Yu-Gi-Oh!: This card wants to go to you.

Tai'a finished telling the story with lingering enthusiasm.

The water has been collected, filling several bottles.

Luo Bai, however, remained immersed in the story, standing frozen in place.

The story of the snake cave has a strangely familiar feel to it.

He couldn't remember where he had seen it before.

"You mean—" Luo Bai turned to look at Tai'a, his expression somewhat astonished.

"We need to unite everyone in the entire ruins?!"

He had thought about it, but it's easy to say something but extremely difficult to do it.

Why should anyone believe you can win?

How could you dare to put your deck in someone else's hands?

"They don't look like people who would unite."

Luo Bai glanced at the corpses around him; the dents left by trampling on them spoke volumes about human nature.

Nine out of ten who manage to enter the ruins are greedy and have many ulterior motives.

“Yes, it’s difficult.” Tai’a put away his water pouch, smiled faintly, and said, “Fairy tales are just fairy tales after all.”

Suddenly, a sharp glint flashed in his eyes.

"But it's not necessarily impossible!"

Upon hearing this, Luo Bai's spirits lifted: "What are your plans?"

"Unite the entire ruins..."

His voice was low, as if he had given up hope.

“Lin Yi is highly respected among the lower-level explorers,” Tai Akan said. “Miss Shu wields high-level power.”

"The Dragon Fairy and I can use force to suppress some riots."

"We have the support of the people, the resources of the higher-ups, and military force..."

"I never expected this."

"Junior Sister Xinxin knows so many people..."

"but--"

He changed the subject, his gaze fixed intently on Luo Bai, his voice firm and deep: "We lack a king."

In this unification plan, they can all do certain things, such as winning people over, providing power, or using force to suppress dissent.

However, none of them could lead independently.

"What's the challenge now?" Luo Bai asked Tai'a earnestly, meeting his gaze.

He neither openly accepted the so-called "King" title nor directly refused it; instead, he immediately inquired about the difficulties of the plan.

Upon hearing this, Tai'a looked around, then squatted down and whispered, "You know those three red monsters, right?"

“They are from the Kusha-nu-wei clan,” Luo Bai asked. “What happened to them?”

“The Kusha Nuwei tribe…” Tai’a repeated, “Their physique is also very special, and they are not greatly affected by the environment of the ruins.”

"Everyone else is weakened, but they remain unchanged."

"It's as if they're getting stronger, making them extremely violent in the ruins."

"But they also possess a very important card, that one—"

He couldn't recall the card name for a moment.

"The [PSY] spell that negates magic and the red mermaid," Luo Bai vaguely suggested.

“Yes.” Tai’a nodded, his face slightly worried. “We are not confident that we can beat them, whether in a duel or in terms of strength.”

As he spoke, he looked at Luo Bai again, his eyes filled with anticipation.

"I understand," Luo Bai said softly, neither agreeing nor refusing.

The plan is now clear: to combine the card pools from all the ruins to create a more powerful (abstract) deck.

Their small team controls certain resources.

The chances are slim, but there's always a glimmer of hope.

However, during the implementation, the three-man group from the Abhidharma-Kosa was extremely arrogant, and there was no way to get around them.

They need a king, a core backbone, to remove the thorn in the side of Abhidharma.

Luo Bai glanced down at the time, seemingly lost in thought, then slowly looked up at Tai'a: "Give me three hours."

“I will return here and remove the thorn that is Abhidharma.”

"If I hadn't come—"

He took a deep breath and stood up.

"You should just find someone else."

"Hmm." Tai'a smiled with relief; this reply was better than a direct rejection.

"we will wait for you."

Luo Bai didn't say anything more, and quickly ran back to the underground laboratory with the water bottle.

The reason he didn't accept Tai'a's proposal immediately, nor did he dare to make any promises, was because he was very clear about his current situation.

After the battle with the Pharaoh, many cards were destroyed in the Demon God's Flame Cannon, and only three or five blank cards remained.

Fortunately, the Cyber ​​Dragon deck was relatively well preserved.

The fact that the [Anaconda] self-destructed during the 0641 incident is a minor issue, as another copy can be printed. However, the lack of epic cards like [Infinite] and [Armored Dragon] is a serious problem.

He wasn't very confident about using a disabled "Electronic Dragon" to fight "Kusha".

Directly seizing by force would be even riskier.

If we really want to compete with the Abhidharma, we must have [Infinite]. We need to find a way to create an epic card in this empty ruin of Ina.

There are patterns, but elemental beads and blank cards are rare, though they do exist.

The only thing missing is a million-dollar denomination.

Luo Bai sighed deeply, quickened his pace, and soon returned to the abandoned underground laboratory.

"Here you go." He handed the water bottle to Yilan.

Yi Lan was clearly taken aback, then took the water and said, "Thank you."

She took a small sip, her brows relaxed, and she held the water bottle tightly in her hands, as if she were holding some precious treasure.

The corners of his mouth slowly curled up unconsciously.

If you look closely, you can sense a subtle feeling of happiness.

Luo Bai breathed a long sigh of relief and slowly sat down next to Yi Lan.

The two remained silent for a long time, sitting shoulder to shoulder.

The air was deathly still; you could hear a pin drop.

Yilan raised the transparent water bottle and looked at the clear water inside through the dim light.

It shimmered with a slight watery sheen, like stars, like diamonds, sparkling and beautiful.

She was somewhat mesmerized, a faint, silly smile on her face.

Look—

She turned her head, wanting to show Luo Bai the stars in the water bottle.

Luo Bai interrupted with a serious expression, saying, "I want to create an epic card."

"A large amount of acetylene is needed."

The voice conveyed no emotion, only a slight tremor could be heard.

Just like what Bai said to Shirley that day—

"I need a powerful soul."

Time seemed to stand still, and the world was deathly silent.

“Making an epic card…” Yi Lan’s smile froze, her breathing quickened.

If anyone else had said that, she would have thought they were crazy, because epic cards cannot be crafted.

But it was precisely what he said.

"How much..." she asked, her voice trembling.

I've never heard of crafting epic cards before. How many B's would it take to craft just one?

Luo Bai buried his head in his knees and remained silent for a long time before saying, "Five million points."

"Five million..."

Yi Lan's eyes widened suddenly, and the water bottle in her hand rippled with unease.

A normal extraordinary card costs about 30,000 points.

Crafting an epic card costs five million points?!

"Do I... really need this card...?" Yilan asked breathlessly.

Luo Bai gripped his head tightly with his fingertips, not daring to meet her gaze: "With this card, my chances of winning are much higher."

“Victory…” Yi Lan smiled with relief, exhaling a weak breath, “I understand.”

"I'll listen to you."

Luo Bai tried to calm his racing heart and took out the elemental bead from the blank card on the supercomputing ring.

He slowly reached out and touched Yi Lan's wrist.

He would stop making the card if she resisted for even a second.