Chapter 1112

Chapter 1112: An artificial intelligence issues a challenge to humanity!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The next day.

It was another morning.

An entertainment circle without Zhang Ye was always going to be missing that bit of liveliness. Although there were still countless celebrities involved in all kinds of news and scandals, those were mainly either hyped up by their companies to promote a new film or show, or the headlines themselves being hyped up when in fact the news was nothing that interesting. It was always lacking that realism and impact that Zhang Ye brought when he was active. He would so often start some trouble that was so shocking that it would send everyone into panic. Everything was definitely more exciting when he was around.

On Weibo.

“Is Zhang Ye still on break?”

“It’s only been three days.”

“Ai, I’m starting to miss him already!”

“Me too! I wish that Teacher Zhang would return soon and create yet another masterpiece!”

“I wonder what Zhang Ye is doing right now.”

“Could that fellow be sleeping every day?”

“What about that girl who is like the lilac? How’s it going with her?”

“@ZhangYe! Wake up!”

“@ZhangYe! Wake up!”

“@ZhangYe! Don’t sleep anymore!”

In the end, someone kicked off a mass mention of Zhang Ye, with a lot of people gleefully joining in. In an instant, several hundred people on Weibo started to @ZhangYe to make this fellow get up from bed.

But unknown to them, Zhang Ye had awakened long ago.

…

Back at home.

7 AM.

After breakfast, Zhang Ye eagerly went back to his room and logged on to the Online Go Server again.

Then a call from Wu Zeqing came in.

“Old Wu?”

“You’re awake?”

“Yes, I am. I’m getting ready to play Go.”

“You still want to play?”

“Yeah, I have nothing to do anyway.”

“Don’t play anymore. My dad is starting to get frustrated. If you keep beating him, I think he might really get into a fight with you. Don’t overdo it.”

“Ah? Surely not, right?”

“Why not? When I got back yesterday, I heard my dad cursing you for the entire night, hur hur. Oh yes, my mom wants me to ask you something. She wonders if you’d be interested in joining a pro Go tournament. A Go celebrity is also a celebrity; they get a lot of attention too. My mom asks if you will consider it for a moment?”

“No thanks.”

“Why is that?”

“With my level, I can only occasionally come up against someone like your dad, who’s a retired pro.”

“Have some faith in yourself. You’re very good.”

“Forget it. I’ll just stick to the entertainment industry and make an honest living there instead.”

“True. Alright then.”

“Old Wu, what about the two of us?”

“It won’t be an issue with my mom. But as for my dad…”

“I’ve won so many games against your dad. Is he still not going to recognize and accept me? Then wouldn’t I have done all that for nothing?”

“It’s not for nothing. This time, you’ve really changed the way that my parents perceive you. My dad may be cursing you very fiercely, but I can see that he has been moved. As for my mom, she rather likes you too. How about this: I’ll bring you to my parents’ place again in a few days’ time.”

“Sure.”

“Then you rest well today. I need to get to work.”

The call ended.

He has been moved?

Zhang Ye smile slightly, thinking about how there was finally some progress, at last.

He wasn’t at all thinking of becoming some Go celebrity. Although it was good to have another title, and would contribute to the course of his career as well as add some shine to his résumé, the intensity of the tournaments was too high with too much competition and spanned too long a duration. Every day for the entire year, they would be required to train and compete against one another. All those professional and world rankings were actually earned by sacrificing one’s time. Zhang Ye did not have such time to do something like that. If it were not for the matter with Wu Zeqing, and his differences with Wu Changhe, he would probably not have touched Go and Xiangqi at all in his lifetime. These sports celebrities might look very glorious and positive, and also gain the respect of many, but it was simply too high of a price to pay. Besides, Zhang Ye had always thought that his Go skill was mediocre. He couldn’t even beat a retired pro who couldn’t play in professional games and had even nearly lost to him too, so why would he want to join any pro tournaments? Wouldn’t he be looking to get abused then? Even if he got matched against a pro 5th or 6th dan Go player, he probably still couldn’t win!

Suddenly, the door opened.

His mother came into the room. “Oh, you’re not playing Go today?”

Zhang Ye laughed and said, “No, I’m not playing anymore. I won so much that I got bored.”

“Keep bragging, kid!” His mother naturally did not take his words seriously. She said, “If you have nothing to do, get changed quickly. Come with me and your dad and do some grocery shopping. Your three sisters will be coming over this afternoon to have fun.”

“Bring me to the market with you?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“What if I get surrounded by people at the market?”

“If you get surrounded, then so be it.”

“Whoa, you’re really throwing me out there huh?”

“It wasn’t easy for me to have such a famous son. Why aren’t you allowing me to flaunt you?”

“Alright then!”

“Hurry up, we’re leaving!”

…

Meanwhile.

At China Qiyuan.

Exceptionally more people came here today.

President Dan Donghe, Xiang Rong 9-dan, Li Yi 9-dan. It was especially crowded here at the Go association. Basically, all those who were called celebrity professional Go players were here. The remaining professional players who were not that highly ranked also gathered around. Everyone had looks of incredulity on their faces!

Chen Ying said in shock, “Is the news true?”

“Yeah, th-that can’t be impossible!” Xu Han said in a stunned manner.

Dan Donghe said sternly, “I’ve just received the news. It’s true, the news is indeed true. This will be reported on the news very soon!”

No one cared about YE anymore!

They also stopped caring about the dispute between YE and Changhe 9-dan!

That was because at this moment, the world of Go was facing a battle of life and death. Everyone was unable to react to the news. They were even completely unprepared for it because this news had come about too suddenly!

“Chen Chi 9-dan lost?”

“How could he have lost!”

“That’s impossible!”

“How could that thing possibly win against Chen Chi 9-dan?”

“Could it have been a one-off?”

“It definitely did not get lucky. It won two games in a best of three. Chen Chi lost two games in a row.”

“Heavens…this…”

“I just called Chen Chi and asked him what was going on. He didn’t say much except to warn us to be careful! I could hear that he sounded very defeated!”

Wu Changhe just arrived, walking rapidly. “Is it true?”

Li Yi 9-dan sighed and said, “Yes.”

Wu Changhe’s expression darkened. “Old Dan, I want to look at that game.”

Xiang Rong 9-dan spoke, “I would like to see it too.”

Dan Donghe nodded. “I’ve already requested for it. They’ll be sending it over soon.”

Soon after, the game record was sent.

Chen Ying volunteered, “I’ll recreate the match.”

She operated the computer and recreated the match from the first move on the big screen.

Everyone’s face turned sullen the longer they watched. The atmosphere in the entire Qiyuan fell into a very oppressive tension!

…

At home.

His three sisters arrived.

Zhang Ye was unaware of these developments in the outside world.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, “What made you girls want to come over today?”

His eldest younger sister smiled. “We came to look for you to play of course.”

“Brother, aren’t you on break now? The three of us are on our summer break, and we’re bored to tears,” his second sister said with a giggle. “How boring!”

Zhang Ye was amused by them. He pointed at the cabinet behind him and said, “You all came at the right time. I have nothing to do today either. That’s right! After the show’s recording ended a few days ago, Beijing TV handed out a lot of freebies to us. I also received some gifts from other people. Things like VR headsets and perfumes, just take whatever you like. Since you’re here today, there’s no need to be a stranger. Just tell me whatever you want. As long as it’s something that I have, you can take it if you like it. There’s no need to be polite—” Before he finished speaking, Zhang Ye looked back and was stunned.

His third sister was already holding a pile of boxes in her arms. “These are all mine!”

His second sister was panicking. “Damn, leave some for me! And leave some for Big Sis as well.”

His eldest younger sister said, “I want the perfume. Don’t take it from me!”

Zhang Ye said, “Can you guys be a little more polite? Can you?”

In the end, his three sisters stared at him in confusion. “Didn’t you insist for us to not hold back?”

“But you should still have listened to me and let me finish. Oh, look at this. Even before I finish speaking, everything is already gone?” Zhang Ye didn’t know how to react. “Are you bandits raiding a village?”

His parents laughed at that.

His mother said, “Take as much as you want. Little Ye doesn’t have any use for them anyway.”

“Yes, ma’am! Thank you, Auntie!” His third sister playfully gave a military salute to her.

Zhang Ye couldn’t do anything about them and just shook his head. He turned on the television with the remote control as he wanted to watch the news. Although he was taking a break from work, he still saw the need to keep up with the entertainment industry and society’s news and affairs.

However, when the television turned on, the news that was currently being reported on TV stunned Zhang Ye!

On Central TV News Channel.

The anchor: “An artificial intelligence named Peter that was developed by an American company has shockingly made its debut by defeating the American-born Chinese Go player, Chen Chi 9-dan, two to zero in a match that ended at 5:10 AM Beijing Time. At the same time, the artificial intelligence Peter officially issued a challenge to humanity. According to information our reporters gathered from China Qiyuan, Peter’s development company has already sent out official letters of challenge to the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean professional Go players. The reason they chose Go was that it was acknowledged as the most difficult and complicated board game. It is also a game that represents humanity’s wisdom. Could a machine’s intelligence soon surpass the wisdom of humans? This is destined to be an unprecedented battle!”

Zhang Ye was stunned!

Peter?

An AI?

A challenge to all humanity?

Go?

Damn!

Wasn’t this that famous AlphaGo 1 from his previous world?

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AlphaGo