-_-? =-=?
Amano Zero was currently staring blankly. In the middle of the scrap recycling pile, a strange block-like object was floating.
[Mokey Mokey] [Level 1 / Light] [Fairy / Normal] [ATK: 300 / DEF: 100]
"Is this a spirit too?" Zero asked Eve for confirmation, comparing it to the card face he had just picked up.
Am I actually someone with a body that attracts spirits?
"Probably. But I've never seen this type of spirit before. It looks..." Eve tried to reach out and touch it. Spirits couldn't touch humans in reality, but they could interact with each other. "It looks like a marshmallow, so soft!" The spirit girl let out a drop of drool from the corner of her mouth.
"Is that so? I think it looks like a block of tofu." Zero also swallowed hard.
He couldn't help it; the Amano family hadn't eaten tofu in a long time. Even though the Eden Tower could maintain an autonomous ecological cycle, real ingredients were still very precious. In the bottom sectors, especially Sector 32, most people relied on tasteless synthetic food for nutrition. Something like tofu was a luxury reserved for the New Year in the Amano household.
But starting today, the fate of the Amano family would be rewritten by the eldest son, Amano Zero.
"You are the final piece!"
Regardless of whether it was a card spirit, this [Mokey Mokey] undoubtedly became the final component, filling Zero's initial 40-card deck. As the last card was placed into the deck, it signified that inside the Eden Tower, Zero had finally become a Duelist.
He had become one by picking up cards from the trash.
[Duel King System loading... Current progress: 1%]
"System?"
A double blessing! The voice appearing in Zero's mind was the one he had waited 18 years for—the System!
When he was first reborn, Zero had tried everything. He really had tried every possible way. He was a reincarnator without a system? Zero, who had almost given up, had finally welcomed his long-overdue cheat the moment his deck was completed.
"Duel King System, huh? Sounds powerful!"
Speaking of "Duel King," one had to mention the original protagonist of Yu-Gi-Oh, Yugi Muto, and his "backseat spirit," Pharaoh Atem. What would this Duel King System give him?
Could it be the Egyptian God cards? Though in his distant memories as a card player, the three Egyptian Gods weren't actually that powerful in the real-life card game. But this was a future where dueling had been severed for three thousand years, and card spirits even existed. As the pinnacle of all spirits, the Three Egyptian Gods would at least have a lot of prestige.
Of course, if it gave him a pile of terrifying Trap cards, or a "backseat spirit" partner with cool hair who was good at cards, Zero could accept that too. The more he fantasized, the more impatient he became to see the truth of this Duel King System.
[Duel King System loading... Current progress: 1%... 2%]
"Isn't this... a bit slow?"
Zero, who had lost all heart for work, sat cross-legged in the scrap pile until the sunset turned red. Waiting a long time only for the progress to move 1% was nerve-wracking, especially in this situation.
No, I've waited eighteen years; a little more time won't hurt.
Zero calmed himself. With his deck complete and a system in place, the most important thing now was to consider his future path—specifically, how to use his deck to make money. As expected, he'd probably have to participate in tournaments, or maybe underground arenas...
Just as Zero was contemplating his life, he heard the shout of a colleague in charge of the neighboring scrap area.
"Amano! Your little girlfriend is looking for you! She seems to be in a real hurry!"
"Little girlfriend?" Zero didn't have anything that nice.
"Zero!"
However, when he reached the gate of the scrap yard, it was a panting Yuu waiting for him.
He was disappointed... naturally, a little bit. No matter how cute Yuu looked, there was an uncrossable chasm between that guy and a "girlfriend." Even if Yuu, running so hard he was out of breath with black hair stuck to his flushed cheeks, looked even more charming... that still wouldn't work!
That said, Yuu did look very frantic.
"What's wrong?"
"Something's bad, Zero. Those people... those people are back!"
"Back?" Zero reacted instantly. "Could it be... they shouldn't be!"
Zero remembered the debt warning he had ripped off his door before leaving. Didn't it say there were three days left?
"I don't know what happened either. Right now, a group of them is blocking your door, and Shio is still inside!"
"Trouble. I have to go back. Boss, sorry!"
The foreman of the scrap yard was a man in his forties with a scruffy beard. He looked like someone you didn't want to mess with and was exceptionally strict with his subordinates.
"Yeah, I got it." The man nodded heavily. "Amano kid, go! Don't worry about here!"
But that strictness had never truly been directed at Zero. The situation of the Amano family was known to everyone in Sector 32. Zero's mother had died young of a disease. Perhaps due to genetics, his sister Shio had also contracted the same strange illness when she was young. To treat Shio, their father had borrowed money everywhere and worked multiple jobs, eventually dying in a work accident. He left behind a mountain of debt and a disabled sister.
Such a background was pitiful even to the poor people at the bottom of the tower. So as fellow residents of the slums, especially the coworkers in the scrap yard, everyone tacitly looked after Zero within their abilities.
"Amano kid!" Seeing Zero rushing away, the foreman couldn't help but shout, "If you run into trouble, remember to come back and find us!"
"Thanks, Boss!"
Zero had long noticed the unspoken care from the people in the slums. But he also knew that relying on the care of others was not a long-term solution. Some paths had to be walked alone.
"Wait... wait for me, Zero!" Yuu, who had already sprinted here, began to fall behind Zero's urgent pace on the way back.
Zero wasn't rushing because he was afraid Shio was in danger. According to the rules of the Eden Tower, all violent behavior was prohibited. Therefore, in this era, even "mafia" debt collection could only stay at the basic level of "intimidation." Escalating further would violate the rules set by the Mainframe Eva.
Even "dueling," which served as the replacement for violent conflict, had to be recognized by the Eva system before the winner could gain any compulsory enforcement power.
So, on the contrary, Zero was afraid of something else...
"No money! I said there's no money! Didn't you guys just come by?"
Before Zero even reached his doorstep, he could already faintly hear a girl's crisp and willful shouting.
This was exactly what Zero was worried about.
At this moment, three burly men dressed in black and wearing sunglasses—who clearly looked fierce and menacing—had extremely troubled expressions on their faces. They stood around the girl in the wheelchair, looking completely helpless.
His overly willful and domineering sister was perfectly portraying the image that "the one who owes money is the boss."
Even with her limited mobility, Amano Shio didn't show the slightest fear toward these hulking thugs.
"Anyway, I have no money. As for my life... you might as well just beat me up!"
Only in the Eden Tower would someone dare say such a thing. Being judged for violent behavior resulted in fines at best and exile at worst. Especially hitting a disabled person—that would be easily classified as a "Severe" level of violent violation by Mainframe Eva.Of course, being a persistent "deadbeat" would eventually lead to punishment under the established rules.
Amano Zero stepped forward, shielding Shio. "I'll handle this."
"Brother!" Seeing Zero suddenly blocking for her, Shio's expression shifted instantly. Her face went from defiant to "pitiful" in zero seconds as she clung to Zero's arm.
"Brother, I was so scared just now! You're finally back! They were going to hit me! Waaaah!"
The three burly men in black felt their mouths twitch. Their expressions were on the verge of crumbling.
Kid, have some shame! Who was the one being scared here?
If it weren't an emergency order from the young miss herself, they wouldn't have taken this job for a million points. After all, they were more afraid of Amano Shio ramming them with her wheelchair and framing them for assault—then they would be the ones punished by the Mainframe Eva.
In this day and age, it was getting harder and harder to be a bad guy.
The world was truly becoming too "civilized."
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My : https://[email protected]/AuAuMon
Yu-ki-oh:King of the Scraps (52Chapters – Ongoing)
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