Stiller sat beside the female player whose breathing was gradually steadying, lost in deep thought.

"This team is really not easy to lead."

Although Stiller had considerable experience in leading a squad, the current situation was truly incomparable to his time at Truth Corporation.

Back then, he had CEO Paris backing him, and behind CEO Paris stood the Sleepless Night Family.

Even if the sky fell, those two would hold it up.

Moreover, he had an entire logistical support system and corporate structure as his guarantee.

But now, he had been muddle-headedly brought out of his own world by Lin Yu...

Even though he was originally a rootless duckweed, a clone homunculus born from a gene cultivation tank, Stiller was quite quick to accept his current circumstances.

However, he had to admit, the conditions now were indeed very poor.

Even though his "Emotional Perception" equipment was far more outdated than Lin Yu's [Mind-Peeping Eyepiece], being only a single-user portable model, Stiller could still sense the emotional energy around him.

As time passed, especially after the woman from the original trio got injured, the atmosphere within this team was becoming strange.

That guy Old Zheng had warned him to be wary of seemed to have finally started moving... He had been pulling a lot of little tricks, apparently playing the role of an agitator among that trio.

Another new player had applied to join along the way—based on his self-introduction, this newcomer seemed to be a player who operated as a "bounty hunter."

Although Stiller had agreed to his joining and the other players had no objections, everyone was more wary and guarded towards him than anything else.

Right now, the main reason this team hadn't fallen apart yet was because of the formidable strength and magnanimous character Stiller had displayed, which had temporarily won over all the other players.

After all, everyone's primary goal was still to clear the instance and survive.

"It's just, if things continue developing like this, whether these people can keep their sanity is highly questionable."

Stiller sighed, rubbing the space between his eyebrows.

Old Zheng comforted Stiller.

"Brother Stiller, this isn't your fault. These 『Death Game』 players have been living under long-term oppressive environments, which easily breeds all sorts of extreme personalities and emotional issues... Not to mention this game's criteria for selecting players is 'a strong will to live'—the people filtered out by that alone are likely to be a bit obsessive and eccentric."

"So leading a team of these people is indeed filled with all kinds of troubles... Especially that two-men-one-woman trio that formed at the beginning—a small group of three with a single member of the opposite sex is practically the most unstable structure, very prone to just exploding."

"On top of that, there's that secretly stirring troublemaker. The newly joined player might seem fine on the surface, but bounty hunters have a very bad reputation among the player community."

Stiller sighed again. "I know these situations aren't caused by my mistakes, but... regardless of the cause, these current realities are problems I have to solve and take responsibility for."

And just as he was thinking about how to temporarily maintain this hastily assembled team a little longer, until he could complete the task Lin Yu had assigned him...

Stiller felt a damp, wet sensation on his ankle.

He was becoming somewhat familiar with this sensation lately.

Using the motion of adjusting his pant leg as cover, he placed his hand there and, sure enough, felt an invisible creature crawl up his arm.

Immediately after, Stiller heard Hannah's voice ring out in his mind.

"Ribbit! Mr. Stiller, Director-sama has instructions for you!"

"Does Director-sir have something to convey?"

Stiller hurriedly asked.

The next second, Lin Yu's voice sounded directly in his mind.

"Spread the rumors to these people as soon as possible... including but not limited to the players around you and those two Barbarians."

"The peace here won't last much longer."

Hearing Lin Yu's instructions, Stiller even felt a bit ashamed.

"Apologies, Director, I haven't managed this team well... I originally wanted to find a better, more natural opportunity to spread the rumors."

Lin Yu's voice sounded again. "The reason I'm saying this isn't because of your team... although your team is also quite unstable, it's more because of those inherently impulsive Barbarians over there, and that Flame Monster who absolutely cannot keep the situation under control... In short, this place is a powder keg ready to blow at the slightest touch, who knows when it'll explode."

Hearing this, Stiller paused for a moment, then understood Lin Yu's intention.

"So, rather than wasting all this effort and accomplishing nothing after managing for so long, it's better to take advantage of the current numbers and harvest a wave now to cut losses in time, right?"

Lin Yu did not deny Stiller's assessment.

"Yes, so... do it as soon as possible."

"It's fine if it's a bit stiff or clumsy. Since I'm here, I'll help you patch up those parts—later, I'll improvise the script based on the situation."

"Don't worry, I won't have too high expectations for your acting skills."

After finishing, Stiller did not reply directly to Lin Yu through Hannah anymore.

He just silently nodded towards Lin Yu's direction, indicating he understood.

Watching Stiller, Lin Yu also let out a sigh.

Truthfully, he could start now by directly telling Stiller step-by-step what to do. Lin Yu had thought of at least several methods that were only slightly "abrupt" but could still get the rumors about the "Rakshasa" spreading.

But if he did that...

It wouldn't achieve Lin Yu's goal.

After all, what he wanted wasn't simply to make everyone believe a Rakshasa had snuck into this game, but to make everyone believe...

He was the Rakshasa.

Any script that was too natural, on the contrary, wouldn't achieve the effect Lin Yu anticipated—remember, Stiller was now going to spread rumors with Lin Yu himself present.

Therefore, Lin Yu needed to let Stiller improvise freely.

"If luck is good enough, perhaps this one performance will be enough to gather the required 'belief' quota—once I truly have the ability to transform, fulfilling the 『Promotion』 conditions will be laughably easy."

"Using something that has already 『become real』 to exchange for belief, just needs a few more appearances."

Lin Yu thought optimistically.

Of course, the prerequisite was that this "deception" was successful enough.

He looked over at Fern, who was lying nearby with her eyes closed, resting.

Stiller hadn't started acting over there yet, so he needed to start laying the groundwork on his end too.

So, Lin Yu nudged Fern, waking her up.

"Hey."

Fern opened her eyes. "What is it? I was just about to fall asleep again!"

She grumbled. Lin Yu pointed towards the other side.

"Be careful, the situation over there isn't looking good."

"We might need to prepare ourselves... this Healing Station might not be as safe as you imagined."