Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Although it's called wilderness survival, Hayato and his friends are actually in a much better situation than those in that "food show." After all, they only need to "survive" rather than "challenge" the wilderness. They don't need to travel long distances; they only need to ensure they have access to water, food, and safe shelter. And it shouldn't take too long.

Before parachuting from the plane, Hayato had already considered the situation they would face and made sure that everyone carried supplies below their weight limit when distributing the parachutes, which further reduced the difficulty of their survival. The flight attendants who were also carrying supplies probably chose to leave because they didn't want Hayato and his group to share their food.

Although Hayato and his companions had placed their luggage in the cargo hold before takeoff, they also brought their own important items to retrieve their parachutes, which were also in the cargo hold, because there was a passageway in the rear of the aircraft cabin that led to the cargo hold.

Among them, the backpack that Malik was carrying was the most important.

“I’m suddenly grateful to Lishid for stuffing all this random stuff into my bag.” Malik said sincerely as he took out anti-inflammatory medicine, bandages, compressed food, and a portable tent from his backpack. These items, which would normally seem useless, were now incredibly precious.

Because of Hayato's prior instructions, everyone else's packages contained mostly drinking water and food. Even Kyoko replaced the contents of her package with the unused medical kit from the plane. There was no situation like the one in some novels where someone is stranded in the wilderness with a lot of cosmetics and changes of clothes.

After all, although Kyoko is indeed a top student, she is not a brainless person. She can distinguish between what is important and what is urgent. In fact, her grades are better than those of Jonouchi and Honda, two academic underachievers combined. Sometimes, her exam results are even ten or nine times higher than Jonouchi's.

After taking stock of everyone's current supplies, Hayato calculated that, based on the normal amount of food needed to maintain normal physical strength, they could last for at least five days even without going to the island to obtain additional food. However, just in case, they could also go to obtain some less difficult foods such as coconuts and wild rabbits to further extend their survival time.

Drinking water is even simpler. Although water resources are not plentiful, it is not difficult for these duelists, who are not lacking in supernatural powers, to obtain pure water by distilling seawater in plastic bottles.

However, they needed to find a solution to the accommodation problem. After all, the only place they had to live was a small tent that Malik had brought, which could only accommodate three people at most. But there were six of them in their group, and they needed to find a place to stay and take shelter from the rain on the island before it rained.

Just as Hayato and Yugi were discussing which direction to head in to find shelter, they suddenly felt a strange force.

"!"

Malik and Jonouchi reacted a little slower than Hayato and Yugi, but almost the instant after Hayato and Yugi looked in the same direction, they sensed a force sweeping over them like a radar.

"What is that?" Jonouchi asked, looking at Yugi, since Yugi and Hayato seemed to have noticed something amiss before him. But Yugi, who had been gazing towards the jungle, simply shook his head with a helpless expression.

“I’m not quite sure either. That power was very strange. It didn’t seem like any other dark power I’ve ever felt before,” Yugi said, unsure how to describe the strange presence he had sensed. He pointed to the Millennium Puzzle on his chest with a conflicted expression. “However, I also think that even if that power wasn’t a dark power, it was definitely related to something else.”

"You say the same thing about another game?" Jonouchi nodded. "I have a similar feeling. Even though it doesn't have the oppressive feeling of the dark games I've experienced before, it still feels uncomfortable."

"It's like someone is holding an ice pick and trying to stick it into your anus. Even before it goes in, you're already shivering from the cold sensation."

"What a weird analogy you used, though it's surprisingly apt," Malik retorted, turning to look at Honda and Kyoko. "Are you two feeling uncomfortable?"

"Huh? It seems like I didn't feel anything?" Honda saw that Hayato and the other three looked like they had sensed something, but after looking himself up and down and confirming that everything was normal, he said, "Apart from the fact that Jonouchi idiot suddenly jumped up and startled me, which made my heart beat a little fast, I didn't feel anything."

“Me too.” Kyoko also indicated that she felt perfectly normal, and glanced at Yugi, saying, “It seems that only you guys can sense that special thing. Is it because you are duelists?”

Jonouchi shook his head: "There's no standard for duelists. If you're going to count, Kyoko, you and Honda can be considered duelists too."

As he spoke, Jonouchi turned to look at Hayato, Yugi, and Malik, scrutinizing them from head to toe. He noticed something different: "By the way, Yugi, Hayato, and Malik, you all have the Millennium Items on you. Could that power be emanating from the Millennium Items?"

"For example, the [Millennium Key] and the [Millennium Scales], which we have never seen before?"

Jonouchi also knew of the existence of the Millennium Items and that they might be closely related to the memory recovery in another game. Always keeping his friend's wish in mind, he immediately thought of the Millennium Key and the Millennium Scales, which he had not yet seen.

The fact that a student who can't even remember the knowledge in the textbook can remember such a strange term that he only heard from Isis once clearly shows how much Jonouchi cares about this matter.

But Malik shook his head, rejecting Jonouchi's conjecture: "Unfortunately, the Millennium Key and the Millennium Scales, like the Millennium Scepter and the Millennium Jewelry, are Millennium Artifacts kept by the Tomb Keepers. However, they are not from the Ishdar clan, to which my sister belongs, but from another Tomb Keeper clan. It is impossible for them to have ended up in such a place."

"Moreover, this power is completely different from the power of the [Millennium Artifact], at least it is not as dark."

As he spoke, Malik pointed to the castle and joked, "More importantly, you, who can also sense that power, don't have a [Millennium Item]. Or do you think you're some kind of [Millennium Dice]?"

"In that case, wouldn't Grandpa Sugoroku be a 'thousand-year hostage'?" Hayato chimed in with a laugh, while taking out a card from his person. "The reason we can sense that power is probably because of them."

After Hayato took out the card, the monsters that everyone was quite familiar with—the three brothers of [Disruption]—appeared beside Hayato, and in a materialized state that Honda and Kyoko could see directly.

Through the power of highly awakened spirits or with the help of items like the Millennium Item, the card spirits that are generally only seen by a very small number of people with the ability to see spirits and are called "spirit users" can materialize and appear as if in a duel, and can be seen by ordinary people. Such operations are already commonplace.

But upon closer inspection, the game was the first to notice something different: "Hmm? Could this be...?"

Not entirely sure of his guess, Yugi took out a golden box. Before Malik could complain about why he carried such a heavy box to store his deck, Yugi took out one of the cards.

Immediately, the figure of the [Elf Swordsman], a card that frequently appeared in his deck but was mostly just cannon fodder, appeared in front of Yugi. At first, the [Elf Swordsman] thought it was in a duel, lazily drawing its sword and holding it listlessly, as if it had seen through its fate of being cannon fodder and started to give up.

But the next moment, the Elf Swordsman noticed something was wrong. He looked up and down at his materialized body with a puzzled expression.

"This sign is that the card spirit has materialized?" Jonouchi and Malik stared wide-eyed at the [Spirit Swordsman] in front of Yugi. Hayato's [Disruption] brothers had appeared quite often, so they weren't too concerned, but they knew about Yugi's [Spirit Swordsman]. Although spirits existed, they were far from being able to materialize into the real world.

However, on the other hand, the Millennium Puzzle on Yugi's chest did not glow, indicating that Yugi did not provide any additional power support. The card spirit, which was not even at the level of materialization, materialized and appeared. The two immediately remembered that they had seen a similar phenomenon before.

"If I remember correctly, a similar sign appeared at the KC Cup. We've unexpectedly found something interesting, game." Hayato turned to look at the jungle, his gaze seemingly trying to pierce through all obstacles to reach the center of the island and find the source of that power. "Alright, let's go, Friday!"

"There's no such thing!"

Chapter 687 Come to Pankun... Let's duel the monsters!

At this moment, Hayato and his companions face two needs: finding shelter and confirming the true nature of that mysterious force. One represents the immediate safety issue, while the other represents the potential danger they will inevitably face in the future. Neither can be abandoned.

However, compared to the source of that mysterious power whose location was unknown, finding a sanctuary to recuperate was everyone's top priority. It was already afternoon, and Hayato and the others hadn't eaten anything since breakfast before heading to the Game Family's Kameji Card Shop. Jonouchi, who had a particularly large appetite, was already starving.

In the wild, building a treehouse was far too difficult for Hayato and his companions, who lacked survival experience. It was much better to find a cave of suitable height to make do for a few days. So Honda and Malik led the way, and Hayato and his group traversed the dense primeval jungle, heading towards the high mountain in the center of the island they had seen earlier.

While it's uncertain whether a suitable cave or similar shelter can be found near the smoking mountain that appears to be a volcano, it could at least serve as a vantage point for Hayato and his companions to observe the entire island's environment.

However, this worry seemed unnecessary. Not long after entering the jungle, less than half an hour later, due to unforeseen circumstances, Hayato and his companions changed their plan to find a sanctuary first.

"Ughh ...

A sharp female voice rang out in the distance, causing Honda, who was walking at the front, to stop in his tracks. He was about to swing his entrenching tool to split the branches in his way—regardless of what Lishid was thinking, Malik had indeed pulled an entrenching tool out of his bag, and it must be said, the single-edged entrenching tool was quite efficient at cutting branches—and it remained suspended in the air.

"Was that voice from the same group of people before?"

Malik, who was standing next to Honda, stopped what he was doing, wiped the slight sweat from his forehead, thought for a moment, and pointed in a direction, saying, "It seems so. I didn't pay much attention to the voices of those people, but it seems that there are only two groups of humans on this island. The voices seem to be coming from that direction?"

"They're screaming so pitifully, they must have encountered some wild beasts on the island, right?" Jonouchi said with a wicked grin, making a fierce face at Honda. "Whoa, I am the king of the wild beasts on this deserted island, let me tear you apart!"

"Get lost. If you're so energetic, it's your turn to clear the way." Honda rolled his eyes at Jonouchi, completely ignoring his ridiculous facial expressions that only made people laugh, and handed him the entrenching tool. Even Honda was getting tired from clearing the way.

The island's forests were excessively dense. Generally speaking, even in remote, untouched forests, there should be some "wild animal trails" left by the activities of wild animals over time. However, along the way, the group could only see overgrown jungles and couldn't find a single path.

Even now, the only animal they have seen is a bird that flew over the forest on the grassy beach where they landed.

Hayato took the entrenching tool from Malik and told him to rest at the back of the group. However, instead of continuing to clear the way towards the mountains, he stopped, just like Jonouchi who had taken over from Honda. He turned to Yugi and asked, "Shall we continue, Yugi?"

Upon hearing this, Yugi didn't immediately answer Hayato. Instead, he pondered for a moment before firmly stating, "Although they've abandoned us, I don't think we can just leave them like this. Knowing they seem to be in danger and then pretending not to know and simply leaving is wrong."

"I'm sorry, Hayato, I'd like to go over there first."

Hayato, who had slung his entrenching tool over his shoulder, smiled and said, "There's nothing to apologize for, Yugi. You're not thinking of going somewhere by yourself, are you? That won't do. We're a team; we have to work together."

As he spoke, Hayato took a few steps toward the direction from which the sound had come, grabbing a branch that seemed to be growing wildly with one hand and slashing it with his entrenching tool in the other. "Even if we find a suitable shelter now, we won't be safe until we eliminate the dangers around us. Before those people get into trouble, let's hurry over there and see what dangers are on the island!"

Jonouchi had no objection to Hayato and Yugi's decision. When he heard that both of them planned to go to the direction from which the sound came to check the situation, he immediately followed Hayato and joined the clearing of the way with his entrenching tool.

Because of time constraints, Hayato and Jonouchi did not conserve their energy but chose the slower but fastest way to clear a path. Yugi and the others followed closely behind. The group of six quickly advanced in the direction from which the shouts came. In less than ten minutes, they had successfully traversed the dense jungle and arrived at a clearing in the forest.

Emerging from the lush greenery, and seeing the yellow earth untouched by vegetation, Jonouchi relaxed his eyes, which had been almost completely filled with greenery, and took in his surroundings.

The plants in the forest grow so lushly, leaving no gaps, but when they reach this clearing, they seem like a perverted lecherous man who has seen a little girl who is watching him warily with an alarm, and dare not come any closer, thus leaving this clearing.

However, although it was called an open space, it wasn't truly empty. As soon as Hayato emerged from the forest, he spotted several unfolded parachutes scattered in the center of the open space.

Hayato and his group didn't land from this spot, so it's only natural that the parachutes were left behind by the five flight attendants who separated from Hayato's group. And there were indeed five parachutes.

However, Hayato didn't know what those flight attendants were thinking. Although movies and TV shows often depict parachutes being used and then simply discarded after being taken out of their backpacks, they were now in a survival situation in the wilderness. Why didn't those people think to put away such a valuable item as a parachute and instead just left it there?

Parachute fabric is not only waterproof but also highly durable, and can be used to make tents, waterproof fabrics, and even raincoats. The parachute ropes also have many uses.

"Huh? Aren't they over here?" Jonouchi looked around but couldn't find a single person besides them. He guessed that the five people who were suspected of being attacked had left while they were walking over.

Xingzi casually picked the broken branch that had gotten stuck in her hair from walking too fast, tightened her backpack, and said, "We came up empty-handed. Sigh, what a wasted trip."

In order to get here as quickly as possible, they had been moving at full speed all the way. Their already limited physical strength was further depleted, and when they saw the empty open space, they couldn't help but feel a little discouraged. As soon as they felt discouraged, fatigue and hunger surged up.

It was already around two or three in the afternoon, and having not yet had lunch, they had given up on continuing their search for shelter and decided to set up camp for the night. While a safe haven was important, maintaining a good mental and physical state was also crucial in the wilderness.

Although there was only one tent, the group decided to build a slightly larger tent on the spot for the boys to rest, since they had a parachute and plenty of branches from the surrounding forest that could be used as materials. The original tent was used by Anzu.

The tent doesn't need to be too big; it only needs to be able to accommodate three people, because not everyone can sleep at night, and one or two people need to stay awake to keep watch.

After eating some bread and biscuits to fill their stomachs, the group was discussing their respective tasks when an uninvited guest barged into the open space.

"boom!"

With a sudden, violent tremor of the ground, a loud bang reached everyone's ears, startling Jonouchi, who had his back to the source of the sound, so much so that he jumped up from a large rock. The others were not much better off, all looking in the direction from which the loud bang came.

From the smoke and dust, a hunched figure shrouded in a black robe slowly emerged. Beneath the cloak, where the eyes were, a red light emanated, seemingly scrutinizing Hayato and his group.

Behind the cloaked figure, another enormous humanoid monster appeared, its muscles bulging beneath eerie blue skin, its body covered in wildly growing jet-black hair. The giant dragged a thick tree in its hands, its trunk twisted and contorted by brute force, one end broken as if struck by a tremendous force. Clearly, it was the culprit behind the massive commotion.

Yugi and the others remained wary of the suddenly appearing, dangerously aura-filled black-robed man and the beast-like giant, refraining from making any rash moves. Meanwhile, the black-robed man, after scrutinizing Hayato and the others for a long time, let out a chilling laugh: "Hmph, six more decent test subjects, and it seems there are some high-quality specimens among them."

"At this critical juncture when I encountered a bottleneck, I've managed to collect two waves of test subjects in succession. I'm incredibly lucky." As he spoke, the hunched-over man in black robes raised his hand and pointed in the direction of Hayato and the others. "For my dream, embrace glorious evolution, my test subjects!"

"Grab them!"

As the man in black robes gave the order, the huge savage behind him let out a low growl, casually tossing aside the piece of tree trunk he was holding, and opening his free hand like an open fishing net to grab Hayato and the others!

"You idiot, watch out! Don't crush the test subjects like the previous ones did. They're much more important than you!" Behind the giant savage, the man in black robes was still expressing his "concern" for Hayato and the others' safety.

However, it was clear that "his" worries were somewhat unnecessary. The moment the giant savage reached out his hand to Hayato and the others, a spiraling lance and a magical emerald wand pressed against his palm. In pain, the giant savage howled and withdrew his hand, only to find that a jet-black flame was spewed from the mouth of a dragon and struck his unsuspecting face.

"Splash!"

The scene that Hayato and his companions had anticipated—the giant savage being defeated—did not occur. After the black flame bullets spewed by the materialized Red-Eyes Black Dragon hit them, the giant savage's seemingly strong muscles were as fragile as paper, offering no defense whatsoever. In an instant, the giant savage was killed, but its body did not remain; instead, it shattered and disappeared.

The people present were all too familiar with that kind of special effect; it was clearly the effect that appeared when a Duel Monster was destroyed after being transformed into a three-dimensional image through a virtual projection system.

"Speaking nonsense like 'experimental subject,' who are you? Why did you suddenly attack us?!" After defeating the giant savage who seemed to be under the command of the man in black robes, Jonouchi angrily stepped forward and questioned him.

"So, it really is a Card Spirit?" Unlike Jonouchi, Yami Yugi, who had somehow emerged from the Millennium Puzzle to replace Yugi, raised an eyebrow at the phenomenon he observed, his puzzlement still evident. "But if it's a Card Spirit, even if it's temporarily repelled, why does it exhibit the behavior of a Duel Monster?"

The man in black robes seemed somewhat surprised by the power displayed by Hayato, Yugi, and Jonouchi, but he quickly recovered and looked at them, saying, "What a surprise. They are actually advanced experimental subjects who can use the power of spirits."

"I'm so lucky! My experimental log is so lacking in data about spirit summoners!"

As they spoke, Hayato and the others saw the same fog that they had seen when they looked down at the island from the air behind the man in black robes. Within the fog, one strange figure after another appeared, as if they were about to burst out of the thick fog at any moment!

When Hayato first saw the giant savage, he felt that its appearance was quite familiar, but he was not quite sure because of the difference between the two-dimensional card art and the three-dimensional monster. However, when he saw the several phantoms behind the black-robed man, he confirmed his guess.

Before the man in black robes could launch his next attack, Hayato quickly adjusted his deck, inserted it into the slot of his Duel Disk, and stepped forward, shouting at the man in black robes, "Hey you over there, duel me!"

Hayato's words, even in any other world, would likely elicit a look of utter disbelief, without a moment's hesitation in the actions of others. However, in the world of a certain sorceress and her pile driver, the situation is different—

Upon hearing Hayato's words, the man in black robes paused for a moment, then lowered his raised hand and said confidently, "Hmph, you dare to challenge me? Overestimating yourself, no one can be my match!"

As he spoke, the mist behind the man in the black robe swirled around his thin arm that emerged from his robe, transforming into a duel disk already filled with cards.

Well, that's how it is in the world of card players~

Chapter 688 Impressive, right? Awesome, right? Genius, right!