After handing over the items and giving instructions, Lin Yu and Stiller began moving in two different directions.

Hannah, having followed Lin Yu the longest and seen plenty of how he creates deceptions, was starting to grasp his intentions this time.

"Ribbit! Director, the purpose of doing this is to let the news of the 'Rakshasa's' appearance spread, isn't it?"

Lin Yu nodded. "Yes. Using indirect accounts to corroborate the news will make it more credible."

"And this way, the total number of players also checks out."

Perched on Lin Yu's shoulder, Hannah sighed in admiration again. "Ribbit! I see now. Director, you're truly amazing."

Lin Yu didn't deny Hannah's praise, he just continued speaking.

"Anyway, since he's already started playing the role of a 'player', we can't just sit idle either."

Hannah was excited. "Ribbit, are we going to play the Rakshasa? Director, I can help you create illusions similar to a Rakshasa!"

Lin Yu shook his head. "That's not necessary. We can do that later, after the 'Belief' brought by Stiller reaches a 'bottleneck'."

"For the people of the Black Marsh right now, the Rakshasa is like an 'urban legend', and the more ambiguous an 'urban legend' is... the easier it spreads."

"We don't need to make a personal appearance. As long as this rumor can spread, it might even evolve on its own."

As Lin Yu analyzed, Hannah had a sudden realization. "Ribbit! I see... So what do we need to do now, Director?"

"Act as ordinary contestants, gather as much information as possible, and then... cultivate an air of mystery."

Lin Yu fished out a new token from his loose animal hide coat—number "two hundred and sixteen".

This was his spoils of war.

"Anyway, let's go find that healing station first," Lin Yu said calmly. "I'm still quite curious about what kind of guy that 'Fraudster' is."

For his own lie to spread smoothly and gather Belief, Lin Yu needed to find the other party quickly and assess him.

If that guy was really smart and sharp... then Lin Yu would personally handle the deception and surveillance of him.

Even if he couldn't obtain Belief from him, he absolutely couldn't let the other party expose his lie.

However, given that the so-called "healing station" appeared randomly, finding it wouldn't be easy.

Especially based on current estimates, the area of this dungeon was terrifyingly large, possibly even exceeding the Snow Mountain one—if it really did exceed it, that would make sense, since the Snow Mountain had 12 players, but this one has 20.

"Every Promotion Trial is this kind of super-large dungeon," Lin Yu couldn't help but sigh. "It's a shame I can't farm many 'classes' this time."

After all, compared to the extreme environment and dungeon mechanics of the Snow Mountain, while this dungeon was full of dangers, it didn't restrict players from meeting, communicating, or teaming up with each other.

Plus, the dungeon's own difficulty was high enough, and the players who could get in were probably not untested novices. So, if he used the same methods, it would be easy for them to see through the lie.

Moreover, Lin Yu's Promotion task this time didn't require him to do that either.

Especially since among this batch of players was that 'Twenty' who was chasing him...

Lin Yu absolutely did not want to meet him as a "player".

After all, the other party was a genuine Third Tier and a super smart guy.

Another important reason Lin Yu chose to play the "Rakshasa" was considering Twenty's existence.

"Anyway, if I can make good use of that 'Fraudster', I might have a chance to make my identity completely 'safe'."

...

Time gradually moved into the later part of the night.

Because he had several buff countdowns active on him, Lin Yu could always clearly know the exact time.

Now, three hours had passed since the dungeon started.

He had already ventured deep into the "heartland" of the entire dense forest.

Although the healing station appeared "randomly", Lin Yu didn't think these barbaric tribes had any real ability for random selection.

Their so-called "random" was probably just rolling dice and then manually deciding a location arbitrarily.

So... this kind of "randomness" was also relatively controllable and predictable.

For the first day, the probability of the healing station appearing in the heartland was definitely higher than on the periphery!

After all, such a location choice would be "relatively fair".

And if Lin Yu wasn't mistaken, the people responsible for setting up the "healing station" probably started from the very center too.

Furthermore, deep in the dense forest, the vegetation actually became sparser, replaced by large, wide expanses of herbaceous plants.

The entire environment gradually shifted from a forest landscape to a savanna landscape.

Because the field of view improved a lot, Lin Yu's search also sped up somewhat.

However, the wide-open view also made Lin Yu more careful and cautious.

He could even see many beasts roaming the grasslands—among them were behemoths the size of large trucks.

From a distance, they looked like small, raised hill silhouettes in the night.

It was hard to imagine how these things were captured and brought in.

Therefore, Lin Yu was extremely cautious and careful, even having Hannah perform some simple camouflage on him—not invisibility, just applying some basic camouflage patterns.

And Hannah's ink could not only conceal his form but also mask his scent.

After all, in this relatively open terrain, if those beasts charged, they would be upon him in an instant.

Moreover, three hours into the competition, the initial probing and preparations were over, and various fights and hunts had already begun.

Even though this place was open and wide, Lin Yu could still hear sounds of fighting from time to time.

Beast roars, howls of agony, mixed with shouts and curses. In the distance, within those dense woods, sturdy trees were occasionally shaken.

Lin Yu could even see, far across the savanna landscape, two beasts fighting each other.

One looked like some kind of giant bear but with a single horn, the other was some kind of feline predator, with long fangs like a saber-toothed tiger, but three or four times larger.

Watching this scene, Lin Yu remembered the feeling of watching nature documentaries and animal shows as a child.

He decided to detour around them.

Even with a fivefold constitution buff, Lin Yu didn't want to get caught up in a struggle of that level.

"The participants in this Glory Festival have to fight things like this? Then it's a good thing I fired in time earlier, otherwise I feel Stiller would have been really tough to deal with."

"Even if I could win, I'd probably be seriously injured."

Lin Yu thought to himself.

At that moment, a series of rustling sounds came from behind him.

A tall woman in black leather clothes and long boots walked out from the woods, also gazing from afar at the two fighting beasts.

"Big guys going at it! Might be able to pick up the scraps!"

Then, she noticed Lin Yu, crouched closer in the grass, covered in camouflage.

She was startled, then quickly drew a long sword.

"Who's there?!"

"A player?"

Lin Yu looked her up and down, giving a slight nod.

"Yes, a player."