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

”Have you heard? There are two distinguished guests from the Central Sea attending this Tide Summoning Festival!”

”The Tide Summoning Festival hasn’t seen guests from the Central Sea in how many years? Is this really not just a rumor that got distorted? Couldn’t it just be two Outer Sea folks who were lucky enough to visit the Central Sea exaggerating?”

”It’s absolutely true, the mermaids who came from Baobol have already spread the word. They saw with their own eyes the lord of Baobol, the Mermaid Prince Kede, being furiously humiliated and stepped on, yet he had no way to retaliate except impotent rage and raising taxes.”

”My heavens, adults from the Central Sea!”

”That’s not all... My cousin’s friend’s uncle works at the capital’s appraisal office. Supposedly, those two adults from the Central Sea plan to put up for sale an exquisite dish of perfect quality, appraised at the ’Present-World Treasure’ level!”

”Really? Something at the ’Present-World Treasure’ level is so precious... and if it’s a delicacy on top of that, wouldn’t its value be astronomical?!”

”They’re actually willing to sell something like that?”

”I don’t know about that, but guests from the Central Sea... it’s not impossible.”

”Those Central Sea lords are true lords. Something we’d get and treat as a family heirloom, they’re actually planning to sell for money!”

”I heard it too. My aunt’s colleague’s nephew also works at the appraisal office... Supposedly these two big shots came for the ’Lost Treasure,’ and that’s also why they’re participating in the Tide Summoning Festival.”

The Tide Summoning Festival was always an incredibly lively celebration, gathering people from all regions and all races.

And precisely because of that...

In such a chaotic environment, ”rumors” were even more prone to ferment and heat up, especially regarding ”Central Sea,” ”Present-World Treasure,” and ”Mermaid Prince.”

Even in an underwater world, the various fish people and mermaids here still loved to pry into the lives of the powerful, treating it as mealtime gossip.

Walking through the city’s festival grounds and market streets, before she could even find the auction house’s location, April had already heard the nonstop discussions around her.

She couldn’t help but get another headache: ”Although making a big splash is a good thing... aren’t we a little too famous now?!”

April could only take comfort in the fact that everyone seemed to not yet know their physical features. After all, underwater creatures seemed somewhat face-blind toward humans, and on top of that, the two of them wore the most common standard-model diving suits provided by the mermaid rescue team, with nothing distinctive about their appearance.

Otherwise, April suspected... the two of them would have long since been completely surrounded.

”With this kind of reputation, once we show up somewhere like an auction house and bring out that super amazing food, won’t it really draw trouble? What if too high-tier a native takes notice of us?”

April murmured anxiously.

”Alright, stop muttering about things to worry over that haven’t happened yet. Although our reputation is indeed spreading a bit too widely now, and it is genuinely beyond our expectations... that’s not necessarily a bad thing,” Lin Yu said calmly. ”Haven’t you noticed? Everyone’s discussions are focused on how mysterious and noble we two Central Sea guests are. In a place like the Sea Demon capital with its extremely high ’degree of civilization,’ and during a festival like the Tide Summoning Festival where everyone gathers together in celebration, the danger of being noticed is inherently much lower than in normal times or in the wilderness... What if we use this momentum to keep maintaining a high position?”

Lin Yu comforted April.

But... part of his words was a lie.

What was a lie, however, was not that he was ”confident in handling the current situation,” but rather the claim that it was ”beyond expectations.”

Lin Yu was not surprised by this situation at all.

Through observing Fu Luo in the previous dungeon, and after inadvertently obtaining a high-status identity in the Night Valley Realm through a special item the senior gave him, Lin Yu had already realized: ”Borrowing momentum and building momentum” was a high-risk but ultra-high-reward way of clearing dungeons.

So...

The reputation spreading to this extent, and even the very content being spread, was all Lin Yu’s deliberate doing!

Even if the mermaids from Baobol wanted to share what had happened in their city, out of fear they would surely only speak of it vaguely.

The high-level Sea Demon appraiser at the appraisal office was certainly not the type to spread such matters on a grand scale.

Although this matter had great value for spreading... as things stood, it ought to have only circulated as a kind of ”inside information” within a small circle.

As for why it reached the public eye...

Naturally, it was because Lin Yu had used the ”Rumor Lips” among his Honeyed Words and Fair Appearances.

This item could cause the scheming words Lin Yu spoke to spread on a large scale. And Lin Yu had used the ”Rumor Lips” to spread a statement himself: ”During this Tide Summoning Festival, there will be two distinguished guests from the Central Sea preparing to sell a ’Present-World Treasure’ level delicacy in order to purchase the ’Lost Treasure.’”

Compared to the ”Teeth of Prophecy” and the ”Tongue of Deceit,” the ”Rumor Lips” was an effect of Honeyed Words and Fair Appearances with a more unstable range between its upper and lower limits. Although it had the effect description of ”spreading widely,” Lin Yu knew this effect depended on circumstances.

It could only guarantee that, compared to before, the words would reach more people’s ears. An unimportant sentence said to one person might, through a series of coincidences, reach the ears of a dozen people... but if your words were too unimportant, and the people who heard them didn’t much care, then there would be no aftermath.

But...

This time, the content Lin Yu chose to spread happened to seize upon the curiosity of the various races of Pure Abyss. Combined with the fact that he had already made a splash in Baobol, these words naturally began spreading like a virus, becoming ”the biggest piece of fresh news of the Tide Summoning Festival,” making this festival, already gathering numerous foreign guests from different races, even livelier and giving those who came with the mindset of simply enjoying the festival something worth gossiping about with relish.

This was like going back to your hometown during the Spring Festival. If someone in the village had an embarrassing incident, it would inherently get far more opportunities to be talked about than usual.

The ”Rumor Lips” only needed to slightly strengthen everyone’s impression of this statement and boost the desire of those who heard it to pass it on, and it could easily achieve widespread dissemination.

Although April was unaware that all of this was the effect of Lin Yu’s item, hearing Lin Yu’s comfort, she was also infected by his confidence and felt somewhat better.

However, April still spoke cautiously: ”But we don’t actually have a real Central Sea background... we still need to be careful. Especially since the clear condition ’Lost Treasure’ has already appeared. Although it didn’t mention the ’tear drops’ we need to collect, if people from ’Order’ hear the rumors and combine that with the number ’two,’ they’ll definitely know it’s us. After all, this dungeon has only five people!”

”Don’t worry, April. If people from ’Order’ come, I naturally have a way to handle them.”

Lin Yu looked at her and said with full confidence.