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

A delicate golden hourglass slipped from the limp arms of the eldest brother, Gustav, rolled gurgling across the rough ground, and finally came to rest at Youyang's feet.

You Yang lowered his eyes and bent down to pick it up.

The cold metallic touch traveled through his fingertips, and without hesitation, he suddenly exerted force with his palm.

"Click".

The fragile glass shattered in his palm.

In an instant, a stream of dark green energy sand, like a released sprite, overflowed from between his fingers, transforming into a dazzling ribbon of light that flew straight toward the weak girl behind him and quickly merged into her body.

Seeing this, You Yang withdrew his gaze and slowly walked to the girl.

As her body, which had been flickering due to unstable data and seemed on the verge of disappearing, gradually solidified, he asked in a low voice:

"How are you feeling? Can you still hold on?"

As the dark green sand completely fused together, the girl's originally pale face finally regained some color, and the flickering phenomenon that was always accompanied by electrical noise also completely disappeared.

She took a deep breath, feeling the power flowing through her body again, and looked up, her eyes filled with gratitude:

"Hmm... the data stream has stabilized. I feel much better, thank you."

Hearing this definite answer, You Yang finally felt relieved.

After all, his main goal in this big fuss was to save people. If he managed to kill those three small fry but failed to save anyone, he would have suffered a huge loss.

After confirming that the girl was unharmed, You Yang deftly retrieved the Cyber ​​Dragon deck and put it into his pocket.

Then, he reached into his pocket and took out the card: "[I:P. Lena at the Prom]".

However, when the card was exposed to the air, You Yang frowned slightly.

On the card, the virtual girl who is usually lively and even occasionally makes funny faces at him seems to have become a lifeless still painting.

There was no shimmering light, no whispering of elves; it became indistinguishable from any ordinary bone card found on the roadside.

You Yang flicked the card lightly, feeling speechless.

You were the one who frantically sent out SOS signals and called me over to be his thug.

Now that the person has been rescued, you're going to play "offline stealth" on me?

Keep pretending.

You Yang snorted lightly, showing no mercy whatsoever, and shoved the card, which was still "playing dead," into the girl's hand.

"She's the one who asked me to come. Since you don't want to talk to me now, you can talk to her."

"Huh?"

Under the girl's bewildered and confused gaze, You Yang turned around after saying those words and walked straight towards the three brothers who were lying on the ground, giving [I:P Lena from the Disguised Ball] no space to refuse or explain.

You Yang approached the three unconscious people, his eyes regaining their usual coldness.

He skillfully reached out and removed the cards from their duel disks one by one.

This is the spoils of war for the victors.

Sure enough, as the deck was separated from its original owner's duel disk, the patterns on the cards began to change strangely.

Like a weathered mural, the originally brightly colored monster patterns faded and disappeared one by one.

Even those legendary components of the "Sealed Dark Archmage" quickly turned into meaningless blank scraps of paper under You Yang's gaze.

"Tch, so they really are all fake cards and replicas..."

You Yang casually tossed the whitened waste paper aside, but when he was going through the last few pages, his fingers suddenly paused.

Among this pile of blank cards resembling ruins, there was an unexpected "surprise".

Amidst the stark whiteness, only one card still emitted a cold and profound dark light, showing no signs of fading.

That is—【No. 59 The Rebellious Chef】!

You Yang raised an eyebrow, compared the cards with the same name that had become blanks in the other two players' decks, and a hint of amusement flashed in his eyes.

The artifacts that Slink and Burke possess are fakes created using data simulations; they will dissipate once they lose their power.

However, the card in Gustav's hand has clear patterns and a unique "No." feel to it.

In other words, these three men who looked like ordinary fish actually possessed a real No card!

While You Yang was focused on searching for genuine items from the pile of discarded cards, the girl did not approach him to disturb him.

She stood alone in the shadows of the alleyway, looking down at the lifeless card in her hand, and sighed softly.

The sigh contained a hint of helplessness and the weariness of surviving a disaster.

She extended her slender fingers and gently tapped the cold card surface, her tone calm yet resolute:

"Lena, stop pretending to be dead."

"How long are you going to keep acting?"

"..."

After a brief silence, as if in response to her call, the card under the girl's fingertips finally reacted.

A dazzling neon light instantly illuminated the card surface, followed by countless streams of pink and blue binary data gushing out like a fountain, rapidly intertwining and reconstructing in mid-air.

Accompanied by a light, electronic synthesized sound, a slender girl brimming with youthful energy suddenly appeared amidst the condensation of light and shadow.

She wore her signature high-tech functional suit, the pair of mechanical cat ears on her head twitched lively, and the long cat tail behind her, shimmering with a faint light, swayed restlessly from side to side, drawing streaks of light.

[I:P Prom Lena] has been made into a physical form.

"Cough cough... I'm innocent! I didn't pretend!"

As soon as Lena appeared, her eyes darted around nervously. She glanced guiltily at You Yang, who was looting their spoils with his back turned, and offered a forced explanation:

"Just now, it was only because my boss's power was too violent and the energy interference he generated was too great that I couldn't detect external signals and was forced to go offline."

Before the girl could expose this clumsy excuse, she immediately changed the subject, exaggeratedly leaning forward to examine the girl's slightly disheveled physical condition.

"Speaking of which, Xiaoye, what are you up to?"

How did you end up in this miserable state?

"If I hadn't noticed, or if my boss had arrived a step too late, you would really have been sealed inside the card!"

Although Xiaoye knew that Lena was awkwardly changing the subject, this was clearly not the time to dwell on such trivial matters.

She wasn't angry, but her expression became unusually serious as she began to explain the current situation:

"A traitor has appeared in the virtual world."

"Through some unknown medium, they have reached a cooperation agreement with certain people in the real world with ulterior motives."

Xiaoye's voice was low and deep, carrying a profound sense of powerlessness:

"Those people forcibly tore apart the barrier between the two worlds and changed the operating rules of the entire virtual world from the underlying logic."

"As members of the 'Public Security Maintenance Bureau' responsible for maintaining order, we were not only denied access to the virtual world by the system, but we were even... hunted down in return."

Upon hearing these words, Lena's smile froze instantly, and her bright eyes were filled with disbelief, as if she had heard something unbelievable.

"How is this possible?!"

"What about the six guardian AIs? Aren't they going to take care of them?"

“We’ve completely lost contact.” Xiaoye shook her head.

"Then... what about the highest priority 'firewall' defense system?"

"It has been breached by force."

The brief Q&A vividly depicts a despairing and crumbling reality.

"Even they've been captured...?"

Lena muttered to herself, clearly quite shocked by the news.

But then, as if suddenly realizing something, her cat ears perked up, and her eyes lit up:

"and many more……"

"In other words, at this very moment, the original rules of the virtual world have completely collapsed... Doesn't that mean my 'Level 1 Wanted' warrant has also become invalid due to the system crash?"

Seeing Lena's suddenly expectant expression, Xiaoye glanced at her coldly and gave a blank, affirmative answer:

"Yes. Under normal circumstances, I would have put electronic handcuffs on you the moment we met."

"Forehead……"

Upon hearing this menacing "truth," Lena's bright smile instantly froze.

She instinctively took two steps back, creating a safe distance between herself and the "sheriff".

After all, she knew very well that the person in front of her was known for being incorruptible and a person who always kept her word. Even if the world were destroyed, her desire to capture people would probably never die.

So, what are you planning to do now?

You Yang's calm and steady voice suddenly rang out behind the two of them, breaking the brief atmosphere of confusion.

Although You Yang deliberately kept a distance in order to give these "former adversaries" some private space, his senses, enhanced by the power of the elves, were extremely sharp.

In the quiet alley, every word the two had just spoken reached his ears clearly.

The three foolish brothers, who were foaming at the mouth and in a deep coma due to the mental shock, posed no immediate threat, so You Yang strolled over leisurely with his hands in his pockets.

Upon hearing the question, Xiaoye's body stiffened slightly.

She turned around, and her eyes, which were usually as sharp as an eagle's, now seemed somewhat dim.

"I have no idea……"

She lowered her head, looking at her palm that occasionally flashed with a scrambled code, her voice filled with an unprecedented helplessness:

"I can no longer go back to the virtual world... The passage is blocked, and the coordinates are lost."

The pride and confidence that belonged to the sheriff seemed to be crumbling little by little in the face of harsh reality.

"Hey, don't be so discouraged!"

"Would those two have a solution?"

Compared to Xiaoye's depression, Lena's mindset was clearly much better.