People in Yu-Gi-Oh! The hyper-converged audience is also integrated

Chapter 426 No More Laughing and Joking
The hovercar traced a smooth arc through the air, with the city lights shimmering outside the windows.

Tang Xin turned her gaze away from the window: "Sister Fan Gang, could you please change your route and go back to my house?"

"Huh? But the team leader is urging us..." Izuna said awkwardly.

"I'll be looking at someone soon."

"Ok."

Izanagi didn't ask any more questions. He tapped the navigation screen, and the hovercar turned around and headed towards an old residential area.

The Bureau of Spirit Control provides top-notch benefits, including meals and accommodation, but Tang Xin insisted on renting a place outside.

Because she has a "daughter" who is over 800 years old.

The car was parked downstairs. Tang Xin quickly went upstairs, stood in front of the familiar security door, took a deep breath, forced a smile, and her pupils scanned the door.

"Xiao Mi~ Mommy's back!"

She pushed open the door and called out as usual.

However, instead of a girl's cheerful laughter, she was met with a stench of decay and excrement that instantly filled her nostrils.

Tang Xin's smile froze, and her brows furrowed sharply, as if she had been hit by [the proliferating G].

The living room was a mess, with takeout boxes piled up like a mountain, sofa cushions torn apart, cotton wool scattered all over the floor, and fine dust floating in the air.

Her gaze swept across the messy room, finally settling on the corner of the wall.

A beautiful Ragdoll cat lay stiffly on the ground, its once soft fur now filthy and lifeless.

A green-haired girl in a white dress was squatting nearby, holding the cat's cold paws in her small hands, making "meow, meow" sounds as if she were playing with it.

Hearing the door open, the girl looked up.

Those were pure and flawless eyes, which lit up the moment they saw Tang Xin, like a lost child finally finding their way home.

"Mommy mommy……"

Xiaomi stumbled over, grabbed Tang Xin's leg, looked up at her with her little face, and called out to her again and again in a muffled tone as if she had just learned to speak.

Tang Xin's body trembled slightly, but she did not respond immediately.

She stepped forward and crouched down, her gaze passing over the girl's shoulder and landing on the ragdoll cat's corpse.

As a senior detective in the Bureau of Spirit Control and a mystery novelist, she is exceptionally sensitive to traces of death.

There was still some cat food and water left, and the food bowl was full.

They didn't starve to death.

She gently parted the tangled fur on the cat's neck, revealing several clear finger marks on the flesh—marks of suffocation.

The cat was strangled to death.

Tang Xin's heart sank.

Before she went on her business trip, she made sure to lock all the doors and windows from the inside; this was an absolutely secret room.

The only person capable of strangling a cat here could be...

She slowly looked at Xiao Mi, who was hugging her arm and affectionately rubbing her cheek against hers.

Xiaomi is her amnesiac friend, a world-destroying necromancer who once struck fear into the hearts of countless people. The Spirit Control Division made an exception for her, allowing her to be "released from prison" in this way, because her mind had regressed to that of a child.

But now it seems that even though her memories have been erased, the necromancer's indifference to life and desire for control still stubbornly grows like weeds in the ruins of her soul.

"Mom?" Xiaomi tilted her head, her eyes full of confusion, when she saw that her mother remained silent for a long time.

Looking at that innocent face, Tang Xin felt a mix of emotions, a bittersweet feeling.

what should I do?
Tell her that killing is wrong?

Can a child with the mental capacity of only one or two years old really understand the meaning of death?
Or... should we report this to the Soul Control Bureau?
Tang Xin recalled the words her instructor had once spoken to her.

"She's not meant to die, so I'll leave her to you."

"If she loses control, you should know what to do."

How to do it……

Tang Xin slowly reached out and gently stroked Xiaomi's green hair, but her fingertips kept getting cold.

This time it was killing a Ragdoll cat; who knows what it will be next?
She gently pulled Xiaomi's hand away, pointed at the ragdoll cat on the ground, and said in a very soft and slow voice, "Xiaomi, you can't treat the cat like that."

Xiaomi blinked, puzzled.

"The cat will feel pain, it will die." Tang Xin carefully chose her words. "If it dies, it won't be able to play with you anymore."

Xiaomi seemed to understand, but not quite. She squatted down and poked the Ragdoll cat's cold body: "Kitty... is being disobedient."

Tang Xin's heart tightened, and she pursed her lips, unsure of how to teach him.

【Ding--】

Izuna sent a message: "Is it ready yet? The team leader is urging us."

"Okay," Tang Xin replied simply.

She silently stood up, took out a special body storage bag and cleaning tools from the storage room, and quickly packed and sealed the cat's body.

Then, she activated the spherical cleaning robot in the corner: "Deep cleaning mode for the whole house."

【receive】

[Whole House Deep Cleaning Mode Activated]

The robot emitted a synthesized electronic sound and began working with a buzzing sound, its suction nozzle aimed at the garbage on the ground, gradually swallowing up the mess.

Tang Xin pulled Xiao Mi to sit down on the sofa, wiped her face and hands clean, and straightened her disheveled dress.

She turned on the holographic projection TV, skillfully selected the children's channel, and a brightly colored cartoon began playing on the screen.

"Mommy has to go out for a bit. Xiaomi, stay home and watch TV obediently, okay?"

Xiaomi immediately hugged her arm, her little face scrunched up, her eyes filled with tears: "No... Mommy stay with me..."

"I'll be back soon." Tang Xin hardened her heart and pried her fingers apart. "I'll bring you something delicious when I come back."

She coaxed Xiaomi a few times, and while Xiaomi was in a daze, she quickly walked to the door, then turned back to wave goodbye.

The security door closed behind me, shutting out the cheerful sounds of the cartoon.

Inside the house, only the buzzing of the cleaning robot could be heard.

Xiaomi stared blankly at the doorway, unconsciously muttering to herself.

"Kitty... is being naughty..."

"Mom... is being disobedient..."

She slid off the sofa blankly, walked around the room barefoot, her eyes vacant.

"Death...behave yourself..."

"Mom...you're a good person...you should listen to Mom."

After the cleaning robot finished cleaning up all the trash, its program was set to start dealing with the stains on the floor, and it rolled towards the spot where the Ragdoll cat had died.

Just then, Xiaomi stopped.

A thin purple line quietly emerged from her right index finger, like a living vine, and precisely connected to the sealed storage bag by the door.

The bag moved slightly.

The next second, a cheerful "meow" came from the zipper, and a soft-furred Ragdoll cat squeezed out of the bag and affectionately rubbed against Xiaomi's ankle.

It came back to life.

The cleaning robot, which was about to clean the floor, froze as its red scanning beam swept back and forth over the Ragdoll cat.

Vital signs... None.

Thermal reaction... None.

Pollution level...high risk.

Its core program is in unprecedented chaos, unable to distinguish whether the moving and beeping thing in front of it is "junk" that needs to be cleaned up.

Tang Xin returned to the hovercar, leaned back in her seat, and closed her eyes.

The neon lights outside the car window were bizarre and dazzling, but they couldn't dispel the darkness in her heart.
The image of Xiaomi's innocent face and the stiff corpse of the ragdoll cat on the ground kept intertwining in her mind.

"What's wrong?" Iizuna asked, noticing her worried expression.

Tang Xin hesitated for a moment, then refrained from telling anyone what had just happened, simply saying, "It's nothing."

Fan Gang glanced at her, vaguely smelling a faint scent of blood on her. Just as he was about to speak, Tang Xin interrupted him, saying, "We need to hurry over there. The team leader is in a panic."

Seeing her say that, Izang didn't press for more information and stepped on the gas, increasing the car's power.

The headquarters building of the Fifth Department was brightly lit.

The two hurried through the corridor, and before they even reached the interrogation area, they heard a commotion.

Behind the one-way glass wall, a glamorous woman sat with her legs crossed in a chair, a nonchalant smile on her face, pointing at the interrogator inside with an extremely arrogant attitude.

"I told you, kill me if you want, fight me if you want, why are you staring at me all the time?"

"Are you captivated by my beauty, boy?"

The interrogator was furious, but didn't know how to get her to reveal any information.

Outside the glass wall, a burly middle-aged man was pacing back and forth impatiently. It was Yan Lang, the team leader of Shenwu Department. When he saw Tang Xin and the other person, a slight relaxation finally appeared on his anxious face.

"You guys are here."

"Team leader." Tang Xin nodded gently, her gaze passing through the glass window to the woman inside.

Her pupils contracted slightly.

The image of Latia's arena flashed through my mind. It was this woman who used [DD Bomb] to cunningly send Qiqi's [Tears of Elegy Tribe] deck to its knees in one wave.

A guy who's afraid to fight head-on and only resorts to such despicable tactics.

Tang Xin took a deep breath and pushed open the door to the interrogation room.

The noise inside the room came to an abrupt halt.

The mockery on the lover's face froze, and he raised an eyebrow as he sized up the uninvited young girl.

Tang Xin ignored everyone and, mimicking Su Qing's movements in the novel, walked step by step to the woman, looking down at her with eyes as cold as a scalpel.

"You wicked scoundrels, come and fight!"

The lover paused for a moment, then burst out laughing as if she had heard the biggest joke in the world. She pointed at Tang Xin with her bright red nail polish, then turned to Yan Lang.

"Team Leader Yan, is your Spirit Control Division short-staffed right now? What are you doing bringing over such a little girl? To make me some nourishing soup?"

Yan Lang, looking grim through the glass window, said, "She's no little brat."

He spoke coldly. "He is the card chosen by the Epic Realm [Mental Collapse]."

A depth charge was dropped, creating a silent tidal wave in the interrogation room. The interrogator's face blossomed like a flower, filled with a liberating ecstasy.

The carefree smile on the lover's face froze inch by inch at the corner of her mouth.

Her captivating peach blossom eyes widened suddenly, filled with surprise and disbelief.

Epic Realm... [Mental Collapse].

The Spirit Control Bureau took control so quickly? And even recognized a master? This little girl in front of us?
Is she capable of shouldering such a heavy responsibility?

The lover instinctively sat up straight, the languid posture vanished, replaced by a tense body and scrutinizing gaze.

Her mind was racing.

[Mental Collapse] Once a domain recognizes its master, dueling is no longer the only way to initiate it. As long as the domain master is willing to pay a sufficient spiritual price, they can forcibly collapse a person's mind.

And what is her identity? A high-ranking official, a top-level criminal.

Here, no one will talk to her about "humanitarianism".

The consequence of refusing to duel is having one's memories forcibly revealed, or even being turned into a drooling idiot.

Rather than being stripped naked in such a humiliating way, it would be better to...

The lover looked Tang Xin up and down again, his gaze sweeping over her, and suddenly smiled.

"interesting."

She paused, then turned her gaze back to Tang Xin's face, a hint of provocative smile on her lips: "Little sister, I can duel with you."

Outside the one-way glass, Yan Lang raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

He was just organizing his thoughts, preparing a classic scam script: "If you cooperate with the duel, we'll consider reducing your sentence."

Unexpectedly, the other party took the bait so readily.

A voluntary duel is much easier than a forced mental breakdown, at least saving Tang Xin a significant amount of spiritual energy.

According to the analysis report, the mental collapse consumes more than 0.1% after a duel, but if a mental collapse is forced without a duel, the consumption is more than 5%. The stronger the target's resistance and the higher the mental defense, the greater the spiritual consumption.

If your spirituality drops to half, the epic aura will disappear.

If possible, I still want to have a mental breakdown after the duel.

“But you must—” The lover paused, preparing to make his request to cooperate in the Heartbreak Duel.

Tang Xin interrupted her with a stern voice: "You have no right to make demands!"

Instead of being angry, the lover was pleased, smiled faintly, and spread his hands: "Good, good, you're the domain master, you're amazing."

"Enough with the nonsense." Tang Xin's voice was cold and clear, completely different from her usual lively and friendly demeanor.

"Sinner, accept your judgment."

She made a righteous gesture, startling her lover.

Yan Lang skillfully tossed a dueling disk over, which landed steadily in front of his lover. At the same time, he made a gesture to his subordinates.

"Take her to the B-7 duel arena."

The interrogation room door opened, and two fully armed agents from the Soul Reapers' Division walked in, flanking the lovers on either side.

"Wow, what a grand display!" the lover exclaimed dramatically, but obediently stood up. As she passed Tang Xin, she suddenly stopped, lowered her voice, and whispered in a voice only the two of them could hear:

"Little sister, let me give you a piece of advice: don't touch power that doesn't belong to you."

Tang Xin's eyelids twitched, she clenched her fists, and her eyes flashed with a fierce determination to never give up.

B-7 Duel Arena.

This was a vast underground space, empty and cold. The alloy floor gleamed with a unique metallic sheen, and towering blast walls surrounded it, behind which stood numerous personnel from the Soul Reaping Division who had rushed to the scene upon hearing the news.

They weren't there to watch the spectacle, but to witness it.

Witness the first officially controlled real-world battle in the epic realm of "Mental Collapse," and witness how this arrogant clockwork executive is brought to justice by a rookie agent.

"Tang Xin! Keep it up!"

"Let her know how powerful our Fifth Department is!"

"Kill her! Justice will prevail!"

Shouts erupted from the crowd, each one like a stone hitting Tang Xin's heart, making it hard for her to breathe.

She had never dueled in front of so many colleagues before; the gazes, a mixture of expectation and pressure, made her palms sweat.

Back then, the myna bird fought the clown under such gazes.

If the myna can do it, so can I. Tang Xin, you can do it!

No matter how much Tang Xin cried out, her heart could not find peace.

"Heh." The lover, having been freed from her shackles, was flexing her wrists. Looking at the confusion on Tang Xin's face, her smile deepened.

"Oh dear~ You can't handle the pressure already?"

"I'm just a lowly cadre, but the Soul Control Division is really looking forward to your duel with the Clock Hand."

She wore the Duel Disk on her arm and looked at Tang Xin provocatively, "Do you even understand how to use this Epic Domain?"

Tang Xin suddenly raised her head and met her lover's sharp gaze.

"Words are useless to a wicked person!"

She put on the dueling disc with swift and decisive movements.

"In the name of justice, I hereby put you on trial!"

The lovers smiled without saying a word.

"duel!"

"duel!"

The two shouted at the same time.

【Attack first】

【Blue Square】

【The duel begins】

The cold, synthesized electronic sound echoed throughout the dueling arena. At the same time, the field wave of [Mental Collapse] spread, unilaterally targeting the lovers.

Pretty!

Tang Xin got the first attack, her tense body relaxed slightly, and her clenched fists slowly loosened.

The surrounding colleagues erupted in even more enthusiastic cheers than before.

The lover smiled slightly, seemingly indifferent, and gestured for them to proceed.

"First strike is mine!" Tang Xin didn't hesitate and suddenly drew five cards from her deck.

In the blink of an eye during the draw phase, before she could even clear her hand, her lover dropped a card: "Activate the effect of [Joyful Companion - Fluffy Long-tailed Tit]".

"This turn, each time your opponent Special Summons a monster from their Deck or Extra Deck, you draw one card."

Izang was startled, his whole body tensed up, and Yan Lang frowned.

【Puppet Desserts】I can't afford this stuff.

"Quick-Play Spell." Tang Xin reacted quickly, picking out a card to follow up with a chain, "[Called by the Graveyard]!"

"Excluded and invalidated: [Joyful Gathering - Fluffy Long-tailed Tit]!"

"Beautiful!" shouted the agents from the Soul Reaping Division outside the arena.

The lover simply smiled faintly and tossed a card aside: "So, what about the second one?"

"Chain Three!"

"【Joyful Gathering with Friends - Fluffy Long-tailed Tit】!"

"What?!" Tang Xin was shocked, and Izan's heart sank to the bottom.

The cheers from the sidelines subsided.

The effect of "Joyful Gathering with Friends - Fluffy Long-tailed Tit" was successful. The lover spread out his hands and chuckled, "Go ahead and do it."

"Damn it," Yan Lang muttered to himself.

He wasn't actually worried about the outcome of the duel; even if his lover won, they wouldn't let her go.

The most important factor in this duel is Tang Xin's mindset.

She was chosen as the domain master, and she will have to participate in countless Heartbreak Duels.

As duelists, people can lose.

But one's resolve must not waver.

He turned to look at Tang Xin, his brows furrowed; his worst fears had come true.

Tang Xin wavered.

"She ate the titmouse," Tang Xin said, her hand trembling as she held the card.

No matter how unwilling you are to admit it, there are differences in strength between cards.

If it were replaced with [Thunder and Fire], the opponent would only need to draw one card to achieve three card-bombing resistances.

But what about the [Puppet Dessert]?

This deck has a lot of deck and extra deck special summons, a long operation chain, weak endgame, no compromise field, and can compromise with one [NO.41].

But while the Sleepy Baku can only fight random passersby, its opponent is a Clockwork Executive.

Myna and Izuna advised her to choose a stronger deck, one with more resilience, more movement points, and a tougher, more well-rounded deck in the final stage.

She was being disobedient and insisted on using the [Puppet Dessert].
But even so.

"even so."

Tang Xin gripped the card in her hand tightly, holding the "Magic Puppet Dessert - Madeleine Witch" card. She swiped her finger and finally settled on the rightmost magic card.

"I'll bring [Puppet Dessert]." She suddenly looked up, staring directly at her lover, "To defeat you!"

"Smack!" A card was slapped down heavily.

"Activate a perpetual spell."

"【Bright Fusion】!"

(End of this chapter)