"All right, since we've temporarily cleared up the misunderstanding, let's briefly introduce ourselves... After all, this is a cooperative puzzle-solving game, so it's necessary for us to get to know one another."
After Lin Yu lowered his pistol, the atmosphere in the room immediately eased.
The uncle wearing the white safety helmet quickly stepped in to smooth things over again.
Games centered around "puzzles" generally weren't especially urgent. They usually provided ample time for the players to communicate and get to know one another.
He took the lead.
"You can call me 'Uncle Tie.' That's also my forum ID... My profession is 'Craftsman,' and I've currently cleared ten instances."
Hearing Uncle Tie's introduction, Lin Yu understood.
Ten instances meant he had been participating in the Death game for two months...
That was already beyond the novice stage, making him a relatively "experienced" player!
After all, the forum had only been established two years ago!
As far as they knew, even the oldest batch of players had only joined the game two and a half years ago.
Since the difficulty of the Death game continued to rise, players who survived for more than half a year were extremely rare.
For Uncle Tie to have survived two months and cleared ten instances was already quite impressive.
And his profession was "Craftsman"...
It was also a fairly common and versatile profession, belonging to the "Enhancement type."
Lin Yu still remembered the Craftsman's ability: it increased one's proficiency with various "tools" and improved one's understanding of mechanical structures.
It was an extremely versatile profession. After all, most Craftsmen only needed to buy or find a "wrench," "screwdriver," or similar item to fully bring out the advantages of their profession.
Moreover, regardless of the type of instance, most game instances would always contain things such as "mechanisms"...
With a Craftsman present, quite a bit of trouble could be avoided.
After Uncle Tie finished speaking, the young man and woman who appeared to be a couple began talking.
"My forum ID is 'April,' and my profession is 'Doctor.' I've currently cleared six instances."
After the girl introduced herself, she elbowed the young man beside her.
The young man hurriedly spoke as well.
"My forum ID is 'Number Eight,' and my profession is 'Student.' I've also cleared six instances."
The two of them spoke one after the other.
Lin Yu nodded slightly.
The Doctor's ability was simple yet powerful. Without needing any items or medicine, the Doctor could perform one unconditional "treatment" per day. It was a typical "Skill type" profession.
As for the Student, it belonged to the "Rule type"—when a negotiable non-player character appeared inside a game instance, the Student had one chance to "greatly increase the success rate."
April and Number Eight's introductions also made Uncle Tie realize something.
"You two seem to be together. Did you enter as a team?"
The two nodded. April, the Doctor, did not try to hide it and said, "Yes, we used a team-forming item."
Uncle Tie sighed. "Of the five people, two pairs already knew each other..."
Then he looked at Lin Yu and the little girl.
"Although I already know that you two are a 'Soldier' and a 'Thief'... you should still introduce yourselves."
The little girl nodded and began her introduction.
"Hello, everyone. My forum ID is 'Bu Wang,' and I've cleared three instances so far."
Lin Yu felt somewhat helpless.
To be honest, in a game that clearly seemed to focus on "puzzles," Lin Yu really did not want the identity of a "Soldier."
He would have much rather obtained an "Information type" profession—such as Teacher or Reporter.
Unfortunately, someone here knew him...
So Lin Yu had no choice but to admit it.
"Very well. My profession is 'Soldier.' You can call me 'Nine Waters'... I just cleared an instance."
Lin Yu spoke calmly.
The little girl's eyes widened. "What? You just cleared an instance?!"
Lin Yu looked at her and nodded.
"Yeah. What's so strange about that?"
The others were also incredulous.
Uncle Tie adjusted his safety helmet and asked, "Brother Lin Yu, if you've only just cleared your first instance, how did you learn about the forum?"
"And from the sound of it, did you even attend an offline gathering in your city?"
Novice instances would not contain experienced players, only other newcomers!
Therefore, most "new" players learned about the forum, items, and such from veteran players explaining them in their second instance.
Lin Yu smiled modestly.
"I was just lucky."
The others stared at Lin Yu in astonishment, clearly curious.
The university student named Number Eight looked relieved.
"Phew, if there's a newcomer... that means this instance might not be too difficult!"
He sounded optimistic and grateful.
After the introductions ended, the water in the room was finally drained away.
Once all the water had been drained...
Everyone heard a faint "click" coming from the surrounding walls.
Lin Yu and the others followed the sound and found that four doors had appeared in the walls.
The four doors were different colors: red, yellow, blue, and green.
The green door slowly opened, and a "person" walked out.
But Lin Yu and the others were certain that it was not human.
A "near-humanoid creature" wearing a "crow head" mask and covered from head to toe in a black-feathered cloak emerged.
"Caw-caw—Hello, 'players'!"
The crow head emitted a hoarse voice, as though the voices of dozens of people had been layered together.
Lin Yu and the others watched it grimly.
The bloody notice before they entered had displayed the instance's name and clearance conditions.
The instance was called "Deadly Q&A," while the clearance condition was "Solve the necessary puzzles"...
In other words, the Crowman before them was most likely responsible for asking the questions.
Sure enough, after a few seconds, the Crowman spoke again.
"Caw-caw, I'll be serving as the 'examiner' for this game... I'll give you questions and hints!"
"Caw, there are three 'rooms' in this game."
"Caw-caw, I've set three questions in each room—two Reward and Punishment Questions and one 'Dilemma Question.'"
"Caw-caw, caw, answering a Reward and Punishment Question correctly will earn you a reward, while answering incorrectly will bring punishment. As for the Dilemma Question, you can only enter the next room by answering it correctly—answer all the Dilemma Questions correctly, and you'll clear the instance."
"Caw, those are all the rules of this game, 'Deadly Q&A'..."
As the Crowman spoke, it flapped its wings.
At that instant, the flow of water from the drainage outlet at the very top suddenly increased.
"BOOM—"
Water gushed out and fell over everyone once again, making several of them cry out.
"Whoa, what the hell!"
The Crowman's voice rang out again.
"Everyone, listen to the first question—given the current rate of water entering and leaving, how long will it take for the water to completely fill this room?"
Before you continue