“Is it him?”

Yu Shao stared at the computer screen, this extremely familiar ID, and slightly nodded.

He had once played a game with shiau, but that game was only halfway finished. For some reason, the opponent timed out, resulting in a loss.

The second time he encountered it was a match between shiau and a player with the ID gangxuebuhuixia. In that game, both sides demonstrated skill that even surprised him, and ultimately shiau won by a narrow margin.

Now, this was the third time he had seen this ID.

Yu Shao thought for a moment and quickly clicked into the watch interface, entering spectator mode.

In this game, shiau was Black, and the opponent chen was White.

Yu Shao focused intently on the board and soon discerned the situation.

As expected, shiau held the advantage. The black stones had already encircled the white stones and seemed to have plans regarding the large dragon in White’s center.

“This chen... is not weak either.”

After watching a few more moves, a trace of surprise appeared in Yu Shao’s eyes.

Shiau was strong, as he had expected, but chen’s level was also far from ordinary. If placed in the professional Go world, chen would likely be at least a professional 9-dan.

But even so, chen still looked outmatched by shiau.

Yu Shao could tell that although chen had fallen behind, he remained calm and, judging by the position, started a counterattack in the lower-left corner at the komoku point against shiau.

However, shiau played even more ruthlessly, not just filling in stones but taking an unconventional route, using ingenious sacrifices and territory control to decisively cut off White’s outside influence!

Although both sides were engaged in a long, tangled fight afterward, from the position alone, shiau should be able to win.

At this moment, countless online viewers flooded the barrage chat with dense comments. International fans discussed the game in English as countless messages flew across the top of the screen.

“Shiau is insanely strong. Could chen really lose to shiau?”

“Who exactly is shiau? He must be a professional player, and probably not just any ordinary pro.”

“Definitely. Not only shiau, but many also suspect chen is a pro. The ID suggests he might be an Asian player.”

“Looks like another undefeated player is about to fall to shiau. Shiau’s too strong;

one after another, undefeated players have fallen before him. Is the next one hahah? Who is he really?”

“Undefeated killer? Actually, I think he might be Yu Shao. Many of his moves are very similar to Yu Shao’s style.”

“Yes, I also think it’s Yu Shao. Today is the Torch Battle, right? The Torch Battle just ended, and shiau went online immediately. The timing matches perfectly.”

“Indeed. More importantly, Yu Shao’s style is hard to imitate. His strength lies in a sudden, chilling insight and aggressive, oppressive attacks. That’s exactly how shiau plays.”

“Could it really be Yu Shao?”

“If not, then who? His understanding of thickness and thinness, and moves like shoulder hits at the worry-free corner and komoku two-space jump corner defense — those are Yu Shao’s signatures.”

“If shiau is truly Yu Shao, then who did he lose to in his only defeat? That’s incredible — someone even beat shiau?”

“No idea. The game records only save the last 100 games. The one shiau lost was probably more than 100 games ago.”

“! That’s even more incredible. Even if he won the last 100 games straight, it’s hard to meet a weak opponent. With shiau’s strength, how could he lose now?”

“Then you must know. Maybe shiau encountered Master An Hongshi? (joking)”

“......”

Seeing these comments and messages, Yu Shao felt a bit stunned.

Could shiau actually be me?

How come I didn’t know about this?

“Did I become a substitute?”

Yu Shao frowned slightly, feeling a bit bewildered. He had played half a game with shiau and watched shiau’s match with gangxuebuhuixia, but never thought shiau resembled him.

After a moment of contemplation, Yu Shao moved his mouse, repeatedly clicking the previous moves, finally dragging the game back to the beginning. Then he clicked forward to start watching again.

“Star komoku against twin star, followed by Black’s 3-3 point, developing the extended variation, losing the first move to komoku, then the two-space high attachment...”

Yu Shao kept clicking the next moves, observing each play from both sides. Gradually, a trace of surprise appeared on his face.

In many places, his thought process was not different from shiau’s, but in several key decisions, shiau made almost identical judgments.

Regarding the judgment of thickness and thinness, the trade-offs of territory, and the order of moves...

Soon, Yu Shao finished watching the entire first half of the game, arriving at the latest position on the board.

Seeing this, Yu Shao finally understood why netizens speculated shiau might be himself, even though apart from playing half a game, he had no other connection with shiau.

“Rather than saying he’s like me, it’s more accurate to say...”

“He’s not like me, but resembles a player who has also lived through the AI era of Go.”

Yu Shao pondered this and stopped focusing on the already decided game. He scrolled the mouse, right-clicked, and opened shiau’s historical records, beginning to review shiau’s past games.

One.

Two.

Three.

Yu Shao read quickly, finishing shiau’s last ten games, then jumped to the last thirty games and started browsing again.

He selected a few from the last thirty games to watch, then skipped to the last sixty games, viewing several records. Finally, he scrolled to the earliest game available in shiau’s record.

Before long, Yu Shao had watched that game from start to finish.

“In this game, his AI-era style was still very immature. Although he played that way, he couldn’t use it effectively.”

“But in game after game, he has been growing at an astonishing speed.”

Yu Shao frowned deeper and opened the second-to-last game in shiau’s history. After watching, he then opened the third-to-last game.

“In these games, he often plays some strange moves. This clearly isn’t the level he showed when playing gangxuebuhuixia before. These moves almost seem like he doesn’t know how to play.”

Yu Shao stared at the record on the screen, frowning tightly. “But relying on his calculation and attacking strength, even against strong opponents, he still won these games.”

“It’s like... he completely forgot the old Go styles and started relearning Go from scratch.”

“From this perspective, those strange moves make complete sense.”

“Until this latest game, his play has become very, very similar to a player who has lived through the AI era.”

Over the past year or so, the world’s Go scene had changed drastically. AI-era styles had become common.

However, despite the AI-style wave sweeping the board, no player had made Yu Shao feel like they truly lived through that era.

Including Su Yiming!

Although Su Yiming had a deep understanding of post-AI-era Go, in Yu Shao’s eyes, there was still a gap between him and a player who actually experienced the AI era.

But Su Yiming’s amazing fighting strength in complex positions, his brilliant and imaginative play, and his grandiose fighting in the center were even beyond all players Yu Shao had seen in his previous life!

Therefore, even if Su Yiming was still only halfway into post-AI-era Go, and still a pre-AI-era player, most players who truly lived through the AI era probably could not match Su Yiming!

Yet, in Yu Shao’s opinion, Su Yiming had only half a foot in the door of post-AI-era Go and was still a pre-AI-era player.

After all, in this world, no Go AI existed, and everyone could only study by repeatedly pondering game records instead of using AI.

And this shiau had really achieved something very close to a player who experienced the AI era. In understanding AI-era Go, he even surpassed Su Yiming!

Keep in mind, Su Yiming had faced Yu Shao in multiple games directly.

But shiau only once played half a game with Yu Shao online, meaning shiau developed purely on his own.

Although carefully studying shiau’s records still showed subtle differences from AI-era players, the gap was definitely small.

“Shiau, who... is he?”

Yu Shao stared silently at the game record on the screen.

After a long while, a pop-up appeared on the screen.

[chen resigns midgame.]

This game was over.

Although chen was also no ordinary player, facing shiau, he was almost completely overwhelmed midgame and resigned.

Yu Shao took a deep breath, moved his mouse, and sent a match invitation to shiau.

Shiau did not log off but also did not accept immediately.

...

In Pyongyang, inside the Korea Go Institute.

“The day before yesterday, 9-dan Park Chan-gyun told me he was playing online and got utterly crushed.”

A young man with thick eyebrows and large eyes smiled, shaking the folding fan in his hand, standing behind An Hongshi, looking at the computer screen, and said, “I laughed at him. He told me the opponent must have been Yu Shao.”

“I thought it was just an excuse, so yesterday I challenged shiau myself.”

The young man snapped his fan shut with a ‘pop’ and said, “I wasn’t paying attention for a moment and got slaughtered by shiau!”

“At that moment, I had only one thought: damn, there’s no way out. This guy really is Yu Shao. Who else could play like that? Anyone who says he’s not Yu Shao, I’ll argue with!”

The young man made a comical face and continued, “I never expected that right after the match, Master An Hongshi actually called me to review the game.”

“I was puzzled since I didn’t register my real name online. Then it turned out, shiau was Master An Hongshi!”

The youth tapped the back of his head with the fan, shaking and nodding, “That makes sense now, that makes sense!”

An Hongshi looked at the flood of match invitations popping up on the screen and smiled, “When the game was halfway through, I already knew the opponent had to be you.”

“You really didn’t go easy on me.”

The youth sighed, looking resentful, “I lost terribly.”

An Hongshi laughed and said, “If I had gone easy, you probably wouldn’t have gone easy either.”

“Why did you suddenly start playing online Go?” the youth asked curiously. “I remember you were quite resistant to playing online before.”

“I was bored in the hospital, so I thought I’d try playing online. I found it interesting to be able to play with players from all over the world while staying at home.”

An Hongshi smiled, “Unfortunately, the nurses found out and confiscated my laptop, so I didn’t play for a long time.”

“Oh?”

The youth paused, then asked, “So you’ve been playing online steadily since you got discharged?”

“Not really. After discharge, I only played occasionally. Compared to online, I still prefer the feel of holding actual stones.”

An Hongshi paused and shook his head, then said,

“Then what made you start playing online more frequently now?” the youth asked curiously.

“Because I met an opponent online and played a rare good game.”

An Hongshi smiled in response.

“A good game?”

Hearing this, the youth instantly straightened.

The phrase ‘good game’ coming from An Hongshi carried extraordinary weight. A game considered rare and good enough by him would surely be a famous game passed down through history.

“Yeah, I met a very strong opponent.”

An Hongshi smiled lightly and said, “Because of that game, my perspective changed.”

“He’s not any player I’ve faced before, absolutely not. If he were, I would have recognized him when playing, just like I recognized you yesterday.”

“It doesn’t matter who the opponent is, or whether he’s in front of me, or even if it’s online. I just want to play against such a strong player.”

“It’s been a very long time since I met an opponent like that.”

“To be able to play such a game online... that’s why I’ve been waiting to face him again.”

Hearing this, the youth was completely stunned. After a long time, he asked incredulously, “Master An Hongshi, did you... lose that game?”

“No, I won.”

An Hongshi shook his head and said,

The youth breathed a sigh of relief and smiled, “Then you won — you—”

“But I almost lost.”

An Hongshi interrupted, “The win was by only half a point. Until the very end of the endgame, I didn’t know if I had won or lost.”

Half a point?

Not knowing the result until finishing the entire endgame?

The youth’s eyes widened in disbelief, “That strong?!”

An Hongshi nodded, “So, during this time, I have been constantly refining my skills, hoping one day to battle him again.”

“Though I don’t know his name or where he’s from, he’s definitely also improving and waiting for our next match, right?”