I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 193: This World is Crazy, Even a Rat Can Be a Cat’s Bridesmaid

Hearing those words, Su Yiming paused, glanced at Dou Yiming, and slowly nodded.

Dou Yiming didn’t say anything more. With a flick of his wrist, snap!, his folding fan opened wide, the large "Invincible" characters written across it bold and eye-catching.

He sat tall in his chair, gently waving the fan, exuding the calm confidence of “He may be strong, but I remain unshaken like the wind over the mountains. He may be fierce, but I remain unmoved like the moon shining on the river.”

But after a while...

Dou Yiming started feeling the chill.

"Damn, it's getting cold!"

Even though it was only early autumn and still warm outside, the air conditioning in the playing room was running strong. After fanning himself for a while, Dou Yiming could feel the cold air hitting his face like a blade.

But since he had already started fanning, suddenly stopping would just make things awkward.

So, he quietly slowed down the motion of his fan.

Not long after, as the match time approached, two referees finally walked into the playing room.

Seeing the referees enter, the players straightened their postures, preparing for the match to begin.

"The match is starting."

One referee checked his watch, scanned the room, and cleared his throat.

"Each player will have two hours of main time, with a one-minute byo-yomi. Komi is 7.5 points. You may begin determining turn order."

Click.

The room was immediately filled with the sound of players grabbing stones from their bowls.

A moment later, each pair of opponents exchanged formal bows.

At Table 3, Su Yiming won the draw and took Black, while Dou Yiming played White.

Su Yiming studied the board for a moment before placing the first move.

Snap!

Column 17, Row 4—Small Point!

"A Small Point?"

Dou Yiming narrowed his eyes slightly, gently waving his fan, contemplating his move.

After a moment, he reached into his bowl and placed a White stone.

Snap!

Column 4, Row 17—Small Point!

The game progressed quickly, stones falling one after another, the rhythmic clicks of the moves filling the silent room.

After ten more moves, Dou Yiming nodded thoughtfully as he studied the board.

He glanced at Su Yiming and squinted.

"So this is the so-called undefeated guy? Pretty solid play."

Of course, Dou Yiming wasn’t unfamiliar with Su Yiming.

Recently, Su Yiming’s name had been spreading as well.

He was currently on an eight-game winning streak, even one win ahead of Yu Shao.

But the thing was—his opponents hadn’t been that strong.

Most of the people he played against were 1-dan or 2-dan.

He had only faced one 3-dan player, and even that guy was a weak 3-dan, completely different from someone like Tong Lecheng, whose real strength was much higher than his rank suggested.

So, earlier, when Dou Yiming had acted all casual and told Su Yiming "Don’t feel pressured by my rank, just play your best",

It wasn’t actually encouragement.

It was a mind game—designed to remind Su Yiming exactly who he was playing against.

"That was never a friendly comment. You were just trying to mess with me."

Dou Yiming mentally refuted himself as he reached into his bowl and placed his next move.

Snap!

Column 7, Row 4—Extend!

After placing his stone, Dou Yiming leaned back in his chair, feeling satisfied.

He resumed gently waving his fan, his posture as relaxed and unbothered as ever.

To emphasize his confidence, he even angled the fan slightly—so that the word "Invincible" was facing Su Yiming directly.

"How does it feel to play against me? Hands starting to sweat yet?"

Dou Yiming smirked to himself, watching as Su Yiming sat silently, deep in thought.

Snap!

Finally, Su Yiming moved.

Column 8, Row 3—Press!

Seeing this, Dou Yiming considered for a moment, then placed another move.

Snap!

Column 8, Row 5—Block!

Snap, snap, snap...

The battle intensified.

Black and White stones clashed fiercely in the upper-left corner, their fight quickly spreading toward the center.

Within just ten moves, the struggle had escalated into an all-out brawl.

Dou Yiming stared at the board, a flicker of surprise flashing in his eyes.

"I thought he’d try to settle his shape first, but he just ignored life and death, jumped forward aggressively, and dragged the fight into the center!"

"And every single move is airtight—he hasn’t given me a single weak point to exploit!"

"Did he... steal some of my luck just because our names sound similar?"

Dou Yiming tensed slightly, finally taking this seriously.

With a snap, he folded his fan shut and placed it firmly on the table.

He reached into his bowl, carefully picked up a stone, and placed it with renewed intensity.

"Our names might be similar..."

His gaze sharpened.

Then, gripping his stone tightly, he slammed it onto the board.

"The gap between us is like a firefly against the full moon!"

Snap!

Column 13, Row 9—Triple Hane!

Snap, snap, snap!

The sound of stones landing on the board echoed through the tense air.

As the game continued, Dou Yiming's expression slowly began to change.

"Wait… why do I feel like I'm losing?!"

—

One Hour Later

"As expected... his reputation is well earned."

Chai Bin, 3-dan, lifted his head and looked at Yu Shao across the board, his expression somewhat dim.

"After his 3-3 invasion, my outer influence was completely dismantled. I had no way to fight back. I couldn’t even drag him into a difficult battle—I was just getting beaten the whole way."

In the end, Chai Bin sighed, reached into his bowl, and took out two black stones.

With a soft clink, he gently placed them on the board.

"I resign."

Seeing that Chai Bin had conceded, Yu Shao lowered his head slightly.

"Thank you for the game."

"Thank you for the game." Chai Bin returned the bow.

After tidying up the stones, Yu Shao stood up and glanced toward Table 3, where Su Yiming's match was still ongoing.

He thought for a moment, then decided to walk over.

Today, Xu Zi and Wu Zhixuan weren’t competing.

Although they had signed up for the Yingjiao Cup, their matches were probably scheduled for tomorrow or the day after.

Since the registration deadline hadn’t closed yet, the number of participants was still increasing. This meant that not all matches happened on the same day, nor in the same playing room.

Very quickly, Yu Shao arrived at Table 3 and turned his gaze toward the board.

"It’s almost over."

After a single glance, Yu Shao immediately grasped the current state of the match.

Deciding not to linger, he withdrew his gaze and walked over to the referees' table to report his results.

"Table 12. Yu Shao wins against Chai Bin."

The referee responsible for recording results looked up at Yu Shao and gave him a deep stare before finally nodding.

He picked up his pen, found Yu Shao's name on the match sheet, and marked it with a red checkmark.

Seeing that his result had been recorded, Yu Shao turned and left the playing room.

—

"He won again?"

At Table 24, a broad-shouldered, thick-browed player with tanned skin watched Yu Shao leave.

He wasn’t too surprised, but he couldn’t help feeling a little impressed.

At that moment, his opponent—who had been deep in thought for a long time—finally reached into his bowl and placed his next move.

The thick-browed player refocused, studied the board briefly, and quickly responded.

Snap!

Column 15, Row 9—Wedge!

His opponent’s face turned pale instantly.

—

Meanwhile, Su Yiming’s match had also concluded.

At Table 3, Su Yiming slowly stood up and made his way toward the referees' table.

When he arrived, he calmly reported his result.

"Table 3. Su Yiming wins against Dou Yiming."

The referee nodded and reached for his pen.

But the next moment, something clicked in his mind.

His hand froze midair, and his eyes suddenly widened in shock.

"Table 3? Su Yiming... won?"

"Against Dou Yiming?!"

For a moment, he couldn’t believe his ears.

He turned his head sharply and stared at Table 3.

There, Dou Yiming was still sitting in his chair.

His right hand gripped his folding fan tightly, his gaze fixed on the empty board in front of him.

Even though all the stones had already been cleared from the board, he hadn’t moved an inch.

The referee didn’t even need to ask—the result was written all over Dou Yiming’s face.

But even knowing that, the referee still felt utter disbelief.

He exchanged a glance with the other referee, and in that instant, they both saw the same shock mirrored in each other’s eyes.

They were, of course, familiar with Su Yiming.

Just like Yu Shao, he had been one of the dark horses of this year’s Promotion Tournament.

But still—

"Winning streaks happen. Plenty of 1-dan players have had impressive streaks before. But the longer you win, the more likely you are to finally lose when you face a strong opponent, right?"

Yet when Yu Shao faced Tong Lecheng, he won.

"Fine. Maybe that was still reasonable."

"But Su Yiming wasn’t even an undefeated promotee. He didn’t qualify with a perfect record. And now, he just happened to run into Dou Yiming—surely this would be the end of his streak?"

But then—

He won too.

"This shouldn’t have even been a close match. Su Yiming was supposed to lose without any suspense whatsoever!"

Because of that, neither referee had even bothered watching the game.

Yet here he was, standing in front of them, reporting his victory.

"No, seriously—what the hell is happening?"

"Su Yiming wasn’t even an undefeated promotion?! How is he winning these games?!"

The referee took a deep breath, trying to suppress the chaotic emotions surging through his mind.

But he couldn’t.

He absolutely could not.

"This world is insane. Even a rat is standing in as a cat’s bridesmaid!"

After repeatedly inhaling and exhaling, he finally looked back at Su Yiming.

Then, with a somewhat stiff motion, he picked up his pen, found Su Yiming’s name on the match sheet, and marked it with a red checkmark.

Seeing his result recorded, Su Yiming turned and walked out of the playing room.