Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1768 Dark Whispers of the Human Heart

Even after Duel Academy moved from the human world to the Pokémon world, its connection to the power plant remained intact, so Duel Academy still has a sufficient power supply.

Based on this, the school naturally chose to store perishable foods in the canteen's food warehouse to extend their shelf life as much as possible, such as fruits, vegetables, and dairy products.

(The convenience store's food storage area even has posters of Domi plastered on it, Samejima, you bastard!)

Although they had only been in this world for less than a day, the temperature difference between day and night in the desert environment was to be expected. Moreover, there were three suns in this world, so a cold storage warehouse would be necessary.

After all, even including canned goods, the total amount of supplies in the academy is constant, and losses should be avoided as much as possible. However, considering that the students around the school are not strictly trained soldiers and the Duel Academy is not an impenetrable fortress, no one can say for sure whether some Duel Monsters might slip through the net and get close to important food storages. Therefore, there are also people on duty here and they take turns on regular shifts.

So when Jaden arrived here, he saw a student wearing the Sun God - Yellow dormitory uniform already there. However, he seemed to have been attacked by someone and was lying on his back, unconscious. Jaden remembered that he was a first-year student named Yamanaka.

"Hey, are you alright, Yamanaka?" Jaden walked in front and approached the fallen Yamanaka, calling out, "Harada, Teraoka, come help me lift Yamanaka up first."

On the way here, Jaden had already learned the names of the two students from the blue dormitories, as well as the names of the students who were now guarding the food warehouse, so he was able to call out their names immediately. Otherwise, if Jaden could remember the names of first-year students from different dormitories, Misawa would really cry.

However, upon hearing Judai's words, neither Harada nor Teraoka made any move. They simply remained at the entrance, and Judai also seemed completely unaware of their strange behavior as he approached the collapsed mountain.

As he walked, he kept glancing at the warehouse door facing the entrance. There were signs of vandalism on it; the thick metal door showed visible deformation. It was currently open, and the half-closed door seemed to be implying to Judai that, as Harada and Teraoka had said, the person who attacked the warehouse was still inside and had not come out.

However, just as Judai approached Yamanaka to check on his condition, Yamanaka, who had suddenly collapsed, sat up abruptly and grabbed Judai with one hand!
"Successful!"

In that split second, Jaden noticed that on the bare skin of his left hand in the mountains, there were strange scales that were exactly the same as the ones he had seen on Professor Cobra's hand before!

Because the distance was too close, Jaden couldn't react at all. He only had time to jump away to avoid being hit by the mountain. However, the mountain's target was never Jaden, but the deck of cards on his waist!

"His-"

Jaden's card case was snatched away by Yamanaka, who immediately rolled away as if nothing had happened, dodging Jaden's kick, and rushed towards Harada and Teraoka.

"Stop Yamanaka, Teraoka, Harada! That guy's acting very strangely right now!"

At Judai's call, Harada and Teraoka, as if they had anticipated Yamanaka's escape from the beginning, stood like gatekeepers at the entrance. However, Yamanaka was not flustered at all when he approached the two of them; instead, he slowed down.

With a "snap," Yamanaka handed Judai's card case to Harada, then stood casually beside him. Harada and Teraoka finally smiled: "Stop Yamanaka? There's no need for that, Judai-senpai. After all—isn't he on our side?"

"What are you talking about!?" Seeing the scene before him, Jaden immediately realized that Yamanaka was in cahoots with Harada and Teraoka, and his expression turned ugly. "Weren't we attacked here? What do you mean by stealing my deck now!"

"Wait, your hands!" Jaden's eyes widened as he watched Teraoka and Harada remove the gloves they had been wearing from the beginning. Their hands were covered in those strange scales—meaning that, like Professor Cobra, they were all connected to that energy life form and had received its power!
"Why are you looking at us with such surprise? This is a powerful force bestowed upon us by that lord. You must know that, unlike the human world, in this world of Duel Monsters, power is the ultimate truth."

Teraoka sneered, proudly rolling up his sleeve to reveal the scales covering his arm, which looked even more severe than the damage Professor Cobra had suffered. "It may not look very aesthetically pleasing, but that's just common sense. As long as there's power, it's all worth it."

“That’s right. Just like in the real world there are those obsessed people who neglect sleep and meals, even going bankrupt, to study a certain mathematical formula, we are just pursuing ‘truth’ according to the logic of this world.” Yamanaka’s smile was full of cunning. “So as long as we can gain power, we are willing to do anything.”

"So, that's why you tricked me into coming here! Just to steal my card?" Judai said angrily. "I was wondering on the way here why you suddenly knew about the attack on the food warehouse when Gosho had just finished completing the device that could restore communication and it wasn't widely available yet, and we couldn't contact you."

"So this was all a scam! Instead of improving yourselves, you only think about taking shortcuts by stealing other people's cards. You even went so far as to destroy the door here to make it look like it was really attacked! Cards stolen from others don't count as your own power. Even if you fight someone like that, you'll be soulless!"

"I don't care if you have a soul or belong to yourself, as long as you have power, that's enough." Harada tossed the deck in his hand and smiled arrogantly. "Although many people say you're strong or something, we noticed in that demonstration duel when school started that your so-called strength is just relying on the fact that your deck has many powerful cards that no one else has, right?"

"Cards like [E·Hero Neos] and [N·Earth Mole] are unique, with no information available elsewhere. In terms of rarity, they even surpass [Blue-Eyes White Dragon], which only has four copies in the world." Teraoka looked greedily at the cards in Harada's hand. "Even those common [E·Hero] monsters that are usually everywhere have special effects like [E·Hero Bubble Man] in your hand."

“This won’t do, senior. So-called strength is just relying on cards that others don’t have. What kind of person relies on powerful cards? If we were the ones with these powerful cards, wouldn’t we become strong too?” Yamanaka raised his hand and made a fist. “Don’t blame us for being despicable. It’s common sense in this world that the strong can humiliate the weak at will. Blame yourself for not being vigilant enough.”

"Besides, we didn't deliberately damage the doors here. We just happened to be on duty here today, happened to encounter the person who attacked this place, happened to be noticed by that person for their inner darkness and received a blessing, and then the traces here just happened to be a trap to lure you high and mighty so-called 'seniors' and 'seniors' into it alone." Yamanaka corrected a mistake in Jaden's words, "We also considered whether to bring more people over at once, such as that beautiful senior from the Blue Dorm, Tenjouin, or that arrogant jerk, Manjoume Jun, who has a terrible attitude and is always bragging about his achievements last year. But Tenjouin Asuka is too conspicuous because she stays next to her two roommates, and Manjoume Jun is too arrogant and doesn't listen to anyone. And we just happened to run into you when we were looking for a new target."

"Isn't it said that 'luck is also a part of strength'? So, you, Judai Yuki, who is unlucky and so easily fooled, are actually a weakling who is very much a match for the Red Dorm. No wonder your dorm leader teacher has also disappeared. It must be because he doesn't want to teach a bunch of trashy weaklings like you anymore, right? Hahahaha!"

"Great reasoning, Yamanaka! You're so smart, and you're only in the Yellow Dorm? Hahahaha!"

"Oh, you flatter me too much, Harada. It's just that the system at this school is disgusting. Only those who come up from the junior high school can live in the blue dorms. My family doesn't have the money to let me decide to take the path of dueling and go to a special junior high school so early."

"But this world doesn't have so many complicated rules. Might makes right. I love this kind of world, hahaha!"

"Great minds think alike, Teraoka! Hahahaha!"

Having obtained the Jaden card box, Harada, Teraoka, and Yamanaka were already praising each other. After all, in their opinion, no one would dare to approach this remote food warehouse. As the newest shift, there were still at least three hours until the next shift change, and even the ingredients needed for lunch had already been taken away. Therefore, Jaden was all alone facing the three of them.

They even stole Jaden Yuki's deck beforehand. In this world, you might be able to summon monsters without a Duel Disk, but without a deck, you're just a tiger with its claws pulled out. Besides, they've all received power from that master, making them incredibly strong. Could the three of them possibly be no match for Jaden Yuki alone?

They laughed heartily for a while, but before they could hear the expected Jaden Yuki, who had run out of ideas and was furious, he cursed again. The laughter gradually stopped, and when they looked at Jaden again, the three of them saw a gloomy face and a somewhat frightening expression on his face.

"I've never really cared about other people's contempt, because whether they look down on me or value me, as long as they're not my dueling opponent, it won't affect my dueling experience." Suddenly speaking out of the blue, Jaden looked at the three people in front of him with a slightly indifferent expression and something special in his eyes. "So if you're just denying my dueling and efforts, I don't really care about you."

"However, you have targeted my friends and tried to hurt them, attempted to take my important deck away from me, and arbitrarily denied my deck and my bond, as well as the bond between Daitokuji-sensei and us. This is something I cannot forgive you for!"

Just like when he delivered the final blow to Professor Cobra, Jaden's pupils briefly changed from brown to amber, and this time he heard other people's voices again.

However, unlike the last time, when he heard his classmates wailing in agony because of Professor Cobra's actions, this time he only heard the filthy hearts of Harada, Teraoka, and Yamanaka right in front of him, venting from their hearts out of greed, jealousy, and arrogance.

His once clear amber eyes became slightly cloudy. Jaden suddenly unbuttoned his clothes, opened the top of a box from his inner pocket, took out his deck, and inserted it into his duel disk: "You ugly guys have made me a little angry!"

"Cards?! How could there still be more?!" Harada was startled when he saw Jaden take out the cards, his green seaweed-like hair practically standing on end. "We definitely took your deck!"

Yamanaka hurriedly opened the card box that Harada had almost dropped, but upon opening it, he suddenly discovered that the cards inside were not Jaden's deck at all, but merely spare cards used for deck adjustments, such as [Whirlwind], [Divine Shield - Mirror Power -], and [Divine Judgment]!
"My deck now has multiple systems: [E·hero], [N], and [M·hero]. To adjust the deck, I naturally need to carry a lot of spare cards with me. As for why I keep the spare cards in the card box on my waist—although it's not exactly my area of ​​expertise, Hayato-sensei's Spirit Coexistence course has always taught many practical techniques for duels and even outside of duels. The technique of keeping cards in an obvious card box so they won't be stolen has actually come in handy."

As Jaden spoke, he simply took off his jacket, revealing another card box tied to his chest: "Although I don't tie the card box like a terrorist's explosive pack like Six-fold does, my real card deck has always been right here, closest to my heart!"

Seeing that Jaden had already inserted the card into the Duel Disk and could summon the materialized Duel Monster at any time, Teraoka and the others were furious. However, when it came to facing Jaden, whose aura seemed completely off, none of them were willing to move an inch.

Squeezed between the other two as if they were leaders, Harada stammered and tried to bluff, "Afraid of you? There are three of us! Hey, don't be afraid of that guy from the red dorm. There's only one guy on the other side. We can take him down together!"

"That's right, this is the world of Duel Monsters. We don't need to honestly duel with the opponent. The power of the master we obtained is very strong!"

"That's true, after all, it's three against one, so the advantage is on our side."

"Even if it's three against one, we absolutely cannot let this guy leave! Don't accuse us of being despicable for ganging up on you; you're Yuki Judai, we're acknowledging your strength!"

At this moment, Judai looked at the three who had actually regained the courage to attack him and said matter-of-factly, "Of course I won't say that you three were despicable in a three-on-one fight."

Without Jaden drawing any cards from his deck or placing them on the Duel Disk, Professor Chronos couldn't summon multiple monsters at the same time without using the Duel Disk, yet Jaden accomplished it silently. Just as Harada had said, it was "three against one." Jaden summoned a monster for each of the three people in front of him to attack them!

"Now that's what you call three against one. Don't call me despicable; I'm just acknowledging your strength."

(Couldn't find a high-resolution, watermark-free version; it's a family photo of the 10th generation deck from the 10th anniversary celebration.)

The final card for White Story has been revealed: a first-meeting photo of the young couple, [Luo Yin & Saintess]. It features a dual-field teaching mark, and the effect is quite strong, with a kind of "I've covered the benefits, but what about the cost?" kind of beauty. The cost is definitely high.
But the thought of Albus falling in love with this woman later makes me want to laugh when I see his expression now.