Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"You little brat, this is way too old for gaming! Go back to your school and be a good boy!"

"I'm a genius, studying is completely unnecessary for me. A true hero prioritizes love!"

Both of Yugi's arms were being held, and his face looked as if he were wearing a mask of pain, clearly distressed. At this crucial moment, Yami Yugi, who had been watching the drama unfold from inside Millennium Puzzle, quipped, "Isn't this quite popular, Aibo?"

Malik, standing to the side, watched the show with a bag of fries, thoroughly enjoying himself. He even felt that this emotional drama, starring famous duelists like Yugi Muto and Katsuya Jonouchi, was far more interesting than the boring duelists in the arena.

Perhaps because Malik's smile was too bright, Jonouchi noticed Malik sitting alone and asked with some confusion, "Huh, where's Hayato?"

Malik shrugged and said nonchalantly, "Just now, when you were about halfway through your duel, Seto Kaiba sent an email to his brother-in-law asking him to go out for a bit."

"Sigh~ Hayato didn't even finish watching my duel?" Jonouchi seemed a little disappointed. "I was hoping he would give me some feedback. I finally managed to pull off such a brilliant move."

"It's not that he didn't see it at all; my brother-in-law did see part of it," Malik recalled. "It was probably around the time your [Red-Eyes Black Dragon] killed the [Red-Eyes Black Dragon]?"

"That just means they only see my failure!"

Time begins to rewind, returning to ten minutes earlier.

Watching the two [Red-Eyes Black Dragons] fighting each other in the arena because of Kitamori Reiko's card, Hayato tossed a French fry into his mouth with great interest.

Hayato is extremely interested in this harem-themed plot, after all, as everyone knows, he is a warrior of pure love.

Although it may seem that Hayato is gloating over Jonouchi's weakness, in reality, Hayato is not worried at all that Jonouchi's KC Cup journey will come to an end. He is not the guardian of some pond.

"You can't play until you're almost dead" is a basic character trait of Jonouchi. In fact, if he's at full health, the more skillful he is, the more he'll suffer setbacks. The real battle only begins when he starts losing health.

Hayato didn't have much of an impression of Kitamori Reiko. He felt like he had seen her somewhere before, but he couldn't quite place it. Maybe he saw her during the auditions, or somewhere else? In any case, Hayato wasn't particularly interested.

"Buzz~" The phone vibrated even when it was on silent, but only for a moment, which meant it wasn't a call, but probably a text message or something.

Hayato slapped Malik's hand away, grabbed a French fry as if it were a cigarette, and took out his phone from his pocket.

Hayato casually flipped open his phone, and instead of pressing 555, he opened the email he had just received. The sender was Kaiba.

"That's strange, why is that guy Seahorse sending me an email?"

"Huh? My brother's email?" Keihei, sitting to the side, leaned over with a puzzled look. If Kaiba wanted to find Hayato, he could have just come to the audience area, or even just made a phone call—that would have been faster.

Hayato nodded and opened the email. In the email, Kaiba said he had found something quite interesting, but it wasn't something that should be known to too many people, so he asked Hayato to find him outside the Kaiba Dome.

After confirming the sender, it was indeed "Seto Kaiba," but as Hayato looked at the email, he sensed something strange between the lines.

It's as strange as a pineapple on a Margherita pizza, a strawberry ice cream topped with curry, or a steamed bun stewed in soup like a pig's trotter.

Looking at the game, which seemed poised to attack at any moment, Hayato felt a pang of regret that he wouldn't be able to witness the dramatic scene unfold. After informing the others, he walked out of the emergency exit towards the outside of the Seahorse Dome.

After rounding several bends, Hayato saw the exit getting closer and closer, but he stopped in front of a crossroads.

"The stench in the air is so strong, Bakura, it's like smelling dog poop next to a flower bed in a park."

"You bastard, I don't smell that bad!" Staring at a pair of hairs that stood up like rabbit ears, the long-lost Bakura reappeared from around the corner in annoyance, still clutching the [Millennium Eye] he had taken from Pegasus.

"Huh? Instead of running away, you're approaching me, Kobayashi Hayato? You ran away like a deer seeing a cheetah the last few times, but this time you're taking the initiative to approach me? Are you trying to control me with the [Millennium Eye]?"

"How will you know the result if you don't try? But ambushing you is indeed a bit difficult, tch." Bakura, looking displeased, straightened his robes and said seriously, "Hey, Kobayashi Hayato, let's make a deal."

"From now on, don't help Seto Kaiba."

Chapter 431 Colluding with the Underworld

"From now on, don't help Seto Kaiba."

Hearing Bakura's words, Hayato narrowed his eyes, neither directly refusing nor agreeing, but instead crossed his arms: "Judging from this, it seems you're planning to take action against the Kaiba Group?"

"No, that's not right. It's not just you; you can't do much by yourself. So let me guess, you, the Schreid Group, and Dorma?"

"The Haima Group has been making quite a splash lately, but unfortunately, the bigger the tree, the more the wind blows, so many people are keeping an eye on it." Bakura sneered. "I'm just playing the role of an intermediary in all of this, but even so, you don't want to get into trouble because of Haima, do you?"

Hayato snorted coldly: "Then you've misjudged me. Kaiba is my friend, we've been through thick and thin together, we're practically brothers."

"But I feel like someone like you, who only acts for personal gain, wouldn't care about these things at all."

"No, that's why I said you've misunderstood." Hayato grinned slyly. "Since Kaiba is my brother, do you expect me not to help him when he's in trouble?"

"You'll have to pay more."

Bakura looked at Hayato, somewhat puzzled: "As far as I know, didn't you already get 30% of the shares of International Illusion Society from Pegasus?"

"Who would complain about having too much money?" Hayato said with disdain and envy. "That Kaiba guy always acts like he looks down on everyone. He's just relying on his money. I'll see how smug he is when he goes bankrupt."

"Moreover, I am quite interested in the technologies of Haima Group."

Hearing Hayato's words, Bakura shook his head: "You obviously have no experience. Have you ever schemed against anyone?"

Hayato honestly replied, "No."

“Come here, let me tell you.” Bakura beckoned and lowered his voice as if imparting his experience. “To bring down the Haima Group, they put in the majority of the effort. The technology and data all belong to them, and we can’t touch them. Even the assets of the Haima Group have to be split 30/70.”

"How come it's only 70%?"

Hayato looked dissatisfied, but was met with Bakura's sneer: "Seventy percent of it belongs to them. You can only get three percent if you have to look after their attitude."

"Then wouldn't I be begging on my knees?!" Hayato straightened up, looking completely unwilling.

Bakura didn't seem to notice anything amiss, assuming that Hayato had already been somewhat persuaded but was just greedy and wanted more. So he pressed his advantage, saying, "If you're going to put it that way, it's really like begging on your knees. You think it's shameful? I think it's shameful too. What job isn't shameful these days?"

Speaking of losing face, Bakura couldn't help but think of that bastard, Dark Malik. They initially agreed that Bakura would help him kill Rishid, and Malik would give Bakura the Millennium Scepter. But who knew that this scoundrel would cheat and try to steal it from him?

Although he possessed the Millennium Eye, which he had stolen from Pegasus, it was ultimately no match for the Millennium Wisdom Wheel he was used to using. He was nearly knocked down by Malik, that scoundrel who had no martial ethics, with a left kick and a right hook. Fortunately, he was good at escaping and was the best at running away, so he managed to escape.

Later, when the "San Anne" of Kaiba was hijacked by Kaiba Noa and taken to the sea base, Malik and Bakura joined forces again due to the situation. Bakura, who was holding a grudge, naturally chose a crucial moment to trick Malik and throw him to the mechanical army to get revenge.

But who knew that, although that bastard was capable of going head-to-head with those robots, he also went astray and ambushed Bakura, stealing the card of [Thunder Emperor - Hamon] from him.

Finally, they even detonated the sea fortress, causing it to sink to the bottom of the sea. They were truly evil. If Bakura hadn't been slightly skilled at escaping, he would have been sunk to the bottom of the sea with them.

However, because he stayed inside the fortress for a while longer, Bakura successfully found several unpatched and still usable vulnerabilities in the network vulnerabilities of the Kaiba Group that he had used in the past, which were stored in the Noa database. He used these vulnerabilities as leverage to bring together the two forces, Doma and Schreid Group.

Driven by Bakura, the two forces have basically reached an agreement. The Schreid Group wants to eliminate Seto Kaiba and the Kaiba Group, which are seen as a thorn in the side by Kigu Lloyd, while Doma does not want Duel Monsters to become more popular. They are now cooperating with the goal of "bringing down the Kaiba Group".

As for Bakura's true purpose, neither side knows, because both sides only believe that Bakura is the other party's contact.

With the combined strength of the two factions, all that remains to achieve the goal of bringing down the Kaiba Group through the KC Cup are the obstacles in their way, and the most prominent of these are powerful duelists like Hayato and Yugi.

Bakura's initial purpose in inviting Hayato out was to test whether he could control him with the Millennium Eye. However, since Bakura's proficiency with the Millennium Eye was not as high as Pegasus', his magic domain was immediately neutralized by Hayato's Millennium Staff and Millennium Wisdom Wheel.

However, being able to win over Hayato Kobayashi is a fortunate thing.

Hayato frowned and pondered for a long time before sighing and saying helplessly, "The deal is done. I will not take any action against your actions against the Kaiba Group, and I will get 30% of the profits after the deal is done."

"Also, you can't proactively tell Seto Kaiba about this or leak it; that wouldn't benefit anyone," Bakura added, not worried that Hayato would back out.

In fact, although the two were still standing near the exit of the safety passage of the Seahorse Dome, none of the passersby noticed the two who were dressed in conspicuous clothes. As soon as Hayato discovered Bakura, the dark magic released by the Millennium Item automatically formed a barrier that separated them from the others.

Not only did their conversation go unnoticed by others, but this dark barrier was actually another application of the Dark Game, just like the one Pegasus used to seal Hayato and Yugi at the end of Duel Kingdom. The deal Hayato and Bakura made within this barrier would, to some extent, be subject to the constraints of the Dark Game.

Therefore, Bakura was not worried at all that Hayato would break his promise. On the contrary, he was quite happy to see Hayato break his promise and be devoured by the Dark Games, so that he could avenge the death he suffered back then.

Having put his hood back on, Bakura, having already finalized the deal witnessed by the Dark Games, wasn't worried at all that Hayato would stab him in the back. He returned to the Kaiba Dome venue before Hayato, who watched Bakura's figure disappear around the corner of the corridor before reaching into his pocket.

I hung up the phone that was on hold.

I, Hayato Kobayashi, am a man of my word; I have decided not to inform Seto Kaiba.

What? That bastard Seahorse actually eavesdropped on me! How awful!

Chapter 432 is completely ignited!

Hayato isn't one of those extras in a horror movie who gets called out alone by a random phone call and then gets "isolated and helpless" before being killed off by a single person. When he left the audience, he called Kaiba and learned that Kaiba hadn't sent him an email at all.

Even though Haima said he hadn't sent him any emails, the first email in his inbox clearly showed Haima's name. Either Haima has a mental breakdown, or someone is playing tricks on him.

As a result, using the suspended phone, Hayato completely relayed his conversation with Bakura to Kaiba. The dark barrier created by the Millennium Item was, after all, just a decoy barrier rather than a spatial teleportation barrier. It was fine for preventing others from observing the people inside, but it had no effect on the phone signal.

In this way, Haima knew "someone was targeting the Haima Group" before the agreement was reached, and Hayato did not violate the agreement.

However, that's all Hayato can do. No matter how much Kaiba understands from their conversation, Hayato can't guide or hint at anything more. He can only rely on himself to think for himself and take precautions against any possible accidents.

Protected by the rules of the Dark Game, Hayato had no intention of violating his deal with Bakura, at least not until he fully understood what the Schreid Group and Doma were up to.

Before being lured out by Bakura today, he had been investigating relevant intelligence. Even though he knew in advance that the Schreid Group was up to something, their actions were too subtle, and Hayato had not been able to find any useful clues.

He could refuse the deal proposed by Bakura, but if he did, they would completely disappear into the shadows, making it even more impossible for Hayato to find their attack method.

In that case, it would be better to join them. Although we can't stop them, at least we can know their attack methods and prepare in advance.

Moreover, just now, when Bakura was teaching him the "three-seven split" and getting closer to him, he secretly slipped a miniature listening device he got from Keipai into Bakura's cloak, which looked like it hadn't been changed in a long time. If he was lucky, he might even be able to use it to help Kaiba gather more information about Bakura, Doma, and Schreid's people when they were disarmed.

Moreover, it was not Hayato who leaked the information, but Bakura himself, and he did not violate the terms of the transaction.

As for why Guiping would have a miniature listening device that only commercial spies would use? That's a trivial matter.

Back inside the Kaiba Dome, since some time had passed since Hayato left, Jonouchi and Kitamori Reiko had already left the arena and become two other duelists. However, Hayato could only confirm that he had seen them in previous matches, but he had no recollection of who they were.

However, Hayato didn't have much time to become interested in them, because the duel ended in just a few rounds.

One of the duelists was using an aggressive deck, but his opponent was playing a heavy trap deck with all sorts of offensive and defensive traps. Although neither side's life points were damaged, the situation on the field felt like walking a tightrope.

Either the aggressive deck breaks through the defenses of the trap deck, creating a vulnerability, or the trap deck completely negates the advantage created by the aggressive deck.

After repeated attacks were thwarted, the attackers decided to gamble everything, sacrificing all the monsters they had previously summoned to unleash a terrifyingly powerful "treasure"—the 8-star [True Demonic Beast - Gazette].

This is a rather special monster card because, although it is a Level 8 monster, it cannot be Tribute Summoned directly by tribute of two monsters. Instead, it must be Special Summoned by tribute of all monsters on your field. Furthermore, although [True Demonic Beast - Gazette] has 0 ATK and DEF, it can absorb all the power of the tributes and combine it together.

At the same time, [True Demon Beast - Gazet] also has the ability to penetrate defense. Theoretically, it would be very advantageous to use it to attack decks that focus on defense tactics, especially when the attacking side sacrifices all of its previous powerful monsters and [True Demon Beast - Gazet]'s attack power is increased to a full 6000 points.

The problem was that the opposing team, who seemed to have anticipated this move, immediately opened a face-down card in their back row. A Destruction Wheel card turned the newly summoned True Monster - Gazette into a terrifying bomb.

This is not the same real-card environment Hayato experienced back then. The effect of the card "Destruction Wheel" has already been nerfed, becoming "During your opponent's turn, you can target one face-up monster on your opponent's field with ATK equal to or less than your opponent's Life Points; destroy that face-up monster, and take damage equal to that monster's original ATK. Then, inflict damage to your opponent equal to the damage you took."

In other words, it can only destroy one of the opponent's monsters with an attack power of less than 1 Life Point during the opponent's turn, and then you get hurt first and then the opponent gets hurt. It is so weak that it is quite confusing and not very practical.

However, the current version of [Destruction Wheel] is not affected by the original version, and its effect is quite simple: "Destroy one face-up monster on the field. Both monsters take damage equal to the destroyed monster's ATK."

With no turn restrictions, no attack power restrictions, and simultaneous effect damage, it can be described as a divine weapon in the field of self-destruction, especially when the selected monster is the [True Demonic Beast - Gazette] with an attack power of up to 6000. Both monsters will have their Life Points reduced to zero due to the effect of [Destruction Wheel].

However, the player who was heavily invested in the trap was also quite cunning. By linking with the "Destruction Wheel," he directly activated a "Mysterious Chinese Pot," sacrificing his monster that had previously been used as a shield—the "Millennium Shield" with 3000 DEF—to restore 3000 Life Points to himself, bringing his remaining Life Points to 7000, which was more than enough to withstand the damage from the "Destruction Wheel."

With a loud "boom," [True Demonic Beast - Gazette] was detonated. The heavy-hitting duelist, whose base score had dropped to only 1000 points, laughed wildly as he watched his opponent being swallowed by the smoke and dust. But before he could laugh twice, a gunshot rang out from the smoke and dust, and he was instantly knocked to the ground with his base score reduced to zero.

The aggressive duelist, emerging from the smoke and dust, hadn't suffered a single loss of Life Points, as a [Spell of Pain] appeared on his back row. Thanks to the effect of [Spell of Pain], the aggressive duelist completely returned the effect damage he should have received, securing victory and delivering a spectacular duel for the audience.

Amid cheers from the audience, Hayato returned to his seat, but received strange looks from Malik and the others, which left Hayato somewhat bewildered.