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

Lilith stood in the shadows, gazing in the direction where You Yang had disappeared. Her lips twitched slightly, as if she wanted to call out to him, but in the end, those words remained unspoken.

Just then.

The phone in her hand, whose screen was always lit, suddenly made a sound.

That wasn't a cold, synthesized voice, but a female voice filled with boundless tenderness and love, seemingly capable of melting the soul:

"My dear daughter, doesn't he want to play with you?"

Immediately following was a deep, resonant male voice, carrying a reassuring power:

"It's okay, don't be sad."

"Mom will always be with you..."

"And Daddy too..."

Also sounding was a slightly authoritative voice.

Lilith slowly lowered her head, staring intently at her phone screen.

On the screen were two faces, one male and one female, so familiar they were etched into my memory.

Perhaps these two faces are not exactly the same as the two faces in my memory.

After all, even Lilith couldn't quite remember what her parents looked like.

I only remember that my mother always loved to smile, and her smile was full of doting affection.

Although her father was a bit strict, he was also very good to her.

The figure in front of me looks exactly the same...

It was a dynamic image generated using AI technology, yet it was so realistic that it felt as if you could reach through the screen and embrace her at any moment.

A single, glistening tear, unnoticed, spilled from Lilith's eye, silently sliding down her pale cheek and landing with a "plop" on the cold screen, blurring the illusory smile.

But these tears were not from sadness.

Lilith's lips curved upwards little by little, forming an extremely pure and sweet smile.

She murmured softly to that "home" that existed only in virtual data:

"Ok!"

"I know my mom and dad will always be with me..."

In the empty space outside, the girl began to whisper into her phone screen; no one knew what they were talking about...

……

The room was so cramped it felt suffocating, with the walls covered by humming server cases and a tangled mess of cables.

The screen emitted a hazy blue and magenta neon light, which intertwined to create a mesmerizing electronic glow, barely illuminating a corner of this cyberspace.

"Puff-"

Two slender figures, like puppets with broken strings, fell heavily onto the soft bed in the center of the room.

Kisskill lay on her back, her chest heaving violently. Her face, which always wore a playful smile, was now pale with exhaustion.

Lila, standing beside him, was curled up, somewhat disheveled as she pulled off her headphones. Her hair, soaked with cold sweat, clung to her cheeks.

At that moment, only the heavy breathing of the two men remained in the air.

The police force, those mad dogs, chased them for almost half a month. The constant pressure of being locked on almost broke their nerves.

Just now, the group of mad dogs that had been relentlessly attacking seemed to have suddenly received some urgent orders. Their expressions instantly became extremely interesting, and they reluctantly led their troops to retreat.

They only felt alive again the moment the safety signal lit up.

But even after escaping a life-or-death situation, professional ethics remain!

—And the fear of poverty, it was still this that made them struggle to get up.

"Send the message to that boss, Xie Wan'an, first..."

Kisskill's fingers flew across the virtual keyboard. "After all, we don't want to be fired."

After sending the message, Kisskill rolled over, regaining some of her former energy.

She turned her head to look at her partner beside her, who was rubbing her temples, and teased:

"Hey, Rila-chan, did you notice that just now?"

"The expression on Sayomaru's face when he retreated was as interesting as if he had eaten a broken electronic frog."

She paused, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes:

"Could something serious be wrong with the online world?"

Besides this reason, Lila couldn't think of anything else that would make that stubborn police force give up on the arrest that was within reach.

"do not know."

Lila's voice remained calm, but it betrayed an undeniable weariness. She closed her eyes, enjoying the support of the bed.

All I know is that we are finally free.

"Once we meet the new boss, our lives will stabilize again."

"Oh yeah!"

"Ah."

Although the two were once residents of the elven world, they had been away from it for too long and were no longer concerned about the changes in that world.

In this bizarre and wonderful world, it's enough to live a comfortable and fulfilling life.

As for the lives and deaths of other people, they were never within the scope of concern of these two "master thieves".

……

Meanwhile, in a taxi heading to the city center.

"Stop for a second—"

You Yang, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them and his voice rang out abruptly.

The driver, startled, turned around in confusion:

"Oh? Sir, we're still quite a distance from our destination, and this area is..."

Before the driver could finish speaking, You Yang had already deftly taken out cash, handed it over, and got out of the car.

"I'll get off here. Don't bother looking for the rest. Thank you."

The driver, clutching the few bills that far exceeded the fare, was somewhat puzzled, but watching the young man stride into the dark alley, he wisely chose to remain silent.

He was not going to refuse such a good deal, as he saved a lot of time and could earn double the money. He stepped on the gas and happily sped away.

You Yang stood by the roadside, straightened the collar of his trench coat, and fixed his gaze on the dimly lit alleyway ahead that exuded a decadent atmosphere.

Just moments before he passed by, a card in the deck he kept close to his body suddenly became scalding hot, sending him an urgent distress signal.

As You Yang stepped into the shadows, he drew out the restless card.

On the card, a girl dressed in a high-tech battle suit is leaping about—

【I:P Lena at the Masquerade】!

As you venture deeper into the alleyways, the hustle and bustle of the city is shut out, replaced by several male voices filled with greed and violence.

"Ha, running away? Why have you stopped running?"

"Finally caught you!"

You Yang's eyes turned slightly cold as he quickened his pace. Turning a corner piled high with discarded cardboard boxes, the absurd and dangerous scene suddenly came into view deep in the dimly lit alley.

Three figures with rather "odd" appearances were blocking the dead end in a semi-encircling shape.

The leader was as fat as a ball, his face was oily, and his fleshy body trembled with laughter.

He wore a dirty apron around his waist, its original color long since obscured and covered in suspicious dark red oil stains, and in his hand he was carrying a huge frying pan large enough to crush a skull.

Standing to his left was a skinny man with glasses.

The man was hunched over, with shifty eyes, and carried a large cauldron on his back that was emitting eerie green poisonous smoke. He looked like a sorcerer brewing poison.

The last guy, a huge, clumsy fellow who looked like a wall, had a stainless steel strainer comically covering his head as a helmet. He was holding a rusty kitchen knife and making crazy, erratic gestures in the air, making chilling "heh heh" sounds.

The three men blocking the alley entrance looked like a makeshift troupe that had just escaped from a runaway, terrifying restaurant, reeking of rancid grease.

On the dirty ground in front of them, a lithe young woman dressed in a black, tight-fitting, high-tech combat suit collapsed helplessly to the ground.

She was in very poor condition; her once dazzling camouflage suit now appeared dull and lifeless.

Streams of dark green data light were uncontrollably peeling away from the girl and flowing away, continuously falling into the strange hourglass held by the three people.

You Yang did not deliberately conceal his footsteps, and his arrival naturally attracted the attention of the four people instantly.

"Who goes there?!"

The obese chef suddenly turned around, brandishing his frying pan, his fat bulging in his face, revealing a fierce expression:

"Can't you see we're on official business?"

"Get out of here if you don't want to die! This is none of your business!"

The girl, who had collapsed to the ground, struggled to lift her head, her eyes, hidden behind goggles, looking at You Yang with a puzzled expression.

The moment You Yang appeared, her data core inexplicably pulsed.

She sensed an extremely familiar feeling emanating from that strange man, a feeling that seemed to come from the depths of her soul.

It's a reassuring sense of connection.

But that feeling vanished in the blink of an eye, as quickly as a misjudgment by the system.

The girl gritted her teeth and could only attribute it to a delusion she had when she was on the verge of collapse.

She clenched her fists again, determined not to surrender even in this desperate situation.

You Yang completely ignored the three of them and instead looked at the girl who had fallen to the ground.

He examined it carefully, and it looked completely different from what he remembered.

He looked a bit too mature, but You Yang still recognized the person opposite him.