LOL: Can’t I play other games professionally?

Chapter 379, Move 381: I'm playing Go in Watch, you should join me! (6000 words)
Fang Tianfeng, an eighth-dan player whose later years were in jeopardy, suffered the most humiliating defeat of his career, a complete collapse from start to finish.

Recalling his pre-match boast that he would urge the young players to give it their all, Fang Tianfeng felt an urge to slap himself. "Kid, did you really use a bull talisman to unleash your full power? How could it be so strong?"

"Thanks for the advice."

After winning the match, Lin Ruo, with a stable mindset, returned the proper courtesy as usual. Her face did not show much joy, only the calmness of confidence that she would win and therefore no surprise.

In other words, Lin Ruo chose the most sophisticated way.

The referee in charge of recording the game silently looked at the total time of the game between the two sides, and it was only exactly one Kun time.

Is this time all it takes for a world championship? Are you sure this isn't a local Go tournament... even a local tournament wouldn't be this short.

This has clearly broken the record for the shortest time in the three editions of the Mengbaihe Cup, and it was achieved by a professional 1-dan player against a professional 8-dan player. This match is destined to be recorded in the history of the Mengbaihe Cup.

While the surrounding players were still engaged in intense matches, these people had already stood up, greeted each other, packed up their chess sets, and left the venue one after another.

"It's over again? A quick kill?"

While the other players were stunned, they could easily tell who the final winner was by looking at the expressions on the faces of the players who left the game.

Fang Tianfeng, an 8-dan player, was almost blushing. It couldn't possibly be that he was overly excited after winning against a 1-dan player, so there was clearly only one explanation.

It exploded again.

At that moment, all the players, regardless of their skill level, unanimously remembered this name that had repeatedly caught their attention.

Lin Ruo, a professional first dan, defeated young professionals who were both professional seventh and eighth dan in the preliminary rounds.

He made it into the third round of the qualifiers in the most incredible way, and the group of death could not stop him at all.

"Mr. Fang, do we need a debriefing?" Lin Ruo asked as soon as she stepped out of the hall.

Fang Fengtian was silent for a moment, but in the end he took the thermos and led Lin Ruo to an empty table next to the hall.

Although he was completely outmatched, he still wanted to know how Lin Ruo had figured out that move, and how he had been beaten so badly that he was powerless to fight back.

The two players' post-game analysis was simple: the key reason for their loss was Black's move 40-something.

Therefore, the discussion is limited to this point, because Black's winning percentage has already fallen below 20%, so there is no point in discussing it further.

Fang Tianfeng, an 8-dan player, attempted to control the pace of the game with a steady opening strategy while playing black. However, in the early stages, black missed a crucial exchange in the upper area, instantly surrendering the initiative.

Lin Ruo seized the opportunity by taking advantage of this, and made a decisive "sharp" move on the upper right second lane. This risky move was full of killing intent.

If Fang Tianfeng had chosen to sacrifice a piece to exchange, he could have reversed the decline, but he inexplicably made a fatal mistake by playing a "ban" move, causing Black's winning percentage to drop below 5% in just over 50 moves.

Ultimately, it comes down to an unwillingness to bear such a large loss during the planning stage, which led to a complete gamble on the entire situation.

In the middle game, Fang Tianfeng, who had suffered repeated setbacks, made a desperate gamble by pushing his large group deep into the lower left corner of the white territory, attempting to turn the tide by securing his isolated group.

With a composure beyond her years, Lin Ruo uses fluid and graceful techniques to build an impenetrable wall.

The moment White made the move that broke Black's eye, Black's large group was completely trapped, ultimately forcing the 8-dan player Fang Tianfeng, who refused to give up, to resign.

After reviewing the game, Fang Tianfeng shook his head and said, "Kid, you won. Losing to you wasn't an upset."

A player's skill level can be clearly felt during a game.

Fang Tianfeng truly experienced that Youneng was unstoppable and Wenneng was flawless in its operations.

If a player like that winning is considered an upset, then there will be many more upsets to come.

After thinking it over, Fang Tianfeng hurriedly left. It was not a good place to stay. After all, if he didn't run away soon, some familiar old chess players would come after him.

No way, Mr. Fang, how could you be beaten like this by a young man? I really can't do it.

Mr. Fang, how could you look for this place? You're so foolish! You should have gone this way.

It's not exactly sarcastic or cynical, but we can still have a "spot the difference" segment.

Losing the game was certainly painful, but being criticized by Lao Deng's friends was even more upsetting, so Fang Tianfeng ran faster than anyone else.

Yes, and WeChat should be set to "Do Not Disturb," and phone calls should be silenced, since there are endless ways for friends to "comfort" you.

...

Yu Zhiying, who had just left the arena, saw Lin Ruo and asked with a mixture of helplessness and disbelief, "You won? And so quickly?"

"I won." Lin Ruo responded casually, as if she had won countless times, to the point that she couldn't muster any excitement.

"Old Fang is an eighth-dan professional Go player, isn't he?" Yu Zhiying wanted to say something, but then she changed her mind. She wouldn't be surprised if Lin Ru did something in the future.

She can defeat an 8-dan professional Go player faster than she can defeat a 4-dan professional Go player.

Yu Zhiying suddenly felt that facing South Korean world champion Park Young-hoon 9-dan in the third round the day after tomorrow, even if she lost the match and was eliminated, wouldn't be such a bad thing.

This way, one can avoid facing a devil like Lin Ruo, and also enjoy watching his epic battle against a ninth-dan world champion.

Of course, it would be wonderful if she could defeat Park Young-hoon and meet Lin Ruo before then.

However, Yu Zhiying knew it would be difficult, as there are significant physiological differences between male and female Go players, and the gap between a 7-dan professional Go player and a 9-dan professional Go player is like a chasm.

Well, except for Lin Ruo.

So she was naturally thinking about another more practical question: "Are you confident you can defeat Park Young-hoon 9-dan?"

Lin Ruo didn't give an answer, but instead asked in return, "The third round of the preliminary rounds hasn't even passed yet, how come we've jumped to the fourth round?"

He still respected his third-round opponent, even though he was only a sixth-dan player.

Oops, I almost forgot that I'm only a beginner myself.

However, given the current external environment, it seems that his loss to a professional 6-dan player is the real upset, rather than his victory over a professional 6-dan player being the real upset.

The shift in public opinion can be so sudden and smooth, requiring no transition time whatsoever.

The news of Lin Ruo defeating Fang Tianfeng, a professional 8-dan player, spread as soon as the match ended, inevitably causing an unprecedented surge in online traffic.

Early in the morning, mainstream media outlets, including People's Daily, Guangming.com, and Sina Sports, were all vying to publish the news.

Lin Ruo didn't post on Weibo, but his presence was everywhere on Weibo; he was practically omnipresent.

People who don't know better might think that Weibo is owned by him.

#Lin Ruobai's Dragon Slayer Fang Tianfeng#
#Lin Ruo advances to the third round with two consecutive wins in the qualifiers#
#Lin Ruo sets the shortest single-game time record in the Mengbaihe Cup#
#Go Genius#
Who is Fang Tianfeng?
#Lin Ruo's third-round opponent Zhang Li#
#Lin Ruo may face Park Young-hoon, a professional 9-dan player, later on#
Early risers on Weibo were instantly jolted awake by this series of news reports.

No, they even did it at a professional 8th dan level, that's defying the heavens.

[Isn't Lin Gou a professional League of Legends player? Why is he always doing something else, playing Dota 2 one minute and Go the next?]

Don't ask, the only answer is that the other LPL clubs are too weak and can't put any pressure on Lin.

What is EDG club doing? Is this how they manage their players?

[Lin Gou team is in danger, return immediately, EDG just lost a regular season game the day before yesterday.]

[Will it have any impact? EDG was still first in the regular season, huh? Then it's fine. Don't bother me, Lin, with such a small matter.]

Without Lin Ruo, LPL viewership has dropped significantly recently. If Lin Ruo doesn't come back soon, Tengjing will have to make a move.

Although LPL viewership has decreased, look how quickly Go viewership has increased. The whole society is discussing this now. LPL's sacrifices are worthwhile; I suggest awarding them a Best Contribution Award.

...

"Holy crap, you're insane! You'd do anything to become EDG's top professional 8th rank player. Tell me how you cheated."

Mingkai, who was watching the drama unfold, sent out the harshest rebuke: if there is anyone in the world who doesn't want Lin Ruo to advance to the main stage of the Mengbaihe Cup, then it is undoubtedly him.

why.

The EDG club was founded by him, and now he's expected to call Lin Ruo "Big Brother" both inside and outside the team, and to regard him as the number one person in EDG.

Mingkai couldn't be happier than to burn incense and pray to Buddha every day to ensure Lin Ruo's crushing defeat.

"Kai, how did you know I cheated? Actually, I was using a cheat, but it was just in my head."

As soon as Lin Ruo finished speaking, he was greeted with a string of exclamations from the other end of the phone: "You're just pretending!"

See? Lin Ruo felt he had been so honest that he had no choice but to be, yet his good friend was speechless and thought he was just putting on airs.

Then there's no way.

If I don't tell you, you'll ask; if I do tell you, you won't believe me.

"Kai, cherish these last moments at the club. After all, when I come back, you'll have to call me 'Big Brother.' If you don't want to, that's fine too. Just send me the money for a hundred big swords."

After saying that, Lin Ruo hung up the phone without giving Ming Kai a chance to refute. He was a nice guy, and even offered to pay money to avoid trouble in order to protect Ming Kai's dignity.

Of course, Lin Ruo didn't want the money herself; she was simply giving Kai Ge a way out.

Lin Ruo is actually not too bad, seeing his news everywhere and accidentally becoming a hot topic in society again. After all, there are definitely more people who know him now than those who don't.

Participating in the Mengbaihe Cup is a good thing, it would be even better if the prize money were higher.

No, it's not about raising the prize money; the Dream Lily Cup doesn't actually offer any prize money at all.

Only those who make it to the top 64 in this tournament receive a guaranteed prize of 20,000 yuan, which, frankly, is less than what you'd earn in a day of live streaming.

This time it's truly for a dream, otherwise what else could it be for? So Lin Ruo decided not to work hard tomorrow, but instead find an e-sports hotel to stream and make money.

Netizens would never have imagined that Lin Ruo could actually find a place to stream e-sports at a hotel while traveling to participate in competitions. It seems that Lin Ruo will do anything for money.

[Calling Zhang Li, a professional 6th dan, here's a professional 1st dan looking down on you.]

[Holy crap, Lin is so arrogant! The competition is tomorrow, doesn't he take Zhang Li, a player from a Go family, seriously? Instead of going back to studying, he's doing a live stream.]

[What gives you, a professional 1-dan, the right to look down on a 6-dan? I'm Zhang Li's neighbor, and I saw him preparing diligently from beginning to end all day.]

[People staying in hotels have neighbors, so where did this "virtual neighbor" come from?]

[Don't get me wrong. Didn't you know that Lin Gou went to Tiananmen Square the day before his match against an 8-dan professional player? So it's obvious that Lin Gou wasn't targeting Zhang Li, he was targeting everyone in his group during the preliminaries, and on a larger scale, he was targeting all Go players.]

[You've made me the public enemy of the Go world by saying that.]

[Brothers, don't get me wrong, this is what internet addiction looks like. I suggest taking Lin to Yang Yongxin's electroshock therapy center for a treatment, so it doesn't affect his Go playing.]

[This is outrageous! You're sending a League of Legends pro player to internet addiction rehabilitation.]

[He's clearly addicted to money, but he insists on calling it internet addiction. Fans, stop trying to defend him. Lin Gengxin, this money-loving man, humph, has the same taste as me.]

Lin Ruo, who appreciates the comments in the live stream, has to admit that the atmosphere in the live stream room is still better. The netizens are all talented, and no one is more professional than them when it comes to abstract and funny comments.

They would all be top-tier talents if they were brought out to the public. Lin Ruo even suspected that his true fans were likely all high-ranking figures in the anti-fan community, otherwise they wouldn't be so talented.

Sure enough, it's no joke that half of the viewers on the Anti-Fighting Bar are learning techniques in his live stream.

On this special esports hotel livestream day, Lin Ruo, feeling nostalgic, decided to revisit Overwatch, a game he hadn't played in over six months, and have some fun.

After all, it was the first game he played that reached the top of the charts. In recent months, Overwatch's popularity in China has dropped quite quickly, and it started to gradually move into a slump much earlier than overseas.

Lin Ruo certainly can't change the future rise and fall of a game, but playing a couple of rounds occasionally to attract more players is still an option.

Back then, Overwatch was at least the first game company to invite him to participate in the event.

Although she doesn't love it as much now, and even thinks Genji is just so-so, there is one thing in Overwatch that Lin Ruo still finds hard to get tired of.

That's the Map Workshop mode, where you can create scripts, then choose your favorite type from the existing game modes, add new rules and conditions, and create unique new gameplay.

It's similar to custom games in League of Legends, but with much more flexibility.

The Workshop mode allows you to do many things, such as changing hero movement and skill effects, modifying player damage or healing, and even displaying text under certain circumstances.

It emphasizes freedom and spontaneity, allowing you to do whatever you want. As long as you have the ability, the joy you experience here is endless.

Just like a programmer operating the map, it's incredibly easy to move real-world facilities into the map workshop and modify them. Whether it's playing Gomoku, chess, or billiards, there's nothing they can't do, only things they haven't thought of yet.

In these rooms, you can play many brand-new versions of Overwatch that you've never experienced before. For example, when Lin Ruo arrives at the familiar map Lijiang Tower Night Market, he will find that he and his teammates are all Torbjörns wielding little hammers.

You can't build turrets or fire guns here; you can only swing your hammer and move around.

There is only one way to win the game: get behind the only enemy and hit him with a hammer.

It's okay if you don't know how to set it up, and it's fine if you don't have a wild imagination. You can choose to play for free and play maps created by other talented players.

Clearly, the developers took into account that map editing is a rather intricate and complex task, which many players find difficult to master, or rather, many players simply don't have the skills.

Someone like Lin Ruo, who has hands, naturally wants to create entirely new maps himself.

As for what map it is, there's a match tomorrow, so what map will it be?

Lin Ruoli created a map that could be used for Go games. Actually, it wasn't difficult at all; it seemed even simpler than playing Gomoku.

Because Gomoku (Five in a Row) might require algorithms to determine the winner, Go is different. Lin Ruo only needs to make the board and pieces; the winner can be calculated later.

Don't ask why he didn't make it automatic, because Lin Ruo really isn't very good at it. After all, he has a full head of hair and isn't some bald programmer.

Once you've created the room, just find any top-tier streamer in the chat and let them dominate you.

So here's the question: who said he wasn't seriously preparing for tomorrow's match?
"Hateful people, who said I was lazy or disrespectful to the players?"

Lin Ruo waited for netizens to come in and torture him, and also set up an entry threshold to prevent casual players who only knew how to play Gomoku from coming in to muddle through and fill in the gaps, because this would seriously affect his preparation state in the game.

[Holy crap, playing Go in Overwatch? I've never heard of that before! Why don't you just play League of Legends in there?]

【It's not impossible, I think it's a great idea. As long as I don't play Overwatch, I'm fine with playing any game within Overwatch.】

[I want to play PUBG in Overwatch, how do I do that? Lin Gou, can you make it for me? Sending you a hug.]

[Could you set up a room where players can only attack each other by elbowing each other, with the damage set so that three elbow hits kill? If so, I'd be happy to send you a giant sword to play with.]

...

"Please don't interfere with my preparations, really."

Lin Ruo expressed his dissatisfaction to netizens. Originally, he did not want to do anything else because he wanted to concentrate on training Go. However, he had no choice because some netizens were willing to offer him a great opportunity to create a map.

That being the case.

Actually, it's okay to delay a bit of time and then train for Go and prepare for the competition later.

The whole day passed just like that. Lin Ruo, who had been making patchwork moves, had set up more than ten custom rooms. Finally, she finished her training with a 10-minute game of Go and ended the broadcast on time.

Today's harvest was plentiful, not only completing the preparations for the competition in Go, but more importantly, it brought a significant boost in economic benefits.

In Lin Ruo's view, it's a win-win situation!

……

4 month 16 day.

The third round of the Mengbaihe Cup qualifiers.

In the competition hall of the Chinese Chess Academy, fewer than fifty chess players gathered around more than twenty tables for a new round of upgrading games.

The huge competition venue was so quiet that you could hear your own breathing, except for the occasional reporter who would come in to take a few live photos.

The metallic sound of chess pieces striking the board lingered in everyone's minds, and in the increasingly exciting game, everyone was giving it their all.

Apart from…

"I lost."

At the seventeenth table, Zhang Li, a professional sixth dan, lowered his head in utter despair. In the end, he could not escape the same fate as the two previous high-dan players who had fallen.

Lin Ruo played black and made the first move. He made a small mistake in the opening, and then gave Zhang Li an Alpha Jump opening. After 139 moves, he established a large territory and gradually gained a large territory.

At this point, the fate of Zhang Lifang's large group of stones was still uncertain. After taking a short break, Lin Ruo directly decided to kill the dragon on move 167.

Even though Zhang Li stubbornly tried to make his large group of stones live, he was unable to achieve two eyes. By move 197, the large group of white stones was dead, and he was forced to resign.

Lin Ruo's performance today was still perfect. He captured the dragon in 197 moves without giving any chance. He was like a tireless chess machine, without showing the slightest flaw or mistake.

Zhang Li, who had just breathed a sigh of relief, was somewhat devastated. As a fellow young player, he had also upset a seasoned 7-dan veteran in the previous round.

However, compared to the even more explosive Lin Ruo, his upset was nothing at all.

It could be said that he could have made a splash in this Dream Lily Cup qualifier, but the presence of the stronger Lin Ruo wiped everything out.

There's nothing anyone can do if you're not as skilled as others. The team's "gift package" became the big boss, blocking them all from reaching the final stage of the fourth round.

The outcome that no one expected, the possibility that no one foresaw, has become a reality.

After watching the match, which was basically over, the two stayed behind to do a post-match analysis.

Unlike the previous two, Zhang Li didn't suffer a particularly crushing defeat, so he was still very eager to review the game and identify the problems.

Lin Ruoxin readily agreed to this. The losing side made a request that, according to the rules, the winning side must accompany the losing side to review the game until all of the losing side's doubts are resolved.

This is the basic responsibility of the winning side: to ensure that the losing side understands their defeat and learns from it so that the game is not in vain.

"Thanks for the advice."

"You're welcome."

After a short while, Lin Ruo finished reviewing the game, tidied up the chessboard, stretched, and walked out of the competition area.

He successfully passed the first three rounds and arrived at the final hurdle before the main tournament. The ticket was within reach, but the opponents were also exceptionally strong.

"I lost. We still didn't manage to meet. Good luck to you from now on."

Yu Zhiying stood outside the hall and sighed calmly.

After choosing to switch to the men's group, she accepted the possibility that she wouldn't advance; now, it's just that what she predicted has happened.

Having done her best, there was nothing she couldn't accept, especially since she had lost to a professional 9-dan player and former world champion, Park Young-hoon.

In the opening, Park Young-hoon was forced to work hard by a flying shield, and then Park Young-hoon successfully broke through the air by relying on his strong momentum. The two then exchanged air in the lower right corner.

Despite her relentless efforts to find a way to turn the tide, Yu Zhiying ultimately failed. Although she managed to secure the ko, she still lost by a quarter of a point.

It can be said that she played her best game from the middle to the end, but her opponent, as a world champion, showed great composure and strength, refusing to turn the tide and ultimately securing a spot in the fourth round of the challenge.

(End of this chapter)