Duels should be played with a smile.

"Congratulations to all duelists who have not yet left the arena. No matter how you have 'survived' until now, hearing this broadcast means that you are now among the top 50 in this tournament. You will receive an email shortly, please check it."

"The second round of selection will be held in three days to determine the top 16 in this competition. Please go to the location in the email at the same time three days from now to log in to the competition area in the virtual world and participate in the competition."

"Repeat..."

The announcement continued, and the hatch to the boarding pod had already opened when the announcement began. The Snow Woman slowly stood up, exhaled, and looked around while sorting out her thoughts.

It seems I really have made it into the top 50. Putting aside the disorientation caused by the sudden logout, this is indeed the login pod where I entered the virtual world before.

After tidying up her clothes, which were a little wrinkled from getting up, the Snow Woman pressed the call button on the login pod to summon staff to handle some competition-related matters—a requirement that the organizers had mentioned before she logged in.

Of course, she also planned to take this opportunity to ask about the situation on Leyou's side, and at the same time, she wanted to see what kind of situation Yuza Naoma was in now.

She put on a show of standing up for him with great effort, and although it was a bit anticlimactic, it probably left a pretty good impression on the child. I wonder what funny things might happen later.

"What...did you find something fun? Look how happy you are...hiccup..."

Ella's voice came from behind, startling the snow woman—referring to the hiccup sound.

“I’ve definitely found one source of amusement, no, now there are two… What’s going on with you?”

The snow woman had a playful smile on her face as she stared at Ella, who blushed from a sudden hiccup, and laughed rather unrestrainedly.

"It was... quite delicious, but I ate a bit too much and I'm a little full."

A tiny, mosquito-like voice came from Ella's mouth. Feeling embarrassed, she had already lowered her head and was too ashamed to face anyone, almost burying her face in the heart of her enormous heart.

"I don't know what you ate... but I have a feeling it must have tasted really good."

Delicious in every sense of the word.

The snow woman stared at Ella, who seemed even more captivating because of her actions. The smile on her face had vanished, replaced by intense jealousy.

Even her voice sounded like she was gritting her teeth.

I can't compare, I can't compare at all. Although I'm not small, I'm still several sizes smaller than a giant.

This is too evil, too despicable.

Looking around, Yuki-onna saw many other duelists emerging from their rooms and following the staff's instructions to register in the lobby. Without much thought, she quickly pulled Ella away, who seemed a bit dazed from being full and mentally overloaded.

For some reason, the Snow Woman, who planned to find Leyou and then throw Ella over there, didn't see Leyou. When she returned to the hotel with Ella, who was half offline, after finishing everything, she found that Leyou was already lying on the bed.

There was another woman lying next to them in a similar position; she had been missing for a long time.

"Here, take the person."

Like throwing away cargo, the Snow Woman tossed the seemingly revived Ella onto the bed with a disgruntled air.

She immediately realized something—if Ella wasn't willing, it seemed that she, a weak, pitiful, and helpless snow woman from a poor family, wouldn't be able to throw Ella.

Sure enough, a breast-related murder occurred under the watchful eye of the Snow Woman.

The Snow Woman clicked her tongue, wanting to complain about the random thoughts in front of her, but after thinking about it for a while, she found that she couldn't find the right words to describe them.

What's with this atmosphere where only I'm not good enough? The snow woman asked herself this profound question.

Fortunately, Leyou is a fair person, and in most cases he treats everyone the same.

After a bit of playful fighting, another round of commotion, and then a period of regrouping, the four of them were finally able to get down to business.

"The Faceless Ones in the virtual world seem to have undergone some strange changes, and they are very different from those in the real world," Ella immediately commented.

"What's different?" the three asked in unison.

"Uh...it's delicious?"

“…I can probably testify to that,” the Snow Woman said, raising her hand and briefly explaining Ella’s previous condition.

"This really is an area where I'm not familiar with the subject... I didn't know that datafication could change the flavor," Philwo murmured. At this moment, she felt that she, as the big sister of the electronics industry, was not quite up to the task.

However, it seems that the Cybertronians generally don't really need to eat; they only need to replenish their data streams.

"Anything else worth noting?" Leyou rolled her eyes and asked again.

"Yes!" Ella answered again, "I met a gray-haired girl who looked familiar today. She seemed to be the one who fought against Jaden in the previous world."

"Is that the one who got dragged into Gian and Suneo's pleasure house?"

"Yes! But she's a little different in this world. She's not using the Train deck anymore; instead, she's using carrots and pancakes to rave about and kill other duelists."

When Leyou saw carrots and flatbread, the first thing that came to mind was a spinning top.

"There's one more thing! Her appearance has changed a lot. She has some things on her body that look like warship armor and parts, turrets and the like. She looks quite scary."

"...She can't still be a ship girl, can she?"

Chapter 52 Not letting your opponent play Yu-Gi-Oh! is always the most enjoyable part of the game.

"Damn it, this 'funeral' deck is so torturous in mirror matches."

"How dare you say that? Look at the garbage you've put in!"

The Snow Woman looked at Leyou with disdain, and even pointed at him with her snow-white finger.

"I can't even be bothered to talk about Frankenstein's monster pulling Nature Wood Dragon Beasts, since I also have one. But look at your [Dark Invader], you practically have 'targeting' written all over your face!"

With one hand on her hip, Yuki-onna was looking very unhappy. She had only gotten into the top 50 without playing a single game, so she was a little tempted to have a duel to satisfy her craving. However, her deck was guessed by Leyou, and she was hit with a bunch of counter cards. She was thoroughly humiliated. After the game, she not only failed to satisfy her card craving, but her mood worsened.

Moreover, seeing Leyou's smug smile after his wicked scheme succeeded only fueled her anger.

But since they couldn't win, they could only continue to endure it.

"Alright, I'm not teasing you anymore. I have some important business to attend to. You guys have fun on your own."

He put away the deck, rubbed the snow-white hair of the Snow Woman until it was completely messy, and until the Snow Woman stared intently at Leyou with a sullen face and arms crossed, giving him goosebumps. Only then did he sheepishly withdraw his hand and quickly leave.

I don't know why, but I just really enjoy bullying Yuki-onna. Seeing her pitiful look makes Leyou feel very happy.

He didn't have that thought at all when facing Philvo and Ella.

Putting aside his playful thoughts, Leyou opened the Duel Disk, sent a message to Professor Chronos, and headed towards the faculty area of ​​the academy.

Based on his previous interactions with Philvo in the virtual world and his observations of the Faceless Ones' fusion, Leyou had roughly guessed some things. In addition, Philvo later told him some things about what had happened in this world, and he now had some other ideas in his mind.

Some things about what I need to do for people other than myself in this world.

He seems to do whatever comes to mind—before, he was only thinking about finding all the whispering sprites and seeing what would happen next, and now he wants to do something that should be just as interesting.

He wanted to see what it really meant to "bring smiles through duels."

Not only do you bring yourself smiles through duels, but try to bring smiles to others as well.

Coincidentally, among the stories Philvo told him, there was one very suitable target that he had overlooked.

Before that, he needed to do some preparation, such as having a good talk with Professor Chronos, a key figure.

According to the information obtained from Philvo, the only person in the academy who is currently of practical use is this Pot of Greed teacher.

Professor Chronos was a very reasonable person, but after seeing the information that Leyou had given him and hearing the request Leyou made, he couldn't help but fall silent.

"Are all of these things...true?"

If Professor Chronos hadn't lost to Leyou before, he would have pulled out his Duel Disk to verify its authenticity.

"I wouldn't say 100%, but it's probably around 70-80%. In fact, I'm also very curious about how these strange things came about and what gave them these amazing properties... But in any case, those Faceless Ones are a problem that needs to be solved or contained as soon as possible."

"So what do you mean by this follow-up plan?"

Professor Chronos, unusually, did not add his usual verbal tic, a detail that reveals just how conflicted he was at that moment.

"It means exactly what it says... After all, you wouldn't want to see that..."

“No, I don’t doubt your motives.” Professor Chronos interrupted Leyou, his eyebrows furrowed so deeply they could trap a mosquito.

"What I'm worried about is whether you really have that kind of strength. The fact that you can easily defeat me is enough to prove your strength, but the most crucial part of your nonsensical plan requires much more than just that level of strength."

Slowly raising his head, Professor Chronos's deep eyes flashed with memories that were somewhat distant but still clear.

"I haven't seen him make a move in a very, very long time. His strength has improved to an unknown level... In fact, if the Super Magician and the Phoenix Man weren't both away from the academy, I wouldn't even be discussing the second half of this plan with you."

Although Professor Chronos was unable to know some of the inner workings of the academy due to past reasons, he still had some knowledge of the whereabouts of the academy's "left and right protectors".

"You should have said so earlier..." Leyou said helplessly, then decisively pulled out his Duel Disk.

"If I'd known you wanted to see my true skill level, I wouldn't have bothered chatting with you at all... Come on, let's fight!"

"Hehehe...That's exactly what I was thinking!" Chronos's complex face instantly broke into a smile like a pot of greed, making it hard not to suspect that he was making this request because he was addicted to playing cards.

"Then let's go. This time I won't play any tricks on you. I'll let you experience what a 'wonderful adventure' really means!"

The Duel Disk unfolded, revealing a duel arena between the two. Professor Chronos confidently pulled out his super-enhanced Ancient Gear deck and placed it into the Duel Disk.

Seeing this, Leyou also stopped using a random deck this time, and instead...

Two minutes later, when Professor Chronos, who had the second turn, reached out his trembling hand toward the deck, he grabbed nothing.

In the second round of the duel, during the card-drawing phase, Professor Chronos was defeated because he had no cards left to draw.

At this moment, his graveyard was piled high with cards, and he held a large handful of cards in his hand, but he had no chance to use them.

"..."

After Chronos was completely defeated in the duel, everything else went very smoothly. Basically, whatever Leyou said went, and he didn't have any objections.

"Well... whatever, let's just do it this way."

After explaining some details, Leyou didn't linger any longer, as he still had many places to visit that day.

For example, release Hachita-U, who has been behaving obediently but daring not to do anything since being rendered powerless, and have him take you to see the place where he was sealed before.

It was once the place where the Three Phantom Demons were sealed. After the Three Phantom Demons were destroyed, it was specially used to seal this Eight-Tai Crow. If you say there's nothing inside, Leyou certainly doesn't believe it.

After some trouble, Leyou, guided by Bataiwu and aided by Philvo's remote information shielding, arrived at his destination.

"Let me... find out for myself."

……

Three days later.

They went to the location specified in the official email without any trouble, and both Leyou and Snow Maiden Ella successfully entered the virtual competition area.

"You're pretty quick... You've come at the right time. Just as you entered, the Faceless Ones who were originally imprisoned were also released and have now begun their 'hunting' journey."

Philvo had already bypassed various surveillance cameras and entered the competition area ahead of time. However, because the event organizers used special methods to temporarily imprison the Faceless Ones during the intervals between matches, they prevented the Faceless Ones from running around and also prevented her from dealing with them in advance.