Chapter 39: You Xuan's Simple Favor

At the same time, elsewhere.

Dinosaur Ryuzaki was in a fairly good mood today.

After several consecutive days of seclusion, he had found an arena today, bullied noobs for several matches in a row, regained his confidence, and rediscovered the feeling of dueling.

That's right; dueling should indeed be like this.

The previous matches were indeed not my problem.

After racking up seven consecutive victories in one breath, Ryuzaki left the venue contentedly. He found a restaurant to buy some dinner, and upon exiting, unexpectedly bumped into a fan.

"Ah! It's Dinosaur Ryuzaki!"

A young boy's eyes lit up from afar, and he quickly ran over with loud footsteps.

"I'm your fan; could you give me an autograph!"

Ryuzaki's heart instantly swelled with joy. The last time someone had asked for his autograph felt like it was a century ago; for a while, he had felt as though he had faded into obscurity. Of course, this was also related to the fact that he hadn't competed or made any public appearances for many years.

"Consider yourself lucky, kid; I'm in a good mood today."

Ryuzaki cheerfully took the signature board handed over by the boy and scribbled his name with flourishing strokes.

"Thank you!" The boy took the signature board, turned around happily, and was about to leave.

"Hey, wait, don't be in such a rush to go."

Ryuzaki grabbed him by the back of his collar and dragged him back.

"You think you can just take my autograph and walk away like that?"

The boy was stunned: "Eh? Then..."

Ryuzaki held out his hand and waved it.

"Money! Pay up! My autograph isn't cheap. If you have no money, use cards to settle the debt."

"Huh?" The boy was dumbfounded. "You charge money for it?"

"What?" Ryuzaki feigned anger. "I am the great Dinosaur Ryuzaki; do you think my autograph is worth so little?"

"No, I wouldn't dare..."

"."

Thus, a few minutes later, as Ryuzaki walked down the street, he already had several new cards and a wallet in his hand.

"Tch, poor bastards; nothing valuable here," he sneered, curling his lip.

Actually, he wasn't really short on cards, nor did he lack that bit of money; he simply enjoyed doing this.

At this moment, he couldn't help but think of his old buddy Insector Haga. There was a time when they were inseparable best friends; back then, they even did things like extorting people for autographs together.

Of course, when they were caught and beaten half to death, they suffered together as well.

He wondered where his good buddy had gone now and what he was up to...

Coming back to his senses, he suddenly realized the atmosphere was off.

It was clearly broad daylight, yet somehow the streets had become completely empty...

No, it seemed the sky had also turned gloomy at some point; the heavy air pressed down until one could hardly breathe.

"Finally found you, Dinosaur Ryuzaki."

A somewhat rough voice came from the alley nearby. A man in a suit stepped out slowly, green light shining in his eyes, wearing a uniquely designed Duel Disk on his arm.

Ryuzaki: "Who are you?"

"I am Fujimoto, the sworn brother of Onizuka, whom you killed."

Ryuzaki: "?"

Who is that again? Should I know him?

Ryuzaki wore a look of complete confusion, but Fujimoto gave him no chance, directly activating his Duel Disk.

"Pretending to be ignorant won't help! Words are useless; Shadow Game, begin!

Today, I will use your soul to mourn the deceased Onizuka!"

Ryuzaki: "???"

So who exactly is this person you're talking about? Have I met him?

Kaiba Land, Duel Arena.

As the Duel AI's Life Points hit zero, the system lock was indeed released. The armor covering the surrounding windows clattered open, the roller shutters rose, and sunlight shone back into the arena.

Yet the projected image on stage remained distorted, flickering continuously, its mouth still repeating: "Atta-zzt you-zzt..."

"Say, is there something wrong with this AI?"

"It must be broken, right?"

"Mm, it feels like it's completely broken; how pitiful..."

The onlookers whispered among themselves.

However, soon no one paid it any mind, as the focus shifted to You Xuan, who had brilliantly won this duel and lifted the system lockdown.

At least in the eyes of the audience below, this young man with the 'You' surname had already transcended godhood.

Possessing the deck data of Seto Kaiba, the AI, at least in their view, imitated not only the thinking and tactics but even the occasionally nonsensical chuunibyou lines to perfection.

During the AI duel, it also displayed the overwhelming dominance of the Blue-Eyes, yet all of it was casually neutralized by this person. And the most spectacular part was that, in the end, it was even defeated by its own "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's" breath attack.

The dojo students, led by Senior Brother Sato Koji, had already been immensely impressed during the duel. Throughout the match, they felt as if gusts of eerie wind were blowing across the field, yet from the perspective of the onlookers outside, they inexplicably found it more and more enjoyable to watch.

As colleagues of the dojo, they naturally shared in the glory; in the future, it would be convenient to brag to others, saying, "I have a buddy." However, alongside their admiration, there was also a touch of complexity in their hearts.

Because if even the legendary figure at the pinnacle of the dueling world, the representative of power-type decks, lost to their sinister junior brother, then what exactly will the future of the dueling world become?

Just thinking about it made them feel that as this new star, You Xuan, rose, the entire card world of the future was gradually being covered by a layer of pitch-black clouds, so dark it was worrying...

The staff of Kaiba Land had already arrived on the scene, apologizing and compensating the trapped visitors, while simultaneously shutting down the system for maintenance.

Soon, people from the company arrived as well. Seto Kaiba's younger brother, Mokuba Kaiba, personally led the team to inspect the situation on-site.

"Fujiki... You Xuan, is it? You were the one who stopped that Duel AI in time?"

Mokuba shook hands with You Xuan.

"Thanks to your courageous stand, I represent Kaiba Corporation in expressing our gratitude."

You Xuan waved his hand magnanimously: "It's a small matter; I merely did what every duelist should do. Cash rewards are unnecessary, and I have absolutely no need for rare cards; there's really no need to be so polite..."

Mokuba blinked blankly twice, then burst out laughing.

"You really are an interesting person. How about this: I am preparing to return to Kaiba Corporation's local branch; there should be quite a stock of cards in the warehouse there.

Why don't you come along and take a look? We also want to ask for details regarding the accident and the duel process just now."

Hiss~ Go directly to the Kaiba family's warehouse?

"Ai, how can I accept that? That would be too embarrassing..."

While saying this, You Xuan was already walking alongside Mokuba, as if they had become good buddies the moment they met.

"No problem, no problem. The losses you saved our company from are far more important," Mokuba said with a smile.

"."

The students watched You Xuan's retreating figure, momentarily speechless.

Half a minute later, Sato Koji couldn't help but say: "Junior brother... why does he look so practiced at this..."

"Heh, you don't understand, do you? This is also a form of talent."

Master Takeuchi looked in the direction You Xuan had gone, nodding slightly with an expression suggesting the young man was promising and teachable.

"You all have much to learn from him."

The apprentices: "."

(End of Chapter)