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

”Ouch, go easy on me.”

In the stands, the dismounted Mountaineer was lifting the hem of her clothes, receiving treatment from Xiaoyun.

On her lower abdomen, a vicious wound slanted upward from the left side, spreading all the way to just below her right ribs—almost completely severing her body in two.

If the effects of her Hyper-Adaptive Malleable Body hadn’t mitigated most of the damage, Mountaineer would have been cut in half right on the arena stage.

Even though, with the promise of the God of Fairness and Judgement, she wouldn’t die... still, taking a hit like that was obviously not a pleasant experience.

Xiaoyun, wearing gloves, used tweezers to carefully push the protruding intestines back into her body and reset them. Then she reached out.

”Needle and thread.”

”Coming right up!”

Li Nian responded, handing Xiaoyun sterilized surgical needles and thread.

Xiaoyun quickly sutured up Mountaineer’s lower abdomen, layer by layer.

Her stitching was beautiful—medical sutures carefully closing the muscle layers one by one. After the wound was completely sealed, she sprinkled some of Old Zhou’s generously provided Gold Wound Powder on top, wrapped it with two rounds of bandages, and then let down Mountaineer’s clothes.

”There, all done. For the next few days, avoid water and strenuous exercise... Everyone, you can sit down now.”

Xiaoyun said, then sat down herself, facing away from the Free Alliance men who had formed a human wall around Mountaineer.

Phantom looked at Mountaineer’s pale, bloodless face and bloodless lips and sighed helplessly. ”Can you calm down a bit now?”

Mountaineer winced as she spoke through gritted teeth. ”What do you mean ’calm down’? When have I ever not been calm?”

”Have you ever been calm?” Chef God said crossly. ”On stage, healing your enemy and letting her go all out on you—what the hell were you thinking, you idiot!”

”Do you really think the Night Watchmen’s reputation is a joke? Even Wundt wouldn’t dare take that slash—you’re tougher than the head of the Psychological Society!”

As Chef God spoke, everyone couldn’t help but recall the slash Snowy Owl had delivered just now.

So fast.

Fast and fierce—though it was just a single strike, it was like a massive explosion.

The moment the blade was drawn, the entire arena seemed to fall silent.

”Oh, my bad, my bad. I’ll go grab a good blade from Prison Mountain later and pay you all back,” Mountaineer said, pressing her palms together. ”Don’t lecture me, guys. It’s not like me suddenly losing my cool is anything new...”

”Besides, I trust you and Little Wang. You two can definitely win, right? Three total match wins, and we get the two Pure Abyss treasures—the goal’s already been achieved.”

Mountaineer said this sincerely.

”It’s not about winning or losing,” Xiaoyun sighed. ”We’re afraid you’ll end up seriously hurt.”

The Comedian stepped in to smooth things over.

”Alright, if we were all rational, calm people who always did the right thing, we wouldn’t have gathered here in the first place,” the Comedian said, grinning. ”How about I tell you a joke to lighten the mood?”

”Shut up!”

Li Nian, Xiaoyun, and Phantom all said in unison.

Chef God also lit a cigarette. ”Dude, your jokes are way too funny. Don’t make Mountaineer bust her stitches laughing... I’ve still got to go on stage in a bit. What if I laugh myself into losing my edge?”

The Comedian, hearing this, was quite pleased.

”Haha, good point. I’ll save them for when we get back.”

”Off to a strong start, Chef!”

Mountaineer gave a thumbs-up.

The Chef pulled a headband from his chest and tied it on.

”Don’t worry, I’ll win... I originally thought your match was a sure win, so I figured I could relax a bit...”

As he spoke, he casually placed a small cup on his seat.

”Remember to drink some while watching my match. I stewed it with a lot of jujubes and free-range chicken—it’s great for replenishing blood and energy.”

Mountaineer rubbed her hands together and smiled.

”Losing a match and still getting soup—doesn’t seem right, does it?”

Chef God rolled his eyes and walked straight off.

...

On the other side of the stands, Snowy Owl’s hands and feet had also been bandaged.

As the winner of the previous match, Snowy Owl was now standing dejectedly in front of Bi Fang.

Bi Fang held a stainless steel thermos, took a sip of tea, and then looked at Snowy Owl.

”Fun, wasn’t it? Pushing your Flow State to the limit and unleashing a slash like that—fun, wasn’t it?”

”Exhausted after swinging it, right? So let me ask you—what if the opponent had withstood it? What then?”

”How would you counter? Huh? I’m asking you, how would you counter?”

”You’d lose, wouldn’t you?”

”Fine, let’s set aside that final slash for now and talk about your earlier performance... You won in the end, sure, but you won thanks to your opponent’s mercy, thanks to your opponent helping you—is that glorious?”

”Are you that far behind her, Snowy Owl? A top-fifty player on the leaderboard—what makes you inferior to her?”

”Why were you being suppressed? Without the Mountain-forge weapon affecting your feel, why didn’t you adapt to the weapon yourself? Is the Wound-Soul Knife the Grandmaster gave you really that much worse than your Mountain-forge weapon? After training for so long in ’man and sword as one,’ can you only merge with the Mountain-forge weapon? Why didn’t you maintain your Flow State at a high level from the start? Why were you caught by such an obvious control move? Why didn’t you realize the opponent’s tactical intentions earlier?”

”How have Master Teng She and I been teaching you all this time? Tell me,” Bi Fang pulled down her U-shaped neck pillow. ”The arena was displayed by the host from the very beginning—why did she remember to note the approximate terrain changes and set you up, while you just stood there like an idiot, getting tied up!”

Bi Fang spoke with a tone of bitter disappointment.

The entire Night Watchmen seating area was dead silent. No one dared to breathe too loudly.

In the end, it was the Tycoon and the Grandmaster who broke the silence.

”Alright, alright, Teacher Bi Fang, a win is a win, right? A win is a win.”

The Tycoon pulled out a thermos and refilled Bi Fang’s cup with some hot water.

”Yeah, being able to pull off a slash like that is already impressive. If that slash landed on me, I’d be hard-pressed to withstand it,” the Grandmaster quickly added, then looked at Snowy Owl. ”Did you come up with that slash yourself? Very impressive—remember the feeling of that slash. You could even build your Heart Domain around it!”

Hearing this from both sides, Bi Fang put down her cup and graciously gave Snowy Owl a way out.

”Alright, sit down. No matter what... a win is a win. You got your blade back, and no one got hurt—that’s good.”

”Think carefully about what the Grandmaster said to you. It’ll be very useful.”

Snowy Owl nodded, sat down, and hugged the Mountain-forge weapon.

”Great, Snowy Owl, you’re fine, and you won... That really eases my pressure a lot.”

A soft voice sounded from the corner. Snowy Owl turned around and jumped in surprise.

”Robin, when did you get here?”

Hearing this, everyone turned to look at where Robin was sitting—apparently, no one had noticed her already in the stands.

Even the Grandmaster’s expression seemed somewhat surprised.

Lin Yu looked at Robin, whom he hadn’t seen in a long time, and couldn’t help but sigh.

”Wasn’t the Corner of the Gloomy invented with her as the prototype?”

”I’ve been here since your match started,” the girl in the full slate-gray tracksuit stood up from the corner, brushed off her pants, and said, ”It’s my turn now... I’ll try my best to win.”

”It’s fine. Snowy Owl already won this match, so your priority is just to stay safe.”

Bi Fang said gently.