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

Against the backdrop of increasingly heated discussions on forums and various apps, what formed a stark contrast was...

the eerily silent atmosphere within Jiangcheng’s entire ”player community.”

After accepting ”Fluoxetine’s” mediation, neither 『Order』 nor 『Marauders』 had taken any further action.

Of course, perhaps there was another important reason...

The certain ”mastermind” who had been stirring up trouble behind the scenes had quieted down.

In the Western Theater History classroom, Lin Yu sat in the last row, yawning repeatedly.

He had taken two days off and really needed to show his face at school.

Besides, today was the day for highlighting key points in Theater History—the teacher for this course seemed like a kindly old man, but he showed no mercy when failing students.

The Death Game was certainly important, but Lin Yu didn’t want to fail and retake the course either.

So he had Hannah lie on the textbook to help note down the key points the old professor mentioned, while he listened to the casual chatter from the front row and dozed off.

”This rain just won’t stop, could a typhoon have made landfall?”

”Don’t be ridiculous, since when does Jiangcheng get typhoons?!”

”Well, actually, there was one ten years ago...”

”That was once in a decade, plus the weather forecast didn’t mention anything.”

Last night’s rain in Jiangcheng had continued until dawn, briefly stopping in the morning before starting again around noon.

Currently, the rain outside was quite heavy, and the sky remained overcast.

Soon, the class bell rang.

Lin Yu packed his notes, preparing to leave the classroom to get some good food and buffs, when he noticed a petite girl peeking through the classroom door.

”Hey, ace!”

Shen Bingmiao waved boldly, moving against the flow of students leaving class toward Lin Yu.

Watching Shen Bingmiao approach, Lin Yu discreetly packed his backpack, stuffing Hannah inside before speaking: ”Senior, what’s up?”

”Is this about the club or...”

He asked tentatively, Shen Bingmiao pouted: ”What could possibly be going on with the club? Finals week is next week.”

Lin Yu instantly understood Shen Bingmiao’s meaning.

”Urgent? It’s meal time now...”

Shen Bingmiao placed two steamed buns on the desk.

”Kinda urgent, but I won’t let you go hungry.”

She said with a laugh. Lin Yu helplessly grabbed the buns and followed behind Shen Bingmiao.

The two arrived at the club activity building, with Lin Yu holding an umbrella along the way while finishing the buns.

He tentatively asked, Shen Bingmiao pouted: ”What could possibly be going on with the club? Finals week is next week.”

With his ”Lin Yu” identity as the most basic player persona, he was the newest of newbies—a complete rookie.

No promotion, no background, and his only interactions with players were making a splash at the trading meet and briefly contacting Tycoon.

Although marked by the 『Psychological Society』 people, which attracted attention from many organizations, Lin Yu’s subsequent ”silence” and ”low profile,” combined with several other highly prominent players recently emerging in Jiangcheng...

Meant that ”Lin Yu” himself had actually faded from everyone’s sight.

As it should be—no matter how talented, he was ultimately just an uncut jade.

In normal player understanding, Lin Yu should need six or seven dungeons of experience, going through promotion and item accumulation, before gradually growing after joining some organization.

And ”contact” works both ways.

Although last night’s events in Jiangcheng were significant enough, given ”Lin Yu’s” identity and awareness as a player, he absolutely shouldn’t know anything about the situation.

Moreover, although knowing Shen Bingmiao was a ”player” meant Lin Yu could no longer consider her a completely trustworthy contact...

Lin Yu didn’t think Shen Bingmiao would suddenly try to harm him either.

Maintaining caution toward others didn’t mean being paranoid like someone with persecution complex, seeing danger everywhere.

Shen Bingmiao brought Lin Yu to the drama club activity room, suddenly showing a mysterious expression.

”Hey, A-Yu, my dear junior... next I’m going to introduce you to a VIP!”

”Since you’ve been on the forum, you must have seen the rankings, right?”

”The person you’re about to meet... is actually on the list!”

Hearing Shen Bingmiao’s words, Lin Yu felt somewhat surprised.

A ranked VIP?

Lin Yu immediately thought of 『Tycoon』.

That guy was openly ranked 27th nationally, plus he was a local power in Jiangcheng with close ties to 『Order』.

Combined with Shen Bingmiao previously claiming to be 『Order’s』 external personnel, being able to invite ”Tycoon” made sense.

Of course... Li Hua was also possible.

Although 『Gambler』 Li Hua’s name wasn’t on the list, Lin Yu was quite sure he had just anonymized himself.

After returning from the last dungeon, Lin Yu had browsed many forum posts, with many generally guessing Li Hua’s position should be around rank seventy.

However, whichever of these two it might be, if Shen Bingmiao could invite them...

It would sufficiently prove that his club president was indeed, as he suspected, a highly positioned VIP.

Lin Yu’s thoughts raced, but his expression remained unchanged, only showing surprise.

”A ranked VIP? Senior, you’re amazing!”

”Of course—anyway, that person is here representing the players’ number one organization 『Order』 to ask you some questions!”

Shen Bingmiao stood at the door, explaining to Lin Yu.

”Representing 『Order』 to ask me questions? About what?”

Lin Yu showed appropriate nervousness and curiosity as he asked.

Shen Bingmiao waved her hand: ”Relax, relax... if I’m not mistaken, you didn’t die naturally, right ace?”

Lin Yu felt briefly surprised by Shen Bingmiao’s question method.

But he wasn’t shocked, since according to investigations, the 『Psychological Society』 generally didn’t hide things—they might even actively tell 『Order』 and other organizations.

So Lin Yu just sighed.

”Yes, senior... honestly, I was killed.”

He touched his chest with lingering fear.

”According to investigations, it seems to have been done by an organization called 『Psychological Society』... the one who actually did it was actually at the drama club that day.”

Hearing Lin Yu’s words, Shen Bingmiao became uncharacteristically serious.

She pressed her lips together and sighed: ”Although I already roughly knew, hearing you say it yourself... I’m really sorry, A-Yu.”

”That night I was actually on campus too, if only I had noticed...”

Lin Yu interrupted her: ”It’s not your fault, senior—ultimately, everything should be blamed on the person who killed me.”

His voice turned slightly cold, then returned to calm: ”So, what does 『Order』 want to ask me about?”

”Probably related to the person who killed you, well, should just be routine questioning.”

”『Order』 has been having some troubles recently, they’re just desperately trying anything now.”

Shen Bingmiao said, opening the activity room door.

Then, Lin Yu saw that sitting inside wasn’t the expected 『Tycoon』 or 『Gambler』.

But a young woman with handsome features, short hair, wearing white Tai Chi clothing.

She sat in the club room, slowly drinking tea.

Lin Yu showed perfectly measured nervousness and curiosity as he asked.

The young woman put down her tea cup and stood up, looking at Shen Bingmiao with a slight nod.

”Thank you for bringing him over, A-Miao.”

Shen Bingmiao waved her hand: ”No problem, with our relationship.”

Then, she looked toward Lin Yu.

Their eyes met, and Lin Yu saw her gaze was clear and bright—staring longer felt like looking at the midday sun.

Just standing there, Lin Yu could feel the dampness from the continuous rain in the room fading significantly.

She smiled and nodded toward Lin Yu in greeting.

”How should I address you?”

”Just call me Xiao Lin.”

Lin Yu replied, then instinctively asked in return:

”May I ask how to address you?”

And the other’s response was completely unexpected for Lin Yu.

”You can call me ’A-Mo,’ or use my forum ID...”

”『Grandmaster』.”