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

The human world of Night Valley was indeed in a state of war, a fact that Shen Bingmiao had mentioned in the information she gave Lin Yu.

And this brought not only the deprivation of social livelihood, but also...

The redundancy of ”violent institutions” and the excessive expansion of power.

Within a single city, there often coexisted the Tribunal of Heresy, which answered to the headquarters of the Tribunal; the City Defense Knight Order, which answered to the empire and the city hall; and the self-governing church—three supernatural organizations with law enforcement powers all existing simultaneously.

Add to that the Adventurers’ Guild, which integrated adventurers who had no law enforcement rights in the city but still wielded supernatural power and great violence. Although each institution’s power was inflated, when everyone was inflated, it instead achieved a certain delicate balance.

Except for the Tribunal of Heresy, which had its own built-in ”Black Prison.” When the City Defense Knight Order, the church, or free adventurers caught dark creatures, heretics, or other human supernaturals who had committed crimes, they could not detain or judge them themselves—they had to send them to the city hall for processing.

So...

Aside from the Adventurers’ Guild, squatting at the city hall was also a good choice.

The players who could escape were all at the Adventurers’ Guild; the ones who couldn’t escape would eventually pass through the city hall.

It was based on this that Phoenix had chosen the city hall.

And as it turned out, their choice was correct.

It was just...

A little too slow.

Walking through the streets of Lilee before they reached the city hall, they heard a violent explosion from afar.

A soaring light tore through the gray sky of Night Valley, and the scorching white glare made Phoenix lift her head.

”Enchanted firearms... such brutal methods. Did a high-ranking adventurer attack the city hall over there?”

Phoenix furrowed her brow.

”If you ask me, it looks like a player’s doing.”

Kui spoke with a smile, and Phoenix added solemnly, ”I think so too... If it were a native adventurer of Night Valley, they wouldn’t be this reckless.”

”On the other hand, players who have mastered gun and mana technology might pull something like this.”

”And the timing matches... If they’d reached the city hall, the player would realize they couldn’t escape through negotiation and might directly choose violent escape.”

But unexpectedly, Lin Yu spoke softly.

”This is indeed a player’s method, and I recognize it.”

Phoenix and Kui both looked at Lin Yu.

”You recognize it?”

Kui said in surprise, leaning in. ”How do you recognize it?”

Lin Yu didn’t answer Kui’s question. He just stared at the fading white light and said, ”If it’s not a similar or identical technique, the player caught at the city hall should be ’Fish’ from the ’Marauders.’”

”This move is very much like her ’Piercing Sacred Might’!”

As Lin Yu spoke, he observed the expressions of Kui and Phoenix.

Sure enough, although Phoenix and Kui were a bit troubled, they didn’t change their minds.

”’Fish,’ huh... Although she has a difficult personality, she’s indeed very strong. We should still go help out.”

Phoenix spoke.

”Ah-ha, difficult indeed. She’s already blown up the city hall from the start.”

Kui also said with a laugh.

”Anyway, we need to hurry!”

Just as Lin Yu had expected...

The ”Hunters’ Association” was a very neutral organization—many users from the ”Psychological Society” and the ”Marauders” were on the Hunters’ Association’s software, and even Li Nian often took jobs through the Hunters’ Association.

So...

Even though Phoenix seemed to get along well with people from ”Order,” it didn’t necessarily indicate her stance.

”From the looks of it... this neutral organization, the Hunters’ Association, is more like a ’buffer zone.’”

Lin Yu noted this information and didn’t continue to dwell on it.

Because Kui and Phoenix had already started moving quickly toward the direction of the Lilee city hall.

”Boom!”

A second ”Piercing Sacred Might” exploded again, like a celebratory cannon roar, loudly announcing its presence just like Fish herself.

”No mistake, that’s definitely Fish herself!”

Another ”Third Tier,” and a very strong one at that...

Lin Yu was already starting to feel numb.

Was he really being completely categorized as ”Third Tier” now?

If they were giving him teammates this powerful, just how hard was this ”dungeon” going to be?

And with their steps quickened, the three soon arrived at the Lilee city hall.

There, Lin Yu saw the church’s knights and priests gathered in a circle, adopting a highly vigilant posture.

But they didn’t dare to act.

At the very center of the encirclement stood Fish on the brass statue of the ”Goddess of Mercy” in front of the city hall.

She stood in the center of the goddess’s open palm, two flintlocks pointing to the sky, her face full of dissatisfaction.

”You useless idiots, you gluttonous, lazy, shameless bastards of the Life Church! I’ve told you, that stolen ’Sacred Potion’ has nothing to do with me. I just happened to pass by!”

”You hauled me to the city hall, what do you want to do? Go straight to the detention and trial procedure? That’s not how you pad your numbers! Let me tell you, I’m a bona fide registered adventurer. I’ve killed three digits’ worth of dark races, and you church mutts still suspect me of stealing the potion?!”

At this moment, Fish’s hair color had turned into a mix of pink, light purple, and white, and her accessories had been changed to cute patterns like puppy bones and flowers.

But her arrogant demeanor truly showed no trace of cuteness.

Beneath the goddess statue sat another man of medium build, with a thick beard, dark skin, and a cigarette dangling from his mouth—this one was a new face Lin Yu hadn’t seen before.

”You want us to come in for investigation? I can accept that. But if you want us to stand trial, forgive me, but I refuse.”

Compared to Fish, he seemed much calmer... but his actions didn’t reflect that.

The medium-built man was chewing on a cigarette, his left hand clutching a blazing fireball...

And beneath his butt were a pile of barrels marked with ”Skull” and ”Explosion” symbols.

When the wind blew past those barrels, it carried a thick, pungent smell of sulfur from the gaps in the planks.

Clearly, his threat was much greater than Fish’s above.

The two of them were confronting the priests and knights of the Holy Flame Church like this.

”What do we do now?”

Phoenix muttered to herself, seemingly evaluating and thinking.

Admittedly, Fish and that man were considerable combat power... but now that they’d made such a big scene, was it worth breaking the stalemate to get them to act together?

If they broke the stalemate, how should they do it? Mediate, or just fight them first?

While Phoenix was pondering, Kui had already started greeting them cheerfully.

”Oh! Fish! And Brother Qi!”

She strode forward, pushing through the crowd, squeezing in as if she didn’t care at all that these ”people” were essentially tense, battle-ready combatants of the Holy Flame Church!