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

Waking up on the bed in the Zheng City hotel room, Lin Yu checked his phone.

The other members of the drama club had mostly already gone to sleep, and Shen Bingmiao seemed to have gone off to busy herself with something as well.

However...

Before that, Lin Yu, still maintaining his appearance as ”Old Yao,” spat out the [Rejuvenating Life Pill] from his mouth and stored it back into his [Item Space].

This was his final extra gain.

[Rejuvenating Life Pill: A pill brimming with powerful vitality. When consumed by someone gravely injured or on the verge of death, their life force will not continue to drain away, nor will their injuries worsen further.]

This thing was practically equivalent to having an entire extra life!

”Well, I suppose I do owe the Tycoon a favor now... But seeing how much he clearly despises Lacan, if I kill Lacan in the future, that should count as repaying the favor.”

With that, Old Yao pulled out the [Heart-Mind Teleportation Gun] and set a temporary anchor point in the current hotel room.

Feeling a small portion of his soul being split off, Lin Yu sensed that his ”Perception” and ”Thinking” had become noticeably duller--though the degree of decline was only one-thousandth, it still made Lin Yu sigh inwardly. This ”temporary anchor point” really came with plenty of restrictions.

Not only would it dissipate if left unused for a period of time, but maintaining its existence also required paying a portion of one’s own ”brainpower” as a cost.

Afterward, Lin Yu set a permanent anchor point: and this permanent anchor, naturally, was set in his own home.

”Alright... time to head back to Jiangcheng.”

Lin Yu picked up the [Heart-Mind Teleportation Gun] and opened a teleporter on the hotel floor.

After obtaining this teleportation gun on the Sixth Island of the Misty Islands and before regrouping with the other players, he had already used it several times for travel, so it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar to him.

”Whoosh--!”

Stepping through the teleporter, Lin Yu naturally found himself back on his own sofa at home.

Then, he made some further adjustments to his condition at home--first taking a cold shower, then bleeding himself a little, and afterward applying some makeup to make his complexion look worse, making himself appear so weak that he looked like he had just crawled out of an intensive care unit.

”Alright... now I can head out.”

Lin Yu left his home, took a loop around Jiangcheng, and then chose to take a taxi to the ’Jiang’an Hall’ stronghold--the very same abandoned restaurant owned by the ’Tycoon.’

Although Lin Yu knew the Tycoon wasn’t there at the moment, having been a member of ’Jiang’an Hall’ for so long and being the Tycoon’s confidant, he knew this clearly.

Whenever the Tycoon wasn’t around, he would have trusted subordinates from the organization come here to ”man the post” and keep watch over the place on his behalf.

So...

Very soon, an ”extremely weakened” Old Yao who looked like he might ”pass out” at any moment stumbled into the restaurant, struggled up to the second floor, and pushed open the office door.

Lin Yu looked up and locked eyes with a capable-looking man who was on the phone.

”So the one on duty today is ’Phantom Hand’...”

Lin Yu then spoke in a weak voice: ”Brother Hand!”

The other man didn’t react at first, still talking on the phone: ”I understand, my friend. I’ll find our organization’s ’Old Yao’... Since it’s the ’Tycoon’s’ commission, I’ll certainly make it quick...”

Then, he looked toward the door and said in astonishment: ”Wait--I found him--or more precisely, Old Yao came looking for me!”

Phantom Hand set the phone down on the table, stepped forward, and caught hold of Lin Yu.

”Old Yao! You’re alright!”

”’Order’ called over here, saying you took on a ’Third Tier’ head-on in the [Dungeon] and were gravely injured and unconscious. The boss temporarily kept you alive, and they were about to find you so their top doctors could treat you!”

Lin Yu smiled, weak but touched: ”It really was the boss who saved my life... But as for ’Order,’ no need to send anyone over. I’m no longer in any life-threatening danger now. I just need to rest quietly and drink some recovery-type consumables, and I’ll be fine.”

”Before I passed out, I used [Social] to send a message to my contacts here in Jiangcheng--I do know some reliable ’Doctors,’ and one of them happens to be right here in Jiangcheng.”

As Lin Yu spoke, Phantom Hand caught on.

”Oh, right, ’May May’ is also a ’Doctor’... Well, more accurately, he seems to have a ’Doctor’ ability.”

Lin Yu shook his head: ”Not him, Brother Hand... He’s out of town, and this matter... isn’t easy to explain. It was someone inconvenient who helped me out.”

Phantom Hand was stunned for a moment, then quickly understood.

As the Tycoon’s confidant and one of the most core members of ’Jiang’an Hall’... he knew more information than the average ’Player.’

He naturally knew that ’Old Yao’ and his friend ’Director’ actually shared another mutual friend--one whose identity was rather sensitive, someone who had joined an organization they shouldn’t have joined, and had even joined two of them in succession.

Ads by PubFuture ”Well, no matter who treated you, as far as I’m concerned, it was ’May May’ or that ’Director’ who did it,” Phantom Hand responded quickly, starting to coach Lin Yu on how to spin the story. ”When you go out and tell people, just say he gifted you a life-saving [Item]--the kind that clears negative statuses and auto-heals every time you return. There are actually quite a lot of [Items] that can achieve this effect, and they’re very popular. It’s perfectly reasonable for you to claim you have one.”

”For more details, just say it’s ’Director’s’ private business and inconvenient to disclose--just remember to give him a heads-up.”

Lin Yu nodded and said half-jokingly: ”I just hope he doesn’t sever ties with me and turn me in.”

”’Order’ said you took on a ’Third Tier’ head-on to save people. In that situation, if you’re dying and call out to a friend for help, what’s the problem?” Phantom Hand said with a frown. ”He’s his friend too... If ’Order’ really insists on handing down some kind of punishment for you, I definitely won’t stand for it, and neither will the boss!”

”I was just joking, Brother Hand--Director isn’t that kind of person. He already knows about this matter... In fact, I sent the [Social] message to him, and the person who saved me was someone he found.”

As Lin Yu spoke, Phantom Hand’s expression changed accordingly: ”Good, you really are someone the boss holds in high regard. Director really is reliable--good people to work with. I’ll keep it secret for you.”

Phantom Hand said, then pulled out two bottles of red potion.

”You still look really weak. That look like you can’t even catch your breath is too scary. I’ve got two bottles of [Recovery Potion] here--use them to tide yourself over for now! I’ll ask in the group who has something stronger for recovery.”

”Actually, the boss probably has something good that could fully restore you, but ’Order’ said the boss ran into some trouble and can’t leave the Misty Islands for now...”

Lin Yu quickly waved his hands: ”No need, no need, I’ve got my own. I just came to report that I’m safe--I’ve already consumed one of the boss’s precious life-saving [Items]. How could I possibly let Brother Hand spend his resources on me as well?”

”But... I’m not too clear on what the boss ran into either. I passed out too early--I don’t even know when the boss entered the scene!”