Lin Yu had to admit, Twenty was truly formidable.

From the very beginning of entering the dungeon, he had laid out a deliberate plan, taking advantage of the unprepared, obtaining the "Rakshasa" power, calculating step by step...

Even during the battle, he was constantly strategizing, adjusting, and taking measures specifically against Twenty.

In the end, achieving this victory could still only be called a "narrow win."

Even in the mere few seconds during Twenty's fall...

Lin Yu could feel that belief had diminished by a portion.

Twenty was doubting his Rakshasa identity.

Just through that fleeting glimpse a moment ago, just through the simple act of Hannah stealing his Exclusive Item.

This Detective could immediately overturn all his previous deductions and begin to doubt the identity of the Rakshasa before him.

Lin Yu knew that Twenty must already be speculating whether he was "Lin Yu."

However...

It didn't matter.

When he took the desperate risk of using Hannah in the end, Lin Yu had already steeled himself for the possibility that Twenty might keenly sense something was off.

But the reason he still chose this plan was naturally because...

This actually wasn't much of a "high-risk" option.

Because after Hannah succeeded, even if doubts arose, Lin Yu wouldn't give him the time to figure everything out and straighten his thoughts.

He looked at the spot where Twenty had fallen and picked up the giant axe from the ground again.

Lin Yu walked over and then saw Twenty, who had crashed onto a rock.

Nightmare Substance spread out as a cushion behind him, preventing Twenty from dying from the high-altitude fall.

However, from his twisted posture, Lin Yu could still tell...

This guy probably broke his spine.

He lay there, covered in blood, limbs twisted, looking utterly disheveled.

Hearing Lin Yu's heavy footsteps, Twenty struggled to lift his head and spoke through his blood-stained lips.

"You won, but, you should..."

"Whack!"

Lin Yu interrupted Twenty's loser's speech.

He slowly retracted the giant axe, looked at Twenty who had been folded into three sections by his axe blow, and let out a sigh.

"Phew... Done!"

He wasn't in the mood to exchange parting words with a defeated opponent.

Especially not an opponent as troublesome as Twenty, who might still have some hidden trump card.

Lin Yu remembered his first dungeon.

Back then, if Yu Longguo hadn't been slow to act, if he had listened to him for a couple more sentences...

Maybe he would have been long dead by now.

Lin Yu was someone very adept at drawing lessons from all sorts of events—not just from his own failures, but he would also reflect on others' failures.

So, even if Twenty looked on the verge of death, Lin Yu absolutely wouldn't chat with him.

What if he was stalling for time?

Or even...

What if he had some resurrection method and was using this chance to fish for information?

Anyway, being careful couldn't hurt.

Looking at Twenty's thoroughly dead corpse, Lin Yu prepared to deliver another finishing blow.

But before he could act...

Lin Yu suddenly saw the Nightmare Substance around Twenty begin to surge.

A black cat reformed its figure—it was the "Nightmare" that had been following Twenty all along.

Beside it, a pitch-black passageway opened, seemingly leading to another world.

The black cat stood before that passageway and glanced at Lin Yu.

"Alright, it seems you have no intention of negotiating with me."

The black cat spoke softly.

"I will investigate today's events."

Instantly, Lin Yu's hair stood on end.

Because the voice coming from the black cat was Twenty's!

Was it the Nightmare's twisted sense of humor, or...

"Does he really have a second life?!"

Lin Yu's thoughts flashed like lightning, but his body had already moved.

He lunged at the black cat!

But the black cat directly leaped into the passageway, its figure disappearing from sight.

"Damn it!"

Lin Yu cursed angrily.

After scheming and calculating to this point, did he still manage to escape?

Where did that guy run off to?

Lin Yu stared at the vanished darkness, trying to figure out where the black cat had gone.

Old Zheng then spoke up eerily.

"Don't bother looking. He probably went directly to Night Valley."

Hearing this, Lin Yu was somewhat surprised.

"He can perform cross-world movement directly within the dungeon?! Are Third Tier players this lawless? Are the privileges of the Map this powerful?"

"Of course not," Old Zheng said calmly. "So that black cat isn't a 'Player,' it's just a Nightmare."

"The contract holder died, so it returned directly to Night Valley according to the mechanism of the Abyss Contract."

As Old Zheng spoke, Lin Yu's expression eased slightly.

"So that's how it is... But, that probably wasn't the Nightmare imitating Twenty's voice just to scare me, right?"

With Old Zheng's hint, Lin Yu realized another possibility.

Old Zheng pondered slightly before speaking. "Smart... That kid, like me, though he died as a Player, had a contingency plan that allows his consciousness and soul to linger, 'surviving' in some world he has cultivated and managed for a long time."

"If I'm not mistaken, his contract with the Nightmare includes a clause for transforming himself into a Nightmare... Hmm, although it seems the Nightmare has to pay a certain price, it's not impossible."

"Wait, thinking about it now, his affinity with Nightmare Substance... He probably converted part of his soul into a Nightmare from the very beginning. So that black cat was just him performing a double act. Any Nightmare ability he uses is actually achieved by himself, not through a 'transaction'!"

As Old Zheng analyzed, Lin Yu understood.

"Anyway, I managed to take out his first life... That's also good."

"At least he can't operate as a 'Player' now, only barely surviving in 'Night Valley.'"

Lin Yu let out a sigh and quickly adjusted his mindset.

Alright, although this outcome wasn't exactly ideal, still...

It wasn't unacceptable.

After all, his Rakshasa power was also a free gain.

Old Zheng, however, was amazed by how quickly Lin Yu recovered his composure.

"You, your mentality is quite good."

"Of course, and now isn't a good time to express regrets or vent frustrations."

Lin Yu sighed and turned to look behind him.

There, a Blood Rakshasa, though only half his height but still tall enough to be called imposing, stood not far behind Lin Yu, excitement in his eyes.

"There really is a Rakshasa," the Blood Rakshasa spoke, looking Lin Yu up and down. "And, even more terrifying than recorded."

Lin Yu could feel it; the aura emanating from the Blood Rakshasa before him was extremely dreadful, with a pressure completely unlike that of a contestant.

He looked at Lin Yu and, as expected, introduced himself.

"Let me introduce myself. I am Jiang Rong. I am the referee for this 'Glory Festival,' that is, the arbitrator."

He looked at Lin Yu and then stated his purpose.

"Sir... I'll be blunt."

"I hope you can withdraw directly from this 'Glory Festival'!"