Death Game: Starting as a fraudster, pretending to be a god.

Lin Yu admitted that he hadn't noticed the short guy in the crowd at first.

However, after receiving a friendly reminder from the 'pen name', Lin Yu naturally began to observe the other party discreetly.

The mere fact that he was called a "mercenary" made Lin Yu unable to underestimate this guy.

after all……

The "All-Round Mercenary King" is a top-ranked figure on the leaderboard and is considered one of the best among the "Tier 3".

Such "players" possess the ability to single-handedly change the course of events and deserve close attention.

A 'third-tier' fighter like Captain 'Good Night', who barely made it onto the leaderboard before but has now been kicked off the list and is still considered a 'strong' fighter, might not even last three moves against a 'mercenary' and would be kicked to death like a stray dog ​​on the street.

Although the strength between 'players' is not absolute, the diverse ability systems and 'items' from different worlds, coupled with 'professional' abilities, mean that every 'master' has a deep 'card pool' and everyone has more or less many hidden cards. It is not a 'strict hierarchy' situation where those at the top of the leaderboard can definitely crush those at the bottom.

However, for a super "Tier 3" like the "All-Round Mercenary King," there is indeed a huge gap between him and all other ordinary "Tier 3" players.

Lin Yu stared at him, absorbing the many details about that 'mercenary' into his mind.

Although Zuo Xi is considered relatively tall for a girl, the mercenary standing not far from her only reached her chest, suggesting he was at most about 1.5 meters tall.

In addition, the mercenary's attire also has a youthful "student vibe" - a dark green hoodie co-branded with a cartoon character, and loose, baggy khaki wide-leg pants, making people almost subconsciously think that this must be a kid whose "profession" is "student" and who is probably an ordinary middle school student in reality.

Moreover, her face is indeed quite youthful.

Unremarkable and ordinary—this guy seems to naturally possess a certain "safe" aura.

However, once it was discovered that this guy was a 'mercenary,' all his ordinary and naive aura became things that attracted attention.

It's not unusual for small, weak creatures to have camouflage, but if a highly venomous predator has camouflage, then one should be on high alert.

Especially the 'mercenary' in front of me... his harmless aura was just too natural.

If it weren't for Zuo Xi's reminder, Lin Yu probably wouldn't have been confident of finding him among this group of candidates.

"This 'All-Powerful Mercenary King's' disguise is so convincing that even I couldn't detect it... Perhaps it can no longer be called a 'disguise'? Could it be that this guy's true nature is just this harmless?"

Lin Yu was thinking in his heart.

He simply found it hard to connect this "naturally harmless temperament" with a "player" ranked around 20th on the leaderboard, a super-powerful bounty hunter who takes money to do things, and a guy codenamed "All-Around Mercenary King".

I realized that I needed to gather more information and eliminate as many "variables" as possible.

only……

How to approach the other party without making a sound is a big problem.

"Perhaps if there's an opportunity, we could use the connections through the 'pen name'?"

The thought had barely crossed his mind when Lin Yu dismissed it.

No... the risk of doing this is too high!

Although Zuo Xi had just shown him goodwill and identified him as a 'mercenary,' Lin Yu was now convinced, after their real-life interaction, that Zuo Xi probably didn't harbor any particular ill will towards him...

However, this guy is still too dangerous!

Even if I don't kill her for now, I absolutely must reduce my contact with someone who is dedicated to prying into my secrets.

Moreover, Zuo Xi is far too uncontrollable and unpredictable—she is an even more unstable "variable X" than the "All-Powerful Mercenary King".

After all, the short 'mercenary's' uncontrollability stemmed from his lack of understanding of him, but Zuo Xi's uncontrollability... was purely because this person's behavior was irrational and bordering on chaos.

Therefore, Lin Yu made up his mind.

Not only could she not use Zuo Xi's relationship to confirm the "mercenary's" abilities and his attitude in this incident, but it would be best for her to avoid her altogether.

However, Lin Yu did not outwardly convey these thoughts, but simply nodded slightly to Zuo Xi to indicate that he had received her message.

The brief exchange of glances between the two went unnoticed by anyone.

Mikan's presentation on stage was nearing its end. After she said in a firm yet sweet voice, "I earnestly request that you all give me your full trust and an opportunity so that I can lead the Players' Mutual Aid Association and everyone towards a better future," her campaign team members led the applause.

The entire audience began to applaud. As the first speaker, although the atmosphere wasn't quite lively yet, Lin Yu could observe that most people in the audience had a positive attitude towards Mikan's speech.

This is probably what the other party's conventional and unremarkable speech had hoped to see.

After all, as a popular candidate, she already has a great advantage, and she doesn't need to come up with any special tricks in this round. She just needs to steadily and solidly perform herself.

After Mikan stepped down, the voice of "Niou" rang out again.

"Please welcome our second speaker to the stage—'Iced Americano'..."

There was a brief silence on the radio, followed by the sound of papers turning.

A brief disturbance occurred on the scene.

Liang Ye frowned slightly: "Damn it, there are even such damn mistakes?"

Paper Kite said, "That's normal... after all, I think this 'Player Mutual Aid Association' is essentially just a makeshift operation."

The others were also discussing Niou's slip of the tongue, but even though most people on the field didn't know who 'Niou' was, most of them, like the kite, expressed understanding and tolerance for the mistake.

After all, the "Iced Americano" incident happened quite suddenly, and some details... such as the speech draft determined by the lottery order not being replaced, are quite normal.

This is certainly not solely the host's responsibility.

Niou's voice rang out again through the microphone.

"Sorry, there was a slight error just now... I hereby announce that the second candidate to speak is... 'Shang Gen'!"

Upon hearing this, enthusiastic cheers erupted from the crowd—after all, Shang Gen, like Mikan, was a highly popular and popular candidate.

"After 'Mikan' comes 'Shogen'? That's great!"

"The contrast between the two is quite striking!"

Amidst this heated discussion...

The organizers of the "Player Mutual Aid Association," the various "candidates," and the members of "Order" all had doubts.

Because, according to their internal procedures, the second person to give a speech was not "Shang Gen".

Ren Gu opened his phone, checked it, and then said, "'Shang Gen' should be the seventh one, and 'Iced Americano' should be the sixth one if you remove the second one... What exactly is the 'Player Mutual Aid Association' doing?"

Yin Lan said in a low voice, "I'm afraid it's not the 'Player Mutual Aid Association' that's up to something, but rather 'Nioh' that's 'up to something'!"

After Yin Lan spoke, Lin Yu also noticed...

At this moment, what was drowned out by the enthusiastic discussions in the conference room was the noise coming from backstage.

The team of the second candidate, "Dugu Jian," who was originally preparing to give a presentation in the rest area, had already come out, but now they have urgently returned to the rest area.

Meanwhile, in the rest area on Shang Gen's side, the original team was negotiating with the organizers. Most of these candidates recognized Nioh's voice, so even though they found the order strange, Shang Gen obviously did not protest or express dissatisfaction through his team.

and so……

It seems that Nioh really did have a sudden idea that disrupted the original plan.

Fortunately, the noise and chaos did not escalate. Through negotiations between Shang Gen and Dugu Jian, the two sides seemed to have reached a consensus on some kind of exchange order.

After a few minutes of hasty preparation, Shang Gen quickly walked from the rest area to the main exhibition stand.

Neither the order being temporarily changed nor the little incident that happened between Lin Yu and him seemed to affect Shang Gen at this moment.

He maintained his approachable and dignified demeanor, and calmly began his speech and explanation.

Even compared to Mikan, who comes from an "actress" background, Shang Gen's speech at this moment was more infectious.

of course……

This may also be because 'Shang Gen' and 'Mikan' have different strategies in this stage.

During her speech, Mikan tried to soften her already not-too-extreme views, striving to ensure that none of the members of the Players' Mutual Aid Association present felt too offended or extremely disagreed.

but……

At this moment, Shang Gen was enthusiastically explaining the most distinctive and controversial points of his campaign platform. Lin Yu noticed that during Shang Gen's speech, many people in the audience showed strange expressions and whispered among themselves. Judging from their expressions, they were definitely not moved by Shang Gen.

But such radical behavior is by no means without its benefits.

While Shang Gen's actions made some people who already disagreed with him even more opposed to him, those who were already interested in his views became even more convinced.

at the same time……

Lin Yu also noticed that this highly inflammatory speech, which showed Shang Gen's uncompromising and unvarnished attitude, was quickly turning many people who had previously been ambiguous and neutral towards him into his potential supporters!

"That's a good strategy..."

Lin Yu sighed inwardly, and then he began to admire Shang Gen.

This guy was actually completely unaffected by what had just happened and continued to devote himself wholeheartedly to the election.

Lin Yu is now starting to admire his sense of conviction.