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

Looking at the drenched Crow-Man before him, Lin Yu spoke again.

”Examiner, I’d like to ask... after you pose a question, can we ask you any questions in return?”

For some reason, the Crow-Man seemed pleased by Lin Yu’s question, flapping its wings twice.

”Caw caw, of course! This is how I give ’hints’—if you ask the right questions, I’ll provide corresponding ’hints’!”

”Just as I thought!”

Lin Yu understood immediately.

This question further confirmed his suspicion—the Crow-Man’s ”answers” were absolutely not meaningless!

When previously asked about margin of error, the Crow-Man’s ”casual” attitude had led Lin Yu to form a hypothesis.

The hypothesis being...

The final answer wasn’t a ”specific” time at all, making the margin of error truly unimportant!

But to confirm this theory, Lin Yu needed to keep questioning.

Meanwhile, the group in the corner noticed Lin Yu’s actions.

Iron Uncle looked at Lin Yu while holding the stopwatch.

”Nine Waters, what are you doing?”

The somewhat enthusiastic veteran asked again.

”Just verifying some theories. Uncle, you all keep working... we might still need your calculated results later.”

Lin Yu waved them off as he spoke.

Number Eight glanced at Lin Yu, opening his mouth as if to say something.

But remembering Lin Yu’s powerful ’Soldier’ profession and the revolver he’d initially pulled out, Number Eight ultimately refrained from criticizing Lin Yu’s actions.

Lin Yu turned back to the Crow-Man.

”Then I have three questions... First, Examiner, are the four doors in this room related to the ’decision problem’ from the first room?”

The Crow-Man turned its head sideways, fixing Lin Yu with one eye as if carefully examining him.

After a while, it turned back and said, ”Caw caw, yes. The final decision problem... requires choosing one door from all in the room, behind which lies the exit to the next room.”

As the Crow-Man spoke, Lin Yu narrowed his eyes.

”Then, Mr. Examiner, what lies behind the wrong doors?”

The Crow-Man chuckled darkly: ”Caw caw, endless void of course. Falling means death... caw caw, but isn’t it too early to ask about the ’decision problem’? You haven’t even answered the first question yet!”

”But are these truly unrelated to the first question?” Lin Yu said, looking down at the drainage hole beneath him. ”Mr. Examiner, you seem quite skilled at misleading people by ’telling half-truths.’”

At this, Lin Yu grinned widely.

”For my third question, you may choose any of the following to answer.”

”When you refer to ’this room,’ do you mean this enclosed space with four walls, ceiling and floor, or the entire ’first room’ of this game?”

”Do these drainage holes lead to the same void space as the ’wrong’ doors?”

”Does the ’void space’ you mentioned count as part of the ’first room’s’ scope?”

Lin Yu fired off questions rapidly.

The Crow-Man chuckled low.

”Caw caw... impressive, player—I can answer all those questions.”

”Caw caw, the answer is the same—yes, just as you’ve guessed.”

As the Crow-Man spoke, Lin Yu looked toward the four people huddled in the corner.

”Hey, you can stop fiddling with your utility knives and water levels now... the answer is obvious.”

He shouted, and the four looked at him confused.

The loud rushing water made it hard to hear clearly.

While they’d noticed Lin Yu asking the ”crow” questions, they hadn’t caught the specifics.

Just then, the four finished their timing measurements. Iron Uncle stopped the stopwatch and led them over.

”Nine Waters, we’ve got our results—the water rises about 15cm in 2 minutes 40 seconds, meaning roughly 53 minutes 20 seconds total... we could round to 55 minutes.”

Despite Lin Yu’s strange remarks earlier, Iron Uncle calmly presented their group’s unified conclusion after measurements and calculations.

Lin Yu shook his head, rejecting Iron Uncle again.

”No, Iron Uncle. This question isn’t about calculation—it’s a ’word trap’!”

Lin Yu then explained his entire reasoning process, questions and all, to Iron Uncle and the other three.

Hearing this, Number Eight looked astonished.

”What? It’s really like that?! Then we almost got tricked into dying!”

He spoke with utter disbelief.

Nearby, April helplessly reminded her boyfriend again: ”Hey, this is just a ’reward-punishment question’—getting it wrong won’t kill you directly! There’d just be some ’punishment’!”

As April spoke, Number Eight chuckled foolishly.

”Ohhh, is that so!”

His eyes shone with pure stupidity.

However, both April and Number Eight seemed convinced by Lin Yu’s explanation.

Iron Uncle also nodded slightly after hearing Lin Yu’s analysis, somewhat convinced.

”Put that way, your theory does make much more sense...”

”And with the Crow-Man’s responses as evidence, it’s almost certain that...”

Lin Yu nodded, continuing Iron Uncle’s thought: ”Exactly! The answer is that no matter how long it takes, ’this room’ can never be filled with water!”

Lin Yu declared confidently.

After all, the scope of ”this room” actually included the ”endless void” mentioned by the Crow-Man—not just this 162 square meter house!

Hearing Lin Yu’s words...

Though three of them appeared convinced, only ”Unforgotten” looked at Lin Yu suspiciously.

”Really? Nine Waters... you’re not tricking us, are you?”

Lin Yu sighed at the thieving girl who kept doubting him inexplicably.

”Why would I trick you? This is a cooperative game!”

Unforgotten shook her head.

”I don’t know, but what if... just what if, you’re completely deranged and petty, holding a grudge against me, wanting to torture me by giving the wrong answer on purpose?”

Hearing this, Lin Yu nearly laughed in frustration.

”You’ve got quite the imagination—if I wanted to torture you, would I go through such pointless trouble?”

Lin Yu pulled out his revolver, pointing it at Unforgotten’s knee.

”Wouldn’t shooting your leg twice work better than any ’punishment’!”