There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

After paying one yuan for temporary use of the deck, Duan Fei handed it to Cuihua and whispered a few instructions.

With the instructions given, the 2v2 duel officially began.

After rock-paper-scissors, the short kid got to go first.

As soon as the game began, he broke into an exaggerated grin.

He drew a card from his deck with lightning speed. Looking at its effect, he cackled, "Heh heh heh."

"Heh heh heh, I’m up first! Come on out, King of the Dark Moon!"

Seeing the card, Duan Fei knew his opponent was already preparing to bend the rules. Still, he couldn’t help but ask, "Isn’t that a Seven Stars monster?"

"That’s right! How could you mortals possibly comprehend the allure of the King of the Dark Moon!"

"But it’s Seven Stars. It needs two Monsters as tributes to be summoned. Don’t tell me you don’t even know the basics—that you can summon 4 Star or lower monsters directly, while 5 Star and 6 Star monsters require one tribute."

The short kid, annoyed at being interrupted, shot Duan Fei a look. "Can’t you read the Description? It says, ’The infinitely powerful emperor of the moon; what appears here is but half his Power.’ That means it only counts as three-and-a-half stars, so of course I can summon it directly."

Duan Fei gave him a deadpan look, then nodded. "Alright. In that case, its attack power should be halved, too."

The King of the Dark Moon has 2000 attack, so half of that is 1000, effectively making it a 4 Star monster.

Caught off guard, the short kid looked flustered for a moment before quickly recovering. "They never reduced its attack in the anime."

The onlookers, who had been starting to agree with Duan Fei, all nodded at this.

If they didn’t reduce it in the anime, then it doesn’t get reduced.

This boosted the card’s power even further. A 2000-attack monster that could be summoned directly was incredibly rare.

Fortunately, the short kid didn’t intend to push his luck with any more rule-bending. After all, even when you’re making things up, there have to be some ground rules; you can’t just go wild.

He set a card face-down, then ended his turn. It was now Cuihua’s turn.

Looking at the cards in his hand, Cuihua already had a few ideas for how to bend the rules.

But with a group of elementary schoolers staring at him, his heart started to race, and his mind went to static, like an old television.

However, he quickly remembered Duan Fei’s words. He took a deep breath to calm himself, abandoned the idea of making things up, and just set a card face-down before ending his turn.

He was just following Duan Fei’s advice: if you can’t pull off a good bluff, then don’t bluff at all.

As long as he could draw that one card, there would be no problem.

Next up was Song Zhe.

He started with his usual White Rabbit Knight, set a card face-down, and entered his Battle Phase.

But he didn’t attack Cuihua or Duan Fei. Instead, he pointed at his own partner, the short kid, and declared, "I’m attacking the King of the Dark Moon!"

A series of gasps rippled through the onlookers, who couldn’t understand why Song Zhe would do such a thing.

The kids of this era didn’t yet know about sacrificing life points to activate effects. For them, card games were mostly about which Monster had higher stats; only a few knew how to use Magic and Trap cards.

So, anyone who could pull off a combo was considered a pro.

By that standard, Song Zhe was a pro.

His White Rabbit Knight was sent straight to the graveyard, which activated Song Zhe’s Trap Card.

[Zombie Generator]: When one of your Monsters is destroyed, send it to the graveyard and summon one 4 Star or lower Undead Race Monster from your deck.

"I choose... the Undying Hound! Now, Undying Hound, attack the King of the Dark Moon!"

After taking another 1000 points of damage, dropping his life points to 1400, Song Zhe declared confidently, "Undying Hound, return from the graveyard!"

"Hold on."

Duan Fei, who had actually been looking forward to Song Zhe’s combo, facepalmed. "Why can your Undying Hound keep reviving itself?"

"Because it’s an *Undying* Hound."

"...So you’re making up rules based on the name now, too?! How is anyone supposed to kill that thing?!"

"’You have to use a Light Element Monster to kill it,’ one of the kids in the crowd chimed in. ’Isn’t that common knowledge?’"

"’...What the hell kind of common knowledge is that? Your house rules are surprisingly logical, I’ll give you that. Fine, go on.’"

The Undying Hound returned to the field. Then, thanks to the Zombie Generator’s effect, another Undying Hound was summoned.

Then, after taking another 1000 damage, Song Zhe’s life points dropped to a mere 400. He was hanging on by a thread.

However, he now had three Monsters on the field. The three 1000-attack Undying Hounds attacked Duan Fei directly, and his life points instantly dropped to 1000.

When it was finally Duan Fei’s turn, he glanced at his hand and began setting cards face-down.

Seeing the short kid about to open his mouth, Duan Fei launched a preemptive strike. "How many times have tag-team duels shown up in the *Monster King* anime?"

The short kid was taken aback by the sudden question. After a moment’s hesitation, he stammered, "S-seven times, I think?"

"Wrong. Eleven times. The first was in episode seven, the second in episode eleven, the third in episode fifteen, the fourth..."

Duan Fei rattled off all eleven instances without batting an eye, then gave the kid a meaningful smile. "You really don’t pay much attention when you watch the show, do you?"

That smile was all it took to completely bamboozle the short kid.

He had no idea that Duan Fei’s entire knowledge of *Monster King* consisted of its title. The kid’s mind was racing with a single thought:

’Xiao Lizi’s place must have *Monster King* too!’

’That means he knows which cards were in the anime and which weren’t!’

’And from the way he’s acting, he’s obviously way more familiar with the *Monster King* plot than I am! Otherwise, he wouldn’t be so confident!’

Just like that, the short kid, who had been ready to make up rules with impunity, instantly lost all his confidence.

Meanwhile, Duan Fei calmly set a card, summoned a Slime, and ended his turn.

The short kid on the opposing team let out a sigh of relief, then pointed at Duan Fei’s Slime. "King of the Dark Moon, attack!"

The 2000-attack monster struck the 500-defense Slime. The piercing damage should have been enough to wipe out Duan Fei instantly, but he didn’t seem panicked at all.

"Slime, divide."

"Huh? It can do that?" the short kid asked, panicking.

"Yep. The Slime’s Description is ’a monster that devours everything,’ and it’s also ’a monster that automatically divides to evade attacks.’ So when it gets attacked, not only does it take no damage, it splits into two."

"Then how are you supposed to beat it?!" the short kid pressed.

"In the anime, the protagonist kept hitting it until it reached its division limit. With no more room to split, they ended up crushing each other to death."

Duan Fei tilted his head, looking at the short kid with a puzzled expression, and delivered a perfectly timed, disdainful glance. "That was in episode fifty-two. You haven’t forgotten already, have you?"

The short kid was completely bewildered.

He had no idea what happened in episode fifty-two and couldn’t think of a way to argue back. After all, there were plenty of plot points he couldn’t remember himself.

He wanted to challenge it, but after hearing Duan Fei’s explanation, the other kids around them had a moment of epiphany. One after another, they started saying, "Whoa, you can do that?"

"That sounds totally logical."

"The main character is so smart. I’ve got to rewatch that episode when I get the chance."

Realizing the situation was irreversible, the short kid glared at Duan Fei, grinding his teeth. He swore that when he got home, he’d watch the entire anime ten times so he could rule-bend to his heart’s content.

But for now, all he could do was set a card, end his turn, and pass it to Cuihua.

Cuihua drew a card and let out a long sigh of relief.

He drew it. The one card that could turn everything around.

Combined with the cards already in his hand, he could finally form a combo he knew how to use.

"Silence is Golden."

"The Power of Money."

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