Death Game: Starting as a Trickster, Pretending to Be a God

”Alright, now that the misunderstanding has been temporarily cleared up, let’s briefly introduce ourselves... After all, this is a cooperative puzzle-solving game, so it’s necessary for us to get to know each other.”

After Lin Yu put down his pistol, the atmosphere instantly relaxed.

The middle-aged man wearing a white hard hat quickly stepped in to mediate again.

In puzzle-oriented games like this, the situation usually isn’t too urgent, often providing ample time for players to communicate and understand each other.

He took the lead in setting an example.

”You can call me ’Iron Uncle’, that’s also my forum ID... My profession is 『Craftsman』, and I’ve cleared ten dungeons so far.”

Hearing Iron Uncle’s introduction, Lin Yu understood.

Eight dungeons meant he had been participating in the 『Death Game』 for two months already...

This placed him beyond the beginner range, making him a relatively ”veteran” player!

After all, the forum had only been established two years ago!

The oldest known batch of players... had only joined the game two and a half years prior.

Since the Death Game becomes progressively more difficult, players surviving over six months are extremely rare.

For Iron Uncle to survive two months and ten dungeons was already quite impressive.

And his profession was 『Craftsman』...

This was also a relatively common and versatile profession, belonging to the 『Enhancement Types』.

Lin Yu remembered the abilities of 『Craftsman』: increasing proficiency with various ”tools” and enhancing understanding of mechanical structures.

This was an extremely versatile profession, since most craftsmen could fully utilize their professional advantages simply by obtaining tools like ”wrenches” or ”screwdrivers” through purchase or collection.

Moreover, regardless of the dungeon type, most game dungeons would contain mechanisms of some sort...

Having a 『Craftsman』 around could save a lot of trouble.

After Iron Uncle finished speaking, the young couple-like pair spoke up.

”My forum ID is ’April’, profession is 『Doctor』, and I’ve cleared six dungeons.”

The girl introduced herself, then nudged the young man beside her.

The young man quickly spoke up.

”My forum ID is ’Number Eight’, profession is 『Student』, and I’ve also cleared six dungeons.”

The two introduced themselves one after another.

Lin Yu nodded slightly.

The 『Doctor』’s ability was simple yet powerful - the unconditional ability to perform one ”treatment” per day without requiring any tools or medicine. A typical 『Skill Type』 profession.

As for 『Student』, it belonged to the 『Rule Types』 - when encountering non-player characters that could be negotiated with in a game dungeon, students would get one opportunity to ”greatly increase success rate”.

The self-introductions of ”April” and ”Number Eight” made Iron Uncle realize something.

”You two seem to be together, did you enter as a team?”

The two nodded, and 『Doctor』 April didn’t avoid the question, nodding as she said: ”Yes, we used Party Items.”

Iron Uncle sighed with emotion: ”Out of five people, two pairs actually know each other...”

Then he looked at Lin Yu and the young girl.

”Though we already know you two are 『Soldier』 and 『Thief』... but please introduce yourselves properly.”

The young girl nodded and began her introduction.

”Hello everyone, my forum ID is ’Unforgotten’, and I’ve been through three dungeon games.”

Lin Yu felt somewhat helpless.

Truth be told, in what appeared to be a puzzle-oriented game like this, Lin Yu really didn’t want his 『Soldier』 identity.

He would have preferred an 『Information Type』 profession - like Teacher or Reporter.

But since there was someone here who knew him...

So Lin Yu had no choice but to admit it.

”That’s right, my profession is 『Soldier』, you can call me ’Nine Waters’... I just cleared my first dungeon.”

Lin Yu said calmly.

The young girl’s eyes widened: ”What? You just cleared your first dungeon?!”

Lin Yu looked at her and nodded.

”Yeah, is that strange?”

The others also looked incredulous.

Iron Uncle adjusted his hard hat and asked: ”Brother Nine Waters, how did you know about the forum after just your first dungeon?”

”And from what you said, you even attended your city’s offline gathering?”

Beginner dungeons wouldn’t encounter veterans, only other beginners!

So most ”newbie” players would only learn about the forum and items from older players in their second dungeon.

Lin Yu smiled modestly.

”I just got lucky.”

Everyone looked at Lin Yu with surprise, clearly curious.

The college boy named Number Eight showed a relieved expression.

”Whew, having a newbie means... this dungeon probably won’t be too difficult!”

He said optimistically and thankfully.

After the self-introduction session ended, the water in the room finally finished draining.

When all the water had been drained...

Everyone heard a faint ”click” sound coming from the walls.

Lin Yu and the others followed the sound and saw that four doors had appeared on the walls.

The four doors were different colors: red, yellow, blue, and green.

Among them, the green door slowly opened, and a ”person” walked out.

But Lin Yu and the others were certain that it wasn’t human.

A ”humanoid creature” wearing a ”crow head” mask and covered in a black feathered cloak walked out.

”Caw caw— Hello there, ’players’!”

The crow-head’s throat produced a hoarse voice, like dozens of voices overlapping.

Lin Yu and the others watched it solemnly.

The blood-lettered prompt before entering had shown the dungeon name and clearance conditions.

The dungeon name was ”Deadly Quiz”, and the clearance condition was ”solve the necessary puzzles”...

In other words, this crow-man before them was likely the quizmaster.

Sure enough, after a few seconds, the crow spoke again.

”Caw caw, I will be serving as the ’examiner’ for this game... I will give you questions and hints!”

”Caw, there are three ’rooms’ in this game.”

”Caw caw, I’ve set three questions in each room—two reward/punishment questions, and one ’decision question’.”

”Caw caw, caw, answering reward/punishment questions correctly brings rewards, while wrong answers bring punishment. As for ’decision questions’, you can only proceed to the next room by answering correctly—answer all ’decision questions’ correctly to clear the dungeon.”

”Caw, those are all the rules for this ’Deadly Quiz’ game...”

As the crow spoke, it flapped its wings.

And in that instant, the water flow from the upper water outlet holes suddenly increased.

”Boom—”

Water gushed out, falling on everyone again, making them cry out.

”Damn it!”

The crow-man’s voice sounded again.

”Everyone, please listen to the first question— At the current water inflow and drainage speeds, how long will it take for the water to completely fill this room?”