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

Chapter 890: The Unbreakable Temporary Alliance

With confusion and bewilderment, Fu Luo surfaced from the water.

He couldn't quite tell whether it was the terrifying aura of [Endless Madness] that had frightened the "Diving Merchant" into retreat because the other party recognized what it was, or whether the merchant had some other scheme in mind.

In any case...

Looking at the starfish that had stopped moving entirely, now lying limp like corpses, Fu Luo confirmed...

That guy, he really had fled!

"Is this thing really that intimidating? Or was the other party just extremely cautious?"

That made sense... After all, according to Professor's records, this guy was actually very careful by nature. He would mark players and then wait several dungeons before making his move.

So, it wasn't impossible that this Diving Merchant had been scared off by him!

After all, once you eliminate all other possibilities, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth. This was the creed that Fu Luo, as the "Famous Detective," had always believed in.

Of course, this time the "truth" wasn't so much improbable as it was... wrong.

"It can't be that the Diving Merchant came back through the teleporter because he had already entered the Sixth Island earlier, then ran into Old Yao who's hiding somewhere on the island right now, and the two of them struck a deal, and then he voluntarily retreated."

Fu Luo thought to himself with self-deprecation.

How could that be? It wasn't that he looked down on Old Yao... but Old Yao didn't have that kind of skill!

Granted, Old Yao seemed to have strong social abilities, but that guy didn't seem like the type with that kind of courage and boldness, nor was he qualified to confront the "Diving Merchant" head-on.

If it weren't Old Yao who had come this time, but rather Old Yao and his other mutual good brother "May May," then it might have been possible!

Of course, his brother's girlfriend also seemed to have that kind of ability.

Fu Luo let his thoughts wander aimlessly, then gently shook his head.

"I was definitely too tense earlier and overused my brain. My thoughts are starting to race."

He pushed the thoughts out of his mind, looked at the players standing on the floating ice, put away [Endless Madness], and raised his right hand.

"All done!"

No matter what... it seemed his expert persona had somehow been maintained again this time?

And while Fu Luo was raising his arm and shouting, the other players standing on the water surface were indeed filled with admiration for him.

"Thanks to Lord Furbollo," King Vulture said, stroking the white snake on her body that seemed to have fallen into a dormant state like it was exhausted of energy, "we've finally dealt with those troublesome starfish!"

"That's right, being able to see that this was man-made, accurately pinpoint the mastermind's location, and neutralize it in an instant is truly amazing," Kitty quickly added. "I can't even imagine what kind of ingenious method it was. I couldn't even understand what happened!"

Hearing Kitty's praise, Fu Luo smiled awkwardly. "I only forced him to retreat."

He honestly couldn't explain what had just happened either, since his original plan hadn't even started being executed yet.

However...

What Fu Luo didn't know was that his feeling of maintaining his expert image was actually an illusion.

At least in the eyes of one player on the scene...

"This Furbollo is truly unfathomable, far stronger than I imagined!"

Nineteen, standing on the floating ice with an umbrella and pretending to be equally exhausted, thought to himself.

Amateurs watch the spectacle, experts watch the craft.

As the only Third Tier among this group, even though he had used his unique methods to forcibly suppress most of his strength, making himself only slightly stronger than King Vulture, his vision, knowledge, and experience could not be suppressed.

Originally, in Nineteen's expectations... Furbollo should have been preparing some kind of high-cost ultimate move, perhaps even planning to use some kind of one-time trump card.

After all, Nineteen had a general understanding of what level of existence the "Diving Merchant" was.

That guy was absolutely ranked in the top fifteen, even top ten, in individual combat strength across the entire Misty Islands.

In the Misty Islands, where there was no true Chosen One, aside from a few of the top-ranked island masters and the operator of the sky airship, there weren't many on the same level as him. And even among those on his level, some might not necessarily be stronger than him.

Although the guy seemed to value his reputation and was unwilling to pick fights or reveal his strength, so there was no need to actually defeat him...

Merely "forcing him to retreat" should not have been an easy task either.

But...

Nineteen had never anticipated that Furbollo would force him back with almost no cost at all.

He had keenly sensed that terrifying "aura" that flashed briefly underwater a moment ago.

And then...

The other party had retreated!

Nineteen could only think of three theoretical possibilities.

The first was that Furbollo's methods were even more sinister and terrifying than he had imagined. Aside from that initial trace of terrifying aura, he hadn't felt anything else during that lightning-fast exchange.

And in that instant, silently and imperceptibly, he had already made the Diving Merchant suffer a great loss and forced him to retreat in defeat!

This meant... Furbollo's methods and trump cards were even more terrifying than he had imagined!

Not only were they powerful, but they were also instant-cast and extremely concealed.

This was also the possibility that sent the most chills down Nineteen's spine.

The second possibility was that Furbollo had revealed that trace of aura, and while Nineteen hadn't fully sensed it, the Diving Merchant might have been more knowledgeable than him and immediately realized that the trump card Furbollo was about to use was absolutely terrifying, so he decisively ran!

If it were this possibility... then it wasn't much different from the first one, both indicating that Furbollo's trump card strength was far beyond imagination.

The only difference was that the former meant Furbollo's trump card activated extremely fast, while this possibility meant Furbollo's trump card was extremely powerful, powerful enough to make the other party instantly weigh that the losses from tanking it head-on would be completely unacceptable, even to the point of giving up the competition for the "inheritance."

After all, the Diving Merchant hadn't temporarily left the scene by driving his submersible away, but had crawled into the teleporter he came from and abandoned all his starfish. That was practically a direct announcement that he was giving up this hard-fought competition!

And the third...

Nineteen thought, perhaps the Diving Merchant had actually crossed paths with Furbollo before, and the two had either reached some kind of agreement beforehand or just now in that moment.

The fact that the Diving Merchant retreated the moment Furbollo pulled out his item was actually the result of their transaction.

This outcome sounded like Furbollo's strength wasn't as terrifying as the first two possibilities, but upon closer thought, it was scary enough.

All current mainstream intelligence indicated that Fu Luo's foundation was in the Wasteland Realm, and only concentrated in the Sleepless City.

If he could secretly reach an agreement with the "Diving Merchant," wouldn't that mean he also had connections in the Misty Islands?!

So, regardless of which possibility it was, they all pointed to one conclusion...

"This Furbollo cannot be underestimated!"

That was precisely why Nineteen was still standing on the floating ice right now, maintaining the friendly relations of the temporary alliance.

Otherwise...

Nineteen would have long chosen to turn hostile and attack the exhausted King Vulture, the injured Kitty, and Fu Luo in the water right here on the sea!