Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“Even if you clone a powerful being, it’s just a waste product with the form but no corresponding intelligence. Even if you use it to adjust and enhance the genes of ordinary people, you can only get defective products.” Valentine continued to say things that Hayato couldn’t understand. “But, as long as you get one thing, you can turn everything around!”

"Come on, Hayato Kobayashi!" Without saying anything more, Valentine simply opened his arms to receive the incoming attack, firmly stating, "Everything I have done is not out of personal desire, and I firmly believe that my actions are not wrong."

"My heart and actions are as clear as a mirror, and all my deeds are righteous!"

The light refracted by the crystal pierced through the world of this dark game. The crystal storm subsided as it cleared the target's base points, and the dazzling light disappeared with the crystal's vanishing.

Also no longer existing is Fanny Valentine, whose fundamental score was wiped out in the world of the Dark Games, to the point that his entire body was swallowed by darkness.

Looking at the spot where the body had vanished, and the handkerchief bearing Fanny Valentine's name that he always carried fluttered to the ground before disappearing with its owner into the darkness, Hayato said coldly, "Hmph, your heart and actions are as black as the bottom of a pot, and everything you've done is utter nonsense!"

"The outcome of the Dark Game, while failing to erase all clones except you from this world, has made the method of transferring consciousness and changing bodies to achieve resurrection a thing of the past!"

"—But what did Fanny Valentine mean by what he just said?" Turning his head to look in one direction, Hayato's gaze fell upon the towering headquarters building of the Kaiba Corporation. His expression turned serious. "What exactly is this unsettling atmosphere...?"

At the same time that Hayato defeated Fanny Valentine with his Dark Game, another Fanny Valentine, who had kidnapped Muto Sugoroku with his men, suddenly collapsed to one knee and began coughing violently.

"Cough cough!" Valentine covered his mouth with his hand and felt dizzy. Then he saw that he was coughing up a lot of blood onto his palm. At the same time, he could vaguely feel that something connected to him had been severed.

"This feeling... am I locked in this body?" Fanny Valentine's subconscious thought was that he had been ambushed and seriously injured, such as by a sniper or something—he had been sniped before during his campaign.

(There was a Valentine redraw of a photo of Trump raising his hand after being sniped, but it was taken by Saint Howard.)

So his first reaction was to abandon this injured body and transfer to one of his other clone bodies set up in Tongshino City to continue his mission. However, he remained in this body and was completely unable to transfer, as if he had never had a clone body.

He quickly guessed the reason: "Did the 'me' who went to Kobayashi Hayato's side fail and get attacked by him with supernatural power? Tch, Kobayashi Hayato, well done!"

He spoke with a gritted-teeth expression.

"Dream" stood behind Valentine without saying anything. Although Valentine was in a weak state, he was not so weak that he needed help to get up. He stood up from the ground and straightened his pink suit.

"—But the other 'me' has already stalled for enough time. Even if you try to stop me now, it will be too late!" Fanny Valentine sneered as he looked at the hostage beside him.

Besides Muto Sugoroku, another young man was knocked unconscious and brought to his side. Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be Kaiba Keihei!

After many years, Sugoroku Muto and Keihei Kaiba, these two "thousand-year hostages," have reunited after a long absence. They have been kidnapped and taken in by Fanny Valentine, making people sigh, "What a pair of smiling tigers and two black sharks!"

Fanny Valentine's method for successfully kidnapping Guiping was quite simple: he used his identity as the President of the United States to go to the Seahorse Park, where he "accidentally" bumped into Guiping, whose movements had already been investigated and who appeared there every Sunday morning, and then kidnapped him.

He originally thought he might have to replicate the kidnapping of Muto Sugoroku and find someone to deal with Kaiba Seto, but Kaiba Seto just happened to leave Domino City. Upon learning of this, Valentine didn't wait a minute longer and quickly pushed forward the plan to avoid any unforeseen complications.

Everything was going smoothly, and he had now brought the "thousand-year hostages" to the headquarters of Haima Group. Looking up at the towering skyscrapers, his eyes were filled with excitement.

Valentine's men, who had arrived earlier, had already taken over the headquarters of the Haima Group. Even though Isono and others tried to resist and seek help, Valentine threatened Keihei's life and they could only surrender and let Valentine take the elevator up.

Valentine soon arrived at the top floor of the Haima Group headquarters building. Although it belonged to Haima, it was usually the president's office used by Keiping. Keiping naturally had the right to enter, and Valentine used Keiping's palm print to open the office door.

Uninterested in anything else in the room, Valentine went straight to a USB drive on the table—the same USB drive that Seahorse had asked Hayato and the others to use just yesterday, containing his newly completed dueling system.

"The key piece of the puzzle that can reverse the cloning defects of the 'D4C' system is right here, in my hands!" Valentine muttered to himself as he picked up the USB drive. "The genetic modifications and enhancements that are acquired later are too half-baked, while the innate clones cannot acquire enough intelligence."

"However—if we use the system that Shanghai Maresto just completed, that dueling system that can actively create personalities by utilizing other people's impressions and memories, and equip it on a clone, we can make the genes and personality perfectly match!"

"Hayato Kobayashi, Yugi Muto, Seto Kaiba, Katsuya Jonouchi—these legendary duelists are certainly strong, but when their opponents are themselves, even if they are slightly weakened, if their numbers reach hundreds or thousands, even they will be in dire straits!"

"The correct answer to which direction to pick up the napkin on the round table is determined by the first person to pick it up. The supreme being in religion, wealth, and power is the one who sets that rule."

"And as long as this dueling system exists, the absolute power it contains will become a powerful boost to making America great again!"

Valentine inserts the USB drive into a portable terminal, copies the data from it, and immediately uploads it to a server he has prepared beforehand. The server then immediately begins to process the data on the numerous terminal devices it is connected to.

The next moment, as the program was completely overwritten, a red light flashed in the eyes of the bodyguards Valentine brought by Tong Shiye.

"Whole brain simulation...loading;"

"Brain function is recovering... Done;"

"Polling... Complete;"

"Individual-specific incremental code: Hayato Kobayashi/Yugi Muto/Seto Kaiba/Katsuya Jonouchi...;"

"Error: Insufficient memory, reducing resolution..."

"Error: Insufficient memory, reducing the range of emotional expression..."

"Fatal Error: Memory Overflow, Reset in Progress..."

"—Startup has been forcibly completed."

Valentine burst into laughter upon seeing "Transfer Complete" displayed on his personal terminal: "Now, I've picked up the original napkin!"

Chapter 2107 That hairstyle... without a doubt!

——8:00 AM

“The first place we should go is definitely the central area of ​​the shopping district, right?” Asuka said, pointing to “Duel! Domino City Sightseeing Route - The Footprints of Legendary Duelists!” “After all, that’s an important place that unveils the prelude to the dueling city.”

Fubuki nodded: "Indeed, when it comes to the most famous event in Domino City, it has to be Duel City, right? It established Hayato's name as the 'King of Duels' and was a legendary dueling tournament where the legendary 'Three Egyptian Gods' appeared one after another. It's unprecedented and will never be repeated."

“Besides, the shopping street isn’t far from our hotel, it’s only a few minutes’ walk.” Marufuji Sho looked at Judai. “So, is that our first stop?”

“There’s nothing worth visiting in the shopping district in the morning. Even if we’re going to ‘check it out,’ we should wait until after noon, right?” Saotome Rei objected. “Speaking of legends, the Domino City Arena is quite special.”

In the early years, the sudden emergence of the Seahorse Park made the Domino City Sports Center a troublesome unfinished project for the local government, but the Seahorse Group generously acquired it.

During the Duel City era, the Domino City Sports Center was used by Kaiba as a large helipad for the Duel Airship "St. Anne," which was used by the eight finalists selected for the Duel City official tournament.

(The "unfinished building" during the DM era)

(What it looks like in the 5DS)

In the years that followed, the abandoned Domino City Sports Center was rebuilt by the Kaiba Group on its original site and transformed into the "Domino City Arena," which was rented out to the public for non-official dueling events other than those organized by the Kaiba Group and the International Illusion Society.

Originally intended for use as a stadium, the place was quite spacious, large enough to accommodate all the citizens of Domino City. The competition area inside could also hold a considerable number of people, even enough to allow all the participants in a duel to appear at the same time and fight in pairs to advance.

However, recently, it seems that some special renovations are going to be carried out there, and the rental to the public has been stopped. However, the arena has not stopped being open to the public. On the contrary, more people have gone to the arena that has not had any recent events.

The reason is that the Haima Group actually brought out the legendary dueling airship "Saint Anne" from several years ago and displayed it in the center of the arena, replicating the scene of the opening of the quarterfinals of Duel City one-to-one, and you can even go up to the airship to visit!

Compared to the Domino City Arena, which is more of a symbol of the opening of the Duel City qualifiers and is just a shopping street area where you can check in and do some shopping, the Domino City Arena is clearly more prestigious.

"Let alone tourists from outside the city, even the locals of Domino City don't have many people who have been on the St. Anne. I heard that not only can you visit the interior, but you can also visit the places on the airship where those legendary duelists fought."

No sooner had Manjoume finished speaking than Kenzan excitedly exclaimed, "As expected, the Domino City Colosseum is a better fit!"

"That's so naive! You're only considering that it's a rare opportunity to go up and play at the arena, but you're not taking into account that popular attractions will inevitably lead to large crowds and a terrible experience?"

"That shopping street isn't much better, is it? The attractions should actually be enjoyable, not just a place to take photos!"

"Just visiting the places where legendary duelists fought is already the best way for us duelists to have fun, isn't it?"

"Isn't the Saint Anne a hundred times better than the commercial center?"

In just a few words, the atmosphere became tense, as if Asuka and Rei could start fighting on the spot if they disagreed again.

Listening to their conversation, Manjoume wiped the cold sweat from his forehead: "What's going on? Mr. Manjoume, how could I be afraid of two women? Tch, women are really a nuisance."

"Fubuki-senpai, why don't you go up and say a few words to her?" Kenzan patted Fubuki on the shoulder. "You're the best at dealing with girls here, aren't you?"

"Ha, I don't want to be killed by Asuka." Fubuki shook her head violently. "If you want to go, go yourselves. Don't splatter blood on me."

"Well, it seems we can only rely on you after all." Marufuji Sho turned his head. "Big brother, say something, where do you want to go?"

Upon hearing Marufuji Sho's words, Kenzan, Fubuki, and Manjoume all turned to look at Judai. Even Asuka and Rei, who were bickering, turned their gazes to Judai, waiting for him to make a choice.

(So ​​cute~)

Even Judai froze for a moment, pointing to himself as everyone's eyes turned to him: "Me?"

“I think, maybe, perhaps, uh…” Faced with a choice, Jaden racked his brains, and suddenly his amazing wisdom provided the answer. Pointing to the book “Duel! Domino City Sightseeing Route—The Footprints of Legendary Duelists!”, he said, “I think, it would be better to go here first!”

Everyone looked down and saw that the page Judai was pointing to had a picture of Kameji Card House printed on it. There was also a group photo of Jonouchi, Yugi, Hayato and the others with Sugoroku Muto at the entrance of Card House.

Whether Judai chooses the Domino City Stadium or the shopping district center, there will always be someone who is dissatisfied. Since he can't satisfy both sides, he might as well choose a place that will dissatisfy both sides. This is the wisdom of Judai.

Jaden had thought that if he chose this place, the others wouldn't follow him, but to his surprise, neither Asuka nor Rei seemed to care much. They both said in unison, "Hmm, that sounds good. Let's go to Kameji Card Shop together then."

"Kame-ki Card Shop is on the other side of Domino City," Fubuki said, looking at the address. "It is indeed a very famous place, but I don't think I've ever been there."

“That’s normal. Even people who live in Asakusa might not go to Kaminarimon, but it’s a must-visit spot for tourists. Even locals in Chitsuka might not go to Yoshiwara’s red-light district,” Marufuji Sho said casually.

Kenzan looked at the map: "I think it's partly due to the geographical location, right? It seems like Domino City is divided into a bustling urban area and a relatively remote old town? If you want to buy Duel Monsters cards, there are quite a few shops in the shopping district."

“We locals in Domino generally refer to the two places as ‘New Capital’ and ‘Old Capital’ respectively,” Manjoume explained. “Indeed, the New Capital is more prosperous and can better meet the needs of Duel Monsters.”

"Including but not limited to the card maintenance services of the International Illusion Society, the Duel Disk repair and customization of the Manjoume Foundation, and the advanced Duel System experience of the Kaiba Group, the traditional card shop that can only solve the problem of card purchase is indeed not attractive enough."

"Anyway, that's the place we've decided on: Kameji Card Shop," Judai said decisively. "Time is precious, and if we hurry, I might be able to visit a few more places today!"

As he spoke, he stood up and walked outside, saying, "Well then, everyone, I'll be off now."

Throughout the entire process, Jaden never showed any intention of going with everyone, acting as if he was "only making decisions about himself and not affecting others." Even the slow-witted Sho and Kenzan could sense that he wanted to distance himself from others.

However, what he failed to anticipate was the action-oriented nature of women who had awakened their "love heart".

"Don't even think about sneaking off by yourself, Judai! I won't let you be the first person to check off that spot!" Asuka reached out and pressed down on Judai's shoulder. "Don't forget that you're the one who entrusted this travel guide to me for safekeeping. I need to go with you."

“Me too, I won’t let you ‘run away’, Judai-sama!” Although she was speaking to Judai, Saotome Rei’s eyes were fixed on Asuka. “I also want to go and see Kame-ki Card Shop. Maybe I can even meet the legendary duelist Yugi Muto there.”

'You'd better really want to see Yugi Muto!' 'Likewise!'

Rei and Asuka confront each other and follow Jaden, who is fleeing for his life. Kenzan and Sho want to follow, but are stopped by Fubuki and Manjoume respectively.

"You need to be a little more discerning, Marufuji. You absolutely mustn't disturb your older brother right now." Fubuki had a serious expression on her face; anyone who didn't know better would think she was about to make a decision to dismantle XX out of a sense of principle.

"Is that so... I think I understand." Marufuji Sho and Kenzan exchanged a glance and nodded with blank expressions.

“I was actually thinking of going to Kameji Card Shop, but for now…” Manjoume thought for a moment, “I’ll leave that space to Jellyfish Head and the others for now. I’m planning to check out the bigger Duel Monsters card shop in Shinto – Black Crown Game Shop.”

"Then let's go together, Manjoume-san~" Fubuki said with a smile, looking in the direction where Judai and the others left. "I'm sure Judai will have a memorable day with Asuka-chan and the others, right?"

——8:20 AM

After leaving their hotel, Judai, Asuka, and Rei chose to walk to the Kameji Card Shop in the old capital of Domino City—after all, even after expansion, Domino City's area is only a little over 300 hectares, barely four square kilometers.

(The prototype of Domino City is Yokohama Minato Mirai 21, which covers an area of ​​186 hectares. This area is doubled.)

For the Judai and his companions, it took nearly twenty minutes to travel from the new capital to the old capital and find the vicinity of the Kameji Card Shop, which was considered slow. This was partly because they hadn't actually had breakfast yet and had bought some on the street along the way.

After crossing the bridge from the new capital to the old capital, the three of them noticed a significant change in the atmosphere, instantly transforming from the bustling commercial district to the tranquility of the residential area.

Although the old city has no commercial areas and the new city has residential buildings, the two sides give people a different feeling.

"The riverbank we just passed is said to be the place where the Duel King Hayato Kobayashi fought against Malik, the leader of the Grus, who wielded two of the 'Three Egyptian Gods'," Asuka said to Judai, turning to him as she looked at the location description in the travel guide.

"It was in this place that Hayato-sensei obtained his absolute trump card, the supreme 'Three Egyptian Gods'—[Rathalos]."