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

Lin Yu had long vaguely sensed that the Crow-Man in front of him was “the designer of this dungeon.”

Because the degree to which it controlled this game… was simply overwhelming!

So, Lin Yu couldn’t help but test it a little earlier.

In the first two rooms, Lin Yu had subtly praised the dungeon designer.

Judging by the Crow-Man’s slightly pleased reaction back then…

It must indeed have been him.

Those who design such intricately linked, trap-filled questions—whether human or something else—often have a bit of narcissism.

Having confirmed that this somewhat narcissistic Crow-Man was “the game designer”…

Though the name still had to be guessed, Lin Yu now had a direction.

He exhaled and looked at the Crow-Man.

“Your ‘name’ has actually already appeared in this game, hasn’t it?”

The Crow-Man looked at Lin Yu and nodded.

“Caw caw, that’s right, it has appeared, and in full form.”

“I see,” Lin Yu whispered, “How disrespectful of me—I didn’t expect that standing before me was a ‘god.’”

As he spoke, the Crow-Man laughed.

“Caw caw, it seems you already know my identity… So, which god do you think I am?”

The Crow-Man asked, and Lin Yu grinned widely.

“It’s simple. In the second room, the crow representing the incarnation of ‘Change’ can transform into an image just like yours.”

“That one represents the ‘God of Change’… right?”

“And your behavior in this game is both truthful and deceitful.”

Lin Yu said, and the Crow-Man laughed again.

“That’s right… You’re incredibly clever, Lin Yu. Hurry and give me your answer.”

Looking at the Crow-Man, Lin Yu remained silent.

He narrowed his eyes and spoke softly.

“So, you really want my answer to be ‘God of Change,’ don’t you?”

Once this question was posed,

The Crow-Man fell silent.

After a moment, he laughed sincerely again.

“Hahaha, it’s really hard to fool you…”

“Yes, after playing a whole game of ‘trap questions,’ it wouldn’t make sense if there were no traps at this moment.”

Lin Yu said calmly.

The Crow-Man looked at Lin Yu: “Is there another reason?”

“There’s also your narcissistic personality, and the deliberately ambiguous wording in the second room,” Lin Yu said. “When you introduced the two and three crows, you said ‘two great gods transformed into crow avatars’ and ‘three great gods transformed into crow avatars’…”

“To be honest, this can be understood as ‘avatars of three different gods’…”

Lin Yu paused for a moment.

“But it can just as easily be understood as ‘three different avatars of one god’… right?”

Lin Yu opened his hands.

“Judging by the personality you have shown so far, calling other gods ‘great’ really doesn’t match my observations of you… So my answer is…”

“The game designer’s name is ‘Truth, Falsehood, and God of Change’… roughly something like that. You probably wouldn’t be too particular about the exact words or order, right?”

After Lin Yu finished speaking, the Crow-Man laughed and shook his head.

“Brilliant, truly brilliant. You are frighteningly perceptive.”

“‘Truth, Falsehood, and God of Change’ is my name… Congratulations, you got this question right.”

The Crow-Man said this without quibbling over the exact wording with Lin Yu.

“Let’s move on to the next question. The reward this time is that you can make one request to me, though… I can still refuse.”

“Oh, and there’s a shorter ‘answer’ to the previous question…”

As he spoke, feathers began to fall off his body one by one, revealing an elegant dark double-breasted suit, white gloves, and leather shoes.

This outfit seemed somewhat familiar to Lin Yu.

Then, the “Crow-Man” raised both hands and took off the crow headpiece.

Lin Yu was stunned when he saw the face beneath the crow headpiece.

Because beneath the mask… was a face identical to his own.

“The other answer to the previous question is ‘Lin Yu.’”

His voice was no longer the overlapping sound of thousands but exactly the same as Lin Yu’s.

He showed a gentle smile.

“Nice to meet you—though for me, this is already the second time.”

“Me, ten years ago.”

The Crow-Man in front of him… no, the “Lin Yu” opposite him smiled.

Lin Yu suddenly felt unreal.

It was like how last week he was suddenly killed and suddenly entered this game.

“You are me from ten years later?!”

“Ten years later… I become a god?!”

That future “Lin Yu” nodded.

“Of course. With the ‘Fraudster’ unique class, plus my intelligence—your intelligence—I solved this game. Becoming a god… wasn’t that difficult.”

“Due to details, I can’t reveal too much of the process, but it wasn’t very hard.”

The god version of “Lin Yu” said proudly.

“You can’t reveal too many details? Then how do you expect me to believe you? After all, you’ve been lying all along!”

The god “Lin Yu” sneered: “‘Manipulating time’ is exclusive to gods. The reason I can meet you from ten years later is because I became a ‘god’… You’d think that a ‘unique class’ and six people believing in you would be enough for you to activate the ‘Rewind’ ability that manipulates time, right?”

“But it’s precisely because you are destined to become a god in the future that you were able to complete that ‘ruse’!”

Lin Yu rubbed his head, his face full of hesitation.

“I still don’t quite believe it. If this is true, what kind of torment did I suffer in this game over the past ten years…? How did my personality become such a birdlike mess?”

The god “Lin Yu” laughed: “Actually, you only went through one thing: realizing that you are smarter than most people… Well, I’m quite surprised myself. I almost forgot how little self-awareness I had ten years ago!”

The god “Lin Yu” shrugged toward Lin Yu.

“In any case, now it’s time to make a choice. I know you have doubts about me,” the god “Lin Yu” said, “So it’s okay. You can choose to believe me or not.”

“If you believe I’m your future self, then choose to follow me over there. We’ll enter the final room, and I will help you obtain everything needed to ‘become a god.’”

The god “Lin Yu” pointed behind the mist.

There, a spiral staircase wound upward.

“Of course, if you don’t believe me, you can take the key and leave through the door… I will still give you enough ‘help’ so that in the next dozen or so dungeons, you won’t have to worry much about survival.”

The god “Lin Yu” said.

Lin Yu still had some doubts, but his expression showed about seventy or eighty percent belief.

“Hmm… But if you really are ‘me from ten years later,’ you should already know what I will choose, right?”

“Wouldn’t you already know what I would choose?”