Yu-Gi-Oh!: This isn't a duel!

The black mist of [D-Power], which should have dissipated after the duel ended, had been surrounding You Yang.

Instead of disappearing, it seemed to come alive, surging wildly and instantly enveloping him completely, as if a giant maw of an abyss was about to swallow him whole!

"This is……?"

You Yang's pupils suddenly contracted, and alarm bells rang in his mind.

He watched helplessly as the thick, sturdy metal walls of the union began to twist and peel away like melted wax under the corrosive influence of the black mist.

What was revealed after the walls peeled away was not the street and sunlight outside, but a chilling, deathly gray-white void.

He subconsciously looked at his hand of cards, only to be horrified to find that the cards in his hand were becoming transparent and illusory, eventually turning into countless tiny specks of light that flowed away and dissipated between his fingers.

Immediately afterwards, the floor beneath their feet disappeared as well.

An irresistible, immense suction force did not come from beneath your feet, but from all directions.

Those grayish-white spaces, as if they were sentient beings, surged up instantly, completely enveloping and swallowing him whole.

Darkness descends.

There was no feeling of weightlessness or impact.

When You Yang regained consciousness, he found himself standing alone on a vast, deep expanse of water.

There is no sky here; overhead is a void, oppressive darkness.

On the mirror-like surface of the water beneath my feet, countless faint and mysterious starlight were reflected—upon closer inspection, they were not stars at all, but cards floating in the deep sea.

They emit faint lights of different colors such as red, yellow, green, black, and white, and some are very close to the water surface, as if they could be touched.

Some sank into a bottomless abyss, where only a blurry and distant outline could be seen.

It was eerily quiet here, so quiet that you could hear the echo of your own breath.

You Yang looked around, his eyes filled with vigilance.

What exactly is this place?!

The realm of elves?

Although he had long heard of the elf world's strange and unpredictable nature, this was the first time he had encountered one so quiet, profound, and full of unknowns.

He instinctively reached for his arm, only to find that his Duel Disk and deck, which had always been with him, had all vanished.

No matter how much You Yang called out in his heart, the card spirits that were usually in sync with him seemed to be completely isolated at this moment, and there was no response.

After standing still for a moment and confirming that there was no danger approaching, You Yang took a deep breath, randomly chose a direction, and walked over.

My feet touched the water, creating ripples, but I didn't sink.

The scenery remained unchanged throughout the journey; it was all darkness and the "starlight" beneath my feet.

After walking about a few hundred meters...

In the dead silence ahead, a hissing sound and a faint light finally broke the silence.

You Yang's heart stirred, and he quickened his pace.

When he got closer, he discovered that the source of the sound and light was an old, somewhat blurry, bulky television set, floating alone on the water.

The television screen was filled with static, the picture quality was no longer clear, and it carried a heavy sense of age.

Even so, You Yang immediately recognized the energetic figure on the screen—

That boy in the red school uniform with the signature jellyfish hairstyle!

At this moment, the jellyfish-haired boy on the television screen is facing the screen with a bright and pure smile on his face.

He raised his right hand high, making a classic scissor-hand gesture with two fingers, the iconic "Gotcha" sign.

Then, that energetic and confident voice pierced through the noise of the screen and echoed clearly in You Yang's ears:

We won!

"What an interesting duel!"

You Yang stood there like a forgotten sculpture, blankly in front of the old, floating television set.

The static on the screen reflected in his empty pupils, while the familiar, vibrant voice, like a rusty key, slowly turned the door to his long-sealed memories.

He knew who the person inside with the bright smile was—it was Jaden Yuki, the protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.

As the name came to mind, fragments of memories about this old television set began to gradually piece together and recombine deep within the brain.

The scenes in his memory began to resurface; back then, it seemed he wasn't alone.

Although my family wasn't extremely wealthy, we were certainly not poor either.

Back then, his favorite thing to do was to sit on a small stool in front of the TV and watch all kinds of rented DVDs over and over again.

Whether it's Ultraman fighting for justice or Kamen Rider speeding along on a motorcycle, they are both the light in young Yu Yang's heart.

Later, he came across Yu-Gi-Oh! and met this seemingly carefree boy with a sunny smile!

"Hero..."

How cool and dazzling it is to save ordinary people from danger!

Back then, as a little kid, watching them on the screen, I dreamed countless times that one day I could become a hero like them.

But... when did everything change?

The images in my memory suddenly turned gray and distorted.

Was it her mother's resolute abandonment and departure without looking back?

Or was it when his father was drunk that he would throw punches and kicks at him for the slightest provocation?

You Yang couldn't remember, or rather... in his subconscious, he simply didn't want to recall those suffocating scenes anymore.

But at this moment, on this desolate, abyssal sea, the seeds of memories he had forcibly buried deep in his heart, representing the ultimate pain, finally received nourishment from this bitter rain.

They tore through Youyang's psychological defenses, and began to frantically unravel and sprout, growing thorns called "despair"!

The innocent yet cruel malice he felt in elementary school: his classmates pointing their fingers at him and mocking him as a wild child without a mother.

The darkness I experienced in middle school came from the endless bullying by my classmates and the unreasonable beatings from my father when I got home.

He had cried and begged his father for help, but all he received in return was the man's cold and disgusted gaze and a chillingly piercing remark—

"Flies don't land on eggs without cracks, so why does he bully you and not others?"

That sentence became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

After that, at the age of sixteen, that underage boy, he took the money he had saved by scrimping and saving, and on the night after the high school entrance exam, he resolutely boarded a train to escape his hometown.

Without education or skills, they struggled in this cold society, and were even tricked into working in a dark and dreary factory, toiling day and night...

In those most painful and desperate nights, You Yang had fantasized countless times that a legendary hero would descend from the sky, reach out to him, and lend him a hand.

but……

In reality, there are no heroes; this is something everyone knows!

"Enough!!!"

A heart-wrenching roar shattered the deathly silence on the water's surface.

"Stop right there! Don't think about it again!!"

"I...I absolutely don't want to think about any of this!!"

You Yang crouched down in agony, clutching his head tightly with both hands as it felt like it was about to explode, roaring in anger and despair.

Scalding tears burst forth, streaming uncontrollably from between his fingers and dripping onto the cold water.

Chapter 204 Youyang's World - The Realm of Heart Spirits!

If Chen Yuan and the others saw You Yang in such a vulnerable state, they would probably be too shocked to speak.

But this is the most authentic Youyang.

Compared to that omnipotent and infallible elf duelist.

Deep down, he was just an ordinary person who buried all his sadness, anger, and weakness deep in his heart and wrapped himself in a cold shell.

"Since... you no longer have any hope for any hero..."

"Why use this power at all?"

"Youyang".

A voice suddenly rang out without warning.

It did not come from the void in all directions, but echoed directly in the deepest part of You Yang's mind, shaking his soul.

The voice sounded incredibly familiar, exactly like his own, but it lacked his usual casualness and languor, and instead possessed an absolute calmness and a chilling ethereal quality.

You Yang looked down at the water beneath him, which was as calm as a mirror, and his reflection did not move with his movements.

The reflection stared silently at You Yang, its gaze clear to the point of being cold, as if scrutinizing a stranger's soul.

"What is that?!"

You Yang subconsciously took a half step back, and uneasy ripples spread across the water beneath his feet.

“I am you. Or rather... I am the real you that you have deliberately forgotten.”

As You Yang retreated, the "reflection" beneath the water's surface slowly rose upright, eventually solidifying and standing on the water's surface.

By the dim light of the television, You Yang could see "himself" clearly.

The You Yang in front of me was wearing the cheap hoodie he used to wear most often before he transmigrated, the collar of which was already a bit faded from washing, and he was carrying a heavy backpack that bent his back.

What he held in his hand was not the card deck that symbolized power, but an old, broken phone with a cracked screen that was about to run out of battery and turn off.

On the dimly lit screen, there were unread work group messages and glaring bank payment reminders.

This is what he looked like before he traveled through time.

This is the version of himself that he is most familiar with, and that he most wants to escape.

The man named Youyang had dark circles under his eyes, a result of long hours of staying up late and anxiety.

His expression was weary and numb, his eyes filled with a lifeless despair, devoid of any hope for the future.