Is this the poker world?Ada thief!

Chapter 1821 The One Who Has Not Returned: One Person

"At that time, it just so happened to coincide with the rocket launch of the Kaiba Group. In order to recoup the money spent by Mr. Seto Kaiba's extravagant spending habits, the vice president of the Kaiba Group, Keihei Kaiba, came up with a special event to 'send things into space' to raise funds."

"Back then, Hayato used his connections to get a spot for Jaden and sent his new hero card, along with the [Yubel] card, into space. Jaden's idea at the time was that he hoped this would purify the malevolent energy in the [Yubel] card."

The familiar plot reminded Sho of what happened last semester: "Big Brother's [N] and [E·hero Neos]?! They were actually sent to space with those dangerous cards?"

"Judging from the result, this is just getting worse," Jim complained. "Originally, it was just to put the duelist into a coma, and although it wasn't exactly safe, after returning from space, it turned into a dangerous guy who wouldn't even spare his former master, Jaden. It's really scary."

"But Jaden clearly remembers what happened with E.Hero Neos, so why does he always claim he doesn't remember Yubel?"

Asuka raised another question, but Manjoume just shook his head: "I'm not very clear about that. Judai moved away from Domino City because of his father's job change, and I only reunited with him at the academy two years ago. I'm not very clear about what happened during that time."

"Should we ask Senior Misawa Tenku at this point?" Kenzan asked, pulling out his terminal. Having been enrolled for over a year, he had learned more or less about an important aspect of Misawa's low profile—that he was truly skilled at gathering intelligence. "Maybe he can find out what Big Brother went through in the past."

"There's no need for that." A voice broke through the group, causing everyone to instinctively look in the direction from which the voice came.

Hayato, with one hand in his pocket and the other holding his personal terminal, was operating it, seemingly retrieving files. He kept flipping through pages, searching for what he wanted, like someone suddenly remembering an emoji that could be used in a chat. As he spoke, he said, "Judai did have a special experience—have you ever heard of a memory eraser?"

"The principle of the operation involves isolating and editing memory-related neural electrical signals. When using it, the user needs to look directly at the device. The neural signals are stimulated by high-intensity light signals, and then electronic pulse signals are used to reverse the operation to convert the neural signals into specific visual memories. The final effect is to allow the user to accurately erase specific memories about a certain event, a certain thing, a certain person, or even a certain period of time, and to accurately implant preset false memory fragments."

The sound came from the terminal in Hayato's hand. He opened a video he had finally found and projected it onto the top of the terminal so that everyone else could see the image.

"I don't understand anything at all," Li complained. "And it sounds like something out of a science fiction story."

"Because that's the premise from the sci-fi movie 'Black Man'," Manjoume retorted. "Why bring that up now, Hayato-sensei?"

"You'll see when you watch it." Hayato tapped on the projected video, without going into details.

In the video, the person explaining the concept of the "memory eraser" is standing away from the camera, revealing his entire body. He is an ordinary-looking man in a white coat with glasses, who looks like a doctor. He doesn't seem to be awkward reciting a science fiction movie concept, but calmly continues: "Through this device, psychological problems that plague the vast majority of people in the world, such as childhood trauma and PTSD, can be effectively solved."

"continue."

The speaker wasn't anyone present, but someone in the video. Judging from the voice, it seemed to be a very old man. His voice was extremely weak, and even then, it had some background noise, as if he was using a microphone to increase the volume.

“Yes, Mr. Kagemaru.” The man dressed as a doctor said respectfully, stepping aside to reveal a huge machine behind him. “Animal experiments have been fully completed, but since the memory eraser was originally developed for humans, the next step is to conduct necessary human experiments.”

"Execution sequence number: 114514 experiment, officially started, machine startup code generation in progress, startup code: 1919810."

"Understood, operator 350234 is initiating equipment startup." Another person, seemingly the doctor's assistant, entered a generated one-time startup code into a mobile computer, activating the enormous device that was completely different from the one in the movie "Black O Man".

In the movie, the memory eraser is just a small stick, no bigger than a flashlight, but the device that is activated at this moment is so big that three liangzi can be stuffed into it, and an elephant can be squeezed into the gap.

On the activated memory eraser lay a child. Although the goggles used to emit bright light and the helmet that emitted electronic pulses obscured the child's head quite seriously, only a sliver of brown hair peeked out from the gaps. Wan Zhangmu recognized him at a glance: "Jūdai when he was a child!? How could he be on that kind of machine?!"

(The parents of the tenth child: They work overtime all year round and there is no one at home to accompany the tenth child. The child has nightmares every day because he is separated from his friends. Their choice is to erase the tenth child's memories and let him sit at the same table with the biological mother of the harmonious child.)
Amidst the astonished gazes of the crowd, the young Jaden was pushed into the activated machine and fell asleep in the bright light emitted by the machine. The operator of the equipment excitedly reported to Kagemaru: "The experiment was quite perfect, Mr. Kagemaru. The memory manipulation on the subject was smooth and precise, and the specified memory fragments were stably removed without affecting other parts."

"Hehe, very good, another problem has been perfectly solved." Kagemaru in the video also seemed quite pleased. "Once I find a way to achieve immortality, it would be troublesome if my physical body simply gained eternal life but then my memories began to fade. The memory eraser exists to remove unnecessary memories from my mind at that time. Next, I just wait for the 'Three Phantom Demons' cards that 'Amunaeru' prepared for me to be completed."

The video ended abruptly there. Hayato put away his personal terminal and explained, "This video is a confidential document from the Kagemaru Pharmaceutical Group. It was filmed six years ago in 2001 at the Kagemaru Pharmaceutical Group headquarters, which you are looking at, sister."

"At the time, Yingwan Pharmaceuticals provided medical assistance to the society under the guise of free psychological treatment, claiming it was a charitable benefit. On the one hand, they received tax breaks from the government, and on the other hand, they used some of the patients as test subjects for new equipment, profiting from both ends. Considering that some pharmaceutical companies in Amei's eyes don't even do nominal charity but directly grab homeless people to do experiments, their actions could even be considered quite conscientious?"

Hayato retorted sarcastically, "However, it's clear that although this 'memory eraser' was indeed completed by Kagemaru Pharmaceuticals, and successfully passed human trials using data collected from subjects across various age groups, its initial purpose, as you can see, was for Kagemaru's own personal gain. Therefore, this thing was kept hidden within Kagemaru Pharmaceuticals and never officially marketed as a product." "Including this video, it wasn't until two years ago, when Kagemaru Pharmaceuticals was jointly acquired by International Illusion Society and Kaiba Group, that the long-buried evidence of Kagemaru's crimes resurfaced."

"Leaving the city he had always lived in, separating from his friends, and still feeling the loneliness of [Yubel]'s departure, it was inevitable that Judai would exhibit some autistic symptoms after moving. So, out of concern, his parents arranged for him to receive free psychological treatment from the well-known company, Kagemaru Pharmaceuticals. And then, that's what you saw in the video. The memories Judai lost were precisely those about [Yubel]."

"So that's why Judai doesn't remember anything about [Yubel]!" Manjoume scoffed. "Tch, that old man has done so many bad things. Letting him die so easily is too good for him!"

Upon hearing the name Kagemaru again, Manjoume couldn't help but recall the experience two years ago when he almost defeated his opponent but was ambushed and lost. His [Dragon of Light and Darkness] had its spirit power stolen by his opponent at that time, and just thinking about it made him furious.

"When Jaden launched the card into space, [N] received the cosmic energy of 'Darkness of Justice,' while [Yubel] received the power of 'Light of Destruction.' The former became a new hero of the universe, while the latter's already distorted emotions became even more twisted. Carrying the loneliness of being abandoned by Jaden, the sorrow of wandering in the universe, and the twisted understanding of 'pain' as 'love' after experiencing these torments, she returned to Earth to seek 'revenge' against Jaden."

Hayato sighed as he spoke, "In other words, Jaden was probably tormented by guilt after recognizing [Yubel]. He probably thought that all the mistakes and misfortunes were his own fault, and he blamed himself for everything that everyone went through and John's sacrifice."

Hearing Hayato's words, Jim was somewhat surprised: "Why do you know so much about Principal Hayato? It's as if you've been watching Jaden and the others' duel all along?"

"Because I was indeed watching Jaden and the others' duel the whole time. Probably from the moment John finished his first round."

Seeing Hayato say such things so calmly, Rei's eyes widened: "You watched from the beginning to the end, no wonder you're here with us."

"But why? If you had arrived earlier, why didn't you stop Lord Judai from fighting John and the others? If it had been you, Hayato-sensei, John might not have had to sacrifice himself, and Lord Judai wouldn't have felt so guilty—"

"Saotome Rei!" Manjoume shouted Rei's name, interrupting her.

Li realized what she had just said and lowered her head: "I'm sorry, my thinking was flawed."

“I arrived at your place after eliminating all the Pokémon besieging the school. By the time I got there, Jaden and the others had already started their duel.” Hayato didn’t care about the words that came out of his head in a moment of madness. “Call me old-fashioned or call me indifferent and cold-blooded, but as a duelist, I cannot do something like preemptively stopping someone’s duel by assuming they will lose. That would be an insult to the spirit of a duelist.”

"Furthermore, can anyone repeat exactly what I said in the initial message I sent you? I remember emphasizing that [Yubel] might approach the students in the academy again, possess them, and drain their inner dark energy, so you should stay obediently in the academy, right?"

At this point, Hayato also wore a helpless expression, "Do you know how I felt when I received the message from Caesar and the others saying that Jaden led you guys to chase after Yubel, who was possessing Gana Malden, and left the academy?"

(Previous context - see Chapter 158 for details)
"I meant for you to stay in the academy literally. Judai's written exam scores were never good, but now he seems to enjoy reading comprehension so much?!"

Hayato felt he had really done his best, stockpiling supplies in advance to prevent famine, preventing the emergence of "Duel Zombies," and single-handedly defeating the numerous spirits attracted by the smarter Yubel to prevent the students from being harmed. He also specifically instructed Jaden and the others not to leave the school without permission to avoid a repeat of the situation in the original work.

While everything else was prepared, the last point remained unprepared. Jaden ultimately faced off against Yubel in their duel. Although the process differed, Johan still sacrificed himself to save Jaden. Jaden blamed himself for everything, and Hayato was also quite frustrated. He rushed to find Jaden and the others, only to discover that they had already begun their duel.

Is he going to go up there and forcibly end this duel? What kind of duelist would dare to do that!
(Raphael, who ended the duel between Isis and Ameluda: Achoo!)

Looking at the students in front of him, Hayato sighed: "Let's leave this topic here. You should all go back and rest. You must be exhausted after spending so many days in the Spirit World. I also have some things to do."

After arranging for the students to return to their respective dormitories, Hayato carried the unconscious Jaden on his back, while the other unconscious person—Gana Malden—was handed over to Coach Napoleon, who had also come from nearby and found Jaden's group. After examining them in the medical room, Ayukawa-sensei confirmed that both were primarily suffering from exhaustion and would recover with proper rest; otherwise, they seemed to be fine. This finally put Coach Napoleon's mind at ease.

Hayato, on the other hand, sent a long message to Kaiba.

"Your research support was of no use, Seth. My students and I have already returned to the human world."

"The academy's infrastructure suffered some damage due to the spatial transfer and the environment of the elven realm, requiring extensive maintenance. However, the small world you left behind beneath the hot spring was unaffected."

"Regarding casualties... Although I hate to admit it, it was all a mistake I made because of my youth. The Spirit Realm transfer event has come to an end. One person has not returned."

Because the behavior of Judai's parents in the original work was too abstract, the alternate version in this book uses Kagemaru as the scapegoat. The fact that he didn't say anything means he has no objection.
Furthermore, considering the situation in the United States, it's incredibly humane to rely on volunteers with genuine needs to secretly collect data instead of directly arresting homeless people.