"Wh—"
A heavy tolling rang beside Lin Yu's ears.
He was somewhat startled to discover that he was no longer in that "void" of darkness.
Instead, he was in a spacious, dimly lit room.
The entire room was decorated in a medieval Baroque style—ornate yet dilapidated.
Thick carpets, exquisite oil paintings, crystal chandeliers, wrought-iron candleholders...
Every surface was covered in dust and cobwebs. Looking closely, he could even see dark red stains that resembled dried blood.
One side of the room was occupied by an enormous floor-to-ceiling window. Above its wooden frame were moon-phase reliefs serving as decoration.
Moonlight slanted through the window, barely illuminating the room.
From these details, Lin Yu determined that this was probably a room in some long-abandoned Western ancient castle.
In the very center of the room stood a long wooden table.
Lin Yu was seated at the head of it.
Six people were seated beside him, on the other side of the table.
Six people...
Including himself, that made seven.
Exactly the number of players.
So these six people should be the other players in this game!
Lin Yu quickly calmed down, his gaze sweeping unobtrusively over the six people.
Four men and two women, with nothing in common in terms of age or temperament.
The only thing they shared was that all of them had varying degrees of surprise and confusion on their faces.
"Looks like they're not only all players, but also people who have no idea what this game is about."
As a Method Acting actor, Lin Yu had dabbled in psychology in order to better understand the minds of his characters.
He could not see straight through to what people were thinking at a glance, but it was not difficult for him to determine their general state by observing their facial expressions.
At the same time, Lin Yu noticed another detail.
A brown envelope lay on the table in front of every person present, including himself.
However, Lin Yu did not speak up to point this out.
Since he still did not know what kind of game this was, he did not want to say anything under these circumstances and become the focus of everyone's attention.
Especially since his ability was Deception—a profession that required "deception" to take effect.
A few seconds later, someone could no longer hold back and spoke.
"Everyone, I'd like to ask—did you, like me, end up in a pitch-black space after dying, and see some strange things, such as words and a game?"
A bespectacled middle-aged woman spoke in a low voice from within the crowd. "What exactly do these things mean?"
Hearing her, Lin Yu understood.
Although he had figured out the situation quickly...
Lin Yu knew that it was not merely because he had calmed down quickly.
More importantly, he was a modern college student who frequently surfed the internet and had seen many fictional works involving battle royales and death games.
Of the seven people present, several clearly seemed like the type who had never come into contact with this kind of fiction.
Even so, Lin Yu still had no intention of speaking up to explain things now.
Because someone had already decided to do so.
On the other side of the table,
a Little fatty wearing thick glasses and a white printed T-shirt heard the middle-aged woman's question and could not help speaking up:
"I think this situation is very similar to some of the anime and novels I usually watch and read... Basically, a group of people die in accidents, but are chosen by some god to play cruel games. They use their abilities to clear the games and survive... It's cruel, but this is also our chance to change our fate!"
"Bang!"
Suddenly, a lean man with a fierce appearance and a knife scar across his face slammed his fist onto the table.
"Damn it, what kind of bullshit god is this? I already died without knowing why, and now, damn it... I have to come to some fucking crazy place like this and suffer even after death."
The scarred man's expression became extremely ugly, as though he had recalled the final moment of his life.
"I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing." A somewhat gentle and shy young woman brushed back the hair behind her ear, her face flushing as she spoke timidly. "Just like the little brother with glasses said, at least we have a game to play now instead of actually being dead."
"Hmph. You believe whatever this fatty says?" The scarred man stared at the young woman and let out a cold laugh. "What if that bullshit god is just messing with us?"
Stared at by the scarred man, the young woman pressed her lips together. Clearly, she did not dare contradict someone who looked so dangerous.
When the scarred man saw that she did not answer, he snorted again.
After only a sentence or two from each of the four people, Lin Yu had already formed some preliminary judgments about their personalities.
The bespectacled Little fatty seemed a little foolish, like a socially inexperienced high school student with no schemes of his own.
The scarred man was fierce, had a short temper, and was eager to send the message to everyone around him that he was not someone to be trifled with.
As for the two women... the middle-aged one seemed rather serious and earnest, while the younger one was more delicate.
The reason Lin Yu used his knowledge of psychology to analyze their personalities was that regardless of what the game involved, he would certainly have to deal with the other six people going forward.
Whether as opponents or teammates,
the more he understood about them, the greater his chances of winning this game would be.
As for the two who had not spoken...
Lin Yu looked toward the last person who, like him, had remained silent.
One was seated across from him. He was a short young man around Lin Yu's age, just over twenty, who looked shifty-eyed as he poked his head around and sized up the others.
He licked his lips from time to time, seeming extremely nervous.
The other was the tall man who had been sitting beside Lin Yu all along.
He had a Square-faced man's features, a resolute face, and a sturdy build that seemed full of strength.
Like Lin Yu, he had listened carefully to everything everyone said.
After the scarred man finished speaking, he tapped the table and spoke.
"Alright, everyone, don't argue. Regardless of what that 'god' wants, since we've appeared in this game, it means we're all in the same boat..."
After the Square-faced man finished speaking, Lin Yu immediately rejected his words inwardly.
All in the same boat?
That was not necessarily true.
Just as this thought surfaced in Lin Yu's mind, seemingly to prove that the Square-faced man was wrong,
a terrifying rustling suddenly came from the wall beside them.
They turned to look and saw a line of enormous, eye-catching blood-red words emerge on the wall.
Then line after line of blood-red writing appeared in succession, quickly covering the entire wall:
"Two outsiders have infiltrated the seven of you. Find them! Expel them!"
"Two outsiders have infiltrated the seven of you. Find them! Expel them!"
"Two outsiders have infiltrated the seven of you. Find them! Expel them!"
Before you continue