Is this the world of card dealers? Yada thieves!

Ameruda dried the plate and put it back in the storage box, completely ignoring Keith's words.

Then--

Six days later, at dawn, somewhere on the island.

"Ah, I see the villa!" Jaden, who had climbed up a tall tree and was standing on a branch, looked into the distance and, after spotting a villa not far away, looked down and excitedly said to the others below, "It looks like we're almost at the finish line!"

"Huh? We're almost there?" Marufuji Sho looked bewildered, as if he were still stuck on the day he arrived on the island and hadn't experienced the past few days. "Isn't it too fast? It feels like these past few days have been skipped over."

"It feels like being deleted by the Crimson King, right? I understand, I understand. Happy times are always so short." Jaden rappelled back to the ground while hugging the tree trunk. His hands were slightly smoking from the rapid friction, but he seemed completely oblivious. He casually clapped his hands and walked towards the others. "I also feel like time on the island went by very quickly."

"No, it wasn't a happy time at all. It felt like the kind of storyteller who didn't want to describe the meaningless, wasted time in detail and chose to skip over the process with a 'nothing to say' or 'time flies' style. It's like how Manjoume always 'Skip's plot when he's playing games."

After a pause, Marufuji Sho added, "Moreover, it's like they crammed everything into the time when we first arrived on the island. We encountered so many things on the first day, but these past few days have been a bit too uneventful. It's either fighting passing monsters, dueling with the guards at the supply depot, or eating, resting, and traveling."

Hearing Marufuji Sho say that, Jaden nodded in agreement: "That's true. When I heard Mr. Keith say 'we'll win,' I thought we were going to encounter some dangerous plot where he would have to sacrifice himself to show that he's a reliable adult."

"So you're unhappy that I didn't get into any trouble, kid?" Keith, leaning against a tree behind Jaden and the others, said irritably. "It's a good thing that we arrived here safely without encountering any danger or just a few minor troubles. Why do you guys have to run into some trouble to be happy?"

“That’s not what I meant, Mr. Keith,” Jaden quickly waved his hand to explain. “It’s just that’s how it’s always portrayed on TV, isn’t it? A character who always has a cold face says things like, ‘This is the last time I’ll help you,’ or ‘I won’t help you if you’re in danger,’ but when something really happens, he’ll take the initiative to help and save others, even if it means sacrificing himself.”

"Although Mr. Keith usually seems quite nasty, I can tell that you are also a very kind person."

"Huh? You should see an ophthalmologist, kid. Your eyesight is really bad." Keith paused, still with a cold expression. Was he going to tell Jaden Yuki that he had actually undergone "personality correction" after being beaten up by Hayato Kobayashi, to the point that he was anonymously donating to orphanages regularly?

Pointing at Ameruda, Keith sneered, "And in your opinion, what kind of person is that over there?"

Judai said without hesitation, "Mr. Ameruda has not only been cooking for us these past few days under the pretext of 'I can't stand you bunch of bastards wasting food,' but he also gives me the feeling that he is very sentimental and cares a lot about people close to him, so he is obviously a great person."

“Yes, I’m a good person.” Amelda calmly accepted Jaden’s calmness, and even glanced at Keith as if to say, “What, you’re not convinced?”

"Tch." Keith turned his head away and urged Jaden and the others, "Alright, while you still have the energy, hurry up and get to the villa so I can finish my work sooner. If you continue to waste time here slowly, it won't affect me much if you don't get into the top three, but don't dawdle until noon and start complaining about being hungry again."

“That makes sense. We also need to be among the top three to reach the finish line.” Keith’s reminder reminded Jaden that there was a setting to this “Wilderness Survival” event, about Hayato saying before the event that “the top three to reach the finish line can make a wish once” and “a special grand prize”.

Looking at Marufuji Sho, Judai said with fighting spirit, "Let's go full speed ahead, Sho! The finish line is just ahead. Even if my opponents are you and Fubuki, I won't..."

After a pause, Jaden realized he hadn't seen Fubuki since earlier and asked curiously, "Huh? Where did Fubuki go?"

"Huh? It really is." Marufuji Sho looked left and right, having just realized Fubuki was missing. "Could it be—"

"It's that 'Could it be' thing, Judai and Marufuji!" Following the voice, Judai and Sho discovered that Fubuki had already started sprinting ahead of them while they weren't paying attention. "Yay! First place is mine!"

"What!? How cunning!" Jaden's eyes widened as he looked at Marufuji Sho beside him. "Sho, quickly use the Ruyi Jingu Bang to poke Fubuki!"

"There's no such thing as a crown, bro! You might as well hope you have a crown that can transform and grow longer," Marufuji Sho retorted.

"Anyway, let's hurry up and catch up, we can't let Fubuki get ahead!" Jaden said, and immediately pulled Marufuji Sho along to start chasing after Fubuki. Amelda and Keith did not rush with the three young people, but watched them rush into the last stretch of forest path leading to the finish line, and slowly followed behind.

Seeing that Judai and the others had caught up with her, Fubuki wore an expression of unwillingness to be surpassed: "Muda, Judai! You can't surpass me!"

"Come forth, [Red-Eyes Wyvern]! Lead me into battle!"

Seeing Fubuki start summoning Duel Monsters on this final stretch of the road, Jaden's eyes widened: "She actually has this move?! Damn it!"

"You didn't expect that, did you, Judai? This is the complete form of my Tenjouin Fubuki! Hahaha!"

“In that case, I’ll come too! Come out! [Dual Bicycle Robot]!” Marufuji Sho knew that Jaden didn’t have any monsters that were convenient for use as a means of transportation. After all, Jaden couldn’t very well ride [N-Water Wave Dolphin], could he? So, as a loyal subordinate, he immediately summoned his own means of transportation.

Judai didn't mind that the "machine" summoned by Marufuji Sho wasn't a motor vehicle but required him to pedal, so he immediately got on the bicycle with Marufuji Sho and started pedaling hard.

Although one was riding a dragon and the other a tandem bicycle, Jaden and his friends actually managed to catch up little by little and close the distance with Fubuki. In the blink of an eye, the villa that was just a long way away was now in front of Jaden and his friends.

But what appeared in their line of sight was not only the villa that served as their destination, but also several other people standing in front of it—

Chapter 1493 It must have been done by the Yapools.

Let's rewind to a short time ago.

"Wow, that's quite a detour..."

Looking out over the plains nestled in the valley, Wan Zhangmu spotted the villa, which was exposed to the elements. He sighed and remarked, "It really, really took a long detour..."

"Hmm, Anigei said something similar too. Taking a shortcut is just taking a longer route." Beside Manjoume, [Disruption Yellow] crossed her arms and said in a condescending tone, "But taking a longer route is the shortest shortcut, you know~"

Although [Disruption·Huang]'s words sounded philosophical, Wan Zhangmu's forehead veins bulged with anger: "Who do you think caused this, you bastard!"

"I believed the way you led me, but where did you lead me, you *blue-dorm* swearing bastard? You even led me into the desert! I didn't see any desert on the island from the plane, is this still an island?"

"Because of you, you idiot, leading me astray seven times! I ended up in dead ends at least seven times! In the end, I had to find a mountain and climb it to find the right direction! I wasted at least a day!"

Being berated by Manjoume, [Disruption Yellow] knew that the route he had led was indeed a bit of a trap, but Manjoume wasn't his older brother Hayato, and he wasn't going to take the blame: "Even if I led you the wrong way, it didn't waste that much time, did it? It's clearly you who often can't sleep at night and then sleeps until noon before setting off—"

"Urusai!" Manjou roared, lunging at [Disruption Yellow], "If I'm the last one to arrive, it's definitely your fault!"

He grabbed [Disruption Yellow] in one swift motion, but in an instant... he missed?

"Hoo hoo hoo, do you think I got 1000 defense points on the card? We [Disruption] are best at running away!" [Disruption Yellow] dodged the giant hand of the giant eye and ran ahead triumphantly, "Now's the time! I'm going to run back to Annie's side!"

"Anyway, no more Duel Monsters will come out on this last stretch of road, so I don't need you as my bodyguard. Hehehehe, you're no longer of any use to me, Manjoume!"

As soon as he finished speaking, [Disruption·Huang] was running down the hillside when he turned back to yell at Wan Zhangmu without paying attention to where he was going. He tripped over a tree branch and fell forward.

Although [Disruption Huang] instinctively did a front handspring and didn't fall at first, because it was downhill, he was forced to do a second and a third flip after doing one, and just like that, he rolled all the way down the mountain like a circus performer.

"Waaaaah—"

Upon hearing the melodious scream of [Disruption Yellow], Wan Zhangmu's anger, which had just been aroused by him, quickly dissipated. He then mocked [Disruption Yellow] mercilessly: "Hahahaha, an idiot is an idiot. Who would fall down in a place like this and roll down the mountain in such a ridiculous way?"

"Like me, just pfft—!?"

Almost at the same spot where [Disruption Yellow] fell, Manjoume, who was mocking [Disruption Yellow], also staggered and almost tumbled down the mountain in the same embarrassing manner as [Disruption Yellow].

The danger was secondary; the main problem was that this way of descending the mountain was too embarrassing, and Manjoume absolutely could not accept it!

Some of the startled Manjoume quickly braced himself and stood up, returning to the position he had been in when observing the distant villa: "It was so close! Luckily, I reacted quickly."

As he spoke, he, who hadn't fallen, became arrogant again, deliberately leaning most of his body over the edge of the slope to maintain his balance and prevent himself from falling forward. "I suddenly realized that my balance is actually quite good..."

"Huh? Isn't this Manjoume-senpai from the Blue Dorm? I didn't expect you to be ahead of me." Dilano Kenzan, who had come over after hearing the commotion between Manjoume and [Disruption Yellow], saw Manjoume playing something and gently patted his shoulder to greet him, "What are you playing here, senpai?"

He wasn't exerting any force at all; if Manjoume had been standing still, he wouldn't have even swayed. The force was less than the sea breeze blowing through the forest in the early morning. But, Manjoume was currently "testing his balance."

"?!" With a gentle pat from Jianshan on the back, Wan Zhangmu saw that he was about to fall forward. He immediately started shaking his hands as if he were rowing a boat to try to regain his balance, and he actually almost managed to shake himself back to his original position.

Seeing Manjoume's movement, Kenzan quickly pulled him back to prevent him from falling: "Huh? Senior, I didn't use much force just now, how come you were so careless and looked like you almost fell?"

"You bastard, isn't it all because of you?" Because Kenzan grabbed his backpack, Manjoume finally managed to keep his balance and avoid falling down the slope. He glared at Kenzan fiercely and said irritably, "Even though you're Judai's underling, you're surprisingly quick. You arrived here almost right after me?"

"Haha, not at all, I bet my brother is faster than me." After a pause, looking down the hillside, Jianshan also spotted the villa on the plain and estimated the distance, saying, "At this distance, it should only take an hour or two to get there, right? Maybe my brother has already arrived."

"What? Impossible! That Judai is ahead of me again!?" Manjoume raised an eyebrow. "How can I let that guy steal the spotlight all by himself? No way! I need to find a place to go down the mountain and get there right away!"

"That's true. Although the view from the mountain is great, it would be too dangerous to go down such a steep slope." Although his behavior is quite wild, Jian Shan's leg bones are those of a dinosaur, not a ibex. It would be better to let him go down the nearly 70-degree slope in front of him.

"But speaking of which, did you hear that, Manjoume-senpai? I think I heard some other sounds in the forest." Kenzan looked left and right, then frowned in confusion. He felt like he heard something, but there were too many noises in the forest, and he couldn't quite make out what the sounds were.

"What did you hear? 'Cheese Snow Leopard'?"

Before he could finish speaking, Manjoume, who had been criticizing Kenzan for making a fuss, looked around curiously: "Huh? It sounds like there really is some kind of sound? Like it's saying... 'Help' or something?"

"No, no, it's not just a sound, someone is really shouting!" Manjoume said, suddenly raising his Duel Disk as if ready to draw a card at any moment. "That dinosaur enthusiast, get ready!"

However, Kenzan found Manjoume's actions rather strange: "Preparing? What preparations? Manjoume-senpai, are you planning to duel at this time? No, no, I don't think this is a good time for a duel."

"Huh? Who said I wanted to duel you? I told you to get ready to summon your monster." Manjoume said irritably. "Don't tell me you got here without even knowing this. At the end of last semester... Oh right, you're a first-year student who just enrolled this year. You weren't even at Duel Academy at the end of last semester."

“I really don’t know anything about ‘summoning monsters.’ What’s the difference between that and a duel?” Kenzan couldn’t understand what Manjoume was talking about. “As for how I got here… I’m relying on the powerful dinosaur DNA in my body, of course.”

"What nonsense, dinosaur DNA? You don't mean to say you fought your way across the island using something like 'Magnetic Field Rotation,' 'Perfect Realm,' or 'Hell War God,' right?"

"Oh, no, I really didn't know there were monsters on the island. I relied on my wilderness survival skills to avoid conflict as much as possible, and of course, I also relied on the instinctive survival instinct that the dinosaur DNA in my body gave me. I call it 'Sword Mountain's Stimulation'."

Kenzan's leg was fractured during an archaeological excavation, and he had to use a dinosaur fossil as a replacement. Kenzan explained this to Jaden in detail after becoming Jaden's subordinate, and Manjoume, who also stayed in the Red Dormitory, also knew about it.

But because there were so many flaws, he didn't even know where to begin complaining. Not to mention that the injury was so severe that they had to find another bone, and that they used dinosaur bones that didn't even resemble human bones, and that it was even a fossil.

Ignoring issues like disinfection and rejection, and the miracle of his leg actually growing back, the idea that he had dinosaur DNA from an implanted dinosaur bone fossil left Wan Zhangmu speechless, saying, "I don't understand, but I'm deeply shocked." He exclaimed that Spider-Man should be based on Kenzan, that genetics no longer exists, and that cross-species genetic engineering should win a Nobel Prize.

And now Kenzan has brought Manjoume a new shock. This guy actually managed to avoid those dangerous materialized dueling monsters on the island and get here all the way by relying on something as absurd as his beastly intuition? And his progress wasn't even much slower than his own!

But he had no time to complain about Sword Mountain, because he could gradually hear the approaching sounds and clearly see something in the forest behind him rapidly approaching. Without hesitation, he drew a card and said, "[Dragon of Light and Darkness], attack, begin the cleanup!"

"Wait! It's me! It's me!"

Just as Manjoume was about to order the [Dragon of Light and Darkness] to begin indiscriminate destruction, the approaching shadowy figure in the forest quickly spoke up. Moreover, to avoid the suspicious Manjoume thinking he was trying to scam him with a "It's me, it's me" ruse, he immediately revealed his name, "Mizawa Daichi! I am Misawa Daichi!"

"So it's Rokuzawa, huh. I thought it was someone else." Manjoume didn't relax his guard because of Misawa's voice and words. Only after Misawa actually emerged from the forest did he slightly lower his guard, but he still cautiously asked, "How did Jaden Yuki describe the teachers at Duel Academy in just four words?"

"The teachers at Duel Academy can be summarized in four words: romance, beauty, snow, and moon. Principal Hayato is like the unpredictable and ever-changing wind in Aztec mythology, like the black sun and smoke mirror. Teacher Daitokuji is like snow that looks gentle but is actually hard to approach. Teacher Aoki spends a lot of time traveling every month. Professor Chronos's name has four characters."

Hearing that Misawa's answer was accurate, Manjoume nodded and looked at Kenzan beside him: "It is Yasawa, because I have encountered a Duel Monster that can imitate humans, so I have to be on guard."

"Huh? Then why did you ask Misawa Sora-senpai but not me, Manjoume-senpai?" Kenzan pointed to himself with some confusion. "And are there really materialized Duel Monsters on this island? Are there dinosaurs there?"

“At least I’ve never seen a dinosaur race. They probably sleep underground like real dinosaurs. As for why I didn’t ask if you were a Duel Monster in disguise…” Manjoume looked Kenzan up and down, “You’re different from Yosawa. I’m not going to waste my vigilance on someone who doesn’t pose a threat.”

Although Kenzan is one of the strongest students among the first-year students this year, he is still not to be underestimated by Manjoume. After all, even ignoring Caesar who has already graduated, Manjoume has a long list of opponents he needs to take seriously, including but not limited to Judai, Asuka, Misawa, Fubuki who returned to school this year, Ai who just enrolled, and even the school's teachers. Kenzan would have to wait in line to be included on this list.

"Since I haven't even corrected you bunch of idiots who mispronounced my name, now's not the time to dwell on that," Misawa said, pointing to the forest behind him. "Something terrible is chasing me; we need to get out of here!"

As he spoke, he stood on the hillside and looked down, realizing that this was not a good option for leaving. He then looked around to find another way out.

"Huh? How did you become so cowardly? Last year you were so bold as to say, 'I might fall in love with a tiger,' but now you're so afraid?" Wan Zhangmu raised an eyebrow. "You must have sensed something special about this island, unlike this freshman. Running away without even summoning a monster? That's really unbecoming."

"Who said I didn't summon a monster?" Misawa retorted, but instead of continuing the argument with Manjoume, he said urgently, "It's hard for me to explain in detail, but you should hurry up and come with me to see if there's a place where we can leave this place as quietly as possible!"

“But I refuse!” Manjoume said without hesitation, then ignored Misawa’s advice and walked back into the woods with extreme arrogance. “I spent the night around here last night. What danger was there? I want to see what scared you like this.”

As Manjoume entered the forest, Misawa quickly said to Kenzan, "Dilano Kenzan, right? Help me find a safe place to go down. We can't worry about that self-inflicted troublemaker Manjoume anymore, let's get out of here quickly."

“It doesn’t matter which way you go down the mountain around here, you can either backtrack and take a longer route down the way you came,” Kenzan said, explaining his assessment of the surrounding terrain. Still curious, he asked Misawa, “So what exactly is it—”

Before he could finish his question, Manjoume, who had just entered the forest, rushed out in a panic. The card he had drawn when Misawa appeared was on the Duel Disk, but there was no image of the "Panda Dragon" next to him.

"You're right, Misawa, we have to leave immediately!" In his desperation, Manjoume even pronounced Misawa's name correctly, saying anxiously, "There really is a monster behind us!"

"It's still the kind that can travel between dimensions, right?" Misawa had a "I told you so" look on his face.

“The Apool people! It must be the Apool people!” Manjoume said with certainty.

Chapter 1494 Don't Have Any Strange Expectations About Us

"Is this the only way?" Kenzan looked at the hillside in front of him, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. Even he couldn't think that going down the mountain from where he was was a good idea. "Just like this? Right now, right here?"