I'm Really a Superstar

Half an hour later.

Zhang Ye's speech ended.

With that, the press conference was also done.

The press conference this time felt more like Zhang Ye's oratory ceremony. The reporters had only asked him one question, but what followed was a long talk by Zhang Ye. He knew what to say and knew what the reporters wanted to know, so he just said everything in a single breath. After all, he and the media had been in such regular contact that they understood each other perfectly. Sometimes, there was even a tacit understanding of a common enemy, such as right now.

Applause was sounding for the umpteenth time. Not counting those domestic reporters, even China Qiyuan's people and the foreign reporters were standing up to applaud Zhang Ye!

Chen Ying was feeling some admiration for him.

Dan Donghe was very pleased.

Yu Yingyi learned quite a lot from Zhang Ye's speech.

Everyone was pretty convinced by Zhang Ye. They knew that it wasn't accidental that he could arrive at where he was today and could sense it from the speech that he had just given. On the contrary, they rather disliked the American team who spoke pompous words and had a condescending attitude toward the wisdom of humanity and Zhang Ye, insisting on their belief that Peter would win for sure. However, even after the results were confirmed, they still seemed like they were not accepting their defeat. Not being able to compete in Go, they shifted their talk to taking on the Xiangqi world instead and tried to justify why Peter had lost during the entire press conference. Compared to Zhang Ye's speech, it was really on a different level. Zhang Ye had not spoken about himself at all and never once took credit for the outcome. Instead, he talked about the veterans and novices of the Go world, as well as the staff working behind the scenes, hailing them as the true heroes!

He was good at speaking?

His emotional quotient was high?

That was absolutely untrue!

The foreign reporters might not know him well, but which Chinese reporter did not understand what kind of person Zhang Ye was? Who would dare to claim that Zhang Ye had a high emotional quotient? If anyone did, they would be the first to get spat on by the others! Zhang Ye's emotional quotient was definitely not high, but the words he spoke all came from his heart. In these days, he had really taken a liking to these lovely people who gave their heart and soul to Go.

Humans were emotional beings. This was unlike machines and perhaps the reason Zhang Ye could win against Peter. And on this point, even if the artificial intelligence were to get developed further and have its computational ability increased and sped up, it would still not be able to learn a thing like emotions.

Everyone dispersed.

The media gradually left to head back to their office to quickly prepare for the news release!

Dan Donghe brought along some people from the Qiyuan and found Zhang Ye. "Professor Zhang, thank you!"

Zhang Ye smiled. "It's what I should do; don't be so courteous."

Dan Donghe tried for the umpteenth time to invite Zhang Ye. "Are you interested in taking up Go? From today onward, your world Go ranking should be number one!"

Hu Liang 7-dan said, "Come join us, Professor Zhang!"

Xu Han said, "Yeah!"

Xiang Rong 9-dan also sincerely invited him. "I've been thinking of retiring for some time now too. I'm already getting old and starting to lose focus whenever I play. pBut our country's young players are not fully mature yet. Tian Weiwei still lacks experience and his playstyle is not stable yet. He can't stand up on his own yet, so I must hold the fort for now. If you do join us, I'll be able to take a step back at last."

"Yeah, Professor Zhang. You are so skilled at Go, it would such a pity if you don't join the national team!" Chen Ying said with a laugh, "If you join us, our national team would dominate everyone else for the next ten years at least!"

This was not drivel. In fact, dominating for just ten years was at the lower end of the estimates. If Zhang Ye were to lead the national Go team, together with Xiang Rong and Li Yi 9-dan, there probably wouldn't be any opponents who could match them. Be it Japan or Korean, be it Shinji 9-dan, Park Yuhee, or anyone else, even if Xiang Rong 9-dan were to retire suddenly, Zhang Ye alone could carry the team and not let them fall.

Zhang Ye quickly waved it off. "I'll pass. But if Peter makes a comeback in the future, just give me a ring. I'll come right over."

Everyone was disappointed.

A Go genius who only came along once a century, the only person who was capable of taking over Xiang Rong 9-dan's position, had actually turned out to be an amateur? He wasn't even considered a professional Go player. This made them all feel a little frustrated. Comparisons really were torturous, and this was certainly the first ever such case in the history of Go!

Dan Donghe knew that Zhang Ye's heart was in a different place, so he didn't try to persuade him any further. He said, "Wherever you might end up in the future, you will always be part of our Qiyuan. If there's anything you need, just let us know!"

Zhang Ye laughed, "Sure."

"Let's go to my place for a meal then." Dan Donghe still remembered what he promised earlier.

Zhang Ye grunted and did not know how to reject his invitation.

As a result, Wu Changhe, who had been silent all this while, suddenly rolled his eyes and said, "Old Dan, what do you mean by going to your place for a meal?"

Dan Donghe said, "Didn't we already agree on that?"

"Who agreed with you?" Wu Changhe harrumphed. "This kid is coming with me. I still have something to settle with him afterwards."

Dan Donghe was having none of it. "I said it first, I asked him to come over first!"

Wu Changhe said, "Who said that you asked him first? I arranged it with him 800 years ago!"

Dan Donghe said, "Were you even born 800 years ago?"

"Why do you care when I was born?" Wu Changhe bickered, "I was born before you, in any case!"

The two of them started arguing.

Everyone else didn't know whether to laugh or cry. They hurriedly tried to calm them down.

In the end, it was Li Qinqin who took Zhang Ye by his hand with a smile. "Let's go, Little Zhang. Come to Auntie's place for a meal." Then she looked at Dan Donghe and said, "Old Dan, I already made food at home."

"Alright then, Sister-in-law," Dan Donghe had to agree. "Professor Zhang, I'll treat you to a meal another day then."

"Sure." Zhang Ye did not say anything else. "I'll be heading off then."

Hu Liang said, "Let's play a practice game some other day."

Zhang Ye said, "No problem."

Xiang Rong said, "Let's have an exchange sometime. We never finished the game game we started."

Zhang Ye smiled, "Sure, at a later date."

"Take care, Professor Zhang!"

"You did a great job!"

"Thank you!"

"If you need any favors in the future, just let us know!"

Everyone waved goodbye to Zhang Ye. Having spent time together over the past few days, Zhang Ye had taken a liking to this group of people who loved Go so deeply, so how could they not change their opinion of him? The rumors regarding Zhang Ye had painted him in a bad light as someone with a bad temper and a vile person who liked scolding people. So they had initially stayed a distance from him even though they respected him. At times, they would even feel uneasy in his presence. But the short time they had together allowed them to understand Zhang Ye better and realize that those rumors were just that, rumors. To those he considered his own, Zhang Ye always treated them very nicely and with a good temper. As a superstar, he never put on any airs around them and could also play Go very well. This made them unable to feel jealous even if they wanted to be jealous of him. They thought of Zhang Ye as a friend now.

...

On the way to Old Wu's parents' place, the newspapers and news reports were starting to appear all over the place!

"Zhang Ye trashes Peter!"

"In the war between humans and machines, humans have prevailed!"

"The ultimate explosion of humanity's wisdom!"

"AI still inferior to wisdom of humanity. Zhang Ye proves the point once again!"

"The savior of the Go world: Zhang Ye!"

"The American team has been sent packing!"

"Zhang Ye's press conference speech: The unsung heroes of the Go world!"

"Zhang Ye says, 'I know how to play Xiangqi too!'"

"Peter will suffer from a phobia of 'Zhang Ye' from here on out!"

"We have reason to believe that as long as Zhang Ye is around, the last line of humanity's wisdom will never be broken through! We should be grateful that a genius like Zhang Ye exists in our world!"

Zhang Ye was once again on fire!

Just a short half a month after King of Masked Singers, Zhang Ye's popularity was once again off the charts!

There were only cheers in the media!

The citizens were also full of praise!

"How awesome!"

"This is Face-smacking Zhang!"

"Hey, Americans, I just want to ask if you have conceded defeat yet?"

"Hahahaha!"

"Zhang Ye was so godly today!"

"I just like the absurdity of Zhang Ye!"

"Yeah, Teacher Zhang's talent and intelligence are really too fucking absurd!"

"If I were those Americans, I would be crying myself home! And I probably won't ever be returning back here ever again!"