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

After finishing the negotiations with Li Hua, Lin Yu, disguised as Old Yao in the room, breathed a sigh of relief.

“Finally... got that done.”

Of course, he hadn’t been completely honest with Li Hua—in fact, the “Lin Yu” who had been talking with Li Hua outside wasn’t even himself.

There was no doubt that Li Hua was a clever man, even exceptionally so.

Moreover, Li Hua didn’t have the arrogance common among smart people. Holding a high position in Order, he wasn’t just intelligent but also calm and rational.

Every ounce of his intelligence was fully utilized in thinking about issues related to Order.

So...

Having gained Li Hua’s trust now could be considered a milestone achievement for Lin Yu.

After all, Li Hua’s status meant that once you truly earned his trust, it was almost equivalent to gaining the trust of the entire Order.

For this very reason, Lin Yu had kept deliberately exposing weaknesses and choosing to take risks by saying things that seemed to have loopholes, step by step guiding Li Hua to find what he thought was the complete “answer.”

For someone as smart as Li Hua, telling him you had no secrets while you were clearly hiding something was impossible.

But if you gave him a seemingly sufficient “truth,” it might actually fool him.

And as it turned out...

Lin Yu had gambled correctly once again.

“Still, the reason this worked this time ultimately comes down to laying the groundwork from the very beginning, before even deciding on a specific fraud target...”

Zhu Ming’s identity, May May’s identity, his own peculiarities...

Layer after layer of “disguises,” both real and fake, mixed together like a tangled ball of thread.

Although everyone knew that no matter how complicated a tangle, there must be a loose end, when the threads were wound enough times, finding that end became a possibility existing only in theory—beyond human capability.

“May May’s” identity, along with his true identity as “Lin Yu,” had, to some extent, become completely “safe.”

After using “Hannah” to control the disguised “Stiller” to bid farewell to Li Hua on the pretense of “meeting up with a friend later,” Lin Yu watched Li Hua walk in through the door.

Li Hua’s eyes fell on him as he spoke.

“It’s all sorted now, Old Yao. You can leave.”

Lin Yu quickly stood up and nodded with a smile. “Alright, boss, I’ll be off then.”

As he spoke, he divided the black plastic bags in his hands.

“Bosses, I was in a rush coming over and didn’t bring much for you. These chickens were freshly bought and slaughtered—free-range mountain chickens I’ve been eating for years. They’re great for stewing soup, chopping up for stir-fry, whatever you like.”

The Order and Night Watchmen members were about to politely decline, but soon enough, Tycoon stood up and took the bags.

“Oh, Old Yao, you didn’t have to bring these things when you came!”

“Don’t let it happen again!”

With Tycoon taking the lead in accepting, the others couldn’t very well keep refusing.

So everyone took a bag of chicken and started to disperse.

Lin Yu also felt the presence of “Old Yao” growing stronger—the belief that came with this identity had increased a bit more.

Then, he found another corner to change back into his own appearance and pulled out his own phone.

Not long after, Fu Luo sent a location pin.

It was a restaurant. Then Fu Luo sent two more words.

“Hurry over!”

Lin Yu turned off his phone screen and hailed a cab to the location.

He’d told Li Hua he was going to eat with a friend... and that friend was, of course, Fu Luo.

Soon, Lin Yu arrived at a small, couple-run stir-fry joint and saw Fu Luo and High Mountain sitting at the entrance.

Lin Yu pulled out a chair and sat down. Fu Luo smiled and said, “Bro, I’ve already ordered. Take a look and see if you want to add anything.”

Captain High Mountain also handed over the order slip.

Lin Yu glanced at it and said, “This is enough, and you’ve picked pretty well... It’s impressive that you out-of-towners managed to find a little place like this and order such good dishes.”

High Mountain chuckled. “I asked around with some colleagues from the local bureau. They like to come here for a bite after their shifts end.”

“But enough about that. I heard on the way over that Li Hua arranged a ‘duel’ with the Free Alliance to get back the [Items]. You’re going to fight on behalf of our Order... Let me thank you in advance here. I’ll toast you with tea instead of wine.”

High Mountain filled the cup in front of Lin Yu with tea, then raised his own and downed it in one gulp.

Lin Yu drank his tea as well and said, “Don’t mention it. I’m involved in this matter too... Although I’m not familiar with Master Thief, the other party, Zhu Ming, is indeed connected to me in a way I can’t deny.”

“No one can predict what their friends will do. Don’t be too hard on yourself,” High Mountain said seriously. “Regardless, I hope you come back safe.”

Fu Luo grinned. “I’m sure you’ve got this... But speaking of which, where’s Old Yao? Why not call him over to eat with us?”

“Oh, he has other things to do,” Lin Yu said, looking at Fu Luo, then smiled. “But he said thanks for helping him out back there.”

Although Fu Luo had been the first to raise objections earlier, Lin Yu knew he was actually helping Old Yao.

He had directly steered the focus of the matter to “colluding with the Psychological Society”—first pinning a serious accusation that was clearly impossible, then having Tycoon wash it away. This back-and-forth made Old Yao’s actual problematic part—his acquaintance with “Zhu Ming”—seem less severe.

“It’s nothing. Besides, your brother is my brother,” Fu Luo said seriously. “Last time I was in Jiangcheng, I got ambushed by the Marauders, and it was Old Yao who got me out. I remember that debt.”

“Both Old Yao and I bear some responsibility for that. Helping him is helping me. Anyway... thank you. I’ll toast you too.”

Imitating High Mountain, Lin Yu filled his cup with tea and drank with Fu Luo.

When he had appeared as Old Yao, he already knew he wouldn’t really be in trouble. After all, none of those present actually wanted to punish Old Yao—Tycoon had a high opinion of him, Fu Luo would never forget the life-saving favor, and High Mountain had no intention of making things difficult for him.

Li Hua definitely knew the relationship between Old Yao, Zhu Ming, and Lin Yu, since Lin Yu had never particularly tried to hide it. So Li Hua had only given Old Yao a symbolic scare to gather some information for his negotiations with “Lin Yu.”

As for the Night Watchmen... Snowy Owl’s personality meant she would never bother holding a minor figure like Old Yao accountable. The Robin she brought wasn’t even involved in the matter and would let it slide out of respect for Lin Yu.

It had looked like a three-way interrogation, but in reality, everyone was giving each other an out—as long as Lin Yu appeared as “May May,” Old Yao could easily get through.

Several Jiangcheng-style stir-fry dishes were brought to the table—steamed fish, lotus root sandwiches, and Dongpo pork. As the three ate, they opened up the conversation.

Of course, mostly it was Fu Luo boasting.

“Let me tell you, Old Lin, I was amazing in Sleepless City this time—one of the five great noble families of Sleepless City, the Sheng Lan Family’s young family head election, and your boy was right in the middle of it, stirring things up. You get how impressive that is, right?”