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

Chapter 60: Speak My Name

After hearing Lin Yuʼs words, the Crow-Man chuckled softly.

”Caw caw, youʼre even more impressive than I imagined, Player ʼLin Yuʼ.”

”Iʼm quite curious—how did you figure it out? Was it just because of my ʼactingʼ?”

When the Crow-Man revealed his real name, Lin Yu remained composed and spoke unhurriedly.

”To be honest, it wasnʼt just your ʼacting.ʼ”

”You yourself have been giving us ʼhintsʼ all along... frankly, once you notice them, theyʼre quite obvious.”

”Thatʼs why I had to deliberately steal Unforgottenʼs key in the end to mislead her—to keep her thinking limited and focused on ʼhow do I get outʼ.”

”After all, sheʼs quite clever too.”

As Lin Yu spoke, the Crow-Man spread its wings.

”Then... where exactly did I give you hints?”
”Caw—in the second challenge, we learned that ʼcawʼ represents a ʼnegativeʼ answer,” Lin Yu said. ”But aside from appearing alone, it can also be used at the start of a sentence as a ʼnegativeʼ marker. Am I right?”

”From the moment we entered the game until now, every sentence you spoke that began with a single ʼcawʼ was a lie.”

”And those with two ʼcawʼs represent a double negative that equals affirmation—meaning theyʼre truths. So most of your rule explanations were lies.”

Lin Yu paused here before continuing.

”After entering the third room, when you said this was the ʼfinal roomʼ and ʼthis room only has one question,ʼ you only used one ʼcaw,ʼ meaning both statements were false.”

”This also aligns with what you said when explaining the general rules in the first room!”

”ʼThis game consists of three rooms in totalʼ—one ʼcaw,ʼ false, proving the third room isnʼt actually the last.”

”ʼEach room contains three questionsʼ—two ʼcaws,ʼ true, meaning this room should indeed have three questions.”

”And that last sentence in all the rules back then... you first said two ʼcaws,ʼ paused, then one ʼcaw,ʼ meaning that statement was half-true—I believe the first half was true while the latter half was false.”

”That latter half was ʼanswering all decision questions correctly will clear the dungeonʼ... which is false. You donʼt need to answer all decision questions correctly to clear it.”

”Going back to the first two rooms... you also hinted through your questions that you, the Examiner, are someone who ʼlies.ʼ”

As Lin Yu laid out his clear reasoning, the Crow-Man burst into laughter.

”Caw caw, what a brilliant analysis! While realizing the meaning of ʼcawʼ and ʼcaw cawʼ isnʼt difficult... you actually remembered every single thing I said!”

”Nothing special.”

Lin Yu replied modestly.

For him, this truly wasnʼt difficult—his memory had always been decent.

Memorizing random numbers or patterns might be challenging, but remembering peopleʼs words...

That came relatively easily.

After all, memorizing lines is an actorʼs fundamental skill.

The Crow-Man looked at Lin Yu with admiration in its eyes.

”Caw caw, excellent, excellent. Iʼm growing fonder of you by the minute...”

Despite Lin Yu having criticized its acting and deceit earlier, the Crow-Man didnʼt seem angry.

It paced back and forth, studying Lin Yu up and down.

Then, Lin Yu spoke softly.

”Can we proceed to the next question now?”

The Crow-Man laughed heartily.

”Caw caw, of course. Listen carefully to this roomʼs second question...”

”Who designed this dungeon? Speak his name!”

As the Crow-Man spoke, Lin Yu froze.

”You absolute bastard, throwing out this kind of ʼunreasonableʼ question now.”

He instinctively cursed.

All previous questions—while potentially full of traps or twisted—had at least been ”traceable.”

They could be reasoned through and analyzed to deduce answers.

But this question...

It reminded Lin Yu of a scene from a novel heʼd read—a battle of wits where two geniuses competed to stump each other.

One contestant broke all unwritten rules by asking ”what did I eat for breakfast today”—an utterly unanswerable, meaningless question bordering on cheating.

While that novelʼs protagonist had near-omniscient intelligence and could deduce answers even to such ”unreasonable” questions through minute clues...

Lin Yu lacked such abilities. He was just a sophomore performance major at Jiangcheng Media University—nothing more than a college student more passionate about acting than most.

While this question wasnʼt completely ”unreasonable” (after all, Lin Yu had experienced the entire dungeon)...

Questions like these could easily be made unanswerable if the designer wished.

What if the dungeonʼs creator was named ”Dala Bengba Bandebeidibudobiruweng” or some other nonsense?

Facing Lin Yuʼs skepticism, the Crow-Man laughed.

”Caw caw, you may still ask me questions or request hints... though I wonʼt answer things like ʼhow many characters in the nameʼ or ʼwhat syllables it contains.ʼ”

Hearing this, Lin Yu exhaled.

”Fine.”

He calmed down upon the Crow-Manʼs words.

Thinking carefully—while this Crow-Man had terrible taste in humor (worse than Unforgottenʼs)—the entire dungeon had followed logical patterns.

In other words, this seemingly ”unreasonable” question must have its own solution.

It must be hidden somewhere within the game.

Lin Yu pondered slowly until...

A spark of inspiration flashed through his mind.

He recalled the Crow-Manʼs very first words.

”Caw caw, I will serve as this gameʼs Examiner”—two ʼcawsʼ meaning truth, plus being the opening line, had made Lin Yu instinctively overlook this statement.

But upon reflection...

Just as the Crow-Man had done in the first room.

One of its habitual tactics was ”using truths to deceive.”

So...

That opening line was a trap.

Lin Yu looked at the Crow-Man: ”May I ask—what is your name?”

The Crow-Man chuckled.

”Caw caw, I refuse to answer that.”

Lin Yu understood.

”As I thought... youʼre not just this gameʼs Examiner. Youʼre also its designer.”

He exhaled, and the Crow-Man laughed softly.

”Ahahahaha.”

For the first time, it emitted a human-like laugh—though the timbre remained that of countless overlapping voices.

”How delightfully surprising, Lin Yu. You figured it out instantly.”

”However... this doesnʼt count as your success.”

”You must still speak ʼmy name.ʼ”

So declared the Crow-Man.