Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Hayato pressed his forehead against the door and looked outside, only to find the front yard deserted, which made him slightly unhappy—was some naughty child playing a prank?

But behind him came the sound of the glass door leading to the courtyard being pushed open.

"Hey kid, stand there quietly and don't move."

Turning his head, Hayato saw a strange man walking into the house from the courtyard. The mud on his ill-fitting shoes made a mess of the floor. The man seemed oblivious, even rubbing his feet on the tatami mat in the living room.

Although the man always seemed lazy and listless when he made a move, Hayato didn't move an inch. Instead, he stood obediently in place, just watching the other man draw the curtains.

The reason is simple—the man had a pistol pointed at Hayato.

"You must be the escaped convict from the newspaper, right? Sigh, I'm really unlucky." With a sigh, Hayato raised his hands to show that he posed no threat, while his eyes darted around.

Being held at gunpoint is no fun at all; he has to figure out a way to save himself without alerting the escaped convict.

Hearing Hayato's sigh, Lucky smiled and said, "Hahaha, a kid like you must have been addicted to games every day at this age, right? Hmph, what a waste of your time. You should be studying astrology instead of playing games."

Huh? Hayato was completely bewildered. Was he being accused of not doing his job properly by an escaped convict? Besides, is studying astrology a proper job? He might as well save the world someday by playing cards.

"May I ask why you came to my house, Mr. Escapee?" After searching around, Hayato found something that might be of some use. In order to increase his chances of success, he decided to start "talking therapy" to buy time with the escapee in front of him.

"Kid, I really don't like that nickname of yours, it's too unlucky. My name is Lucky!" The escaped convict looked around the house, swept all the decorations on the kotatsu table to the floor with a flick of his arm, and casually plopped down on it, his gun still pointed at Hayato. "Blame your bad luck. I'm going to rob you now. Now, hand over all the money you've hidden in your house!"

"Don't try anything funny. If I see you trying to get out of my sight, I'll shoot; if you have something that doesn't look like money in your hand, I'll shoot; and if you dare to get close to the phone or anything like that, I'll shoot too."

With a sinister smile, the escaped convict Lucky gestured with his gun to the side: "Go on, bring out the money from your house. Oh, and I need food and drink too, I'm starving."

“Yes, Mr. Lucky.” Hayato immediately obeyed and headed towards the kitchen. Lucky also stood up from the living room, his gun following Hayato’s every move, while maintaining a safe distance.

Lucky was extremely wary, maintaining a seven-step, gun-fast distance between himself and Hayato—a distance even Ip Man probably couldn't disarm him. However, Hayato genuinely had no intention of actually attacking.

Soon, a bowl of instant noodles was placed on the living room table. Hayato added hot water and explained to the wary Lucky, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Lucky, my parents have been away from home for a long time, so there's not much food at home, just this. I don't think you'd accept me ordering takeout, would you?"

“I told you, if you dare come near the phone, I’ll shoot. But you’re really unlucky, kid. Your parents aren’t home, and I’ve come to your door.” A sinister smile spread across Lucky’s face. “Fine, instant noodles will do. I haven’t had them in a long time. So, where’s your money?”

“Actually, I don’t have any savings at home. After all, my parents aren’t home, you can understand, right, Mr. Lucky? However, my mother did leave me a bank card before she left.” Taking a few steps back, watching Lucky pull out a chair and sit at the table, Hayato still didn’t make any move, simply explaining unhurriedly.

"I don't think you'll agree to me going to the bank to withdraw the money now, so I'll have to trouble you to go and withdraw it yourself later."

"This is such a hassle." Lucky scratched his head in annoyance. "So, where's the card? Take it out, and the bank card PIN."

This time, Hayato did not obediently comply. Instead, under Lucky's wary gaze, he pulled out the chair opposite Lucky, sat down, took out his bank card, placed it next to the instant noodle bowl, and calmly said, "It will be a while before I can eat instant noodles, and this card contains more than a month's worth of my living expenses. I am really unwilling to lose it like this."

Despite saying that, Lucky didn't see any "resentment" in Hayato at all.

"So, Mr. Lucky, how about playing a game with me while I wait for my instant noodles?" Hayato took out his deck and placed it on the table. "Duel Monster Cards. If you beat me, I'll tell you my bank card PIN right away, and even if you lose, I'll tell you before you leave."

"After all, Mr. Lucky, you have a gun."

Seeing Hayato's calm smile, Lucky found it quite amusing. He pulled out a deck of cards from his prison uniform: "Hahaha, kid, you've come to the right person. No one in this prison can beat me when it comes to Duel Monsters!"

Chapter 28 has an attack power of 3600 points! That's incredibly strong!

This isn't just Lucky boasting; he truly was the strongest Duel Monster in prison. In fact, his escape was largely thanks to Duel Monster cards; he even won information about the guards' patrol patterns from others.

"I'll take the first turn." Without any hesitation, Lucky seized the initiative and drew a card from his deck.

[Hayato: 2000LP, 5 cards in hand]

[Latchee: 2000LP, Hand cards 5 → 6]

Clutching the card in his hand without putting down his pistol, Lucky looked down at it with a satisfied smile: Sure enough, these past few days have been my lucky days, so "Lucky"!

"You're really unlucky, kid, or should I say I'm incredibly lucky? I didn't expect to draw the Ace Monster in the first turn," Lucky said smugly, drawing a card from his hand and playing it.

"Summon my strongest monster, [TM-1 Rocket Spider]!"

[TM-1 Rocket Launcher Spider] [7☆/Fire] [Mechanical/Normal] [2200/2500]

In just the first round, he drew the strongest monster in his deck? Hayato looked at the card Lucky played. This guy's luck is a bit too good. He suggested Lucky play a White Dragon deck with a level 24 starting hand, plus Fusion and Fusion Deactivation.

"My turn isn't over yet; I still need to equip these two magic cards on my precious ones."

Lucky's actions didn't stop after summoning the monster; in fact, it was just the beginning. He even played two spell cards in one go. Moreover, both of them were [7 cards]!

[7 Cards] - Can only be equipped to Machine-Type monsters. The equipped monster gains 700 ATK or DEF.

"What I want to increase is, of course, attack power. With the help of two magic cards, my precious baby's attack power is now—"

"3600 points!"

[TM-1 Rocket Launcher Spider] [ATK2200→3600]

"My turn is over." Lucky looked at the monster on the field whose attack power was even higher than that of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, quite pleased with himself. Even when playing cards in prison, he had never had such a smooth turn. This kid in front of him seemed to be having an exceptionally bad run of luck.

However, whether he is unlucky or not has nothing to do with me; I'm happy as long as I'm having fun. "Kid, start your struggle. My rocket launcher spider can easily crush any kind of monster."

[Latchee: Hand 6→3]

“Even if you’re struggling, you don’t have to start struggling when you’re at full health. I’m not Caesar.” Saying something that Lucky couldn’t understand, Hayato drew a card and then set three cards face down in the back row: “Set three back row cards face down. This is the monster I’m summoning.”

The card Hayato played amused Lucky with just one glance: "Haha, knowing my [Rocket Spider] has powerful attack capabilities, you still dare to summon a monster in Attack Position? I thought playing cards with a brat like you would be a good way to relax, what a disappointment."

[Paladin Artoris] [4☆/Light] [Warrior/Normal] [1800/1800]

“You can’t say that, Mr. Lucky. I think the best way to face difficulties is to bravely confront them.” Hayato smiled slightly, offering no further explanation. “My turn is over.”

[Hayato: Hand Card 5→6→2]

"My turn. Haha, looks like this game is about to end." Lucky drew a card, glanced at it, and then laughed. "Since you've chosen to take the hit, I'll grant your wish. My favorite, [TM-1 Rocket Spider], attacks!"

"Well, because of the huge difference in attack power, my [Atolis] will be destroyed by [Rocket Cannon Spider], and I will also suffer 1800 points of damage from the difference." Hayato sent the destroyed [Paladin Atolis] to the graveyard, but his expression was too calm, making people wonder who was actually at a disadvantage.

[Hayato: 2000LP →200LP]

"Aren't you worried about your fundamentals at all?" Lucky looked at Hayato with a strange expression.

"I'm definitely nervous, after all, my life points are practically nonexistent right now, while Mr. Lucky's life points are 1000% of mine." Hayato then slowly flipped over one of the face-down cards. "However, I did face down this card."

"【Damage Vaccine ΩMAX】?" Lucky had never seen this card before.

"The effect of this card is that it can only be activated after I take damage by any means. No matter how much damage I take, I can recover Life Points equal to the amount of damage I took," Hayato explained. "Because of the attack from [Rocket Spider], I took 1800 damage, so I will now recover 1800 Life Points as well."

[Hayato: 200LP → 2000LP]

"What kind of cheating is this! Does that mean you're invincible?!" Lucky was furious as the damage he'd just caused vanished. As a murderer, he thoroughly enjoyed the destruction it caused, but he felt terrible if others didn't care about the damage after he'd done it.

“Not really. The [damage vaccine] heals after the damage has occurred. If the damage I took had been any higher, I would have lost.” Hayato smiled. “How lucky.”

"You brat. Hmph, my turn is over—"

"Before Mr. Lucky's turn ends, I have two more card effects to activate." Hayato interrupted Lucky's end declaration and flipped over the two cards on his field.

"I activated this card first, then this card, and then dealt with the effect of the next card first." Because the concept of "chain" didn't even exist at this time, Hayato put it another way: "[Time Machine], I can revive a monster that was destroyed this turn."

"Come back, Paladin Artorius."

【Paladin Atolis】【ATK1800】

"Damn it, does that mean I did absolutely nothing?!" Lucky was extremely annoyed. In this turn, the damage he dealt was restored, the destroyed monsters were revived, and he did absolutely nothing except consume two of the opponent's imp's cards.

“No, not at all. Didn’t you also summon three powerful monsters, Mr. Lucky?” Hayato smiled.

Lucky was puzzled: "What powerful monster? I clearly didn't summon any monsters."

“You didn’t summon it yourself, but I summoned it for you with this card.” Hayato pointed to the card whose effect hadn’t been activated yet, “【Disruptive Trio】, its effect is to send three burdens to the opponent so they don’t come back.”

From Lucky's unseen perspective, in the [Disruptive Trio] card image Hayato opened, the three awakened card spirits—the Disruptive Trio—were thrown out with their bundles and bags on their backs. Flying in the air, the three spirits continued to chatter, shouting "Annie~" "Annie!"

"It's so relaxing to be rid of these annoying burdens." Looking at the three troublesome creatures that had been brought to Lucky Field, Hayato's smile was genuine, and he visibly relaxed a lot.

Chapter 29 Today's target of persecution is disrupting the Black

"Summon monsters on my field? Hmph, meaningless cards, and what you summon is just a bunch of weaklings." Looking down at the three Disruption Monster cards that Hayato had placed on his field as "Tokens," Lucky's eyes saw their glaringly low attack power of 0 and weak defense of 1000 as utter trash.

What he couldn't see was that because he kept calling us "minions," three Disruptors swarmed onto him, punching and kicking him: "How dare you call us minions?" "Only the big brother can say that to us!" "Exactly!"

However, the "spirit power" Hayato gained—the essence of his ability to "communicate with card spirits"—was only at the lowest level. The Disruptors, including Huang, were merely phantoms, possessing no combat power whatsoever. Moreover, even if their levels increased, the Disruptors, with their attack power of 0, would still be utterly ineffective.

[Latchee: Hand 3→4]

“Now it’s my turn again, draw a card.” Hayato drew a card and pretended to be very surprised. “Oh my god, Mr. Lucky, I think I drew an amazing card.”

Flipping the card, Hayato drew a "Toll" card.

I recognize this card, Karachi: "A card that can't attack without paying 500 life points? Hmph, that's nothing to me with my 2000 life points. I can take down that stubborn monster on your field with just one attack."

"What, are you going to start it?"

Lucky's lips curled into a smile, but before it could fully spread, Hayato said with certainty, "Isn't that obvious?"

[Toll] has been placed on the field by Hayato. From now on, neither player can initiate an attack declaration unless they pay 500 base points.

“Although even if my [Atoris]’s attack power were doubled, it still wouldn’t be enough to take down Mr. Lucky’s [Rocket Spider], resulting in a mutual destruction. However, I can still defeat those three [Disruption Tokens] that were just summoned to your field.” Hayato narrowed his eyes, his gaze sweeping over the three Disruption Monsters under their terrified stares. “Now, I’m going to randomly pick a lucky spectator to beat up. Who’s that lucky person?”

The three brothers, terrified, huddled together, trembling.

“Summoning a monster to my field and then destroying it? How utterly boring.” Lucky looked at Hayato, who was squinting. “Attacking monsters in defense position won’t hurt me. On the contrary, you’ll be facing my invincible [Rocket Spider] again next turn.”

"Attacks on monsters that have broken through defense stance should theoretically not cause damage, but I happen to have a spell that can work."

Hayato played a card, and now he only has one card left in his hand.

"【Meteor Strike】? A card that grants a piercing effect when attacking a defense position monster? So what, it's just 800 points of damage."

"No, it's not 800 damage, it's 2600 damage." Hayato didn't mention that [Disruption Token] also deals effect damage when destroyed, because the 300 damage this time wasn't that important. He played the last card in his hand, "[Gigantify], which can double or halve a monster's ATK based on the difference in life points between the two players."

Lucky glanced at the card in Hayato's hand. His [Gigantify] card was slightly different from the one circulating on the market. The market version unconditionally increased a monster's ATK and DEF by 20%, while Hayato's card had an extremely terrifying doubling effect.

However, powerful cards also come with risks. When Hayato's Life Points are higher than his opponent's, the multiplier effect of "Giant" becomes a double-edged sword, reducing the monster's attack power to half of its original value.

"That's quite a powerful effect. But kid, have you forgotten something?" Lucky revealed an arrogant smile. "Because of the [Damage Vaccine] you activated last turn, your life points are now equal to mine. This [Gigantify] won't even take effect. It seems you've been scared out of your wits by the fear of defeat, hahahaha."

"I never expected to find such a powerful and rare card in a place like yours, you little brat. It's decided, this card is mine after the game ends. Lately, the guys from Kaiba Corporation have been collecting powerful cards everywhere. If I take this card to the black market, I bet it can fetch a lot of money, right? Thinking about it that way, you really are my lucky star!"

Looking at Lucky, who was talking to himself and already imagining the wonderful life he would have after becoming rich, Hayato coughed lightly: "Ahem, Mr. Lucky, I think you've forgotten something?"

"Ok?"

“If you’ve forgotten, let me help you remember.” Hayato pointed to the field. “Now, I’m going to use Paladin Atolis, equipped with both [Meteor Strike] and [Gigantify], to declare an attack on your [Disruptive Token - Black]…”

"Then, because of the [Toll] effect, I need to pay 500 health points!"

"What?! This card?!" Lucky's eyes widened in astonishment as he stared at the [Toll Tax] card, which he had completely forgotten about since activating it. If Hayato had paid 500 Life Points due to the [Toll Tax]'s effect—