Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Yugi and Malik understood what was recorded in the Millennium Book of Magic, but Kyoko, Honda, Jonouchi, and Pegasus were all waiting for Yugi and Malik to translate for them. Jonouchi, whose curiosity had been piqued, couldn't help but ask Yugi, "The Millennium Items? Yugi, could the things recorded in this book be related to the Millennium Items?"

Kyoko and Honda, who were also curious about the answer to this question, nodded vigorously, indicating that they were equally curious.

"This book does indeed contain knowledge about the [Millennium Artifact], but the knowledge in it..." The game player stopped abruptly, seemingly hesitant to reveal the truth he had gleaned from the book.

"What's wrong with the information above? Could it be that the knowledge related to the [Millennium Artifact] is too superficial and meaningless?" Pegasus, unable to contain his curiosity, looked at the game with equal fervor and asked. Although he had lost contact with his [Millennium Artifact], that didn't stop Pegasus, as a game designer, from eagerly drawing inspiration from the readily available information.

The game didn't speak, but Malik recovered from his shock. Hearing Pegasus's question, he replied, "No, the knowledge about the Millennium Artifacts in this book is by no means superficial. It's even more in-depth than I expected, but it goes a bit too far in terms of understanding the root of things."

As he spoke, Malik turned around and glanced at the two statues in the secret room. His gaze swept over the neck of the female statue where the Millennium Jewel had once been placed and the empty palm of the male statue where the Millennium Scepter had once been held. Malik couldn't help but sigh, "I understand now why this book has only been guarded by the patriarchs of each generation."

"It would be very troubling if our people, who believe they bear a noble mission, knew that the true nature of the 'Millennium Artifact' they are protecting was such a vile object."

Having already learned the contents of the book, Yu-Gi-Oh and Malik spoke in riddles that only the two of them could understand, leaving the four people around them completely baffled.

"So, what exactly is recorded in the book, Malik? A game? At least tell us what it is first," Honda asked.

Upon hearing this, Yugi sighed and said, "The page of that 'Millennium Magic Book' that is turned to records the individual abilities of the 'Millennium Artifacts,' the possible directions for their development, the powerful forces they can unleash when gathered together, and even the methods for creating the 'Millennium Artifacts.'"

"Huh?! The method to create the Millennium Items!?" Jonouchi was also shocked. After a moment of understanding its meaning, he couldn't help but gasp. "Doesn't that mean that as long as you can read the text, Yugi and Malik will have mastered the method to create a large number of Millennium Items?!"

Upon hearing Jonouchi's words, Pegasus's eyes lit up, and he stared intently at Yugi. Who wouldn't want a Millennium Item that grants immense power? Pegasus wasn't greedy; he just wanted another Millennium Eye.

Upon hearing this, Malik gave a cold laugh: "Heh, that's easy to say. Let's not even talk about the other materials needed to make it, which can be obtained with just a huge amount of money. Do you have the determination to carry out a massacre to obtain the [Millennium Artifact]?"

"Slaughter? Why? I don't want to kill anyone." Jonouchi said, frowning. The next moment, his face stiffened, and he looked at Yugi, saying, "Could it be...?"

With a serious expression, Yugi nodded in confirmation of Jonouchi's guess: "Ah, that's exactly what you think, Jonouchi."

"The creation of the [Millennium Artifacts] required the exchange of lives, and not just one or two. Three thousand years ago, a massacre occurred in order to create seven [Millennium Artifacts]!"

Looking at the dark game on the outside, the surface game inside the Millennium Puzzle murmured: 'Another me…'

Outside the secret chamber, Hayato, having turned his gaze away from the game and the others, glanced at Gab behind him and asked, "So, Mr. Gab, how much time do you have left?"

Gab, who was still lying on the ground, paused in anger upon hearing Hayato's words, his expression turning to helplessness, and said, "Tsk, when did you find out?"

“Duel rituals have held significant meaning since ancient Egypt and even earlier. They not only allow the duelists to resonate with each other’s hearts and understand each other, but it is also normal to know the other’s condition through this resonance.” Hayato turned around and looked at Gab. “Also, compared to when I first saw you in the house, your body is much thinner now.”

“If this kind of dissipation is normal, I find it hard to believe that you have been back in this world for a year, but if we take it as a sign that you are about to leave, it becomes reasonable.”

Upon hearing this, Gab gave a rare wry smile: "That's about right. Your observation is quite sharp. You didn't approach Isis in this way, did you?"

"Although my feeling isn't very accurate, I estimate that today is the limit. We might not even have the strength to take you all back to the ground."

By this, Gab was acknowledging Hayato's guess that he really didn't have much time left, and in fact, this was no more than Hayato had anticipated.

As far as he knew, Geb wasn't a superhuman, a user of the Millennium Item, or a Newtype in life. For him to return to the world in this ghostly form after death was already quite rare; achieving immortality was unrealistic, and there would eventually be a deadline for his return to Earth. It seemed that today would be that day.

It was because of this that Hayato deliberately stayed behind and remained by Gab's side.

“Mr. Geb, you’ve never given Malik a kind look since you first met him. I think it’s necessary to tell you this now,” Hayato said, looking at the golden mist spreading around Geb. “The one who killed you back then was Malik…”

"The dark personality fostered by the dark power of the Millennium Scepter, isn't that right?"

Gab casually mentioned it, and seeing Hayato's surprise, he smiled and said, "I already knew about this, but even as the clan leader, I can hardly defy the clan rules on my own. It's just that Malik has to suffer from the cruel clan rules since childhood, and I can only do nothing to change it."

"When Malik killed me that day, I already knew what he was doing behind my back. After all, the shadow on the wall can't lie. But maybe I was irresponsible and chose to fill the guilt I felt towards Malik in that way. But Isis was also very clever. She used my death to connect the efforts I made before I died and took charge of everything in the tribe again."

As Geb watched Malik's retreating figure walk towards the [Millennium Magic Book] in the secret chamber, he smiled and said, "A father who hasn't forgiven himself for his indifference is better than a father who has forgiven himself. The former brings Malik a better feeling than the latter."

Standing up, Gabu patted off non-existent dust from his body, which only dispersed more golden smoke. Looking at Hayato, who had also stood up, he said with a regretful expression, "It's a pity you arrived a little late. I can't get a proper look at what kind of person you are, so I can only use a duel as a test."

"Well, I saw that coming a long time ago. You're not exactly tight-lipped, Mr. Gab." Hayato smiled as he looked at Gab, whose form was becoming increasingly transparent and ethereal, and asked, "So, how does it feel?"

"This is awful! I was so frustrated the whole time. Couldn't you just let me have some fun, you bastard? Especially at the end, you even used my card to hit me. That was too much and annoying." Gab glared at Hayato and said irritably, but then paused for a moment, "And also, it was so obvious. You didn't even try your best."

“But that’s good too. Isis is much kinder than Malik. I was worried she would be bullied in the future. If it were you…” Looking at Hayato, Gab said solemnly, “Take good care of her, Hayato Kobayashi.”

"Hmm, don't worry, Mr. Gab." Hayato extended his fist and lightly touched Gab's almost shapeless hand, while Gab rolled his eyes at him and said, "Can't you use a different way of addressing me?"

“That won’t do. Isis and I are still far from being a couple.” Hayato waved his hand as he watched the golden mist completely dissipate. “Goodnight, Mr. Geb.”

Chapter 714 The Arrival of Bakura

As Gabu departed, golden mist dissipated in the underground space, and the gamers standing in the secret room were surprised to find that the [Millennium Magic Book] in front of them had automatically cracked without being touched.

"W-what happened?" The golden pages turned into specks of light and disappeared. Honda looked at the tattered [Millennium Magic Book] and said with some confusion, "We didn't do anything, did we?"

Jonouchi's face showed anxiety: "Now is not the time to shirk responsibility, is it? Think of a solution quickly, we can't afford to pay for this!"

Even if you say that…

Looking at the fragments in front of him that had vanished from a complete book to just a few pages in a short time, Malik showed no sign of the anxiety that his own possession had broken. Instead, he shrugged nonchalantly, "We don't know how to stop it either."

"In fact, I think the current 'Millennium Magic Book' is what it should look like."

"Huh?" Upon hearing Malik's words, Jonouchi and Honda were also taken aback, while Kyoko belatedly remembered something, "Mr. Gab did seem to have said something like that before, 'The golden box contains part of a book,' right?"

"So, the book that now appears before us was actually supposed to be incomplete from the start?" Pegasus, still maintaining his strange tone that hindered others' understanding, looked at the [Millennium Magic Book], which was gradually reduced to only a few damaged pages.

The number of golden specks floating from the golden pages gradually decreased, revealing ancient, faded, and damaged pages that were different from the previous golden pages. It seemed that this was the real [Millennium Magic Book].

Looking down again, they discovered that even the text written on the pages had changed, becoming a script that neither Yugi nor Malik could understand, an script even more ancient than the lost ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, making it increasingly difficult to decipher.

Just as everyone was puzzled, Hayato, who had entered the secret room while everyone was still surprised by the changes in the Millennium Magic Book, stood behind the group and said, "Perhaps that appearance before was woven by Mr. Gab using the power of the Millennium Magic Book."

"As the patriarch of the tomb-guarding clan, Mr. Gab naturally inherited the ability to decipher the contents of the Millennium Magic Book from his predecessors over three thousand years. That's why the Millennium Magic Book previously displayed ancient Egyptian priestly script that people could understand. However, as his power was exhausted, not only Mr. Gab, but the Millennium Magic Book could no longer maintain that false appearance."

"Hayato?"

Turning to look at Hayato, Yugi's face showed a thoughtful expression. Just the information he had seen in the Millennium Book about the dark origins of the Millennium Items was already quite shocking to Yugi, and what he had seen was only what the Tomb Keepers had deciphered from a small part of the Millennium Book over the past three thousand years.

It's hard to imagine what kind of knowledge is recorded in the complete "Millennium Magic Book".

Malik, who was standing by the game, also noticed a key point in Hayato's words and looked at him, saying, "Brother-in-law, you said Father..."

Hayato didn't say anything, he just looked at Malik and nodded.

Seeing this, Malik took a deep breath and said with some emotion, "Is that so? He's gone. That's for the best. After all, I still can't figure out how to face him, how to face the biological father I killed with my own hands. Returning to the underworld is good too; it saves me from further torment."

Although Malik tried hard to sound "relaxed" as he spoke, the expression on his face clearly showed regret.

No one knew how to comfort him, since they rarely had the rare experience of "a loved one they killed coming back to life and then dying again." They could only let time slowly dilute Malik's emotions.

Now that the group has seen the Millennium Magic Book, the secret treasure of the tomb-guarding clan, and learned the truth about the Millennium Artifact, the Millennium Magic Book has become a few undecipherable fragments. In addition, since Gaib, who led them here, has returned to the Underworld, the group has no intention of staying here any longer and plans to return to the surface.

Walking at the back of the group, Hayato took out his phone, thinking he should probably send Isis a text message to tell her what had happened to the Gravekeepers here. Don't ask why Hayato had Isis's phone number; he got it by accident, definitely not when they went to the movies together last time.

However, after typing half of the text message, Hayato felt that it might be inappropriate to inform the other party of this matter via text message. After thinking about it, Hayato simply made a phone call instead, so that he could explain things more clearly.

Although they were in an underground space, the tomb guardians were quite up-to-date with the times. Not only did their cell phones have a signal, but Hayato even managed to find a Wi-Fi network to connect to. Unfortunately, Hayato didn't know the Wi-Fi password, and Gabu didn't have time to tell Hayato before leaving.

Of course, considering the time of Gab's death, it's possible that the Wi-Fi was actually installed by someone sent by Isis, and that Gab didn't know the password.

As Hayato walked up the steps back to the ground, his mind wandered, but the ringing of a phone in his ear kept going on and on; it seemed that Isis's phone was never being answered.

That's a bit strange, because as far as Hayato knows, Isis always wears that white dress, which doesn't seem to have any pockets, but actually does have places to store things, and she should always have her cell phone with her.

Moreover, as an Egyptian government official and the curator of the Egyptian Antiquities Exhibition, Isis should not have much social engagements and should have plenty of free time. So why did Hayato call her for so long but no one answered?

Thinking this, the group had already returned to the ground along the long stone steps and entered Malik's house. However, as soon as they returned to the living room where they had been, Jonouchi and Honda, who were walking at the front, froze and pointed into the living room, shouting, "Y-you are!?"

"How did you get here?!"

Hearing how excited the two were, the rest of the group hurried to the living room. Once there, they understood why Jonouchi and Honda were so excited.

On the living room sofa, Bakura, still wearing his blue and white striped sailor shirt, arrogantly put his feet up on the coffee table, idly playing with a necklace. The golden [Millennium Jewelry] twirled between Bakura's fingers, while in his other hand he was holding the [Millennium Eye].

"Yo, you guys finally came out, Yugi, Hayato." Noticing the group of people who came into the living room, Bakura ignored the others and stared intently at Hayato and Yugi, especially Yugi. "I've been waiting for you guys here for quite a while."

"Bakura!?" Yugi asked, puzzled. "Why are you here?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a flash of light from the Millennium Puzzle appeared, and Yami Yugi, who had just returned not long ago, reappeared in place of Omote Yugi. With a serious expression, he said to the others, "Be careful, everyone, this guy isn't Bakura!"

"That stench of dark magic, even more vile than frog piss, is from some evil entity that has taken over Bakura's body—it's definitely not Bakura!"

Upon hearing this, Bakura raised a delicate eyebrow, his tone full of displeasure, and said to Yami Yugi, "Could you please not use such disgusting descriptions? It's as if I'm some kind of born bad seed."

"Besides, what right do you have to talk about me, Nameless Pharaoh? You also possessed Yugi Muto's body, and in terms of dark magic, you're not much worse than me."

After a pause, Bakura's gaze shifted downwards, glancing at the Millennium Puzzle on Yami Yugi's chest, and he said disdainfully, "Besides, you all probably already know what the Millennium Items are from those pages below, right? What right do you have to judge me when you're using something like that?"

"This guy actually knows about the [Millennium Magic Book]?" Malik frowned, puzzled as to where the other party had learned about this secret treasure, which even he, a former member of the tomb-guarding clan, had only learned about today.

Just then, Bakura stopped playing with the gold necklace, stood up from the sofa, and Malik saw clearly what the necklace in Bakura's hand was. His eyes widened and his expression turned ferocious: "That's... my sister's [Millennium Jewelry]!"

"You bastard, what did you do to my sister?!"

Facing Malik's angry glare, Bakura remained unperturbed, casually tossing the [Millennium Jewelry] in his hand and saying with a smile, "Don't question me, I didn't do anything, I just ambushed that woman and took this."

Hayato took a deep breath and looked at Bakura, asking, "When was that?"

“Of course, it was about an hour ago. Unlike you guys, I’m very efficient, Hayato-kun.” Bakura said, noticing Hayato’s phone that he had just closed. “Can’t get through? That’s normal. To prevent that woman from tipping you off, she can’t answer the phone right now.”

"bass!"

Suddenly, a sharp spear shot out from beside Hayato and thrust towards Bakura—it was Gaia launching a surprise attack! However, before it could strike Bakura, as if anticipating it, Bakura leaned back to dodge the attack, still grumbling with hatred, "Oops, oops, you almost got hit. Are you getting excited because you heard about that woman, Hayato-kun?"

"Seriously, I was here first. We've been friends since Duel Kingdom!"

"Heh, since we're friends, don't be so formal, Bakura. Come on, open your arms and give me a hug." Hayato looked at Bakura and smiled coldly.

Having missed its first attack, Gaia was about to launch another attack under Hayato's command, but Bakura suddenly raised his hands at that moment: "Hey, wait a minute, don't look at me like that, okay? I already said I didn't hurt that woman, I just took the Millennium Jewelry."

"To be honest, I'm on your side, at least for now."

"Come on!" Upon hearing Bakura's words, Jonouchi couldn't hold back any longer. He glared at Bakura and said, "What right do you, a despicable fellow, have to call yourself our partner!"

"Tch, do you even have the right to speak here, Jonouchi?" Bakura glanced at Jonouchi, then looked at Yugi and Hayato and said, "Although I am indeed not a good person, I never lie. In fact, I specially traveled all the way from Domino City to Egypt to help you guys."

The game frowned, a smirk playing on its lips: "Help us? By hurting people important to us?"

Seeing that Yugi was somewhat skeptical, Bakura said helplessly, "In the end, your goal is to retrieve Yugi's, or rather, the Nameless Pharaoh's, memories and return to the Underworld, right? To achieve the former, you need the stone tablet that records the King's memories and the cards of the Three Egyptian Gods, while the latter requires seven years of the Millennium Items and the stone tablet that holds the Millennium Items."

“Actually, my purpose is the same as yours, to prove my sincerity—” With that, Bakura threw out the golden necklace and the golden eye in his hand, which were caught by Yugi and Hayato respectively. “Now, the Millennium Eye and the Millennium Jewelry are in your hands.”

"In addition, I have also found out the locations of the two stone slabs for you. Whether you believe me or not is up to you."

After saying that, Bakura didn't care what everyone was planning. He sat back on the sofa, crossed his legs, and looked relaxed and unconcerned about Hayato's still-unretrievable Gaia. It was as if he had already figured out that Hayato and the others wouldn't attack him next.

The game player who caught the [Millennium Eye] looked down at the eyeball in his hand, a hesitant expression on his face: "Should we... trust Bakura?"

"Absolutely not! My gut feeling tells me that Bakura is worse than a rat in a toilet. How could he possibly want to help us!" Jonouchi said decisively. "Maybe the Millennium Eye and the Millennium Jewelry are fakes!"

“No, although I’m not sure if the [Millennium Jewelry] is fake, this [Millennium Eye] is absolutely real, I’m 1000% sure!” Pegasus said, pointing to the [Millennium Eye].