Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

“I’m not so low as to need to take things that other people have used,” Kaiba said without turning his head. Hayato felt that the guy was implying something. “Consider it as me repaying the favor I owed last time. These things are enough to settle the debt.”

"Get excited for the upcoming grand event, Hayato, Yugi!"

The seahorse walked out of the exhibition hall, but its parting words left Yugi somewhat puzzled. He asked Isis, "Miss Isis, do you know what the seahorse meant?"

“Yes, that was a deal between President Kaiba and me, and one of the reasons he was willing to come here.” Isis nodded. “The Gurus organization is an international card theft organization. In order to lure out the leader of the organization, Malik, and in the meantime, wipe out all the people of Gurus, the Kaiba Group will be holding a super-large Duel Monster tournament next month.”

"Although it hasn't been officially announced yet, quite a few people have already heard rumors about it and are heading towards Domino City. The code name for that competition is tentatively set as 'Duel City'."

“I think Kaiba should pay Pegasus some royalties.” Hayato patted the Duel Disk in his hand. “With this in mind, the so-called ‘Duel City’ becomes quite easy to understand, doesn’t it?”

"Just like 'Duel Kingdom,' the entire island will become a battleground for Duel Monsters, complete with Duel Disks for duels at any time, turning the whole island into a city-like battlefield. And maybe Kaiba will also create some kind of qualification token, like Pegasus created the Star Chips in Duel Kingdom, and let the top eight players compete for the championship in a place similar to 'Duel Castle.'"

Hayato's explanation was so detailed that it made the game player wonder if Hayato already knew some inside information.

"But don't think about it too much for now. No matter what kind of competition it is, just keep winning, right?" Hayato chuckled and patted Yugi on the shoulder as he strolled around the exhibition hall. He then walked up to the mummy that had been on his mind for a while.

It seems that because the exhibition hall was only recently completed, although most of the exhibits have been displayed, the accompanying text descriptions for each exhibit are not yet complete, and the mummy in front of Hayato is one of them. However, even without text descriptions, Hayato has Isis, his "guide," by his side.

“Hayato, you seem quite interested in this mummy? I noticed you’ve been looking this way.” Isis asked as she walked over to Hayato.

Hayato nodded. "I don't know why, but this mummy looks strangely familiar." Compared to the other mummies Hayato had seen before, this mummy was taller, and the coffin looked more ornate. "Could this also be a pharaoh's mummy?"

"Yes, this mummy belongs to one of the most famous of all the pharaohs of Egypt. His name is Ramses II, or Meriamun. However, he is more commonly referred to as Ozymandias now."

"That sausage? Achoo! Who's talking about me behind my back?" Hayato suddenly sneezed.

Chapter 221 This city will be transformed into a battlefield!

A month later.

"As per your request, Hayato-kun, the new Duel Disk is ready. Here it is." Keihei bent down, took a Duel Disk from the shelf next to the control panel, and placed it in front of Hayato. "Although it has a bunch of random functions, they're all very simple. I managed to set it up by myself, hmph!"

"With this, I can defeat any Sun Monster. Thank you, Taro."

"How come I'm not even human this time?!" Keihei complained, but judging from his expression, he seemed to be used to Hayato's jokes. "Speaking of which, Hayato-kun, why did you think of adding those weird functions to the Duel Disk?"

"What's so strange about the BGM feature when the Life Points drop below 1000? It would be strange if the Duel Disk didn't have this feature. To be honest, I actually had Seth record a few lines in there, but that guy absolutely refused."

Hayato put on the Duel Disk that Keihei had brought out. The weight had been rebalanced, so despite being such a large metal "arm blade," it didn't feel heavy on his hand. It also had the added functions of automatically shuffling the deck and automatically popping cards from the deck and graveyard.

However, according to Keihei, this automation function has just been completed and has not been debugged, which is why it was not added to Hayato's Duel Disk.

"It's really rare that my brother could hold back from hitting you, Hayato-nii," Keihei remarked, continuing to work at the control panel in front of him. The data on the screen fluctuated wildly, making it dizzying to read. Hayato stared at it for a long time but still couldn't understand what it meant.

However, not understanding the meaning did not prevent Hayato from comprehending what this data was. After walking a few steps past the control panel where Keihei was, Hayato saw Seto Kaiba fighting a robot in an open space below.

Hayato's visit to Kaiba Corporation was twofold: to retrieve the Duel Disk that Keihei had modified, and also to discuss many rules regarding Duel City with Kaiba. The most crucial of these was the rule that "Fusion Monsters can attack on the first turn of their summon."

Kaiba initially thought that his powerful Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon would limit him, but Hayato taught him a lesson with Heart Change—blindly summoning a powerful but unusable monster is no different from giving it away for free.

"Seth really loves playing against bots." It seems that from this point on, Kaiba officially embarked on the path of becoming a bot king: "I'm meek and submissive when playing video games, but I'm ruthless when playing against bots."

Guiping didn't catch the other meaning in Hayato's words and thought that Hayato was praising the Kaiba Corporation's dueling robot. He said with some pride, "Hmph, I have recorded all the dueling videos that have been circulating so far into that dueling machine. The dueling data of famous duelists have been collected and studied by that machine."

"Thieves, fishermen, kings of the sea, insects, dinosaurs, electrons, even data on Pegasus, Yugi Muto, and Hayato-san have all been collected." Keihei proudly raised his head. "In other words, the program for the dueling robot I designed is a collection of all duelists in the world."

"only......"

As he spoke, Keihei hesitated and looked at Kaiba standing in front of the Duel Robot: "My brother said he wanted to 'test the limits of God's power,' so he gave the robot his three Blue-Eyes cards and his deck, while he himself was using a weak deck."

On one hand, Keihei is quite confident in the Duel Robots program he helped design, believing it to be invincible in the Duel Monsters game; on the other hand, as the younger brother, Keihei does not want to see his older brother, Kaiba, suffer a crushing defeat.

“Duel Monsters can’t be simply summarized by data. Even if you calculate the order of the deck, the cards used, and the duelist’s tactics, the bond between the duelist and the Duel Monsters is the only thing that cannot be quantified,” Hayato comforted Keihei. “Moreover, even if you use a weak deck, the power of the gods will not be limited.”

Guiping's worry did not diminish at all, because he discovered that the Duel Robot opposite Kaiba had summoned two Blue-Eyes White Dragons on the field in one go with the powerful combo of Dragon Ruler and Dragon Summoning Flute. Combined with the one that had already been summoned, the Duel Robot now had a total of three Blue-Eyes White Dragons on the field!

Meanwhile, on Kaiba's field, there were only five Wall Monsters, none of which had an attack power of over 2000. And the attacks of three Blue-Eyes monsters were about to come!

In a critical moment, Kaiba activated his only face-down card in his back row: "Trap Card activated, [Attack Nullification]! Negate the attack of [Blue-Eyes] and end your Battle Phase!"

"Face down, one card. Turn, end." The attack was deflected, and after judging the situation, the Duel Robot face down a card to end the turn.

However, despite escaping death, Kaiba's crisis was far from over. His recently activated "Attack Nullification" was his last face-down card. Although he still had "Offering to the Dead" in his hand, it was completely ineffective against "Blue-Eyes" due to the presence of "Dragon Ruler".

In that case, all hope will be pinned on the next card.

"My turn! A card draw with everything on the line!" Kaiba suddenly pulled a card from his deck. The unique blue border made him pause for a moment, then he burst into laughter. "Hahahaha, I've been waiting for you! [Obelisk]!"

"I offer my three-body monster as a sacrifice to the gods! Tremble, wail, fear, despair!" He slammed the [Obelisk] card onto his Duel Disk, and behind Kaiba, a colossal creature that didn't resemble a Duel Monster at all stood on the earth. "Descent! With scorching winds, I will sweep across the land, turning everything to corpses!"

"【Obelisk the Titan】!"

【Obelisk the Colossus】【10☆/God】

[Phantom Beast Race/Effect]

[4000/4000]

"Clang, clang clang, clang clang clang clang, clang clang, clang clang..." As the [Giant God Soldier] descended, a burst of exciting music suddenly rang out in the duel arena, and Kaiba couldn't help but turn his head to look at Hayato above.

"A god's first battle cannot be uneventful; the melody composed for the god has already begun." Hayato looked at the Divine Warrior, the Black Feet, and the Giant God Warrior behind Kaiba, and released his hand from the side of the music player. "God who surpasses Duel Monsters, return to the world and show your divine power to all!"

"Those are my lines!" Kaiba interrupted Hayato. If he kept talking, the guy might even come up with names for his attacks.

At this moment, Duel Robot activated its face-down card: "Face-down card activated, [Instant Fusion]. The [Blue-Eyes White Dragon], [Blue-Eyes White Dragon], and [Blue-Eyes White Dragon] on the field fuse to summon [Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon].

Faced with Obelisk with an attack power of 4000, Duel Robots immediately made a decision, sending the three Blue-Eyes on the field to the graveyard and summoning Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon with an attack power 500 points higher than that of a god.

"The Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, which sits at the pinnacle of Duel Monsters, is something even the gods cannot surpass?" Keihei looked at the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon that appeared opposite Kaiba with some concern.

"Muda muda muda, don't use the mindset of Duel Monsters to imagine the power of Obelisk! This isn't a monster, it's a god!" Kaiba pointed at Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, "Blue-Eyes, even you, if you stand in my way, are destined for defeat!"

The Colossus grasped a Death Stalker and an Earth Swordsman in its two hands, and without any apparent effort, the two monsters were crushed into dust and then absorbed into the Colossus's body.

A dazzling white ball of light appeared on the Colossus's fist, which he slammed into the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon before him.

"Obelisk's effect activates. I sacrifice two monsters on my field to unleash the true power of [Giant Warrior], increasing its ATK to infinity!"

"Divine Fist Shattering - Shockwave!"

With a single, devastating blow, the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, once hailed by Kaiba as "tough! invincible! the strongest!", was annihilated by Obelisk the Tormentor, whose attack power had skyrocketed to infinity. The overflowing damage even exceeded the limits that the Duel Disk could simulate. The Duel Robot opposite Kaiba exploded with a "boom," and black smoke billowed from the control panel connected to it.

Admiring the destruction caused by the "God of Destruction," Kaiba watched as Obelisk gradually became transparent and disappeared. His face appeared expressionless, but his heart was filled with excitement: 'This is the power that truly deserves the title of god!'

'I now fully understand the power of Obelisk. Await my return, Yugi!'

"Congratulations, Seth. It seems you're quite satisfied with the power of [God]." Hayato clapped his hands as he watched Kaiba return to the control room.

Kaiba glanced at Hayato: "Hmph, Mada Mada. There are two more gods with such power. In order to become the strongest without any flaws, no matter who stands in my way, I will get those two cards. Even you, Kobayashi Hayato, are no exception. If you want to taste the pain of defeat again, then come and stop me."

"You make it sound like I lost back then. It was clearly you, you bastard, who ran away halfway through," Hayato said disdainfully, standing up and walking outside with Kaiba. This was the top floor of the Kaiba Corporation headquarters building, the tallest building in Domino City. From here, one could easily take in the entire scenery of Domino City.

On the rooftop helipad, a helicopter was already ready.

A few minutes later, Hayato and Kaiba arrived in a helicopter above a bustling shopping street in Domino City. The large screens that had been displaying advertisements on either side of the street now simultaneously projected Kaiba's face.

"One week from now, the Kaiba Corporation will be holding a Duel Monsters tournament in this city!" Kaiba stood in front of the helicopter, looking down at the duelists gathered on the ground based on the information that had been leaked in advance. He immediately spotted Yugi, who had a conspicuous starfish head.

'Hmph, so you've come too, game. Our feud will be settled in this tournament!'

With one hand pointing to the sky, Kaiba's booming voice couldn't be drowned out even by the helicopter's rotor blades: "The stage for the battle is the entire Domino City!"

"Starting next week, this city will be transformed into a battlefield!"

Chapter 222 Breaking into the Thieves' Den

Hayato couldn't help but laugh as he watched the seahorse carefully crawl back into the helicopter. While it looked cool to grab the helicopter with one hand, the way he climbed back after showing off was quite pathetic.

Under the watchful eyes of countless duelists drawn by the pre-released information, the helicopter carried Kaiba and Hayato, who had finished their show-off act, away. Inside the helicopter, Kaiba chewed on a throat lozenge, obediently put on the headset used for communication, and said to Hayato, "I'm curious, where did you get this intelligence? I've been trying to find accurate information directly from within the group, but I haven't been able to get any."

Hayato remained silent, gesturing with both hands at his neck, which earned him a disdainful glare from Kaiba: "Hmph, all pretense. Fine, you don't want to tell me how you gather information, but this 'predicting the future' excuse is just treating me like an idiot!"

With a cold snort, Kaiba turned his head to look out the window, ignoring Hayato's helpless shrug.

He wasn't lying about this; the information about the person they were going to find next was indeed from Isis.

Kaiba was furious when he was attacked by Gurus's men at the Egyptian antiquities exhibition and learned that someone within his Kaiba Group had dared to abuse their power for personal gain by leaking experimental dueling disks that should have been destroyed to the outside world and trading them with Gurus's gang.

He thoroughly reorganized the Haima Group from top to bottom, but what angered him was that he couldn't find a single flaw in the Haima Group during his investigation. Not to mention traitors and corporate spies, he couldn't even find a single person who had used their position to line their own pockets.

Is that even possible? Haima Group isn't some charitable organization; its predecessor was a highly profitable arms syndicate, and all its employees are supposedly incredibly honest? Haima isn't some three-year-old child who's so easily fooled.

Therefore, there's only one answer. Even if the five key figures who outwardly supported the entire Haima Group's personnel network were eliminated, the Haima Group is no longer a one-man show by Seto Kaiba; the employees under his command each have their own agendas. To put it even worse—the Haima Group has long been subtly and gradually infiltrated by some force!

Kaiba enjoys playing cards and violently defeating others, but he dislikes having his things taken away. Just then, Hayato found him and told him that he knew of some spies within the Kaiba Group, not all of them, but at least who worked for Gurus.

The helicopter hovered somewhere. Kaiba, carrying nothing but his specially reinforced Duel Disk, leaped from a height of about six or seven meters, landing in a superhero-like fashion. Behind him, Hayato descended steadily down the lowered rope ladder.

"Hey, doesn't your knee hurt? Okay, it's nothing." Seeing Kaiba smoothly transition from a squatting to a standing position without pausing his steps, Hayato understood the answer to his question. After all, he's Kaiba, isn't he? Not to mention jumping out of airplanes, he can even cut steel wires by throwing cards with his bare hands. He's known as Kaiba, the Mighty Giant Seto.

"Are those people you mentioned staying in this place?" Looking at the card shop in front of him, Haima frowned. Although the shop was closed, the sign on the door indicated that it was a professional card shop certified by the Haima Group.

According to the rules of the upcoming "Duel City," two conditions must be met to participate in this grand event of the Duel Monsters world. First, a deck must contain at least 40 cards, including rare cards, to filter out those without powerful cards and prevent them from taking advantage of the situation.

Secondly, there are Duel Disks issued by the Kaiba Corporation. Only duelists with a certain level in the Kaiba Corporation's database are eligible to obtain Duel Disks. The duelist levels are divided into 12 levels by Kaiba, based on the levels of Duel Monsters. Duelists with a level of 8 or higher can obtain Duel Disks for free, duelists with a level of 6 or higher can purchase them at a discounted price, and duelists with a level of 4 or higher need to pay the full amount.

As for duelists below Rank 4? Kaiba rated them as weaklings, not even qualified to obtain a Duel Disk. Incidentally, Jonouchi was specifically marked as Rank 1 by Kaiba, with a unique rank title of "Ordinary." Kaiba, who would have thought, actually has quite a wicked sense of humor.

Of course, Duel Disks can't be bought just anywhere. You need to prove your Duelist Rank at a professional card shop specially certified by the Kaiba Group to buy them. There are only ten such card shops in the entire Domino City, and each shop has undergone a very detailed investigation before certification.

Unfortunately, Kameki Game Shop, owned by Sugoroku, was not among the ten, and even Otogi's Black Crown Game Shop was not selected because it sold too many different kinds of games.

“Based on the information I’ve gathered, the others are just suspects, but there’s a 1000% chance that the shop owner is a member of the Gurus organization.” Hayato looked at the sign of the card shop in front of him.

"RPG Hobby" & "Trading Card" refers to an RPG enthusiasts' club and a card trading center. Compared to the whimsical Turtle Game House and the welcoming Black Crown Game Shop, this card shop is clearly much more profit-driven.

Instead of foolishly hawking his wares, Hayato pushed open the door of the card shop and entered. Inside, he found the shelves filled with all sorts of beautifully packaged cards, including many rare and valuable ones like the [Dragon Slayer Sword] and the [Black Panther Warrior].

"The cards are just sitting there like this, and nobody's watching them?" Kaiba frowned in confusion and picked up a [Sapphire Dragon] from the shelf next to him. This Level 4 Dragon monster has a top-tier 1900 ATK among low-level monsters, and even someone as picky as Kaiba wouldn't mind having this monster in his deck.

But on the shelf, he actually saw more than ten [Sapphire Dragon] items.

"Did they rob some rare card collector from this store? How can they have so many such rare cards?"

Hayato glanced at the [Sapphire Dragon] card in Kaiba's hand, took it, and gave a cold smile. To Kaiba's astonishment, he tore the card, packaging and all, apart!

"What are you doing?" Kaiba remembered that after he tore up that old guy Muto Sugoroku's [Blue Eyes] card, Yugi and Hayato were both quite angry. But Hayato, who had been brainwashing him that "cards have spiritual power," actually tore up the card on his own initiative.

“Rare cards are appearing in droves, and the owner of this card shop can’t be someone who doesn’t know their stuff. They just put these cards in the most vulnerable entrance and exit area. Isn’t the answer obvious, Set?” Hayato coldly pointed to the pile of [Sapphire Dragon] cards that Kaiba had been observing. “These are just fake cards.”

"These [Sapphire Dragon] cards are actually fake?" Kaiba's tone was somewhat angry, but to his surprise, Hayato shook his head.

Hayato glanced around, then clenched his fist: "All the cards here are fake. Don't doubt it, I just have a unique way of identifying fakes."