I Really Didn’t Mean to Play Go!
Chapter 48: Xu Zijin: Let’s Play a Game

The next day.

After school, Yu Shao slung his backpack over his shoulder and headed back to the activity room.

Because the last teacher of the day hadn’t held them back after the bell, Yu Shao arrived earlier than usual. Xu Zijin and Zhong Yufei weren’t there yet.

Placing his bag down, Yu Shao sat at a Go table and stared at the board in front of him. He blinked, suddenly realizing a critical problem—whose game record was he supposed to analyze?

Chen Jiaming had told them to study games on their own, but Yu Shao didn’t know any game records from this world!

He remembered plenty from his previous life, but he had already deconstructed those countless times, so revisiting them wouldn’t be particularly helpful.

For players at his level, analyzing game records was primarily about dissecting moves to pinpoint an opponent’s weaknesses, understand their playing style, and devise strategies. Alternatively, it involved reviewing one’s own games to identify mistakes.

Reconstructing games from start to finish, based on matches between top players, was a great way for lower-level players to develop their intuition and improve. But for high-level players, its value was limited.

At that stage, the gaps between strong players were minuscule, and the only game records worth dissecting repeatedly were matches between two top-tier AIs.

“If I’d known, I would’ve taken Zhou De’s Go book. Even though it’s for beginners, it might have had some records of games from players in this world,” Yu Shao muttered to himself, slightly annoyed.

Even though AI hadn’t influenced this world’s Go scene yet, the strength of top players here couldn’t be underestimated given how vibrant the Go culture seemed.

“Well then… self-play it is.”

With that in mind, Yu Shao opened the Go set, took out the black and white stones, and began playing against himself.

Click.

Click.

Click.

The crisp sound of the stones landing on the board echoed through the quiet activity room.

Before long, Xu Zijin arrived.

Seeing Yu Shao playing both sides of the board, she looked a bit surprised. Her eyes sparkled, but she didn’t say anything. Instead, she quietly walked over and stood behind him, watching the game unfold.

After observing a few moves, Xu Zijin was about to leave and find her own spot to study game records.

But then Yu Shao reached into the black stone container, pulled out a stone, and placed it gently on the board.

Click.

Xu Zijin froze mid-step.

“He played there?”

Her bright eyes remained fixed on the board as she continued to watch the game progress.

As Yu Shao played more moves, her expression shifted from curiosity to shock, and then… to a dazed confusion.

At that moment, Zhong Yufei entered the activity room.

“Ugh—” Zhong Yufei began to complain, but stopped short when he saw Xu Zijin staring blankly at the board.

“What’s going on?” he asked, puzzled, as he walked over and stood behind Yu Shao to look at the board.

“The game is so intense!”

Zhong Yufei was startled by the chaotic board state, his heart pounding.

“Black is on the offensive, launching a fierce attack on White’s dragon, but White isn’t just sitting there! It must have countered powerfully on the right flank earlier through an exchange.”

“Still, overall, Black seems to have the advantage, doesn’t it?”

Just then, Yu Shao placed another white stone on the board.

With this move, Zhong Yufei’s eyes widened in disbelief, and he swallowed hard.

Then Yu Shao picked up another black stone and played it.

Click.

The sound was soft, but to Zhong Yufei, it was like thunder on a clear day, leaving his ears ringing.

Staring dumbfounded at the board, Zhong Yufei felt like he was rooted to the spot.

A moment later, the activity room door opened again.

Chen Jiaming walked in, only to see Xu Zijin and Zhong Yufei frozen behind Yu Shao. He paused in confusion.

“What…?”

Puzzled, Chen Jiaming walked over to Yu Shao, stood behind him, and looked down at the board.

“The game is so chaotic!”

Chen Jiaming’s eyes darted across the board, scanning from the top-left to the top-right, then to the bottom-left, and finally to the bottom-right.

“The whole board is a mess! It’s pure chaos! How did the game get to this point? Black and White are tangled in an intricate battle, with every move biting into the other. The complexity is off the charts! How did this even happen?”

“But… looking closely, White seems to hold a slight advantage?”

However, after watching Yu Shao play a few more moves, Chen Jiaming’s expression suddenly changed.

He froze, staring blankly at the board.

The black and white stones alternated continuously.

Moments later, Chen Jiaming adjusted the gold-rimmed glasses on his nose, his gaze filled with shock.

“Every time it seems White is on the verge of collapse, White plays an utterly unexpected move to turn the tide and even strangle Black’s momentum!”

“And just when you think Black is in danger, Black responds with a few brilliant moves, avoiding White’s traps and launching a fierce counterattack!”

“Every move, whether Black or White, is extraordinary!”

“The entire game is so interconnected that it’s impossible to tell who has the upper hand. It’s a chaotic and unpredictable battle where any move could trigger a complete reversal of the board’s dynamics!”

“This…”

“This game…”

Chen Jiaming found himself at a loss for words, unable to articulate his thoughts clearly.

He could tell from Yu Shao’s occasional pauses that this wasn’t a game record being reconstructed—it was just self-play!

Suddenly, an idea popped into Chen Jiaming’s mind, one that even he found absurd.

Yesterday, when Yu Shao played against Wang Rui, he had completely crushed him from start to finish. At that time, Chen Jiaming had concluded that Yu Shao was probably at the level of a professional player.

But that was the extent of his judgment.

From a professional’s perspective, an amateur 4-dan player was considered relatively unskilled. Whether facing a beginner professional or a 9-dan professional, they would almost always be completely outclassed.

Even in the previous simultaneous matches, where Yu Shao had cornered the professional players into desperate situations, the circumstances were different—it was a handicap game combined with a simultaneous exhibition. The professionals’ capabilities were inherently limited in such settings.

However, in this self-play game, the strength Yu Shao displayed…

“Perhaps he’s not just at the level of a beginner professional!”

“Could he be… far beyond that?”

This thought felt utterly preposterous to Chen Jiaming. Yet, as he stared at the game unfolding before him, he couldn’t refute it.

After a while, Yu Shao frowned at the board, hesitating to place another move.

In this self-play, he had White follow his usual style, while Black employed an all-out attack, aiming to sharpen his offensive skills.

In the end, though, Black was surrounded and defeated by White.

“My attacking skills are still lacking…”

Lifting his head, Yu Shao finally noticed the three people standing behind him. Startled, he blurted out, “Why are you all standing behind me?”

Xu Zijin pressed her lips together, gave Yu Shao a deep, meaningful look, then walked straight to the seat opposite him.

She pulled out the chair, sat down, took a deep breath, and looked up at him.

“Let’s play a game,” she said.