Master of Kaidan
Chapter 49 Leisure

Chapter 49: Chapter 49 Leisure

Compared to Chen Xiyao’s nervous unease, Feng Xue had a rather good haul today. Perhaps this linked world had quite a few Yu-Gi-Oh game elements, allowing him to scavenge enough cards to constitute several decks... of course, those were mainly Synchro and Xyz-centric, with no extras of the sort.

However, he was curious why cards like Three-eyed Monster, Assassin Tomato, and Witch of the Black Forest were discarded like trash.

But then he thought of the cards Brother Crab had found in the dump, and also those zero-attack, zero-defense Monsters in the well behind Duel Academy; it seemed not so Hard to Understand after all.

Stuffing a pair of stockings with "Invalid" and "Elf" elements into his deck, he continued searching for items based on the elements Golden Finger displayed.

Cards were different from other trash; they were too small, and when piled up, you couldn’t tell if there was one more or one less. He could have stealthily Refine them if he wished, but considering the price of less than 1 brick per card, he decisively forwent such actions. Rather than saving that bit of funds, it was better to spend his limited time finding more useful items.

Today was likely his last Garbage Day in this dump area. He wanted to collect as many unique elements of this landfill site as possible.

...

By seven in the evening, with only an hour till the dump closed, Feng Xue leisurely walked out with a bag of goods. His backpack now contained three engines, about three hundred cards, three Diamonds, two Rubies, and a "graveyard".

Yep, a graveyard. It was a Duel Disk reduced to about a third of its original size. Despite its battered condition, it probably retained some functionality as a graveyard section, hence "Graveyard" and "Recycle" as its elements. Feng Xue brought it along, thinking it might come in handy for a Hand Pit he might Refine in the future.

Seeing Feng Xue come out so late, the Appraiser at the door initially thought he might have snagged something valuable, but upon seeing those engines and the stack of cards, the Appraiser’s expression swiftly switched from anticipation to speechlessness. Fortunately, the five gemstones somewhat brightened his mood—

"The Diamonds are in good shape, I’ll give you 5000 bricks each. The Rubies have scratches and wear, priced at 2000 bricks each. These pieces of junk? 200 bricks for the lot, that’s 19200 bricks in total. The buying price for gemstones is 20 percent of the valuation, so we’ll keep them all and you’ll get 3820 bricks."

"Hmm, although those two gemstones are a little dull, they have the Refined element. So why are they priced so much cheaper than the non-element Diamonds?" Feng Xue was somewhat preoccupied with the valuation but then sighed at his own overthinking, realizing he might be leaving soon. He reluctantly swept the trash back into his bag and said:

"Then I won’t sell these."

The Appraiser just curled his lip and gave a signal to someone beside him, who immediately nodded in understanding.

The Appraiser kept a close eye on Feng Xue, making sure nothing was secretly hidden away during the process. Seeing that all was in order, he then said routinely:

"Purchase price is 1.5 times, so you get 300 bricks. Hey you, bring him thirty-five bricks over!"

Feng Xue received his earnings and, seeing no line behind him, proceeded to absorb them on the spot before heading towards his home.

But shortly after Feng Xue left, the Appraiser suddenly said:

"Later, sketch this kid’s face and spread the word to others to keep an eye on him. He might be tagged with card-related elements."

"Got it." The assistant nodded, deepening his Impression of Feng Xue in his mind and then sketched a rough but vivid drawing in his notebook.

...

Unaware that taking out so many cards in bulk would attract attention, Feng Xue wouldn’t have cared even if he knew. This time was purely a one-off trade. If he had planned for the long-term, he would have melted most of them at the dump and then emerged with a small carload to hand over.

Shaking his head to dismiss these thoughts, Feng Xue hurried back to his temporary abode in the southwest corner. No sooner had he entered the district than he sensed something off, and his expression grew solemn.

"So they really came after all..."

He hastened towards his own dwelling, noting with dismay the wide-open doors of the dilapidated houses. Striding up to his residence, he frowned at the visibly damaged door frame.

Without calling out for Chen Xiyao, he just marched into the room, only to be met with chaos everywhere.

"Can’t tell if that girl ran away or hid."

While Feng Xue pondered this, he prepared to tackle the conspicuously inconspicuous cardboard box, but to no avail—

It was normal not to find her, but considering the commotion he made, shouldn’t that girl have come out on her own?

"Did that girl actually run away? No way, right?" Feng Xue furrowed his brow, feeling unexpectedly disappointed. It would be the first time since crossing over that he tried to trust someone, and it had not even succeeded?

Regardless, her disappearance meant this house was probably no longer Safe, and without much thought, he turned to leave.

But just as he pivoted, a noise from behind made Feng Xue spin around instantly, catching the figure that lunged at him.

"F**k!" He barely refrained from unleashing a chokehold and intercepting the unexpected assailant, steadying the sobbing girl who seemingly kept her cries discreet enough not to carry too far.

Feng Xue gently ruffled the girl’s hair, then said resignedly:

"If you’re so scared, why play such pranks on me?"

"It’s not a prank! You kept staring this way; I couldn’t lift the box!" Chen Xiyao took a deep breath to steady herself, her face flushing red. It was then that Feng Xue remembered the accursed cardboard box, and its attribute of being unable to move when caught in someone’s gaze...

"Alright, it’s done. You haven’t used the restroom all day; you must be bursting. Let’s hurry up and finish this; we’ve got to move house afterwards..."

As he started to walk out, Feng Xue suddenly realized something was amiss. The girl’s expression was now redder than before.

"You didn’t...?"

"Don’t ask!"

"So does this mean you could also, in the future..."

"I said don’t ask, and don’t even think about it!"