Chapter 2: The Liar
The woman's scream stopped, and everyone's train of thought came to an abrupt halt as well.
The men who had been shouting and cursing just moments before now fell silent.
It was no longer a matter of "breaking the law." The strange man before them would truly kill.
A full minute of silence passed before Goat Head gave a slight nod. "Excellent. The nine of you seem to have quieted down now."
The group's faces shifted through various colors, but no one dared to speak. As he had said, there were now truly "nine" of them.
Qi Xia extended a trembling hand and removed a pinkish-yellow object from his own face.
The shattered piece of brain, still carrying body heat, twitched faintly. But after a few seconds, it deflated like a punctured balloon, losing all signs of life.
"Allow me to introduce myself..." Goat Head raised his bloodstained finger and pointed to his mask. "I am the 'Goat,' and you are the 'Participants.'"
The group was startled, then confused. "Goat"? "Participants"?
"I've gathered you here today to participate in a game, and ultimately, to create a 'god.'" Goat Head spoke in a flat tone.
These two consecutive statements made everyone frown.
After several minutes of interaction, they had mostly concluded that the man before them was a madman. But a madman claiming he wanted to create a "god"?
"Create... what god?" the muscular young man asked nervously.
"A god like 'Nüwa'!" Goat Head gestured wildly as he spoke, his voice carrying a rancid smell and a hint of ferocity. "How wonderful! You will witness history alongside us! Long ago, Nüwa created humanity, but turned into a rainbow when mending the sky... We cannot lose Nüwa, so we must create one! A great mission awaits the 'god'!"
His voice grew louder and louder, as if he had been injected with adrenaline.
"Nüwa..." The muscular young man furrowed his brow. It all felt too hard to accept. He paused, then asked, "Are you some kind of religion?"
"Religion?" Goat Head paused for a moment, turning toward the young man. "We are far grander than 'religion.' We have a 'world'!"
Hearing this, everyone fell silent again.
The muscular man's question was pointed. The Goat's actions were no different from a cult. But most cults tended to fabricate a new god, not use heroic figures like Nüwa.
"In that case..." the muscular man continued, "What do you want us to 'participate' in here?"
"As I said, it's just a game." Goat Head answered without hesitation. "If you win, one of you will become a 'god.'"
"F*cking hell..." The tattooed man seemed to be calming down. He cursed under his breath. "The 'Investiture of the Gods,' right? What if we lose?"
"If you lose..." Goat Head looked at the blood on his hands, a trace of disappointment in his voice. "If you lose, it would be a shame..."
Although he didn't say it outright, everyone understood his meaning.
If they lost, they died.
There was no option for "walking out alive" among his choices.
Either become his so-called "god," or die here like the young man whose head had been split open.
"If everyone understands... then this 'game' officially begins. This game is called 'The Liar.'" Goat Head slowly pulled a stack of paper from his chest, then casually walked over to each person and placed a sheet down.
Then he took out a few pens and distributed them.
There was quite a bit of blood on the table. Each person's white paper was stained red as it landed. Turning the paper over and wiping it with a hand, the blood spread like paint, making the paper even redder.
"Now, I want each of you to tell a story about the last thing that happened before you came here." Goat Head continued. "But be warned: among all the storytellers, one of them is lying. After all nine have told their stories, you will vote. If all eight correctly choose the 'Liar,' the Liar is eliminated, and the rest survive. If even one person chooses wrong, the Liar survives, and everyone else is eliminated."
"The Liar...?"
The group was slightly puzzled. Would anyone really lie at a time like this?
"Wait, can we discuss 'strategy'?" the muscular man suddenly asked.
"As you wish." Goat Head nodded. "Before the game begins, you have one minute to discuss strategies. Would you like to use it now... or later?"
"I want to use it now," the muscular man said without hesitation.
"As you please."
Goat Head took a step back, moving away from the table.
The muscular man pursed his lips, then looked around at everyone, doing his best to avoid the headless corpse lying on the table. He said, "I don't know if any of you plan to lie later, but this 'rule' sounds too arbitrary. If even one person votes wrong, we'll all die. And even if we choose correctly, the Liar will die. Either way, someone dies. But I've come up with a way for everyone to survive..."
Hearing this, everyone looked at the muscular man.
Making everyone survive? Was that possible?
"That's for all of us not to lie." The muscular man didn't wait for everyone to figure it out. "The nine of us all tell the truth. In the end, we write 'No Liar' on the paper. That doesn't violate the rules, and we can all survive."
The man in the white lab coat tapped the table lightly with his fingers. After a moment, he said, "Your plan is good, but it has one premise: that you yourself are not the Liar. But how can we trust you? If you are the Liar, and we all write 'No Liar,' you'll be the only one who survives."
"What kind of talk is that?" The muscular man's face showed slight anger. "If I were the Liar, would I suggest such a thing? I'd only need to save myself."
Goat Head raised his hand slightly. "One minute is up. Please stop communicating."
Both men snorted coldly and fell silent.
"Now, please draw cards." Goat Head pulled out another small stack of cards from his pants pocket. They looked like playing cards, with the words "Nüwa Game" printed on the back.
The muscular man froze. "What are these?"
"These are 'Identity Cards.'" Goat Head laughed loudly. "If you draw the 'Liar,' you must lie."
The muscular man gritted his teeth. "Are you messing with us?! Why didn't you mention this rule earlier?!"
"This is to teach you a lesson." Goat Head sneered. "I hadn't finished explaining the rules when you asked if you could discuss strategy. You wasted that precious minute, not me."
The muscular man's expression turned sour, but remembering how Goat Head had killed someone, he swallowed his anger.
Within a minute, all nine people had drawn a card from Goat Head's hand, but no one dared to turn it over and look.
If the card said "Liar," it became a question of whether they would survive or everyone else would.
The four women's hands trembled slightly, and the men's expressions were no better.
What they had drawn was not an "identity," but "life or death."
Qi Sha took a deep breath, casually cupped his card with his hand, and brought it up to his eyes.
He gently flipped it open.
On it, three words were clearly written:
"The Liar."