Chapter 117: Iyama-kun, Prepare to Have Your Dao Heart Shattered

Xu Yunzhou's heart sank. Such thoughts are exactly the psychological soil that most easily leads to paranoia and extremes.

He must find a way to break her out of this fixed mindset and let her see another possibility.

"Of course not."

He depicted a bright future that seemed within reach, his tone carrying encouragement and yearning:

"You will be very happy... After taking revenge, leave Nihon, go to another country, change your identity, and start a new life."

His voice flowed slowly in her consciousness, like telling a beautiful fairy tale:

"Then, find a seaside where it's midsummer all year round. Go to the Maldives, go to Hawaii, go to Bali..."

"Drink iced coconut water every day, run barefoot on the fine, soft beach, let the sunlight and sea breeze wash away all shadows..."

"Instead of staying here, experiencing an endless severe winter."

Kirigaya Nuo was silent for a long time.

So long that on the silver screen, Nobita was running crazily in the overwhelming snow, using all his strength to prove to everyone—"I can do it alone too!"

She said softly, her voice almost drowned out by the movie soundtrack:

"The organization... definitely won't be willing to let me leave."

That wasn't a question, but an almost desperate statement of an answer she already knew.

How could the Crescent Group easily let go of a "sharp blade" cultivated with massive resources?

Xu Yunzhou:

"I will help you."

His tone was as firm as iron, carrying a power of promise that spanned dimensions.

The Hacker Experience Cards, Kung Fu Master Experience Cards in the Mall, and even more abilities that might be unlocked in the future...

When the time comes, figuring out a meticulous plan to slip out of the shell like a cicada, helping Xu Nuo completely shake off the tracking and control of the Crescent Group, shouldn't be a problem.

He also knew that these arrangements and promises of his might exactly be a link in "history," a totally unchangeable future script.

No wonder in the future, Xu Nuo would be hunted down by the Crescent Group with a high bounty of one billion Yen.

It turns out the foreshadowing of destiny was already buried at this moment.

All struggles, schemes, and expectations might just be moving forward along established tracks.

But, he still could only arrange it this way, speak this way.

Give hope, give promises, give a picture of the future worth looking forward to.

Even if this future had already been written in the script of the past, already becoming a path she was about to step onto with no turning back.

...

At the end of the movie, Doraemon returned, Nobita wept tears of joy, and gratified applause and suppressed sobbing sounded in the theater.

The lights turned on one by one, pulling the audience back to reality.

Kirigaya Nuo sat quietly, not getting up immediately.

She raised her hand and, using her fingertip extremely quickly and without leaving a trace, brushed past the corner of her eye, wiping away that tiny bit of almost non-existent wetness.

Then, in her consciousness, she said to Xu Yunzhou, her voice returning to calmness, yet having an extra trace of undetectable softness:

"Teacher, let's go."

She stood up and threw the empty potato chip bucket and cola cup into the trash can.

Walking outside the theater, the chilly and dry winter air rushed at her face, carrying the unique dust and chill of the city.

She raised her face, looking at the lead-gray sky hanging low as if about to snow, and slowly exhaled a long breath of white air.

Then, she said gently, her voice very light, as if talking to herself, and also as if confirming something:

"Seaside... barefoot..."

She paused, the corners of her mouth curving upward extremely slightly, almost invisibly.

"Sounds... not bad."

Looking at her slightly raised corners of the mouth on the screen, Xu Yunzhou also smiled.

Fortunately.

In this child's heart, a little bit of light still remained.

Kirigaya Nuo seemed to sense his emotion, gave a light snort, her tone carrying a trace of coquettishness:

"What are you smiling at."

She pulled her scarf, covering her slightly red ear tips, and walked toward the subway station.

Two days later, Kirigaya Nuo once again stepped through the time-honored doors of the Nihon Go Institute.

Unlike last time as an anonymous challenger, this time she came to participate in the evaluation in the capacity of a "Special Go Player Candidate" jointly recommended by three top professional Go players: Rin Kaiho, O Rissei, and O Meien.

This was almost the first time in history—usually, the "Special Adoption Recommendation Go Player System for Outstanding Talents" was only aimed at exceptionally gifted, extremely young elementary school students.

And it was extremely rare to have three top Go players jointly endorse someone. The high standard could be called unprecedented.

Not to mention, Kirigaya Nuo's terrifying record of sweeping all directions without tasting a single defeat in the amateur Go arena recently had already spread through Go friend forums and Go magazines, faintly forming the legend of a "mysterious genius young girl."

When reporters from "Kido" magazine rushed over upon hearing the news, quite a few Go fans and news media who heard the news had actually gathered at the door of the Go Institute.

Long guns and short cannons, whispering, the scene actually had a bit of the heat of a small press conference.

When Kirigaya Nuo appeared, flashbulbs lit up constantly, the sound of shutters fine and dense like rain.

She wore a navy blue suit skirt, her long hair tied neatly into a low ponytail behind her head, her face free of powder and makeup, her brows and eyes cold.

She looked straight ahead, turning a blind eye to the commotion, prying, and whispering around her, as if walking in an unpopulated wilderness.

Xu Yunzhou encouraged softly in her consciousness, his tone carrying a smile:

"Relax, properly play your role—a genius young girl obsessed with Go, without any distractions."

He paused, his voice revealing absolute composure:

"As for the Go game itself... everything will be controlled by your master."

"What Iyama Shota, in front of me he's completely not enough to look at."

Kirigaya Nuo nodded imperceptibly, pushed open that heavy camphor wood door of the game room, and walked into the Yugen no Ma (Room of the Profound and Subtle).

Serving as the chief examiner for this special evaluation was none other than the well-deserved number one person in the current Nihon Go world—

Iyama Shota 9-dan.

Twenty-seven years old, exactly at the peak period of a Go player, holding the three top titles of "Meijin," "Kisei," and "Honinbo" simultaneously.

He was the strongest king in the Nihon Go arena in the past decade, and also a super first-class Go player publicly acknowledged in the international Go arena.

At this moment, he was sitting properly in the main seat of the game room, wearing a well-ironed dark gray suit, his temperament elegant and steady.

According to convention, facing a newcomer's evaluation, Iyama 9-dan should play white (letting black go first) and give reverse komi.

(TL: Komi is compensation points given to white for going second. Reverse komi means giving points to black, a severe handicap.)

But after he had previously seen the game records of O Rissei 9-dan, Rin Kaiho 9-dan, and others losing to this young girl, he fell silent for a long time and proactively proposed to the Go Institute's board of directors:

"For the game with Kirigaya-san, let's change it to an even game."

As soon as these words came out, the several Go Institute directors present at the time all showed surprise on their faces.

An even game meant he treated this young girl who hadn't even entered professional dan status as an opponent of the same level as himself.

Hearing the movement at the door, Iyama Shota slowly raised his head, his gaze passing through his lenses, calmly looking at Kirigaya Nuo walking in.

The air seemed to stagnate for an instant.

King against King.

The king of old days, and the genius young girl who barged in suddenly.

Kirigaya Nuo walked to the other side of the Go board.

She sat down, her waist and back straight as a pine, her hands placed neatly on her knees.

Then, she raised her eyes, her calm gaze meeting Iyama Shota's scrutinizing look.

Neither dodging nor avoiding, her clear pupils reflected the other party's figure, yet without the slightest ripple.

"Teacher Iyama, please instruct me."

Her voice was cold, perfectly polite, yet completely emotionless.

Iyama Shota looked at the young girl sitting quietly opposite him—her long hair tied into a low ponytail, revealing an exquisite yet expressionless face, her eyes clear and calm, unable to see the slightest nervousness, excitement, or fear.

He suddenly felt somewhat in a trance.

A strange, almost intuitive premonition inexplicably rose at the bottom of his heart:

This young girl before his eyes might perhaps become his strongest and trickiest opponent in the future.

"Please instruct me."

Iyama Shota nodded slightly, his tone solemn.

The sound of shutters crazily rang out like a tide again, the flashbulbs illuminating the game room brightly and dimly.

This scene was destined to be recorded in the annals of Go history.

From the very beginning, this game didn't seem like an examination, but more like a shinken shobu (real sword fight).

This was probing, scrutiny, a king's evaluation of an abrupt intruder, and also Kirigaya Nuo's crucial step to prove she was "useful" to that dark world.

Looking at the two figures on the screen calmly confronting each other at the two ends of the Go board, whose auras and prestige were extremely deep, Xu Yunzhou silently opened that Go AI software named "Fine Art" on his phone.

The interface unfolded, loading the Go board, synchronously inputting the moves.

The corners of his mouth hooked into an extremely faint smile.

What eight-time champion, nine-time champion, what Nihon's number one person.

In front of era-surpassing AI algorithms, they are all just a dish on the table.

Iyama-kun, prepare to have your Dao heart shattered.

Just like when Ke Bao faced AlphaGo directly for the first time back then, that bone-deep despair and shock, that powerlessness of having one's worldview shattered and faith collapsed.