Death Game: Starting as a Trickster, Pretending to Be a God

Chapter 808: A Sealed World

"Although based on our personnel setup, this [dungeon] definitely has something fishy, so the seemingly simple 'clear conditions' must also hide some tricks."

"But... precisely because our clear conditions at least appear very simple, maybe we can start from this point and choose some clever, unconventional way to clear it."

As Phoenix, who was driving the hay wagon, finished speaking, Kui, sitting in the back, immediately clapped her hands.

"That makes a lot of sense!"

Right now, they were sitting on the wagon heading out of the city.

The reason was exactly what Phoenix had said... they needed to "find another path."

There might be some trickery with the dark races inside the city or even around Lilee, but...

Phoenix's plan was to take advantage of the night and simply switch locations—just run to an area where dark creatures were active, kill a couple of small fry, and be done with it, right?

Sure, the journey might take a few days...

But this plan had excellent "cost-effectiveness" overall.

Rather than jumping into a trap the [Death Game] had clearly set, it was better to find their own way!

These veteran players all had sharp minds, and in reality, most veterans focused heavily on "clear cost-effectiveness."

In a [dungeon], if you couldn't reap too many benefits, you'd better preserve your strength at the smallest cost and fastest time, minimizing losses in [items].

After all, no one knew what kind of nonsense any [dungeon] might throw at you.

The night was deep, and the main road leading out of the city was completely empty.

The average daylight hours in Night Valley were very short, and the westernmost area near the Abyss was even in a state of "eternal night."

So, even though it was only around five in the afternoon by conversion, the sky was already almost completely dark.

As for why they set out at night... well, although dark creatures had almost vanished from human territory, there was still a chance of encountering a stray one in the wild at night.

If they happened to run into one along the way, the pressure later would be much lighter.

Of course, setting out at night also had its downsides.

That was because in Night Valley...

There was a curfew.

The Maro Empire's curfew was so insane that it started at 4:30 PM, though it didn't ban people from being on the streets—it just prohibited entering or leaving the city.

That was exactly why Phoenix had chosen a hay dump truck—because this wasn't some civilian vehicle.

It was a forage transport truck she had stolen from the city's Knight Order.

However...

As for this plan, although the few [Third Tiers] all thought it was worth a try.

Sitting atop the hay pile, staring up at the three moons hanging in the sky, Lin Yu felt this plan wasn't very feasible.

Because he was more certain than these [Third Tiers] that this [dungeon] was definitely going to be extremely hard.

And more than that...

It was almost certainly so hard that it wouldn't give them any opportunity to cut corners.

In fact, Lin Yu had also thought of the method Phoenix had mentioned.

The "clear" condition for this [dungeon] didn't limit them to Lilee City, that was true.

But Lin Yu deduced that the outskirts of Lilee right now were likely a one-way trip—easy to enter, impossible to leave.

Although he wasn't sure about the trade situation between Night Valley's cities... from the moment they entered Lilee, Lin Yu hadn't seen any wagons from other cities passing through the city gates.

Even on the main road where they were attacked, Lin Yu had noticed—around the Tribunal of Heresy's carriage, there were no other wagons passing by.

According to Phoenix, this was one of the two largest human nations, the most prosperous city in the southern part of the Maro Empire, with a massive population.

On the main road in and out of a city like this, how could there be not a single wagon in sight?

Even if it was curfew now, back then it was still broad daylight!

But Lin Yu didn't point this out.

The identity of 『Schreiber』, despite having the support of the [Golden Cross Medal], was ultimately a character with "little weight and few words"...

And based on how Lin Yu had built this identity for Schreiber, he wouldn't try to steal the spotlight at a time like this.

What's more, Lin Yu also wanted to see...

What kind of obstacles they would encounter if they kept going.

Maybe he was just overthinking it—if that were the case, then according to Phoenix's idea, they would really just luck out, hunt some weak dark race, and clear the dungeon easily.

Of course...

Lin Yu knew this possibility was less than one in ten thousand.

Just as the Lilee City behind them had shrunk to a tiny silhouette on the map, Lin Yu heard a cracking sound from up ahead.

"Crack—!"

Like ice breaking or crystal shattering, the crisp sound rang out sharply and clearly.

Even before they could figure out where the sound came from, everyone sensed it...

Extreme danger.

"Whoa—!"

Phoenix yanked hard on the reins, bringing the short-legged horse pulling the wagon to a halt.

"Did you guys hear that?"

"Of course we did," Kui stood up and said. "It sounds like something broke up ahead."

"Let me take a look."

As she spoke, Fish pulled a flashlight out of her pocket.

She twisted it on, and it lit up the road ahead like a small sun—and with that intense light, they found the source of the cracking sound.

Above everyone's heads, a fine crack had appeared in the air out of nowhere, as if some transparent material had fractured.

Looking closely, at the top of the cracked area, an unlucky owl was embedded—it looked like a clumsy bird had slammed into a pane of glass.

This was common in cities back in reality.

But this was Night Valley.

Night Valley had no skyscrapers, no glass.

And besides, this definitely couldn't be glass—because it was slowly repairing itself.

The crack was gradually disappearing, and the owl was being slowly "pushed out."

"So... what the hell is this thing?"

Kui asked in confusion.

"I don't know, some kind of barrier?"

Phoenix jumped down from the wagon, picked up a stone from the ground, and then threw it toward the direction ahead of the wagon.

"Thump."

About five or six meters away, the stone also hit some kind of transparent material.

It looked like there really was some sort of solid, transparent barrier blocking the road.

Lin Yu let out a breath.

"There really is something off about this..."

And the appearance time of this barrier was almost exactly at the same moment they had entered this [dungeon].

It might even have happened at the same time, possibly connected to the three incidents that had made these players suspects.

The reason was also simple...

Because the three major forces in Lilee City hadn't noticed anything wrong yet!

Today, their attention had been completely consumed by those three sudden incidents and the players.

Otherwise, even if this barrier had been set up discreetly, it would have raised their suspicions!