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

The Crow, after answering Lin Yu’s questions, did not linger any longer to give Lin Yu a chance to follow up, but directly cut off the connection.

The mysterious aura completely dissipated from Lin Yu’s wrist.

Afterwards, Lin Yu was not particularly surprised either.

”He ran off pretty fast...”

Looking at the faded crow sketch on his wrist, Lin Yu remarked with a hint of emotion.

Although Lin Yu didn’t even know what exactly his sister had left for him through the Crow back then, and couldn’t even be sure whether the Crow was lying to him or not.

But...

Since the other party had answered, that was already quite an unexpected outcome for Lin Yu.

These pieces of information, though few, were still new leads.

After returning, he’d still need to investigate which of his existing [Items] might have been used by Lin Zhao back then.

Thinking this, Lin Yu picked up Old Zheng.

”Old Zheng, do you think that guy was trying to fool me?”

Old Zheng gave a helpless smile upon hearing this: ”You want me to try and discern whether the ’God of Truth, Falsehood, and Change’ was trying to lie to you? Boss, don’t you think you’re being a bit too ambitious with me?”

Lin Yu stroked his chin: ”It’s fine, just take a guess... Analyze it using the information you already have.”

”Then I’d say it seems genuine. After all, the Misty Islands is a world well-suited for ’inheritance’ - this is a world that has experienced a ’civilizational rupture,’ having gone through something akin to the Cataclysm. So, when that civilization was trying to save itself, it naturally developed many techniques for ’passing things down’ - so that things and information meant to be transmitted could still be passed on smoothly even after crossing time and enduring change.”

Old Zheng paused: ”This is also one of the reasons I chose to leave my inheritance here in the Misty Islands...”

”But the main reason, is because your sweetheart is here, right?”

Lin Yu said in a low, meaningful tone.

Old Zheng immediately surrendered: ”Boss, I’m wrong, please stop bringing that up - I never realized before, when did you get so nosy?”

Lin Yu shrugged: ”I’m generally not nosy, but yours is just too exceptional.”

”Alright, enough idle talk, let’s get back to that ’Diving Merchant’ Morse - was that guy really one of the Misty Islands Master’s two assistants back then?”

Lin Yu asked aloud.

Although he knew there was such a claim that this ”Diving Merchant” was actually the Misty Islands Master’s assistant, this claim had never had any particular evidence to back it up.

After all, the guy had never even shown his face.

However, the Crow’s attitude just now served as a hint to Lin Yu.

Since Old Zheng, this first-generation ’Freud’, had some understanding of the other party, that meant... this guy must have had dealings with Old Zheng before as well.

Naturally, Lin Yu hadn’t forgotten that in Old Zheng’s scheme to kill the Misty Islands Master back then, the Misty Islands Master’s most trusted right-hand man had also put in great effort.

Sure enough, Old Zheng nodded and gave an affirmative answer.

”That’s right, he was one of the Misty Islands Master’s two most trusted subordinates back then... and he was the first person I persuaded to choose to betray the Misty Islands Master.”

As Old Zheng spoke, Lin Yu raised an eyebrow in surprise.

”Oh? Then he should have been your closest comrade-in-arms, so why is he so wary of you?”

As Lin Yu spoke, Old Zheng laughed somewhat awkwardly: ”Heh heh, that’s a long story...”

”Then make a long story short.”

Lin Yu said calmly.

Old Zheng sighed. Having spent so much time with Lin Yu, he knew that once Lin Yu found out he was hiding something, it was nearly impossible to keep hiding it.

So, he could only briefly reveal the truth.

”It’s like this... as a guy who possesses an ’ancient soul and consciousness’ but no physical body, he actually harbors a very grand affection and sense of responsibility toward this world. In other words, he’s the type in the Misty Islands who embodies great love and cares deeply for all living beings.”

”So, back then, I didn’t persuade him through some personal charisma or by building an emotional bond with him, which would have led us to collude together in dirty deeds. I purely told him about the Misty Islands Master’s plan to become a god himself, and even using Authorities borrowed from other worlds to achieve godhood. I exposed that guy’s hypocritical facade... and he was willing to rebel with me.”

”After all, borrowing Authorities from other worlds to become a god would bring quite terrible consequences to the world.”

As Old Zheng spoke, Lin Yu raised an eyebrow.

”So how did he later develop a problem with you?”

Honestly, Lin Yu already had a vague guess in his mind, but he still asked.

Old Zheng gave an embarrassed chuckle: ”Because he found out I had plans to recreate the original Cataclysm.”

”Oh damn, impressive. So you actually had that kind of arrangement. I knew that even though killing the Misty Islands Master was already insane enough, you definitely didn’t just off the Misty Islands Master and then go open an asylum.”

Lin Yu gave Old Zheng a thumbs up.

”You were planning that if you could figure out the principles and causes of the ’Cataclysm,’ and if you could recreate it - or even do a small-scale recreation - you’d use it as a ’super training ground’ for Players to filter out true geniuses, or greatly accelerate the growth of Players you thought had potential. Right?”

Lin Yu asked, and Old Zheng was utterly astonished: ”Boss, I knew it - you’re especially suited to join the ’Psychological Society’... Even within the organization, there aren’t many who can keep up with my line of thinking.”

”Get lost!”

Lin Yu said without the slightest courtesy, stuffing Old Zheng back into his [Item Space].

Although he still didn’t know why Morse would make deals with Players and then kill them off - that point was indeed hard to justify...

But judging from his reaction to Old Zheng, Lin Yu felt that this guy’s stance was still generally on the side of good!

...

While Lin Yu was negotiating underwater, on the shores of Frostedue, the Players had already ventured deep into the sea, now trapped within the encirclement of the Abyssal Spawns.

Swarms of starfish surrounded these ”living souls” who had dared to actively enter their territory, frenziedly crashing against the Players’ defenses according to their primitive instinct to devour souls.

Naturally, they hadn’t directly ”gone into the water” - Nineteen continuously hurled ”Freezing Potions” contained in white frost-covered bottles at the sea surface, stubbornly using these potions to create an ice path across the Abyssal Sea.

Traveling along the ice path, the Players’ pace wasn’t slow, nor did they need to worry about enemies coming from all directions like they would if submerged in water.

After all, the sea surface frozen by the Freezing Potions was extremely thick, and those starfish couldn’t possibly break through it immediately.

So...

Although those starfish still frantically hurled themselves at the ice surface, in essence, it wasn’t much different from being on shore earlier.

With the combined efforts of King Vulture, Chlorpromazine, Nineteen, and Kitty, they were escorting Fu Luo closer and closer to the predetermined teleporter location!