Game Start, Ancient Castle, Bizarre Bloodstains

"Dong--"

A heavy bell chimed by Lin Yu's ear.

He was surprised to find 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 candle holders...

Each item was covered in dust and cobwebs, and upon closer inspection, they were all stained with a few black-red smudges resembling dried blood.

One side of the room featured a massive floor-to-ceiling window, its wooden frame adorned with lunar phase carvings.

Moonlight slanted in through the window, barely illuminating the room.

From all this, Lin Yu deduced that this was likely a room within a long-abandoned Western-style ancient castle.

And in the center of the room was a long wooden table.

Lin Yu was currently seated at the head of the table.

Beside him, at the table, sat six other people.

Six people...

Including himself, that made seven.

Exactly the number of "players."

Therefore, these six individuals must be the other players in this game!

Lin Yu quickly calmed down, his gaze sweeping over the six people without revealing his thoughts.

Four men and two women, with no commonalities in age or demeanor.

The only similarity was the look of surprise and confusion on their faces, to varying degrees.

So, not only are they all 'players,' but they're also all clueless about this game.

As an "experiential" actor, Lin Yu had delved into psychology to better understand character motivations.

He couldn't read people's minds at a glance, but he could easily discern their general state by observing their facial expressions.

At the same time, Lin Yu noticed a detail.

On the table in front of everyone, including himself, lay a brown envelope.

However, Lin Yu did not speak up to point this out.

Since he had no idea how this game worked, he didn't want to draw attention to himself by speaking in this situation.

Especially since his ability was that of a "Deceiver"—a profession that required "deception" to take effect.

A few seconds later, someone couldn't hold back and spoke.

"Everyone, I'd like to ask, did you all, like me, die and then find yourselves in a dark space, seeing strange things like text and games?"

From the crowd, a middle-aged woman wearing glasses spoke in a low voice, "What do these things mean?"

Hearing her words, Lin Yu understood.

Although he had quickly grasped the situation...

Lin Yu knew it wasn't just because he had calmed down quickly.

More importantly, as a contemporary university student who spent a lot of time online, he had seen many fictional works of the battle royale and death game genre.

And among the seven people present, there were clearly a few who seemed like they would never encounter such fictional works.

However, Lin Yu still had no intention of speaking up to offer guidance at this moment.

Because someone else was already preparing 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 couldn't help but chime in:

"I think this situation is very similar to some anime and novels I usually watch... It's probably a group of people who died accidentally but were chosen by some god to play cruel games, using their abilities to overcome the game and survive... Although it's cruel, this is also an opportunity for us to change our destiny!"

"Bang!"

Suddenly, with a dull thud, a lean man with a fierce face and a scar across it slammed his fist on the table.

"Damn it, what kind of bullshit god is this? I died a confusing enough death, and now I have to come to this crazy place to be tormented after death."

The scar-faced man seemed to recall his final moments before death, his face extremely grim.

"I actually think this isn't a bad thing," a young woman, somewhat gentle and shy, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said softly, blushing slightly, "Just like the little brother with glasses said, at least we have a game to play now, instead of being truly dead."

"Hmph, you believe whatever this fatty says?" The scar-faced man stared at the young woman and sneered, "What if that bullshit god is just playing with us?"

The young woman pursed her lips under the scar-faced man's gaze, clearly not daring to retort to this dangerous-looking individual.

Seeing that the other party didn't reply, the scar-faced man snorted again.

After just a few exchanges between the four, Lin Yu had already formed some judgments about their personalities.

The fat boy with glasses seemed a bit foolish, looking like a high school student with no ulterior motives and no experience with the real world.

The scar-faced man, on the other hand, was somewhat fierce, with a short temper, and was eager to signal to those around him that he was not to be trifled with.

The two women... the middle-aged one appeared quite serious and earnest, while the younger one was more delicate.

The reason Lin Yu used his psychological knowledge to analyze these people's personality traits was that no matter what the game's content was, he would definitely have to interact with the other six people.

Either as opponents or as teammates.

Therefore, the more he understood them, the greater his chance of winning the game.

As for the two who hadn't spoken...

Lin Yu looked at the remaining individuals who, like him, remained silent.

One sat opposite him, a short young man around his age, in his early twenties. He had shifty eyes and was peering around, sizing up the others.

He licked his lips from time to time, seeming very nervous.

The other was the tall man who had been sitting beside Lin Yu the entire time.

He had a square face, a resolute expression, and a sturdy build, exuding strength.

Like Lin Yu, he listened intently to everyone's statements.

After the scar-faced man finished speaking, he tapped the table and opened his mouth.

"Alright, everyone, don't argue. No matter what 'God' wants, since we've all appeared in this game together, it means we're all in the same boat..."

After the tall, square-faced man finished speaking, Lin Yu immediately dismissed his words in his mind.

In the same boat?

That wasn't necessarily true.

And just as this thought crossed Lin Yu's mind, as if to prove the square-faced man wrong, A chilling, rustling sound suddenly came from the wall next to them.

They turned their heads to look, and saw a line of large, striking blood-red characters appearing on the wall.

Immediately after, lines of blood-red characters appeared one after another, soon covering the entire wall:

"Two outsiders have infiltrated among you seven. Find them! Expel them!"

"Two outsiders have infiltrated among you seven. Find them! Expel them!"

"Two outsiders have infiltrated among you seven. Find them! Expel them!"