Luo ng glanced at Yuri, chuckled, and was not in a hurry to make his chess move. Instead, he waved to Lucy, the waitress standing in the hall, saying:
"Lucy, bring a glass of water."
There were five female service staff in the hall, dedicated to serving tea and water to everyone.
Lucy, upon hearing Luo ng's call, imdiately brought over a glass of water and placed it in front of Luo ng.
Luo ng took the glass, and with a slight exertion of force in his right hand, a white mist of ice rose, instantly chilling the entire glass of water, with visible ice forming along the rim of the glass.
Luo ng lifted the glass and took a big gulp, exclaiming "refreshing,"
then set down the glass, his Divine Sense stirred, and a white piece flew onto the chessboard and settled into place.
After the first few pieces were laid down, the two players entered into a close-quarters offense and defense skirmish.
Luo ng kept in mind Yang Xiao's ability to withstand pressure, and before each move, he considered the next three moves while also thinking about possible counterattacks from Yuri.
With such deliberations, his pace of playing chess was significantly slower than usual.
Yuri glanced at Luo ng, slightly dissatisfied, thinking that no matter how slow you are, it's all the sa; you're going to lose eventually.
However, since Luo ng was his superior, he could only glance and dared not say anything.
As it was a match, there was no ti limit.
Luo ng thus kept a steady and firm approach, thinking through several moves ahead with each turn. Although he didn't gain any advantage, he didn't lose any points either.
After dozens of moves, Luo ng was quite satisfied with his performance today and beca increasingly confident, with his deanor growing ever more composed.
Additionally, the occasional sip of icy water kept him cool and void of any impulsiveness or recklessness.
Half an hour passed, and less than sixty pieces had been placed on the chessboard.
Yuri began to feel impatient internally and couldn't help but urge:
"Captain Luo, can we speed up a bit? You see, the Station Master and everyone else are watching."
Luo ng chuckled, took a sip of ice water, and called out to Lucy in the distance:
"Lucy, refill my water, please."
Lucy ca over and said in a low voice:
"There's only hot water left."
"No matter, hot water will do."
Lucy poured a glass of scalding hot water and carefully handed it to Luo ng.
Holding it in his hand, Luo ng employed his Ice Elent Technique, instantly turning a large cup of hot water into ice water, then glanced at Yuri and said:
"Yuri, after all, today's match relates to my future prospects. I'm sowhat nervous, hence the hesitation and slowness in my moves. Don't take it personally, eh?"
After finishing his words, Luo ng apologized with a smile to Station Master David.
David said:
"It's fine, just play according to what you think is best."
Both players then ignited their consciousness and began the cutthroat competition on the chessboard.
Gradually, the situation on the chessboard beca increasingly tense, with each move impacting the regional and possibly the overall outco of the ga.
Both players began to be subjected to intense psychological pressure from their opponent, tension mounting significantly.
Fine beads of sweat oozed out from their foreheads.
There are 181 black pieces and 180 white pieces in Go, but each player had only played less than 60 pieces each so far.
The situation on the board remained deadlocked, with both sides biting tightly onto each other.
Yuri, holding the black pieces, initiated the ga, but Luo ng's white pieces closely matched the black ones, evenly matched without any significant errors.
It was Yuri, however, who beca impatient, making two minor mistakes that Luo ng seized upon to capture around ten pieces.
About ten pieces weren't many and didn't affect the overall situation, but it had a significant impact on Yuri's ntality.
Yuri grew increasingly eager, trying to set the pace of the ga with his own speed and influence Luo ng's play.
Every ti Luo ng made a move, his pieces were quickly placed, even to the point where as soon as Luo ng's piece was laid down, Yuri's piece would follow imdiately.
Moreover, each ti Yuri played a piece, there was significant montum behind it, each move sounding clear and sharp,
"Slap, slap, slap..."
Crisp, hurried, slightly pressing sounds continuously emanated.
After more than twenty moves, Luo ng eventually couldn't withstand the pace and involuntarily began to speed up as well.
"Snap!"
Luo ng, without ti to think further, hurriedly seized a spot.
Yuri's face revealed a cold sneer, quickly placing a piece that cut off Luo ng's stone.
Luo ng felt a killing aura piercing into his heart, his mind shook, and he inwardly cursed, slightly closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.
Everyone was taken aback, watching Luo ng.
After a mont, Luo ng opened his eyes, gulped down half a cup of ice water, adjusted his breathing, and after a mont's thought, quickly connected his stones to prevent Yuri from interrupting.
Yuri took advantage, capturing two of Luo ng's stones.
Fortunately, Luo ng steadied himself in ti, connecting his own stones; otherwise, Yuri would have captured all in that area.
This ti, Luo ng didn't follow Yuri's lead and maintained his strategy of looking three moves ahead with each step he took, playing slowly.
The two had each placed ninety stones, reaching the mid-ga where the situation began to change subtly.
At this mont, everyone in the hall beca tense.
Especially You Jue, as this concerned his entire wealth, the bet of one billion Crystal Coins.
Previously, when Luo ng and Yuri played against each other, the outco was usually apparent after a third of the stones were placed.
Today was unusual, they played half the ga and yet the victory was undecided.
You Jue reached out to touch his forehead, his body sweating profusely.
Yuri began to feel nervous now.
If Luo ng lost, he would just have to resign as captain and could still stay at the base to do other things; the loss wasn't very big.
But if Yuri lost, his cousin You Jue's family would have to compensate one billion Crystal Coins.
And this compensation would ultimately fall onto him.
Yuri's family was of average ans, and most of his Crystal Coin inco was used for his Genetic Evolution; he was the most talented in his family. Over the years, his family had spent at least a billion Crystal Coins to help him reach the Emperor Level Evolution Stage.
Now his family could barely co up with twenty million Crystal Coins.
"Snap!"
Luo ng placed a white stone, directly intercepting Yuri's stones, a key piece whose loss could an the loss of more than a dozen stones.
An invisible killing aura invaded Yuri's mind, causing his head to swell and emotions to beco frenzied and unstable.
His back was drenched in cold sweat.
Taking a deep breath, Yuri steadied his Divine Sense and placed a black piece,
In his panic, or perhaps due to a lack of clarity,
With a "snap,"
This piece was mistakenly placed.
After the stone was placed, Yuri's heart sank, his face turned ashen, and his body trembled slightly as he nervously looked at Luo ng.
If Luo ng did not pursue closely, he still had a chance to connect his stones and save that region.
Luo ng saw Yuri's mistaken move and felt a surge of elation, his emotions fluctuating, his Divine Sense becoming unstable.
Luo ng took a deep breath, picked up the cup again, and drank half a cup of ice water.
The cold water flowed into him, bringing a chill and gradually calming his excited emotions.
Steadying his Divine Sense, Luo ng controlled a white stone to rise and hover over the chessboard, not landing for a long ti.
The opposition's Yuri's heart pounded violently, and his expression was extraordinarily tense.
Station Chief David, You Jue, and others watching the ga could all see that this move was crucial for the outco, each one holding their breath and watching the white stone suspended above the chessboard.
You Jue and Yuri, the two brothers, silently prayed, hoping Luo ng didn't see this crucial stone.
Luo ng smiled faintly,
With a "snap,"
The white stone firmly landed in the key position, completely severing the black stones.
Yuri's face went pale, darkness closed in on his vision, and he collapsed to the floor.
With a "crash," sitting nearby, You Jue also fell off his chair to the ground.
(There will be more tonight)
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