Chapter Summaries

Lin Yu disguised himself as a rakshasa to gather belief and advance his mission, then prepared to cross the thorn barrier. He explained his knowledge of rakshasas to Old Zheng and confirmed that his claims about their ability to transform were fabricated.

• Lin Yu hoped the Blood Rakshasa Clan brute would spread the story of their encounter and help his rakshasa disguise become real.
• Lin Yu reached the thorn barrier and changed into layered protective clothing while Hannah concealed him.
• Old Zheng learned that Lin Yu had encountered a rakshasa through the God of Banquets and warned him about the Fragment of Fate.
• Lin Yu joked about eating rakshasas, prompting Old Zheng to insist that intelligent beings were off-limits.
• Old Zheng asked whether rakshasas could transform, and Lin Yu admitted he had made that claim up because they had disappeared a thousand years ago.

Lin Yu waited at the thorn barrier as his Rakshasa rumor gained a little more belief, then summoned Stiller and explained the deadly Glory Festival. He told Stiller it would act independently because Lin Yu had a more important task for it.

• Lin Yu reasoned that Players knew little about Rakshasas, making the race's information gaps useful for his fraud.
• Lin Yu received more belief after a Blood Rakshasa Clan member spread his news, bringing his fraud closer to becoming real.
• As night fell, Lin Yu saw distant fires and realized the Instance was vast enough that he might not encounter other Players soon.
• Lin Yu summoned Stiller, who assessed the world and said its abundant Emotion Energy made Stiller stronger and Truth Company items potentially more effective.
• Lin Yu explained the Glory Festival to Stiller and said it would act separately rather than protect him, since he had a more important task for it.

Lin Yu assigned Stiller to act like an ordinary contestant as part of a plan, then entered the Glory Festival when the horn sounded and the thorn walls receded. Referee Jiang Rong announced the festival’s rules and added that Healing Places would provide standard weapons and armor during the first three days, prompting Lin Yu to suspect an official Rule-type ability had been activated.

• Lin Yu told Stiller to hunt beasts and fight contestants while staying alive, promising to explain the plan and lend him Items later.
• Old Zheng and Hannah questioned the purpose of Lin Yu’s plan, but Stiller accepted the order.
• A horn sounded at night, and the thorn walls sank into the ground to open the festival grounds.
• Jiang Rong announced the ten-day Glory Festival rules, allowing contestants to fight and kill beasts, contestants, or even the referee, while forbidding retreat, bribery, and fighting in Healing Places.
• Jiang Rong added that Healing Places would provide standard weapons and armor to contestants during the first three days, and Lin Yu suspected a Rule-type ability had been activated.

Lin Yu and his companions analyzed a sudden Rule that had raised a thorny iron wall, concluding that it was likely caused by a Fraud rather than an Official. As they explored, a distant light went out and Lin Yu realized someone was charging toward them.

• Lin Yu, Old Zheng, and Hannah discussed the sudden Rule and how an Official might have used it to restrict access to the Healing Place.
• Old Zheng revealed that Ren Gu of the Order had imposed a Rule barring members of the Psychology Society and Marauders from offline Player trading gatherings.
• Lin Yu praised Ren Gu for protecting those gatherings and asked what kind of Player had created the current Rule.
• Old Zheng suggested the Rule was likely the work of a Fraud, and Lin Yu recognized the Game's challenging lineup as a trial.
• When the distant light suddenly went out, Lin Yu told Stiller to extinguish their light and warned that someone was charging at them.

Lin Yu and Stiller were ambushed by a Blood Luo during the Glory Festival, but they uncovered his trick and killed him. Lin Yu’s firearm proved decisive, and the pair continued to face the dangers of the hunt.

• Lin Yu realized the darkness signaled an attack and warned Stiller that the Black Marsh World’s contestants valued victory over caution.
• A delayed ground-bow trap fired an arrow at Lin Yu and Stiller, who dodged and chased the apparent attacker before turning to strike a Blood Luo hidden in a tree.
• Lin Yu and Stiller wounded the Blood Luo, and Lin Yu explained that he had noticed the man’s excitement through Stiller’s emotional perception.
• The Blood Luo charged with his spears despite his injuries, but Lin Yu shot him in the head with the One-Shot Hit Revolver.

Lin Yu killed a Blood Luo, disguised himself in its clothes, and split up from Stiller to pursue their plan. He sent Stiller out posing as a Soldier and coached him to claim he had witnessed a four-armed monster kill a red NPC.

• Lin Yu made sure the Blood Luo was dead, then stripped and searched the corpse while Hannah and Old Zheng argued over whether it could be eaten.
• Lin Yu and Stiller tore the Blood Luo in half, and Lin Yu changed into its animal-hide clothes.
• Lin Yu gave Stiller his clothes, supplies, and equipment, then sent him off with Old Zheng to help him act like a Player.
• Lin Yu told Stiller to pose as a Soldier seeking the Medal of Valor and to claim a four-armed monster had killed the red NPC.
• Lin Yu crushed the Blood Luo's head and told Stiller to look panicked and confused so the story would seem convincing.

Lin Yu sought the Healing Place while spreading the rumor that Rakshasa had appeared, and he crossed the forest’s dangerous grassland under Hannah’s camouflage. The chapter left him face to face with a new Player who had emerged to watch two beasts fight.

• Lin Yu told Hannah that Stiller’s account would make the Rakshasa rumor more credible and that they should gather information while acting like ordinary contestants.
• Lin Yu used token number 216 and headed toward the randomly placed Healing Place, hoping to find and assess the person he considered a fraud.
• Lin Yu reasoned that the Healing Place was more likely to appear in the forest’s hinterland and searched there as the terrain opened into grassland.
• Lin Yu and Hannah avoided a battle between a gigantic horned bear-like beast and a huge saber-toothed predator while other fights echoed across the Instance.
• A tall woman in black leather spotted Lin Yu in the grass, drew her longsword, and asked whether he was a Player; Lin Yu confirmed that he was.

Lin Yu formed a temporary alliance with Jue, a Tier 2 Hunter, and proposed that they attack two battling giant beasts to claim trophies for the Glory Festival. Jue revealed that her poisoned crossbow bolts could paralyze the beasts, and Lin Yu planned to close in and kill them when she fired.

• Jue introduced herself as a Hunter from the Player Mutual Aid Society, and Lin Yu gave her the name Moro and demonstrated his strength.
• Jue proposed an alliance so they could obtain trophies and improve their standing in the Glory Festival, and Lin Yu agreed.
• Lin Yu identified the beasts as Tukam and Numenhak and improvised an analysis of their strengths and weaknesses.
• Jue showed Lin Yu her crossbow and explained that its Quenched Poison could paralyze the giant beasts for a few seconds.
• Lin Yu urged Jue to attack while the beasts were already injured and said he would kill them after she shot the poisoned bolt.

Lin Yu and Jue worked together to defeat a giant bear and a saber-toothed beast, while Lin Yu staged the hunt to convince Jue that he might be the Rakshasa. He prepared to finish off the paralyzed saber-toothed beast and leave one final impression.

• Lin Yu wounded the giant bear and saber-toothed beast, then called for Jue as they prepared to attack him.
• Jue fired two crossbow bolts into the beasts, giving Lin Yu the opening to kill the giant bear with his spear.
• Lin Yu confirmed that Jue had helped him and that his performance had succeeded.
• Lin Yu recalled how he had planned the ambush, using Hannah’s disguise, the Targeting Dagger, and Shady Corner.
• Lin Yu explained that his real combat ability made his Rakshasa deception credible and that the hunt was meant to plant doubt in Jue’s mind.
• Lin Yu watched the paralyzed saber-toothed beast begin to struggle and prepared to finish the performance.

Lin Yu finished off the saber-toothed beast by controlling its blood, crafting a terrifying finale to make the observers see him as something inhuman. Jue watched in shock as Lin Yu approached her, unable to reconcile his feats with the image of an ordinary Player.

• Lin Yu used the Prayer Water Necklace to gather the blood spilling from the saber-toothed beast into a massive sphere.
• Lin Yu forced the blood into the beast's mouth and nostrils until it suffocated and collapsed.
• Lin Yu reflected that the bloody spectacle would make a more memorable and rakshasa-like impression than ordinary water control.
• Jue recalled how Lin Yu had killed the giant bear and the saber-toothed beast, then watched him approach in disbelief.

Lin Yu gave Jue the spoils from the two giant beasts, and she collected them while discussing how displaying them might affect other contestants. Lin Yu encouraged Jue to leave the trophies visible, looking forward to facing the Glory Festival’s strongest warriors.

• Lin Yu told Jue that both giant beasts’ spoils were hers because he did not need them.
• Jue collected a horn and a fang, noting that spoils affected rankings and could be verified by sorcery.
• Jue wondered whether displaying the trophies would deter challengers, and Lin Yu argued it might attract strong contestants instead.
• Jue said she would accept any challenge with Lin Yu nearby, but Lin Yu explained that his interference could insult her glory.
• Lin Yu told Jue to leave the trophies visible because he wanted to fight the festival’s strongest warriors, then joked about his sense of humor.

Lin Yu and Jue cooked meat from the giant beasts while Lin Yu sensed the first wave of belief spreading across the Glory Festival, crediting Stiller’s rumor campaign. Elsewhere, Stiller joined a group of players and considered spreading Lin Yu’s claims, but Old Zheng warned him that their uninjured lone-wolf companion might be hiding his abilities.

• Jue built a fire, and Lin Yu prepared roast meat from the giant bear and saber-toothed beast with Hannah’s guidance.
• Lin Yu sensed belief flowing in from the festival grounds and praised Stiller’s work spreading rumors about the Rakshasa.
• Stiller joined four players in a tent after driving off two barbarian warriors with the Fear Torch, and the group began treating him as their leader.
• Stiller asked Old Zheng whether the players would believe the claims he was supposed to spread, and Old Zheng cautioned that the lone-wolf postman might be pretending to be weak.

Lin Yu gained powerful bear and lynx buffs from eating the beasts’ meat, then spent the night keeping watch with Jue. At dawn, he set out with her to investigate the Healing Place and discover why a new Glory Festival Rule had appeared.

• Lin Yu gained the Unicorn Rampage Bear's Fortitude and Long-toothed Forest Lynx buffs, which he attributed to the Carnival Pendant upgrading the effects of the meat he ate.
• Lin Yu considered hunting more beasts to gain buffs but decided he had to continue with Fraud because of the advancement quest.
• Lin Yu and Jue stayed awake beside the campfire until dawn, each remaining wary of the other.
• Lin Yu told Jue they would head away from the direction she had come from and seek the Healing Place.
• Lin Yu explained that he wanted to learn what had caused the new Rule about the Healing Place, not obtain weapons.

Lin Yu and Jue searched for the Healing Place under the scorching sun, but found nothing. Jue revealed an Item that answered questions with one truth and one lie, and Lin Yu showed her how to use it to get a reliable answer before she brought out a stone crow head.

• Lin Yu and Jue spent the morning searching for the Healing Place while struggling with the heat.
• Jue suggested using her unstable question-answering method to locate the Healing Place.
• Lin Yu explained how to use a known-answer question to identify the false response and obtain reliable information.
• Jue thanked Lin Yu and took out a thumb-sized stone crow head, which cawed cheerfully.

Jue used a stone Crow Head item to ask for directions to the Glory Festival’s temporary infirmary, while Lin Yu wondered about its connection to the God of Change. After the item gave them the infirmary’s location, they prepared to head there so Jue could rest.

• Jue asked the Crow Head item about their gender identity, and it answered falsely that they were female.
• Jue explained that they were agender and could be addressed with any term other than male or female.
• Lin Yu suspected the crow had deliberately given Jue the item and planned to speak with them later under another identity.
• Jue asked the item for the infirmary’s location, and it said the infirmary was about 4.3 kilometers away, 15 degrees to their right.
• Lin Yu and Jue set off toward the infirmary, where Jue hoped to rest, eat, and nap.

Lin Yu and Jue reached the Healing Place, where they found eight near-dead contestants and no visible medical staff. Lin Yu used the [Mind-Reading Mirror] and discovered that the Furnace Fire in the tent’s central furnace was alive and experiencing emotions.

• Lin Yu and Jue followed Crow’s guidance through the forest and reached the traveling Healing Place.
• Jue and Lin Yu entered the tent and saw eight contestants with life-threatening injuries, but no medical staff.
• Jue and Lin Yu wondered how to claim free weapons, and Lin Yu asked Hannah to sense anyone else in the tent.
• Lin Yu activated the [Mind-Reading Mirror] and detected an eleventh presence: the Furnace Fire, which appeared to be intelligent and emotional.

Lin Yu recognized the furnace’s fire as an earth spirit and considered how he could kill it, but he and Jue only asked to collect weapons. After the spirit opened a chest of Demon Race weapons, Lin Yu noticed Jue’s skill with blades and asked whether she was an expert with short-to-medium weapons.

• Lin Yu identified the living furnace fire as an earth spirit, and it introduced itself while boasting about its age and strength.
• Lin Yu recalled that an earth spirit’s core was its weakness and devised ways to destroy it, including using Frost Blessing and a Self-Destruct Robot.
• Lin Yu told the spirit that he and Jue wanted weapons allowed under the contest rules.
• The earth spirit opened a large metal chest filled with copper weapons made by Demon Race artisans.
• Jue smoothly tested a short blade, and Lin Yu asked whether the Hunter was skilled with short-to-medium bladed weapons.

Lin Yu and Jue stayed in the recovery area to observe the people collecting weapons and investigate the changed rules. Jue disguised herself as a badly injured patient, then claimed she could silence the furnace fire.

• Jue awkwardly explained that she had learned to use melee weapons in the Prison Mountain instance, while Lin Yu chose a dagger and said he had confiscated the spear he once carried.
• Lin Yu confirmed they were the first to collect weapons and decided they should rest and watch for later visitors, despite the furnace fire demanding they leave.
• Jue suggested disguising themselves because two uninjured people among the wounded would attract attention, and she used special-effects makeup props to create a realistic abdominal wound.
• Jue smeared fresh blood from an injured barbarian onto her fake wound while the furnace fire protested, and she told Lin Yu she could make it shut up.

Lin Yu and Jue pretended to be injured while Jue convinced the furnace monster to keep quiet by promising it freedom. Lin Yu recognized her real tactic as deception and watched her carefully as they waited.

• Jue drew a fake wound on Lin Yu's neck, and they settled in a central spot to pretend to be injured.
• Lin Yu had Hannah secretly listen as Jue struck a deal with the furnace monster, which agreed to turn a blind eye in exchange for the possibility of freedom.
• Jue returned to Lin Yu, who guessed she had used threats and inducements to persuade the monster.
• Hannah returned and told Lin Yu that Jue had successfully dealt with the monster.
• Lin Yu used the [Mind-Reading Mirror] to observe Jue's hidden emotions and explained that she had deceived the monster by making it believe she could offer what it wanted.

Lin Yu concluded that Jue was probably the Fraudster and believed he had won their contest of deception by keeping his own identity hidden while exposing hers. He wondered why Jue had concealed her identity, since her profession did not require it.

• Lin Yu doubted Jue was a Hunter because she never used Hunter Profession Items, despite claiming to be Tier 2.
• Lin Yu connected Jue’s crow-head item to the God of Change and suspected the crow favored her because she excelled at deception.
• Lin Yu reconsidered Jue’s behavior as a Fraudster’s act, noting that her apparent carelessness gave way to careful, rigorous questions.
• Lin Yu decided he had won their duel because Jue had exposed her identity while believing the false impression he had cultivated.
• Lin Yu wondered why Jue had hidden her identity when being a Fraudster did not require her to conceal it.