Chapter 868: A Deal Between Monsters

Lin Yu had made up his mind to disguise himself as a monster from the very moment he discovered that one had boarded the airship.

That was precisely why he had been deliberately leaving "holes" in his act, making himself look like the most suspicious person among the group. Of course, Lin Yu hadn't been too obvious about it either.

After all, he was fairly certain that at least two sharp minds were on board, Fu Luo and Fern.

Going overboard might backfire.

If a monster could disguise itself as a human, why couldn't he disguise himself as a monster?

The identity of Old Yao was simply too weak when it came to direct combat capability.

But if he were no longer "Old Yao" and instead a "monster," he could easily circumvent that problem.

No one knew exactly how powerful the native monster of the Misty Islands truly was. And when Lin Yu wanted to reclaim his identity as Old Yao, he would only need to find a place where no one could see him, take a quick stroll, and then effortlessly slip back into the role with a flawless performance, re-establishing his identity as Old Yao.

As for now...

Lin Yu's objective had basically been achieved.

Everyone on the scene, even the monster standing right in front of him, had already come to believe that he was another monster from the Misty Islands.

Of course, flushing out the hidden real monster was just a bonus.

Listening to this guy's speech, there really didn't seem to be anything wrong with it.

This creature truly couldn't read all of their memories, but the monster hadn't "replaced" anyone either.

The real way it had infiltrated the player group was through parasitism.

None of the players who had answered questions earlier could have been missed, because they were all genuinely the players themselves.

The water stains on the floor weren't from some player being dragged away. They were from its previous host body, which it had used to board the airship, a corpse that had likely been soaking in the Misty Sea for quite some time.

Since it had now completed its "parasitism" and acquired a better, more useful "body," the original one naturally had no need to exist, so it had been thrown overboard to "drown itself."

And the water mist inside the airship existed precisely to conceal the "abnormalities" of the parasitized host.

Not only to prevent others from noticing, but also to prevent the host itself from realizing what had happened.

And when Lin Yu had knocked out that military otaku earlier, the one now controlling his body was naturally the monster.

At this moment, within the water mist that blocked all sight and sound, Lin Yu watched as the military otaku, who had now dropped the concealing mist around his form, revealed that his clothing was already covered in thin, withered vines crawling all over it.

This was presumably part of the monster's body.

The other party looked at Lin Yu and spoke with some uncertainty: "What kind of existence are you, and what do you want?"

"That's a question I should be asking you. Right now, I'm the one in control here," Lin Yu said, looking at the other with a contemptuous tone. "Honestly, your disguise is pretty damn terrible."

As Lin Yu spoke, the monster seemed somewhat displeased: "But the one who got exposed was you."

"No duh. That's because I never intended to hide myself from the start. I just wanted to expose myself at the right moment and then negotiate directly with them," Lin Yu declared arrogantly. "Otherwise... do you really think your crude little plan would have worked?"

"The reason they kept insisting that 'questioning' could expose the 'monster' is entirely because I wanted them to go through that 'questioning' and think they'd found a flaw in me on their own, rather than realizing I'd revealed myself intentionally," Lin Yu said calmly. "I was the one who interfered with the thinking of the two smartest people among them, misdirecting them. Otherwise, you would have been caught long ago."

Lin Yu wasn't exactly lying to this monster.

The reason Fu Luo and Nineteen were both so fixated on using "questioning" to find the monster was precisely because Lin Yu had used the Narrative Trick to interfere with their cognition, making the two of them certain their theory was correct, thereby causing them to overlook other possibilities, such as the monster being a "parasitic" type.

Of course, Lin Yu hadn't done this for the monster's sake.

After all, if they had found the real monster, then Lin Yu's plan to pretend to be a monster would have become much more troublesome.

And through the "questioning" format, Lin Yu could easily sell "just the right amount" of flaws, enough to make them feel like "Old Yao" seemed off, but not so deliberate that they would start thinking the monster disguised as Old Yao was intentionally exposing itself.

But right now, facing this monster, Lin Yu naturally had to emphasize how much he had helped it.

"You see, although our positions might not be aligned, when it comes to facing these outsiders, the two of us are ultimately closer to each other. You just saw how formidable these outsiders' methods are, so why don't we cooperate? I'll operate in the open, you in the shadows, that's bound to be better than fighting alone."

Lin Yu said, trying to coax the monster.

The monster possessing the military otaku's body said in a low voice: "What you're saying makes some sense, but... I still need to understand your purpose."

"I can't cooperate with someone I don't fully understand."

Lin Yu had expected this kind of wariness from the other party.

In the Misty Islands realm, where the Crow reigned as the supreme god, the creatures there were mostly cunning and deceitful, experts at disguise and deception.

Deceiving players, deceiving each other, creating all sorts of illusions and hallucinations, these were the daily routines of Misty Islands creatures.

Trying to negotiate cooperation in a place like this... was far too difficult.

For Lin Yu, a world built on scheming and mutual suspicion, where everyone was on guard against everyone else...

was absolutely perfect for him!

As he listened to the other's words, a smile spread across his face.

Yes, that's right, this is exactly how it should be.

The more guarded someone was, the easier they fell into complex and sophisticated traps. A deception targeting someone without any wariness could only ever be the simplest kind.

Even if the other party was easy to fool, what they fell for would only ever be the most shallow and straightforward trick.

The more someone thought and guarded with a "suspicious" mindset, the more they would fall into even more traps.

Looking at the monster's guarded expression, Lin Yu smiled and spoke.

"Indeed, in a place like this, trying to cooperate while completely hiding yourself just won't work."

"So let me introduce myself, I came from the Thirty-Seventh Island, and I'm here for the inheritance of the Sixth Island. I wasn't lying to them about that."

"Within that inheritance, I only need a pendant-like item."

"As for my ability, it's exactly what you guessed. I devour partial memories and disguise myself into a similar form."

"This guy was already replaced by me before you even arrived."

When the monster heard the words "Thirty-Seventh Island," it clearly realized something.

It spoke in a measured tone.

"I'm from the Twenty-Sixth Island... My ability is to attach myself to a person's body and slowly erode their soul and consciousness."