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

”The most suitable?”

Lin Yu turned off the faucet, lifted his head, and looked at Li Hua through the mirror with a smile.

”That’s quite the high praise, Comrade Li Hua... So what exactly is my advantage?”

”Time.”

Li Hua answered immediately.

”Even if you’re currently a highly anticipated supernova... the key part is ’nova.’”

”Objectively speaking, the time you’ve been with us is far too short. By common sense... there’s no way the organization’s upper echelon would trust you.”

”Even though we’ve been in frequent contact, they’d probably just assume I’m testing you. After all, my usual impression has always been ’cautious’ and ’patient.’”

”Even if you were ’clean,’ handing you a mission this critical wouldn’t just require being ’clean’... you’d also need ’ability.’”

”Meeting both cleanliness and ability is what makes someone truly trustworthy,” Li Hua said, his glasses reflecting the confident gleam in his eyes. ”But clearly, the time you’ve been here isn’t enough to complete your assessment... not by the normal procedures of ’Order,’ nor by my ’personal habits.’ Time simply isn’t enough.”

Lin Yu spoke up curiously.

”So that’s what I’m curious about too... Even though I’ve been ’open’ with you about a lot, what’s your reason for trusting me?”

”There’s no decisive reason,” Li Hua adjusted his glasses. ”I’m a ’Gambler’... I may stay calm most of the time, but I do gamble.”

”It’s just that I rarely gamble, so everyone mistakenly assumes I never do,” Li Hua said calmly. ”You have too many secrets. So many that whenever it concerns you, the probabilities of many things can’t be clearly calculated.”

”But even so... I still choose to trust you.”

”Lin Yu, I’m betting everything—even the potential upheaval within ’Order’—that you can root out all those hidden bastards.”

”Find their goals, find their members, find their organization.”

Li Hua paused there. ”Besides... I’ve also prepared enough ’conventional’ measures.”

”I’m not the only one investigating. I’m looking into it myself... and I’ve also enlisted others I absolutely trust.”

”So, you’re not my exposed King, nor my Queen held in the shadows, nor even my Ace pre-calculated and slipped into the deck...”

As Li Hua spoke, he raised his freshly washed hand.

Lin Yu caught a glint of metallic luster from the tightened cuff of his Tang suit.

”A true ’Gambler’ is always the best card shark,” Li Hua flipped his wrist, and a card slid from his cuff into his hand. It was a Joker card. ”So, your purpose here... is the most hidden of secrets, the card I’ve been holding from the very start.”

As Li Hua spoke, Lin Yu took the Joker card.

”I appreciate the gesture, but I’m not as confident as you are in trusting me,” Lin Yu shrugged. ”I don’t even know which organization sent them, let alone their exact goals. I’m not confident I can investigate this.”

”But for the South China trip—I’ll do my best.”

With that, the two stepped out of the restroom one after another.

...

The banquet ended.

Although he had initially come with the mindset of ”just showing his face,” Lin Yu had to admit.

It had been quite fruitful.

Even if most of the gains came from inside the restroom.

Both Li Hua and Robin had each provided a good deal of information he urgently needed.

Of course... compared to Robin, Li Hua’s benefits and intel came with strings attached.

”Since I’ll be heading to South China for work later, I might as well use Zhu Ming’s identity to visit Chef God...”

”After all, his cooking is so good... maybe I can use the Banquet Pendant to farm a super-rare buff.”

Based on Lin Yu’s observations over this period, while the taste and quality of the food didn’t necessarily determine the buff’s effectiveness, they were strongly and positively correlated.

Just like tonight’s high-class dinner, which had netted him a pretty decent buff.

【Shrimp Soldiers and Crab Generals (24 hours): Greatly reduces one’s own presence, making one seem like an inconspicuous NPC. The more living beings in the vicinity and the higher the similarity in appearance, the better the effect.】

With this thing, Lin Yu could pull off everyday disguises without relying on Hannah.

Better yet, it would work even better combined with Hannah—for example, if he wanted to infiltrate a crowded closed venue, he could first use optical camouflage to sneak in, then activate this buff and deactivate the camouflage...

That way, he could perfectly blend into the crowd.

In certain specific situations, it might even be superior to optical camouflage.

In any case, Lin Yu stored it away in the Bliss Immortal Pot.

Of course, there was no point worrying about distant matters first.

The most important thing right now...

Was naturally tomorrow’s meeting with Fluoxetine.

”The Agreed-Upon Place,” huh...

Lin Yu sighed, knowing Fluoxetine was referring to the spot where he had last met her as ”Zhu Ming.”

The rooftop of Jiangcheng’s Jinmao Tower.

Last time, after Lin Yu had advanced to First-Tier, he’d even tried to kill Fluoxetine. But now that he’d reached Second-Tier, that thought had completely vanished.

Thinking back, when Fluoxetine had let herself be stabbed by his scheme and used that so-called life-saving trump card, the Reverse Time Blood Sand, she had probably been holding back.

Or maybe she simply wanted to see how far he could go.

Especially after witnessing the Third-Tier’s direct confrontation in the Land of Certain Death, Lin Yu was even more convinced...

That a Third-Tier of Fluoxetine’s caliber was something he simply couldn’t contend with at his current level.

Of course...

At least now he knew Fluoxetine’s Class, her Exclusive Item: Death-Bloom, and her trump card, the Reverse Time Blood Sand.

Robin’s advice had sunk in, but Lin Yu hadn’t fully accepted it.

”Once I reach Third-Tier, as long as my Exclusive Item is strong enough... I’ll definitely have to test her mettle.”

Lin Yu thought to himself.

As for tomorrow...

He was well aware that killing Fluoxetine was out of the question.

”But at least I can try to mess with her a bit.”

Lin Yu mused.

Of course, executing that plan required Fluoxetine to bear no hostility toward him.

Even though dropping out of the Psychological Society probably wouldn’t bother her much, she was still Fluoxetine... you couldn’t judge her by normal standards.

Despite appearing perfectly at ease with the Free Alliance, Lin Yu was actually on high alert.

He pulled out his phone, switched back to his own device, opened the social app, and sent Shen Bingmiao a message.

”I’m meeting Fluoxetine on the rooftop of Jinmao Tower tomorrow. Keep an eye on me—if she makes a move, please help me call for backup, alright?”

Refusing the Free Alliance was for the sake of his persona.

Asking his senior for help was for the sake of survival.

What if he actually ended up dead?