Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

"Stop arguing with me, I'm going to tell your sister when I get back."

"Ctrl+Z, please pretend I said nothing."

Seeing Malik's comical cowardly reaction, Kyoko and Yugi exchanged a glance and covered their mouths to chuckle, while Honda and Jonouchi didn't even bother to pretend.

However, Atum fell silent. Bakura's casual remark reminded him that while Tragodia was indeed the culprit, it was the birth of the Millennium Item that had transformed him from an astrologer into a monster who hated everything.

Although power itself is neither inherently good nor evil, the Millennium Items are indeed stained with too much indelible sin and bloodshed. Bakura, Anubis, Tragodia, and others from three thousand years ago, as well as Pegasus, Bakura, and Malik from the modern era, are all victims of the Millennium Items.

As this thought crossed his mind, Atum made up his mind and said to the game, "Aibo, can I borrow your body for a while?"

"Another me?" The game paused for a moment, then smiled slightly, sharing Atum's sentiment. "Yes, I understand."

A flash of light appeared on the Millennium Puzzle, instantly changing the game's atmosphere. Those familiar with the game immediately recognized that Atem had emerged from the Millennium Puzzle. Although Mai often called him "slow-witted," Jonouchi, who was actually just a little simple-minded, intuitively guessed Atem's intentions even before Atem uttered a word, not to mention the others.

Before Atum could speak, Hayato said, "Atum, wait a moment before you talk about that."

As he spoke, Hayato turned his back, crossed his arms in front of him, tilted his head slightly, and glanced behind him out of the corner of his eye. His slightly long hair fluttered in the breeze as he said loudly, "You've been spying on us, haven't you, Shady!"

"No, why are you suddenly bringing up that annoying bald guy's name?" Jonouchi asked, waving his hand dismissively. "Hayato, you don't actually think that guy's been following us ever since we left last time, do you? Isn't that just a pervert? There's no way someone like that could exist—"

"As expected of Hayato Kobayashi, he actually saw through my perfect disguise." From under the car parked next to them, a light suddenly emerged... Shady, wearing a headscarf!

"There really is a pervert!"

Ignoring the astonished look on Jonouchi's face, even though he seemed to have been following under the car the whole way, Adu... I mean, Xia Di's white clothes were still spotless. When Xia Di stood up, even though he still had that expressionless face, he couldn't hide the helplessness in his lifeless eyes when he looked at Hayato.

To be honest, since he died many years ago because of Dark Bakura and the Millennium Wisdom Wheel, he has been wandering the world for a long time using his ability to exist between a soul and a physical body, and has never been discovered by anyone. Only Kobayashi Hayato has been able to discover him time and time again.

"I'm very curious, Hayato Kobayashi, how exactly do you manage to sense my presence so accurately time and time again? I'm really curious."

"Actually, I was just guessing, hehe~" Hayato's closed collar concealed the dissipated light of the [Millennium Wisdom Wheel]. "Otherwise, did you think it was my superior duelist's intuition?"

Shadi glanced at Hayato's chest but said nothing. Instead, he looked at the game, or rather Atum, and said, "I truly admire your determination. After all, not everyone can resolutely give up their precious second life in order to end the darkness that the Millennium Item has brought to the world."

“As expected, Atum is planning to…” Although it was just a guess at first, after hearing Shadi’s words, Kyoko knew that she had guessed correctly and turned to look at Atum with her eyes full of reluctance.

"Then I will guide you, Pharaoh, who is no longer nameless, to the location of the stone tablet that will lead you to the underworld."

Chapter 906 [The Ferry to the Underworld]

Although Pegasus started his journey to Egypt to create a card that had been identified as the "Jewel Beast," he has lost the will to continue traveling after the Pegasus Night Journey incident.

The seahorse's earlier talk about dissecting Pegasus was just casual talk and not a real thing. After all, as Amelda advised him, Pegasus was the only living being in the world to exist after the fusion of a human and a spirit. In the end, the seahorse only drew a vial of his blood.

Of course, the damage caused to the seahorse by the Pegasus Night Walk could not be fully compensated by this one vial of blood. Putting aside the concessions in other business cooperation, after Guiping gave the specific amount of damage to the central building and surrounding area, Becas did not even haggle once and paid the astronomical compensation in one go.

However, it wasn't International Illusion Company that provided the money, but Pegasus himself. After all, the largest shareholders in International Illusion Company now are Hayato with 40% and Yugi with 30%. Pegasus's 20% stake only makes him the third largest shareholder, and he can't squander it as freely as he did when he had 100% control of International Illusion Company.

But in reality, even without the International Illusion Society, the Pegasus family's savings alone would be enough for him to blow up several more buildings of the same size, and it wouldn't matter if each building had an "Ark Reactor" that accounted for the largest share of the compensation.

Although it was Keihei who deliberately detonated the Arc Reactor, blowing up the building, the blame ultimately fell on Tenma Yagyō. Therefore, Keihei accepted the stack of checks from Pegasus without a second thought. Kaiba? He was always indifferent to Kaiba; he cared about other things.

As for Yugi, Hayato, and the others, even Pegasus, who was so thick-skinned he could withstand a beam of light, felt somewhat embarrassed. After all, he had taken the initiative to invite them to accompany him on this trip, but he ended the trip after less than a week in Egypt.

—Although for the gamers who had actually been to the world inside the King's Memory Slab and spent many days there, their journey to Egypt had actually lasted a long time, Pegasus just didn't know that.

However, regardless of the circumstances, Pegasus felt that since he was the organizer of the trip, even though he needed to leave first, he still had to do his duty and help arrange Hayato and the others' next trip.

Upon hearing about Dark Game's (Atem's) plans, Pegasus couldn't help but feel a pang of regret. It was partly because his goal was to travel the world collecting materials, and partly because Atem, with his exceptional talent, was about to leave this world.

Despite his disappointment, Bekas made a lavish decision and bought a ship for Hayato and his companions to use on their upcoming journey. Coincidentally, this ship belonged to the Egyptian branch of Anasis Shipbuilding.

Although it may seem like a country with only deserts at first glance, Egypt actually has a lot of waterways. Not to mention, it is home to the Suez Canal, which connects the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt holds a very important strategic position for the global shipping industry, so it is quite reasonable for Anasis Shipbuilding to set up a branch here.

“The ancient Egyptians believed that ships were the means of transport for those who had come to the side of the gods, as well as the Pharaoh, from the world of the living to the land of the dead.” Sitting at a round table on the bow deck, Honda pulled out a card from Jonouchi’s spare card pile and said, “The design of this card seems to be based on this.”

"【The Ferry to the Underworld】...?" Jonouchi was learning about this card, which he had never used before, for the first time from someone else. Listening to Honda's explanation, he pondered, "Speaking of which, it seems that it's not just ancient Egypt. Ancient Greece also had the concept of a ferry to the underworld, and the Vikings in Northern Europe also had the custom of using ships to transport the bodies of the dead?"

"Just like how a world-ending flood appears in most mythologies around the world, it's quite normal." Hayato paused and said casually, "In fact, there really was such a flood, a world-ending flood that was unleashed by the mad king of Atlantis ten thousand years ago to cleanse the earth."

“Darz… he’s really something. But I’m not talking about him, I’m talking about you who defeated him.” Ameruda walked over to the group with a plate of food and placed it on the table. “This ship actually has a nice restaurant, it’s practically a chance for me to show off my skills.”

"Try it, although it was originally a French dish, I'm personally quite proud of this Italian confit chicken."

"Confit chicken?" Hayato raised an eyebrow, sniffing the aroma of the dish Ameruda had served. "Is this smell of baijiu?"

“While Italian cuisine typically pairs beef, lamb, and pork with red wine, the relatively milder chicken definitely needs white wine,” Honda remarked, seemingly possessing considerable connoisseurship. He also took a careful sniff. “There’s also the aroma of olive oil; is it a Florentine specialty?”

“You’re experts.” Ameruda glanced at Honda and Hayato with surprise. He belatedly remembered that he had investigated the backgrounds of a few people when he was still in Doma. Honda Hiroshi was the future heir to a famous Japanese automobile group, and Kobayashi Hayato had a mother who worked for the Paradis Group and a father who was a diplomat. Neither of them came from ordinary families.

“I’ve removed most of the characteristics of French cuisine and replaced them with features of Italian cuisine, but I’ve retained some, because only in this way will you know that you’re eating a dish that’s been modified from French cuisine.” Ameruda said proudly, puffing out his chest, seemingly on purpose.

"Huh? It's not just a simple roast chicken?" Jonouchi, who hadn't even bothered to smell the aroma before grabbing a chicken leg and popping it into his mouth, was taken aback, completely failing to grasp what was so complicated about the dish. Too lazy to think about it, he pondered for a moment and then continued eating the chicken leg in silence.

Seeing Jonouchi's gluttonous attitude, Ameruda couldn't help but sigh, looking at the confit chicken on the round table: "I'm not bragging, but if I were to rate it, this dish would get a full 2 ​​stars."

"Only 2 stars? What kind of evaluation standard is that?"

“Because in my eyes, many dishes are simply not up to par, not even worth a single star, and the highest standard in my mind is probably 6 stars,” Ameruda thought for a moment and said, “like barbecue that can give people the aura of a demon king.”

"It sounds less appealing than a burger that incorporates the feeling of hunger into the ingredients and can devour all the monsters on the opponent's field," Jonouchi remarked.

"Heh, you can just keep eating," Ameruda glanced at Jonouchi and said disdainfully, then looked at the other side of the round table, "Compared to those..."

"What's up with Seto Kaiba?"

Seated next to Yugi at the same round table, the seahorse stared intently at him without blinking. Yugi felt so uncomfortable that he sat stiffly in his seat, refusing to eat a single bite even as Ameruda served several of its signature dishes.

Meanwhile, at the side of the game, Keihei, who was already used to Kaiba's behavior, calmly comforted Kyoko: "Don't worry, Kyoko-neechan. Based on my experience, there's a 90% or even 100% chance that your brother is just having a card-playing urge and wants to find someone to play cards with."

Upon hearing Keihei's words, Bakura swallowed the cream puff in his mouth, put down his fork, and asked curiously, "Why does Kaiba-kun sound like a drug addict to you, Keihei-chan?"

“That’s normal. After all, when my brother was watching the duel, he was piqued by Hayato’s ‘Predator’ deck and then he found that Hayato’s deck was as bad as ever. It’s quite normal for my brother to have a card addiction since no one can satisfy him.” Finally, Keihei added, “That’s how duelists are.”

"Don't talk nonsense, Keihei. We're not like Kaiba, okay? I'm going to become the world's number one duelist, female—"

"Katsu ちりたい, モノもない!"

Before Jonouchi could finish his sentence, music that made him want to start running immediately started playing from his phone in his pocket. He opened the phone with a puzzled look and saw it was a video call. Thinking that he wouldn't have to pay roaming fees as the recipient, he answered the call and found it was Mai Kongjaku calling.

"Oh, it's dance. Happy New Year!"

"Yes, of course I remember. I remember every single word you said clearly."

"You saw the news? No, the guy Seahorse didn't suffer any losses. Pegasus is super rich and compensated for everything. Look, we're on the ship that Pegasus bought right now, but that guy had to go back to the United States first."

"The dishes on the table? Hehe, they were made by someone you'd never guess. I won't tell you yet, do you want to guess?"

Watching Jonouchi raise his phone to show the peacock dancer on the other end of the line the views of both banks from the deck, Honda got goosebumps. He thought to himself, 'How cheesy my in-laws are! Thank goodness they're not my parents, or I'd be so embarrassed...'

'However, if it were me and Shizuka, hehehe...'

"boom!"

"Jounouchi! Why did you suddenly hit me?!" "Because I always had this feeling that you were after Shizuka, and my intuition is 1000% accurate!" "Damn it, Shizuka is the woman who could be my girlfriend!" "How can you be so narrow-minded!" "You already have Mai-chan, do you have the right to say such things?!"

Honda and Jonouchi, these two sworn brothers, started arguing again after a few words. When Kyoko and Keipi were distracted by the two and went to break up the fight, leaving only Hayato and Keipi at the round table, Kaiba finally broke his silence.

"I heard you're going to the so-called sunset place to find a so-called underworld stone tablet, is that right?" Looking at the game, Kaiba said with a gloomy face, "Returning souls to the underworld and all that is just nonsense, but I don't care about those things."

"The important thing is, are you trying to run away, Yugi? With a record that's even better than mine, you just want to escape to some so-called 'underworld' where no one can find you? Are you afraid of being surpassed by me, Yugi!"

Kaiba has always been a perfectionist in every aspect of his life, and in the world of Duel Monsters, his goal has always been to become the strongest, surpassing everyone else. This means that although Hayato is currently at the top of Duel Monsters, Kaiba must defeat everyone stronger than him to achieve his goal.

Otherwise, even if Kaiba defeats Hayato and becomes the Duel King, but fails to defeat Yugi, even if the general public considers Kaiba to be the strongest in the Duel Monsters world, Kaiba himself will not be satisfied and will still be determined to defeat Yugi.

If the game, or Atum, were to return to the underworld, Kaiba would never be able to achieve his goal, and that's what bothers him the most. It's not because of a card addiction, as Keipi said.

...At most, just a little bit, just that little bit (a gesture signifying the loss of the Korean market).

"Kaiba-kun..." Yugi said with a hint of helplessness upon hearing Kaiba's words, "...the other me—"

"I wasn't talking to you, Yugi Muto. From beginning to end, the only opponent I've ever seen is that other Yugi. Show him!" Kaiba glared fiercely at Yugi, still unable to accept the fact that "that other Yugi is the soul of Pharaoh Atem from three thousand years ago." He could clearly accept the premise that "Yugi Muto can switch to another personality during duels."

As he spoke, Kaiba stood up, walked to one end of the deck, turned around abruptly, and swiftly raised the Duel Disk, saying, "That idea of ​​running away... it seems you're no longer worthy of being my target. So, here I am, I'll defeat you, Yugi!"

"Now I have a better chance of winning. After defeating you, I will be one step closer to Kobayashi Hayato and become the person closest to him in your place!"

"Hmm...why do I get sick from eating Egyptian food, and even seasick...?"

Clutching his stomach, Malik, pale-faced from eating something bad at the food street, walked onto the deck. He happened to overhear Kaiba's words and paused, "Did I hear something shocking? Should I tell my sister and brother-in-law that they seem to be being watched by the contact list?"

Upon hearing Kaiba's words, Yugi, unsure of what to do, turned to Atem inside the Millennium Puzzle and asked, "The other me..."

'Kaiba, his acting is terrible! Aibo, you figured out what he was thinking too, didn't you?' Atem inside the Millennium Puzzle shook his head helplessly. 'He could have just said he wanted a duel, but he had to use this menacing look to challenge me.'

'Aibo......'

Although Atum hadn't finished speaking, the game, with its intuitive understanding, knew his thoughts, nodded, and silently thought: 'Well, then it's up to you, my other self...'

The Millennium Puzzle shone brightly, and in the blink of an eye, the game's atmosphere underwent a dramatic transformation, with Atum and the game switching places.

Meanwhile, inside the Millennium Puzzle, the game muttered to itself the second half of a sentence that Atem couldn't hear:

"Enjoy the duel to the fullest; that's the only way I can help you."

Chapter 907 No one can predict what cards they'll draw at the start, except for the Seahorse.

After glancing at the game with its drastically changed demeanor, the anger on Kaiba's face vanished, replaced by a hint of excitement, which quickly subsided.

He took a deep breath and shouted, "Game!"

"Kaiba!" In response, Atem also answered Kaiba's call, raising his Duel Disk and inserting his deck. The Duel Disk unfolded and connected with Kaiba's side.

Needless to say, all duelists need to do to communicate is use the cards in their hands.

"Duel!" x2

Seto Kaiba: 4000 LP, Hand: 5

Atum: 4000 LP, Hand: 5

Despite having a special pop-up mechanism to assist in drawing cards, Seahorse did not rush to seize the initiative, but instead allowed Atum to take the first turn.

"I get the first move, draw!" Atum drew a card from the top of his deck. Instead of looking at what card he had drawn, he said with a touch of nostalgia, "It's been a long time, Kaiba. It's been so long since we've had a duel like this, where we don't have to worry about the safety of the world or anything like that."

"Hmph, that's something only the victor has the right to say. Do you really think you can win like before?" Kaiba sneered. "I'm not like you. I will definitely win this duel!"

Hearing Kaiba's words, Atum smiled and said, "That won't do. Every duel I fight is one less I can have. I don't want to lose to you in these few duels. Let me keep my perfect record against you and let's end it here."

"I activate the effect of this Ritual Monster in my hand, [Chaos Illusionist]. You can activate this effect by showing this card in your hand to your opponent. Add one [Dark Magician] or any monster whose name is written on it, other than a Ritual Monster, from my Deck to my hand. After that, choose one card from your hand and return it to the top of your Deck."

Atem adds a card from his deck to his hand and places another card on top of his deck, deciding what card he can draw next. He then plays another card from his hand: "Activate the Spell Card [Fusion]! Using [Dark Magician] and [Dark Magician Girl] as Fusion Materials from my hand, I Fusion Summon this monster from my Fusion Deck!"