Chapter 189: 5-Star Wanted
Hayato's sudden move to snatch all the cards for sale didn't just stun Yugi and his friends; even the shopkeeper was taken aback for a moment. When he finally realized he'd been robbed, a sharp cry erupted from his burly frame: "Stop, thief! I'm being robbed!"
Then, to the horror of Yugi and his two friends, all the surrounding vendors abandoned their stalls. Brandishing all sorts of blades, spears, axes, hooks, and chain weapons, they chased after Hayato in the direction he fled.
Hayato, being chased, showed no fear at the sight of these weapons. Instead, he excitedly pulled a card from his wrist, holding it high above his head: "『Gaia』! Stop them for me!"
The 『Dark Knight Gaia』, appearing out of thin air, raised its lance and unhesitatingly charged its horse into the pursuing crowd. A heavily armored warhorse with a charging cavalryman using a heavy lance against unarmored infantry resulted in a one-sided rout. 『Gaia』 effortlessly scattered the merchants chasing Hayato, all by itself.
By the time the merchants reorganized and resumed their pursuit, they found that 『Dark Knight Gaia』 had already dissipated, and Hayato had long since vanished without a trace.
Having lost their target of aggression, the merchants seemed to lose their memories, returning to their original stalls and resuming the lines they had spoken countless times before.
Yugi and his friends also breathed a sigh of relief.
"That scared me half to death," Joey said, patting his chest. "I actually thought for a moment we were going to be attacked too. By the way, why did they only chase Hayato and not us?"
Mokuba thought for a moment. "Perhaps it's because this game doesn't have a 『Teaming Up』 function?"
As KaibaCorp's Vice President, Mokuba had naturally seen the development plans for the DM game. In this game, players didn't have a team-up function, and there were no limitations on attacking or healing. Players could backstab teammates they had just fought monsters with, or even heal monsters purely to torture them.
Similarly, monster drops belonged to whoever picked them up; there was no sharing function. In other online games, one person drawing a monster's aggro would create a chain reaction affecting others in the party, but in DM, these effects were all independent for each player. This explained why the merchants chased Hayato but ignored Yugi and his friends.
"It looks like that Hayato guy successfully escaped," Joey noted, observing several merchants posting wanted posters that had suddenly appeared in their hands. On the yellowish-brown paper was a drawing of Hayato fleeing with a sack of cards slung over his back, and below it was a bounty of 100,000.
"A bounty of a hundred thousand, huh? This is probably the highest number we've seen in a while," Joey said, looking at the wanted poster. "Isn't that number a bit exaggerated? I remember the most expensive card we saw earlier, 『Relinquished』, was only priced at 10,000."
"It's not exaggerated," Mokuba replied. "Don't forget, Hayato just ran off with all the cards. The total value of those cards is roughly a hundred thousand, so spending a hundred thousand to buy them back is still worth it for the shopkeeper."
Mokuba glanced at the shopkeeper of the card stall that had just been robbed. In the time it took for the three of them to turn their heads, the previously cleared-out stall was once again fully stocked with cards. "Though," he added, "that guy doesn't seem to be short on cards."
"However, if Hayato is wanted now," Yugi said, frowning, "does that mean he can't enter the city?"
Joey also had a troubled expression. "That guy… this is just a virtual world. He snatched the cards but can't take them out, and now he's wanted himself. What a waste, right?"
"I think it's fine, actually. Speaking of which, this photo is way too low-quality. What do you think, if I took a selfie and gave it to those merchants, would they be willing to use a different photo?"
Joey casually responded, "There's no way that would happen—"
"Huh?!" He suddenly reacted. Who was just talking to him?
He whipped his head around, and Joey saw Hayato, dressed in a doctor's white coat, looking at his own wanted poster with great interest. Several merchants posting bounties walked past, and Hayato even shamelessly nodded at them in approval.
"Hayato?" Mokuba also looked astonished. "But… I just saw you being chased and running away! And aren't you wanted?"
Hearing Mokuba utter the name "Hayato," the gaze of some NPCs suddenly turned to them, looking at the group suspiciously.
"When did you get the illusion that the one running away was me?" Hayato said with a smile, revealing several cards in his hand: 『Interdimensional Matter Transporter』, 『Substitute Actor』, and 『Rescue Squad』, whose clothes had mysteriously disappeared.
Back when he was still in the Undead Graveyard, after commanding 『V-Z』 to bombard the zombie army with firepower, Hayato discovered a new side quest had appeared in his 『System』—
『Side Quest: Rule Breaker』
『High EQ: Your duels never follow the rules; Low EQ: Your thinking is quite inhuman. How could someone like you possibly play by the rules?』
『Break rules in the current world 0/5』
『Depending on the rules broken, randomly unlock one of the following achievements: "World Destroyer," "Beater," or "I Am The Rule."』
『Reward Preview: Specified Race Construction Card Pack 1, Mysterious Reward』
『Action detected: "Lord, times have changed." Do you wish to record this quest progress?』
According to the 『System』's explanation, any action Hayato took that didn't fit the current game's background, or directly broke the rules, would increase his quest progress. That's why, after clearing out the monsters in the Undead Graveyard, Hayato wanted to directly use 『V-Z』 to clear the forest blocking his way, further increasing his quest progress.
And the previous card robbery was also for the purpose of completing this quest.
Hayato first used 『Gaia』 to attract everyone's attention. Then, at that exact moment, he used 『Substitute Actor』 to create a doppelganger identical to himself in appearance to continue running away. His true body, meanwhile, used 『Interdimensional Matter Transporter』 to hide in another dimension, then seized the chance to strip the clothes from 『Rescue Squad』 and layer them over his own default textured outfit.
Unexpectedly, Hayato also unlocked two more 'rule-breaking' actions because of this.
"Using heavy firepower in a fantasy world," "Robbing, ignoring trading rules," "Evading punishment rules," and "Using mods to override character models"—Hayato now only needed to break one more rule to complete this side quest.
"Well, as you can see, I can't use the character name 'Hayato' for now, since I'm wanted, aren't I?" Hayato said with a smile, glancing at the clothes he was wearing. "From now on, you can temporarily call me 'Pediatrician' or 『Genius Gamer M』."
"Watch me achieve a one-life clear!"
『Action detected: "Illegal Name Change." Do you wish to record this quest progress?』
『Yes』
『Side Quest: Rule Breaker completed. Please claim your rewards.』
"Well, those kinds of things don't matter right now. We should still hurry and save big brother," Mokuba said, looking exasperated like a little adult.
"Alright, let's split up for now and gather information around," Yugi suggested. Then, as if he thought of something, he looked uneasily at Hayato. "If possible, let's not cause too much of a commotion."
Hayato confidently patted his chest. "Don't worry, I'm a very low-key person, and I'm especially good at following rules."
(end of chapter)