A few minutes later, a huge group of idiot players appeared around Youyu.
Initially, nearby players were attracted by the image of Slifer the Sky Dragon appearing. The presence of an Egyptian God was quite grand, with black clouds and thunder, so it was normal to attract attention.
According to the habits of players, their first reaction upon seeing something unusual is to immediately take a screenshot and throw it into the forum to show off. So, soon more people saw the image of the god hovering high in the sky and came from all over the city.
At first, everyone thought they would find Muto Yugi here, as in the anime plot it was Yugi who defeated the puppet holding Slifer the Sky Dragon and took the Egyptian God Card from Marik's hand.
However, to their great surprise, when they arrived, they saw a broken puppet lying limp on the ground...
...along with a certain familiar handsome guy.
The players were instantly shocked.
Nani? Did Youyu-san actually snatch even the true protagonist Yugi's record?
In that case, hasn't the Sky Dragon already gone into Youyu's pocket?
As the news spread, a large group of players expressed their shock.
Even the Egyptian God was collected?
This isn't just about being the developer's favorite; it seems like the developer is actually his son.
Seeing the players around him chattering like a bustling marketplace, with some even jumping in place and rolling around while talking, Youyu couldn't help but feel...
—This is too idiotic!
Look at that guy over there hugging a tree. A stranger might think he's plotting something against that tree!
But then Youyu remembered that when he was a player himself, he was pretty idiotic... no, to put it bluntly, he was among the most idiotic players.
After all, hindsight is clearer. Back when he was one of the players, he didn't feel it, but now looking at these people's performative antics, it feels like watching a group of dancing loonies.
Of course, most of those coming over were players already eliminated from the competition. Previously, everyone was busy with their matches, but now the less skilled and unfortunate players are eliminated and have nothing to do, so they wander around the city, observing high-level players and important NPCs dueling.
So naturally, a big group of idle onlookers gathered around Youyu.
With so many resources around, Youyu took the opportunity to open his shop on the spot and sold a round of cards.
Duel City is considered a game event, and the rewards players earn from completing event tasks are quite substantial; everyone gained at least some Crystal Stone.
Therefore, Youyu didn't hesitate to cash in, collecting a large amount of Crystal Stone from these enthusiastic players.
The players had worked hard grinding for a long time, finally saving up a few stones, and now they eagerly brought them over. If he didn't harvest a bit, Youyu felt he'd be letting them down.
In the blink of an eye, Youyu's previously entirely spent funds had exceeded ten thousand again.
Of course, he also collected a batch of cards from players, which they won during Duel City. Although most of these cards were won from random NPCs and weren't very useful, occasionally there were still some eye-catching items.
Like the Divine Declaration previously brought by Miss Yue Hua.
DM really is such a magical era. Although duelists' tactics are simple and their gaming awareness isn't great, it's not surprising for a random Ryu player to hold a future Forbidden Card.
Speaking of which, Miss Yue Hua, who was at the Men's Club—oh wait, it's Nightwalker World—managed to escape from the center of a bunch of idiots and muscular men, and found her way to Youyu following forum information.
Throughout this, Miss Yue Hua was angry.
She had resolved to keep a close watch on Youyu, constantly sticking to him like a tail no matter what happened. But at the club, she got distracted and let him slip away!
...Okay, maybe it wasn't entirely due to inattention.
At the time in the Nightwalker World base, there were too many muscle-bound men, all drinking, boasting, and showing off their muscles. As the only girl in such a place, she felt like a helpless little lamb straying into a wolf den...
Actually, this wasn't much of a problem; after all, Miss Yue Hua was an experienced streamer, having seen many big waves.
A group of muscle heads in a game is no big deal; she's seen worse. (cross out)
However, when the idiot nicknamed "Unescapable Jie" led the charge, more idiots started playing rock-paper-scissors with the muscle NPCs while drinking. The losers not only had to drink but also strip...
...and then her live stream was banned.
Back then, Miss Yue Hua was so frustrated she wanted to smash her keyboard on the spot.
Damn! What does it have to do with me if a bunch of nutcases wants to show off their muscles?
Who the hell would have thought that a card game would turn into something pornographic!
So next, Miss Yue Hua was busy contacting the platform and making phone calls. After a long struggle, she finally completed the formalities and got her stream unbanned.
After lifting the ban, the first thing she did was quickly continue to search for Youyu's whereabouts, only to sadly discover on the forum that Youyu had just dueled against a puppet holding Slifer the Sky Dragon and won, taking the Sky Dragon.
This is a huge loss!
If she could have stayed by Youyu's side, she would have been able to stream the entire duel!
The more Miss Yue Hua thought about it, the more annoyed she became, wishing to beat her chest... but then she looked down and felt she was already flat, and if she hit it any harder, it might cave in...
...so ultimately she refrained from doing so.
Now, Miss Yue Hua wasn't the only one following him; quite a few eliminated and idle players were eagerly tagging along with Youyu.
This made Miss Yue Hua even angrier.
I was here first!
The forum was also bustling.
"Youyu defeated one of Marik's underlings and got the Sky Dragon!"
"Holy crap, did Marik enter the wrong delivery address? Wasn't the Sky Dragon supposed to be delivered to Yugi?"
"Does that mean that by the quarterfinals, Yugi won't have an Egyptian God? This plot twist is quite a change."
"See, I told you Youyu is definitely the protagonist of Linked World; he is the key to the main plot! No more talking, I'm hugging his thick golden thigh and licking it..."
"Your technique is bad, let go and let me! Watch me use my golden tongue like a lotus!"
"..."
Youyu snapped out of it and quickly turned off the forum to protect his eyes.
He was afraid that if he kept reading, he'd start feeling weird...
Speaking of which, wasn't President Haima supposed to be monitoring the presence of the Divine Cards at all times? But it's been a while since the Sky Dragon appeared, and there's still no news from the president's side; maybe something's wrong?
The Duel City Tournament had already progressed quite a bit by now, and the remaining duelists should all have more than one Puzzle Card. After one or two more matches, Youyu should meet the criteria for advancement.
As he walked, he suddenly noticed a couple of passersby hastily heading towards a nearby building, discussing, "I heard there's a duel at the aquarium; it must have just started, let's hurry and check it out!"
"Aren't there duels everywhere now?"
"But I heard it's a duel between the Duelist Kingdom runner-up and the national third place!"
"Nani, are strong opponents clashing already in the preliminary round? Let's go, hurry up!"
The passersby's voices weren't loud, but both Youyu and the group of players behind him heard it too.
Duelist Kingdom runner-up and national third place, aquarium...
It looks like Gambling God Jonouchi is dueling Kajiki Ryota?