Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"You really have an imposing presence, Miss Mai." Seeing Peacock Mai standing with her hands on her hips, scolding someone, Baron wasn't in a hurry to interrupt them. He crossed his arms and watched the show with a helpless expression. "But speaking of which, why is my opponent a woman again?"

"Little girl, get out of the way! I'll handle this!" Peacock Dance used her long legs to block Rebecca's way, but Rebecca held her hand tightly as she reached for the card box at her waist, preventing her from taking out the deck.

Rebecca, clinging to Mai, exclaimed, "No way! It's a rare opportunity for me to shine, how could I possibly give it to—oh dear, my Duel Disk!"

Just as the two women were arguing, a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed Rebecca's Duel Disk, which she wasn't wearing but was just holding, and casually put it on and fastened it.

"The size is a bit odd, is it a children's version of the Duel Disk? It really is just for kids." Malik ignored Rebecca behind him, who was jumping up and down because her Duel Disk had been stolen and she was called a kid. He took out his deck and put it into the Duel Disk. "Hehehe, since you don't want to duel with a lady, then I'll be your opponent."

"I'm not interested in those ordinary games, let's have a fun dark game instead!"

A light flashed from the green gemstone pendant on Baron's chest, as if he had sensed a magical power enveloping the surroundings. His eyes lit up: "Oh, there's such a big fish hidden here. That's quite unexpected."

"What a coincidence! I'm actually not really interested in regular Duel Monsters games. A real duel would be something to look forward to!"

Without needing to consult with anyone else, Malik and Baron had already decided on their own to make each other their rivals.

Looking at Malik, Honda, who was supporting Kyoko, showed worry on his face: "Malik, I remember Hayato mentioning him to me..."

"Can't I duel? That doesn't matter. I've never cared about life and death, whether in the past or present, whether it's someone else's or my own." Malik fastened the Millennium Scepter to his waist, took a deep breath, and said, "Besides, whether I have the Millennium Scepter or not makes a big difference to me."

"Instead of all that, go through that door. You're here to save your companions, aren't you?"

"Huh?" Honda was taken aback and looked at Baron standing to the side. "But this guy hasn't been..."

"Heh, anyway, this guy is only interested in duels. He doesn't care about guarding the gate or anything like that, right?"

Watching the golden light flash across the Millennium Scepter, Baron raised an eyebrow with interest: "Mind reading? No, not observing current thoughts but analyzing thought processes? That's impressive."

"But it's a bit embarrassing for me to be called out by you like that. I don't know what my friends would think if they heard that I don't take my work seriously at all."

"Heh, you wouldn't care anyway, would you?"

"That's true."

Baron nodded and stepped aside: "Well, because I was fighting with all my might to deal with the invading enemy, I didn't hold back at all, but they seized the opportunity to invade. That's a good reason, isn't it?"

"But I've gone to such lengths to cooperate, so don't disappoint me, you white-haired otaku."

"I'm not a shut-in, I just have a deep love for anime and manga," Malik corrected, smoothing out the wrinkles in his clothes.

Seeing this, Honda said nothing more, turned his head and gestured for Rebecca and Mai to open the door, then carried Keihei's Otogi ahead to clear the way, while he walked at the back.

Honda glanced back at Malik and saw only confidence and joy on his face. He decided to trust Malik's abilities and helped Kyoko catch up with the others.

Behind Honda, the voices of Malik and Baron could be heard—

"Duel!" x2

Chapter 463 The word "two" doesn't exist in the seahorse's dictionary, just like Gabe Newell can't count to three.

"Kobayashi Hayato."

After defeating Ryan Wilson, Hayato suddenly heard Kaiba's voice on his phone, which was in his pocket.

Somewhat puzzled, Hayato pulled out his phone and discovered that it had somehow dialed Kaiba's number and even turned on speakerphone. He had made sure the screen was off, so there was no possibility of accidental touches.

"Seth?"

Hayato replied to his phone in confusion, "How did my phone make a call by itself?"

"Hmph, just a little trick in electronic communication technology. It's easier for me than breaking a tree branch with my fingers." The seahorse on the other end of the phone paused, then continued, "Now that you've defeated that guy named 'Rain Wilson,' it means that the card 'Golden Palace of Rapids' has been destroyed by you, right?"

Upon hearing this, Hayato turned around.

Rein Wilson was defeated by the attack of the God Card. Although he was not physically injured, the Duel Disk was damaged by the powerful impact, destroying its intricate internal structure. After tidying up his deck, he took off the Duel Disk and placed it on the ground temporarily.

Also placed down was the card for "Golden Palace of Rapids Mountain".

"Although the Golden Palace of Rapids Mountain was tampered with to some extent, it was still no match for the God Cards and has already been destroyed by me."

Hayato picked up the card "Golden Palace of Rapids Mountain." The few lines of effect description that Chigfried had added were precisely turned into black marks by the electricity that spilled out when the Duel Disk was destroyed.

The seahorse wasn't surprised by this, and instead said matter-of-factly, "Hmph, after all, it's the [Obelisk the Tormentor] that I used before, so it's only natural that it can do this."

Hayato nodded subconsciously, then suddenly realized something was wrong.

“Seth, I think I only mentioned the ‘Card of God,’ I didn’t mention the [Obelisk the Tormentor] at all.” Hayato’s expression was strange. “Since when did you start eavesdropping on me?”

"Hmph, it all started from the moment you activated [Monster Resurrection]."

"Isn't that the same as being eavesdropped on from the very beginning?!"

Hayato intentionally used a hands-free phone to maintain communication with Kaiba, thus revealing Bakura's deal to Kaiba. This allowed Kaiba to receive the information in advance and prepare without violating any rules.

At that time, his excuse was that the bastard Haiba had been eavesdropping on him.

Unexpectedly, the excuse he made back then has now become a reality. It turns out that the seahorse was actually listening to him. How perverted.

Hayato quickly changed the subject: "You... never mind, let's not talk about that. Ryuzaki told me, did you go to the Kaiba Park building? How's the Trojan program being dealt with?"

"Hmph, who do you think I am? One of those third-rate technicians? My past academic qualifications are not just for show." Haima said as if showing off, "In the hacking field, even within the entire Haima Group, I am one of the best."

"Education? You only went to school for one day?" Hayato complained, but he couldn't deny the sheer variety of Kaiba's skills, which were so numerous that they were almost tragic.

Electronic information, handicrafts, chemical reactions, lathe machining, and artistic aesthetics—Haima has unique expertise in each of these vastly different fields. Whether inventing new gadgets or improving old ones, he can achieve something. He is almost omnipotent except for always losing in card games. Hacking is also one of his specialties.

The reason why Kaiba wanted to limit the Kaiba Group was because he still remembered the incident in the final four group stage of Duel City, when the "Saint Anne," which the contestants were traveling on and which was programmed by the Kaiba brothers together, was taken over by Noa Kaiba, who had become an artificial intelligence after her death.

Although Noa was not human and had sunk into the sea along with the sea fortress and disappeared forever, it is an undeniable fact that he was once surpassed. Kaiba will not consider himself the strongest hacker just because Noa has disappeared.

He also mentioned that he was one of the top hackers in the Kaiba Group. Another reason was that Keihei's talent in this area was actually no weaker than his, and perhaps even stronger. If he were a few years older, it would be incredibly easy for Keihei to surpass Seto Kaiba in hacking skills.

Of course, it would be extremely difficult to get Haima to say something like "Wu is the second strongest hacker in Haima Group," because as everyone knows, the word "second" doesn't exist in Haima's dictionary; "first" and "three top hackers" are much more common.

"Hey~, Hayato!"

"Hayato-kun!"

Two voices came from behind Hayato. One of them sounded like someone skilled at dice and coin tosses, while the other sounded like he was about to unleash the sublime power of Hanno. Even without turning around, Hayato could guess who they were.

Turning around, I saw Jonouchi and Yugi walking towards the center of the venue from the audience seats in the distance.

Jonouchi walked faster than Yugi, descending the steps to the edge of the dueling arena before Yugi could, and looked at the people in the arena.

Hayato, holding his phone, gazes longingly at Hayato's back, along with a young man with bright pink hair who is bound hand and foot.

Jonouchi remembered that the boy was Hayato's opponent in the same duel match, and this sudden change started after the boy, who seemed to be called "Rain," activated a Field Spell Card. However, it seemed that it was not his own idea but that he was being used.

Jonouchi vaguely remembered that pink-haired person; he seemed to have seen him in some duel, but he couldn't recall exactly who he was.

"Hayato, are you alright?"

Compared to other duels elsewhere, Hayato and Rein's duel attracted the most viewers, as it took place in the very center of the arena. Hayato even brought out monsters that surpassed the level of ordinary duels, such as the Earthbound God and the Obelisk Tormentor, in this duel, which shows how intense the battle was.

"I'm perfectly fine." Hayato shrugged, looked at Yugi who was right behind Jonouchi, sized him up, and said with a puzzled look, "Strange, Yugi, there seems to be a familiar aura about you."

"Could it be that you—"

"That's right, Yugi defeated some random guy and got the card that seems to have caused this incident, [Divine Flame Emperor - Uria].

Jonouchi, hands on his hips, answered Hayato with a smug look on his face. Anyone who didn't know better would probably think he had obtained the [Divine Flame Emperor - Uria].

However, Hayato also glanced at Jonouchi and inexplicably felt that the aura of "Phantom Demon" on Jonouchi was indeed stronger than that of Yugi.

Through the still-connected phone, Kaiba heard Jonouchi's words and frowned: "Hmm? Fan Gu said that Yugi has already obtained the card that caused the incident?"

"I've already disabled the Trojan program, and Hayato has destroyed the Golden Palace of Mount Keiryu. Shouldn't this incident have been resolved by now?"

Upon hearing Kaiba's reminder, Jonouchi nodded in agreement: "But many audience members still haven't recovered."

"If you don't understand the situation, why not just ask someone who knows?"

As Hayato spoke, he turned to look at the bound Chigfried.

Because of Hayato's words, the pink-haired girl, realizing that everyone present was looking at her, involuntarily shrank back and took a step back: "W-what do you guys want!?"

"Wow, you've got quite a physique. You've been working out lately, huh?" With a strange smile, Hayato held onto the rope, preventing Chigurhfrid from leaving. "Be good, let me see!"

"Ugh, no!!"

Chapter 464: Why didn't you just use the red form from the beginning?

Although it sounded like it was going to go in the direction of "this is a secret between the two of us" and "I miss you so much", Chigurhfrid, who looked so pretentious, made a sound like he was spewing swamp gas.

But Hayato was actually just having Jonouchi hold Chigfried down and then tickling him.

While Kigufried lay on the ground, abandoned by Jonouchi with a look of utter disarray, Hayato and Yugi obtained the complete intelligence.

"The Trojan program implanted within the Kaiba Group, the card of 'Golden Palace of Rapids Mountain' that activated the Trojan program, and 'Divine Flame Emperor - Uria' that enabled the mutation—these are the three necessary conditions for this mutation to occur." Yugi's expression was serious. "Moreover, what connects the three is a device located beneath the Kaiba Dome venue."

"To stop or interrupt the mutation, eliminating the first three factors is necessary, but the most important and final step is to go to the location of the device and destroy the operating device."

"Is it like in an RPG game where heroes collect keys to open the gate to the Demon King's castle?" Jonouchi tried to summarize in his own way. "But speaking of which, I didn't see Honda and the others when I came back."

Hayato replied, "Honda and the others have already gone to find that underground 'device' before us, with Malik leading the way. If this is really an RPG game scenario, Honda is more like a hero saving the world than us, the tools used to break the seal."

"Huh!? I was just thinking of bragging to Honda about how Jonouchi saved the world once again after the incident was resolved, and that guy actually sneaked off and stole the spotlight?!"

Hayato was just joking, but Jonouchi said seriously, seemingly wanting to take this opportunity to show off, and said anxiously, "No, Honda is already one step ahead. Hayato, Yugi, let's hurry over!"

Although it seemed like he was anxious because Honda was going to steal the spotlight, both Hayato and Yugi could tell that Jonouchi was actually saying one thing but meaning another; he was actually worried about Honda Kyoko and the others, which was why he was so anxious.

As he spoke, Jonouchi, of course, did not forget Kaiba.

"Although we seem to be a step behind Honda, we're at least faster than someone else, if you look at it another way." Jonouchi didn't name names, but his eyes never left Hayato's phone. "Heh heh heh, we'll be going now, Kaiba."

"Hmph, boring. You're just as mediocre as I'd like."

Kaiba completely disregarded Jonouchi's provocation. "Compared to those, the mediocre one thing is true: Hayato and Yugi had better act quickly and end this farce as soon as possible."

"With all sorts of messy things piling up, even I would feel a headache. No wonder Keiping wanted me to experience how tired he usually is."

The KC Cup, hosted by Haima Group, saw a large number of spectators collapse. Even now, with public accountability and 911 rescue efforts still pending, Haima can imagine how difficult the public relations and post-disaster management will be.

More importantly, Kaiba hadn't forgotten that Keipi was still in the venue and hadn't left. He might not care about others, but he had always been concerned about his younger brother.

However, Kaiba's personality has never been "frank," and even if he did express his concerns about Keihei, it wouldn't be to Hayato or Yugi. He doesn't want to show his emotional side to duelists he respects.

Seto Kaiba only needs to be a duelist without emotions.

———————The young girl is losing her lifespan———————

In the basement of the Kaiba Dome venue, Bakura lifted his hood and looked at a blank card in front of him with great interest.