Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"But on the other hand, it has almost no defense capabilities. It's like a computer full of Trojan horse software that's breeding poisonous insects. If it weren't for the lack of cameras, it would have been caught red-handed immediately."

"Therefore, there is reason to suspect that he is not a professional hacker, but an ordinary person who accidentally obtained the vulnerability of Haima Group. It is necessary to control him and confirm whether he has other backdoor vulnerabilities."

Reading the intelligence provided by the analysis team of the Kaiba Group, even Isono, who would remain unmoved even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, couldn't help but feel a little disgusted: "Isn't this a bit too outrageous? The firewall program of Kaiba Park was written by Vice President Keihei personally leading the team. It would be understandable if it was breached, but to say that it was an ordinary person who breached it by exploiting a vulnerability in the program?"

"Isn't the analysis team saying that the program written by Vice President Guiping is so flawed that it can be easily found, archived, and repaired without any worries?"

The others echoed Isono's words. It wasn't that they wanted to curry favor with their superior, but rather that they, like Isono, highly recognized Keipai's talent and didn't think the vulnerabilities in the firewall program Keipai wrote could be so exaggerated.

Iso casually flipped to the next page of the analysis and reaffirmed Kaiba's instructions: "Then let's repeat ourselves. Although the analysis team's explanation is hard to believe, let's do as President Kaiba instructed first. Find the hacker and take him into custody. We'll test his abilities when the president arrives before making a decision."

If the analysis team made a mistake, and the hacker actually broke into Haima Amusement Park on their own merits, then it's very likely that Haima Group will cancel the hacker's punishment and instead offer them a position of leniency, since capable people are highly sought after.

However, if the analysis is accurate, then the hacker will likely be punished in the manner the analysis team judged, and it will be very necessary to force him to hand over the program vulnerabilities he possesses.

Of course, all of the above is ultimately up to the seahorse himself to decide. If he doesn't like someone, even if that person is very capable, he won't accept them.

After turning a corner, the black luxury sedan drew ever closer to their destination. Isono lowered his head, watching as his coordinates nearly aligned with the destination. When he looked up again, he and the other three simultaneously discovered—

Directly in front of the moving vehicle, a "boy" dressed in a gray robe was about to cross the road as if he hadn't noticed the vehicle!

The reason why "boy" is in quotation marks is because the person wearing the gray robe covered his head with the hood that was attached to the gray robe, and Isono could only guess the person's gender and age from his flat chest and thin physique.

"Beep beep!" From a distance, the security personnel in the car began to honk their horns to warn the boy to leave the road immediately. However, no matter how loud the car made, the boy in the gray robe walked at a steady and slow pace, as if he was intentionally waiting in front of the vehicle to be hit.

Oh no, this is a staged accident.

The four people in the car were in complete agreement. The driver didn't need anyone to remind him; he was about to step on the brake when he accidentally saw the gray-robed boy holding a golden lollipop without a stick in his mouth.

No, that's not right. The color looks like real gold, and I've seen the shape somewhere before!

The driver who worked for the Haima Group back when it almost fell into the hands of the International Illusion Society recalled that he had once met Pegasus, the president of the International Illusion Society, under the guidance of the head of the security department at the time, Saruwatari. Pegasus was sitting by the window of the Duel Castle, enjoying the sea breeze, and his silver hair was being blown by the wind. He saw that Pegasus's left eye was hidden.

It's exactly the same as the one the gray-robed boy mentioned!

Before the driver could even open his mouth to warn his colleagues, a dark magic silently invaded his vision, causing him to lose his ability to speak and become delirious. Moreover, although he had intended to step on the brake, he ended up pressing the accelerator instead.

Suddenly, the black luxury sedan's speed surged, and then, under the driver's chaotic control, the steering wheel was turned half a turn. The black luxury sedan scraped against the roadside fence, making an unpleasant noise, and finally, the front of the car crashed hard into the fire hydrant by the roadside.

"squeak---!!"

"boom!!"

Isono's consciousness ceased at that moment. After the driver's thoughts were dissolved, the others, including Isono, followed suit, falling into a dazed state, remaining calmly unconscious in the car, immersed in a flawless illusion woven by someone unknown.

It wasn't until the arrival of the seahorse that Isono's consciousness was brought back by the repeated calls.

With a struggle, he raised his arm and placed his fingers on the unlock button on the car door. Using the weight of his arm, he unlocked the door on the side where Isono was. Kaiba pulled Isono back from falling out of the car.

"Isano! What happened?"

Opening his eyes, Isono glanced at the furious seahorse, his voice weak and feeble: "The boy in the gray robe... and Pegasus's eyes..."

After uttering the two keywords she had racked her brains to come up with, Isono closed her eyes weakly, as if she had exhausted her last bit of strength.

Kaiba quickly checked Isono's breathing. Fortunately, Isono's breathing was still steady, and it seemed that he had only fainted and had not died.

After settling Isono back into the car to rest, Kaiba finally had time to think about what Isono had just said.

"The boy in the gray robe, and Pegasus's eyes?"

The description of a boy in a gray robe is too general. Anyone can be a boy in a gray robe simply by buying a gray robe and finding a boy to wear it. But what's really interesting is Pegasus's eyes...

Kaiba felt that it was unlikely that the "eye of Pegasus" that Isono mentioned referred to his current intact eye. On the contrary, it was more likely that it was the "golden eye" that Kaiba had seen before—although Hayato had mentioned terms like "millennium peg" and "millennium eye" to Kaiba many times, he never thought that such a technologically unsophisticated thing could have any power.

Especially after the Duel Kingdom incident ended, on the very day Kaiba left Duel Kingdom, Pegasus lost his "Golden Eye," and Pegasus himself was hospitalized for a long time as a result.

Back then, when Seahorse heard about Pegasus's plight, he was secretly pleased. After all, that guy wore a golden eye with him every day, as if he was showing off his wealth, as if he was afraid others wouldn't know he was rich.

Kaiba never imagined that one day he would hear about Pegasus's stolen Golden Eye again, especially from Isono. Now, the basic clues are confirmed: even if the guy with Pegasus's Golden Eye wasn't the culprit behind the accident, he was at least one of the people who knew about it, otherwise Isono wouldn't have specifically mentioned him.

Kaiba, who arrived at the accident scene on his motorcycle, immediately called an ambulance upon seeing Isono's car parked on the side of the road, demanding that they dispatch an ambulance as soon as possible. However, even a big customer like Kaiba couldn't rob the ambulance of its freedom in the free world of America; the ambulance claimed on the phone that it would take at least half an hour to reach the scene.

Extremely annoyed, Seahorse had no interest in catching the hacker anymore. All he felt now was anger at his subordinates being hurt, and he just wanted to find someone to vent his frustration on.

Coincidentally, a blond man with similar taste to Kaiba, wearing a long, dark blue trench coat that reached his ankles, walked out from around the corner under Kaiba's gaze. The dueling disk on his wrist proved that he was a duelist.

The seahorse initially glanced at him dismissively, but the blond man's words made the seahorse glare at him angrily:

Are you looking for the people who attacked them?

Chapter 399 Balong: I don't like this woman

Someone once said that when eyes meet, it's the signal that a battle has begun.

In short, Kaiba and the blond man who appeared before him—Rafael—exchanged their duel disks.

Even without a reason, it's normal for duelists to use Duel Monsters to compete against each other, especially now that Kaiba is convinced that Rafael witnessed the car accident.

Moreover, although Kaiba thought the car accident was an accident, Rafael's question, "Are you looking for the person who attacked them?" made Kaiba realize that the car accident was not an accident.

The noble angel warriors engaged in a fierce battle with the white spirit dragon.

Meanwhile, inside the seahorse egg—

"Hmm, I didn't expect it would be my turn to fight?" Baron, who had finished his popcorn, was watching the ongoing duel on the field out of boredom when he suddenly learned that it was his turn to fight next, which made Baron quite happy.

It's not that I'm happy because I can play cards. Although my name contains the character for "dragon," I'm not like some people with a "dragon addiction." I'm not that addicted to playing cards; I only have a minimal level of interest.

Commanding monsters to attack and defend is pointless, and the clashes on spell and trap cards are utterly boring for Baron. He's much more interested in simple, direct physical confrontations—fighting.

Because of this preference, Baron's deck is quite unconventional; he can even go to another set to protect Athena.

Baron was happy because after this duel, his next duel would be scheduled for the day after tomorrow. He wouldn't have to waste his time on boring duels at the arena. Baron felt as relaxed as an office worker who could finally take a month-long vacation after finishing his last meeting.

Because the current duel ends immediately after Baron's turn, he also learned that his next opponent is called "Peacock Dance".

"Hmm? This name..." Baron vaguely remembered "Peacock Dance," as she seemed to be an acquaintance of Hayato Kobayashi. Because of his need for the "Three Egyptian Gods" that Hayato possessed, Rafael had analyzed the strength of the people around Hayato for Baron and Amelda, and the three people who needed the most attention were Yugi Muto, Seto Kaiba, and Katsuya Jonouchi.

Of course, Ameluda paid no attention to the others and was only thinking about Seto Kaiba, while Baron had no interest in anyone. However, Rafael seemed to have mentioned the name "Peacock Dance" at that time.

Following the direction in which he remembered seeing Hayato Kobayashi, Baron quickly spotted Yugi Muto sitting there with his striking starfish-shaped hair, and a blonde woman standing up nearby, seemingly preparing to head to the players' preparation room before the match to adjust her deck and get ready for the duel.

Is that the peacock dance? She looks to have a good figure.

Baron raised an eyebrow, watching the graceful curves of the Peacock Dance with great interest. Even Baron could appreciate beautiful women, and the Peacock Dance's physical attributes were truly stunning; he couldn't help but glance at her a few more times.

However, it's not accurate to say that he fell in love with peacock dance because of this, as Barong doesn't believe in things like love at first sight.

He appreciates beautiful women, but he prefers independent women with strong will and unwavering pursuit. The peacock dancer looks exactly like a card dealer on a cruise ship, and Baron isn't particularly attracted to her.

A few minutes later, in the dueling arena.

Having finished adjusting her deck, Mai Kongjaku confidently stepped onto the dueling stage and met her opponent for this duel, Baron.

She was quite perceptive to men's gazes and immediately noticed the contempt in Balong's eyes. Kong Quewu's first impression of Balong was not very good.

“Mai Valentine.”

After simply stating her name, Mai Peacock said nothing more. Baron wasn't the first man to look down on her; having lived in America, she'd seen plenty of chauvinistic men. In any case, Mai Peacock was confident she could prove herself no weaker than any man with the Harpy and the Amazon.

"Baron, my name is Baron." To Mai's surprise, Baron, who looked like a European, spoke in extremely standard Japanese, even more so than Jonouchi, who had a slight accent.

Looking at the confident and determined Peacock Dance, Baron nodded approvingly: "Hmm, quite good eyesight. It looks like there will be a decent duel. It's just a pity that the victor will be me."

"Ha, don't look down on me, you arrogant fellow."

Mai had no intention of continuing the conversation, and without waiting for the referee to announce the start of the duel, she directly inserted her deck into the duel disk to activate it, indicating that she had nothing to say to Baron.

Seeing that Mai had already unfolded her duel disk, Baron stretched his arms and unfolded his duel disk as well: "Instead of just showing off and gaining an advantage with words, you chose to let the actual duel speak for itself? It seems that I might be able to raise my opinion of you. You are not the kind of talkative woman I originally thought you were."

"So……"

"Duel!" As the referee announced the start of the duel, Baron and Mai Kongjaku declared their duel in unison, simultaneously drawing five cards from their decks.

Baron: 4000LP

[Peacock Dance: 4000LP]

"I'll take the first strike! Draw a card!"

Peacock Dance thought that with her past experience, she would have few opponents if she took the initiative, but she did not expect that the seemingly carefree Baron was not slow at all, and even drew out the card a step faster than her.

"Let me make it clear beforehand, I'm not a chauvinist, but an egalitarian. I treat everyone the same, regardless of who my opponent is." Baron added the card he drew to his hand, a confident smile on his face, as if he'd drawn a good hand. "Similarly, I don't look down on anyone, nor do I engage in any arrogant pronouncements."

"It's just an advance notice of the duel's outcome."

As he spoke, Baron had already finished considering the tactics he would use and drew two cards from his hand: "These two cards are enough as a probe."

"I summon 'Charging Captain' in Attack Position, and then activate its effect. When 'Charging Captain' is successfully summoned, I can Special Summon another monster of 4 stars or lower from my hand."

"What I'm summoning is another [Captain Who Charges into Battle]!"

On the field in Baron, two identical, fully armed warriors appeared, standing shoulder to shoulder in a defensive formation.

[The Captain Who Charges into Battle] [3 stars/location]

[Warrior Race/Effect]

[1200/400]

"【Charging Captain】? Is he using a Warrior-type deck?" Peacock Mai, who knew nothing about Baron, saw Baron summon two 【Charging Captain】straighten up at once and began to guess the type of his deck.

"When the 'Charge Captain' is in the Monster Zone, it can provide protection to prevent other Warrior-Type monsters from becoming targets. However, when two 'Charge Captains' are on the field at the same time, unfortunately, you will be unable to attack me."

Baron explained the defensive formation of the "Captain Who Charges into Battle" and revealed a confident smile.

Mai Kongque frowned slightly: "I see. A single 'Charge Captain' on the field is like a magnet, attracting attacks on Warrior-Type monsters. However, when two 'Charge Captains' are on the field, the two magnets actually keep the attracted attacks in the middle."

"But is this all the defense you're confident in?"

Baron shrugged: "This level? Well, this level is enough to deal with you, right? I remember your deck is [Harpie] and [Amazon], right? If you can break through, come and try."

"I set two cards face down in the back row, and my turn is over."

[Baron: 4000LP, 2 cards in hand]

[The Captain Charging into Battle] [ATK1200]

[The Captain Charging into Battle] [ATK1200]

[GaiK] X2

"Then we'll see." Peacock Mai proudly raised her head, just like her name suggests, resembling a peacock, and drew a card from her deck. "My turn, draw!"

The card that Peacock Dance draws this turn is 【Kaleidoscope - Magnificent Clone-】, a spell card that allows you to summon other 【Harpies】 from your deck if there is a 【Harpie】 monster on the field.