There Must Be Something Wrong With This Game!

"Silence is Gold": A Magic Card. If you have no Monsters on your side of the field, you can get a coin. The coin has the Gold Attribute, can be used as a tribute, but does not count as a Monster.

"The Power of Money": For each Gold Attribute Monster on the field, the attack power of all your Monsters increases by 500 points.

Slapping down the two cards, Cuihua took two ten-cent coins from his pocket and placed them on his side of the field.

"Why two coins!" the short kid demanded.

Cuihua looked at him and pointed to his own mouth.

The short kid stared blankly for a moment, then shouted, "Not talking counts too?!"

"Why shouldn’t it count?" Duan Fei said from the side. "Your Undying Hounds can be eternally undying, can’t they?"

"That makes so much sense!" said the player who had taken a one-yuan coin from Duan Fei earlier.

After all, he’d taken Duan Fei’s money, and now this verbal trickery could even strengthen his own cards. It was killing two birds with one stone.

The spectators, swept up in the moment, all nodded in agreement. Intimidated by Duan Fei’s "seniority," the short kid could only lower his head resentfully and accept it.

Then, it was Song Zhe’s turn.

Quickly summoning a Monster, Song Zhe pointed at the Slime on Duan Fei’s field and said, "I’m attacking your Slime! I have four Monsters, so your Slime will split into six, and you’ll be crushed under your own cards!"

"It’s useless!"

"Why is it useless? You just said yourself that’s how the protagonist in the anime took out his enemy’s Monsters!"

Pointing a finger to the sky, Duan Fei shouted with passionate fervor, "Because I have a partner! My partner’s field is my field. My Monsters are my partner’s Monsters! What’s wrong with my Monster splitting and landing on my partner’s field?!"

Song Zhe sucked in a sharp breath. He finally realized what kind of monster he had created.

’Xiao Lizi, your verbal-trickery game is just too strong!’

But it wasn’t over yet.

As the Slime landed on Cuihua’s field, Duan Fei immediately declared, "The Slime’s effect is to devour everything, so it can devour the coins too. And a Slime that has devoured a coin becomes a Golden Slime! Its attack power also increases by 500 points, bringing it to 1000."

"I know this one! It’s from episode seventeen!" a spectator who had occasionally watched a few episodes of the anime shouted excitedly. "What a classic scene! That moment made me cry back then. I can’t believe I’m seeing a live reenactment. The power of friendship truly is invincible!"

Duan Fei looked at the guy, speechless.

’My random move actually matched the anime perfectly.’

’It just goes to show that the anime itself is a Great Success built on a foundation of verbal trickery. No wonder elementary schoolers are so wild when they play this game.’

The birth of a classic scene brought the atmosphere to a fever pitch!

Spectators, whether they’d seen the show or not, all started cheering, marveling at the appearance of a masterpiece!

With that, no one questioned Duan Fei’s title as a Monster King anime expert.

Facing such a terrifying opponent, the short kid’s face was pale, but he still had a chance.

But then, he realized a terrible fact.

It was Duan Fei’s turn!

Song Zhe had no cards left to set, while Duan Fei had five Monsters on his field, and a Golden Slime next door.

Since the Magic Card’s effect was universal, he now effectively had six Slimes with 1000 attack power.

Controlling one Slime, Duan Fei attacked directly, targeting the King of the Dark Moon. Without even sacrificing any life points, he had his Slime split again, land on Cuihua’s field, and eat the coin there.

Seven Slimes, 1500 attack power!

"It’s not over, it’s not over! Because Cuihua has no Monsters of his own on his field, he gets two more coins!"

"Whoa, it’s a combo."

"This wasn’t even in the anime!"

The cheers of the crowd made the short kid want to try some verbal trickery of his own, but he was powerless to turn the tide.

After all, even verbal trickery has its own fundamental law: the crowd!

The crowd’s approval is the foundation of all verbal trickery. Without the crowd, it’s meaningless!

"Slimes, attack!"

The mighty King of the Dark Moon became Duan Fei’s merciless monster-spawning machine, getting its head bashed in by the Slimes, which allowed them to successfully split and devour the coins.

Eight Slimes, 2000 attack power!

Attacking again, the King of the Dark Moon was finally defeated and vanished, while the Slime split once more.

Nine Slimes, 2500 attack power!

"Now, attack all at once!

"Wooooow~"

Even though it was just a pile of boring cards and some rocks used as Substitutes, all the spectators cried out in amazement.

In a daze, they seemed to see a hallucination: a horde of bouncing golden Slimes charging toward the Monsters on the field, completely defeating the short kid who had nothing left to defend himself.

Even Song Zhe’s repeatedly reviving Undying Hound was useless; with only 400 health, it was instantly killed in a single hit.

That the Slime could become so powerful under the force of verbal trickery, beyond just exciting the elementary school kids watching, also planted a curious seed in their hearts.

After his victory, Duan Fei excitedly threw his arms up and pulled Cuihua into a thrilled hug.

’We won!’

’We won together!’

Cuihua was also moved to the point of tears.

’I never thought I’d see the day I’d actually win in a dungeon instance where verbal trickery is the primary combat skill.’

Hugging Duan Fei, he said emotionally, "Th... thank..."

"What’re you being so formal with me for!"

"Th... thank..."

The short kid also walked up and clapped Duan Fei on the shoulder. "Crimson King, Silent Warrior, you guys are amazing! Take this, the symbol of the champion."

Song Zhe, for his part, crossed his arms. Like an old master from an anime, he said emotionally, "Crimson King, my good apprentice..."

Although being called the Crimson King was a bit embarrassing, Duan Fei was too excited to care and just nodded emphatically.

Just as the group was enacting a scene about the power of friendship, a voice sounded from behind them.

"What are you guys doing?"

Turning his head, Duan Fei saw it was Jinghong, but the elementary school version.

He sobered up instantly, realizing he’d gotten a little carried away.

’It’s just winning a card game against a couple of kids. No need to get so worked up.’

Letting go of Cuihua, Duan Fei said sheepishly, "Sorry about that, I got too excited playing, it was too much fun... no, wait, you’re having more fun than me!"

Jinghong was currently playing with a yo-yo, chewing on a huge piece of bubble gum, her arms covered in temporary tattoos. A straw was stuck luxuriously into the glass soda bottle in her hand, and the condensation beading on the outside only made the soda look more delicious.

The backpack on her shoulders was stuffed with snacks, so full that the zipper couldn’t even close, revealing the junk food packed inside.

Transformed into a fourth-grader, Jinghong wore a white dress, and her long hair made her look like a child star straight off the TV, as beautiful as a large porcelain doll.

The elementary school boys at the scene immediately blushed.

That awkward feeling of wanting to look, but not wanting anyone to notice you’re looking, made Duan Fei let out a disdainful snort.

And Jinghong was thoroughly enjoying this feeling of being a kid.

After chewing the flavor out of her bubble gum, she took out a pack of spicy sticks, munching on the junk food as she asked, "How many have you won?"

"Just helped Cuihua win a championship."

"Mm, I’ve won two championships. The kids here don’t even know how to play. The other players are even worse. They see me and can’t even get a word out, just get instantly defeated."

"Well, no duh. There aren’t many girls who play this game to begin with, let alone one as pretty as you."

Jinghong froze for a moment, her heart shamelessly starting to pound.

’This little demon, he always finds the most random moments to flirt with me.’

’If he doesn’t confess within four years, he can get ready to spend the rest of his life with me in the basement.’

Duan Fei had no idea he was testing the waters on the edge of a cliff.

He just felt a chill run down his spine, as if something bad was about to happen.

Plucking a spicy stick from Jinghong’s pack, Duan Fei broke it in half, gave a piece to Cuihua, and popped his share into his mouth. The cheap taste was exactly as he remembered.

After that intense duel, Duan Fei and Cuihua’s friendship level had risen. They were now close enough to share snacks.

Munching on the spicy stick, he said, "This makes four badges for us. We just need to collect three more and this instance will be over. Feels like it’s going pretty fast."

"Don’t be in such a hurry. I want to play a while longer."

Duan Fei looked at Jinghong, knowing why she’d say that.

Jinghong never had a childhood of her own.

Ever since she could remember, she was raised as the family heiress. Growing up, she had to learn martial arts, horseback riding, musical instruments, and more, all to cultivate her leadership qualities.

Because of this overly strict upbringing, Jinghong’s childhood was spent almost entirely in various lessons, with no time at all for fun.

And for the sake of her physical Constitution, junk food was unthinkable, and street food stalls were completely off-limits.

This misguided upbringing made her childhood exceptionally monotonous. Black and white were the dominant colors of her youth, a reality that only began to change after she met Duan Fei.

Watching Jinghong devour the spicy sticks, Duan Fei ruffled her hair and said with a helpless sigh, "Alright, you got it."

「In another school, two other players faced off.」

Nemo, in his child form, had his eyes wide open, but his pupils were shrinking.

Ever since parting ways with the Succubus, he had forgotten what happened that day, with only the Curse she left him remaining.

At first, he had been in a great mood.

But as time went on, a vague sense of unease grew more and more severe. The smallest thing could set him off, and he often found himself unable to control his emotions, falling into fits of hysteria.

A constant feeling of agitation made him desperately want to return to Love City, though he didn’t know why.

Now, that strange emotion was surging again, making Nemo want to acquire this instance’s resources as quickly as possible, then use some... less-than-legal means to sneak back to Love City.

The player opposite him, however, had other ideas.

Although he was also an elementary schooler, he was already nearly six feet tall.

The shirt on his upper body was unbuttoned, revealing defined muscles that wrapped around his torso like tree roots—a body honed through relentless training.

Looking at Nemo, this short-haired player, named the "Missionary of Love," put his palms together and said solemnly, "Benefactor, you are entangled with something unclean."

"Huh?" Nemo said, annoyed. "You wanna die, moron?"

"Just as I thought, even your personality has changed. Come, allow this humble monk to reform you with love!"

"Huh?"

"Let’s duel!"

"What the hell is wrong with you!"

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