Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“Thanks to the Kaiba Group, the duelists in Domino City earn quite a good income. I can earn enough money on my own. They are all in school and doing very well. Moreover, because they have a duelist brother, they are not afraid of being bullied at school.” A smile appeared on Aruba’s face when he heard Hayato talk about his younger brother.

Meanwhile, Makoto Inuzuma, having recovered from his previous duel with Masked Light and Masked Darkness, stood up and looked at the two Masked Light and Masked Darkness who had been defeated by Hayato, remaining silent.

His older brother had obtained the complete mastery of Nen-ryu in his early years and also participated in Duel City. However, like Ginba, he was defeated by the later Duel King, Kobayashi Hayato. A few years later, after becoming the contemporary master of Nen-ryu, his older brother, Inozaki, still claimed that he was no match for Kobayashi Hayato and greatly admired him.

Inu-tsuma Makoto thought, "No matter how strong he is, how strong can he be?" Then he saw the two of them, Light and Dark Masks, who had completely crushed him and Alumina's combination, challenge Kobayashi Hayato alone, but were easily defeated. Even at the end of the duel, Kobayashi Hayato's base score was still 4000 points.

The gap is just too big, isn't it?

He looked at the two motionless figures, one in the Light Mask and the other in the Dark Mask, and asked, "Are they both dead?"

"How could that be? Do I look like the kind of person who commits evil deeds? There's no duelist more compassionate than me, okay?" Hayato glanced at Makoto Inuzuma, then bent down and grabbed the collars of both Light and Dark Masks, lifting an adult with each hand. "I was hoping to find out from these two what this so-called 'New Gurus' is."

“I remember Grous, right? It was an international criminal organization that operated in Domino City back in the Duel City era, wasn’t it? I heard they interfered with many duels and stole a lot of rare cards. They were a really despicable organization. Luckily, I was fortunate enough not to run into them back then.” Aruba, a veteran of Duel City, recalled what he had heard in the past. “But I also heard that Grous later inexplicably disbanded and disappeared without a trace. However, their leader, ‘Malik,’ still has a bounty on his head to this day.”

"Could it be that the guy named 'Malik' has returned, coming back here to take revenge on Domino City for destroying Grous and establishing a new Grous?" Makoto Inuzuma, who had never experienced Duel City, guessed based on the information given by Aluminum.

Hayato pursed his lips: "Unfortunately, from what I understand, Neo-Grus and Malik should have absolutely no connection. If it were him, things would have been mostly resolved long ago. But the current situation is that apart from the fact that this organization is called 'Neo-Grus,' there is no other information about it."

Hayato grabbed a rope and skillfully tied the two Masked Light and Masked Darkness together back to back, waiting for them to wake up.

Although the Dark Games are dangerous games that can take lives, and those who participate in the games are completely unable to resist the punishment unless they have special abilities, the specific punishment is determined by the initiator. Since Hayato wanted to extract information about "New Gurus" from the two Masks of Light and Darkness, the punishment he set was just a light soul shock. At most, it would knock the two unconscious and cause them to be mentally unstable afterward, but it would not kill them. Moreover, the two would wake up after a short while.

At that moment, Hayato noticed something heavy in the inner pocket of Dark Mask's robe. He reached inside and pulled out an iron card case and a small bag of rings. Upon closer inspection, Hayato immediately recognized that the rings on Dark Mask were the same style as those on Ryuga.

There's no mistake, the "New Gurus" where the Masked Light and Masked Darkness are located is definitely the online form of Dragon Fang. They even have the ability to mass-produce these special rings. But why don't they use these rings in their duels with themselves like Dragon Fang does?

Hayato opened the other card box out of curiosity and found several somewhat special Field Spell Cards inside. The card description area, card illustration, and card name were all blank, with only the Field Spell Card symbol marked in the type area.

Makoto Inuzuma and Akiba, standing nearby, immediately pointed out that the two Masks, Light and Darkness, had used this special Field Spell Card before their duel. By placing them in the Duel Disk's field area, they had completely blocked the surrounding signals, forcing them to duel with Light and Darkness. Moreover, seeing that even after Hayato finished his duel with them, no one else came nearby, it seemed they had successfully blocked the Kaiba Corporation's special surveillance covering the entire Domino City.

Hayato picked up the Duel Disk of Dark Mask again and opened the field area. He found that there was indeed an identical Field Spell Card inside. However, because his opponent had not used any Field Spell Cards during the entire duel, even he, a veteran at picking up Duel Disks, almost missed taking a card.

Although the two members of the Masked Light and Masked Darkness are still unconscious, Hayato has already deduced a lot of information from the mass-produced special rings and cards alone.

“Just the fact that Light and Dark Masks can carry so many rings and cards suggests they might be high-ranking members of Neo-Grus. This at least indicates that Neo-Grus's power is considerable, and they certainly have the capacity to produce a large number of cards.” Hayato placed a blank card on his duel disk, noticing the disk successfully recognizing it, and added, “And it can even recognize cards it’s created?”

“This isn’t just about the Kaiba Corporation’s Duel Disk being hacked; it also involves the International Illusion Society.” Hayato stroked his chin and frowned. “It seems we also need to notify Pegasus.”

"However, if Longya is a subordinate developed by their New Gurus, how exactly did they collect the cards Longya obtained through gambling in the academy?"

Thinking this, the system, which had finally finished calculating after a long time, popped up a message for Hayato. Hayato was initially dismissive when he saw that a card had dropped; after all, with Light and Dark Mask's skill level, what good cards could they possibly drop? But after seeing what the dropped card was, even he was quite surprised—

"Tsk, what a troublesome mission. I thought it would just be infiltrating Duel Academy Island and handing over some goods." Meanwhile, on Duel Academy Island, a burly man hid in the dense forest on the undeveloped side of the island, muttering to himself in annoyance, "The guy I was supposed to meet hasn't shown up yet. Could it be that he's been exposed and captured by Duel Academy?"

A young man's voice came through the burly man's earpiece: "So you're making excuses? Your reputation in the underworld is that you can complete any job 100% no matter what happens. That's why I hired you, who costs almost half as much as other mercenaries."

"Heh, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't ruin my own reputation." The burly man pulled down his hat and said in a deep voice, "Even if the contact person gets arrested, it doesn't matter. I'll find him and complete the handover. What I mean is, you have to pay extra for these kinds of commissions that have changed."

“No problem, then I look forward to your next call reporting that the mission is complete, Mr. Titan, the Dark Duelist.”

The call in the headset was disconnected, and Titan, wearing a black trench coat, revealed a disdainful expression: "Tsk, he's really arrogant. He transferred the call four or five times in the middle of making a simple phone call, and he's acting all mysterious about his identity."

"Moreover, they even managed to arrange a way and means of transportation for me to get to Duel Academy Island. They seem to have an extraordinary background. Maybe I'm even involved in a power struggle between some big shots."

"However, it has nothing to do with me, a mercenary who only cares about doing things and getting paid. So let's start the investigation now, starting with the students in this academy who are the easiest to deal with." Sitting on the ground, Titan operated his portable laptop, brought up the Duel Academy's official forum, and started browsing the posts.

"The Seven Strange Legends of the Academy? Maybe there are clues in them."

Titan opened the post and flipped through a few pages before decisively closing it. "Strange noises coming from an empty principal's office, unfamiliar boys whose names change at any time, ruins in the back mountains leading to another world, an ordinary office worker with a hand fetish, savages in the back mountains who are even better at drawing cards than the students in the Blue Dormitory, a disease that has infected at least two people and can talk to thin air, and a squinty-eyed alchemist conducting evil experiments? Do students these days like to believe in this kind of nonsense?"

"The monsters of the Red Dormitory landed at the port, and the unspeakable lucky dog ​​approached the convenience store? I hate people who give others random nicknames."

"Professor Chronos looks like [Pot of Greed]? Pfft! He really does look like him, wow. Hmm? Why was it deleted?"

"The 'Duel Academy Flower Contest'? How come the first place is an old lady? Has someone opened this contest? Is the management biased?"

"There's absolutely no clue! How come students these days have so little free time? They have way too little homework!"

Titan was about to close the boring post he had just seen when he noticed the girl behind the one with the most votes. An idea popped into his head: "Randomly asking around will alert the enemy and attract unnecessary attention. However, if I find an easily controlled and popular student to hold hostage to threaten the students in the school, they will definitely not dare to risk telling the teacher. They will just obediently act according to my requirements."

"In that case, we might be able to find out where that guy called 'Dragon Fang' was taken."

"This girl named Tenjouin seems like a perfect candidate for kidnapping."

Chapter 1093 The Grave Robbers' Guild

The International Illusion Society: Once upon a time, Pegasus possessed the Millennium Eye, which allowed him to maintain near 100% control over it until after the Duel Kingdom.

After Hayato and Yugi each acquired 30% of the shares, Pegasus still held 40% of the shares, remaining the largest shareholder of Illusion International and continuing to serve as the president and chief card designer of Illusion International.

However, Doma's actions led to Pegasus's soul being sealed, resulting in Pegasus being declared "dead." After his shares entered the market, nearly half of them were intercepted by Doma and transferred to Hayato by Dartz, who acted like a sycophant. Even though Pegasus was later "resurrected," he only managed to reclaim the shares that had been scattered in the market.

At this point, Hayato became the largest shareholder of International Illusion with 50% of the shares, followed by Yugi with 30%, and then Pegasus with 20%. However, neither Hayato nor Yugi wanted to be the president, so Pegasus continued to serve as the president.

Although Pegasus was indeed very hardworking when he was young, coming from an ordinary family and starting his business with only $30,000 from his family, he relied on his talent and hard work to develop International Illusion into one of the world's largest companies. However, people always change. Over the years, Pegasus has long since become a complete lazybones, with only thinking about slacking off every day.

So, a few years ago, not long after Hayato became the principal of Duel Academy, he began to gradually transfer his power to people he could trust and rely on, intending to slack off in the position of president for a few more years before quitting, even though his daily life was not much different from retirement.

For Pegasus, who was unmarried and childless, the most trustworthy person among his subordinates was—

"Hayato-san, I'm here." Tenma Tsukiyuki saw Hayato sitting on a park bench from a distance and waved as he ran toward him.

"Hello, Daigo," Hayato said, putting down his phone and looking at Tenma Gekiyo. "Also, even though there's not much of a person here, could you please keep your voice down a bit, or I'll get spotted?"

Not long ago, Hayato called the International Illusion Society, intending to inform Pegasus about the unauthorized mass production of Duel Monsters cards and also to inquire if he knew any related information. However, the person who received Hayato's call was not Pegasus, but Tenma Gekiyuki, who, as the president's assistant, had long been acting as president in Pegasus's stead, allowing Pegasus to freely create and seek inspiration—in other words, to slack off.

Tenma Tsukiyuki told Hayato that Pegasus was still "working hard" in his castle recently, and that the affairs of the International Illusion Society had been handed over to him, just like before. He had only just learned from Hayato about the mass production of Duel Monsters cards and did not know any other information, but he would begin to use the influence of the International Illusion Society to launch an investigation.

Fortunately, he is currently conducting research in Domino City and can come quickly to find Hayato and work with him to search for clues to resolve this matter as soon as possible.

With the defeat of [Tragodia] who controlled Pegasus Night Walk, Pegasus and Pegasus Moon Walk's memories, which had been manipulated and altered by Pegasus earlier, were also restored. As a result, Pegasus Moon Walk regained his dueling ability that had been suppressed, and became the "perfect duelist" that Pegasus had praised when he was a child.

No one knows exactly how many people or how powerful the so-called "New Gurus" is, but the more people who can help, the better. After all, even Hayato might be held back and let go of someone he shouldn't have if he's not careful. Having an assistant would at least prevent Hayato from being held back by grunts.

Moreover, they couldn't be weaklings like Aruba and Makoto Inozuma. Although the two of them were very angry about being bullied by the "New Gurus" and wanted to help Hayato, Hayato decisively refused them. It wasn't a problem that his teammates were weak; what Hayato was afraid of was that the two weaklings might not even be able to defeat the grunts and end up as hostages in the hands of the enemy, dragging him down.

Unfortunately, Hayato couldn't find anyone to help him in Domino City for the time being. Yugi was working at the International Illusion Company, and Jonouchi and Mai Kujaku had chosen to take a year off to travel the world instead of participating in this year's Pro Duelist World Championship. The number of people in Domino City with decent strength could be counted on one hand.

"Everyone's busy, it's good to be busy." Before finding the Mask of Light and Darkness, Hayato also visited Grandpa Sugoroku at the Kameji Card Shop. After talking about how business hadn't been going well lately, the lonely old man Sugoroku sighed and said so lonely. Then, Yugi's mom immediately complained, "Don't act like we're all gone and no one's keeping you company."

Although Malik and Rishid were related to Gurus, they were not suitable to participate in the investigation. Kaiba had gone back to the lab and was causing trouble again, and no one knew when he would come out. Therefore, Hayato had no choice but to accept the help offered by Tenma Tsukiko and waited for his arrival in this secluded park in Domino City.

Without much formality, since they had awaited the arrival of Tenma Gekko, Hayato immediately set off with him, leaving the park and heading towards their predetermined destination.

Having awakened from the Dark Game, the two Masked Light and Masked Darkness, who once again experienced the fear of being dominated by Malik, naturally answered all of Hayato's questions without reservation. After all, neither of them were particularly loyal, and Hayato had specifically stated that he would let go of whoever provided the most useful information.

The Mask of Light, who had been betrayed by the Mask of Darkness once in the duel, was exceptionally enthusiastic. He recounted in great detail everything he had done from leaving Grus to joining New Grus, and then to being defeated by Hayato. He even told us when he ate what.

What Hayato didn't expect was that even the two of them, Light and Dark Masks, weren't considered high-ranking members of "New Gurus." Although they had been in contact with the leader of "New Gurus," they had never seen his true face and could only guess that he was probably a man who wasn't too old.

They knew nothing about the origins of the rings and cards, only that the rings were used to recruit new members and the cards were very useful. Even their attack on the psychic training institution was merely an act of following orders from above, with the sole purpose of seizing the rare card, "Homunculus - Psychic Shocker."

Since he wasn't acting out of personal desire but rather for a mission within the organization, Hayato naturally deduced that after the success of the Light and Dark Mask, there would inevitably be a way to hand over the spoils to his superiors. Perhaps it would be through a special contact method, or a handover at a specific time and place. In short, there would definitely be a way to hand over the cards, thus providing clues to continue the investigation.

The Mask of Light and Darkness naturally revealed the location where they would hand over the cards to Hayato. Before reaching the destination, Hayato and Tsukiyuki Tenma stopped to check the situation and did not immediately step forward.

The reason is simple: the location of the delivery point revealed by the Mask of Light and Darkness is a Duel Monsters card shop. At this moment, the shop is not so much booming as it is bustling with people, young and old, who are interested in Duel Monsters and are buying cards there.

"Could this be the hideout of 'New Gurus' that you mentioned, Mr. Hayato?" Tenma Tsukiyuki said with some curiosity. "No matter how you look at it, this shop seems to be a legitimate Duel Monsters card shop. Look there, there's even a business license issued by the International Illusion Company hanging up there."

"This shop seems normal enough, but I have a feeling I've been here before..." Hayato thought for a moment, then suddenly connected the keywords "Grus" and "card shop," remembering when he had been here before. "Isn't this the shop that sells fake cards!"

Before the start of Duel City, based on Hayato's information that "Grus has appeared in Domino City," Kaima tagged Hayato, and the two of them carried out a large-scale Grus hunt in Domino City, eliminating many Grus-run forces and hideouts. One of these hideouts was right in front of the shop in front of them.

The reason why this place left such a deep impression is mainly because Hayato not only defeated Pandora, who also used the [Dark Magician] card to fight Atem in the original work, but also because Kaiba's opponent actually used a pirated version of [Blue-Eyes White Dragon], the "Blue-Eyes White Dragon".

The question is, why wasn't this shop demolished, but instead continues to operate here? With this question in mind, Hayato immediately walked into the shop to find out, and Tenma Tsukiyuki quickly followed.

It has to be said that the interior decoration of this store is much better than that of Kameji Card House. Many card packs of Duel Monsters released since then are neatly arranged on the counter for customers to choose from, while rare cards that have been opened and then repurchased in the store are displayed on the shelves, arranged in an orderly manner according to card type, race, etc. It's like a card museum.

Hayato also recalled what his grandfather, Sugoroku, had said about how business hadn't been good lately, which was understandable. After all, no matter how you looked at it, this shop was much more pleasant to buy cards from, and Kameji Card Shop was ultimately lacking in that respect.

Moreover, unlike the Kameji Card Shop which only has Grandpa Sugoroku, this Duel Monsters shop called "Black Scorpion Cards" has a full four employees: a big guy who keeps bringing boxes of cards from the back warehouse into the shop after they're sold out; a small guy who nimbly sorts and puts the cards away; a bespectacled man who skillfully uses a computer to calculate prices and revenue; and the shop manager who, despite being a scary one-eyed man, is surprisingly gentle in serving children.

In addition, there was a pretty young girl in a uniform outside the store soliciting customers. With five people working together, it's no wonder that their business is better than that of Gui Kee Card House.

However, although Tenma Tsukiyuki pointed out that the store was certified by the International Illusion Society, Hayato was not very reassured. After all, the store's predecessor had also been certified by the Kaiba Group at the time, and wasn't it still openly selling pirated cards? After randomly picking out a pack of cards, Hayato paid at the bespectacled man at the front desk and immediately opened the cards to verify whether they were fake.

Unexpectedly, although the cards Hayato randomly opened weren't anything special—just three [Pot of Greed] and two [Angel's Charity]—they were undoubtedly genuine. Hayato had already verified with the system shop whether they could be recycled. If they could even fool the system shop, then even fake cards were equivalent to real cards.

Not only the cards in the card holder, Hayato also tried to collect the cards displayed on the shelf, and without exception, they were all genuine cards. In other words, this store seems to be just a legal and compliant normal card store.

"This store seems to be just a legitimate and compliant card game store?"

Tenma Tsukiyuki expressed the same thoughts as Hayato. Although he didn't have a cheat item like the system shop to identify the authenticity of cards like Hayato, as the assistant to the president of the International Illusion Society, he had been exposed to Duel Monsters cards quite a bit and had a skillful ability to identify the authenticity. "Although the store is doing business too well, it should just be because the decoration and service here are very good, right? There's nothing unusual."

“No, quite the opposite, that’s the biggest anomaly, Tsukiko.” Hayato suddenly thought of something and said, “This shop does have a wide variety of prices and cards, and the service is excellent, but that’s not enough to achieve this level of popularity. It needs at least one major advantage that sets it apart from other card shops.”

"For example, the biggest advantage of Kameji Card Shop is not anything else but its 'reputation'. It has a reputation that even the Duel King goes there to buy cards. However, this shop was not famous until I left Domino City not long ago. It is impossible to cultivate such a 'reputation' in such a short time. It must have a huge advantage that we have not noticed."

As they were talking, a big man carrying a box walked up to the one-eyed shopkeeper wearing an eye patch and whispered something to him. The one-eyed shopkeeper nodded and walked to the cashier, taking two microphones from the man with glasses.

"Friends, I am Zarug, the manager of Black Scorpion Card Shop. Whether you are visiting Black Scorpion Card Shop for the first time or are regular customers, welcome to our shop. Meeting your needs is the greatest happiness for the staff."

"And now, the long-awaited special offer on rare cards has arrived again. Our clerk, Gao Ge, is carrying the rare cards that will be sold at a special price. Everyone can buy at least one. Please line up in an orderly manner at Mr. Cliff's counter to purchase."

A burly man named Gao Ge placed the box on the counter. Cliff, the bespectacled man, pulled out a dagger and, with a flourish, cut open the box's seal. Inside, the box was filled with a large number of cards, all of which appeared to be of high rarity!

"They're all rare cards!?" Tenma Tsukiyuki said in surprise. Hayato carefully examined the five shop assistants standing together, and his lips twitched. He suddenly realized where the strange sense of familiarity he felt when he saw them came from.

[Black Scorpion - Cliff the Trap Dismantles] is working as a cashier, [Black Scorpion - Zeke the Escapee] and [Black Scorpion - Gogo the Powerful] are arranging cards and carrying cards respectively, [Black Scorpion - Mina the Thorns] is soliciting business, and isn't that shop manager [Leader - Zarug]?

"Black Scorpion Cards"?

This is clearly the Black Scorpion Burglary Gang!

The fact that the card sales point of Gurus, which should have been shut down, has reopened and even seems to have become the territory of "New Gurus" was already quite unexpected for Hayato. What he didn't expect was that the "people" running this place were actually the same group of card spirits from the "Black Scorpion Burglary Gang" that appeared in the original anime.

They are among the few Duel Monsters who can materialize on their own, just like the Dark Magician Girls who also appeared in the original anime. In fact, if it weren't for Kagemaru needing them to expose their identities and start their operation, the members of the Black Scorpion Raiding Gang could have continued to materialize and infiltrate the Duel Academy as humans for a long time, leaving a very deep impression on Hayato.

However, Hayato remembered that they should have become members of the "Seven Stars" organization founded by Kagemaru, so why were they involved with "New Gurus" here?

Chapter 1094 Hayato Kobayashi, you tricked me!

Although he confirmed that all the cards sold in the store were genuine and there were no counterfeit cards, Hayato did not let go of his suspicions about "Black Scorpion Cards".

The testimony of the Mask of Light and Darkness, the past events surrounding the location of the card shop, and the five shop employees who were suspected to be from the "Black Scorpion Burglary Gang" only strengthened Hayato's belief that something was amiss at the shop.

You think you can lower Hayato's guard with just a few appearances? You're seriously underestimating him; it's an insult to him!

"Thank you so much for your patronage." The beautiful shop assistant smiled gently, and after confirming that she had received the digital currency transferred by Hayato, she handed him a card.

"Hayato-san, what are you doing, Hayato-san!" Tenma Tsukiyuki whispered in Hayato's ear, "Why did you join the queue too?"