A duelist never gives up!

"A shortcut method!"

Ai said excitedly.

"what?"

"..."

Then, under the cold moonlight, a figure appeared on the tree branches behind the boys' dormitory building.

"Hurry up, hurry up, I can't wait any longer." Ai urged.

"I don't know who asked me to cut off the branches last time." Yuan Qi curled his lips. That's right, because the gate at the bottom of the dormitory building would be locked by the dormitory manager at night, so he once again chose to climb down from the branches on the balcony.

"Hey, Hara Nana-san?"

A familiar voice sounded, Yuan Qi turned his head and found a figure hanging on a tree nearby.

"Are you classmate Qingshi? Is there something wrong that makes you leave the dormitory so late?" Yuan Qi spoke without waiting for Qingshi to speak.

"Well, this is my secret. Do you want to know?" Qingshi blinked mischievously and said shyly.

“…” Yuan Qi almost vomited out his dinner today.

"Hahaha! Your expression is so funny. I'm just kidding. I'm going to the store to buy some snacks." Qingshi laughed.

"Doesn't the school store sell those things?" Yuan Qi asked curiously. According to Xuefeng, the school store only sells some duel-related supplies.

"Huh? Oh, you just transferred here so you don't know." Qingshi seemed to remember something. "Although the college store doesn't sell it, the student store may not sell it."

"A student shop... that's what it is."

"Well, of course, it's a bit expensive, but it's convenient for everyone. Do you need me to take you there?"

"No thanks." Yuan Qi declined politely.

"Then I'll take the first step."

Qingshi said this and disappeared into the night.

"I'm kind of craving some snacks." Ai suddenly said.

"Aren't you a spirit?"

"Hehe, that's not necessarily true~"

Chapter 56: Opening up a new path.

"This way, turn right. Oh, no, it's a dead end... Then go around it this way."

Because of the curfew, the college was deserted at night, although it wasn't very lively even for half a day.

Yuan Qi followed Ai's instructions and walked around the huge academy, panting, "Hey, where are we going?"

"You're tired after just a few minutes? Your physique is too weak. You need to exercise more." Ai floated in the air and spoke while standing without any pain in his waist.

"Then how about I carry you around instead?" Yuan Qi said unhappily.

"I would like to, but my body doesn't allow it." Ai said, supporting his cheek.

"..."

"Okay, okay, let me tell you. Just now, I remembered something very, very important." Ai collapsed on Yuan Qi, biting Yuan Qi's ear and said excitedly, "Guess what I thought of?"

"No Riddler, just speak up."

"Hmm, okay then. Remember I told you that the power of duel will be generated during the duel, and then the majority will be absorbed by the winner, a small part will be absorbed by the loser, and the last part will dissipate into the air?" Ai said softly.

"Remember, what happened?"

"Then think about it again, where did the duel power that dissipated into the air go?" Ai said with a smile.

"In the air." Yuan Qi was confused.

"That's right. The Duel Force won't vanish out of thin air. It exists in the air. Logically, then, the Duel Force in the air will become increasingly dense, to the point where even a normal person would notice it." Ai clapped his hands. "Now, here comes the point. Why doesn't the omnipotent Ai absorb the remaining Duel Force directly from the air?"

"How should I know?" Yuan Qi said indifferently.

"You should ask why!" Ai sighed. "Never mind. I forgive you."

"Because... someone has taken away all this duel power first." Ai pushed the non-existent eyeglasses on his nose and said.

"Who?" Yuan Qi also became curious.

"That's right, the mastermind behind stealing the remaining duel power of the students after the duel is... this academy!" Ai said in a deep voice, pointing to the teaching building in front.

"what?"

"Ahem." Ai cleared his throat twice. "That's right. This academy actually has a device buried under the ground to absorb the power of duels. Whenever a duel ends, the remaining duel power will be directly sucked into the ground and transferred to the central nervous system. After energy compression and decompression, the duel power will be converted into various energies and transmitted to the academy's equipment. The light bulb in your room is lit because of the use of this duel power!"

"It is obvious that the duel power was generated by the duels between students, but this academy actually took it for itself under the pretext of being righteous! This shameless behavior makes me very angry, so next we are going to take away the duel power collected by this academy!" Ai patted his flat chest with confidence and said righteously.

"Tell me, is there a possibility..." Yuan Qi said with drooping eyelids, "that this device might be set up to save energy."

"Yes, and in fact, many major cities in the kingdom have such devices." Ai nodded, "But that doesn't stop us from taking advantage of them."

"This kind of absorbed absolute power is the duel power that has not undergone any conversion or processing. I can absorb it directly. Then, won't we be able to print more powerful cards?" Ai patted Yuan Qi's shoulder, "I do this for your own good!"

"Even so, what we do is considered stealing, right?"

"What do you mean by stealing? Don't we have a share of the dueling power collected there?! We're just going to retrieve what belongs to us. As for accidentally taking a little extra, that's force majeure!" Ai pointed ahead and said, "Let's go. I can sense that the central area is ahead."

Yuan Qi thought for a moment, and then felt that what Ai said made sense.

He looked at the building in front of him and suddenly realized something: "This place... looks like an office building, right?"

"It makes sense. Important things should be kept in a safe place." Ai pointed at the locked door and waved her hand, "Qi, climb over."

"I don't think it's likely." Yuan Qi thought for a moment and took out a card from the deck. "Phantom Rabbit, are you there?"

"I am always ready to serve my lord." A white light flashed, and the Ghost Rabbit appeared in front of Yuan Qi.

She looked around, then fixed her sight on the door in front of her. Then her right hand touched the hilt of her sword: "I see. Do you need help clearing a path for my lord? Leave it to me."

"Wait!" Yuan Qi quickly held him down. "I want to ask, can you take me up to the second floor?"

That’s right, although the first floor is blocked, the corridor on the second floor does not have any railings or other guardrails.

"No problem." Ghost Rabbit stretched out his hands, "Please take a seat, my lord."

"Uh, what does that mean?" Yuan Qi asked in confusion.

"That's it..." Ghost Rabbit gently pulled Yuan Qi into his arms, "I heard about it from my students before—the legendary lord hug."

"No, you must have made a mistake. This is a princess hug." Yuan Qi looked up at the bright moon hanging in the sky and said, "Could you please change the way you do it?"

"Lie down, my lord. I'm going to jump up." The Ghost Rabbit seemed not to hear Yuan Qi's words. It jumped up and jumped steadily onto the walkway on the second floor of the teaching building.

"I can sense that the duel force is behind this door." Ai said, pointing to the door in front of him.

Ai got off the Ghost Rabbit and curled his lips because he found a sign hanging on the door - Teaching Department.

"Are you serious? We've been to this place at least twice. How come you didn't sense it before?"

"I found it by following the flow of duel power. It's definitely right here," Ai said, pointing to his eyes. "And I didn't look carefully before. Don't you notice the difference between my eyes now and before?"

Yuan Qi was stunned for a moment, then he looked carefully at Ai's eyes and found that there was a colorful rainbow light constantly flowing around the girl's light blue pupils.

"See? This time I used my extremely pure divine power. Doesn't it feel magnificent?" Ai said with a smile, pointing at his own eyes.

"It looks pretty good." Yuan Qi nodded.

"Can you be a little more perfunctory?" Ai's face fell.

"very beautiful."

"..."

Is the Lord talking to his air friend again? Ghost Rabbit tugged at Yuan Qi's clothes and asked, "What are we going to do next?"

"Next..." Yuan Qi walked towards the familiar door in front of him, "We need to enter this room."

"My lord, are you actually going to steal something?!" Ghost Rabbit said in shock.

"Hehe, it's not stealing, it's taking back what belongs to me." Yuan Qi imitated Ai and said.

"I understand." Ghost Rabbit instantly believed Yuan Qi and stared at the door in front of him and said, "Do you need me to help clear the way for you, lord?"

"No, I found that this door seemed..." Yuan Qi turned the handle and then pushed it gently. The door creaked and then... opened.

"Is it open?"

Chapter 57: The Girl Wearing a Mask

"Did the dean forget to lock the door when he left?"

Yuan Qi looked at the open door, hesitated for a moment, and then walked in. The last time he came here was the same as the last time, and the furnishings in the room were still the same as he remembered.

"It's very possible," Ai speculated. "Those who appear to be very careful on the surface might actually be careless."

"So? Where is the 'center' you mentioned?" Yuan Qi looked around the room and only saw a sandalwood desk, a leather sofa for entertaining guests, and a crystal clear glass table. On the glass table were fruits and tea for entertaining guests.

"Right here." Ai pointed to the floor and said, "Do you remember how we entered the trial ground before?"

Yuan Qi thought back to the altar and said without hesitation, "You mean, this room is also a teleportation array in a sense?"

"That's right." Ai slowly descended from mid-air, squatted down, slapped the ground with one white and tender hand, and smiled slyly. "Look, this is the power of the gods!"

"Wait, I have a bad feeling..."

Before Yuan Qi could finish his words, a dazzling white light suddenly lit up on the floor of the room and sucked him in. The next second, the office returned to silence. Only the door occasionally hit the wall with the breeze, making a "dong dong" sound, proving that someone had been there.

When Yuan Qi opened his eyes, he saw a thick and large glass pillar standing upright in the center of the space. The glass pillar was filled with white light. Next to the glass pillar was a huge instrument.

In front of the instrument, a petite girl with long black hair and wearing a black dress was facing away from him. A red duel disk was attached to the girl's arm.

"It's broken, I knew there was someone."

There was nothing else in the entire room except the light beam and instruments, so even if Yuan Qi wanted to hide, it would be useless.

"Ayi, someone is here, please take me back quickly." Yuan Qi urged in a low voice.

"Since we're here, you deal with her for a while while I go to get some strength for the duel!" Ai said, and he flashed and floated towards the beam of light impatiently.

"Who?"

As if she had noticed that there was another person in the space, the girl turned around suddenly and saw a man wearing a hood and slightly lowering his head, with his high collar covering the lower half of his face.

"Who are you? What's your purpose in sneaking in here?" the girl asked in a low voice.

"I don't think you should be asking this question, right?" Yuan Qi pointed at the white mask on the other person's face. "Who are you, and what is your purpose in sneaking in here?!"

"..."

A strange atmosphere spread between the two of them, and just when Yuan Qi couldn't help but say something, the other party spoke.

"If I'm not mistaken, you are also here to take advantage of this duel power, right?" the girl said lightly.

"So what?" Yuan Qi asked as he looked at Ai circling around the beam of light.

"As you can see, the dueling power stored here is probably more than ten times the total of you and me. How about we not interfere with each other?" the girl suggested.

"I have no opinion."

"That's for the best."

After getting the answer, the girl turned around and continued to fiddle with the instrument, but she turned her head from time to time to be wary of Yuan Qi.

At this moment, Ai also floated back.

"It's healed so quickly?" Yuan Qi asked in surprise.

"No." Ai said with his head down, "That glass seems to have special properties. The duel power inside is firmly sealed inside. I can't absorb it."

"What should I do?"

"Go and see how she operates it." Ai pointed at the girl standing in front of the operating table.

Yuan Qi came over.

When the girl saw Yuan Qi approaching, she moved a step to the left cautiously, but she did not leave, because her right hand, as soft and delicate as jade, was inserted into a round opening on the operating table, leaving only a part of her white and tender wrist exposed.

"Is it enough to just put your hand in?" Yuan Qi asked thoughtfully.

"You sneaked in here without knowing anything?" The masked girl frowned slightly. "The console is directly connected to the inside of the pillar. The two ports here are used to connect external devices to provide power, and you can also reach in and take in the energy."