Chapter 55

Masahiro Furukawa and Saio Furukawa had no objections to this and remained silent.

Satoru Fukuda looked at Masahiro Furukawa, always feeling that this old man looked familiar, but couldn't remember where he had seen him for a moment.

But looking at this combination of an old man and a little girl, he couldn't help but tease:

"I say, old man, you're at this age, why are you still coming to participate in the competition?"

"And bringing a little granddaughter, when you play Shogi later, no one will help you watch the child."

"If you don't see her crying later, I'm afraid you'll be asked to leave by the staff in the hall."

Masahiro Furukawa stroked his beard and smiled indifferently:

"No need to worry, the one participating is not me, but my granddaughter."

Satoru Fukuda was stunned, looked down at the little girl who was only about ten years old, and asked with an incredulous smile:

"You are so confident to bring your granddaughter to participate? Has she participated in any competitions before?"

"Or does she have any amateur rank, or even a rank in the training association?"

Masahiro Furukawa's mouth curled up slightly, a hint of imperceptible pride flashed in his eyes, secretly looking forward to his granddaughter making a splash.

But at this time, he was still relatively humble.

"Neither, just bringing her to see the world."

Satoru Fukuda stood there dumbfounded, almost unable to hold back his laughter, and in the end, he really couldn't hold it back.

He only felt that this competition was really a mix of fish and dragons, and all kinds of monsters and ghosts had emerged.

One was more outrageous than the other.

That Xia Xia Xia Mujun was a pure newcomer, which was fine.

Now there was even an old man bringing a ten-year-old girl to "see the world".

People nowadays really have money with nowhere to spend, not even treating twenty thousand yen as money.

But this is also good.

The more such "water fish" there are, the higher his chance of winning consecutively in the competition.

If he could meet either of these two "water fish" on the field, he wouldn't have to win as hard as Kaori Horikawa did.

After all, he also paid a two-thousand-yen registration fee.

Satoru Fukuda didn't want to run into a professional Shogi player or a strong player above level 5 of the training association in the first round—these people's strength was above his.

As the saying goes, "The high hits the low, hitting the chicken."

He knew his talent was limited, otherwise he wouldn't still be at level 5 of the training association at thirty.

On weekdays, he had no special hobbies, just liked to act as a "training association gatekeeper", specifically abusing newcomer rookies to prevent them from improving their rank.

Watching those people struggling at the bottom was really pleasant!

Of course, compared to "water fish" like Xia Xia Xia Mujun and the little loli, those people were still much stronger.

But having said that, he was quite satisfied with this competition.

With a scale of nearly two thousand contestants, even if there were strong players in other competition areas, they probably accounted for less than 20% of the total number, or even lower.

As long as his luck wasn't too bad, he at least had the confidence to win three or more games in a row and earn a small profit.

Being able to abuse rookies and get prize money, for someone like him with a "rookie-abusing addiction", it was simply double the happiness!

"Very good, very good, I'm very optimistic about you guys!" Satoru Fukuda smiled hypocritically, but his eyes were full of contempt.

Soon, several people arrived at the gathering point.

This was located on the outskirts of the venue, and personal items needed to be stored first.

After storing, they also needed to pass through security to check if they were carrying any cheating devices.

Only after confirming that there were no errors could they enter the venue to participate in the draw.

At this time, Masahiro Furukawa knew he couldn't accompany them any further, so he requested sincerely:

"Xia Xia Xia Mujun, could I trouble you to look after Saio a little?"

"She rarely goes out, doesn't understand many things, I just hope you can ensure she enters the venue safely."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun didn't refuse this small favor.

A quiet, cute little girl who didn't make a fuss was indeed hard to dislike.

"Of course."

Masahiro Furukawa said gratefully:

"Thank you."

"Saio, you follow this big brother into the competition venue."

Saio Furukawa nodded solemnly:

"Alright, Grandpa."

Xia Xia Xia Mujun rubbed her little head gently:

"Let's go."

Saio looked up and smiled happily:

"Mm!"

Not long after, Xia Xia Xia Mujun, Satoru Fukuda, and Saio Furukawa, who had completed all the procedures, arrived at the draw queue.

At this time, they had no electronic devices on them; personal items such as watches, necklaces, and wallets had all been stored in lockers and could only be retrieved when leaving.

The queue moved forward slowly.

Most people in the queue were tense and looked uneasy.

The atmosphere at the draw site was solemn and quiet, with almost no one talking.

Only a few people appeared relatively calm—these people were mostly quite confident in their own strength.

Satoru Fukuda looked around and soon identified those calm faces.

At the front of the queue were two professional Shogi players: Jyuya Yoshikawa and Aogo Akechi.

The strength of these two was extremely terrifying.

To be honest, he didn't want to draw either of them in the first round at all.

If he really met them, he would definitely lose, without any suspense.

Although he was a training association player and was considered a master among the general public, compared to professional players, it was simply a world of difference, not on the same level at all.

It could be said that even if all the training association players were added together, they might not be able to beat one professional player.

The strength of professional players was just that terrifying.

You know, the sport of Shogi is extremely dependent on talent.

Not to mention that those professional players are not only gifted but also work harder than you.

Under such circumstances, there was simply no possibility of victory!