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

"Although there was no resistance, the mastermind behind this shouldn't be using hypnosis-like methods," Lin Yu summarized the patterns of the three disappearances, reaching a relatively certain conclusion, "This guy is far behind your skill level, Lao Zheng… If it were you, you definitely wouldn't leave so many flaws."

Lin Yu was sure that if it were Lao Zheng's home field, and he were to arrange all of this, Lao Zheng definitely wouldn't have allowed Liu Chengyang to become emotionally unstable and release the signal arrow.

Moreover, the players' memories definitely wouldn't have been retained.

Even if restricted to only manipulating the memories of NPCs… Lao Zheng would at least make the NPCs' memories clean and thorough.

There's absolutely no way Yue Zhenqiao and the other guards would remember the 'total number' – such a serious mistake – nor would Yue Zhenqiao realize the 'irrationality' of only sending one person.

Lao Zheng would definitely create a complete set of memory fabrication, even briefly modifying their cognition, to make Yue Zhenqiao firmly believe that everything was perfectly fine – in that case, even if I were exceptionally strong, I would inevitably be suspected, opposed, and guarded against by Yue Zhenqiao and the other guards.

Lao Zheng also agreed with Lin Yu's praise: "Indeed, boss… that's why I feel this further proves that the entity orchestrating these disappearances doesn't actually have the ability to modify people's cognition and memories through mental means or on a soul level – it's not that some guy with higher mental power than me is using techniques I can't see through, but that he's using other means to make these guards lose their memories."

"That's what I'm curious about; besides directly acting on the soul and mind, are there other ways to modify memories?"

Lin Yu asked in a deep voice.

"Of course there are. The soul and body are like hardware and software. Mental power experts like me, and other players or NPCs skilled on the soul level, are like hackers. Modifying memories is naturally what we hackers are best at," Lao Zheng paused here, "But the Ten Realms are too vast and complex, and there are always exceptions… Like the Truth Company's 'emotional technology' and related alchemy, those are the best examples."

"In Prison Mountain Realm, there are also sects that can modify people's memories through silver needle acupuncture and talisman soul shifting."

As Lao Zheng spoke, Lin Yu understood.

"I understand… so it's possible that a super martial arts master or a high-speed demon, after eating someone, instantly gives all the guards an acupuncture treatment to make them lose their memories?"

Lin Yu said, and Lao Zheng opened his mouth in grief.

"Although it sounds a bit unbelievable, if the other party really has the speed to do it instantly, then the theory holds."

"Tsk, this Prison Mountain Realm isn't simple either."

Lin Yu stood up and looked at Yue Zhenqiao and the other two, who were quietly waiting for him to think and observe.

"Let's go, Chief Yue, we'll go meet the one I sensed."

He now had more specific and concrete questions, and it was time to find someone to answer them.

Yue Zhenqiao generously applied a talisman to Liu Chengyang as well, and then the three guards followed Lin Yu out of the cave.

Guided by Lao Zheng, Lin Yu seemed to have a navigation system, heading straight for the destination without hesitation.

Although the roads in Chen Family Fortress were small, they were built quite straight and regular. Even if there were occasional slopes, there were rarely winding roads with many turns. Generally, they were just squares dividing the stone houses and low forts.

Lin Yu led the three guards straight to one of the stone forts.

Arriving at the door, just as Lin Yu was about to push it open, he heard a voice behind him.

"Four guests, why aren't you staying indoors during midday, wandering around?"

"This isn't good!"

Lin Yu turned around and saw Chen Yongde, the village chief of Chen Family Fortress, who had greeted him before.

The old man had appeared behind them like a ghost at some point, standing in the middle of the road.

More importantly…

The old man didn't have any means of shading or cooling himself, just standing alone under the scorching sun, seemingly not caring about the intense heat at all.

It wasn't that he could ignore the heat – because Lin Yu could clearly see that beads of sweat the size of beans were rolling down the old man's body like rain, clearly indicating that he was hot enough.

He was standing here purely out of stubbornness!

But that was the problem… Lin Yu couldn't see any sign of stubbornness on the face of this old man Chen Yongde – he seemed completely unaware that he was about to be roasted to death or die of heat!

Yue Zhenqiao, Wu San, and Liu Chengyang were also startled by the sudden appearance of the old man.

Subsequently, Chen Yongde's obviously unusual behavior also made these three guards, who originally didn't know that everyone in Chen Family Fortress was dead, realize that there was something strange about the old man, and all three of them were on high alert.

"Be careful!"

Yue Zhenqiao said in a low voice, already prepared to face the enemy.

Wu San and Liu Chengyang also put their hands on the hilts of their sabers.

But none of them acted directly.

Yue Zhenqiao looked at Chen Yongde and said in a low voice, "Old man, we're here to find someone at this place for some business."

If possible, Yue Zhenqiao still didn't want to clash with this old man Chen Yongde on his territory during this midday.

Chen Yongde listened to Yue Zhenqiao's explanation, his tone still peaceful: "Is that so, so urgent… but it's really strange…"

"This house is the house of the second son of Chen's eldest son, that is, my brother's son, my own nephew."

"And my nephew is studying art outside and hasn't returned to Chen Family Fortress for a long time," Chen Yongde's voice turned cold, "Could it be that you want to steal something."

Yue Zhenqiao looked at Chen Yongde, whose face had become somewhat stern. Although the other party was just a shriveled old man, he still felt a great deal of pressure.

"Old man, I…"

However, before Yue Zhenqiao could say his new explanation, he saw a swift shadow pass by his side.

"Bang!"

After a muffled sound, Chen Yongde fell to the ground with a thud.

Lin Yu put away the 【Torch of Terror】 in his hand and took a breath.

"Done!"

Yue Zhenqiao looked at Lin Yu, startled: "Miss, you… you are…"

"No time to waste words with this old man," Lin Yu waved his hand, "Although this guy looks a bit strange, since he's already sweating profusely from the heat, it means his physique is at least at the level of a normal old man."

"But, will there be any chain reaction after knocking him down…"

Yue Zhenqiao said worriedly.

"Shouldn't be, I didn't sense his spirit connected to anything," Lin Yu squinted her eyes and said, "The mastermind behind the strangeness of Chen Family Fortress has been hiding, if I just knock out an old man and it rushes out to show itself, triggering some kind of change to stop us, that's exactly what I want to see."

"At least that means it doesn't want us to attack the people of Chen Family Fortress—if that's the case, then we have something to do!"

"What it doesn't want to see is what we need to do, so when the time comes, we'll just attack these villagers!"