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

On the fighting stage, Sea Cucumber stood across from Yayu.

Even knowing the other was a ”First-Tier,” Sea Cucumber didn’t get cocky.

Because he trusted Fish’s judgment.

Since Sister Fish had said he should go all out, this was definitely an opponent that would be troublesome even for him.

Sea Cucumber lightly bounced twice, loosening up his whole body’s muscles and bones: ”Good, if he’s an expert... looks like there’s hope for my realm breakthrough.”

Standing on the other side of the stage, Lin Yu looked Sea Cucumber up and down, sizing him up carefully.

Then, Lin Yu asked without any attempt to conceal his words.

”Sea Cucumber, is it... I’ve never heard of you. What’s your rank within the Marauders?”

Hearing this, Sea Cucumber was stunned for a moment.

He’d been thinking about how to use this fight to break through his realm, and his entire train of thought was completely derailed.

”What do you mean by asking that?”

He felt like he’d just been belittled somehow.

Lin Yu looked at him with a serious expression: ”I don’t want to waste my time or the ’resources’ in my hands. I know the Marauders is an organization where strength rules above all, so I want to join you, because I don’t want to waste too much time muddling around at the bottom, and I don’t want to be shackled by bullshit rules.”

”So, if you’re very strong, very high-ranked, and the payoff from beating you is high enough, I’ll choose a more aggressive fighting style.”

It took Sea Cucumber a while to process this before he understood: ”Oh, what an ambitious bastard, and seriously irritating.”

”I thought this place welcomed ambitious people.”

Lin Yu stared at him as he spoke.

Sea Cucumber looked at Lin Yu before him, undisguised disgust surfacing on his face: ”This place just doesn’t reject ambitious people. Maybe the organization will welcome you too, but if you want to step on my head to climb up, I won’t give you a pleasant look.”

”I don’t know where you get your confidence, but Sister Fish only praised you once, so don’t get carried away!”

As Sea Cucumber spoke, he clenched his fist and launched it at Lin Yu.

”BOOM!”

A punch with zero reservation, fusing an Enforcer’s techniques with the Prison Mountain Realm’s superior martial arts, thrown with the power of Sea Cucumber’s day-and-night grueling training.

Combined with the enhancement of his ”gauntlets,” ”Fighter’s Gold Belt,” and other ”items,” even if Sea Cucumber threw this punch at Fish, it would qualify as an attack that could cause trouble for her!

It looked like a casual opening jab, but it was actually almost Sea Cucumber’s strongest sure-kill without using consumable items!

”Screw you!”

The fist drove toward Lin Yu’s heart, seemingly aiming to directly shatter his heart.

And this punch...

”BANG!”

Lin Yu took it head-on, standing in place without wavering at all, only letting out a muffled grunt.

”Impressive. You must be quite something within the Marauders!”

”But... you’ve lost.”

Lin Yu said coldly, and Sea Cucumber frowned: ”How have I lost?”

He thought this was just the opponent’s psychological warfare, and was about to swing his fist again when Fish called for a stop.

”Don’t move anymore, Sea Cucumber!”

Sea Cucumber looked at Fish in confusion, then slowly...

Intense pain surged through his body.

Looking down, three bloody gashes on his lower abdomen were seeping fresh blood.

What was also dripping blood was the Runic Short Sword in his opponent’s hand.

During the moment when he’d thrown that punch with complete focus, from a blind spot he hadn’t seen clearly at all...

His opponent had swung three consecutive sword strikes, piercing through his body.

And Fish, watching from the sidelines, had seen it clearly. In the flash of a spark, that Yayu’s movements had seemed to suddenly accelerate, displaying reaction speed beyond ordinary humans, swinging his short sword to pierce through the opponent’s abdomen.

Originally, Yayu’s speed wasn’t actually that fast, at most he could only have gotten in two thrusts. But Fish also noticed that throughout the entire stabbing process, Yayu’s hand was bending at an unbelievable angle.

In other words... in that instant, he could not only thrust three times, but could thrust wherever he wanted.

Thrusting the lower abdomen was actually because he needed to avoid vital points.

Even with this reaction speed, this guy could have avoided Sea Cucumber’s fist. Yet he’d still chosen to clash head-on.

This was probably to demonstrate... his defense.

This truly wasn’t a fight. This was a display of skill, showcasing his abilities to her!

And although Sea Cucumber on stage couldn’t see it that clearly, feeling the stinging pain in his lower abdomen, he also understood...

He’d been completely defeated within a single move.

”...I’ll give you that, you’re something!”

Sea Cucumber walked off the stage with an awful expression, silently beginning to bandage himself up.

Yayu, remaining on the stage, looked toward Fish: ”Is this proof enough now?”

Fish looked at Yayu without answering, only countering with a question: ”Tell me... could the reason your name isn’t well-known actually be that you haven’t been in this game for very long?”

She recalled what Heavenly Artisan had said about the origin of the code name Yayu... Actually, the other party had originally intended to call himself Taotie, Hundun, or some other more famous fierce beast, but those names were already registered.

So, combining this point, Fish had reason to suspect...

This guy actually hadn’t been in the ”Death Game” for too long.

And Lin Yu nodded slightly.

”Yes, I still have some time before the ’Second Tier’ trial.”

Fish laughed: ”Then what are you talking about ’accumulation’ for!”

Lin Yu looked at Fish, his face showing a somewhat proud, even arrogant expression: ”It’s not only the time after joining the ’Death Game’ that counts as accumulation. Most ’Players’ in this game, although the game recognizes them as having a ’strong desire to survive,’ only start facing death and working to grow stronger in order to live after they join this game.”

”I’m different,” Lin Yu paused, then continued, ”My effort started before I joined the ’Death Game.’ For me, facing death and growing stronger in order to survive is something I was doing before joining this game.”

As he spoke, he unzipped his hoodie, revealing a black athletic undershirt and more exposed skin.

Rough skin, well-proportioned and solid muscle definition... but more importantly, even more scars.

Dense scars of all sizes covered his body, enough to make Fish exclaim in amazement.

”That’s... really something.”

Then, she stood up and walked over to Lin Yu.

”Tsk tsk, I have to say, there have been more and more monster rookies lately. Looks like new players are increasing faster and faster, and it really does make a lot of geniuses emerge,” Fish pinched Lin Yu’s arm, ”But this time... it’s finally the Marauders’ turn.”

”Welcome to join us, Yayu.” ”Both this mission and the interview for joining the Marauders, you’ve passed!”

Lin Yu shook his head: ”No... for formally joining, let’s wait until after this mission is done.”

”Why?”

Fish tilted her head and asked.

”Because I don’t want to start as an ordinary member,” Lin Yu reaffirmed, ”After this mission is done, I’ll have proven my strength and made contributions at the same time... So I hope that after joining, I can immediately become a manager of the Marauders, not just an ordinary member.”

Fish raised an eyebrow: ”I heard from Heavenly Artisan that you don’t like being ordered around, right?”

”You could interpret it that way, but it’s not entirely correct. After all, as long as you join an organization, there’s always someone above you,” Lin Yu said without concealment, ”Rather than saying I hate being ordered around, it’s more like... I enjoy the feeling of having power, of being above others.”