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

”Ladies and gentlemen, the current match score is one win apiece—both sides are back to square one!”

”For the upcoming match, it’s ’Robin’ versus ’Chef’—who will take this round and secure the match point? Let’s wait and see!”

”Are both contestants ready?”

The host’s voice rang out, and Chef God spoke lazily.

”I’m all good over here!”

”N-n-n-no... no problem!”

Robin also stammered out a loud reply.

Standing on the spotlighted arena stage clearly made her uncomfortable.

After their responses, the stone bricks beneath their feet rose up once more, transforming into the ”Falling” theme.

Robin stood frozen, gripping her paintbrush, not moving an inch.

Chef, on the other hand, was perfectly relaxed.

He stretched lazily, then pulled out a big white megaphone.

”Hello, hello? Can you hear me?”

Chef spoke into the megaphone, his voice booming across the entire arena.

Robin blinked, then nodded and shouted back, ”I hear you—what’s up?”

The two of them actually started chatting on stage.

Chef said, ”Look, friend, since both my teammates got hurt or used up their trump cards in the last two rounds, we’re going to need a decent Third Tier player in one piece to guide them through the next dungeon. Plus, I’m naturally pretty lazy, so... I was thinking, maybe we don’t have to fight to the death.”

”You Night Watchmen and Order also have heavy responsibilities. If we all exhaust ourselves and burn through every trump card, that wouldn’t be great either, right?”

As Chef spoke, Robin hesitated.

”But we still have to decide a winner somehow, don’t we?”

”I’m not saying we both forfeit or anything—I’m just suggesting we switch from a physical fight to a battle of wits, from a death match to a friendly contest,” Chef said through the megaphone. ”How about we agree on a method we can both accept?”

”In the ’Land of Certain Death,’ we can even ask the host to certify this kind of temporary self-added rule,” Chef added, glancing at Earl on the sidelines. ”I’m not wrong, am I?”

Earl nodded and spoke, ”That’s correct. As long as both parties agree and the rule is fair, you can add temporary rules within certain limits that don’t conflict with the overall rules. I’ll also certify them within this match.”

”Additionally, I’ll use my lord’s ’Authority’ to verify whether the rules you propose are truly ’fair’—to prevent anyone from playing word games.”

Earl added this remark, but neither of the two on stage seemed fazed.

However, in the audience, Lin Yu, whose eyes had just lit up a bit, now looked disappointed.

”Well, if there’s divine authority involved, forget it...”

He sighed inwardly.

The conversation on stage continued.

”Anyway, a classic battle of wits usually involves taking turns making moves—three moves decide the outcome, or one move each, and whoever can’t take it concedes,” Chef explained, then paused. ”But that could still result in injuries... so let’s compete with our ’works’ instead.”

”Works?”

Robin looked confused.

”You’re a ’Painter,’ right, and I’m a ’Chef,’” Chef said seriously. ”So let’s compare the quality of our works—your paintings against my cooking.”

”This Falling venue is pretty convenient too. The loser just jumps down, inhales some of that sleeping gas, passes out, and that counts as conceding.”

Robin was a bit bewildered.

”I understood the last part, but how do you compare a painting with cooking?”

”Simple. In a moment, I’ll start cooking,” Chef said seriously. ”You can use anything you paint to interfere with me—attack me directly, attack my pot, whatever. I won’t use any items that can’t be used for ’cooking’ to defend or dodge. Within fifteen minutes, if I can’t make three dishes that are perfect in color, aroma, and taste, and none of them are delicious enough for you to admit they’re ’good,’ then I lose.”

”You could even just try to push me off the stage—that works too.”

”At the same time, as a Painter, as long as you paint any ’conventional ingredient’ before I finish the second dish, I have to use it in those three dishes... The upper limit is ten ingredients.”

”Here’s a list and encyclopedia of ’conventional ingredients’—you can look through it first. When you start painting, if you’re not sure whether your idea counts as a ’conventional ingredient,’ just focus your mind, and this book will tell you.”

As Chef spoke, Robin caught the book he tossed over, stunned.

”But, but that puts the judging entirely in my hands. How is that fair? Even if it’s delicious, I could just grit my teeth and say it’s not!”

”It’s indeed unfair,” Earl said, raising a scale. The scale tipped noticeably to one side. ”This rule favors ’Robin’ more.”

”It’s fine. If I can’t make something delicious enough that you can’t bring yourself to call it ’bad,’ then I deserve to lose,” Chef said confidently. ”Of course, that’s not the whole rule—before we start, you also need to honestly answer three questions from me.”

After Chef said this, the scale tilted slightly, evening out a bit toward Chef’s side.

But overall, it still favored Robin.

”At this level... since you proposed the rule, it can take effect.”

Robin thought for a long moment, then turned to look at the audience.

Watching the expressions of her Night Watchmen companions, Robin hesitated a bit more before speaking.

”Fine, I accept.”

She said, and Chef nodded.

”Then please answer my three questions.”

”Where are you from, where do you currently live, and are there any dietary restrictions?”

Upon hearing this, Robin replied quietly, ”I’m originally from Xiang Province, and I currently live in Spring City.”

”As for restrictions, I don’t like vinegar or cilantro.”

”I understand,” Chef nodded. ”Then I’ll trouble the host to announce the start and keep time for us again!”

Earl was more than happy to oblige: ”Alright... the new rules have been confirmed and added. Chef God needs to complete the cooking of three ’dishes’ within fifteen minutes after asking Robin the three questions and earn a ’delicious’ rating from Robin to win. During this time, Contestant Robin can use ’painting’ to interfere with Contestant Chef God, and before the second dish is finished, any ’conventional ingredients’ painted by Contestant Robin must be used by Contestant Chef God.”

”If Chef God fails to complete three ’dishes’ before time runs out, fails to use all ’ingredients’ upon completion, or fails to earn a ’delicious’ rating upon completion, it will be considered Robin’s victory.”

”The additional rules have been announced. Now... I declare the timer start!”