Yu-Gi-Oh!, the Roar of the Weak

Chapter 367 Hong Zhanshi

"Silly Xing, you need to be more careful. We can't follow you anymore, so you have to be careful not to get scammed again," Ai Xiao repeatedly warned.

"It's alright, Ah Xiao. Basically, as long as he doesn't encounter anything cool, his IQ is still online," Li Fei Hua Yue defended Di Xing.

Looking at this girl whose IQ drops to zero at the sight of a chestnut ball... friend, I have to admit that in this respect she and the idiot are quite a match. Ai Xiao sighed and pulled the bewildered Li Fei Hua Yue away.

Led by the staff, the new students were divided into three groups and went to the new student reception classrooms on the Third Ring Road.

Di Xing glanced around and recognized several familiar faces in the outer ring: Lian Shi, Xian Yiji, Li Hai, and Bai Xi.

"Oh, Bai Xi, you didn't get any points in the last round either?"

Bai Xi angrily bit the hamburger bag in her hand.

"It's because I don't have money."

"Huh? Isn't it common knowledge that you need to buy a card for the exam? Didn't your parents give you money to take the exam?" Xian Yiji asked, somewhat surprised.

Bai Xi's expression clearly showed her sadness. "My parents are both dead."

"I'm sorry."

“There’s nothing to apologize for, but…” Bai Xi glared fiercely at Di Xing, “you need to give me an explanation for what happened in the first two rounds.”

"Ah, this."

He realized he had indeed gotten her into trouble in the first two rounds, so Di Xing obediently handed over a hundred-yuan bill, saying, "I'm sorry, this is my friend's fee."

"You think you can get rid of me with just 100 yuan?" Bai Xi pretended to be angry and snatched the 100-yuan bill from Di Xing's hand, stuffing it into her small bag. "Anyway, you'll have to find a way to make it up to me later."

At this moment, Di Xing noticed a timid girl with long, gray-white, wavy hair and glasses secretly watching them from behind a pillar.

So Di Xing stepped forward and said, "Hello, is there anything I can help you with?"

"Huh!!!" The girl was so frightened that her fur stood on end, and her emerald-green pupils were filled with terror.

The girl handed over a hundred-yuan bill with trembling hands.

"Sorry, this is my friend's fee."

Di Xing couldn't help but wonder to himself if he was under some kind of balancing curse.

However, he still refused the girl's money; after all, he was a wealthy man now.

"Don't be so scared, I won't do anything to you. What's your name?"

The girl carefully put the money back into her coin purse. "My name is Mao Bohe."

Di Xing gazed at her beautiful mint-green eyes, like ripples on a tranquil West Lake, then at the girl's cat-ear-like bow hair ornament, which trembled slightly with fear. He thought to himself, "That name is truly fitting."

"So, Mao Bohe, what brings you here?"

"Um, no, nothing," Mao Bohe said timidly, touching her two index fingers together. "I just envy the atmosphere between you guys. I... I'm rather introverted and don't make many friends, so... Huh!!!?"

Di Xing grabbed Bo He's little hand. "It's okay, we're friends now!"

Mint, her face pale with fear, was pulled along by Di Xing. Although her multiple divinations indicated that Di Xing was a good person (?), she was still afraid that he might secretly sell her after seeing his test just now.

Fortunately, their group of six only came to the teaching hall.

"You little brats!" A burly man stood on the stands, shouting to the new students, "I'm Hong Zhanshi, the director of the outer ring!"

"Red Warrior? Is that his name or nickname?" Di Xing asked Xian Yiji, the smartest member of the six-person group beside him.

"Of course it's my real name."

"Ah, are all the names in this world this strange? Are there also Blue Warriors? Yellow Warriors?"

"What's going on? Don't you know? Those five were the five-man team that was really popular at this school back in the day. But the others are either still in the inner ring or have already graduated and gone out to make their own way in the world."

"Ah, this..." Di Xing looked at the fat-headed and chubby Hong Zhanshi on the podium and really couldn't connect him with the passionate and impulsive Red Warrior from the special effects film.

"Hong, Hong Zhanshi, I'm your fan!" A somewhat thin freshman, wearing fire-patterned goggles, approached Hong Zhanshi and said excitedly.

"I really like your entire Duelist group. I'm currently looking for members to form my own team."

"Huh, a team?"

Hong Zhanshi sneered as if he had heard something amusing, "Little brat, don't believe in friendship or bonds. They're all lies. This world is all about self-preservation!"

"All this talk of friendship and bonds is just rhetoric from those in power, designed to keep you all tied down and prevent you from climbing the ladder!"

Hong Zhanshi's weathered voice and face made his words even more persuasive.

"For example, if you want to enter the ring, you need to engage in a duel. There are two types of ring entry duels: one is an individual duel where an individual challenges a higher-ranking person to advance in rank."

"Another option is to launch a dual-ring war, where all students from both rings engage in a massive free-for-all. This method allows for a direct exchange between the two academies. If you believe in friendship and bonds, you would definitely choose the dual-ring war to allow yourself and your friends to join the rings together, right?"

"But the truth is, in the hundreds of years of history of this Duel Academy, not a single person has ever entered the Ring Realm because of the Twin Ring War! That's the reality!"

"So forget about friends. If you have the ability, you should climb the ladder, just like the system of this academy, just like the reality of Duskwood, just like this hopeless Enderara!"

"If you want to bring your so-called friends with you to get the IUD, it's basically impossible. But if you're alone, the success rate is much higher, like that skeleton boy over there."

Hong Zhanshi suddenly pointed at Di Xing, and everyone's eyes turned to Di Xing.

"He climbed up from the fourth floor all by himself. How could he have made it up if he hadn't abandoned his friends?"

"I've been recognized after all," Di Xing thought to himself. But he hadn't intended to hide it; rather, he wanted everyone to know. It's just that the expressions on everyone's faces after finding out didn't seem very positive. Was this world, like Skyrim, where even after saving someone, they were still just a nobody in the eyes of the NPCs? Oh well, whatever.

"Sense, I came up here with my friend," Di Xing said, pointing to Xiao You, who was now peeking at them from the roof beam.

The latter quickly curled up even smaller.

"That's because his status is quite prestigious; he should be able to go to the third floor," Hong Zhanshi said somewhat awkwardly.

"You mean my partners on the fourth floor? No problem, I've set up a chamber of commerce, and I can bring them all here to work on the third floor as employees right away."

"Ah, this..." Hong Zhanshi blushed, living up to his name. He roared unhappily, "Anyway, take my advice if you want, or ignore it. You're free to attend all the courses in the outer ring area. That's it, dismissed!"

After saying that, Hong Zhan left without looking back.

Di Xing walked over to the bewildered freshman in goggles and patted him on the shoulder.

"It's alright, young man. A great man once said, 'A heart full of enthusiasm must never be extinguished; show compassion for the weak and help one another; one can become friends with people from any country.' Don't give up on this feeling, even if it has been betrayed a thousand times."

Yes, the person who said that is a very important figure in physics.