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

”Another person has disappeared.”

Upon hearing Old Zheng’s words, Lin Yu didn’t hesitate for a moment and immediately spoke up to alert everyone.

Instantly, the scene became somewhat chaotic again.

”Another person has disappeared?!”

Yue Zhenqiao frowned as he spoke, completely unaware of when it had happened.

Simultaneously, Lin Yu also turned his head to carefully observe the dart masters behind him.

Without needing Old Zheng’s reminder, Lin Yu could pinpoint the missing individuals this time based solely on his own memory.

Two people, one carrying a sword, the other with an injury on his left arm.

Although neither were important figures within the escort team, there were only twenty-six dart masters left in the stone house after removing the two who disappeared initially.

Missing two, Lin Yu could tell at a glance.

He quickly walked over to where the two had been standing just moments before—there was even residual blood on the ground.

Lin Yu looked at the nearest few dart masters beside him: ”They were just here, do you have any impression of them?”

Lin Yu said coldly, and expressions of confusion and fear appeared on the faces of those dart masters.

”No…”

”They were here?”

”Are you joking?”

Lin Yu frowned and called out to Old Zheng in his mind: ”Old Zheng, these few…”

Before Lin Yu even spoke, seeing the reactions of the few, Old Zheng had naturally already investigated: ”Their minds haven’t been tampered with.”

Lin Yu let out a sigh.

”None? Then why on earth…”

”Old Zheng, what about the two who disappeared, any clues?”

Old Zheng answered again: ”None either, they just ’poof’ vanished… one second they were here, the next they were gone.”

”Of course, because my perception isn’t as accurate for things outside of mental energy, if those two guys themselves didn’t react, I might not have noticed the disappearance process either.”

Li Nian also quickly came to Lin Yu’s side, squatting down to wipe the ground with her finger. Besides the bloodstains, the uneven stone bricks also bore traces of being stepped on and sat upon.

”The dust is thinner here than elsewhere, and there are some trampled spiderwebs,” Li Nian rubbed her fingers together, looking at Lin Yu, ”Sister Zhu Ming, how did these two living people disappear?”

”All the Players are here, so it must be the work of demons or the like,” Lin Yu turned to look at the newly arrived trio over there who were drawing swords and leveling spears, and Deadshot who was desperately trying to hide under a table to evade the bizarre power that could make people vanish directly, ”I don’t think any one of them possesses this kind of power.”

Li Nian nodded: ”That’s true…”

After saying that, Li Nian stood up, then pulled a shield and a pistol out of thin air.

”Hey, you three over there—the situation is getting worse, returning your things first!”

Li Nian said, throwing the items back from a distance.

After Little Fire Dragon caught the shield, he subconsciously spoke up: ”Thanks.”

Deadshot interrupted Little Fire Dragon: ”Why are you thanking her, are you stupid, this was your stuff to begin with.”

Squirtle laughed out loud: ”Yeah, Little Fire Dragon… but after I get out, I can probably brag a bit!”

”I’ve met the Master Thief, and I didn’t even lose my [items]…”

Before Squirtle finished speaking, he saw Li Nian magically produce a stack of scrolls as if performing a trick.

”These are yours.”

Li Nian said, and Squirtle’s expression changed slightly as he felt the sleeve of his robe.

”When did you get these?!”

Li Nian tossed the scrolls back, grinning: ”At the same time as those two, but you hid this one pretty well, so you didn’t notice either.”

Lin Yu looked at Li Nian, full of admiration while not forgetting to tease.

”Great skill, just don’t steal my stuff.”

Looking at the wary Lin Yu, Li Nian said with a giggle.

”Then you better be careful, Sister Zhu Ming, hide all your things well!”

After Li Nian returned all the stolen items, looking at the trio who continued to stand guard vigilantly, she couldn’t help but remind them again.

”Hey, this demon can make people vanish without a sound, your current posture won’t defend against it.”

Little Fire Dragon said somewhat discontentedly: ”Then what do you suggest we do?”

Although only dart masters have disappeared so far, four people have vanished in less time than it takes an incense stick to burn…

Noon is still long, and it’s only a matter of time before the disappearances reach us Players.

Especially since we can’t afford to lose too many of these dart masters… even losing half would be unacceptable.

After all, the six of us Players combined only have half of a fragmented map. Without these dart masters, it would be difficult to know how to get to Willow Town.

Lin Yu spoke calmly: ”Of course, analyze the existing information, you bunch of hopeless fools… The common point that can be extracted from the four missing people so far is probably that they were all relatively ’healthy,’ at least no severely injured casualties have disappeared yet.”

”Secondly… I don’t know about the previous two, but the two who disappeared this time were likely the more taciturn type, who interacted less with others,” Lin Yu said again, ”The fact that these dart masters instantly forgot their existence indicates this demon has some means of altering people’s cognition… Although I have some understanding of mental energy abilities and can confirm this phenomenon likely isn’t achieved through direct mental tampering, the existence of ’cognitive modification’ is an indisputable fact.”

”It also fits the ’pattern’ of this phenomenon that individuals with simpler social connections disappear first—the connections between people are like a web; the more connections a person has with others, the more gaps need to be filled if they vanish into thin air.”

As Lin Yu spoke, the other Players and dart masters all listened somewhat confusedly.

”So, we should now focus on monitoring those in the escort team who have the fewest friends and are the most silent?”

Deadshot said, and Lin Yu nodded.

”Yes, but after finding similarities, we must also look for differences… find the differences among those of us remaining.”

”What I’m more curious about now is, why do these dart masters experience cognitive confusion, while the six of us don’t?”

A simpler explanation would be the difference between Players and NPCs.

But…

Why would this difference cause him to still clearly remember the appearances of those two dart masters, while their colleagues who interacted with them daily forgot?

Especially since Li Nian obviously also had an impression of those two, proving that this ”cognitive modification” indeed differs in its effect on Players and dart masters.

This point… Lin Yu found it strange, but had no leads for the moment.

While Lin Yu was pondering, Yue Zhenqiao also understood Lin Yu’s suggestion.

”Good, everyone gather close… those new to the profession, those who usually drink less with everyone, those from other towns, come before me—everyone keep an eye on them together, try not to give that demon another chance to strike!”