Chapter 357: We Have to Play Cards Anyway
You Xuan yawned, leaned against the bumpy window of the jeep, and casually flipped through the card in his hand.

These were all new cards that he had picked up from the ground during the Duel City competition these past two days, and there were quite a few of them. He was roughly categorizing these cards, separating the useful ones, the pending ones, and the ones to be sold, and thinking about which of these cards might be able to construct new strategies.

It was just getting dark, but the night was already as dark as ink, and there seemed to be no moonlight. The forest seemed like a silent ancient temple.

The twisted and stretched branches were like countless withered arms reaching out from the darkness, and the leaves rustled in the wind like whispering ghosts.

The jeep bumped along the path in the forest, its headlights like faint fireflies, and its wheels made a creaking sound as they rolled over dead branches and leaves.

The man in the front passenger seat turned around and leaned over: "Are you a duelist?"

He was a guide for the nearby city, and the driver beside him was arranged by Haima Group to wait for You Xuan at the station in advance. After You Xuan arrived in the city, he changed to this off-road vehicle and headed straight to Qingshui Town.

"Yes." You Xuan said.

"Great! I've always admired you card players because I can't do it," said the guide.

The driver nearby joked, "Forget about dueling with your brain. Try to figure out how to play Connect the Dots first."

"What's wrong with Connect the Dots?" The guide held his head high, "Connect the Dots is also quite difficult."

The driver was happy and didn't say anything. He asked casually while driving: "I don't know much about duels, but I know that there is a monster called the Black Magician Girl, right?
I recognize that one, it’s really big.”

You Xuan: “.”

You haven't heard of Final Fantasy, but you recognize Jerusalem, right?

"Tsk, what's the use of being big?" The guide shook his head and said, "I still prefer hardworking and capable people."

The driver looked at him with empty eyes: "If you want to relax the conditions, you can remove the word "hardworking", right?"

"Haha, my brother still understands me."

"."

The two of them joked for a while, but seeing that You Xuan was silent and had no intention of participating, and seemed to find it boring, they became quiet for a while.

After driving for a while, the guide couldn't help but turn around and ask again: "But speaking of which, why would a duelist from a big city come to such a remote place?"

"I'm not saying anything, but if your company didn't offer so much, I really wouldn't want to come here." The driver also said, "Several people have disappeared here in the past two weeks."

"Oh?"

This topic aroused You Xuan's slight interest.

"That's right. I came here with the Sheriff's Department last week, looking for a missing traveler, but we never found him in the end, so the case was left unresolved," said the guide.

You Xuan pondered for a moment.

This means that Haima Company's speculation may be correct, and there may really be some problems here.

The trees became denser and denser, and the jeep moved along the roadside path and slowly stopped.

"Take a break, get off the car, have some water, or something. You're stiff from sitting for so long."

The guide got out of the car, stretched, and took out a cigarette.

"I have to go get a cigarette."

He handed a cigarette to You Xuan who was sitting in the car and gestured.

"Would you like one?"

"Thanks, but I don't smoke." You Xuan declined.

"Ha, it's better not to smoke, it's a good habit."

The guide expressed his approval, then went aside to smoke, humming a little tune.

You Xuan didn't get off the car, but continued to count the cards in his hand.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but the night seems to have become thicker. Even the wind holds its breath. Every tree stands strangely in the darkness, with twisted branches like claws reaching out from the darkness.

Ten minutes passed.

"The weird thing hasn't come back yet?" The driver muttered strangely and prepared to get off the car.

"I'll go take a look."

"I'll go."

You Xuan opened the door and got out of the car.

The atmosphere was a little off. But he wasn't too worried, after all, he had many elves under his command, and there weren't many things in the world that could threaten him.

I still say the same thing. No matter what kind of monster he is, can he not play cards when he comes here?

After walking in the direction the guide went for a while, You Xuan soon noticed something.

Half a cigarette butt.

The cigarette had not yet gone out, lying quietly on the damp ground. The smell of the smoke mixed with the scent of moist soil and tobacco, the smell was quite strange.

Walking a few steps to the side, there seemed to be traces of dragging and pulling between the bushes and grass, faintly visible in the darkness.

Was this guy attacked?

But this place was clearly not far from the car, yet there was not a single sound.

And after a few steps forward, the trace also disappeared. It was abruptly cut off in the middle, as if the person was dragged here and evaporated into thin air, with no trace left.

He retreated to the car for the time being. However, when he looked back, he found that the car was also empty.

There was no sound again, and the driver was gone within a few steps, but when he turned his head, he was gone. And this time, there was no sign of struggle.

Thick darkness seemed to come from the forest, surrounding the car. The headlights became the only point of light in the darkness, but they were so weak in the endless darkness, like a candle that could be extinguished at any time in the wind.

No, it's not an illusion, the darkness is really approaching slowly.

It is a figure.

With unsteady steps and a strange posture, she moved towards him with a swaying body, raising her arms towards him as if instinctively.

Judging from their attire, they might be nearby residents, but their eyes were lifeless, like a bottomless black whirlpool. Under the illumination of the jeep's lights, the thick dark circles under their eyes looked like pitch-black charcoal fire.

This posture and body shape make people think of zombies at first.

But they are not traditional zombies. Instead, they are similar to the "duel zombies" in the GX animation's alternate dimension chapter, where the entire academy was teleported to an alternate dimension by Sister You and the academy was infected by.

In other words, a card-playing zombie whose mind is filled with nothing but playing cards.
Hiss, this description actually sounds a bit like Judai-san.

However, although the scene was a bit weird, You Xuan was not nervous.

"Silence," he whispered.

White light emanated from him, and a magic circle opened under his feet. The Silent Magician flew out, spinning his staff lightly, and a circle of magic blasting light bullets scattered in all directions, exploding one after another.

The explosion of the light bomb caused mud to fly everywhere, and all the zombies were blown to the ground.

But when the smoke cleared, there was a figure still standing in the last row of the zombie group.

The zombie who looked like the leader of this group of people also had empty eyes and a swaying body, but his aura was obviously much stronger.

He staggered between the scattered teammates and squinted his eyes at You Xiaxuan.

Then he slowly raised the duel disk in his hand and made a vague sound like a groan.

"Duel."

You Xuan felt at peace.

See, there is nothing to be afraid of.

Even zombies have to play cards.

(End of this chapter)