There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

After shouting, Duan Fei finally realized he was in a game.

He wasn’t actually a fourth-grader, so it didn’t matter whether he got to play the game console or not.

Besides, hiding a game console...

How hard could it be to find the thing?

He walked confidently into the kitchen and opened the twin-tub washing machine. Sure enough, the game console, still in its box, was hidden inside.

It was missing its power cord, but that could be substituted with the one from the rice cooker. It was no challenge for Duan Fei.

’Oh, Dad, you didn’t really think I wouldn’t do any laundry for a few days, did you?’

Duan Fei had thought this would be an instance similar to rules-based horror, but judging by the fact that it was game-themed, it didn’t seem quite right.

Opening the "Instance Objectives" tab, Duan Fei saw that his objective hadn’t updated yet. It probably hadn’t reached the designated time.

Back in his small bedroom, Duan Fei quickly finished his homework, only to find that this action didn’t trigger an instance quest either.

’Strange. If it’s not about doing homework, then what could it be?’

After a moment of thought, just as Duan Fei was about to try erasing his homework, he heard a knock on the door.

"Xiao Lizi, come on out and play!"

Confirming the person was calling for him, Duan Fei opened the door to see a chubby, good-natured-looking boy standing in the doorway. He kept wiping his sweaty palms on his shorts, leaving them covered in white salt stains.

"And you are?" Duan Fei asked, confused.

"Still half asleep? It’s me, Song Zhe! Grab your cards, we’re going to have a Dark Duel!" Song Zhe said solemnly, raising the Duel Disk attached to his arm.

The two words "Dark Duel" made Duan Fei jump in alarm. He was amazed that elementary schoolers these days were playing for such high stakes.

Turning back, Duan Fei rummaged through his desk drawer for a long time before finally finding an incredibly cheap-looking Duel Disk.

Seriously, it was ultra-cheap.

It had no special features whatsoever. It was just a piece of junk from a shady vendor, made to trick kids out of their allowance. The kind of thing that, as an adult, made you wish you could travel back in time just to run over that damned swindler.

That’s right, Duan Fei had been scammed by one too!

He’d even gotten a beating for it!

In that instant, his long-buried cringey past came back to attack him, making Duan Fei clutch his head, speechless.

Seeing Duan Fei’s current state, Song Zhe said in disbelief, "Xiao Lizi... Is the sealed Shadow Power starting to control your soul? Is the Crimson King about to awaken within you?!"

"AAAAHHH! Shut up! Just stop talking! Don’t use Monster Reborn on my cringey past!"

"Let’s get going, Crimson King."

"I told you to shut up!"

But the moment he touched the cards, a system notification sounded, indicating that the main quest had finally been triggered.

Wearily, Duan Fei opened his quest objectives and found there was only one: "In a Dark Duel, challenge and defeat the school champion. Afterward, challenge other players to become the undisputed king."

"No matter how awesome you make it sound, you’re still just the king of an elementary school!" Duan Fei couldn’t help but shout.

"Xiao Lizi, are you really being controlled by the Crimson King?! Why are you acting so weird!"

"Brother Song, I’m begging you, can you please just shut your mouth?"

Resigned, Duan Fei grabbed his deck, got on the back of Song Zhe’s bicycle, and started looking at his cards.

Duan Fei had never seen these types of cards before; they must be exclusive to this instance.

Of course, it was more likely they were just bootlegs.

Each card had art, a Description, a Level, and an Attack Power. It looked similar to the original Yu-Gi-Oh!, but there was no Defense Power. He would have to learn the specific rules.

Duan Fei wasn’t familiar with most of the card effects, but they weren’t complicated, so he got the gist of them after a quick look.

It was just that the character he was playing didn’t seem to be very good at card games. The combination of Monster, Magic, and Trap cards in his deck felt a bit strange.

They raced all the way to the school, where Song Zhe parked his bike in the elementary school’s bicycle shed and tossed Duan Fei a bag of shrimp crackers.

Looking at the familiar packaging, Duan Fei saw it was the same old formula, but he wondered if it was still the same old taste.

Seeing Duan Fei about to open the bag and eat them, Song Zhe hastily said, "Don’t eat that! It’s the entrance fee!"

"Entrance fee?"

Confused, Duan Fei followed Song Zhe and quickly understood what he meant by "entrance fee."

The elementary school was made up of old, single-story buildings. Outside the classroom at the very end of the row, a tall kid was standing guard. When he saw the two of them, he held out his hand, gesturing for them to hand something over.

Song Zhe placed a bag of shrimp crackers in the kid’s hand. The guard nodded in satisfaction and motioned for them to go inside.

’So that’s the entrance fee.’

Pushing open the classroom door, Duan Fei found the place buzzing with energy. Over twenty kids, a mix of older elementary and middle school students, were gathered here, engaged in a series of heated Dark Duels.

Another twenty or so weren’t playing, acting as a hype squad to liven up the atmosphere from the sidelines.

They were having the time of their lives. The bootleg cards, though faded, were still their treasures, and they would cry out in amazement from time to time at the effect of a certain card.

An elementary schooler in a hat sat on the chair behind the teacher’s desk, casually fiddling with some cards sealed in a plastic bag. He would occasionally glance down at the crowd below, looking every bit the king surveying his subjects.

’Looks like that’s the school champion.’

’If it’s just playing cards with these kids, it shouldn’t be a problem.’

But after observing for a while, Duan Fei discovered a terrifying problem.

To confirm his suspicion, he pulled Song Zhe aside. "Song Zhe, play a game with me."

"Alright, but I won’t go easy on you, even if we’re friends! Between friendship and victory, I will always choose the latter!"

"Less talk. Let’s duel."

"As expected of the Crimson King. That presence is completely different from before."

"Duel!"

"Okay."

The decks had forty cards in total. They shuffled each other’s decks and returned them, then played rock-paper-scissors to decide who would go first.

Each player drew five cards. The player going first then drew one more card, and the duel began.

Although going first had its advantages, to protect the second player, the first player could not attack on their first turn.

Each player had 4000 Life Points. Taking a direct attack from a Monster would deduct the corresponding amount of Life Points, and dropping to Zero meant death.

After rock-paper-scissors, Song Zhe went first.

After drawing his five cards, Song Zhe let out a triumphant laugh and slapped down his first card.

It was a normal card with no special effects. Both its attack and defense were terrible; he had no idea why it was even in the deck.

But as soon as he played it, Song Zhe immediately declared, "White Rabbit Knight, attack!"

"Wait, you can’t attack on the first turn!"

"The Description for White Rabbit Knight says it’s a ’swift knight,’ so it can attack on the first turn!"

"That’s not a special effect!"

"But that’s what its Description says."

Duan Fei stared speechlessly at Song Zhe, his suspicions confirmed.

’This place has freaking house rules!’

These so-called "house rules" meant that the card game here followed a set of extremely peculiar conventions.

After all, they were elementary schoolers in the nineties. Information wasn’t as readily available as it would be in later years; they didn’t even know what the internet was.

The rules of the card game had to be brought in by people from big cities, and in the process of being passed around, they became twisted beyond recognition.

Countless house rules were added to fill the gaps, making the game’s rule set incredibly bizarre and complex.

A card’s flavor text became one of its effects, and the art on the card face also became part of the game.

In a game like this, bullshitting was justice. Good rhetorical skills could make a weak card as freaking strong as you wanted, and a strong card as freaking weak as you could argue.

’So this is what the "Spiritual Shock" was! It was waiting for me right here!’

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