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

From the players’ perspective, the discussion in the meeting room was unfolding almost exactly as they had envisioned and planned, achieving nearly the best possible outcome.

Lin Yu watched as these Third Tiers divided their labor and cooperated with one another, and couldn’t help but marvel...

The veteran players and experts among the player base were truly no simpletons.

The fighting in the ”Land of Certain Death” was certainly thrilling, but frontal combat power was far from enough to measure a true expert’s full strength.

Gathering clues, formulating plans, negotiating, leveraging strength...

These comprehensive abilities that helped clear a dungeon were also important dimensions of measuring one’s strength.

Back at the ”Mad Banquet Beyond Heaven,” after all, that had been the gods’ home turf, where even Third Tiers had no choice but to follow the rules.

But now that they were in this dungeon, the cooperation between Third Tiers was truly a sight to behold.

”After obtaining the Map privilege, the amount of time you can stay in the dungeon world increases dramatically. Paired with Social and Encyclopedia, your understanding of the dungeon really does undergo a qualitative change...”

”This kind of ’familiarity’ bred from time is hard to imitate or fabricate... But with this close-up observation material, maybe I could try pretending to be a Third Tier someday.”

Lin Yu sat at the center of the meeting room, deep in thought.

His main role in this negotiation and plan-making was still to display the medal on his chest, providing a veneer of ”legitimacy” for players to interfere in Lilee City’s internal affairs.

Of course, for Lin Yu, he was frantically observing everyone’s behavior.

And soon...

The players, who had taken the lead, completed the formulation of Lilee City’s ”self-rescue plan” alongside the city’s high-ranking officials.

The Holy Flame Church and the Tribunal of Heresy jointly dispatched squads to search outside the city for dark races and cultists that might be hiding in the wild.

Meanwhile, the Tribunal’s elites would continue investigating the truth behind today’s three seemingly diversionary incidents within the city.

The City Defense Knight Corps would also conduct door-to-door inspections across the city, confirming whether any suspicious individuals were mixed in—even if they couldn’t root out the mastermind, they had to prevent cultists and dark races from taking advantage of the chaos.

As for these three teams, the players assigned Phoenix, Kui, and Brother Qi to ”assist” them respectively.

”If any of the three investigation directions discovers signs of dark race activity, immediately notify the others to gather,” Phoenix said as the players gathered together before the operation began, distributing Communication Scrolls to everyone. ”Just tear this scroll, and it will directly send a message to everyone else.”

”Of course... the most important group is you, Fish and Schreiber. Since there are definitely dark races in the Black Prison, once you confirm the route and the location where the dark creatures are held, send us a notification. We’ll create as much chaos as possible to distract the Lilee City superhumans across the city, find a chance to break away, and head straight for the Black Prison. After that, we just need to complete the mission.”

According to Phoenix’s arrangement, Lin Yu and Fish would pretend to conduct their own investigation, then use the Golden Cross Medal’s privileges to request entry into the Black Prison from the Tribunal of Heresy.

Although Lin Yu could have done this himself, his previous ”low-key” strategy had been so successful that all the other players believed he needed a powerful bodyguard.

”If we’re lucky, we might even avoid leaving a bad reputation in the Night Valley Realm, and it won’t affect our difficulty the next time we enter the dungeon.”

”Make sure to prioritize your safety. After all, the mastermind really does exist. If you actually encounter it, no matter which group you’re in, focus on survival.”

”Especially you, Schreiber... Although the Black Prison is relatively the safest place, you’re still only Second Tier.”

Phoenix arranged everything methodically, and Lin Yu took the scroll.

”Don’t worry, with Fish here, there’s definitely no problem.”

Hearing Lin Yu’s words, Fish nodded with satisfaction. ”Aha, that’s right. I’ll protect this kid.”

Afterward...

The players disbanded once again, splitting into four groups to follow the Night Valley natives on their ”search” operations.

But while the Night Valley natives were looking for the mastermind and possible inside accomplices, the players’ target was the dark races.

Although the two might overlap, no one would know...

Until they were found.

Watching Phoenix, Kui, and Brother Qi leave with the natives respectively, Fish led Lin Yu to start wandering around Lilee City.

Originally, during curfew hours, there was almost no activity in the city.

But because the City Defense Knight Corps was conducting door-to-door inspections and the Tribunal of Heresy’s elites were also investigating cases everywhere, the whole city was quite lively tonight.

Knights and Tribunal personnel carrying torches moved about everywhere, making the city’s residents uneasy.

Tonight was destined to be a sleepless night.

However, as a senior member and manager of the Marauders, Fish was clearly not the type to sympathize with the common people’s hardships or lament that ”the people suffer in times of prosperity and suffer in times of war.”

On the contrary, amidst the chaotic night of flickering lights, barking dogs, and clamoring voices, Fish seemed quite excited.

”Come on, we’re supposed to be pretending to investigate anyway... Let me take you somewhere first.”

She spoke, leading Lin Yu swiftly through Lilee City’s streets.

Although Fish had likely never been to Lilee City before, for some reason, she seemed to know her way around.

Whenever she stopped briefly to orient herself in the alleys, Fish quickly found her direction.

After about ten minutes of winding through backstreets, Fish stopped in front of an ordinary-looking residence.

A faint glimmer of light seeped through the cracks in the door.

Fish rubbed a symbol on the wall that looked like a child’s casual doodle, speaking with some excitement.

”This is it... Lilee City’s late night tavern!”

”I knew it—a big city like this in Night Valley couldn’t possibly lack a good place like this.”

Fish eagerly prepared to push the door open, but Lin Yu was a bit puzzled.

”You mean... we’re going to drink here?”

”No, the late night tavern isn’t just for drinking, that simple,” Fish winked. ”In this city with curfew, this place has all the nighttime entertainment... and it also gathers all the unrestrained adventurers.”

”Anyway, it’s still early. We need to find somewhere to kill time until the knights and church folks are fully busy, and only then will it be the right time to go to the Tribunal of Heresy.”

Having said this, Fish knocked on the door in a strange rhythm.

”Thump! Thump thump! Thump! Thump thump thump!”

The door creaked open, and Fish grabbed Lin Yu by the collar, stepping forward.

”Let’s go, Schreiber, come inside first!”