Chapter 869: As Long As You Don't Stop, The Road Will Continue to Extend
Time rewound to several minutes ago. Kaiba parked his Blue-Eyes Jet at the airport.
Although the Blue-Eyes Jet, equipped with KaibaCorp's black technology, still had plenty of fuel, considering there were only so many airports in Egypt that could accommodate jets, and it was unlikely the Chumley he was looking for would be conveniently right next to an airport, Kaiba needed to make a stop there first.
He had everything planned out. The Blue-Eyes Jet was equipped with an Autonomous Driving System that could be remotely taken over by a computer. He planned to fly the Blue-Eyes Jet to where Chumley and his group were—who wouldn't know he had arrived in Egypt—then jump out to surprise them, and finally let the fully fueled Blue-Eyes Jet fly back to Domino City on its own.
"Hm? That kind of stunt is too dangerous, humans can't do it? What foolishness! In the dictionary of Seto Kaiba, there are no such words as 'can't do.' As one who possesses *Blue-Eyes White Dragon*, I can even jump from a jet!"
After arranging for employees of KaibaCorp's Egypt branch to refuel his beloved Blue-Eyes Jet and perform basic maintenance, Kaiba noticed that Mokuba, who had accompanied him on the jet to Egypt, was flipping through pages on the tablet he held.
The dazzling numbers on the tablet were data transmitted from the KaibaCorp headquarters in Domino City, concerning Kaiba's previous failed experiment, the "Dragon Wheel," essentially a knockoff "D-Wheel."
These dense and complex numbers would likely make even an adult with relevant professional knowledge dizzy, like an incomprehensible celestial book. Yet, Mokuba easily understood the data, manually marking some that had been verified as incorrect through previous experiments, and correcting and modifying a portion of it within his capabilities.
When keywords like "KaibaCorp" and "prodigy" were mentioned, most people probably only thought of Seto Kaiba at first, as his resume was so dazzling.
Before reaching adulthood, he inherited the Kaiba Weapons Industry and led the transformed KaibaCorp to become the pinnacle of the Duel Monsters domain through a win-win collaboration with Industrial Illusions, inventing the Solid Vision and further developing black technology products such as the Duel Stage and Duel Disk.
However, both Kaiba and others who knew Mokuba were well aware that this boy, barely a teenager, was in no way inferior to his older brother, who always shone conspicuously in public. His talent in electronic information and other fields was even much higher than Kaiba's.
It was quite astonishing that two such prodigious talents emerged from the small orphanage that had adopted the Kaiba brothers. Gozaburo, who adopted the two brothers, truly struck gold, but unfortunately, he played a good hand terribly.
Watching Mokuba engrossed in processing data that even adults would find troublesome, Kaiba, on a whim, said, "Take a break, Mokuba. Let's go for a walk on the street."
"Annoying. Ugh, it's all your fault, the numbers are wrong!" Without lifting his head, Mokuba said instinctively, then suddenly realized that this wasn't a staff member at the company reporting various tasks to him. The person speaking to him was his older brother, Kaiba.
Lifting his head sharply, Mokuba scrutinized Seto Kaiba standing before him: "To actually say something like that, instead of just indulging yourself and causing me a pile of trouble like before... Are you really big brother?"
Forcing his stiff lips into a reluctant and awkward smile for his younger brother, Kaiba, upon hearing Mokuba's words, immediately reverted to his usual cold expression, letting out a tsundere "Hmph!": "Hmph, what strange image do you have of me in your mind, Mokuba? If you don't want to go, then forget it."
"No, of course I want to!" Mokuba chuckled, put down the tablet and turned it off, and followed Kaiba's back.
Taking a private car from the airport to a nearby street, even though it was the first day of the new year, the streets weren't deserted. After all, this New Year was merely the Gregorian calendar's New Year; for Egyptians who use their own calendar, March 15th of this year marked their Islamic New Year.
Nevertheless, it was a rare public holiday, and not one of those annoying "paid time off disguised as holidays" that would emerge a decade or two later, but a genuine break. Many local Egyptians still took advantage of the holiday to go shopping with their families. Those returning home for the holiday and those going out largely balanced each other, so the number of people on the streets didn't change much compared to usual.
"The streets are really lively, but I don't see many Duel Monsters-related shops," Mokuba commented casually, looking around. In his hand was a pita he had just bought, a hollow pocket bread filled with Mokuba's favorite chocolate-flavored cream, transforming it from a sandwich-like staple into a dessert. As he walked, Mokuba took another bite of the pita.
Although Mokuba had grown up and was no longer as mischievous as he was as a child, becoming very polite and attentive to etiquette, there were plenty of people on this street enjoying snacks while walking. In fact, the greatest pleasure of such street food lay precisely in eating it on the go, and Mokuba was, for once, enjoying the food in his hand like a child.
"It's probably because the average consumption level here isn't high enough compared to Europe, Asia, and America," Kaiba said casually, glancing at Mokuba beside him. "With most expenses going towards basic necessities, even Duel Monsters, which has become popular globally, would face some difficulties spreading across this land. You really like chocolate, Mokuba. But it's good to act like a normal child sometimes. It would be even better if you weren't picky with food."
"No, everything is negotiable except celery."
The Kaiba brothers walked down the street, conversing casually like a normal pair of siblings. If anyone familiar with Seto Kaiba were to appear here, they would likely be astonished by this scene—especially Kaiba's upturned lips—and might even wonder if they had slept too late watching the New Year's fireworks last night and weren't fully awake.
The dreamlike experience in the Memory World, besides allowing Atem to successfully reclaim his name and vanquish Zorc Necrophades, also brought about a change in Seto Kaiba. After witnessing what transpired in the Memory World, he, who had always only looked towards the distant future, for once learned to let his gaze linger on his immediate surroundings for a moment.
Beyond that, he also had some kind of inexplicable realization. However, Kaiba was not in a hurry to understand such profound and mysterious things, knowing that the simplest and most effective way to deal with such situations was to challenge someone to a Duel. Any problem, he believed, could be easily solved with a Duel.
This was also one of Kaiba's reasons for coming to find Chumley and Yugi. After all, he had once tried to collect data from various Duelists with Duel Robots to satisfy his card addiction, but the result was a complete failure. Even the Duel Robots he planned to repurpose for entertainment attractions in Kaiba Land were directly destroyed by Chumley in a Duel after they went rogue.
Although he consistently disparaged Joey as a "second-rate Duelist with a third-rate Deck," Kaiba also had to admit that even a "second-rate Duelist" like Joey was hard to find. It wasn't just anyone who could Duel with him; those who could hold their own were few, and those who could truly satisfy him were extremely rare.
Of course, getting a kick out of it was one thing, but Chumley, who used a Shadow Realm Deck to sicken people, was another. If he had to Duel with sneaky Chumley, Kaiba felt he might as well go to the children's section of Kaiba Land and stomp noobs, at least then he could normally Summon the invincible *Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon* and enjoy himself.
Thinking it over, Yugi wasn't a good choice either. When it came to Dueling, the appearance rate of Trap Cards in his Deck wasn't any better than Hayato's. And then there was that mediocre Duelist, Joey. While facing *Blue-Eyes* head-on was indeed commendable, that cockroach-like persistence that just wouldn't be beaten was truly annoying.
As expected, only Yami Yugi is my fated opponent!
Kaiba thought, nodding to himself. Mokuba, however, didn't know that his older brother, upon mentioning Duel Monsters, was already thinking about Dueling again. After taking another bite of pita, he looked around and said, "But it's okay if there's resistance, big brother. I remember your wish. To help you achieve your wish of building Kaiba Land all over the world, I'll have to work harder too."
Hearing Mokuba's words, Kaiba smiled as well.
Yes, everything we've accumulated over such a long time has meaning.
Although Egypt isn't developed enough yet, with the help of KaibaCorp, one day Kaiba Land, where children can laugh, will be built on this land. Not just Egypt, but many more places. As long as we don't stop, the path forward will continue to extend.
"Thud—"
Mokuba, walking on the road, seemed to have slightly stumbled on the uneven pavement. The unfinished pita in his hand flew forward as he lost his balance. However, instead of trying to catch the unimportant pita, Kaiba, who appeared casual but was actually always watching over his younger brother, immediately reached out, intending to steady Mokuba.
But his hand had only extended halfway when he froze.
Because he saw that the pita Mokuba had dropped inexplicably stopped in mid-air, not continuing its flight. And Mokuba, who was about to fall, was frozen mid-swing, attempting to regain his balance.
The noisy chatter that had surrounded them instantly fell silent. Kaiba looked up and around, noticing that the surrounding crowd, like Mokuba, was also frozen in place.
It was as if, in that instant, the forward flow of time in the entire world had been intercepted by something, and only Kaiba's own time continued to flow forward. In other words, was it a time stop?
Kaiba's first reaction was not to investigate what had happened, but to frown and squat down to check Mokuba's condition.
Setting Mokuba upright, Kaiba found that while he was adjusting Mokuba's body, he was completely unable to react to any of Kaiba's actions. However, aside from that, he seemed otherwise normal. Kaiba casually retrieved the pita floating in the air and placed it back in Mokuba's hand.
Unable to break Mokuba's state, Kaiba finally looked around helplessly, his gaze sweeping over the frozen crowd. He spoke, "You cowardly rat, hiding your head and showing your tail! Although I don't know what's going on, you're watching Seto Kaiba, aren't you! Whatever your purpose, show yourself openly! Otherwise, when I find you, you will face my wrath!"
Although he spoke this way, Kaiba didn't actually believe that the person responsible for all of this would simply reveal themselves because of his words. Yet, reality was much simpler than he thought. Just as Kaiba's voice faded, a voice, which for some reason sounded very familiar to him, echoed behind him.
"Behind you."
Spinning around sharply, Kaiba didn't even look to see what was behind him, decisively throwing a punch. Judging from the sudden voice, Kaiba felt the speaker was standing not far behind him.
But the instant he spun around, Kaiba found that the surrounding environment had changed in just a blink, and even with his excellent dynamic vision, he couldn't discern how the transformation had occurred. He, who should have been standing on the street, suddenly found a wall abruptly appearing behind him.
Kaiba's full-force punch was just shy of smashing into the wall behind him. Even Kaiba knew that if his mortal body were to collide head-on with a wall, the wall certainly wouldn't be the one feeling the pain. Thankfully, he had learned some techniques from a coach named Kihara Amata while in Hawaii, stopping his fist just as it was about to make contact with the wall.
Lowering his hand and turning around, Kaiba found himself inexplicably in a place that resembled an Ancient Egyptian Tomb. Oil lamps, filled with oil and burning with flame, were orderly placed on the surrounding walls, providing illumination that allowed Kaiba to clearly see the numerous Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphs carved into the stone surfaces.
Even Kaiba, who knew little about ancient history, had learned a fair amount from his experiences in the Memory World. He knew that "Hieroglyphs" were one of the oldest writing systems in the world, typically carved only on temples and various monumental buildings, even being called "the writing of God." And in the Memory World, Atem's name, originally carved in his tomb, was written in Hieroglyphs.
Yet, in this place, which seemed to be a Burial Site, Hieroglyphs, whose use was restricted, appeared in great numbers. This was very unsettling. Even more unsettling was that, as if he could inexplicably understand Ancient Egyptian Priest script, Kaiba found he could also inexplicably understand what these Hieroglyphs before him said.
"KanaKht-erymaat"
"Mekkemetwafkhasut"
"Userrenput-aanehktu"
"Usermaatre-Setepenre"
"Ramesses-Meryamun"
As Kaiba read out one word after another, the names he uttered lit up, emitting specks of light that drifted into the distance. Kaiba saw that before him, a figure clad in black robes stood prominently amidst those specks of light!
(end of chapter)