You'll understand soon enough." Ye Lingling looked at Zeng Bufan with pity in her eyes. He was already as good as defeated, but didn't even know it yet.
Just then, You Ye's calm voice came again as he continued his play.
"I Special Summon Hugin the Runick Wings using the effect of Runick Destruction in my hand.
Hugin's effect—discard a card to search Runick Fountain from my Deck."
"Chain 2—Cyber Dragon Infinity! I'll negate Hugin's search and destroy it!"
Zeng Bufan snorted. He didn't understand what Ye Lingling was hinting at, but there was one thing he was sure of—he had to negate Hugin's effect no matter what. He couldn't let it go through!
"Chain 3—Naturia Sunflower! I negate your Infinity's effect and destroy it! (Camellia's effect mills Sunflower as a cost substitution.)"
You Ye smiled faintly as he linked the chain.
"And by the way," he added kindly, "Sunflower's negate isn't once per turn. Right now, I still have another one left. Do you want to keep chaining?"
Zeng Bufan's eyes widened.
"So that's your plan! You baited me—you knew I wouldn't bother negating your Naturia cards, so you built your board around that!"
"You can eat recklessly," You Ye said evenly, "but don't talk nonsense. I gave you plenty of chances to respond—you were just too impatient, thinking all you had to do was stop Hugin and Fountain."
Chain resolves (back-to-front):
C3 Sunflower successfully negates Infinity and destroys it.
C2 Infinity's effect fizzles.
C1 Hugin's search resolves—You Ye adds Runick Fountain to hand.
"I activate Runick Fountain, then tune Camellia and Hugin to Synchro Summon Level 6 Coral Dragon!
In hand, I activate the effect of Aurora the Golden Droplet—Special Summon!
Fountain effect—recycle Runick Destruction and Freezing Curses to draw 3!"
"I then tune Coral Dragon with Aurora the Golden Droplet to Synchro Summon Level 10 Swordsoul Grandmaster – Cheng Ying!
When Coral Dragon is sent to the GY, I draw 1."
Zeng Bufan blinked, stunned.
"You… you have Cheng Ying? Wait—are you summoning that just to mock me? You could've made Baronne de Fleur and locked me out with triple negates! Instead, you call Cheng Ying just to humiliate me?"
He clenched his fists. Yes, the card gave off pressure, but its reputation wasn't on the same level as Baronne. According to the info his clan had, Cheng Ying had some mediocre banish and stat-change effects. Nothing is worth a top-tier seal order.
"You'll see soon enough," You Ye said with a look of mild pity. He wasn't mocking—just being cautious.
He knew the Cyber Eternity Dragon in the graveyard could protect fusion monsters from targeting and destruction. Against Baronne, that would've been a problem. But Cheng Ying was different—he could bypass it entirely.
"I target your Cyber Eternity Dragon with Runick Flashing Fire—destroy it! Then banish the top two cards of your Deck."
Zeng Bufan looked at You Ye's empty Extra-Monster Zone and chose not to trigger Eternity's graveyard effect. He knew if he summoned another Cyber Dragon from the Extra Deck, it would only feed You Ye's Runick triggers. Better to bet everything on his next two draws.
Two chances—he just needed one perfect top-deck to turn it all around.
"Not activating Eternity's protection?" You Ye asked softly, amused. "If you'd brought it back, I could've chained into Dragon Magician instead. But fine—two monster negates and Cheng Ying standing, that's enough."
He ended his turn.
"My turn—draw!"
Zeng Bufan's eyes lit up. He'd drawn it — the miracle card!
"Hahahaha! You Ye, watch carefully! This is how I turn the tables in one turn — you'll regret not summoning Baronne!"
"I banish Cyber Eternity Dragon from my GY! This turn, my Fusion monsters can't be targeted or destroyed by your effects!
Then I activate Overload Fusion! By banishing Fusion materials from my GY, I Fusion Summon!"
"I banish two Cyber Dragons, Infinity, and Nova!
Fusion Summon—come forth, my last hope, Chimeratech Overdragon!"
A mechanical abomination with four draconic heads erupted onto the field, gleaming with black light.
"Chimeratech Overdragon's ATK is 800 × the number of Fusion materials — that's 3200 points!
And it can attack four times this turn!
Both are continuous effects, so your annoying Sunflower can't negate them!"
You Ye looked at him like a man watching a clown.
"Uh-huh. Let's start with the basics—Overdragon's summon effect is mandatory. You don't get to choose not to activate it.
Also… maybe take a look at your dual disk for a second."
"Huh?" Zeng Bufan glanced down—then froze.
Chimeratech Overdragon's ATK was not 3200.
It was 2500 — a 700-point reduction.
"What the—?! Why did Eternity's protection fail? When did you activate Cheng Ying's effect?! There was no chain!"
You Ye chuckled. "The ATK and DEF reduction is Cheng Ying's first effect — a continuous effect. It doesn't target. You never noticed because you had no monsters on the field before."
"And by the way… the duel's already over."
"Because the moment you banished cards for Overload Fusion, Cheng Ying's third effect triggered — Chain 2, non-targeting banish of one card from your field and one from your GY."
"What—?! Non-targeting banish? Then why did I even banish Eternity Dragon at all? Wait… you set this up from the start!"
Zeng Bufan's face turned ashen. He realized too late that You Ye had planned around his entire combo. By banishing his own cards for Overload Fusion, he'd triggered Cheng Ying and essentially self-destructed.
Now Overdragon was gone, Cheng Ying's ATK rose to 3700, and the Naturia monsters added another 1900 combined — 5600 total. If You Ye continued his next turn, it was game over.
"You think I can't OTK you?" You Ye asked with a smirk. "I never said the chain was finished."
Cold sweat poured down Zeng Bufan's face.
"Chain 3—Camellia's effect! When you Summon or Special Summon, I can Special Summon a 'Naturia' monster from my GY!
Chain 4—Mole Cricket! When you Special Summon a monster from the Extra Deck, it Special Summons itself from the GY!"
The spectators gasped. They had heard rumors about You Ye's endless chains — now they believed them.
Chain resolution:
C4 Mole Cricket Special Summons itself.
C3 Camellia Special Summons another Camellia from GY.
C2 Cheng Ying banishes Overdragon from the field and Cyberdark Claw from GY.
C1 Overdragon's summon effect sends all other cards Zeng Bufan controls to the GY.
"Camellia's on-summon effect — send Sacred Tree of the Naturia to GY; Sacred Tree searches Spring Breeze!"
When the chain finished, You Ye had two more monsters on the field, his attack total soaring again.
"Go on," he said lightly, smiling. "Announce the end of your turn."
Zeng Bufan looked at the field — Cheng Ying plus two Naturias totaling 7200 ATK. Next turn, You Ye could summon a Runick monster to close the gap and finish the duel in one blow. He had no cards, no plays left.
The spectators were already moving to You Ye's side.
"I… end my turn," he whispered, voice trembling.
Despair. He'd never felt such complete hopelessness — not even facing his clan's Earth-rank masters.
On You Ye's next turn, just as Bufan feared, he didn't even bother making Baronne — he simply attacked and ended it. Duel over.
When the match ended, the onlookers surged forward. This time, they did not block Ye Lingling and Bai Yun'er; they let the two women walk straight to You Ye.
Bai Yun'er's face was pale. She bowed deeply.
"Senior, I'm so sorry. If my father hadn't announced you were leaving the house and let Zeng Bufan hear it, this whole mess wouldn't have happened."
"It's fine," You Ye said, patting her shoulder. "I still earned a card out of it. Pretty good deal."
Bufan had clearly been a pawn—used by the Zeng family or other forces to probe his strength. If not this test, they'd have found another.
Bai Yun'er straightened and spoke solemnly: "Thank you for your understanding, Senior. I'll tell my father — you'll receive proper compensation."
She'd finally understood — You Ye was on a completely different path. Even her own Swordsoul spirits favored him now. Instead of jealousy, she should be grateful; thanks to him, she'd gained two Swordsoul boss monsters she could never have obtained alone. From now on, her goal was to assist him — if she did, perhaps one day he could speak a single sentence and make any spirit yield to her.
You Ye smiled slightly and did not refuse. No reason to. Then his gaze fell on Zeng Bufan — more precisely, on the card in his hand.
Zeng Bufan's face darkened. He had failed his family's task and lost the wagered card. He knew the rules — duel contracts enforced the forfeit automatically — but his fragile pride still refused to move.
"Second brother," a cold voice snapped from the doorway. "You planning to embarrass the entire Zeng family?"
A young man in his early twenties stepped in, strode to Bufan's side, and snatched the card from his hand — Three Step Industry. He walked to You Ye and stopped half a meter away.
"I'm Zeng Wang, Zeng Bufan's elder brother," he said, bowing slightly. "On behalf of the Zeng family, I apologize for his offense, Senior."
You Ye took the card and smiled thinly. "One card isn't enough for my forgiveness."
Zeng Wang studied him for a moment. He saw then that You Ye had seen through their entire scheme. The apologetic mask slipped from his face.
"Senior," he said softly, "while you're still alone and underpowered, I suggest you keep a low profile. Dark Duelists may be weak in Hangzhou—but not every family is."
"Oh?" You Ye tilted his head, smiling. "Funny. They all look pretty weak to me."
At some point, Muning had appeared at his side, expression cool and still. Bai Yun'er and Ye Lingling stood there as well, while the other heirs instinctively took a step back.
Zeng Wang — the so-called greatest genius of the Zeng family in a century — was already a mid-Earth rank Duelist before twenty. Before You Ye appeared, he'd been recognized as the strongest of Hangzhou's younger generation and heir to the Zeng clan.
Now the two men faced each other, testing the water with smiles that barely hid threats. No one else dared intervene — they knew the stakes.
Zeng Wang's smile faltered slightly. He'd never been