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

With the guards thrown into chaos, Lin Yu and Fu Luo were practically invisible to them now.

For Lin Yu at this moment...

Even if he limited his power to "First-Tier," to the scope that "Old Yao" could plausibly command, he could still take out these guards.

However, Lin Yu didn't do that.

Because doing so would be far too out of character for Old Yao.

What he did instead was take advantage of the guards' confusion and their inability to spare attention for him and Fu Luo, quickly dragging Fu Luo along and moving through the underground to make their escape.

Of course, since those creatures were completely lost in disarray, Lin Yu could leisurely plan his route as well.

He manipulated the [Earth Evasion Talisman Armor] and happened to pass by the baseball cap and scooter Fu Luo had dropped. Surfacing briefly, he snatched them up, then swept them along into the underground, retracing the path he'd taken before to return to the research institute.

When he emerged from the earth again with Fu Luo, along with his cap and scooter, King Vulture and Kitty immediately rushed forward to meet them.

"Back so fast!"

King Vulture remarked with admiration.

"Well, this was the second time through, so it was familiar territory," Lin Yu said with his usual modesty. "Anyway, everyone's safe now!"

Fu Luo shook the dirt out of his baseball cap and put it back on, then stored the scooter into his [item space].

"Thanks to you, Old Yao. Otherwise, things could have gotten really bad."

Hearing Fu Luo's heartfelt gratitude, Lin Yu waved his hand dismissively. "Don't mention it, Your Excellency. Even if I hadn't come to get you, you certainly would have handled them without any trouble..."

"It's just that if those Autonomous Guards got destroyed, I was worried it might trigger some kind of full-scale alert mode," Lin Yu said seriously. "So... avoiding combat whenever possible is the best approach."

"That's true, but... you seem to have quite a bit of experience with this sort of thing?"

King Vulture agreed with Lin Yu but also harbored some curiosity.

Lin Yu let out a sly chuckle and rubbed his head as he spoke. "When it comes to sneaking in and running away, I'm far too good at it... Sometimes I really do feel like I was just born without the makings of someone who does good deeds."

"Besides, these kinds of things all follow the same principles... I've never been to the Misty Islands' ruins, but I did go to a mansion before... That place was fitted with surveillance cameras and alarm systems, and after I disabled the regular cameras and alarms, it directly triggered a higher-level alert. I almost got caught!"

Lin Yu spoke as if still haunted by the memory.

That little story was sourced from casual conversation with Li Nian—not that Li Nian had ever actually committed a burglary, but her home's security system was structured that way, so when Lin Yu sometimes climbed over the wall to visit, Li Nian would remind him.

Still, to the others listening, it sounded like a flawless backstory that perfectly filled out his persona.

After all, with "Old Yao's" physical appearance combined with Lin Yu's masterful expressions, the story sounded entirely too convincing.

"Don't do things like that anymore."

Fu Luo reminded him helplessly.

Lin Yu nodded. "Of course, Furbollo... I have legitimate income now—in a sense, this Game really did give me a 'new life.' If I hadn't joined this Game, I might have muddled through my whole life aimlessly..."

Lin Yu paused mid-sentence, then said, "I've drifted off track. Let's explore this research institute first."

"After all, if the information is correct, it should be relatively safe in here."

As Lin Yu spoke, the other three all chose to trust him.

And Lin Yu truly wasn't deceiving them—there really was no danger inside the research institute.

The internal security system had already been shut down.

The only danger was that two out-of-control experimental subjects, plant-like beings that looked like relatives or prototypes of the Soul-Draining Vine, were wandering around inside. Lin Yu casually disposed of them.

Those two monsters had the ability to create noise that filled people's minds with countless distracting thoughts and garbage ideas. If Fu Luo's group had encountered them, it would have been quite troublesome.

But for Lin Yu, this kind of ability was the most useless. Even if a flood of garbage thoughts occupied his brain, he could still easily take down those two experimental subjects.

They didn't even waste much of Lin Yu's time—he also destroyed their experiment logs while he was at it.

In short...

Although the research institute looked pitch-black with signs of damage everywhere, as if some kind of containment breach crisis had once occurred...

It was indeed safe.

The group pushed open the glass door of the experimental greenhouse and explored the corridor, quickly finding something useful.

"Look, that researcher is holding some kind of electronic device... and it seems like it's still intact!"

Kitty pointed at a withered skeleton in a white lab coat. The skeleton was clutching something like a tablet computer tightly to its chest.

And the indicator light on the side of that tablet was still faintly blinking.

Although they had no idea why it hadn't been destroyed, since there was a lead... they definitely had to investigate.

Fu Luo was about to step forward, but King Vulture pulled him back.

"Lord Furbollo... let me handle this."

As she spoke, she released a green snake from her sleeve, which slithered toward the skeleton.

Then, the green snake tested the area for danger and, finding none, coiled around the tablet and slowly crawled back.

King Vulture picked up the tablet and handed it to Fu Luo.

Fu Luo took it and murmured, "This thing really doesn't seem too damaged... but how do we turn it on?"

After all, he couldn't find any buttons.

He gently stroked the screen, but there was no reaction.

Lin Yu, standing nearby, spoke thoughtfully. "Could it be voice-activated?"

"That's possible... Activate!"

Fu Luo shouted at the tablet.

King Vulture looked a bit exasperated. "Even if it really is voice-activated, shouting like that won't—ah?"

The screen suddenly lit up, emitting a faint blue glow.

Fu Luo looked at King Vulture with great satisfaction. "Hater, what do you say now!"

King Vulture opened her mouth, stunned, wondering if her cultivation level was simply too low to comprehend the world of a genius like Furbollo.

After the tablet flashed blue a few times, a three-dimensional map appeared on its screen.

Fu Luo's eyes lit up. "Whoa, this looks like a map of the entire research institute complex—and it's showing real-time system status! That means we can see the positions of many guards and whether the security systems are active!"

"I never thought we'd find something like this in the very first building we entered. This is practically a Divine Artifact."

"With this thing, not only will moving around be much less troublesome, but we can even analyze where the inheritance might be hidden based on this map."

As Fu Luo spoke, King Vulture was also overjoyed.

"Who would've thought there'd be something this good."

Kitty also broke into a smile. "Then won't our progress be much faster?"

Lin Yu, watching the screen displaying the map, smiled as well.

"Ha, we sure got lucky this time."