Chapter 1127: Face-smacking Zhang gets serious!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
At the competition venue.
The international referees came forward to verify the match.
Then, the thinner of the two referees announced, “The first game goes to Peter.”
The competition was based on a best of three. If Peter won the next game, the challenge would end immediately.
The American representative smiled as he wiped the nervous sweat off his forehead and cursed himself for overthinking things. He did not shake hands with Zhang Ye and headed straight to the place the press conference would soon be held.
Zhang Ye did not pay attention to him. He gave a final look at that ugly computer before turning and leaving the room and headed for the spectator room.
In the spectator room.
When this fellow returned, he was immediately surrounded by a bunch of top Go players!
Wu Changhe stared at him and said, “Where was the big move?”
Zhang Ye said in surprise, “What big move?”
Wu Changhe impatiently said, “Didn’t you have a big move up your sleeve?”
Zhang Ye wore a look of confusion. “What big move did I have up my sleeve?”
Xu Han 8-dan said in a dumbfounded manner, “Didn’t you purposely set a trap for Peter?”
“Ah? What are you all talking about?” Zhang Ye could not understand a word they were saying.
A trap?
Big move?
Where am I supposed to pull that out from for you all!
This AI is too powerful. I already said that I wouldn’t be able to win against it! But you all insisted on making me play against it. Hai, I’m so embarrassed now! Zhang Ye was also feeling very dejected. This fellow had always been called “Face-smacking Zhang” by others, and he had always been the one who slapped others’ faces. But who could have expected that he would be the one getting smacked in the face this time! I knew it! I knew that even if I had drawn a few more skill experience books from the lottery draw, it would still be useless. As expected, this was totally not a matter of skill!
Chen Ying 7-dan returned from the commentary booth. When she stepped in, embarrassment was written all across her face. “Sorry, I, I went overboard during the live broadcast.”
The group of pro players were beyond speechless. All of them had been impassioned by Chen Ying’s commentary and thought that Zhang Ye really had some big move left to play!
But as it stood?
He could not even muster up a fart!
Li Qinqin sighed and said, “Little Zhang, you’ve worked hard.”
Zhang Ye said with a sardonic chuckle, “Auntie, how have I worked hard? I didn’t even win the game, so I feel pretty bad.”
Xiang Rong 9-dan looked at him and said, “You’ve already done great. At the least, I think that you did much better than me. If we had gotten someone else to play, they could not have played as well as you. No matter what, whether you win or lose, we’re very grateful to you for standing up for the Go world.”
At this, everyone else came to realize it too.
Professor Zhang had accepted the challenge for their sake. Even if he lost, they shouldn’t be blaming him. It was never his problem to begin with in the first place!
“Professor Zhang.”
“You did a fine job.”
“It’s fine even though you lost.”
“Right, it’s not the first time that we’ve lost anyway, hai.”
“Your opening was brilliant!”
“Yeah, no one’s been able to make PeterGo so passive! You were the first one to manage it, and this was also the closest that we humans have come to achieving victory!”
“There’s still another game tomorrow.”
“Right, there’s still a chance.”
The professional players all spoke one after another.
Dan Donghe was silent all this while.
There’s still a chance?
Even though they said that, which one of them really believed what they were saying!
They could all see that Professor Zhang had given his best but still lost to Peter. For tomorrow’s game, would there be any difference whether they played or not? Based on today’s performance, they knew that they would not be able to win tomorrow. They could see too many things in today’s game. This was the limit of how well humanity could perform, but was there even a limit to how far PeterGo could go? They could not see! Yes, there were just no limits!
Li Qinqin consoled, “Don’t be too pressured and just play as you would for tomorrow’s game.”
Zhang Ye gave a wry smile. He thought about how every one of them was placing their hopes on him, and how so many of the common folk were looking at him, so how could there be no pressure on him? The pressure was simply too great!
What if I don’t win tomorrow? Then what?
Would I no longer be able to face everyone?
Would I not be able to marry Old Wu anymore?
Motherfucker, this goddamned PeterGo!
Who the fuck designed this bastard of a thing!
…
On Weibo.
The netizens were all wailing!
“That commentator is such a scammer!”
“Yeah, she said it so seriously that I took her word for it!”
“And in the end, when Teacher Zhang said ‘I resign,’ I nearly fell to my knees!”
“It’s useless to say anything now! We’ve lost again!’
“Even Teacher Zhang could not win against it!”
“Zhang Ye was just a layman to begin with, so why would you guys expect him to win?”
“Ai, I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s game as well. It’s going to just be a formality, though. I can see it already. This PeterGo is really too fucking pro!”
“Is there really no one who can beat it? Not even a single game?”
“Go is done for!”
“In a hundred years from now, this game probably won’t exist!”
The atmosphere was getting extremely pessimistic. Or rather, it had already become extremely hopeless!
No one thought that humanity would stand a chance of making a comeback!
…
Later that afternoon.
Back at home.
The game had lasted for several hours and it was almost past lunchtime.
When Zhang Ye got home, all of his relatives rushed to him.
“Brother, you’re amazing!” his third sister said, giving him a look of adoration.
Zhang Ye smiled bitterly. “I lost and you’re saying I’m amazing?”
His eldest younger sister said, “But your opponent is an AI that even defeated Xiang Rong 9-dan. It’s already heaven defying enough that you could fight it that well!”
“It’s still a loss.” Zhang Ye wasn’t feeling great about it.
His father came over. “Prepare yourself for tomorrow’s game!”
His mother said, “Yes, demolish it tomorrow!”
Demolish it? I would love to do that!
But how could I possibly achieve it?
His first aunt said, “Don’t lose heart, you’ll be fine!”
His third uncle said, “Right, you’ve only lost one game. There are still two games left!”
Zhang Ye forced a smile. “After playing Go for the entire morning, I’m feeling a little tired. I’m going to lie down for a bit.”
His mother said, “Quickly get some rest then.”
Zhang Ye went into his bedroom and laid down on the bed immediately after closing the door. Hearing the chatter of his relatives outside every now and then, he felt really helpless and depressed about the game.
It wasn’t that this fellow could not stand to lose, nor was he someone who could not withstand a blow. Ever since he debuted in the entertainment industry, he had stumbled many times as he went through a lot of difficulties along the way. But he had never lost heart before. Besides, Zhang Ye still hasn’t lost yet. They were only one game into the best of three. But what made Zhang Ye feel very helpless was that he had no idea how to deal with PeterGo. He knew that even if he were to play tomorrow, he would still not be able to win!
This was the most frustrating thing of all!
Which was why he could not raise his spirits!
Damn, why doesn’t this bro use his hacking skills to bring it down? And let that bastard of a thing go up in smoke? Fuck, wouldn’t that be a little too mean? Besides, the Americans would surely have the most secure and latest technologies to protect it against such attacks. He might not necessarily have a chance to hack into it! Should he try the lottery again? But it wouldn’t work no matter how many times he played the lottery. PeterGo’s dataset was just too large. During today’s game against Zhang Ye, PeterGo had played moves in the styles of Xiang Rong 9-dan, Shinji 9-dan, Li Yi 9-dan, and anyone else who had played against it. The large dataset it had could also enable it to correctly predict Zhang Ye’s every move. This was no longer a difference in skills but the difference between a human brain and a machine! On this aspect, the machine had a crushing advantage over humans. Combined with the two “brains” that gave PeterGo its analytical power, the Americans were actually correct in their claims. This artificial intelligence could really be said to be “thinking” from a different perspective.
The amount of information he had was not as much as the opponent had!
His speed of calculation was not as fast either!
And the precision of his calculations could not be compared either!
Then why the hell was he still competing? How could he compete?
In the public.
A lot of experts were analyzing this war between humans and machines!
A Go commentator: “Zhang Ye excels at the game but is still lacking by too much when compared to the machine.”
A scientist: “Humanity is doomed to fail in this war!”
A former national master Go player from Japan: “Not optimistic about tomorrow’s chances!”
Ring, ring, ring.
A call from Wu Zeqing came in.
When Zhang Ye saw the caller ID, he hesitated for a moment before rejecting it.
But his cell phone rang again the next second.
Zhang Ye bit the bullet and answered.
“Hello.”
“Why didn’t you take my call?”
“Hai, I can’t face anyone right now.”
“You only lost one game and you’ve become like this?”
“The issue is that I’m not confident for tomorrow either.”
“You can win. I believe in you.”
“Even I don’t believe in me.”
“But I do.”
Zhang Ye was taken aback.
He heard Wu Zeqing say: “I watched today’s game, and I feel that you had a problem while playing. At Go, I’m not anywhere close to as good as you all. But when we were at my place, I watched many of the games you played. I felt that you held back a lot today and were trying to play too carefully throughout the entire game. It was totally different from the carefree style you had while you were playing at my place.”
Zhang Ye said helplessly: “My opponent was too strong. I had to play more conservatively against it. What’s more, I was playing under pressure from my opponent for most of the game.”
Old Wu said: “I always believe that playing Go should be approached as how one lives their lives. Whatever type of person you are, you should be that way and play according to your style. You can’t change it. Play conservatively? Playing carefully and taking a steady approach? Building up your base with every step? That’s not who you are at all! It’s not in your nature to play that way. That’s why you might have held yourself back by doing so. I still find you cooler when you played the way you did against my dad, China Qiyuan, and Xiang Rong 9-dan while we were at my place.”
At your place?
I didn’t even know that I was not facing your dad at that time!
If this bro knew that my opponents had all been 9-dan players and were among the top 20 players in the world, I would’ve pissed my pants. How could I have played as carefreely as I did!
Zhang Ye said: “Uh, will that really work?”
“Just give it a try,” Old Wu replied.
Zhang Ye nodded. “Alright, I’ll take your advice then.”
Old Wu said: “As for the other factors, you can only depend on yourself to figure them out. I can’t help with that.”
After hanging up, Zhang Ye gave it some thought for quite a while. Old Wu had indeed made a very reasonable argument. He had been too nervous today and was only thinking about not making any mistakes and errors. He just did not want to lose. As a result, he couldn’t open up a path on the board for himself. He would probably give a try during tomorrow’s game.
But even that was still not enough. It was not enough to ensure a victory!
He still couldn’t overcome the critical issue. He still hadn’t found the key to deal with PeterGo!
There had to be a way!
There must be!
But what was it?
Where did PeterGo’s weakness lie?
All of a sudden, he heard the sound of the television come in from the living room.
It was the earlier press conference at China Qiyuan. Zhang Ye had left the premises right after the match and did not take any interviews. He did not join the press conference either, but the American representative had taken part in it.
He could hear what the American was saying. “The smartest person to come along in a century? And that was all he could do? Then I shall look forward to the second game of the match between Peter and him.”
All he could do?
That was all he could do?
Zhang Ye chuckled!
You want to posture with me, eh?
The thought of marrying Old Wu if he could win the match? The thought of fighting for the honor of humanity? The thought of fighting for the honor of the Go world? Zhang Ye shoved all those thoughts to the back of his mind!
Sure!
This bro will take it to the bitter end with you!
I’ll show you bunch of foreigners just why they all call me “Face-smacking Zhang”!
