Lin Yu temporarily stowed that letter in his bag.

If he had the 【Ancient Notebook】, he could have sealed and recorded it within those pages... but he didn't have it, so Lin Yu decided to keep the original document for now.

The 【Dream Box】 could store some of his own thoughts, but that thing truly couldn't store complete memory images, so it wasn't useful enough for "recording."

In any case...

After receiving the gift from his past self, Lin Yu's thinking had become a bit clearer. Although he still didn't know the full scope of his plan, if before he'd felt like he was shrouded in fog, now Lin Yu could at least see a few sparks of firelight through the mist.

The necessary conditions, the essence of the Game, the 『Heart Domain』, 【Exclusive Items】... a road that was still unclear but genuinely winding toward its destination had already emerged.

And his doubts about Shen Bingmiao had more or less diminished a little.

Lin Yu didn't trust Shen Bingmiao, and he didn't even fully trust his past self who had gotten the code right. But he was willing to trust "Lin Zhao."

He had not the slightest doubt that Lin Zhao possessed the personal charisma to make Shen Bingmiao lose her judgment.

"Still, I really can't trust my senior in another sense now. This woman knows my sister relied on her own 『Class』 to grasp the ability to 'confuse truth and falsehood,' and she still thinks my sister is a 『Chef』..."

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Although Shen Bingmiao probably thought Lin Zhao could achieve that through an 【Exclusive Item】 or the 『Heart Domain』, Lin Yu still found it a bit hard to hold back his reaction.

It was probably just that Lin Zhao had lied to her, and she'd genuinely believed it all along.

He didn't know what Lin Zhao's purpose was in doing that, but Lin Yu speculated... nine times out of ten, it was purely out of a mischievous streak.

His sister really was wicked enough.

Anyway...

"No matter how meticulous and grand the plan, or where the road leads, what I need to do now is still to keep walking forward, step by step."

In the next 【dungeon】, he would play his role as 『Yayu』 well, strive to use the 【script】 to obtain as many abilities belonging to 『Yayu』 as possible, and also give himself one more role within the 『Marauders』 that could move freely without too many restrictions.

Lin Yu pondered this, then began searching the map for nearby "open water."

Tonight he needed to jump into the water as 『Yayu』 and then join the Game, so naturally he had to find a spot.

Soon, Lin Yu found a nearby stretch of open water, also the largest river in the city.

The river's name was somewhat obscure, but Lin Yu still recognized it.

"I hope the people of Ji Province aren't too enthusiastic about night fishing..."

After finding a relatively suburban section on the map, estimated to be sparsely populated and appearing to be an open, gentle stretch with flat terrain, Lin Yu finalized his itinerary.

After dinner that evening, he would slip out of the hotel and head straight to the destination.

Then after finishing the 【dungeon】, he'd return to the hotel, take a shower, and it wouldn't even interfere with tomorrow morning's rehearsal!

...

That night, Lin Yu pedaled a shared bike, arriving at that flat stretch on the outskirts of Shicheng in his "Yayu" appearance.

The surroundings were pitch black, with only the occasional long-distance vehicle bearing an out-of-town license plate passing by. Basically no pedestrians.

After parking the bike, Lin Yu opened his phone and glanced at it. It was already past eleven.

To prevent any well-meaning citizen from calling the police and rescuing him, Lin Yu found the darkest, most pitch-black section of water, once again confirmed there were no wild fishermen or surveillance cameras nearby, and then jumped into the water.

As for whether he'd drown or not... Lin Yu wasn't particularly afraid of that.

Never mind that his current physical condition already allowed him to dart around underwater like a torpedo. Just the existence of the 【Fusion-Type Memory Metal Respiratory Tract】 alone meant that, if he didn't particularly mind, he could even live underwater indefinitely.

Essentially, he was also a fish-man.

Drifting on the open water, Lin Yu saw a message from 『April』 appear in 【Social】.

【April: Are you ready?】

【Yayu: Already in position.】

【April: Good, then see you in the dungeon shortly.】

After the two exchanged in a businesslike, not-particularly-familiar manner, Lin Yu lay back on the water's surface again.

He had to admit... after getting used to this feeling of being submerged, clothes clinging wetly to his body, it was actually quite comfortable.

Like duckweed floating on the water's surface, gazing up at the overcast night sky where basically no stars were visible, for a long while, Lin Yu felt somewhat drowsy.

Before he completely fell asleep...

The familiar sensation of weightlessness came.

Then...

"Splash!"

When consciousness returned, the sound of tidewater reached his ears.

"Gurgle gurgle..."

And the continuous sound of bubbles.

Lin Yu looked around and found himself in the cabin of a large, sinking ship.

The hull looked like it was made of some kind of wood, with several large holes smashed through the cabin walls, and seawater was madly pouring in through them.

At this point, the water inside the cabin had already risen past Lin Yu's waist, and various wooden barrels and corpses floated around him.

And the only living person in the entire cabin, besides himself...

Was just one other person, a girl with short black hair.

She wore crisp black short-sleeved tight athletic wear, the elastic, sweat-wicking material already soaked through, though it wasn't too much of an impediment. This stood in stark contrast to Lin Yu's hoodie, which had visibly become heavily waterlogged and cumbersome.

The girl also noticed Lin Yu, then furrowed her brow. "So you're 『Yayu』? Seriously... knowing you were coming to Pure Abyss, why'd you wear something so inconvenient!"

Lin Yu looked at her. Even though her features and appearance hadn't changed, it took him a moment to realize...

"Oh, you're April."

The style and aura of the person across from him had changed drastically compared to when he'd seen her in the second 【dungeon】!

In the second 【dungeon】, she'd still been a college girl in pink athletic wear, looking very clear-eyed but also strong and kind.

And now...

Even though he'd known she'd joined the 『Marauders』 and must have undergone certain changes, and had expected it somewhat, Lin Yu still felt a bit shocked.

On the two forearms exposed beneath April's black short-sleeved athletic wear were tattoos of entwined thorns and a serpent staff respectively. She also wore earrings and an ear cartilage stud, and had even pierced her brow ridge.

Even though his ancestral home wasn't the land of Confucius and Mencius, Lin Yu couldn't help but sigh emotionally.

It seemed she had completely given up on any consideration for government jobs or positions with official establishment.

This transformation could no longer be explained by post-breakup madness.

Killing her own boyfriend with her own hands had probably dealt too great a blow to her worldview.

"Li Nian, you are utterly wicked."

Lin Yu sighed emotionally in his heart once again.

Of course, compared to Li Nian... the most utterly wicked was the 『Death Game』 itself.

This damned Game turns people into ghosts!

Though from a literal definition standpoint, it actually turns ghosts into people, anyway.

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