Chapter 222: Breaking into the Den of Thieves

Chapter 222: Breaking into the Den of Thieves

Watching Kaiba carefully climb back into the cabin from outside the helicopter, Hayato found it quite amusing. Although grabbing onto the helicopter with one hand looked cool, climbing back in afterward looked quite dishevelled.

Under the gaze of countless Duelists attracted by the news released in advance, the helicopter carrying Kaiba and Hayato, who had finished showing off, flew away. Inside the helicopter, Kaiba bit into a throat lozenge, dutifully put on the headset for communication on the helicopter, and said to Hayato, "I'm very curious, where did you get that information? I couldn't even find accurate information by investigating directly from within KaibaCorp."

Hayato didn't speak, just made a gesture at his neck, earning a disdainful roll of Kaiba's eyes: "Hmph, putting on airs. If you don't want to tell me your source of information, fine. Using a reason like 'Future Sight' is just treating me like an idiot!"

With a cold snort, Kaiba turned his head away to look out the window, ignoring Hayato's helpless shrug.

On this point, he really wasn't lying. Regarding the person they were going to find next, the information really did come from Ishizu Ishtar.

Being attacked by the Rare Hunters at the Egyptian Artifacts Exhibition, and learning that someone within his own KaibaCorp dared to abuse their position for personal gain, letting the Prototype Duel Disk that should have been destroyed leak out to the outside world and even trading it to the Rare Hunters, Kaiba was furious.

He thoroughly reorganized KaibaCorp inside and out, but what greatly angered him was that in his investigation, KaibaCorp appeared to be completely clean. Forget about traitors and business spies, he couldn't even find a single person who had used their position for personal enrichment.

Was this possible? KaibaCorp wasn't some charity group; its predecessor was a highly profitable arms corporation. Were all the people under him completely incorruptible? Kaiba wasn't a three-year-old kid to be so easily fooled.

So, there was only one answer. Even if he had removed The Big Five who superficially supported the entire KaibaCorp personnel network, KaibaCorp was no longer Seto Kaiba's one-man show; the employees under him all had their own agendas. Thinking the worst – KaibaCorp had long been quietly infiltrated by a certain force through subtle means!

Kaiba liked to Duel and liked to utterly crush others, but he didn't like having his things taken away. And just then, Hayato found him and told him that he knew the spies within KaibaCorp. Although not all of them, he at least knew who belonged to the Rare Hunters Organization.

The helicopter hovered somewhere. Kaiba carried nothing but his specially reinforced Duel Disk, leaping directly from a height of about six or seven meters, landing in a superhero pose. Behind him, Hayato slowly and steadily descended using the lowered soft ladder.

"Hey, don't your knees hurt? Okay, never mind." Seeing Kaiba smoothly transition from a squatting position to standing, walking without any pause, Hayato understood the answer to his question. After all, it was Kaiba, wasn't it? Forget jumping from a helicopter, the guy could even throw Cards by hand to cut steel wires. He was known as Kaiba, the Super Strong Mountain Man, Seto.

"Are the people you mentioned staying in this place?" Looking at the Card Shop in front of him, Kaiba frowned. Although this shop was already closed, judging by the sign in front of the door, it was a professional Card Shop certified by KaibaCorp.

According to the rules of the upcoming "Duel City", two conditions were required to participate in this grand event of the Duel Monsters world. First, a Deck containing at least 40 Cards, including Rare Cards, to filter out those without powerful Cards and prevent them from taking advantage of the chaos.

Second, a Duel Disk issued by KaibaCorp. Only Duelists with a certain Level in KaibaCorp's Database were qualified to obtain a Duel Disk. Duelist Levels were divided into 12 Levels by Kaiba, referencing the Levels of Duel Monsters. Duelists of Level 8 and above could obtain a Duel Disk for free, Duelists of Level 6 and above could purchase one at a discounted price, and Duelists of Level 4 and above had to pay the full price.

As for Duelists of Level 4 and below? Kaiba rated them as Lackeys, not even qualified to obtain a Duel Disk. By the way, Joey Wheeler was specially marked by Kaiba as Level 1, with an exclusive Level title of "Normal Monster". Kaiba, this guy, who knew he had such a wicked sense of humor?

Of course, Duel Disks couldn't be bought just anywhere. One needed to prove their Duelist Level at a professional Card Shop specially certified by KaibaCorp to buy one. There were only ten such Card Shops in the entire Domino City, and they had all undergone very detailed inspections before certification.

Unfortunately, Grandpa Solomon's Turtle Game Shop was not among these ten, and even Otogi's Black Crown Game Shop was excluded because it sold too many types of games.

"At least according to the information I obtained, others are just suspects, but the Shop Manager of this Card Shop has a 1000% possibility of being a member of the Rare Hunters Organization." Hayato looked at the sign of the Card Shop in front of him.

"RPG Hobby & Trading Card", meaning RPG Enthusiast Club, also a Card Trading Place. Compared to the childlike Turtle Game Shop and the warmly hospitable Black Crown Game Shop, this Card Shop was clearly much more utilitarian.

Without foolishly shouting out, Hayato simply pushed open the door of the Card Shop and walked inside. He found that the shelves inside the shop were filled with various beautifully packaged Cards, including many Rare Cards like Sword of Dragon's Soul and Panther Warrior.

"The cards in the shop are just displayed like this, with no one watching over them?" Kaiba frowned in confusion, picking up a Luster Dragon from a nearby shelf. This Level 4 Dragon-Type monster possessed a top-notch ATK of 1900 among low-Level monsters. Even someone as picky as Kaiba wouldn't mind filling his Deck with this monster.

But on the shelf, he actually saw more than ten Luster Dragon cards.

"Did this shop rob a Rare Card collector? How can there be so many such rare cards?"

Hayato glanced at the Luster Dragon in Kaiba's hand, took it, and smirked coldly. To Kaiba's astonished gaze, he tore up the card along with its packaging?!

"What are you doing?" Kaiba remembered that when he tore up Solomon Mutou's Blue-Eyes White Dragon, Yugi Mutou and Hayato were quite angry. But now Hayato, who had always preached to him about "Cards having spiritual power," was actively tearing up a card?

"Rare Cards appearing in piles, and the owner of this Card Shop couldn't possibly be someone who doesn't know their value... Isn't the answer obvious, Seto?" Hayato coldly pointed at the pile of Luster Dragon cards Kaiba had been observing. "These are just Fake Cards."

"These Luster Dragon cards are actually Fake Cards?" Kaiba's tone was somewhat angry, but to his surprise, Hayato shook his head.

Hayato scanned the surroundings and made a fist, saying, "All the cards here are Fake Cards. Don't doubt it, I just have a unique method for identifying fakes."

The principle was actually very simple. Hayato just opened his System , then navigated to the Card Recycling function, and chose to recycle all the cards sold in this Card Shop. The feedback from the System was that they were all Fake Cards.

Not a single genuine item could be found among the fakes. Hayato suspected that if this shop continued to operate, it might pull off something like "ten times compensation for fakes" and then give eleven Fake Cards. The shop's name was so awkward, Hayato had already thought of a new name for it: Pinduoduo.

"Hmph, how annoying." Kaiba snorted coldly, feeling somewhat embarrassed that he hadn't distinguished the Fake Cards just now. It didn't matter that he couldn't distinguish them, the key was Hayato. He was just observing the cards through the packaging like himself, so how did he determine if a card was real or fake?

Ignoring the piles of Fake Cards, Hayato walked around the shelves and went directly to the cashier at the back of the Card Shop. As he walked, he said to Kaiba, "By the way, Seto, have you studied anything about shop layouts?"

Kaiba stood with his arms crossed, silent, and did not answer Hayato's question. Thinking about this question, it was obvious. He was Seto Kaiba, not a mall worker, so how could he possibly study such boring things?

However, Hayato didn't expect Kaiba to be able to answer. He just asked casually. With a vault, he jumped into the currently empty cashier area, muttering to himself, "In a store, the most popular and best-selling items should be placed at the back, so that customers have to walk the longest distance to buy that item. Along the way, the possibility of customers taking a liking to other items will be maximized."

"And the shop's cashier needs to be placed at the entrance, both to prevent people from leaving without paying and to greet incoming customers immediately."

As Hayato spoke, he bent down and fumbled in front of the cashier. With a move of "Desktop Cleanup Master", he swept away the scattered pens, notebooks, and desktop ornaments, leaving only a fixed computer monitor.

"I see." Hayato had already explained it so clearly, so Kaiba naturally understood his meaning. This shop completely violated normal shop layouts. The most popular items were actually placed at the entrance, while the cashier, which should always be staffed, was placed at the very back of the shop.

The location of this cashier probably hid some secret, which was why it was always guarded, and why Rare Cards were used to attract customers' attention and prevent them from lingering in the depths of the shop.

Hayato fumbled around below the computer monitor a few times, a smile appeared on his face: "Found it, how lucky."

He pressed lightly with his finger. At the same time, the wall behind the cashier suddenly moved, slowly sliding open to the sides, revealing an entrance.

"Please, President Kaiba~" Hayato smiled and pushed open the barrier at the cashier entrance for Kaiba.

Kaiba didn't stand on ceremony, walked to the opened entrance, and said coldly, "Keep up, Kobayashi Hayato. I won't bother saving you."

The two walked into the entrance one after another. Behind them, the sliding wall slowly closed.