Following Old Zheng's voice, including Sleepless Sky Huole, all the surviving nobles still present in the hall suddenly fell into a deep slumber.

Lin Yu let out a long, relieved sigh.

"Whew, a close call—even though the plan was changed at the last minute, this part still went ahead as scheduled."

Anyway, now that he had obtained part of Old Zheng's abilities as a 'Third Tier' player, Lin Yu felt he could handle any unforeseen variables that might arise later.

Of course, before proceeding with the next step of the plan, after all the nobles had entered dreamland...

Lin Yu began patrolling the auditorium, searching.

"Berner... hmm, already dead."

"The Cren Marquis and his family, also dead."

"Oh dear, this one isn't dead."

Lin Yu squatted down from time to time, delivering a finishing blow to some lucky survivor.

Only half of what he had said to Sleepless Sky Huole earlier was sincere.

Lin Yu truly wasn't indiscriminately slaughtering innocents—it's just that those who died were all bargaining chips.

The bargaining chips from his transaction with the Sleepless Night Family Head.

"There are also some fellows I find quite detestable, yet not worth personally killing. If an evil and chaotic 'outsider' accidentally slaughtered them all, I would probably be quite pleased."

And the Sleepless Night Family Head had provided a list of over thirty people.

This was also why Lin Yu sighed at Sleepless Sky Huole's kindness. On one hand, it was because compared to her mother, she indeed possessed far more humane qualities.

On the other hand... if Sleepless Sky Huole were a bit calmer and observed the deceased more carefully, she would discover that, excluding irrelevant interference, the dead nobles were basically all those who had obstructed the Sleepless Night Family's path in recent years, or were naturally opposed to her, Sleepless Sky Huole.

In other words, although it seemed her reputation would suffer at this banquet, upon waking up—or a few months later—Sleepless Sky Huole would be astonished to find.

All her work would proceed much more smoothly!

Of course...

This was only part of the transaction.

After dealing with the last few unlucky souls on the list who had offended the Sleepless Night Family Head, Lin Yu also began to attend to his own affairs.

He carried Old Zheng, swaying slightly, and arrived before Alt Mercury, then extended a hand to extract a wisp of spiritual energy and inject it into the other's body.

Old Zheng was utterly astonished: "Holy crap, you learned fast!"

Lin Yu curled his lip: "It's not that hard."

Old Zheng was left speechless for a moment upon hearing this, then said, "Hmm, right, it really isn't hard. Actually, I got it right away back then too, haha, it's been so long I'd forgotten."

Subsequently, Alt Mercury also slowly regained consciousness.

Looking at Lin Yu squatting before him, Alt Mercury sat up.

After pondering for a moment, Alt Mercury said, "It seems the rumor about a Peerage Noble being targeted for assassination is true, and the target is me, correct?"

Looking at the unexpectedly composed old man, Lin Yu nodded in surprise.

"That is indeed the case... I was commissioned to come and take Alt Mercury's life."

Alt Mercury looked at Lin Yu and asked the same question Sleepless Sky Huole had.

"Just to kill me, was it necessary to go through such elaborate trouble?"

"Of course," Lin Yu answered briskly, sitting cross-legged opposite Alt Mercury. "After all, you are entangled in a deception that has lasted 'fifty years.'"

Hearing Lin Yu's words, Alt Mercury was somewhat taken aback.

"There's a deception on me that has lasted fifty years?"

This old man quickly connected this sensitive timeframe to the most significant event in his life.

"Could it be related to my succession of the Mercury Family?"

Lin Yu gave a slight nod.

"Yes, to be honest, this secret is buried so deep that I couldn't figure out at first where the problem lay."

"However... based on a certain 'high-level' reason, I was always eighty to ninety percent certain that there must be a 'deception' involved in the commission concerning you or your assassination."

Lin Yu said calmly.

A 'Promotion' task is always related to one's 'Class.'

It's like a locked door in a puzzle game; a player is bound to suspect it hides something.

And Lin Yu remembered, his 'Class' is 'Fraudster,' not 'Assassin'...

So why did the [Personal Dungeon] part of his 'Second-Tier Trial' require him to complete an 'assassination' commission?

This was like letting Lin Yu see a locked door.

And in the process of continuously approaching the assassination itself, Lin Yu finally gathered all the "fragments of truth," until finally... with the hint from Sleepless Sky Huoxing, he finally understood what this deception was.

"Fifty years ago, why did Arlan Mercury disappear in the Great Wasteland? Why did you succeed as the head of the Mercury Family... Although such brotherly affection is very rare, leading the people of Sleepless City to relish your story, as an outsider, I instead sensed something amiss."

"The Sleepless Night Family Head once told me that Arlan Mercury had tearfully complained to her, saying he didn't want you to die... How strange, Alt Mercury. Even if stepping down as family head carried a risk of death, why would it drive Arlan Mercury to the point of 'tearful complaints'?"

"Also, this matter of you being a 'Chosen One of Life' seems secretive... but in reality, it feels like anyone with half a brain could deduce you are the Chosen One of the God of Life."

At this point, Lin Yu paused: "What a colossal, heaven-concealing lie. Only now do I understand where the true difficulty in completing the commission to assassinate you lies."

Alt Mercury pondered and said, "I don't understand. I don't recall telling any colossal, heaven-concealing lie."

Lin Yu shook his head.

"Of course you don't understand, because regarding this lie... your dear brother, Arlan Mercury, had no intention of letting you know."

"Because he knew if you were aware, you would never agree to his act of risking the entire family just to keep you alive—no wonder the Sleepless Night Family Head looked down on him so much. As a family head, Arlan Mercury is practically his polar opposite."

"And you two brothers are truly cut from the same cloth. The people of Sleepless City praise your righteousness, but Arlan Mercury is no less... tsk, especially after seeing so much fratricide among the siblings of the Sleepless Sky and Saint-Land families, I can't help but sigh, you two are truly a breath of fresh air."

Hearing this, Alt Mercury was beginning to vaguely comprehend.

"You mean..."

Lin Yu nodded and calmly spoke the truth.

"Alt Mercury... you are not the Chosen One of the God of Life at all."

"You are merely a dead man who died accidentally fifty years ago."