Duels should be played with a smile.

"Sister Carly!" Long Ke interrupted Carly before she could finish her sentence, and happily pounced on her.

Long Ke, who is already a grown woman, hasn't done this kind of thing in a long time, but she felt it was necessary to do so this time.

He pulled Carly out of her reverie with a tight, warm hug.

As someone who participated in the battle to save the world, Long Ke knew very well that an ordinary person is prone to having unnecessary thoughts after doing certain things—especially when the opponent is obviously abnormal, thinking like that is a completely meaningless action.

Everyone knows that Carly was once a person with a mole, but everyone also knows that the human body has a self-protection mechanism. Some of Carly's memories of being a person with a mole disappeared after she recovered.

This saved Carly a lot of unnecessary trouble, but it also made her less determined than Long Ke and the others.

For example, right now, if it were a dragon who could take down the enemy, she wouldn't feel any discomfort like Carly did.

"Sister Carly! You were so cool just now! You defeated that guy who kept spouting nonsense in no time!" Long Ke praised Carly innocently, making her unable to think about anything else.

Carly is quite lively, and after hearing Long Ke's praise, she immediately forgot what she was about to say and nodded with a smug look on her face.

"Yes! He's handsome, isn't he? I think so too!"

"This guy is really weird. He keeps muttering about self and dependence on Jack... The guy who attacked the Snow Woman last time was also strange. Could it be that we'll keep encountering these weirdos in the future?"

Carly patted Long Ke on the shoulder, and Long Ke understood, letting go of her embrace and turning to look at the "battlefield" from before.

"Huh? What's that?" Carly noticed something flashing in the area where she had just been electrocuted by the Sky Dragon, and immediately ran over and picked it up.

The card looks no different from other duel cards on the back, but you can't tell what it is from the front. There's only a "one" mark where the card image should be.

"One? What does that mean? Never mind, finding Jack is more important."

Knowing that her brain wasn't working very well, Carly decided to take it back to Leyou for a look. After Leyou's series of arrangements and plans, plus this time when he helped a lot by sending the card deck, Carly's trust in Leyou had increased a lot.

Carly glanced at her watch; it was almost time for their agreed meeting. She put the card back into her card case, then called to Long Ke, and together they headed to the agreed-upon location.

Although the roads in the lower area are quite winding, they are not as easy as in a certain mountain city, where once you get lost at the beginning, the rest of the road is relatively simple.

Without the hassle of finding their way, the two focused on their journey. Considering Carly's previous condition and to prevent her from overthinking, Long Ke spoke up again, "Sister Carly, the way you summoned the Sky Dragon just now was incredibly cool! If Jack saw it, he might be very surprised!"

"You think so too?" Carly replied, somewhat surprised. "That's what I thought too when I summoned it!"

"Is that so... Speaking of which, among the duelists I know, besides you, Carly, the only one who can ride the Sky Dragon so coolly is the original Duel King!"

"Oh, no... I'm not that good." Carly's face was beaming as she said "Oh, no, no," but in her heart she was thinking, "Tell me more."

No matter who it is, as long as they are duelists, they cannot remain unmoved when someone boasts that they are on par with the first King of Duels.

The original King of Duel is the one and only idol in the hearts of every duelist!

Seeing that her casual praise had made Carly so flustered that she had no time to think, Long Ke breathed a sigh of relief and continued the conversation. But as they talked, Long Ke suddenly noticed something was amiss.

"Sister Carly... if I remember correctly, besides the first Duel King, there was also a second Duel King, right? I vaguely remember that the second Duel King defeated the first Duel King?"

"Huh? Really? I don't remember very clearly. Let me think... it seems like there was such a thing, but I can't seem to remember who he was."

"Huh? You can't remember either? That shouldn't be the case. I remember most of the information about the first Duel King, and I remember the decks he used very clearly. The second Duel King defeated the first Duel King, so I shouldn't forget him..."

"What you said makes sense, but it doesn't really have any impact, does it? Since the dimensional upheaval, the basic dimension has disappeared, and the first Duel King has never appeared again. If it weren't for the occasional online mention of him, I probably wouldn't even remember him. The first one is almost forgotten, let alone the second one."

The reason it's called the Basic Dimension is that all other dimensions evolved from the Basic Dimension. The process is mysterious and no one knows it, but that's the truth. Therefore, every dimension has stories and legends about the Basic Dimension circulating within it.

Long Ke nodded slightly. Although she still had some doubts, the explanation was reasonable, so she stopped worrying about it. She just thought about checking the information when she got back... She had heard stories about the Duel Kings when she was a child and quite liked them, especially the second one... Wait, what exactly did the second Duel King do that made her like him so much?

While Long Ke was puzzled, Carly wasn't as indifferent as she had told her. As a reporter, she was active in various news scenes all year round, and it was impossible for her not to remember a top "star" like the Duel King, not to mention that she remembered that the second Duel King had defeated the first one.

Such momentous events, which deserve to be recorded at any time, are something that journalists cannot afford to miss!

If she weren't currently on her way, she would have given a live demonstration of what professional journalistic ethics look like.

As a journalist, finding information about celebrities is an instinct ingrained in her bones—not to mention, she knows everything about Jack! Even Jack himself doesn't understand himself as well as she does!

Time flies when you're chatting, and before they knew it, Carly and Long had arrived at their agreed meeting place.

In an inconspicuous little bar.

It looks unremarkable and low-end from the outside, but once you come in, you'll find it surprisingly clean and tidy, which is quite different from the usual impression of the downtown area.

"It's quite similar to the bar that Crowe temporarily managed..."

Carly led Long Ke around to look for someone, but they didn't find anyone noteworthy. Thinking back to how that person had contacted her before, Carly wasn't in a hurry. She and Long Ke each ordered a glass of milk and found a table to sit down.

Ordering a glass of milk in a bar isn't anything wrong... it's just that since there were two girls, it attracted a bit of attention.

The two sat in a corner, drinking hot milk and chatting idly.

After a while, after Carly had looked at her phone and Duel Disk more than ten times, another cup of hot milk was placed on the table.

Blue and pink hair, not exactly flashy... combined with that somewhat youthful yet angular face, Carly's first impression of this guy who also drank hot milk was...

If this guy dressed up, grew his hair long, and wore women's clothing, he'd probably be even better looking than Long Ke!

Open your mouth wide! Ahhhhh~.jpg

Chapter Thirty: The Super Detective, Seriously Solving Cases!

Ordering a glass of milk in a bar is not a common thing, let alone someone coming up to you with a glass of hot milk and striking up a conversation without any prior notice.

As a reporter, Carly considered herself to be quite adept at reading people. After taking a look at this guy with a hairstyle that was almost as strange as Yusei's, her first impression was that this person was quite different from the image she had imagined—Carly didn't think he would be an ordinary passerby after greeting her so abruptly.

“This is a bit unexpected…” Carly took a sip of the hot milk in her glass, exhaled a soft breath, and said in a low voice. “There’s no one else here, please sit down if you want.”

The visitor didn't stand on ceremony, nodded slightly, then moved a stool over from the side and sat down casually: "What's your name?"

"I'm Carly, she's Long Ke, and you?"

“PlayMaker…”

“PlayMaker?” Carly was a little surprised. She vaguely remembered hearing the name in a previous news report.

"Is it that famous hacker?" Long Ke asked from the side, somewhat surprised and curious.

Carly suddenly felt a surge of professional instinct. Seeing PlayMaker so relaxed, she guessed that Jack was probably alright, and she couldn't contain her good mood any longer. She muttered to herself, "I never thought PlayMaker's true identity was like this... Wait, maybe not. Maybe you're not PlayMaker, or just his companion?"

"That's not important..." PlayMaker replied evasively. "It's a bit surprising that this name is so well-known in the Synchro Dimension?"

“Of course!” Long Ke immediately chimed in, “He’s done many earth-shattering things in the virtual world! For example…”

"For example what?"

"for example..."

Long Ke was a little stuck. She suddenly remembered that her impression of this name seemed to come entirely from Carly, so she quickly looked over for help.

Carly smiled helplessly, reached out and poked Long Ke's cheek, and was about to speak when PlayMaker interrupted her.

"Let's skip the unnecessary chatter now... Come with me, Jack is with me right now."

Getting up and walking to the bar, PlayMaker showed an anonymous payment code to pay for the three cups of hot milk. Without waiting for Carly and the others, he headed straight for the door.

It's not that he's inherently cold; it's just that he's not very good at dealing with women.

"Lately...have I been seeing a lot too many women? That Philvo, and these two here, that makes three..."

Normally, he would stay in his hiding place and might not go out for ten days or half a month. He had only been here for a few days and had already interacted with three women, which was indeed a high-intensity interaction for him.

If we're talking about the opposite sex with whom he can have a calm and casual conversation... it's probably only with his fireproof dragon.

This assumes that you only consider Fireguard Dragon as a Duel Monster or a Partner...

But this isn't anything new; most shut-ins are pretty much like this—they're masters of online communication, unyielding in voice chat, heroic in video calls, and utterly defeated when they meet in person.

Seeing PlayMaker leave so decisively, Carly and Long Ke exchanged glances, recalling that they hadn't sensed any ill intentions just now. They smiled helplessly at each other and followed him.

Although PlayMaker's performance was unremarkable, his counter-surveillance awareness was exceptional. He appeared to be just leading the way in an ordinary way, but in reality, he was constantly monitoring his surroundings. Moreover, the Fire Dragon was also helping him block some unnecessary probes in the virtual world.

PlayMaker led the way alone, deliberately making the route winding and turning until Carly and Longke, who weren't exactly good at navigating, were completely disoriented. Only then did PlayMaker correct its course, go around an alley, and pass through an underground sewer before the view suddenly opened up.

The previous area was the underground sewers of the lower city. After emerging, we arrived at a place that looked similar to the upper city.

It's also a villa, and it feels to be on par with Long Ke's house.

"This way."

After reminding the two who were still in awe of this "Shangri-La"-like place, PlayMaker continued on his way alone.

As a top hacker who has accomplished many "big things", PlayMaker has hideouts of different sizes in various dimensions, and this one is one of the better ones in the Synchro dimension.

He was all alone and a complete shut-in. Apart from some necessary equipment expenses and living expenses, he used all his extra money to build various hiding places for himself. In most cases, shut-ins are more or less hoarders and like to hoard things.

"Has Jack been here all this time?" Carly asked softly, suppressing her shock. Since arriving here, she had completely stopped worrying about Jack's safety.

Given these favorable conditions, and the fact that PlayMaker doesn't seem to be asking him to claim a body, it must mean that Jack is safe and sound.

While Carly was still pondering, after walking to the villa's front door and opening it, PlayMaker stopped and tapped a few times on his Duel Disk, which then received a new message.

"Jack and D-Wheel are both fine now... Correspondingly, please settle the repair costs for D-Wheel and the medical expenses for Jack."

Her tone was so indifferent, as if she were a stranger... Although they had only known each other for a short time, Carly felt a little unreal when she recalled how PlayMaker had helped her and Long Ke pay the bill.

Goodness, I just helped them pay the bill, turns out there was a big culprit here!

However, since others had helped her, it was only natural to pay them. Carly didn't pay too much attention to it. She pulled up the bill from her Duel Disk, glanced at it casually, and prepared to pay, as she controlled the family's finances.

Jack, as a former Duel King, has never been less popular!

It wasn't until Carly saw the numbers on the bill that she realized just how many zeros there were.

"What are all these things?!?!"

The scream, like that of a groundhog, pierced Long Ke's eardrums, but PlayMaker, who had anticipated it, had already covered his ears in advance.

After another round of trouble, Carly reluctantly paid the exorbitant fee, her unwillingness so palpable that Long Ke even considered taking out his own card to help pay part of the cost.

After paying, PlayMaker continued to lead Carlylon forward. The villa looked quite luxurious from the outside, but the interior decoration was rather simple and unadorned.

Upon entering the villa and arriving at the living room, PlayMaker pointed to a room on the second floor, then sat down on the sofa, ignoring Carly.

Carly couldn't wait to run up the stairs to the second floor and knock on the door, but there was no response for a long time.

"Maybe he's resting? The treatment costs are so high, Jack must have been seriously injured before, right?" Long Ke reminded him with concern.

"Don't worry, since I can get you to pay such a high price, there must be a corresponding therapeutic effect. He was fine yesterday, at most he just needs to be careful not to do strenuous exercise in the short term," PlayMaker downstairs said meaningfully.

Upon hearing this, Carly did not hesitate any longer. After knocking on the door again without any response, she pushed it open.

There was no one inside.

"Where is he?!" Carly turned around and asked angrily.