouragements to him!

Zhang Ye said loudly, "Alright, I'm going then."

Everyone anxiously sent Zhang Ye off with their gazes as he walked out.

Before he left the room, he walked past Wu Changhe, only to hear him whisper, "If you lose, don't even think about stepping into my house! Hear that?!"

Zhang Ye was floored!

Fuck!

Do you have to be so ruthless?

With that, he also became nervous!

In the game room.

Everything was set and ready.

The American representative was already here. They were just waiting for the reporters from Central TV Sports Channel to leave the room.

When Zhang Ye's old classmate, Yu Yingyi saw him, she came up to him and greeted, "Professor Zhang, hello."

The camera also pointed at him!

Zhang Ye said, "Hello, Yingyi."

Yu Yingyi said slightly perturbed, "How confident are you today?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I don't know, but I will do my best."

Yu Yingyi checked her watch and said, "I actually still have many questions for you, but I don't think we have the time for that anymore. I'll be in the commentary room waiting for your good news."

The live broadcast signal was cut.

Yu Yingyi put down her microphone and said with a bitter smile, "You're really here, huh? Did you really have to come just because China Qiyuan invited you? Why didn't I know before that you knew how to play Go?"

Zhang Ye was amused. "There's still a lot that you don't know about me."

Yu Yingyi said, "No matter what, please do well. Don't let the machines have a chance to look down on humanity!"

"Don't worry," Zhang Ye replied.

Yu Yingyi went off. She still had to partner with Chen Ying for the commentary portion of the coverage.

Zhang Ye slowly made his way to the players' seats and sat down on his side of the table.

Beside him, three staff members of the American team were doing their last checks on Peter. Soon, everything was ready, and the American representative nodded at them before taking the seat across from Zhang Ye. He would be representing Peter to "replicate" his moves.

The countdown began at three minutes.

The two international Go referees each went to confirm with Zhang Ye and the American representative if they were ready.

The American representative nodded his head.

Zhang Ye gestured with his hands to indicate that he was ready.

Outside.

The live broadcast signal was being televised across the country!

Even some of Asia's broadcasters were simulcasting the coverage!

This match could really be hailed as one that gained worldwide attention!

The countdown timer:

Three.

Two.

One.

The game began!

1. https/senseis./?DiagonalFuseki

Happy Mother's Day!

Chapter 1124: Zhang Ye really knows how to play Go!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Watching TV.

At Zhang Ye's parents' house.

Almost all of Zhang Ye's uncles and aunts, his cousins, and the rest of his family were here today.

His third sister said, "Brother's coming on!"

His father gasped, "It's starting!"

His aunt said nervously, "Can Little Ye really do it?"

His mother said, "He better not get crushed by that computer the moment he starts playing. That would be so embarrassing for me!"

…

Chen Guang's home.

Old Chen and Fan Wenli had been waiting and watching the TV for a while.

Chen Guang was nursing a beer as he watched the coverage. "Do you think he can do it?"

Fan Wenli didn't what to say. "God only knows!"

…

At Ha Qiqi's house.

The old colleagues were gathered here today.

Zhang Zuo said, "The game is starting, it's starting!"

Little Wang yelled, "Director Zhang will prevail! Get that Peter!"

…

Zhang Ye's friends were all watching the live broadcast of the game!

The netizens were also making a big ruckus online. This battle between Zhang Ye and the artificial intelligence had been in the headlines for quite some time!

"Please don't lose too terribly!"

"Teacher Zhang, you can do it!"

…

At the venue.

They guessed the stones 1 to pick who would go first.

Zhang Ye was assigned White and would be playing second.

Very quickly, Peter played its first move.

When the American representative saw the move on the computer screen, he picked up a black stone and placed it at the corresponding position on the Go board with a clink.

Zhang Ye almost didn't hesitate as he smiled and picked up a white stone to place on the board.

Peter went again with its next move.

Zhang Ye thought for a moment and then responded.

It was very quiet in the room. Other than a few cameras, there were only the referees and some staff members around. No one made a peep. There was a very large room outside that was used as the spectator room. Many of the executives of China Qiyuan and the reporters, along with the professional Go players, were watching the game from there. It was equipped with a big screen that clearly displayed every move that was made on the Go board. After each move, they would all break into whispers of discussion with one another.

Hu Liang said, "Peter's opening looks very stable."

Xu Han said, "Professor Zhang too. It's a very conventional start."

Dan Donghe nodded and said, "Little Zhang used to like to open a game with unconventional moves, but it looks like he has taken our advice this time. He's adopted a different approach."

Wu Changhe was staring at the Go board, fully focused, and did not speak at all.

Li Qinqin was clenching her fists as she watched nervously.

This match could really be called one that concerned the life and death of Go. No one could not care about it!

Clink.

Zhang Ye placed a stone down, playing his seventh move.

A battle for the corner began!

In the commentary room.

Yu Yingyi said anxiously, "Teacher Chen, what's happening on the board?"

Chen Ying 7-dan explained, "During the opening, Peter went first. So it would certainly have an advantage. Both their opening moves follow a very traditional way of playing and is considered very conservative. But what we're seeing right now is a watershed moment and the next move they make will be very critical!"

Yu Yingyi looked at the screen and suddenly said, "Peter has made its move!"

Chen Ying's expression shifted. "It played a horizontal stretch? This move by Peter shows a very strong offensive desire. Does it intend to take down the corner for itself? Or was it just a feint?"

Zhang Ye made his move!

It was a knight's move!

Yu Yingyi was surprised. "Zhang Ye ignored Peter's move? But why?"

When Chen Ying saw it, she was astounded. "Great move! It truly is a great move! Professor Zhang has finally shown his hand! He did so without any hesitation too! He's going for the attack now! Peter has lost the initiative and will have to respond to that move first. Otherwise, Professor Zhang will gain control of the framework over there. Indeed, Peter has responded! Oh, that move was really too wonderful. Professor Zhang has caught up by at least three points with that move. If we include the compensation, Professor Zhang has actually gained a slight advantage!"

Yu Yingyi was stunned. "What?"

Zhang Ye?

Gained an advantage?

On BTV-Sports Channel.

The famous commentator, Li Nian, had also been stunned. "This move is really beautiful! This knight's move is very bold and creative. What we're seeing is Professor Zhang pushing Peter into making reactive moves only. It can only give up on completing that framework in the corner and contend for the territory with Professor Zhang!"

Zhang Ye made another move!

Peter fought back!

Zhang Ye made yet another move!

These few moves were a dazzling blur to everyone!

In the spectator room, everyone broke out into applause!

President Dan Donghe was leading the praise. "Great! Good one! Very good!"

Xu Han said excitedly, "That was great, Professor Zhang!"

"Get it! Pursue and attack!" Hu Liang was also getting excited!

"Awesome! This is so awesome!"

"Professor Zhang is indeed Professor Zhang! He doesn't stick to convention at all!"

"This time, it will be Peter having a 'headache'!"

"Impressive, Professor Zhang!"

Although the outcome was not decided yet, being able to put Peter on the back foot had given a lot of hope to everyone!

However, Xiang Rong continued watching the game indifferently. He did not say anything. He knew that it was still too early to be happy and that Peter's skills had yet to be truly demonstrated.

In the room.

Zhang Ye did not take his opponent lightly, although he was pretty confident about himself. If he played to a draw against Xiang Rong, and now that he had gained another 100 million Reputation Points' worth of Go skill experience, he should probably be able to win against him. However, Xiang Rong 9-dan had probably also not given his best when he played against Zhang Ye that day. As such, it was still an open question as to who would win between the two of them. Zhang Ye considered every one of his moves very carefully. When there was an opportunity to attack, he would not show any mercy. But if there was no chance to do so, he would not attack blindly either. This was because he knew that he mustn't make a mistake!

A blunder?

A miscalculation?

This was the greatest difference between a human and a machine, and also the greatest disadvantage for humans!

Clink.

Clink.

Another three moves went by.

Zhang Ye and Peter were making moves tit for tat, neither of them willing to give up on this territorial contention!

The expression on the American representative's face didn't look so good anymore. He was also feeling a little shocked inside. He couldn't have expected that there would still be such a good player around in the Go world. Other than Xiang Rong 9-dan, Shinji 9-dan, and some of the other professional players, there was someone who had such good Go skill? But why hadn't he appeared before? Why had he been an unknown all this time in the Go world? After a moment of shock, he forcibly calmed himself down. It would be alright. No matter who came along, it wouldn't matter. That was because he and his team believed in Peter! Peter would never lose!

The battle in the corner reached a deadlock!

When everyone thought that the fight would have to continue, Zhang Ye suddenly blinked and placed a stone in the middle of the board and very calmly opened up a path right there!

Come.

Let's see what you've got.

Zhang Ye narrowed his eyes and looked at the computer.

This time, there seemed to be no response from it. It went into the longest period of "thinking" since the start of the match.

In the commentary room.

Yu Yingyi said excitedly, "Peter still hasn't made its move yet. It's been 'thinking' for a very long time!"

Chen Ying smiled. "Peter is currently crunching the data. This is where it gets rather complicated. Professor Zhang did this on purpose by making a move that created a very open game. But as the middle part of the board is also very intertwined with the corner, if Peter does not consider its options carefully, it might just throw the entire game away!"

On BTV-Sports Channel.

Li Nian exclaimed, "Good one! Peter has to make a difficult decision now! That was really clever! I never expected that Professor Zhang would be able to play such a beautiful game of Go!" Looking into the camera, he said, "Dear viewers, if you are watching the live broadcast and were worried like me about whether Zhang Ye knows how to play Go, then I can confidently say this to everyone: He knows how to play Go. Not only does he know how to play, he's even at the level of a grandmaster!"

Watching on TV.

A lot of people were dumbfounded from watching!

Some of the audience who could play Go had already seen the level of Zhang Ye's play and were all very startled by it!

For those who did not understand Go, when they heard the explanation from the host and Go commentator, they were also very shocked!

The Internet exploded!

"Holy shit!"

"What have I seen!"

"Zhang Ye has the advantage?"

"He's at the level of a grandmaster?"

"God, this fellow really knows how to play Go! The fuck!?"

People from all over the country were stunned to the extreme!

1. 猜子/Nigiri - to decide who would play as the black stones. https/senseis./?GuessingTheStones

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Chapter 1125: Capturing race!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Everyone knew that Zhang Ye was smart!

Everyone knew that Zhang Ye was capable!

But in Go? No one had ever seen him play the game before!

That was why before this, no one had any idea at all about how good Zhang Ye was at Go. They only knew that he could probably play, but definitely did not know how well he could play. Thus, everyone had a pessimistic view of things after the press conference the other day. They didn't think that there was a chance of winning at all. But now, they knew. Through the words of the host and the commentator, they realized that Zhang Ye's skills were definitely able to match the artificial intelligence program for this war between humans and machines. Further, he had even gained a slight advantage at the start of the match!

His eldest younger sister exclaimed, "Our brother is so amazing!"

Zhang Ye's mother said with wide eyes, "Didn't Little Ye only attend a few Go classes during elementary and middle school?"

His father smacked his thigh in realization. "So this was why China Qiyuan got him to represent them!"

Elsewhere.

Fan Wenli was dumbfounded. "Director Zhang really can play!"

Chen Guang said, "Damn, and I was wondering why he dared to accept the challenge!"

At the Yao household.

Yao Jiancai said in a speechless manner, "That Little Zhang, how does he know everything!"

Yao Mi exclaimed excitedly, "Teacher Zhang, you can do it! Defeat that machine! Defeat it!"

This final battle between humans and machines was also broadcast live on the Online Go Server. The platform's commentator was shocked as he shouted, "Look, PeterGo is getting pressed back! It's been thinking for 20 minutes without making a move! This is incredible! Face-smacking Zhang is so incredible! He has once again shown his amazing talents to all of Asia. He has given humanity a glimmer of hope in beating an AI! Those moves on the Go board are indeed at the level of a professional! With this, Face-smacking Zhang has announced to the world that he truly lives up to the title of the smartest person to appear in a century! He is definitely the person with the highest IQ in the world! No one else even comes close!"

As a mathematician, his Go skill would undoubtedly not be bad. But at most, it should only be not bad. For him to be able to play the game to the highest level was practically impossible. This is because Go requires a large amount of time and practice to accumulate skill and experience, and requires a person to fully invest their heart and mind into the game. So what was happening right now was something that was not explainable by Zhang Ye's status as a renowned mathematician!

There was only one way to explain it:

Zhang Ye was just too smart!

It would have to be that innate talent and intelligence of his!

This match was definitely worthy of being known as the battle between humans and machines. The netizens who had doubted whether Zhang Ye could really represent humanity and play in this match were all keeping quiet now. He was absolutely qualified to do so!

…

In the room.

More than 20 minutes had passed.

Finally, Peter stirred and made a move in response!

Seeing this move it made, Zhang Ye frowned. For the first time today, he was set deep into thought.

Peter's reply was not actually very strong. It could even be said that it was just a normal move. But on second glance, one would discover that the position its black stone was played on was actually a very critical one and extremely difficult to deal with. If Zhang Ye were to apply pressure and go up against it, he might be opening himself up to getting exploited, and the corner of the board would then be put into danger. But if he were to leave it alone, he would definitely start getting restricted from his next move onwards. For now, the only better option available to Zhang Ye was a position on the first line from the right. It would be more secure to play his move here. But just as he was about to raise his hand to place the stone, he suddenly hesitated and felt that something was wrong.

A trap?

Yes, it was a trap!

After thinking four moves ahead, he could deduce it immediately!

What a good move!

This move has really left me in a dilemma!

Zhang Ye once again turned silent as he started thinking about it. This was truly to be expected from an artificial intelligence. He had witnessed the true strength of his opponent now. Moreover, as the game progressed and the situation on the board got even more complicated, the AI's ability to calculate its options to a greater degree of precision would give it a greater advantage. In the current situation, Zhang Ye had entered into attrition warfare against PeterGo!

In the commentary room.

Yu Yingyi asked curiously, "Has Professor Zhang encountered a difficult choice for his next move?"

Chen Ying 7-dan was also very puzzled. "If it were me, I would definitely play my move at right-5."

"Yeah, there's a possible point over there." Even a hobbyist like Yu Yingyi could see it.

Chen Ying 7-dan said, "So I don't know what Professor Zhang is considering….Eh, wait a second. There seems to be something more to that move by Peter!"

In the spectator room.

Many of the professional players were pointing at the screen and discussing. A lot of them could not understand why Zhang Ye had fallen silent, thinking that this should not be happening.

Only Wu Changhe spoke up. "Right-5 is not an option."

Xiang Rong 9-dan looked at the board and nodded in agreement.

"Why?"

"Even if right-5 is not a good position, he could play at right-6, right?"

Wu Changhe shook his head. "It's a trap." He picked up a laser pointer and pointed it at the screen to explain to everyone. "If he plays right-5, the machine will make its move over here. Then, that Zhang kid will only be able to play a horizontal stretch. When the machine makes its move here, he would have to follow up again. Once the machine extends here, he'll have no options left. He'll have lost the initiative at the territory in the corner immediately. So this is a trap."

A lot of people suddenly realized this as well!

Hu Liang 7-dan said in worry, "What if Professor Zhang falls for it?"

"Yeah," a professional 5th dan female player said anxiously, "what if he falls for it?"

Xiang Rong answered, "He wouldn't fall for it!"

Wu Changhe nodded in agreement to Xiang Rong's statement. Although he didn't think much of Zhang Ye and disliked him very much, he still recognized Zhang Ye's skill as a professional Go player. Otherwise, why would China Qiyuan approach an outsider like him and specially go to his house to persuade him rather than sending a professional player from within their own ranks! It was precisely because the people here could not even recognize this trap that they were sitting in this room while Zhang Ye was the one who represented them and played in the challenge match! Zhang Ye's Go skill was much better than theirs!

Suddenly, Zhang Ye played his stone on the board!

He made a " cut 1 " that no one had expected was coming!

Wu Changhe nodded approvingly.

Xiang Rong 9-dan sighed. "He didn't fall for it, but he has lost his advantage."

Wu Changhe said, "There's nothing he can do. His opponent is being too difficult. This response is already very good."

Zhang Ye was playing very conservatively. Actually, he had several strategies that he could use, but he chose to go ahead with the safest style of playing, even though it would lead to him losing an advantage of two or three points. The main issue here was that his opponent had played a really clever move, and Zhang Ye did not have that good of a way to deal with it.

The machine was indeed very strong!

So strong that Zhang Ye could feel himself getting mentally drained!

Chen Ying frowned. "Why did he play that move? He could have…Oh, I know! The point at right-5 was a trap. It might have looked like a cake, but it must never be eaten!" She immediately brought up a virtual screen to demonstrate to the audience for their understanding. "Over here, the stones will lose their initiative if this happens. So Professor Zhang has no other options. Oh, Peter has made another move again. This move looks really familiar. It's a 'push through' at this position. This is a move that Xiang Rong 9-dan uses commonly and is his playstyle. With those two moves, Professor Zhang will find it difficult to continue from here. Peter has caught back up on its disadvantage in points!"

The television viewers and Go players watching experienced a sinking feeling in their hearts.

Things had been turned around too quickly!

But then again, that was exactly where the charm of Go lay!

It was all quiet in the game room. Even the international referees were nervously watching the game.

Zhang Ye's eyes narrowed as he played a " stretch 2 "!

Peter made a " reach around 3 " move!

Zhang Ye played a "stand"!

Peter went for a "horizontal stretch"!

In the following moves, neither party could get an advantage over each other!

A stone of Zhang Ye's was captured!

Very quickly, Peter also had a stone captured by Zhang Ye!

The situation on the board was stuck in a stalemate as both players played really wonderful moves. The exchange made many of the professional Go players and amateurs watch in shock and surprise!

Capturing Race - https/senseis./?CapturingRace

1. 断/Duàn/Kiri - A cut is a move preventing a connection, or an existing situation where stones are prevented from connecting. Usually the term applies to stones which are in direct contact. https/senseis./?Cut

2. 长/Cháng/nobi - A play directly next to another stone of the same color to create a line of at least two stones. https/senseis./?Stretch Different from horizontal stretch/narabi (which is a specific type of stretch)

3. 扳/Bān/hane - A move which "reaches around" one or more of the opponent's stones. https/senseis./?Hane

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Chapter 1126: Zhang Ye's Divine Move!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Both sides were out to kill!

It was a game that became a heated confrontation!

The game had entered into the middlegame and almost half of the board was filled with stones!

Hu Liang 7-dan shouted, "Come on, Professor Zhang!"

A 5th dan pro cheered, "Destroy Peter!"

"Go, go! Bring it down!" Xu Han 8-dan roared.

Even Wu Changhe could not help but yell, "Go on! Attack!"

Although they knew that Zhang Ye could not hear them, the spectator room was still filled with loud cheers of support. They all knew that at this point in time, the battle had entered into the most critical stage!

Zhang Ye made a "diagonal move"!

Peter played a "stand"!

Zhang Ye followed with a "bump"!

Peter made a " bamboo joint 1 " with his stones!

Zhang Ye played an "approach"!

Chen Ying 7-dan remarked, "This is so intense! Both sides are locked in an intense struggle! Professor Zhang was the second to play and is at a slight disadvantage. But in terms of momentum, he's no worse than the AI. The flames of war have shifted back to the corner. I wonder who can grab the initiative this time. Who can surround the other and take the territory? Oh, Peter has made its move. It went in for a strong attack! If it grabs hold of the corner territory, there wouldn't be much hope left for Professor Zhang in this game. Will Professor Zhang allow it to succeed? Look at that, Professor Zhang is fighting back! What a good horizontal stretch! Professor Zhang's horizontal stretch has forced Peter into the most awkward of positions! Is he going to be able to seize the initiative?"

The television viewers could feel their blood boiling!

Zhang Ye's father stood up. "Come on, son!"

His mother shouted, "Little Ye! Attack! Attack! Attack!"

His third sister was also shouting Zhang Ye's name!

Countless people were feeling extremely pumped up!

Every one of them was shouting Zhang Ye's name!

"There's a chance of winning!"

"We really have a chance of winning!"

"Teacher Zhang!"

"Kill it! Don't be afraid!"

"Get that PeterGo!"

"Victory shall belong to humanity!"

"Face-smacking Zhang, bring out your true abilities!"

"Show them what you can do like how you've always done to your peers in the past!"

On the Go board.

Peter responded with its move.

Zhang Ye's expression did not change as he calmly placed his next stone down.

Peter attacked again!

The white stones were at a disadvantage, but Zhang Ye still remained indifferent. He gracefully picked up a white stone and tapped it down onto the board with a very nice and crisp clink.

Yu Yingyi said worriedly, "Has White's initiative been taken away?"

Chen Ying 7-dan explained, "Professor Zhang just lost a little bit of the advantage, but that's OK. There are still chances to regain it later on. In fact, Professor Zhang might have made this move on purpose!"

"On purpose?" Yu Yingyi said in surprise.

Chen Ying 7-dan nodded and said, "Yes, Professor Zhang might've laid a trap for Peter by deliberately opening up a weak point over there. We see this very often in matches between top pro Go players. It's a very advanced type of opening that only masters would dare attempt. I wonder if our viewers have noticed Professor Zhang's expression? He looks very relaxed and calm."

Yu Yingyi glanced at him and found that it was true!

The television viewers became more confident when they saw how he acted!

Indeed, Zhang Ye was serene. He did not look like someone who had just lost the advantage. On the contrary, he seemed to be exuding a feeling like he had everything under control!

Yu Yingyi said very excitedly, "So that's how it is!"

Chen Ying 7-dan said, Now, the situation on the board has entered into the final stage. I have a feeling that Professor Zhang is setting up for a very big move in this game. Look, the white stones have been forced into a corner again by Black. They've been surrounded all around. But similarly, the black stones' hold on the board is now very weak, so it has to relinquish its control. This could be the situation that Professor Zhang had been waiting for. That opening he set up earlier might just have been waiting for this moment to arrive!"

In the spectator room.

Li Yi 9-dan's fists were clenched. "Little Zhang is on the counterattack!"

Hu Liang said, "He's been waiting so long for this!"

Xu Han said in anticipation, "What kind of big move will Professor Zhang be coming up with next?"

"Is he going to turn defeat into victory?" someone said in disbelief.

A female Go player said, "Can that happen? Is there a chance for that?"

A male Go player pointed at the screen and said, "Look at Professor Zhang's expression. He looks like he still has a big move planned that he hasn't brought out yet. I know about the things that he has done in the past, and everyone should probably know about it too. He's the type of person who would never bring out his trump card until the very last moment. There have been so many of his peers that had their faces smacked swollen in this way in the past!"

"That's right!"

"Can he win?"

"Aiyo, my heart can't take this!"

Xiang Rong 9-dan, Wu Changhe, Dan Donghe and the others were all staring with wide eyes at the screen. The outcome of the game was almost decided. They were at the final showdown of the battle. None of them dared to blink as they were afraid they would miss the epic moment!

Do it!

Hurry up and do it!

What was the meaning of that opening strategy and the show of weakness just now for?

Let us witness it, let the machine witness it, and let the entire population of Asia witness it!

The viewers watching on TV were also staring wide-eyed!

Some of them stood up!

Some of them got excited!

Some of them were waiting in anticipation!

At this moment on their screens, Zhang Ye's hand reached into the Go bowl 2 !

The American representative looked at the terribly calm Zhang Ye across from him and suddenly felt a sense of panic as well. You're holding something back? What are you planning on doing? Where will you place this next stone? For a moment, he could feel himself sweating nervously. He kept looking all over the Go board for a position where Zhang Ye might still have a chance of survival!

Where was it?

Just where could it be?

Which position had Peter neglected to take into account?

Chen Ying 7-dan also stood up excitedly. She ignored the reminder from the earpiece that the director gave and said loudly, "It's coming! Professor Zhang has picked up his white stone! He's going to make a move now! Today, Professor Zhang has shown his standard and played to a very high level that showcased the grandeur of humanity! If he wins, he'll immediately become the hero of the Go world! He'll be the hero of all humanity! Watch this, Professor Zhang has raised his white stone and is ready to place it down. I believe that he has been waiting for this chance for a very long time. He wants to decide the outcome now and let the AI know who the true overlord of the world is. Where will Professor Zhang place this decisive stone? This stone is a matter regarding the honor of humanity. Which lethal point will it strike the AI?"

The people watching the live broadcast from Japan were buzzing with excitement!

The viewers from Korea were stirring as well!

At this moment, countless sets of eyes from all over Asia were staring fixedly at Zhang Ye's hand. It was as though it was the hand of God!

Chen Ying 7-dan said loudly, "We're going to witness a miracle at the next moment! Let us watch together as the moment arrives! He's making the move! Teacher Zhang is making his move! Where will this white stone land? Where will this white stone that deals a fatal blow to Peter land? Ah…he still not placing it down on anywhere yet. He's pulling his hand back!"

Instantly, it felt as though the entire world had gone quiet!

Everyone in the room fell silent!

Zhang Ye looked at the international referee and beckoned to him. He said in an embarrassed manner, "Um, I resign."

The American representative fainted!

Yu Yingyi fainted!

Chen Ying fainted!

Wu Changhe fainted!

Li Qinqin fainted!

The Japanese and Korean viewers fainted!

Everyone throughout Asia very nearly breathed their last breaths at that moment!

Goddammit, you motherfucking bastard!

Where was the motherfucking big move that you promised us?

Where was the agreed on Divine Move that you were talking about?

But as it turned out, he actually had nothing up his sleeves?!

Divine Move - https/senseis./?KamiNoItte https//watch?v=5FNOouojjOQ

1. 双/Shuāng/takefu - The name, like the 'knuckle' on a stick of bamboo, comes from the strength of the connection. It is normally impossible to cut through it. https/senseis./?BambooJoint

2. https/en./wiki/Go_equipment#Bowls

Chapter 1127: Face-smacking Zhang gets serious!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At the competition venue.

The international referees came forward to verify the match.

Then, the thinner of the two referees announced, "The first game goes to Peter."

The competition was based on a best of three. If Peter won the next game, the challenge would end immediately.

The American representative smiled as he wiped the nervous sweat off his forehead and cursed himself for overthinking things. He did not shake hands with Zhang Ye and headed straight to the place the press conference would soon be held.

Zhang Ye did not pay attention to him. He gave a final look at that ugly computer before turning and leaving the room and headed for the spectator room.

In the spectator room.

When this fellow returned, he was immediately surrounded by a bunch of top Go players!

Wu Changhe stared at him and said, "Where was the big move?"

Zhang Ye said in surprise, "What big move?"

Wu Changhe impatiently said, "Didn't you have a big move up your sleeve?"

Zhang Ye wore a look of confusion. "What big move did I have up my sleeve?"

Xu Han 8-dan said in a dumbfounded manner, "Didn't you purposely set a trap for Peter?"

"Ah? What are you all talking about?" Zhang Ye could not understand a word they were saying.

A trap?

Big move?

Where am I supposed to pull that out from for you all!

This AI is too powerful. I already said that I wouldn't be able to win against it! But you all insisted on making me play against it. Hai, I'm so embarrassed now! Zhang Ye was also feeling very dejected. This fellow had always been called "Face-smacking Zhang" by others, and he had always been the one who slapped others' faces. But who could have expected that he would be the one getting smacked in the face this time! I knew it! I knew that even if I had drawn a few more skill experience books from the lottery draw, it would still be useless. As expected, this was totally not a matter of skill!

Chen Ying 7-dan returned from the commentary booth. When she stepped in, embarrassment was written all across her face. "Sorry, I, I went overboard during the live broadcast."

The group of pro players were beyond speechless. All of them had been impassioned by Chen Ying's commentary and thought that Zhang Ye really had some big move left to play!

But as it stood?

He could not even muster up a fart!

Li Qinqin sighed and said, "Little Zhang, you've worked hard."

Zhang Ye said with a sardonic chuckle, "Auntie, how have I worked hard? I didn't even win the game, so I feel pretty bad."

Xiang Rong 9-dan looked at him and said, "You've already done great. At the least, I think that you did much better than me. If we had gotten someone else to play, they could not have played as well as you. No matter what, whether you win or lose, we're very grateful to you for standing up for the Go world."

At this, everyone else came to realize it too.

Professor Zhang had accepted the challenge for their sake. Even if he lost, they shouldn't be blaming him. It was never his problem to begin with in the first place!

"Professor Zhang."

"You did a fine job."

"It's fine even though you lost."

"Right, it's not the first time that we've lost anyway, hai."

"Your opening was brilliant!"

"Yeah, no one's been able to make PeterGo so passive! You were the first one to manage it, and this was also the closest that we humans have come to achieving victory!"

"There's still another game tomorrow."

"Right, there's still a chance."

The professional players all spoke one after another.

Dan Donghe was silent all this while.

There's still a chance?

Even though they said that, which one of them really believed what they were saying!

They could all see that Professor Zhang had given his best but still lost to Peter. For tomorrow's game, would there be any difference whether they played or not? Based on today's performance, they knew that they would not be able to win tomorrow. They could see too many things in today's game. This was the limit of how well humanity could perform, but was there even a limit to how far PeterGo could go? They could not see! Yes, there were just no limits!

Li Qinqin consoled, "Don't be too pressured and just play as you would for tomorrow's game."

Zhang Ye gave a wry smile. He thought about how every one of them was placing their hopes on him, and how so many of the common folk were looking at him, so how could there be no pressure on him? The pressure was simply too great!

What if I don't win tomorrow? Then what?

Would I no longer be able to face everyone?

Would I not be able to marry Old Wu anymore?

Motherfucker, this goddamned PeterGo!

Who the fuck designed this bastard of a thing!

…

On Weibo.

The netizens were all wailing!

"That commentator is such a scammer!"

"Yeah, she said it so seriously that I took her word for it!"

"And in the end, when Teacher Zhang said 'I resign,' I nearly fell to my knees!"

"It's useless to say anything now! We've lost again!'

"Even Teacher Zhang could not win against it!"

"Zhang Ye was just a layman to begin with, so why would you guys expect him to win?"

"Ai, I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's game as well. It's going to just be a formality, though. I can see it already. This PeterGo is really too fucking pro!"

"Is there really no one who can beat it? Not even a single game?"

"Go is done for!"

"In a hundred years from now, this game probably won't exist!"

The atmosphere was getting extremely pessimistic. Or rather, it had already become extremely hopeless!

No one thought that humanity would stand a chance of making a comeback!

…

Later that afternoon.

Back at home.

The game had lasted for several hours and it was almost past lunchtime.

When Zhang Ye got home, all of his relatives rushed to him.

"Brother, you're amazing!" his third sister said, giving him a look of adoration.

Zhang Ye smiled bitterly. "I lost and you're saying I'm amazing?"

His eldest younger sister said, "But your opponent is an AI that even defeated Xiang Rong 9-dan. It's already heaven defying enough that you could fight it that well!"

"It's still a loss." Zhang Ye wasn't feeling great about it.

His father came over. "Prepare yourself for tomorrow's game!"

His mother said, "Yes, demolish it tomorrow!"

Demolish it? I would love to do that!

But how could I possibly achieve it?

His first aunt said, "Don't lose heart, you'll be fine!"

His third uncle said, "Right, you've only lost one game. There are still two games left!"

Zhang Ye forced a smile. "After playing Go for the entire morning, I'm feeling a little tired. I'm going to lie down for a bit."

His mother said, "Quickly get some rest then."

Zhang Ye went into his bedroom and laid down on the bed immediately after closing the door. Hearing the chatter of his relatives outside every now and then, he felt really helpless and depressed about the game.

It wasn't that this fellow could not stand to lose, nor was he someone who could not withstand a blow. Ever since he debuted in the entertainment industry, he had stumbled many times as he went through a lot of difficulties along the way. But he had never lost heart before. Besides, Zhang Ye still hasn't lost yet. They were only one game into the best of three. But what made Zhang Ye feel very helpless was that he had no idea how to deal with PeterGo. He knew that even if he were to play tomorrow, he would still not be able to win!

This was the most frustrating thing of all!

Which was why he could not raise his spirits!

Damn, why doesn't this bro use his hacking skills to bring it down? And let that bastard of a thing go up in smoke? Fuck, wouldn't that be a little too mean? Besides, the Americans would surely have the most secure and latest technologies to protect it against such attacks. He might not necessarily have a chance to hack into it! Should he try the lottery again? But it wouldn't work no matter how many times he played the lottery. PeterGo's dataset was just too large. During today's game against Zhang Ye, PeterGo had played moves in the styles of Xiang Rong 9-dan, Shinji 9-dan, Li Yi 9-dan, and anyone else who had played against it. The large dataset it had could also enable it to correctly predict Zhang Ye's every move. This was no longer a difference in skills but the difference between a human brain and a machine! On this aspect, the machine had a crushing advantage over humans. Combined with the two "brains" that gave PeterGo its analytical power, the Americans were actually correct in their claims. This artificial intelligence could really be said to be "thinking" from a different perspective.

The amount of information he had was not as much as the opponent had!

His speed of calculation was not as fast either!

And the precision of his calculations could not be compared either!

Then why the hell was he still competing? How could he compete?

In the public.

A lot of experts were analyzing this war between humans and machines!

A Go commentator: "Zhang Ye excels at the game but is still lacking by too much when compared to the machine."

A scientist: "Humanity is doomed to fail in this war!"

A former national master Go player from Japan: "Not optimistic about tomorrow's chances!"

Ring, ring, ring.

A call from Wu Zeqing came in.

When Zhang Ye saw the caller ID, he hesitated for a moment before rejecting it.

But his cell phone rang again the next second.

Zhang Ye bit the bullet and answered.

"Hello."

"Why didn't you take my call?"

"Hai, I can't face anyone right now."

"You only lost one game and you've become like this?"

"The issue is that I'm not confident for tomorrow either."

"You can win. I believe in you."

"Even I don't believe in me."

"But I do."

Zhang Ye was taken aback.

He heard Wu Zeqing say: "I watched today's game, and I feel that you had a problem while playing. At Go, I'm not anywhere close to as good as you all. But when we were at my place, I watched many of the games you played. I felt that you held back a lot today and were trying to play too carefully throughout the entire game. It was totally different from the carefree style you had while you were playing at my place."

Zhang Ye said helplessly: "My opponent was too strong. I had to play more conservatively against it. What's more, I was playing under pressure from my opponent for most of the game."

Old Wu said: "I always believe that playing Go should be approached as how one lives their lives. Whatever type of person you are, you should be that way and play according to your style. You can't change it. Play conservatively? Playing carefully and taking a steady approach? Building up your base with every step? That's not who you are at all! It's not in your nature to play that way. That's why you might have held yourself back by doing so. I still find you cooler when you played the way you did against my dad, China Qiyuan, and Xiang Rong 9-dan while we were at my place."

At your place?

I didn't even know that I was not facing your dad at that time!

If this bro knew that my opponents had all been 9-dan players and were among the top 20 players in the world, I would've pissed my pants. How could I have played as carefreely as I did!

Zhang Ye said: "Uh, will that really work?"

"Just give it a try," Old Wu replied.

Zhang Ye nodded. "Alright, I'll take your advice then."

Old Wu said: "As for the other factors, you can only depend on yourself to figure them out. I can't help with that."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye gave it some thought for quite a while. Old Wu had indeed made a very reasonable argument. He had been too nervous today and was only thinking about not making any mistakes and errors. He just did not want to lose. As a result, he couldn't open up a path on the board for himself. He would probably give a try during tomorrow's game.

But even that was still not enough. It was not enough to ensure a victory!

He still couldn't overcome the critical issue. He still hadn't found the key to deal with PeterGo!

There had to be a way!

There must be!

But what was it?

Where did PeterGo's weakness lie?

All of a sudden, he heard the sound of the television come in from the living room.

It was the earlier press conference at China Qiyuan. Zhang Ye had left the premises right after the match and did not take any interviews. He did not join the press conference either, but the American representative had taken part in it.

He could hear what the American was saying. "The smartest person to come along in a century? And that was all he could do? Then I shall look forward to the second game of the match between Peter and him."

All he could do?

That was all he could do?

Zhang Ye chuckled!

You want to posture with me, eh?

The thought of marrying Old Wu if he could win the match? The thought of fighting for the honor of humanity? The thought of fighting for the honor of the Go world? Zhang Ye shoved all those thoughts to the back of his mind!

Sure!

This bro will take it to the bitter end with you!

I'll show you bunch of foreigners just why they all call me "Face-smacking Zhang"!

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Chapter 1128: Found its weakness!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At night.

"The Americans are too arrogant!"

"Damn, you even claimed that that was all Teacher Zhang could do?"

"That's because you people haven't witnessed how he awesome he can be when he's in form!"

"When Teacher Zhang was out there slaughtering everyone, was he not better than you?"

"You only scored a victory over Teacher Zhang in Go! What's so great about that! Do you have to get this arrogant? If you're so great, why don't we compete in other categories! Teacher Zhang was not a pro Go player to begin with anyway!"

"That's right!"

"Do you dare compete in math?"

"Do you dare compete in calligraphy?"

"Do you dare compete in piloting a plane?"

"Face-smacking Zhang would be able to demolish you people in any other aspect! Fuck!"

There was a heated discussion about this topic and all kinds of noisy chatter in the news.

Some of the people who were angered by the foreigners gradually started cheering for Zhang Ye.

Others were still as pessimistic as before regarding the match. Whatever reason there was now, it could not erase the fact that Zhang Ye had indeed lost the first game.

…

At home.

Zhang Ye ate three bowls of rice in one sitting for dinner.

His father said, "Eat more to replenish your stamina!"

His mother said, "Right, you still have to fight it out with Peter tomorrow!"

His eldest younger sister scooped some food for him. "Brother, have more meat."

"Thanks." Zhang Ye did not refuse whatever they offered.

His fighting spirit had been reignited. Wasn't it just a lousy computer? He always believed that this was just something that was created by humans. No matter how good it was, it wouldn't possibly have the same wisdom as humans did. Even if it was better in many aspects and possessed a computational and analytical ability that humans could never reach, it would definitely still have a weakness somewhere. So all he had to do was find out what PeterGo's weakness was and score a victory in tomorrow's game. He could not afford to lose and had to at least even the score tomorrow so that he would stand a chance of winning!

Weakness?

What was it?

What was the weakness?

After dinner, he received a few calls from his friends.

Yao Jiancai: "Zhang'er, finish off that Peter!"

Zhang Ye: "I will."

Yao Jiancai: "You can do it, we're all standing behind you!"

There were also some friends who tried to persuade him to throw in the towel. They told him that since he was not a part of the world of Go, it was nothing disgraceful even if he had lost the game. It was already a very great result that he could play against PeterGo as well as he did!

But Zhang Ye did not say anything.

Throw in the towel? There was no such phrase as "throw in the towel" in his vocabulary!

Back in his bedroom, Zhang Ye turned on his computer and again studied the day's game against the artificial intelligence. He recreated the entire game three times over! From the looks of it, there were indeed some inaccuracies in his moves that ought to have much better alternatives to handle Peter's play. Of course, it was useless to say all this in retrospect since whatever mentioned wouldn't change anything. It was impossible for humans to have a foolproof plan while playing under such intense circumstances.

Besides, there was no such thing as a foolproof plan in Go since the game was just too complicated. There would be times when you think that a move would be great after taking everything into consideration. But a dozen moves later, it might turn out to be a bad one. Conversely, you might have played a bad move earlier which would turn out to be a good move by the middlegame when you suddenly realize that it had a decisive effect on the overall board state. All of it was possible due to the complexity of Go!

He studied the game for a full two hours.

The more he analyzed it, the more he could not find any weakness in Peter's game. It seemed like every move it made was done to restrict Zhang Ye's play. It always held a slight advantage over him across the whole board and was always a step ahead of Zhang Ye. With the exception of one move made early in the game, which was the only time that Zhang Ye had managed to restrict PeterGo's play. Hence, Zhang Ye focused on this move for a very long time.

Why did I go into the lead at this move?

Why couldn't Peter predict this move?

The more that Zhang Ye thought about it, the more he wondered why. Logically, it shouldn't have happened. The AI's computational power was so strong and could predict so many moves ahead, shouldn't it be able to predict that move of his as well?

Zhang Ye's keen sense of awareness told him that the breakthrough might lie right here!

After some thought, Zhang Ye called Wu Changhe's house.

It was Li Qinqin who answered the call. "Hello?"

"Auntie, it's Little Zhang." Zhang Ye said: "Is Uncle home?"

Li Qinqin said: "He's around, let me get him."

A moment later, Wu Changhe's voice sounded: "What do you want?"

Zhang Ye immediately said: "Uncle, there's something I need to discuss with you. I was analyzing the 'knight's move' I played against Peter in the corner during the opening. Do you remember it?"

When Wu Changhe heard that it was about proper business, he said with a rare showing of patience: "I remember that. It was your only move that allowed you to gain an advantage in the game. Even Peter could not predict that."

Zhang Ye asked: "Why wasn't Peter able to see it?"

"Why?" Wu Changhe was a little taken aback. "Actually, none of us could predict those moves of yours during the opening as they were all very unorthodox. It was only after you made that knight's move that we realized the intention of your opening sequence, but we've never seen anyone use that joseki 1 before. That was probably why Peter fell for it since it was unable to predict that you would make such a move. You could basically consider that a surprise move."

"No one has used it before?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. I've played Go for many years."

A nonstandard joseki?

How is that possible!

After hanging up, Zhang Ye immediately went through a lot of game records online. Indeed, he really could not find any similar josekis to the one he had played! As everyone knows, Go has many types of josekis and sayings 2 . There are so many kinds of them that they had long been agreed on and analyzed thoroughly by everyone. When Wu Changhe told Zhang Ye that no one has seen that joseki before, it surprised him greatly. That was because this joseki was a very standard way of playing and was commonly seen in games played in Zhang Ye's previous world. If he did not remember wrong, it should have been first played by a Go master some time during the '90s. After many years of trial and error, as well as being played in many different matches, a fixed pattern of play had been formed.

But in this world, no one had seen it before?

Due to the lack of such data, PeterGo couldn't calculate and predict the moves?

After being stunned for a few seconds, Zhang Ye banged his desk and stood up!

I got it!

I know what Peter's weakness is!

Zhang Ye laughed, "Hahahahaha!"

His mother opened the bedroom door and went in. "What's the matter? Have you gone crazy?"

Zhang Ye immediately put on his clothes and said, "Mom, I can't talk now, I need to go out for a while!"

Zhang Ye went out to his car and drove straight to China Qiyuan.

Why did he head there? Why did he head there? Because this place kept the most complete information on Go!

…

At China Qiyuan.

It was past 9 PM.

Compared to the crowd during the day, it was a little quiet at the Qiyuan at night. Most of the lights were already off!

When Zhang Ye arrived, there were only a few employees working in the Qiyuan. Seeing that it was Zhang Ye, they opened the door and let him in. He quickly went to the Go association and pushed the door open!

There were still some people in there.

They were Chen Ying 7-dan, Xu Han 8-dan, and five other professional players. They were grouped together and looked like they were discussing the day's match between Zhang Ye and Peter.

Xu Han: "It's really too strong."

Chen Ying: "How can we beat it?"

When they heard the noise behind them, they turned around.

"Eh?"

"Professor Zhang?"

"What are you doing here?"

The several of them were stunned.

Zhang Ye immediately yelled out, "Quick, give me a hand! I need all the pro Go players' past game record information and josekis of this world!"

Xu Han was stunned. "All the matches? All the josekis?"

Chen Ying said in a daze, "Why do you need them?"

A 5th dan player said, "All the matches? That would be more than several hundred thousand or millions of games!"

"I need to learn them! Quick, give me a hand!" Zhang Ye looked around and asked, "Where is the library? Hurry up, bros! We don't have much time!"

The several of them got even more shocked!

Learn them?

Learn them right now?

Damn, it is already too late! The second game of the match will begin tomorrow! Even if anyone were to give a last-minute push, they would not do it as last minute as you are doing now!

1. https/senseis./?Joseki

2. https/senseis./?GoProverbs

Chapter 1129: The Go masters from a different world!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The library was bustling with activity immediately.

Some of the information in this place had been entered into the computer and those that had not been were available on paper.

Xu Han said, "Are you serious about this?"

Zhang Ye ordered, "As long as there's a possibility that Peter has the data, I want them all!"

Chen Ying gasped and said, "That would be over a million records!"

"Even if there are over ten million records, I want them!" Zhang Ye said.

Xu Han gave a bitter smile as he powered on a computer. "Part of the information you need is on here. Have a look at them."

Zhang Ye instantly sat down. Xu Han had opened up a document on the computer that was titled "1980-2000 International Go Tournaments (Classified Information)"!

Zhang Ye only said, "I want all the records from before 1980 and after 2000 too! Along with the international tournaments, I want records of all the games played in our country, Japan, and Korea!" He then whipped back to looking at the screen as he continued going through the game records page by page. The speed at which he went through them was astounding!

On each page, the games were recorded with details of the players' names, the exact date it was played, and the endgame state. The order of each move was notated by a number written at the grid location of the game record 1 .

One page!

Ten pages!

Twenty pages!

Within ten seconds, Zhang Ye had finished going through the game records.

Then he continued reading without a reduction in his browsing speed!

The professional players were dumbfounded at seeing this.

A 6th dan player said, "What can you learn by looking at the game records like this?"

"You won't be able to remember anything that way," Xu Han said, dabbing at his sweat.

None of them could understand what Zhang Ye was trying to do!

When she saw Zhang Ye keeping quiet, Chen Ying grit her teeth and said, "Let's get the information for Professor Zhang. He definitely has his reasons for doing so. We have to put up a last stand since we're at the point of no return. Do we have any other choice? We can only trust Professor Zhang's judgment! Try to look for as much info as you can!" She immediately headed off to search for more information!

"But…"

"Hai, fine!"

The several of them got down to business!

Soon after, stacks and stacks of documents were placed in front of Zhang Ye.

Zhang Ye said as he browsed through them, "This is not enough, bring me more!"

Zhang Ye then bought numerous Memory Search Capsules from the Merchant Shop through his game ring. Then he closed his eyes and used the Memory Search Capsules to imprint all of the information that he went through earlier into his memory. This was his fastest way of memorizing things and something that no one else in this world could do except him!

It was already 11 PM!

Quick!

Hurry up!

Zhang Ye was not willing to waste even a second of his time as he focused all his effort here. As he was in a race against time, he had to try to remember as much information as he could!

Xu Han's hands were getting tired as he carried a big stack of documents over. "There's still all of these, is it enough?"

"It's still not enough!" Zhang Ye said.

Xu Han said, "They're still not enough?"

Chen Ying stared into Zhang Ye's eyes and said, "Have you really thought of a plan?"

Zhang Ye looked at them and said in a serious tone, "Trust me, I found a way to defeat it!"

Everyone was stunned!

"What?"

"Really?"

"Are you serious, Professor Zhang?"

Zhang Ye said, "What I need now is information. The more the better!"

Chen Ying got excited. "Alright! Alright! Just focus on reading! Leave the rest to us!" She quickly picked up her cell phone and made a call. "Hello, Hu Liang! Quickly come down to the Qiyuan to help out! You're sleeping? Stop sleeping! Get up and inform the others as well! Hurry up!"

Xu Han hesitated for a long time before stomping his foot. "Damn! I won't be leaving today either! As long as you can beat PeterGo! I will do anything that you tell me to!"

The several of them started calling for reinforcements!

"Hello, Old He, quickly come to the Qiyuan!"

"Little Chen, stop sleeping! Come to the Qiyuan!"

"Come quickly, Professor Zhang has found a way!"

Before long, several cars drove into the Qiyuan's compound!

10 people…

20 people…

More and more people were arriving!

"What's the matter?"

"What exactly is going on?"

"It's this late. What are you all trying to do?"

"Don't ask! Help gather information!"

In the end, even President Dan Donghe and Wu Changhe were alarmed. They also hurriedly drove back to the Qiyuan in the middle of the night. When they heard that Zhang Ye had found a way to defeat Peter, the two of them were in disbelief!

He found a way to beat it?

And he's doing some last-minute studying?

W-Why did it sound so unreliable no matter how they heard it!

Wu Changhe said in a speechless manner, "Little Zhang, are you sure you can do it?"

Zhang Ye didn't open his shut eyes and ignored him.

Wu Changhe said angrily, "Hey this kid!"

Dan Donghe was silent for a moment, then he looked up and suddenly said, "Everyone, please put in some overtime and listen closely to Professor Zhang's instructions! Give him whatever he needs! Whatever he needs!"

A deputy chairman objected, "But by doing this—"

"I will take responsibility if anything happens!" interrupted Dan Donghe. He took out a key and passed it to an employee beside him. "There's still some information available in my office. Bring it out for Professor Zhang!"

"Yes!" That employee slowly turned around.

Dan Donghe shouted, "Get moving!"

"Ah, yes!" Then the employee sprinted away!

Dan Donghe glanced in Zhang Ye's direction as he muttered to himself, "I really hope that you have found a way."

The Qiyuan's lights were all switched on!

The atmosphere turned unknowingly tense!

Throughout the night, a lot of people were running about trying to fetch more information for Zhang Ye. After he finished reading some of it, they would take it away and bring over a fresh batch of documents! No one believed that Zhang Ye could really finish reading them all and learn everything within a night. What was Go? It was an extremely time-consuming sport. For most who wished to step out from under the wings of their teachers, they would require at least a few years of learning. Even for those several genius master Go players who existed in the history of Go, it was unheard of that they could become invincible after just a night of learning!

From experience, this was not something that would work out!

Logically, this was also impossible to achieve!

But everyone unconditionally carried out Zhang Ye's requests. Because they no longer had a place to retreat to. In this moment, they would rather believe in a miracle, that the smartest person of the century would be able to bring about a miracle in the Go world!

Time was ticking away.

Actually, they did not know that Zhang Ye was not actually learning, but eliminating. He was not trying to learn from all these game records and josekis. He just wanted to know which to avoid using!

PeterGo's analytical ability and "decision making" were actually based on the massive amount of accumulated information and dataset that it had. It kept a record of all the world's top Go players, professional Go players, games, and josekis, and could play any of Xiang Rong 9-dan's special moves at any time or easily resolve Shinji 9-dan's commonly used moves. It was only because of its massive trove of information that Peter obtained its superb Go skills. This was actually the strongest aspect of the artificial intelligence that humans could not hope to achieve. But at the same time, this was also the AI's Achilles' heel. Right now, Zhang Ye has discovered it!

The Go josekis of this world?

The Go techniques of this world?

I'll just not use any of them!

Xiang Rong?

Shinji?

Park Yuhee?

Li Yi?

Liu Hong?

Chen Ying?

I'll just not use any of their techniques!

I'll avoid all the josekis and playstyles that everyone has used before. This bro will use those moves and josekis that do not belong to this world to play against you!

Do you know Gu Li?

Do you know Nie Weiping?

Do you know Li Changgao?

Oh, that's right.

All of you definitely do not know Ke Jie!

1. https/senseis./?Kifu

Chapter 1130: The second game of the war between humans and machines!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next morning.

It was getting closer and closer to the start of the game.

On the Central TV Sports Channel: "The focus on the war between humans and machines has reached an unprecedented level of attention after yesterday's game. This match has had the most attention, trendiness, and viewership rating in the history of Go. In another hour, our station will continue the live broadcast of the second game of the match between famous math professor Zhang Ye versus the artificial intelligence program Peter. Will Peter continue to be victorious and win the final game, or will Professor Zhang turn defeat into victory and even the score to bring us to a third game? We'll see you at 9 AM on Central TV Sports!"

On Weibo, a number of people were showing their support for Zhang Ye.

Famous A-list movie star Ning Lan posted on Weibo early in the morning: "Zhang'er, you can do it!"

Central TV Documentary Channel's Ha Qiqi: "Director Zhang, show them how awesome you are!"

Crosstalk actor Yao Jiancai: "Everyone, let's cheer for Zhang Ye!"

Singer Liao Yiqi (Spinach): "We must definitely show our support for Teacher Zhang's match!"

A lot of people were waiting and watching TV. Although the live broadcast had not started yet, some commentators and experts were analyzing yesterday's game in the live broadcast studio.

An expert: "We can see that Zhang Ye was always on the back foot."

The host: "Then does that mean it will be very difficult for him to win today as well?"

The expert: "It looks to be that way. But I'll still support Zhang Ye. He is the Go world's last line of defense! We can't lose!"

The host: "Then let's cheer for Professor Zhang, for Go, and for humanity!"

…

The public was heatedly discussing this as well!

Reporters had surrounded China Qiyuan!

Some of the citizens even organized a spontaneous cheerleading squad and were screaming loudly outside the Qiyuan!

However, it was pretty quiet within the Qiyuan, and the atmosphere inside could only be described as gloomy.

Dan Donghe asked, "What time is it?"

"It's 8 o'clock," Chen Ying said tiredly.

Hu Liang asked, "Should we wake Professor Zhang up?"

Li Qinqin, who had just arrived, said, "Let him sleep awhile longer. You guys too. I heard that you were busy all night. Go home and rest."

"We're not tired, ma'am," Xu Han said as he paced up and down.

Zhang Ye had studied the information until 6 in the morning before going off to get some rest. As the game was slated to begin at 9 AM, he had to reserve three hours of rest to recharge himself and replenish his stamina and mental fitness. As for the professional Go players and Qiyuan staff who had assisted Zhang Ye throughout the night, they did not yet leave to go home. All of them stayed behind and nervously stood around with wide eyes. Today's game was extremely important to them!

Awhile later.

Someone suddenly shouted, "Professor Zhang is up!"

Zhang Ye yawned as he walked in. "Good morning, everyone."

"How did you sleep?" Li Qinqin asked anxiously.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Quite well."

Dan Donghe said, "You only slept for two hours. You should sleep a bit longer."

"No need, two hours is enough for me." Zhang Ye's mental state was great. His constitution was different from most ordinary people as he could recover after resting for just a little.

Wu Changhe had also gone to catch some z's at one of the Qiyuan's rest areas. As the game was about to start, he fast walked over. "You in good shape? Think you can win?"

Zhang Ye laughed and said, "I'll give it a try."

He had done all that he needed to do. Although Zhang Ye did not have the time to memorize all the game records, a majority of the crucial games were photocopied into his mind.

He had said that he would give it a try yesterday as well, but still lost in the end.

When they asked him again today, he was still saying that he would give it a try?

Everyone looked at him with pessimism.

Dan Donghe patted his shoulder and said, "Just do your best!"

Li Qinqin added, "Don't be too pressured. It's alright even if you lose."

Zhang Ye said, "OK."

Dan Donghe looked at his watch, then turned around to the staff and said, "Let the reporters in."

The reporters were allowed in.

The Americans were already in the Qiyuan.

The American representative said to his assistant, "Have you booked the plane tickets?"

His assistant said, "They've been booked. The tickets are for tonight's flight, but the match is still—"

The American representative laughed and said, "We'll be done today. Do you guys think that Zhang Ye can take a game?"

At this, the Americans laughed and eased into a very relaxed mood. "Our product has become famous. If we can sweep the Go world with a perfect record, more people will be asking to cooperate with us. Quite a few companies have already contacted us, in fact."

The American representative nodded. "Very good. A perfect record? It will definitely be a perfect record! Peter will not lose even one game, nor will it be allowed to lose! We will create a legend!"

The pregame interview began.

Numerous reporters surrounded the American team.

The Xinhua News Agency: "I heard that your plane tickets have been booked for a flight for tonight?"

The American representative glanced at him and did not dodge the question. "Yes."

From the Beijing Times: "If Professor Zhang wins today, then the third game—"

"That won't happen," interrupted the American representative.

A female reporter said, "You sound very confident of that."

"That's right." The American representative said, "The match is as good as decided because Peter is the most advanced AI ever. Its analytical and thinking abilities are not things humans can possibly compete with. The entire world should have noticed Peter's strength by now. I can assuredly tell you that in the entire world of Go, nobody can win against Peter, whether it's today or in the future. The only thing that could beat Peter would be a similar kind of AI."

A male reporter probed, "What kind of projects will Peter take part in in the future?"

A young reporter asked, "Will Peter continue to challenge the intelligence of humans?"

A lot of the reporters were following the American representative closely and asking all sorts of questions.

Whereas not too many people went to interview Zhang Ye.

It could be seen that even though a lot of people were cheering for Zhang Ye, they were doing so because they stood on humanity's side. But with respect to the outcome of the match, not too many were optimistic about Zhang Ye's chances.

Zhang Ye and the Qiyuan's people overheard the Americans' conversation.

Yu Yingyi and some of the reporters from the Beijing Times were interviewing Zhang Ye.

Yu Yingyi raised her microphone and asked, "Is there anything you would like to say?"

Zhang Ye answered with a chuckle, "Yingyi, help me to pass a message to the Americans."

"What message?" Yu Yingyi said in surprise.

"Tell them to change their flight date." Then Zhang Ye slowly made his way to the game area and went up to the two international referees. He pointed at the computer and said, "I want to play directly against this thing."

The two referees were stunned. "What do you mean?"

Zhang Ye said, "I want to play directly against it. There's no need for a middleman to help place the stones."

There was no need for the stones and a Go board?

You want to play directly against the computer?

Zhang Ye's request immediately attracted a lot of astonished looks!

The international referees went to seek the Americans' consent.

The Americans could not understand what the opponent was thinking. Didn't you members of the Go world always like playing Go using real stones and a Go board? Weren't you all accustomed to the touch of the stones?

The American representative glanced at Zhang Ye. "We have no objections."

Wu Changhe stopped Zhang Ye. "What are you trying to do?"

Xiang Rong 9-dan also came over. "Why do that?"

Zhang Ye smiled. "I like to play against my opponents face to face."

The machine that Peter resided in was a very normal computer equipped with a mouse and keyboard. However, Zhang Ye did not know whether there was any more advanced technology inside of it. He went over to take a seat as he looked up and stared at Peter's screen for a long time.

A tense feeling descended upon the venue!

Somehow, the stakes had been raised!

An employee said, "Interviews will end now. Can we please have the reporters leave?"

The reporters looked back with every step as they departed.

The people from China Qiyuan also gave a final look to Zhang Ye before they headed out to the spectator room next door. From here, they watched the big screen with all kinds of expressions on their faces!

The live broadcast had already begun!

There were still two minutes to the start of the game!

The Qiyuan went quiet!

The netizens went quiet!

…

Zhang Ye's father clenched his fists and said, "Son!"

His mother stared at the television and said, "Come on, you can do it!"

Zhang Yuanqi was alone at home. She was drinking wine as she was caught the live broadcast on TV.

Dean Pan Yang of Peking University's School of Mathematical Sciences: "Little Zhang, it's all on you!"

Yao Jiancai: "It's all over if you lose again!"

Fan Wenli: "Will he win?"

Chen Guang: "I feel that Zhang Ye is a little different today."

Wu Zeqing reached her workplace. When she entered the office, she said to Secretary Bai, "I have work to do in the morning. If anyone looks for me, schedule them for the afternoon." Then she turned on the Online Go Server's live broadcast and waited quietly with arms folded.

Every citizen in the country was watching television at this moment!

Many Japanese and Korean citizens were also focused on this game!

Counting down:

Three…

Two…

One…

The international referees started the game timer.

The second game of the match began!

Zhang Ye was all smiles today. He was feeling completely different from yesterday's cautiousness and seriousness!

Come on.

I'll let you witness the fruits of this bro's overnight labor!

I'll let you witness the special techniques of the 9-dan Go players from this bro's previous world!

Report chapter CommentsI am Really a Superstar #Chapter 1131: A strange opening that dumbfounds everyone! - Read I am Really a Superstar Chapter 1131: A strange opening that dumbfounds everyone! Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

Chapter 1131: A strange opening that dumbfounds everyone!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

During the live broadcast.

Central TV Sports Channel's host, Yu Yingyi, announced loudly, "The match has begun. Professor Zhang is going to play first as the black stones while Peter takes White. Now then, let me introduce our guest commentator for today, the currently highest ranked female Go player in the world, Chen Ying 7-dan. Let's welcome her."

Chen Ying said, "Hello, everyone."

Yu Yingyi said, "For today's game, do you, Teacher Chen, have any predictions on how it'll turn out?"

Chen Ying said, "It's hard to predict, but this is a do-or-die battle for Professor Zhang."

Yu Yingyi looked at the screen curiously. "We can see that even though Professor Zhang is playing as Black, he has not made his first move yet. No one knows what he's thinking about right now. Teacher Chen, does Professor Zhang have a strategy in place for today's game?"

Chen Ying said, "I don't know what Professor Zhang's strategy is, but according to our earlier analysis, he should mainly be adopting a careful and steady approach. After all, his opponent is a machine and its computational power is too strong. It doesn't allow us any room for mistakes. If we want to win the game, we'll first have to make sure that every one of our moves can stand up to scrutiny. Otherwise…"

At this moment, Zhang Ye took control of the mouse and clicked on the Go board on the computer screen with a smile.

Yu Yingyi said, "Professor Zhang has made his move!"

When Chen Ying saw it, she exclaimed, "What?!"

The Americans were stunned!

Those in the spectator room were also stunned!

Wu Changhe nearly cursed out loud. "What the heck is he doing!"

"This, this…" Li Yi 9-dan gasped!

Hu Liang was close to tears. "What kind of a blunder is that?"

Xu Han panicked. "Isn't Professor Zhang messing around this way! What in the world is this?"

A female pro player shrieked, "Is Professor Zhang not fully awake yet? How could he make a move like that?"

Even Xiang Rong 9-dan was stunned!

The home viewers who knew how to play Go were all scared out of their wits!

In the focus of the live broadcast camera, Yu Yingyi exclaimed in surprise, "Teacher Chen, w-why haven't I seen an opening like this before? What kind of playstyle is this? What kind of strategy does he have?"

Chen Ying nearly fell out of her chair. She was thinking to herself how it was not only Yu Yingyi who hadn't seen this before, even she herself had never fucking come across something like it either. "For this opening, we'll have to watch and see how it goes from here. From the looks of it, Professor Zhang did not make a mistake with that move. But as for what kind of opening 1 this is, I do not know. In the entire development of Go up until now, there shouldn't be anything left to talk about when it comes to openings. The conventional ways of playing and board shapes have been generalized. For anything that falls outside of those, we just call them unconventional openings. But I can confirm that there isn't this type of opening in the consolidated list of unconventional openings either. Professor Zhang's first move was played slightly above the board side star point at 11-5. Th-This is just too unexpected."

Yu Yingyi said, "Look, Peter is also clearly wondering about that move. It still hasn't responded with a move yet."

Zhang Ye's first move had shocked everyone!

However, he didn't seem like he was aware. Instead, he crossed his legs and wiggled his toes carefreely. He was even tapping his finger rhythmically without a care in the world against the mouse in his hand. It didn't feel like this was a critical match that would decide the life and death of the Go world. It was as though he was playing the game from home or something.

The Americans started laughing mockingly after the sense of shock faded!

What a layman!

He is totally such a layman!

Do you even know how to play Go? Making a move in that position for your opening?

What kind of playstyle is this? Are you trying out a suicidal opening? Ha!

Soon, Peter replied with a move!

Yu Yingyi quickly said, "Peter has made its move!"

Chen Ying 7-dan explained, "Peter has made a move at the bottom of the board. This is a very good response. If Professor Zhang does not take defensive action, he'll immediately fall very far behind right from the start of the game. I still don't understand why his first move was placed there. But what I know for sure is that Black's second move definitely won't repeat the same—"

Before she finished.

Zhang Ye lightly clicked the mouse and placed another stone!

Chen Ying was dumbstruck. "This...a 6-4 point? What kind of playstyle is this?"

Some of the Go players on the Internet were going crazy!

"Holy shit!"

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"Is this even a coherent opening?"

"This has got to be a fucking suicidal opening!"

"What is Professor Zhang thinking?"

"He's making blunders right at the start?"

"This opening of his is just too goddamn unconventional! It's the fucking most unconventional opening of unconventional openings there are! What on earth is he trying to do?"

"I'm gonna cry!"

"This is just too unconventional!"

"He's going to lose this game as well! If Peter grabs hold of the position, it'll be over!"

If even the amateur Go players could see it, then the pro players understood even better!

Wu Changhe was ready to curse. "Did this kid forget to take his medicine?"

Li Qinqin said, "Who knows if Little Zhang might have a purpose?"

Liu Hong 9-dan said, "What purpose could he possibly have? He's walking on a knife's edge! Besides, there has never been such a way of playing ever before in the many centuries of Go!"

Hu Liang paled. "Peter has played its stone!"

"It's over!"

"It really played at that position as expected!"

"Professor Zhang has been forced into passive play!"

But when they looked at Zhang Ye, they noticed that he did not have an expression that looked like he had made the wrong moves. Instead, he was grinning. Almost without needing to think, he played his third stone.

The Americans were smirking and sneering, but those smirks quickly froze!

Wait!

This…

What is going on here?

Chen Ying didn't know how to react either. "Professor Zhang has played another 6-4 point move? This way of playing has really never been seen before. If that's what it is, then…Eh? Wait a second, why does this opening look a little familiar?" She suddenly froze, then cried out, "Isn't this the ' three star points in a row 2 ' opening? But he pushed the three star points up and in by two coordinate points?" She suddenly got excited. "Professor Zhang is not playing randomly! He is definitely not playing randomly for this game's opening! This…this…Peter has to stop him! If Professor Zhang can join up the 'three star points in a row,' the upper side of the board will be his to take!"

Xiang Rong's expression suddenly changed. He said, "He did that on purpose for his opening!"

Dan Donghe pointed at the screen. "Look at that, Little Zhang is…"

After just a few moves, everyone suddenly realized that this opening was much too fearsome. It could even be described as devious!

Peter also realized this and immediately went back to stop it!

But it was already too late!

Zhang Ye placed down his stone for Black's fourth move.

In order to wreck its opponent's plan, Peter's fourth move had to be placed at the 5-4 point in the upper right corner!

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye thought for a moment, then quickly placed his fifth move at the 6-4 point in the lower right corner of the board!

Peter's fifth move came in with a piercing attack!

Zhang Ye smiled and turned it aside!

Peter immediately ran out of steam!

The audience was shell-shocked!

Yu Yingyi was stunned. "This play!"

No one had expected it to be this way!

The present array of stones on the Go board dumbfounded them all!

Chen Ying became so excited that she could feel her blood coursing through her veins. "This is brilliant! Brilliant!" She explained to the viewers, "After White's knight's move on move four, if Black had continued to occupy and join up with the upper right corner's 6-4 point to form a fighting shape in response, White would've just had to make a large knight's move to cut him off for its fifth move, and the black stones in that area would have been snubbed. Instead, Professor Zhang turned his attention to taking the 6-4 point at the lower right side. He seems to be intending to construct another 'three stars in a row' at the bottom of the board. After White's fifth move attack, Black did not immediately take a position on the side of the board because he wanted to leave the opponent with a dilemma: If Peter chose to play on the sides of the board, which are not efficient for scoring, in order to break Professor Zhang's setup, then so be it. Professor Zhang could always continue to build up in the upper right corner and take all three corners under his control! If Peter is not willing to take this loss, then Professor Zhang would be able to form the shape that he desires! If Professor Zhang really manages to connect the desired shape that he wants, and which we still have no idea of what exactly it is, even if we haven't come to that part of the game yet, I would still imagine it to be absolutely terrifying!"

It went quiet!

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The entire Qiyuan was silent!

Chen Ying stared fixedly at the screen and said, "How will Peter choose to proceed? What will Peter do now?"

One minute.

Three minutes.

Five minutes passed.

Peter made a compromise!

It could only compromise as it did not dare to take the risk!

Sunken expressions were on the faces of the Americans!

Many of the professional Go players in the spectator room cheered at this moment. It was as though they had finally released all of the pent-up stress from these recent days!

Xiang Rong 9-dan cheered, "Great play!"

Wu Changhe couldn't conceal his excitement either. "Good! Alright! Great!"

"This is so awesome!"

"Professor Zhang, that was a good one!"

"I've got the goosebumps!"

"My heavens!"

"Professor Zhang is so awesome!"

Chen Ying continued saying loudly inside the commentary booth, "Peter is now at a disadvantage! It has been taken advantage of by Professor Zhang greatly in less than a dozen moves at the start of the game! This is a really unconventional opening that has never been seen before! What an unconventional opening! What kind of playstyle is this? What on earth is it?"

…

Zhang Ye's mother said dumbfounded, "Little Ye is in the lead?"

His father shouted, "That computer program has been tricked by our son!"

Chen Guang said, "What the!"

Yao Jiancai laughed heartily, "Hahahaha! You're really something, kid!"

The same boisterous reactions were seen online!

"He's in the lead!"

"Teacher Zhang has gained the initiative!"

"Fuck, Peter has been tricked in less than a dozen moves!"

"What kind of playstyle is that?"

"Teacher Zhang really is a fucking goddamn genius!"

"Don't get happy too soon! The game isn't over yet!"

"Right! Let's continue to watch!"

"Don't fucking tell me that Teacher Zhang might really be able to win against that AI?"

…

A playstyle that no one had ever seen before!

An opening that no one had ever witnessed before!

There were also many others who were wondering what in the world they had seen!

Even Xiang Rong, Wu Changhe, Li Yi, and the others were confused by it!

If Zhang Ye could hear the commentary outside the game room, and if he could see all the heated discussions by the netizens, he would surely answer them with one line: This is what you call the " Apollo Opening 3 "! It was a famous and old unconventional opening from his previous world! Naturally, the people of this world would never have come across it before!

https/senseis./?StrangeOpenings

1. https/en./wiki/Fuseki

2. Sanrensei (A variation of /y99qlaow)

3. https/senseis./?GanSiyang

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Chapter 1132: An inconceivable way of playing: The Cosmic Style!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

In Japan and Korea.

Some of the Go websites were holding a simulcast of the game.

"Nani?"

"Quick, come and see this!"

"This opening is super godly!"

"The Chinese have shown their might!"

"The AI is losing really badly now!"

"That's impossible. Didn't that guy called Zhang Ye suffer a miserable defeat yesterday?"

"Just watch and you'll understand!"

Shortly after the game started, and in less than a dozen moves, Peter had been forced into a compromise and had to give up several points just like that. What did this mean? Anyone who knew a bit of Go would most definitely be astonished!

In all the centuries of recorded Go history and even further back, in its development until the modern times, all the different types of strategies had already been analyzed and studied thoroughly. All the different playstyles had already been seen before as well. Unless it was a game between a pro Go player and an amateur one, there wasn't much likelihood that a large disparity would grow between the two sides within just a dozen moves. Even if there was, it wouldn't be so clear-cut. It would only start showing itself gradually as the match progressed. If such a great disparity really showed up within just a dozen moves, it would go without saying that it was sure to be a game between an expert and a beginner.

But Peter was clearly not a beginner. Much to the contrary, it had defeated the top three Go players of the world, so that made it even more astonishing to everyone!

It didn't even take a dozen moves!

Zhang Ye had done it in less than ten moves!

This upset a lot of people's understanding of Go!

Some people even thought, If anyone could successfully learn this playstyle of Zhang Ye's, then wouldn't they become invincible in terms of the opening of a Go game?

But little did they know they had misjudged it.

The Apollo Opening 1 . Even in his previous world, this opening was not that popular. In fact, hardly anyone still used it. It was almost never played anymore because this type of opening had been researched and analyzed by many people. All of its variations and ways to fight it had been thoroughly explored. Moreover, the Apollo Opening had several fatal flaws. It was never seen as a mature or stable opening. But why did Zhang Ye dare to use it? Because this world has never seen it before. Therefore, they wouldn't know how to crack it!

Zhang Ye was harassing Peter like this specifically because it had no records of this opening!

Indeed, this strange opening had allowed him to gain an advantage right at the start of the game!

Zhang Ye followed up in hot pursuit as he immediately made an attack next!

Peter defended against the move.

Zhang Ye took the chance to occupy a position.

Peter could only bump in response.

However, he did not manage to complete the Apollo Opening. Because of Peter's compromise, he did not manage to get to the final killing move. But Peter's compromise had created an opportunity for Zhang Ye.

In the commentary booth.

Yu Yingyi said excitedly, "Professor Zhang still has an utter advantage!"

Chen Ying 7-dan had been feeling quite tired as she had not slept for the entire night. But with this game's opening, she was injected with energy, as if given an adrenaline shot. She yelled, "Yes! After another five moves from both sides, Professor Zhang is still pressing Peter with his play! Peter is in a very passive state. It has no way to deal with this for the time being!"

Yu Yingyi said, "So if they continue to play, will he win?"

Chen Ying replied, "Hmm, you can't put it that way. Peter's standard of play has already been witnessed by everyone. It once reversed a disadvantage on the board and emerged victorious. Also, we're only in the opening. What'll happen later is difficult to predict. There's also something that we ought to pay attention to. See, Peter might have lost quite a few points over here and here in the opening, but this opening by Professor Zhang is not that good either. We still have to see how it develops from here. Black's fifth move, there, is still very vulnerable to being attacked."

Then, less than two moves later, Zhang Ye suddenly hesitated.

He tapped the table as he considered his options for a while before playing.

In response, Peter made a good move by extending one of its frameworks. It helped Peter counterattack and was a very clever move. It was so clever that even many of the Go players watching TV could not help but praise it!

Chen Ying's expression shifted. "Good move! Peter's absolute strength can be seen in this move alone! It was no fluke that it could defeat so many of the world's top Go players. Now that Professor Zhang's attack has been defended against, Peter is unleashing a counterattack! It is Professor Zhang who will be finding it difficult from here on out!"

The American representative heaved a sigh of relief and smiled.

The atmosphere turned tense once again!

Zhang Ye clicked his tongue. It looked like he wouldn't be able to finish off PeterGo with just the opening. That would be too unrealistic.

Zhang Ye had to counter with a stand.

Then, Peter played its next move in the corner!

Chen Ying said with a sinking voice, "It's Peter's turn to play its opening! After this position here has been occupied, Professor Zhang's position over there is not going to be easy to expand. Although Professor Zhang is still ahead in the scoring, his opponent is catching up in the momentum. If he doesn't handle the situation well, he might just throw away that lead!"

Both sides played their stones.

It could be seen that Peter no longer needed the long thinking time that it took to consider its moves during the opening. It was playing fluidly now and had entered into the part of the game it was good at and most familiar with. Peter did not need much processing time as it rapidly made its moves. All of them were quite strong plays that caused a lot of trouble for Zhang Ye!

Wu Changhe said, "This is bad!"

Dan Donghe said anxiously, "The momentum has swung the wrong way!"

Xiang Rong 9-dan said, "Let's see how he's going to deal with this! We're now headed into the critical part of the game!"

Hu Liang yelled, "Come on!"

Yes, it had come to yet another critical juncture!

Zhang Ye's choice here was going to be very important. If he chose to fight Peter in the corner, he was bound to lose badly as his opponent had finished setting up its opening. But if he were to avoid fighting in this corner, it would be very difficult to play later on. Zhang Ye's opening was not exactly that good and its weaknesses were already starting to show.

Everyone at the venue was waiting in anticipation!

The home viewers were also waiting!

How would he play from here?

Where would Zhang Ye play his next move?

Zhang Ye narrowed his eyes. If he took Peter head on, things would not be any better than it was yesterday. In this case, considering that Peter's Go play was at the peak and how it could process far more variations than humans, he would inevitably lose to Peter's data if he played on like this. It might start playing some of those moves by Xiang Rong 9-dan or the like, then predict Zhang Ye's playstyle with big data analytics on his moves. Zhang Ye couldn't get dragged along by PeterGo anymore. This bro will not give in and play those moves you're familiar with!

OK!

Let's do this then!

I'll show you what I'm capable of!

Zhang Ye gripped the mouse, then chuckled as he played his move!

This stone was actually played on the upper side at a high position 2 !

Peter was probably stunned. It made a knight's move in return.

Zhang Ye calmly clicked the left mouse button and placed another stone on the Go board at a position that no one could understand!

For a moment, countless people were once again dumbfounded!

Wu Changhe cried out, "Dammit! What is he trying to do this time?"

Xu Han stared dumbstruck. "This…What kind of move is this?"

"What kind of playstyle is this?" Hu Liang asked as he looked to Xiang Rong 9-dan.

Xiang Rong looked at the screen as he shook his head while smiling wryly. "I've never come across a move like this either."

Chen Ying explained in surprise, "What is this? The choices that Professor Zhang made are beyond everyone's expectations. Those two stones seemed to be played with the intent of controlling the center of the board!"

Even Yu Yingyi could see that something was wrong. "Why didn't he fight for the corner?"

The fellow Go players watching TV were floored!

"Fuck!"

"What sort of a strategy is that?"

"What kind of a new fucking playstyle is that?"

"This has absolutely got to be a blunder!"

"You don't intend to fight for the corner?"

"What's the point of fighting for the center?"

"Seeking Death Style?"

"Incoherent Style?"

"Why do you keep playing moves that are so illogical!"

Zhang Ye's mother was also getting anxious, "What's going on with Little Ye? Are his moves no good?"

His father said, "Those couple of moves were impossible to understand!"

"Ah?" His mom was starting to get nervous about the board state.

No one could understand it!

The fellow Go players could not understand it!

And probably the rest of the professional Go players around the world could not understand it either!

In Go, practical benefits are largely focused upon in play. That is to say, the mainstream way of playing would be to start off on the third line for the opening so that territory could be built up at the sides of the board and the corners. Everyone usually played this way. Most victories were usually decided upon by the fight for territory at the sides and corners where the most hotly contested divisions on the Go board were. This was the most researched and studied area in Go!

As a result, these couple of moves by Zhang Ye had simply left everyone feeling incredulous!

An opening that focused on surrounding the center? Ignoring the corners? Aren't you an oddball for playing these moves!

What are you doing?

Do you mean to give up?

Then why don't you just resign? Why do you have to…

No one could sense the danger, not even Peter. There was no such playstyle in its dataset. This was something that no one had ever seen before!

Peter was still playing its moves according to the usual logical process!

Zhang Ye calmly placed a stone at another high position. This high position stone was actually not fighting for the corner territory. In fact, it had nothing to do with it at all. It was still surrounding the framework in the center of the board. Or perhaps, Zhang Ye was trying to surround the entire Go board!

This time, Peter hesitated for two minutes before playing its next move.

Zhang Ye smiled. Then he placed another stone at yet another high position without even thinking!

I know that you must have never come across such a playstyle!

Now that my opening is complete, let's have a good game!

Chen Ying was unable to give any further commentary. She could not at all understand what was going on!

To many of the top professional Go players in the spectator room, they could only look at the screen in confusion. Seeing the stones being played move after move, they were all puzzled!

Peter countered with an extension!

Zhang Ye played at yet another high position!

Peter bumped!

Zhang Ye pushed on with his high position!

A "three star points in a row" was joined up!

After several dozen more moves!

There was suddenly no reaction from Peter!

At this moment, a lot of people finally realized that something was wrong!

Yu Yingyi said in surprise, "This…What is going on?"

Chen Ying was so astonished that she had broken out into a sweat. "Why has Peter been pinned down? What is happening? Just, just what is happening in the center?"

She was dumbfounded and couldn't understand what had happened. Meanwhile, Peter seemed to have been relegated to a passive state!

Hu Liang exclaimed, "Heavens above!"

Xu Han stared with wide eyes. "How? How did it turn out this way?"

Many pro players were stunned!

The netizens also started crying out!

"Holy fuck!"

"My titanium dog eyes have been blinded!"

"What am I seeing here?"

"Is…is this some kind of sorcery?"

"What kind of spell did Zhang Ye cast?"

"He has regained the lead! Zhang Ye has PeterGo pinned down again!"

Before this, they had thought that those careless moves of Zhang Ye's would definitely have thrown his entire opening into disarray. They felt that he would definitely suffer a crushing defeat to Peter. Because in their opinion, as long as Peter firmly occupied the corner frameworks, there should have been no surprise to this game. In the dozens of moves played so far, they had seen for themselves just how messy Zhang Ye's opening had become and could not see a proper style to it. But at some point in time and after one of his moves, they discovered to their sudden horror that the one who was forced into a dead end turned out to be Peter! They didn't know how or when, but more than half of Peter's stones were suddenly surrounded by a "big net" that Zhang Ye had "cast" over the board. The other half of its stones were also blocked out by Zhang Ye. Peter's framework and territory in the corner were gradually surrounded by Zhang Ye instead!

This "big net" was simply terrifying!

It could encircle the inside!

And it could also defend the outside!

And if Peter tried to invade, Zhang Ye would be able to kill off its approaches immediately!

For the rest of the time, Zhang Ye wouldn't even need to fight against Peter. He could just spend his moves on weaving an even tighter net!

Two stars in a row!

Three stars in a row!

Four stars in a row!

This never before seen playing style had shocked everyone!

1. https/senseis./?GanSiyang

2. Fourth line on the Go board refers is referred to as "high" https/senseis./?KnowYourLines

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Chapter 1133: Peter gets dealt a blow!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Fellow Japanese and Korean Go players were going crazy!

"What have I witnessed?"

"Go can even be played like this?"

"How amazing! The Chinese are incredible!"

"Just what kind of genius would it take to be able to think of playing this way?"

"I've never seen it before! I've really never seen something like that before!"

"I have a hunch that this method is going to create a new style of playing!"

"How can there be someone so strong?"

"He, he's really not a pro Go player?"

On the live broadcast.

Chen Ying 7-dan exclaimed, "I've got it!"

Yu Yingyi quickly asked, "So how'd he do it?"

Chen Ying quickly turned to operate the computer in front of her. "Switch the view and have a look over here. Let's go back a few moves…a little further back…OK, right here. This was the critical juncture that we talked about earlier where everyone was waiting for Professor Zhang to make his move. If it were any other player, they would definitely have chosen to attack this corner here. Or if not, they would play at this position here. But Professor Zhang did not choose either of those moves. Look at this, everyone. He played his stone over here, and then another one over here!"

Yu Yingyi could not understand. "What does that mean?"

Chen Ying said, "Professor Zhang was setting up his frameworks! Ever since this move here, Peter stepped into the maze that is Professor Zhang's frameworks! All of us had been taken in by Professor Zhang as well! It wasn't until this move that we finally saw that Peter had seemingly realized something. But it was already too late! Professor Zhang had already completed his setup! All of the later moves were centered around the black stones from earlier! Every move he made seemed quite casual and not carefully considered, but they were actually all very well-thought-out moves. For example, Black's 23rd move could only be placed in this position. There's no room for deviation at all!"

Yu Yingyi asked, "But what's behind Professor Zhang's decisions to play those stones at those places?"

"Influence," Chen Ying said.

Yu Yingyi was taken aback. "Influence?"

Chen Ying was finding it hard to believe too, but it was right before her eyes. "To play high approach moves, using strong attacks that are supported by the balance of the board's situation—that's the essence of Professor Zhang's playstyle!"

Li Qinqin praised, "How did he think of that!"

Wu Changhe said excitedly, "Good! That was a good one, kid!"

Li Yi 9-dan said in shock, "This way of playing is amazing!"

Dan Donghe remarked, "He's really a genius! This is what a true genius is!"

When Tian Weiwei saw this, he kept quiet. He was once hailed as the genius who would succeed Xiang Rong in the Go world. The public had very high expectations of him and often extolled him as well, so much so that even Tian Weiwei himself felt that he was really a Go genius. But as Tian Weiwei witnessed today's game, he realized that he was probably nothing. In the face of Zhang Ye, no one could claim they were a genius!

So this was Zhang Ye?

This was who the smartest person in today's world was?

In the past, Tian Weiwei only had two idols. One of them was Wu Changhe, the other was Xiang Rong. But today, he added another person to that list of people he idolized!

Having seen this game, no one could not be moved!

Li Yi.

Liu Hong.

Xu Han.

Many pro Go players were asking themselves what they would do if they were sitting across from Zhang Ye. If this game had been between Zhang Ye and them, they would definitely have resigned by this point in the game!

…

Back to the game.

Peter's went deep in the tank!

Five minutes!

Ten minutes!

There was no sign of activity from it!

The Americans looked surly and sullen!

"Dammit!"

"How could this be happening!"

"Don't worry, believe in Peter!"

"Yeah, Peter will definitely have a way to deal with this!"

On the other hand, Zhang Ye looked carefree. He knew that his playstyle had stunned Peter!

This playstyle had a very cool name, the Cosmic Style, and was pioneered by Takemiya Masaki. Of course, Takemiya Masaki preferred to refer to it as the "Natural Style," but everyone was accustomed to calling it by the former name. The Cosmic Style was very famous in Zhang Ye's previous world and was different from the Apollo Opening. It was a more perfected style of play and had made great contributions to the Go world. This way of playing was highly popular at one time and was even used later by quite a few top players in key international tournaments. As for the people of this world, they naturally would not have seen it before

This style was extremely difficult to play and would require more than just a high approach in the opening to work. It was also very demanding of the player and could even be considered harsh on them, as it would require a player to have a very strong awareness of the overall board state and be skilled at setting up an opening!

Of course, due to the strong attacks made in the game's opening, Zhang Ye's Cosmic Style of play was not in perfect shape, and there were still some weaknesses in it. But this was how Go was. No one could play perfectly. As long as he could deal Peter a blow, Zhang Ye would accomplish his goal.

Yu Yingyi said, "Peter has still not made its move!"

Chen Ying said loudly, "That's because it's discovered just how fearsome this style is! It needs to fight back! Although it might not look like the much difference in their scores, Peter is losing to Professor Zhang by too much in terms of influence!"

…

Beijing Television.

The Go commentator cried out, "The scale of victory has tipped toward us! This is amazing! Professor Zhang is incredible today!"

…

On the Online Go Server.

The commentator was howling, "PeterGo has been stunned! It has been sorely beaten by Professor Zhang! I can already see that the dawn of victory is upon us! This is the closest that humanity has come to victory in the war between humans and machines! I don't know how to describe what I'm feeling! Professor Zhang, you can do it!"

…

On a Korean webcast.

A Korean 8th dan Go player was explaining, "Peter has met with unprecedented trouble! This is the first time its getting pushed to such an extreme by humanity!"

…

The game timer was ticking.

Half an hour had gone by!

Since half an hour ago, Peter hadn't shown any signs of activity!

This time, it was Peter that was faced with an extremely important decision to make!

Zhang Ye yawned. Looking at how there was no response from the computer, he was starting to get impatient. He even forgot that he was currently on a national broadcast. He settled his hands onto the keyboard and sent a message.

Everyone was startled.

Yu Yingyi stared at him. "Eh, what is he doing?"

Chen Ying blinked and said, "Professor Zhang is typing something?"

Yu Yingyi quickly said, "Let's switch to the feed in the game room!"

Everyone who was watching the broadcast on TV saw what Zhang Ye typed!

Zhang Ye: "What are you doing? The flowers are wilting as I wait!"

Everyone was floored!

The host was floored!

The Americans looked angry!

The eyebrows of the American representative jumped!

The two international referees had an impulse to vomit blood. The two of them looked at one another and did not know if they should stop Zhang Ye. For good reason, there are rules in a Go tournament that prevent a player from affecting their opponents. But it was a different case here as the opponent was just a computer. It was impossible to affect it at all.

Zhang Ye typed another message. "Hurry up, did you fall asleep?

"Bro, give up and resign if you can't do anything. Don't force yourself.

"We're all waiting!

"Did you crash? Why don't you try restarting!"

Everyone who saw didn't know how to react!

Resign?

Restart?

Why're you arguing with a computer!

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Chapter 1134: Zhang Ye's Hand of God!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

There was laughter all around Weibo.

"Pfft!"

"This is cracking me up!"

"Why is Zhang Ye always spouting nonsense like that!"

"Hahahaha, hasn't he always been this way?"

"His Go skills are really just like him! Full of rubbish and not adhering to convention!"

"Only he could have a mouth like that. Why are you arguing with a computer? This guy is really too annoying! But today, we must support him. We have no choice!"

"Go for it!"

"We can't afford to lose any more!"

"Yeah, if we lose this game, it's over for us!"

"It all rests on Zhang Ye!"

"As long as we win, I'll be his braindead fan forever!"

"I am already turning from just a passerby to a fan! He's playing amazingly!"

"Fuck, is Zhang Ye on steroids today? Why is he playing so well?"

"Yeah, he's like a completely different person from yesterday! It's like he gained a 'great empowerment' overnight? Just what kind of weird moves are these!"

In the game room.

The Americans finally blew up. Their representative lodged a stern protest to the international referees, accusing Zhang Ye of interfering with Peter's play.

The international referees considered it for a moment before deciding to give Zhang Ye a warning.

Zhang Ye put up his hands to express his innocence.

Peter was still "considering" its next move.

Those on humanity's side were getting excited and enthusiastic!

On the live broadcast.

Yu Yingyi said excitedly, "Today's Zhang Ye is totally different from yesterday's!"

Chen Ying 7-dan suddenly said, "Now, I can reveal a secret to everyone who is watching on our live broadcast. Just last night, Professor Zhang suddenly came to the Qiyuan to search for some information. Some of us helped him find all the game records of top players in recent years from both national and international matches. Professor Zhang ended up looking through all of them for the entire night!"

Yu Yingyi said in shock, "Teacher Chen, do you mean that Professor Zhang only used one night's of research to improve his Go skill to the point where he seems like a totally different person from yesterday?"

Chen Ying reflected, then said, "I don't know."

"That doesn't make sense!" Yu Yingyi was in disbelief.

When home viewers heard that, they were stunned speechless!

Chen Ying thought for a bit before giving a wry smile. "Perhaps that's the difference between a genius and a normal person. Peter has completely underestimated humanity. It probably never thought that there would be a person like Professor Zhang who exists amongst us humans!" Her tone changed as she remembered the lesson from yesterday. "But Peter has not lost yet. I think it might still have a chance. The next move it makes will be an extremely crucial one! Let's see how it's going to respond!"

The clock was ticking.

Zhang Ye still had plenty of time on the clock, while Peter had already used up much of its allocated time. In this "war between humans and machines," the game rules followed the Chinese rules 1 of Go, with a compensation of 7.5 points being used. Each player would be given two hours of game time, as well as three 60-second blocks, with any player automatically given a loss if they exceeded the time limit 2 . Zhang Ye had used just over 30 minutes in total for his thinking time, while Peter had already used up one hour and twenty minutes.

Zhang Ye astutely realized that Peter had yet another weakness. It had an advantage in data processing and analytical power as a computer, and it did those at a meticulous level that humans would never be able to achieve. But when it was faced with a complex board state, this became a burden on the artificial intelligence. The precision of the program seemingly did not allow it to commit any errors, so a slightly more complex board state would immediately cause it to enter into a long state of processing. This state had happened several times, and Peter would only make its move after having considered all possible scenarios. Of course, the American developer of Peter would have set some rules for Peter's time allocation function. But even so, between itself committing errors and the choice of time usage, the artificial intelligence would never be able to have the same determination and judgment as a human player!

Finally, Peter made its move!

On the computer screen, Peter's stone was played!

Chen Ying said loudly, "Oh, Peter has played its move! This is a very profound choice! The position that it played on is actually right within the 'net' that Professor Zhang has cast!"

Zhang Ye took a look and responded with a move of his own.

This time, Peter did not hesitate—horizontal stretch!

Zhang Ye forcefully attacked.

Peter bumped.

Zhang Ye smiled. That was a good one, that was a really good one!

It was well worth it to use that long period to think through all the variations, even though it paid for it with time. It looked like Peter has seen some of the mysteries behind Zhang Ye's Cosmic Style. As the opening sequence was not played in the Cosmic Style, this had become the weak point in Zhang Ye's "net". And it was precisely here that Peter came attacking, with the fight imminent the moment it made that move. Peter had successfully forced Zhang Ye into a direct confrontation. He could no longer peacefully build up his frameworks!

Zhang Ye responded with a move.

Peter played a pincer 3 move.

Zhang Ye played an approach.

Peter forced an atari.

Zhang Ye thought for a bit and decided to let go of the black stone.

Peter captured it.

With that, the board state immediately changed!

Yu Yingyi exclaimed, "This is bad! His stone has been captured!"

Chen Ying also said, "That's not good. The board state seems rather bad now. With that black stone captured, the entire framework has been messed up. If Peter wins the battle on this side, the entire corner will be surrounded. If it chooses to use that as a base to attack down the middle, even with the two sides that Professor Zhang has, it'll be very difficult to predict who wins. Professor Zhang was the first to move, so he has to deduct 7.5 points for the compensation. It's really difficult to say how the board state will swing!"

The board state developed tension yet again!

Peter used its powerful analytical functions to fight its way out!

The Americans were all applauding this internally. As expected, they knew that Peter would not lose!

Alright!

Well done!

Finish him!

Don't give him any more chances!

Attack him down the middle!

Zhang Ye blocked!

Peter continued pushing in!

Zhang Ye played a counter pincer 4 !

Peter approached on the right side!

The people in the spectator room felt discouraged and downhearted!

They felt like they were falling from Heaven to Hell!

Hu Liang cried out, "The corner has been taken by Peter!

Xu Han said in disbelief, "The framework in the middle has been invaded too! It's over, this time it's really over!"

"Professor Zhang should never have allowed that black stone to be captured!" a professional 5-dan Go player shouted.

But Li Yi 9-dan said, "He had to allow it! He had no choice!"

Liu Hong 9-dan facepalmed and expressed in frustration, "Professor Zhang's structure has been broken through!"

On the two sides at the bottom of the board, Peter's stones were actually not dead yet. Zhang Ye's stones hadn't fully surrounded the white stones and only held a large influence over the area by spreading out across the board. But if play went on like this, once Zhang Ye lost to Peter at the top of the board, the center would be broken through as well! Then territory at the bottom would, as a result, have its influence stripped away. This was what was often called a "domino effect" in Go. Right now, Zhang Ye was faced with a very dangerous board state!

The netizens were getting anxious.

"Are we going to lose?"

"We were still unable to do it after all?"

"Dammit!"

"The structure has been broken!"

"Teacher Zhang, you must do something!"

"Hold on!"

"Keep holding on, Teacher Zhang! You must not cave in!"

Although it was only the middlegame, victory would be decided within these few moves!

Zhang Ye suddenly fell silent.

In the spectator room.

A lot of the pro players started giving advice even though Zhang Ye could not hear them!

A pro 7th dan player said, "Cut off White's 67th move!"

Hu Liang replied, "That won't work! He would be forced to his death over there!"

Xu Han shouted, "There's still the center left to play for!"

Li Yi said, "There's nothing there! The group's effectively dead!"

Liu Hong clenched his teeth and said, 'Little Zhang has no other options left!"

Wu Changhe glared at the screen. He had no ideas left either!

"Little Xiang!" Dan Donghe said anxiously.

But Xiang Rong 9-dan did not say a word.

Dan Donghe knew from this nonresponse that it was bad!

Zhang Ye no longer had the initiative!

Peter had managed to make a desperate reversal!

What could they do?

Just what could they do?

Were they really unable to win?

Was humanity really going to fall to the artificial intelligence?

The Americans showed smiles. They knew they were going to win! They were going to win this game for sure! No matter where Zhang Ye played, the center would be broken through within ten moves. At that time, Zhang Ye would definitely not be able to turn things around!

Chen Ying was explaining the board state to the viewers. "If Professor Zhang attacks, this area will have to be given up. If…" After explaining eight or so different scenarios that Zhang Ye could take against the opponent, Chen Ying paled. She now realized that no matter where Zhang Ye played, there would be no way of turning things around!

There was no way!

Truly no way!

Watching TV.

His mother roared, "What are you doing, son! Weren't you about to win?"

His father said with a dark expression, "Things have reversed!"

Some Go players turned off their televisions.

"Dad, why did you switch it off?"

"I'm not watching anymore."

"But why! It's the critical moment!"

"Zhang Ye can't win."

With the board state as it was, no one believed that Zhang Ye could make a comeback!

Even the gods would be powerless in this situation!

The atmosphere was depressing!

Through their TVs, countless people were watching Zhang Ye, who had fallen silent!

But all of a sudden, everyone was baffled when they saw a smile break out on Zhang Ye's face!

Smiling?

What are you smiling about?

Chen Ying was taken aback!

The Americans were startled!

Wu Changhe, Dan Donghe, and the others were also dumbfounded!

No one knew why Zhang Ye could break into a smile at such a time!

Following, everyone saw Zhang Ye pick up a black stone from the Go bowl.

Chen Ying said, "Professor Zhang is going to place his stone!"

Everyone was staring fixedly at him!

Everyone was holding their breath!

Zhang Ye was still smiling. He felt that this was really too terrible of a coincidence. He almost could not contain his joy! The position in the corner looked exceedingly familiar. So while he looked like he had fallen silent just now, Zhang Ye had actually taken a Memory Search Capsule secretly to search through his memory for the Go game records that he had read in his previous world. There was almost no such thing as an identical Go game in the world. This was because there were too many possible games 5 that could exist. But there could be similarities in parts of a formation in a game!

Like this losing position!

Even Zhang Ye could see that he was losing. He did not think that he could turn things around. PeterGo was really too strong!

But right at this moment, a game record suddenly surfaced in his mind. It was from a game Gu Li 6 played at the peak of his career. Zhang Ye felt that he had seen the formation in the corner of the Go board somewhere before. Now that he had a detailed look at the game record, it was not just familiar looking anymore!

It turned out to be almost the exact same thing!

At the time the game was played, Gu Li was playing as Black too!

Gu Li had been forced into this same unplayable corner as well!

It was the same board state!

It was the same choice!

Then, peak Gu Li placed a stone on the Go board. It was this stone that shocked countless people, and it was this stone that everyone hailed as the most magnificent move 7 !

Zhang Ye picked up a black stone and gently raised his hand before placing it at that position!

Chen Ying exclaimed, "He has played his stone! Professor Zhang has played his stone! Over here…eh, why did he play it there? If he played it here, then should Peter attack it, it would…"

After this move was played, everyone was puzzled!

No one had expected that Zhang Ye would play it there, that he would put it at such an improper position. In this short time, no one could see what Zhang Ye's intent was!

Chen Ying said in disappointment, "It's over. This move definitely cannot be called a good one. Professor Zhang has probably been forced into a corner and has no way to fight back…" But all of a sudden, Chen Ying was dumbfounded. She seemed to have realized something, so she took another look at the board.

With that examination, Chen Ying froze up!

She was so surprised she nearly leaped out of her seat. "This! This! Oh my God!"

Yu Yingyi said with a stunned voice, "What's going on?"

Chen Ying got so excited that she almost went crazy!

"A magnificent move!

"Professor Zhang has actually played a magnificent move!

"No! It's not a magnificent move!

"This is…this is the Hand of God!"

1. https/senseis./?ChineseRules

2. https/senseis./?Byoyomi https/en./wiki/Go_(board_game)#Time_control

3. 夹/Jiā/hasami tsuke - In a corner opening, in response to the approach move of W1, B2 or a nearby move is a pincer, because it "pincers" the approaching stone from the other side (the Japanese term ハサミ hasami means "scissors"). https/senseis./?Pincer

4. 反夹/Fǎn jiā/hasami kaeshi https/senseis./?CounterPincer

5. https/senseis./?NumberOfPossibleGoGames

6. https/senseis./?GuLi

7. 妙手 https/senseis./?ExcellentMove

Chapter 1135: Victory!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

It was too sudden!

Zhang Ye's move came like a bolt from the blue!

Just when everyone thought that Zhang Ye was at his wits' end and had lost the match, he suddenly placed his stone on the board. And then, countless people in front of their televisions saw Chen Ying jump to her feet and heard her scream!

Hand of God?

What Hand of God?

Everyone was shocked silly!

Did you get it wrong?

Hasn't it already ended?

Didn't Zhang Ye lose?

The viewers were confused, and even those who truly understood Go did not get what they were looking at immediately. They were nowhere near as skilled!

But the professional Go players were making an uproar!

Hu Liang said in a daze, "What?"

Xu Han said, "I-Is this a possible move?"

Everyone stared fixedly at the screen in utter disbelief at what they were seeing!

All of a sudden, Wu Changhe roared, "It's possible!"

Dan Donghe also cried out, "It's really possible! It's really possible!"

Heavens!

The Hand of God!

Fuck, this was truly the Hand of God!

After a moment's shock, screams suddenly sounded from the spectator room!

"Ahhh!"

"Heavens!"

"Holy shit!"

"Professor Zhang has…"

"Is he on steroids or something?!"

"Holy motherfucking hell!"

"Good! Alright! Alright! Alright! Great!"

"My God! What have I seen?"

"This is a fucking earthshakingly magnificent move!"

Everyone went crazy!

It really felt like they had gone crazy!

Afterwards, many of them looked to Xiang Rong!

"Master Xiang!"

"Master Xiang, this game…"

Xiang Rong 9-dan finally spoke. No one noticed that he had clenched his fists so tightly that his nails were cutting into the flesh. "Professor Zhang…is about to turn things around!"

A female player's eyes abruptly reddened!

A few other players were also brimming with tears. Faced with this magnificent move, they were no longer able to control their emotions!

Li Qinqin said in a stunned tone, "Changhe!"

Wu Changhe grabbed his wife's hand excitedly and said, "We are…going to win!"

The Americans were dumbfounded!

How could there be a move like this?

How could there still be a chance of survival for Zhang Ye?

…

Beijing Television.

The Go commentator shouted, "Unbelievable! This is simply unbelievable!"

…

The Online Go Server.

The commentator exclaimed, "It's the Hand of God! Professor Zhang has broken out! He could play the Hand of God in such a hopeless situation! It's such a beautiful move! It's so elegant! Friends! Please remember this moment! Please be sure to remember this moment! This game will enter the annals of Go! This will be the greatest game of Go this year! This will be the greatest game in the entire history of Go! Thousands of years later, people will probably have forgotten Xiang Rong's and Shinji 9-dan's name, but they will never forget about Zhang Ye's Hand of God that saved the Go world! History will remember it! This will be the greatest victory for humanity!"

…

In Korea.

The official commentator screamed until his voice cracked!

"It's possible!"

"It's been confirmed as a possible move!"

"The Chinese have played the Hand of God!"

"Incredible! Unbelievable!"

…

In Japan.

"The corner position has been brought back to life!"

"Even though it clearly looked like a deadlock, the Chinese have brought it back to life!"

"The corner territory has made a comeback! Even the center has been brought back to life!"

"That Chinese player is amazing!"

"Peter is done for!"

"He really is the smartest person in the world! How did he think of such a move!"

…

With some of the commentators' analysis and shocked expressions of the hosts, everyone gradually realized the beauty of Zhang Ye's play. It could even be called a stroke of genius! He had barged his way out of a deadlock! A lot of people got the goosebumps from watching!

Watching TV.

His parents stood up!

Chen Guang and Fan Wenli stood up!

Yao Jiancai and Yao Mi stood up!

A lot of people couldn't help themselves and stood up from their chairs and sofas!

Chen Ying 7-dan was giving rousing commentary. "Just how will it end! Just how will Peter handle this move! Faced with Professor Zhang's Hand of God that came out of the blue, what can Peter do? Can it turn things around like it did earlier? Can it maintain its unbeaten record?"

Everything went quiet!

Everyone fell silent!

It was all quiet online!

The people watching in front of their televisions also went quiet!

Everyone was waiting for the outcome!

The Americans still believed that Peter would not lose even though Zhang Ye's Hand of God had shocked them! The American representative was screaming loudly in his head, Go on! Finish him! You have to have something! You're a computer! You're the most advanced AI in the world!

However, they could not see the internal processing going on inside Peter right now!

Peter was stunned!

It was stunned yet again by Zhang Ye's move!

Knight's move: Win%, unknown.

Horizontal stretch: Win%, 2%.

Cut: Win%, 6%.

Five minutes!

Peter was silent for a full five minutes!

Zhang Ye was looking at the screen with a smile on his face.

Suddenly, a notification popped up on the screen!

" Peter has resigned from the game 1 ."

The Americans blanched!

Everyone else erupted when they saw this!

Yu Yingyi yelled, "He has won! Peter has resigned!"

Chen Ying 7-dan's tears were almost falling as she shouted, "Faced with Professor Zhang's Hand of God! Peter had no way to turn the tables! We've won! We've won!"

Hu Liang threw the things in his hands into the air and screamed, "We've won!"

Xu Han was so emotional that he could not say anything. He pointed at the screen with trembling lips!

It hadn't been easy!

It really hadn't been easy!

Shinji 9-dan had lost!

Park Yuhee had lost!

Xiang Rong had lost as well!

This was the final battle of the war between humans and machines and the final stand of humanity at the edge of a cliff. No one had expected that Professor Zhang would actually even the score after losing the first game, forcing Peter to resign in the middlegame! Professor Zhang had turned things around in a game that no one was optimistic about!

An unexpected opening!

An inconceivable way of playing!

Coupled with the final strike that was the Hand of God!

It was wonderful!

He had won beautifully!

The international referees were also shocked at the sight. The Hand of God that was just played made the two of them break out in a cold sweat. They came forward to confirm the results after assessing the board state.

The game had finished!

In the second game of the final battle between humans and machines: Zhang Ye won!

The score was 1-1!

Everyone dispersed from the venue.

Zhang Ye smiled as he stood up and left.

The American representative yelled with a dark look, "Change the flight date!"

His assistant softly replied, "OK."

They had booked their flight for tonight. But now it was obvious that they had to change their flight date!

Zhang Ye left the game room before he raised his arms and stretched. Then he discovered that a lot of people were rushing out from the spectator room across the way!

Wu Changhe!

Hu Liang!

Xu Han!

Dan Donghe!

Everyone came running out!

"Professor Zhang!"

"Professor Zhang, well done!"

"You're the best!"

"Beautifully done, Professor Zhang!"

"Thank you! Thank you!"

"We've won! We've really won!"

Some were laughing loudly!

Some were clapping with all their heart!

Some were shouting Zhang Ye's name!

Some were even laughing and crying at the same time!

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Chapter 1136: The press conference!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

At home.

His father shouted, "He won!"

His mother exclaimed, "Little Ye won the game!"

There was a knock at the door. When his mother went to answer it, over 20 neighbors came rushing into the house. Every one of them looked even more excited than Zhang Ye's parents!

"Congratulations!"

"Old Zhang, Old Cao, the two of you have brought up a good son!"

"Little Ye won so beautifully!"

"I don't even know what to say! I was sweating just watching it!"

"It was so thrilling! And wonderful!"

"Little Ye has done everyone proud!"

"I knew he could do it!"

"Who asked the Americans to look down on Little Ye! Who asked them to look down on humans! Hahaha! They have encountered a god this time! Those idiots!"

"How face smacking!"

"Ahahaha!"

"I can already feel the pain on those idiots' faces!"

…

At the Rao household.

Chenchen yelled, "Zhang Ye won! He's stolen the thunder again!"

Rao Aimin pursed her lips and said, "That kid has got some dogshit luck!"

"What do you mean by dogshit luck?" Yang Shu did not like hearing that at all. "My senior bro has really got Go skills!"

Rao Aimin grimaced. "He's always doing things unconventionally. Why won't he just stay at home and be good? Why did he have to go off to the Go world and steal their thunder? Do you know who has to handle the reporters when they come looking for him?"

…

At the SARFT.

In Old Wu's office.

Wu Zeqing smiled as she picked up the phone and called Secretary Bai. "Hello, it's me. Let the relevant offices know to give an additional push for the positive promotion of today's war between humans and machines."

Then, she called her mother.

The call connected.

It sounded very chaotic over there with all the screaming and shouting.

"Mom, how are things?"

"Little Zhang is wonderful! He's brilliant!"

"Has my dad's impression of him changed for the better?"

"Hur hur, your dad is so excited that he can't even say a thing. You just didn't see it. But when Peter lost, your dad was shouting the loudest…Hey, why are you grabbing at my phone?"

Wu Changhe's voice came through. "My daughter, don't listen to your mom's nonsense. It's just a draw with the score tied at one to one. That kid hasn't won yet!"

Wu Zeqing laughed and said: "Sure. After he wins tomorrow's game, I'll officially bring him back home as my boyfriend for a meal?"

Wu Changhe said: "We'll talk about it again if he really wins."

…

On TV.

The live broadcast was still going on!

Quite a few experts were analyzing the game that had just been played. "Professor Zhang played with the spirit of humanity today. From the first stone that he played in the opening, he was leading Peter by the nose. The brand new and highly creative playstyle at the end even stumped Peter greatly. This is the biggest difference between humans and computers, and also the biggest reason why Professor Zhang could defeat it. This is because humans can get extremely creative under pressure, while machines can only passively learn their craft! Today is a memorable day because Professor Zhang gave a valuable lesson to the Americans, as well as the AI that was claimed to be smarter than humans!"

At another television station.

The commentator said, "Let's take another look at the final move, by Professor Zhang. It was really the work of a genius and so beautiful that no words can describe it! We're all clueless as to how Professor Zhang could have thought of a move like that at that moment. But this stone that descended from the Heavens has saved the Go world! Without a doubt, this is clearly the most valuable of moves in the history of Go! This is truly deserving of being called the Hand of God!

"Ah, the press conference has started, so let's switch to that. It looks like Professor Zhang has made an exception and accepted today's postgame interview!"

...

At China Qiyuan.

The venue of the press conference.

The American representative sat on stage as usual. Zhang Ye and several people from China Qiyuan were seated beside him.

The reporters lifted their cameras and microphones as they asked questions to the American representative.

"May we know the reason for Peter's loss today?"

"Didn't you all say that your company's AI wouldn't lose to humans?"

"Are you all still confident about tomorrow's game?"

The American representative answered all of their questions in a single breath. No one knew if he was putting on a front since he had looked very sullen in the game room. But right now, he had a very calm expression as he said, "We took an unexpected loss today. Perhaps it was because we did not tune the AI properly and that there were some bugs in the programming. As for the actual reason, we'll go back and check thoroughly. We'll definitely get it fixed before tomorrow's game. Peter will not lose to humans in Go, and I still stand by my word. About tomorrow's game, we're very confident that Peter will definitely win after it has been tuned and configured properly."

A female reporter from Beijing Television asked, "In your previous interview, you mentioned that your plane tickets were booked for tonight's flight. I wonder if—"

The American representative's assistant said with a dark look, "We've already changed our flight and will give our best for tomorrow's game."

A reporter from a newspaper firm asked, "May we know your evaluation of Professor Zhang?"

The American representative glanced at Zhang Ye and said, "We do admit that there are indeed some geniuses in this world, but I still think the same as before. It will be the era of artificial intelligence from now on!"

After dragging things out for a long time, they refused to admit to their defeat!

In the end, the reporters no longer wanted to ask him any more questions. They directed all their attention to Zhang Ye.

The reporter from Beijing Times smiled and asked, "Professor Zhang, didn't you say that you wouldn't accept any interviews after yesterday's game?"

Zhang Ye got closer to the microphone and said, "That's right."

"Then why are you here today?" asked the reporter from the Beijing Times.

Zhang Ye candidly replied, "Because I won today!"

The reporters burst out laughing!

Then, quite a few people started applauding!

Zhang Ye was indeed Zhang Ye. He would never beat around the bush whenever he spoke. If he lost, he would not accept any interviews. But since he had won, of course he would make an appearance and show off a little. Wasn't this normal?

Dan Donghe smiled and felt that Zhang Ye was becoming more and more pleasing to the eye!

A female reporter asked, "How do you feel after coming out on top in today's game?"

Zhang Ye chuckled, "I feel great!"

Everyone laughed again.

The Americans wore solemn looks.

Yu Yingyi came forward and asked, "Professor Zhang, do you have anything you would like to say?"

Zhang Ye smiled and answered, "I would like to say this: The most advanced AI in history? That was all it could do!"

These were the words that the American representative had said in yesterday's press conference. Zhang Ye returned the favor!

The reporters applauded!

"Nice!"

"Well said!"

As they were all humans, they would naturally take Zhang Ye's side. Moreover, the Americans were far too arrogant and disrespectful in recent days, disgusting everyone with their behavior. However, Peter had won every one of its games, even defeating Xiang Rong 9-dan, the number one in Go. So there was really nothing they could argue about. It wasn't until today when Zhang Ye evened the score that a lot of the reporters could finally release all their pent-up anger!

Sure enough, Face-smacking Zhang was the better player between the two of them!

Although this fellow was usually annoying, had a sharp tongue, and offended many people, he had never been soft or disappointed anyone when it mattered most!

Zhang Ye had many foes, and some people present had once been offended by him. A lot of people felt that he was too difficult to handle as he always stirred up trouble and often smacked people's faces. More importantly, no one had yet to teach him a lesson. This fellow was just too fearsome and notorious a troublemaker in the country. But today, as everyone united with Zhang Ye, they suddenly realized that Face-smacking Zhang was a very reliable guy. Seeing how he was face-smacking the Americans and the artificial intelligence, the satisfaction they got felt amazingly good!

Online.

Fan Wenli posted on Weibo: "Congratulations to Director Zhang for taking this game!"

Xiaodong: "How exhilarating! That was so exhilarating!"

Yao Jiancai: "Zhang'er, you're blasting out of the universe!"

Li Xiaoxian: "Wishing Teacher Zhang success in taking the next game as well!"

Zhang Xia: "By winning today's game, Little Zhang has finally saved face for humanity. I hope that everyone can criticize him less from now on. It hasn't been easy for Little Zhang either, hur hur."

The press conference ended.

Awhile later, Zhang Ye walked out of the Qiyuan.

However, there were huge crowds of people who had surrounded the entire main entrance!

Hundreds of people!

No, it was thousands of people!

A dense crowd of people were holding up banners and chanting Zhang Ye's name!

"Zhang Ye!"

"Zhang Ye!"

"Zhang Ye!"

"Zhang Ye!"

The crowd was very excited!

Everyone felt impassioned!

Chapter 1137: New tactics?

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Noon.

Zhang Ye returned home for lunch.

Downstairs of his family's apartment, he saw his old neighbors lining the streets to welcome him. An old uncle in the neighborhood even brought out two strings of firecrackers that were meant to be used for his child's wedding tomorrow. The moment Zhang Ye arrived, the crackling of the firecrackers made him feel rather touched.

"Little Ye, well done!"

"Show the Americans how great you are!"

"Thrash that PeterGo!"

"We'll cheer you all the way!"

"You have to win tomorrow's game too!"

At home.

When he entered the house, the aroma of cooked food attacked his nose.

He looked at the dishes on the table and exclaimed, "This much food?"

His father said excitedly, "Son! Eat! Eat your fill, you still have a lot to do tomorrow!"

"Mom wants to reward you, so sit down quickly and have something to eat." His mother was grinning from ear to ear.

Zhang Ye said, "Thanks."

His mother turned on the television with a smile. The news reports were all about her son.

The news of Zhang Ye's victory over the artificial intelligence had spread throughout the country. Even in Asia, a lot of the Japanese and Korean Go players who paid attention to the developments of the event were shocked by what had happened. No one had expected that someone could still represent the Go world as its flag bearer and battle against Peter after the losses suffered by Shinji, Park Yuhee, and Xiang Rong. Most importantly, the person was not even a professional Go player or a member of the Go world, but a celebrity from the entertainment industry? In any case, this victory was so timely that it had given an invaluable boost to the Go world!

Everyone was looking forward to tomorrow's game with much anticipation!

Tomorrow would be the final game of the match between Zhang Ye and Peter, and someone had created a poll to vote for the winner on Weibo!

8%!

20%!

40%!

Those who voted that Zhang Ye would win kept increasing!

Of course, there were also quite a few people who felt that Peter would win!

"Zhang Ye will prevail!"

"Face-smacking Zhang is almighty!"

"That might not be the case."

"Why?"

"Zhang Ye got lucky winning today's game. If not for the Hand of God at the end that suddenly turned things around, he would've lost for sure. He can't possibly guarantee that he'll be in today's top shape for every game. Besides, Peter has already figured out a solution to deal with the playstyle that Zhang Ye calls the 'Cosmic Style.' After inputting it into the program, if Zhang Ye uses that style again tomorrow, he might not even be able to play his opening since they'll already be prepared for it!"

"Yeah, Zhang Ye only won today because he took Peter by surprise with his odd play. We don't know what could happen tomorrow, hai."

"Then what can be done about it?"

"Unless Zhang Ye can come up with another new playstyle tomorrow!"

"New playstyle?"

"How can it be that easy?!"

"That's right, the Cosmic Style and that entirely new opening are amazing enough. It probably took Zhang Ye quite a while to think of them, so how could he come up with so many new styles! And isn't everyone overestimating Teacher Zhang a little too much? Did you guys forget something? Teacher Zhang isn't a pro Go player!"

"Uh…"

"That's true!"

A lot of people started worrying. When they realized this, everyone lost some of their excitement. Although they had won today, the score was still tied at 1-1. If they lost again tomorrow, everything would have been in vain. No one knew if Zhang Ye had any plans left for tomorrow. If there were none, then wouldn't he lose miserably just like he had in the first game?

…

After lunch.

The phone rang. It was a call from the landline of Wu Zeqing's parents' home.

Zhang Ye answered: "Hello?"

Wu Changhe's voice came through. "Do you need any more game records and information? If you need them, I'll get someone to send them to your place."

Zhang Ye said with a laugh: "There's no need for that, Uncle. I saw enough yesterday."

Wu Changhe said in a lukewarm tone: "Do you need anything else then? Quickly bring it up to me if there's anything."

Zhang Ye said: "Thanks, Uncle. Uh, I don't need anything for the time being."

"Aren't you going to prepare for tomorrow's game?"

"I am."

"What do you think your chances of winning are?"

"No idea."

"Heh, are you sure you'll manage?"

"I really don't know, but I'll definitely give my best anyway."

"It wouldn't do if you did not give your best. Remember what I said regarding my daughter, understand? If you lose tomorrow, don't ever think about stepping into our house again! Hmph!"

"Damn, are you burning bridges already? Didn't you just put your arm around my shoulders and praise me this morning!"

"Did I?"

"Yes! You did!"

"Stop messing with me. In any case, I'm telling you that you better give your very best for tomorrow's game! Thrash that machine! Send it to its death!"

"Yes, sir."

After hanging up, Zhang Ye smiled. He no longer disliked Wu Changhe and felt that this old comrade was actually quite lovable. At least he cared a lot about Go and the Go world. Perhaps this was a passion that grew from deep down inside. Zhang Ye could sense that even though Wu Changhe and Dan Donghe's generation had retired, and their Go skills no longer compared to any of the active top pro players, who could easily defeat them, the sentiments they held for Go were still as strong as before. In fact, it had even become stronger. Zhang Ye could never understand this sort of feeling because he did not really like Go that much. But this did not stop Zhang Ye from stepping forward for them.

Uncle, don't worry!

I will help you to protect the dignity of the Go world that you want to safeguard!

I will help you to regain the honor that the Go world has lost!

Not for anything, but only because…if I lose, you won't let Old Wu to marry me!

…

After informing his parents, Zhang Ye went back to his room. He naturally would not waste any of the time he had today. In fact, he was already running out of time!

Zhang Ye made a hasty last-minute effort yesterday as he practically went through most of the games in this world and memorized them. He was not learning from them, but rather eliminating possibilities. All of that was just to find out what kind of data Peter was missing in its dataset. But today, Zhang Ye needed to organize from the beginning some of the best plays 1 , magnificent moves, Hand of God moves, and complex josekis that he had seen before from the games between the Go Masters of his previous world. Thankfully, even though Zhang Ye was not very interested in Go back then, he had been forced to go through a lot of game records by his teacher. He also watched quite a few games played in tournaments on television, so the information he had was still enormous!

Come, let's do this!

He bought a lot of Memory Search Capsules in one go!

Then Zhang Ye closed his eyes and fell into a long "sleep."

Zhang Ye already had a rough plan in place for the morrow's game. It was obvious that he could no longer use the Apollo Opening or the Cosmic Style. The Americans were not stupid and would obviously input that information into the AI. Furthermore, he heard that Peter also had the ability to learn and would reinforce its knowledge through the games that it played. Therefore, Zhang Ye needed to find some new entry points to play against Peter in the third game. Fortunately, he had discovered a few new weaknesses in Peter during today's game. For example, he could make something out of the error tolerance levels of the AI itself. But he wouldn't know how effective it would be, since this was something that he could only find out after he tested it against Peter tomorrow.

An hour.

Two hours.

Three hours.

The discussions in the public were reaching an intense level!

News of the game was also appearing all over the place!

But Zhang Ye was oblivious to all of it as he immersed himself in the sea of Go!

1. A 手筋/shŏujīn/tesuji is a clever play, the best play in a local position, a skillful move, a special tactic. Tesujis come in all forms and shapes, some are more known than others.

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Chapter 1138: Zhang Ye plays the first of the three most complex josekis!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

In the morning.

The final game of the battle was looming. It was the third and deciding game of the match between Zhang Ye and Peter. There was still an hour to go before the game would begin. Countless Go players were watching TV, and even many of those who did not know how to play the game were also watching the live broadcast nervously.

However, everyone who was waiting received some bad news first.

In the pregame interview, the Americans suddenly made an announcement.

The American representative faced the camera and said with a smile, "After an entire night of tuning by our technical team, the related bug has been fixed. Furthermore, I have some news that I can reveal to everyone. Our AI has received another round of upgrades, or rather, Peter has always had this function built into it. But due to certain considerations that we had, we did not activate the 'complex operations' mode. After yesterday's game, we admit that we probably did underestimate Professor Zhang. But it won't happen again today as we have configured Peter with a brand-new approach to the game. That Hand of God move from yesterday also won't be unpredictable to Peter. To put it simply, Peter's calculations, analysis, and prediction functions have been raised by around 15% with this new mode activated!"

A reporter asked in surprise, "What are Peter's chances of winning today?"

The American representative said, "We have done some test comparisons of the current version of Peter with its previous one and found that the upgraded Peter has a winning rate of 99.99%!"

Everyone burst into an uproar!

"Upgrade?"

"What?"

"What the fuck, it can still be upgraded?"

"And its level was raised by this much?"

"All this just to deal with Zhang Ye?"

"That's so evil! Why didn't they make this announcement yesterday? They're only saying this just as the game is about to start? Are they trying to catch Professor Zhang off guard?"

"Is this for real?"

"Then won't we lose for sure?"

"Yeah, Zhang Ye only won that game yesterday with some luck!"

The Internet was abuzz!

The Qiyuan's people were panicking as well!

Immediately, the news reports on TV were filled with talk of Peter's upgrade!

At China Qiyuan.

Dan Donghe, Wu Changhe, and the others went looking for Zhang Ye!

Hu Liang said anxiously, "Professor Zhang, have you seen the news?"

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "I did."

Dan Donghe said with a sunken expression, "About the upgrade, what do they exactly mean by that?"

They were not in this field, so they did not understand how it worked.

"To put it plainly, they've just delimited a part of Peter's functionality." Zhang Ye explained to them, "It's just like a computer, where the performance of a processor is usually not pushed to the extreme. The designers will deliberately limit its functionality to ensure that it can last longer while maintaining a reasonable performance. To surpass that limit, they can choose to overclock it, which is what the Americans are doing right now. Although it is much more complicated for an AI to be 'overclocked,' the principle is essentially the same."

Wu Changhe asked in annoyance, "Would its performance really be raised by 15%?"

"Probably so, but who knows if it's the truth or not since it's the Americans talking." Zhang Ye shrugged and continued, "They might be trying to scare me, but it could easily be true."

Scare you?

How could that be possible!

No one believed this to be the reason as they understood things. Even if the Americans were not familiar with you, they would surely have researched you online, no? Did you think that they wouldn't go around to find out about you? They could've easily pulled anyone in the whole of China aside and still managed to find out that you, Teacher Zhang, have never been afraid of anything! Piloting a plane, beating up an executive, scolding the SARFT, which of those affairs did not involve you?

Li Yi 9-dan said loudly, "We have to treat it as a serious claim!"

"Yeah!" Chen Ying came over. "We can't underestimate our opponent, Professor Zhang!"

Wu Changhe tugged at him. "If it's really as the Americans claim, and that P-whatever thingy's performance was indeed raised by 15%, then how sure are you of beating it?"

Zhang Ye laughed. "I'll find out when I play it."

Xu Han didn't know how to react. "Aren't you being too carefree!"

Hu Liang said, "Yeah, Professor Zhang. You have to at least give me some assurance!"

Zhang Ye spread his hands up and said, "It's not that I don't want to commit to an answer. The issue is that I don't even which area of Peter's functionality has been 'overclocked.' Did they increase its analysis speed? Or did they increase the analysis power? Without playing against it, how am I supposed to answer you? So let me play against it first."

Liu Hong 9-dan said nervously, "You can do it!"

"Yeah, you can do it!"

"Professor Zhang, show us the elegance you displayed yesterday!"

"The honor of the Go world is in your hands!"

Everyone was shouting encouragement to him.

Only Wu Changhe knew what was really going on. What honor of the Go world? What dignity of humanity? All of that is just bullshit. This rascal is only doing this for my daughter. So Wu Changhe looked at Zhang Ye and said, "Kid, if you win this game, I'll organize a celebratory feast for you at my house tonight!"

At that, Zhang Ye became more spirited. "Alright."

Li Qinqin had a better way with words. "Even if you lose, you can come over."

Zhang Ye was just about to say OK.

But Wu Changhe grunted, "What's the point of coming over if he loses!"

Dan Donghe did not know of the deal between Zhang Ye and the Wu family, so he said in a speechless manner, "Brother Wu, why are you such a snob? You won't even treat him? If you're not treating, then I'll do it!" He turned to Zhang Ye and said, "Professor Zhang, no matter what the result is, I'll hold a feast for you tonight. Don't bother with going over to his place!"

Zhang Ye smiled but did not say anything.

Wu Changhe rolled his eyes. Don't go to my place and go to yours? You'd need to have a daughter as pretty as mine first!

It was almost time.

Chen Ying had already headed into the commentary booth.

Zhang Ye exhaled and stepped forward to graciously enter the battle. He had rejected the pregame interview today, so he only entered the game room after the media had left. He knew that there was no point in making any extravagant claims for this game. They'd have to decide things with their actions to determine who would win and lose!

The referees were standing by.

The Americans watched as Zhang Ye entered the room and showed a hint of fear at his arrival. Admittedly, they had been boasting a little about Peter in the interview. All they said about Peter's upgrade or his chances of victory were just empty talk for now. When faced with the only person that had won against Peter, they had to be very careful. He was the reason why they had made an exception and taken the risk to upgrade Peter. That was also their affirmation for the smartest person in the world! They no longer had that unshakable confidence from before and were afraid that Peter would lose again!

Zhang Ye sat down again today in front of the computer as he took control of the mouse.

The broadcast cut to the live commentary coverage.

Yu Yingyi was dressed fully in red today, with a very joyous and celebratory feel. It was as though she was openly making known her hopes of humanity winning today's game.

Yu Yingyi had become very popular recently due to this important event in the world of Go. The originally niche strategy board game TV show had started to gain a following from all over Asia. This went on until China Qiyuan announced that Zhang Ye would be representing humanity to challenge the AI, which caused the show to blow up even more. Even Yu Yingyi, who was just a sports host, had her value rise along with the attention gained. A lot of people had only gotten to know her through this war between humans and machines. Then they also found out that she was an old classmate of Zhang Ye's from college. With Zhang Ye being so popular and famous these days, everyone in the entire country know him. Perhaps it was just a case of "love me, love my dog," but Zhang Ye's fans were very supportive of Yu Yingyi. With that, her career officially went on the rise as well!

Yu Yingyi smiled. "Hello, everyone."

Chen Ying looked perturbed as she forced a smile and said, "Hello, everyone."

Yu Yingyi said, "In another five minutes, the third game of the war between humans and machines will begin. Yesterday's game was wonderful to watch. That Hand of God is probably still replaying in many of our minds, and a lot of people are pinning their hopes on Professor Zhang's performance today. But before the game was scheduled to begin, we received news that Peter received an upgrade to its functionality. The Americans claim that Peter's functionality has been raised to the max that will allow its thought process to work in a more encompassing way?"

Chen Ying took over and said, "Yes, and that's one of the highlights of today's game. Earlier, in the waiting room, I asked Professor Zhang what this upgrade really meant. Professor Zhang used the term 'overclocking' to describe it to me." She made a simple explanation before going on to say, "As for how much Peter has improved as a result of its upgrade, we do not know yet. We can only analyze it slowly as the game progresses. Then, for the second highlight of this game, it'll be whether Professor Zhang is going to come up with yet another new playstyle. In yesterday's game, Professor Zhang surprised everyone by playing the self-named 'Apollo Opening' and the 'Cosmic Style' to achieve an effective result. It fired up those of us watching. I wonder if Professor Zhang can reproduce that blitzing form again today!"

Three.

Two.

One.

The international referee gestured.

Yu Yingyi said loudly, "We can see now that the game has started. Peter is playing Black today and will go first."

Chen Ying said in worry, "Professor Zhang is playing as White and going second. In the opening, there's a chance that he might be pulled into Peter's rhythm, so it will be very difficult to play in the manner he did yesterday."

Yu Yingyi stared at the screen and said, "Peter made a move very quickly."

Zhang Ye responded very quickly as well.

After four moves, an opening had formed on the board.

Chen Ying explained, "Peter is playing very steadily. This is one of the conventional openings for Black and also one that has the highest rate of winning. Its attacking game is very strong and belongs to one of the more aggressive openings. It looks like Peter is planning to end this quickly? How will Professor Zhang reply?"

Hearing this, the home viewers became even more worried!

Today's viewership rating on Central TV Sports Channel was heaven defying. After yesterday's victory, today's viewership rating nearly doubled. It wasn't only Zhang Ye's close friends and relatives, but also those who played Go who tuned in to watch. Even the crosstalk actor, Tang Dazhang, and Zhang Ye's other longtime foes could not help but watch the live broadcast!

All the Go clubs in the country were packed to the brim with people!

Millions and millions of people turned their attention to this remarkable battle!

At the venue.

Both sides had already played six moves each. Things were not too intense yet, nor did the board state become complex. It would be considered a very normal opening. However, that was where the normality stopped.

Zhang Ye looked at the board and thought for a time. Then he grinned.

Upgraded version?

Just what was being upgraded in you? I'll test you out!

He clicked the mouse and immediately created a " large knight's move enclosure 1 " with his stone.

Chen Ying was slightly startled. "You don't see this move too often."

Yu Yingyi was taken aback. "Was that not a good move?"

Chen Ying stared at it for a very long time. "It's not that it's not good. But there doesn't seem to be a very clear intent to have a 'large knight's move enclosure' over there. I'm not sure what Professor Zhang is considering."

The board state in the bottom corner suddenly turned complex!

A white stone on the 5-3 point?

A black stone on 4-3 for a corner approach?

The white stones that created a large knight's move enclosure?

Although there were only three stones, there was something odd about it!

…

In the spectator room.

Everyone was watching in shock and surprise!

Hu Liang asked, "Why did he make that move?"

Xu Han blinked and said, "What is Professor Zhang planning now?"

"Who knows what he's thinking?" Wu Changhe was not happy with the move. "He clearly could've gone for a better joseki than that. Why didn't he choose to use the '3-1 joseki' or a 'knight's move approach'?"

Xiang Rong 9-dan suddenly said, "He seems to be testing the computer."

"Testing?"

"Professor Zhang, don't play with fire again!"

"Aiyo, why am I trembling so much just from watching this?"

"What is Professor Zhang trying to do?"

Many people could not understand Zhang Ye's move. It couldn't be called bad, but neither was it that good. Everyone felt that Zhang Ye's large knight's move enclosure was very strange!

However, Zhang Ye was still beaming.

At the next second, countless people watching the game on TV and those from the Qiyuan all froze. Peter had actually fallen silent. It did not respond even after a very long time!

Chen Ying 7-dan asked curiously, "Eh, what's with Peter?"

Dan Donghe said, "What's going on?"

A professional 5th dan player asked, "Why is it not playing?"

Li Qinqin did not quite understand either. "Is that move so difficult to handle?"

The Americans were also taken aback!

Zhang Ye looked at the computer screen as his eyes narrowed. Peter's silence had given Zhang Ye a sort of answer. It was indeed very strong. So it did sense that something was wrong, eh?

Hur hur.

You must not have seen this way of playing before, right?

Let me tell you what this is called then. It's called the " Great Slant Joseki 2

."

In my previous world, this was one of the three most complex josekis to play!

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Chapter 1139: The astonishing variations of the Great Slant Joseki!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Ten minutes went by!

But Peter was still not making any moves!

With both parties allocated two hours of game time, Peter only had an hour and forty-five minutes left on its timer. A precious dozen minutes had been wasted on just this one move!

The two referees gave each other baffled looks.

The Americans were unable to sit still any longer. They kept looking in the direction of the machine, afraid that there was some bug with the code that led to Peter freezing up. But when they checked the machine's status lights, they found nothing wrong with it, nor was there an error. This showed that Peter was working normally and that it was just "thinking." Further, it was "deep in the tank."

Why?

What the hell was going on?

Why did it just stop making moves?

No one could understand what Peter's hesitation was!

Perhaps only Zhang Ye knew. This joseki was known as one of the three most complex josekis in his previous world because it was one of the hardest to play. That was because the Great Slant Joseki had too many variations. To say that it was infinite would be an exaggeration, but it was definitely not as easy to resolve as others would think. There were just too many ways to play it. Furthermore, with every new play made, there would be many more choices of play appearing. If one was not careful, the entire game would be lost!

It could be used to kill the opponent!

Or it could kill oneself!

This was what the Great Slant Joseki was, an extremely dangerous joseki to play. Even in Zhang Ye's previous world where most of this joseki's variations were studied in depth, the top players in the Go world would not freely resort to playing it during a critical tournament. If they were careless with just one move in the sequence, they might even end up hurting themselves rather than the opponent. This was not something that hadn't happened before!

And today, Zhang Ye had to take this risk. He had to test out this weakness of Peter's that he found out about yesterday!

Yu Yingyi said in a speechless manner, "Peter seems to have slowed down? Didn't they say that it was given an upgrade? Why does it seem like it was even better before the upgrade happened?"

Chen Ying was not willing to draw a quick conclusion. "Perhaps there's something more to the move?"

"Something more to it?" Yu Yingyi asked.

Chen Ying said, "I don't understand it either, but since Professor Zhang played that move, there should be some kind of deeper meaning to it. Besides, Peter taking so long to process this move and not play should also prove that this move is not that simple." She was a little dismayed and felt that her Go skill was still lacking by too much. It had been like this since yesterday's game. For this battle between these two grandmasters, she could barely understand any of the moves with her skill level.

So she said, "I'm not skilled enough, but it seems like this position is another crucial point. Is there a producer around? Can we check if we can invite Teacher Xiang Rong to join us?"

Soon after, Xiang Rong 9-dan actually came over.

Yu Yingyi said, "Hello, Teacher Xiang."

Xiang Rong nodded in greeting and sat down.

Chen Ying immediately asked, "Master Xiang, I really don't understand this move of Professor Zhang's. Can you please explain it to our viewers?"

Xiang Rong nodded.

Chen Ying sighed.

But Xiang Rong went on to say, "Then let me say this that I actually don't understand this move either."

Chen Ying was floored!

Yu Yingyi fainted!

The home viewers were also floored!

The atmosphere turned really awkward. But then, Peter stirred!

"It's made its move!" Yu Yingyi shouted.

Peter cut across 1 the large knight's move enclosure!

When Zhang Ye saw this, he smiled and responded instantly!

Afterwards, Peter went silent again!

It wasn't until five minutes later that Peter played another move.

But Zhang Ye did not even stop to think and replied with a bump!

Peter pondered and went deep in the tank a third time!

A cut across?

An open battle?

Alright then, I'll play along with you!

Zhang Ye looked utterly relaxed.

By now, if the pro Go players still could not tell what was going on, then they shouldn't be pros!

Xiang Rong was to first to look surprised. "What a large slant that is!"

Chen Ying was also dumbfounded. "How fearsome! This is too fearsome!"

Yu Yingyi could not understand. "Just what is happening?"

Chen Ying was so astonished she was sweating. "I had thought that Peter's cut across move was a very good one at first since it could advance or retreat from there. But from the looks of it, that move has dragged Peter down into the quagmire! Professor Zhang's follow up has forced Peter with no choice but to fight it out! What's more, the variations increase with every move. If Peter responds with a horizontal stretch, Professor Zhang can counter it. It's impossible to make any predictions after that as they are all variables. But if Peter gets into the corner and Professor Zhang chooses to forcefully attack, he would gain the ko threat 2 after another three moves. With so many variables, it's impossible to see who will gain the upper hand. Besides, even if one side gains the initiative, the variables over here will still exist. There will still be a chance for the other to counter that! Th-There is simply a myriad of variations!"

Yu Yingyi said dumbfounded, "Peter made a wrong move?"

Chen Ying said, "It shouldn't have cut across the large knight's move enclosure. If it had played a horizontal stretch—"

"Peter did not play wrong," Xiang Rong interrupted.

"Eh?" Chen Ying looked at him.

Xiang Rong laughed and said, "When the stone that led to Professor Zhang's large knight's move enclosure being formed was played, the setup was complete. I only understood just now why Peter had been thinking for so long. Come and look at this." He grabbed a laptop and replayed the moves on it. "If Peter plays a horizontal stretch here, the outcome will still be the same. Professor Zhang could've played over here and things would still be as dangerous as it is now."

Chen Ying said in surprise, "Then what about a diagonal move?"

Xiang Rong said, "It could do that. But Professor Zhang would follow up, and Peter would play over here with Professor Zhang fighting back in response. If we did an even more detailed analysis of the board state, it would get even more complex! Or an underneath attachment 3 over here would also be a way to cope with that move. If it were played this way, then followed by this move, Professor Zhang would probably end up playing over here before Peter counters it. The variation, in this case, would not be that great anymore and it would also be a simple way of avoiding the joseki. But if the setup gets broken, Peter would probably have to take a two or three point loss and be down in the score. I believe that with Peter's upgraded computational power, it would definitely not choose that outcome. Between an uncertain outcome and a bad outcome, it would definitely not choose the latter!" Taking a pause, he then added, "Perhaps there might also be a better way to avoid this problem? But as the board state is too complex, it would require a long time to analyze it before we can determine how to best play the moves. It would take much effort to work out all the different possible variations. I'm afraid that it would take more than a year to do that!"

A year?

Yu Yingyi was stunned on the spot!

Chen Ying gasped!

Xiang Rong said in admiration, "Professor Zhang is indeed a genius. This is definitely a new type of complex joseki. Every new step in the sequence brings along a frightening amount of variations!"

Chen Ying suddenly asked, "But why does Professor Zhang seem like he does not need to think through his moves? Look, every move in response is played after an instantaneous judgment. He does not hesitate at all!"

Xiang Rong gave a wry smile. "I don't know."

Yes, he really did not know why!

At the other side.

The Qiyuan's people were also astonished!

Hu Liang's mouth was agape as he said, "A new joseki?"

"This is too complex!"

"Damn, I'm going to go crazy watching! Th-This is way too messy!"

"There are too many ways to play this joseki! But most of them would lead to a dead group 4 forming. Once a wrong choice has been made, they will be doomed! How did Professor Zhang come up with this joseki?"

"Holy shit, Professor Zhang has played some miraculous moves again!"

"Why does he not need to think it through?"

"Oh, you're right! How does he do that?"

"With every branch of variations, there ought to be several hundred to thousands of moves possible. Even the goddamn computer has been confused by it! Even an upgraded AI was made to think for a long fucking time! So why does Professor Zhang not even need to think? Moreover, he can just play any move and it leaves Peter with several dozen choices of moves to make?"

"Could he be more computerized than the computer is?"

No one knew how Zhang Ye did it!

Logically, such a fearsome joseki that even managed to confuse Peter should also befuddle Zhang Ye a bit. He should also have a headache over how to play it!

If Peter could talk, he would probably be cursing right now!

Why?

There was no why actually.

If Peter's "brain" contained all the records of this world's Go games?

Then Zhang Ye's brain also contained many of the games from his previous world. No one in this world knew or researched the Great Slant Joseki, one of the three most complex josekis that had been studied extensively in his previous world. Some of the key variations of the joseki were already imprinted into Zhang Ye's mind, so why would he need any time to consider his moves!

You can depend on data?

Hur hur! So can I!

1. 跨断/kuā duàn/tsuke-koshi - Cuts by striking across the knight's move, away from the supporting black stones. https/senseis./?TsukeKoshi

2. 劫材/Jié Cái/kōdate - Ko threat may refer either to one of the moves in a ko fight, or to a move which will only be valuable if played during a ko fight. https/senseis./?Ko

3. 托/tuō/shitazuke - https/senseis./?UnderneathAttachment

4. 死棋/Sǐ Qí/shini - https/senseis./?Dead

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Chapter 1140: Zhang Ye plays the second of the three most complex josekis!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Things were in full swing online!

Zhang Ye's Great Slant Joseki had dumbfounded countless people!

"Beautiful!"

"That was so godly of Teacher Zhang!"

"This fellow has managed to pull something off again!"

"Hahaha, Peter can't react anymore!"

"This joseki probably has more than several thousand variations!"

"Peter is still thinking! Adding the time it took for its earlier moves, it has already used up half an hour of its clock. This strange joseki must not be in its database of game records!"

"Zhang Ye is amazing!"

"Take the game in one fell swoop, Teacher Zhang!"

"Who was it that said yesterday that Teacher Zhang would not be able to come up with another style?"

"Any casual move by Zhang Ye is an earth-shattering move!"

"In terms of face smacking, I have to give it to Zhang Ye!"

"Yeah, that guy's brain is totally more computerized than the computer!"

There was exhilaration all around!

Everyone could again see hope in winning a game!

Finally, Peter played. It was a very strong move!

Zhang Ye thought for two minutes before responding!

Peter slipped back into thinking mode again and played its stone after another four or so minutes!

Zhang Ye bumped on his turn!

Peter thought again for a minute before playing its stone!

A lot of people watching TV had been dazzled. It was wonderful!

Commentator Chen Ying said, "The corner of the board is seeing a heated confrontation between the two players. Neither of them can pull back now! It's just do or die from here! The number of possible variations is increasing as well. We can't figure out who has the upper hand. But if we judge by the time left on each player's clock, it's clear that Professor Zhang has used up less time. Meanwhile, Peter has spent longer thinking and has already used up a quarter of its allocated time!"

Xiang Rong 9-dan said, "If Peter does not quickly break the structure apart, it will have an even harder fight waiting. It has been mired here for too long by Professor Zhang!"

Chen Ying said, "Peter has stopped again. Let's see what kind of reply it can come up with this time….Oh, Peter has played! This is a very beautiful move!"

Peter bumped!

Just this move alone caused Zhang Ye to be relegated into a passive state!

Zhang Ye replied!

Peter attacked again!

Zhang Ye played a cut!

Peter called an atari!

After another eight moves have been exchanged, the board state in the bottom left corner drastically changed!

Xiang Rong said stonily, "Peter has broken through the structure."

Chen Ying looked disgusted!

Yu Yingyi said in surprise, "Broke through?"

Chen Ying gasped and said, "Not only has it broken through, Peter has practically surrounded the territory in this corner of the board. Professor Zhang's stones are all dead!"

"What?" Yu Yingyi said in shock.

Xiang Rong said, "This is the worst possible scenario. In localized battle, Peter has already showcased its extraordinary computational power. Today's upgraded version of Peter is obviously far superior, with many of the localized territories being handled very well and reinforcing their attacks as well. Professor Zhang has clearly suffered a huge loss over here. He had actually been trying to drag Peter into a battle, but the outcome turned out for the worst. Not only did Peter manage to get away, it even gained an advantage of more than a dozen points! It won't be easy at all for the white stones! Professor Zhang's joseki play is very strong, but Peter's computational ability is even better!"

Over a dozen points?

Gaining an advantage of two or three points in the opening was already considered very advantageous and rare. But in just a short time, he was already behind by over a dozen points? All of the white stones in the corner were as good as dead?

The Qiyuan's people all looked as pale as sheets!

Hu Liang cried out, "We're done for!"

Xu Han said bitterly, "The gap has opened up!"

"How can he still play like this?" Li Yi 9-dan was sweating in worry for Zhang Ye.

Wu Changhe said angrily, "I said that we couldn't let the kid try out those tricks of his! But he still didn't pay heed to my advice!"

"What do we do now?"

"He's behind by too much. How can he catch up?"

"An upgraded Peter is really this strong? If it were before, even if it could manage to break through the structure, it would not be possible for it to grab an advantage of over a dozen points in such a complex board state!"

When the Americans saw that state of the board, they heaved a sigh of relief and looked relieved. Although it had taken some time, which was not to their expectations, the end result was something they were willing to accept. Peter had gained an absolute advantage, and it was still just the opening!

The American representative looked over to Zhang Ye, who was seated not too far away, and thought to himself, Now you know just how strong Peter is after getting an upgrade? No matter what moves you try today, no matter what kind of new playstyles you come up with, Peter can analyze all of them and not get led by the nose!

It would only get simpler from here!

All they had to do was not let up on the attack!

The Americans were confident that victory was in their hands!

The Qiyuan's people were all feeling extremely nervous!

The television viewers were also getting jittery!

Only Zhang Ye's expression was different from theirs. The camera at the venue suddenly zoomed in on Zhang Ye and discovered that he was actually smiling. It was as though he did not mind that he had fallen behind by more than a dozen points. He was simply indifferent to it all!

Chen Ying said, "We can see that Professor Zhang looks calm and composed!"

Xiang Rong narrowed his eyes. "He should still have other ideas!"

But the Americans did not think that Zhang Ye would be able to make a comeback. In their opinion, the remainder of the game would only serve to become Peter's killing field!

In the game room.

Zhang Ye was indeed calm and composed. This was something he expected. He knew that the Great Slant Joseki couldn't contain Peter and force it into committing any errors. On the contrary, playing this joseki was more disadvantageous for himself as he did not have the computational power that Peter had. He knew that he wasn't a match for Peter in any localized battles. Even if he had all that research information about the Great Slant Joseki from his previous world, it was only meant to aid him to a certain extent. With Peter seeing all of the moves that were advantageous to him, there was hardly anything that Zhang Ye could do about it.

He was using the opportunity to test it out, and he found out what he wanted to!

The artificial intelligence had really been given an upgrade! So it had its computational depth increased and its analytical power fine-tuned to be more precise? The magnificent move and new opening that were played yesterday had really sent the Americans panicking then? So they had to increase Peter's computational depth in this area as they wanted it to crack any of Zhang Ye's new playstyles? They wanted to be able to predict every of Zhang Ye's moves? Like the Great Slant Joseki, it was probably cracked due to the increase in computational depth, wasn't it? Thinking of this, Zhang Ye smiled again. Hur hur, it looks like you people have done this in vain. This upgrade is probably going to be the biggest mistake on your part!

They wanted to predict all the possible solutions? It's possible that your machine might really be able to achieve that!

But have you forgotten that there's a price to pay for that? And that price is—time!

He looked at his own clock.

And then had a look at Peter's clock.

It had already used up 40 minutes? Very good! Then come and give this next one a try too!

Chen Ying said, "Oh, Professor Zhang has made his move!"

Xiang Rong was taken aback. "Upper left?"

Chen Ying added, "Professor Zhang has given up on the lower left and played his next move in the upper left. Peter did not take any time to think and immediately responded!"

But Zhang Ye placed his next stone down with a smile!

Then Peter went deep in the tank once again!

Xiang Rong was surprised at this. "This!"

Chen Ying was also stunned. "This…"

Five minutes!

Ten minutes!

Peter didn't "budge" an inch!

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye was beaming and crossed his legs. He looked as relaxed as could be.

The Americans were enraged!

The television viewers blew up!

The pro Go players of China Qiyuan were floored!

"Again?"

"This again?"

"What is it this time!"

"Holy shit!"

"How is it yet another goddamn complex joseki?"

"What the hell is this!"

"Goddammit! How did he come up with yet another one!"

"This is too complicated! I feel like vomiting blood just seeing it. Fuck!"

"If it were me going up against Professor Zhang, I would have flipped the table already! He's too sly. After that large slant, he has come up with yet another one?"

"What is this one called?"

"Who knows! I've never even seen it before!"

Dan Donghe looked at Wu Changhe in shock. "Have you seen this before?"

Wu Changhe gave a wry smile and shook his head. "I've never ever seen it before, but this is really too complex! At first glance, I can already see that there are over a dozen variations to play! This is…"

Li Yi said angrily, "Isn't Little Zhang asking for it? He suffered such a crushing defeat, so why doesn't he learn? Why is he still trying those tricks of his?"

Dan Donghe suddenly said, "That might not be it. Look, the one having trouble dealing with it is definitely Peter!"

Peter was still silent!

15 minutes had already passed!

The Americans glared at Zhang Ye. They really wished to go up to him at this moment and finish him off!

Are you done or what?

You're still not finished yet?

What the fuck is this kind of playstyle!

Are you doing this on purpose?

Yes, in fact. Zhang Ye was doing this on purpose!

The Magic Sword Joseki 1 —the second of the three most complex josekis from Zhang Ye's previous world!

1. https/senseis./?MagicSword