Yu-Gi-Oh!: This is the real duel!

"So, he probably might not speak either..."

You Che fell silent once again, and then smiled helplessly.

A gentle night breeze was blowing.

Not long after the second candle was lit, Youche unexpectedly felt sleepy.

Perhaps the appearance of the new spirit eased some of the sadness and brought a lot of surprises. The dark cloud that had been hanging over You Che's heart dissipated a bit. At this moment, all he could think about was how to develop other forms of this little warrior and further enhance his spiritual power.

Leaving the balcony, You Che returned to the living room. Although it was still pitch black, his mood had changed.

The next morning, the chef arranged by Seto Kaiba arrived as promised, and the bed that Keihei Kaiba had ordered was also delivered. Yuzuru was carefully woken up and then went to the study to sleep soundly.

After everyone got up and washed up, it was already 10 a.m. They ate a meal that was hard to tell if it was breakfast or lunch, and then resumed their pleasant and relaxing vacation.

For the next few days, everyone spent their time in the same way.

They had originally planned to explore all of Bailong Amusement Park first, but considering they would be participating in a competition later, they decided to leave some things to look forward to and went to other places instead.

One week later, on the eve of the KC Grand Prix.

All participating duelists and major media outlets in the dueling world were invited to the studio in the White Dragon Paradise Center building, including many bigwigs who have in-depth cooperation with the KC Group.

For this banquet, everyone unusually changed into suits, and a group of high school students began to imitate the mannerisms of adults and nobles.

"Cough cough! Cough cough cough!" Jonouchi held a glass of red wine and kept clearing his throat.

Kyoko couldn't stand it any longer and pointed out, "Jounouchi... your buttons are on wrong..."

"Huh?!" Jonouchi exclaimed in surprise. "Why didn't you warn me sooner?!"

Having witnessed countless such gatherings, Peacock Dance laughed easily: "It's alright, no one will notice anyway. They'll only see your tie disguised with a napkin."

As Jonouchi retook his shirt button, he angrily ripped off the napkin from his breast pocket and exclaimed, "It's all because of that Honda guy! He had to steal my dinner cake, otherwise my tie wouldn't have gotten so dirty!"

At that moment, Kaiba Keihei walked over to greet them. Seeing everyone dressed formally, he couldn't help but scratch his head and chuckle, "Actually, the duelists don't need to dress so formally. It's fine to have some unique style too~"

"Unique?" Yugi Muto pointed to a few strangely dressed people in the distance who looked like they were cosplaying, and couldn't help but laugh. "You mean them? Keipai?"

Yuzuru and the others looked in the direction Yugi Muto pointed, and saw a group of people wearing Duel Disks, gathered together chatting and laughing. Among them were people dressed as doctors, detectives, and even barbarians...

Tonight's gathering only allows duelists to wear Duel Disks, so when everyone's attention fell on a little boy on the other side, they couldn't help but be surprised.

"Hey? Haven't we seen that kid before?!"

You Che nodded and said, "That's right, he is the genius boy we met at the Giant Dome Arena that day—Leon."

"Leon?"

Everyone remembered the name.

"Is that the kid who summoned Sleeping Giant Gudu in four rounds?"

"What?! Someone this young can participate in this level of competition?!"

"Haha, where is he small? I read in the report that he's the same age as Rebecca, the US national champion!"

As everyone was discussing, a flamboyant exclamation rang out from the side, followed by a tall, beautiful woman in a cheongsam rushing over, exclaiming in surprise, "Ah!!! Is this Yugi Muto, the Duel King and one of the Duel Kingdom's champions?!"

Everyone was startled, especially You Che, whose arm had been grabbed and whose face showed obvious discomfort.

Jonouchi proudly introduced himself: "That's right! There's also me, Jonouchi Katsuya, a top eight finalist in the Duel City Tournament!!"

However, the strange woman completely ignored him.

In the end, Cheng Nei only received two eye rolls, one from the woman in the cheongsam and the other from the peacock dancer next to her.

Under the banquet lights, the woman's skin appeared exceptionally fair, and her long legs, which were constantly peeking out from under her cheongsam, revealed a bright, jade-like color. What didn't match her aloof features were not only her exaggerated movements and expressions, but also the two buns on her head.

At this moment, she was excitedly saying while forcefully pulling Youche and the game together for a photo:

"My name is Vivian Wang! You can just call me Vivian~"

"You Che~ Although he's not as handsome as he is in the video, his charisma is still outstanding!"

"Oh my!! Yugi Muto, you're really cute!!"

You Che didn't consider himself handsome. If you had to force it, he could barely be considered good-looking. As for his demeanor... he felt that Vivian was just exaggerating.

With goosebumps all over his body, Youche struggled to pull away Vivian's arm that had reached out to him, and said with a somewhat embarrassed laugh, "It's alright... I think Seahorse is much more handsome than me..."

Vivian glanced at the photos she had just taken and smiled with satisfaction, "President Kaiba is definitely a handsome guy! But~ my ideal choice is still Duel King Yuzuriha~"

"The ideal candidate?!" You Che's back teeth clenched with rage.

Seeing that the visitor wasn't primarily interested in the game, Anzu and Rebecca, standing nearby, smiled and teased, "Vivian isn't talking about boyfriends or girlfriends, is she?"

“That’s right!” Vivian pulled Yu Che’s arm again. “As the strongest female duelist, if she could become a dueling couple with the Duel King Yu Che, it would definitely be a legendary tale that goes down in history!!”

Youche, covered in goosebumps, wanted to run away, but for a moment he didn't know how to talk to this woman who was clinging to him so tightly.

Fortunately, Mai stepped forward, smiling confidently, and said, "How much you admire Yu Che is your own business. But the strongest female duelist? Hmph~ Sorry, that's not something you can decide!"

Vivian narrowed her eyes, gently released Youche's arm, pinched her slender waist, and replied domineeringly, "You are Peacock Dance, right? I've seen your duels. To be honest, your tactics are outdated, and the Harpy and the Amazon are not a good match."

Peacock Dance raised the corner of her mouth, but her eyes held a hint of hostility: "Is that so? If that's the case, then I'm looking forward to meeting you in the competition."

Vivian smiled just as coldly: "I'm always ready!"

"Splash splash ...

Just as tensions were rising, applause suddenly broke out from the crowd.

Then, Keihei Kaiba, who was the host of the banquet, walked onto the stage. After changing out of his ever-present jacket, he looked much less boyish in a suit.

Standing in the center of the stage, Kaiba Keihei skillfully recited the official opening speech and smoothly changed the topic to begin the main event of the evening!

Amidst the enthusiastic introductions, the thirty-two duelists took to the stage one after another. Among them was Sieg, the elegant man who had hacked into the Giant Dome Arena system that day, dressed in various styles!

Below the stage, Seto Kaiba, dressed in a white suit, coldly surveyed the duelists on the platform.

He has been on edge ever since the accident a week ago.

After thorough investigation, he ruled out the possibility of remote system intrusion, because the program he designed could almost only be cracked through hardware access. Through the leftover tool used in the crime found in the amusement park center building—a miniature hard drive—Seto Kaiba discovered some clues.

Anyone wanting to enter the central building must go through multiple security checks. Due to technological limitations, the Duel Disk is removed during the security check and does not pass through the equipment. The micro hard drive managed to get through by disguising itself as a card slot.

Seto Kaiba concluded that some duelist must have secretly installed this thing in the building's server room while the reporter was entering information.

Therefore, the enemy he is looking for must be among the thirty-two duelists on the stage right now!

The reminder from that day's game resurfaced in his mind, and Seto Kaiba deliberately looked at the elegant man with long, light pink hair—Sieg: "No, it shouldn't be him... This guy was among the victims that day..."

"So... who exactly is this enemy?"

"What mask is he wearing?"

Seto Kaiba is still deep in thought.

Keihei Kaima continued to host.

"Next up is the final, thirty-second duelist!!"

"A masked duelist with extraordinary strength, a mysterious background, and the power to summon and control legendary dragons, claiming to possess the power of ancient relics!!"

"Rock Mask!!!"

As the spotlight shone down, a short, stocky duelist wearing a headscarf and a face mask, completely covering himself, slowly walked onto the stage and calmly waved to the flash and cameras.

Upon seeing that incredibly familiar physique and the number "66" on his hat that directly betrayed his identity, Honda and Kyoko in the audience immediately recognized that this Rock Mask was none other than Yugi Muto's grandfather and Katsuya Jonouchi's dueling mentor—Suguroku Muto!

"Huh?! Chicken sauce is here too?!" Honda was quite surprised.

Kyoko nodded: "It must be him. I guess Jonouchi and the others recognized him too, right?"

But when they looked at Jonouchi on the stage, they found that he was just as arrogant and conceited as before, waving his fist at "Rock Mask" with a look of hostility and contempt.

*Smack!*

Honda and Kyoko simultaneously slapped their foreheads in exasperation.

It seems they overestimated this mediocre talent who loves making exaggerated facial expressions...

After Rock Mask appeared, all the duelists were ready.

Kaiba Keihei returned to the center of the stage and passionately announced to the audience:

"Alright! All our players are here!!"

"And tomorrow, this unprecedented KC Grand Prix will be held in the giant dome arena of White Dragon Paradise!!"

"The ultimate victor will not only receive a hefty prize, but also the highest honor in the dueling world—the title of 'King of Duels'!!!"

Chapter 265 KC Grand Prix! Begin!

"Splash splash splash splash————————"

Thunderous applause and enthusiastic cheers signaled the end of the banquet, but at the same time, it also meant that You Che would once again face that woman who gave him goosebumps.

After leaving the stage, You Che was about to leave quickly when, sure enough, an excited exclamation came from behind him. Vivian Wang had jumped on him without any regard for propriety.

Seto Kaiba, sitting in the audience, caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of his eye. He thought some random assassin was attacking Yuzuru, so he immediately stood up from his seat. But when he saw that Yuzuru was interacting with a strange woman, he couldn't help but twitch his lips twice and muttered under his breath, "Boring!"

A middle-aged man in a suit next to him asked with concern, "What's wrong? What happened, President Kaiba?"

"Hmph," Seto Kaiba snorted, "It's nothing, I just wanted to take a good look at these third-rate duelists."

Seto Kaiba returned to his seat and resumed his business networking.

Meanwhile, You Che and his group walked straight out of the building from behind the scenes. Along the way, Vivian Wang was extremely enthusiastic and kept saying things that made You Che feel uncomfortable. Among those nauseating sweet words were some self-praise.

Peacock Dance's brows furrowed even more. She wasn't jealous of You Che; she simply felt that this female duelist was far too arrogant and noisy: "That's enough! You strange woman!"

"Can't you tell that You Che dislikes you a lot?"

"Furthermore, I suggest you retract those remarks about the number one female duelist, since there are two female duelists here who could easily defeat you right now."

Vivian smiled nonchalantly, still nestled close to You Che: "What? Since You Che didn't stop me, it means he doesn't care~ Also, besides you and me, are there any other female duelists here?!"

"What?!" The short Rebecca stood in front of Vivian, her puffed-up cheeks puffed out. She gripped her teddy bear to her hip with one hand and pointed at Vivian's nose with the other, shouting, "If you want to look down on someone, at least have some ability! If you want to duel right here, this United States Champion doesn't mind at all!"

Seeing that the two sides were about to start arguing, You Che quickly moved away from Vivian and made his stance clear: "Excuse me, Vivian Wang, I have only been being polite."

"The big competition is tomorrow, so I suggest everyone conserve their strength and compete in the dueling arena."

"It's getting late, so we'll head back now."