Chapter 3: A Skilled Person
"Liar..."
Qi Xia silently repeated these three words in his mind. After confirming his identity, he casually flipped the card face down again.
Just a minute ago, he had also entertained the thought of "everyone leaving alive."
But now it was different.
Although he didn't know the eight people in front of him, this time, only they would die.
"If no one has any objections, please remember the rules. In this game, 'there is and can only be one liar'..." The goat head extended a hand and pointed to the sexy girl on Qi Xia's left. "Then starting from you, clockwise."
"Huh? Me?" The girl was stunned for a moment, then pouted.
Qi Xia turned and looked. If the storytelling started clockwise from the girl on his left, that wasn't very favorable for him.
He would be the last to tell.
In a state of extreme tension and oppression, people usually only remember the first and the last storyteller.
But raising an objection now would seem too abrupt. He could only take it step by step.
The sexy girl frowned, her big eyes darting around. Finally, she sighed and said, "Alright... I'll go first. But I've never been good at telling stories since I was little. If it's not great, don't blame me..."
Everyone present didn't know what to say and could only listen quietly.
The sexy girl extended her slender fingers, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and then began:
"My name is Tiantian. I'm, uh... a 'skilled worker.' I earn money with my skills, and I don't think it's anything to be ashamed of."
Only then did everyone notice that the girl named Tiantian was wearing very little—just a dirty, low-cut short dress. The parts that should have been covered weren't. But she didn't seem to mind.
"Most of my stories aren't suitable to share with everyone... Anyway, I can 'act' just fine, but ask me to 'describe'—I really don't know where to start. After all, if I had any education, who would do this job..."
"Anyway, before I came here, I was working. But the client I had was really weird... Our shop provides a workspace, but he insisted on going to his car, saying it would be more exciting... So to make money, I had to go with him..."
"It was my first time working in a car. The car looked pretty high-end, but inside it was so cramped. Before long, I was drenched in sweat. I really don't know what's so 'exciting' about this crappy place. And all the while, that client's phone kept ringing, but he refused to answer it. I was so annoyed..."
Tiantian seemed about to curse the client some more, but her eyes inadvertently caught sight of the corpse on the table. She was startled, took a deep breath, and said:
"Ah, forget it. I chose this line of work, and I accept it. I just didn't expect a sudden 'earthquake.' At first, I thought our movements were too intense, making the car shake badly. Who knew it was actually an earthquake?"
As soon as the word "earthquake" was mentioned, everyone's expression shifted slightly, as if remembering something.
"Our car was parked in an alley... right above us was a huge billboard..." Tiantian gestured above her head, her voice trembling. "I don't know why, but that huge billboard snapped with a 'bang' and fell right onto the car. Then I lost consciousness..."
She let out another long sigh. "When I woke up, I was here. I'm really terrified..."
Tiantian put on a pitiful expression, one that seemed specially practiced—the kind that would make any man's heart skip a beat.
The tattooed man sitting next to her paused slightly and said, "Everyone, do we need to continue?"
The white coat was taken aback and looked at the tattooed man. "What do you mean?"
"This 'lady' has already lied. We can just vote directly," the tattooed man said confidently.
"You...! What did you say?!" Tiantian was startled. "Where did I lie?"
The tattooed man looked at Tiantian with a cold gaze and said, "Your name. You said your name is 'Tiantian.' But all hostesses use pseudonyms. Names like 'Tiantian,' 'Xiaofang,' or 'Lili' are very common. So you hid your real name—that's already a lie."
As soon as he finished, Tiantian's face flushed red.
"You... you're talking nonsense! My name is Tiantian! I haven't used my real name in years!" After saying that, she looked around at everyone and added, "At my workplace, only calling me 'Tiantian' will find me. If you use my real name, no one knows who that is!"
Everyone began to ponder, and Qi Xia's expression also turned serious.
From Tiantian's story just now, Qi Xia couldn't detect any hint of lying. Her rhythm was steady, and her tone was relaxed.
This kind of storytelling, as if chatting with a friend, could only lead to two conclusions: either she had fabricated the story long ago and rehearsed it many times, or she was telling the truth.
But now, the tattooed man had given Qi Xia another line of thought:
That "lying about a name."
Lying about a name doesn't involve logic or rationality; ordinary people would find it hard to see through.
After all, none of them had ever met before. Names could only be known through what each person said.
Qi Xia thought back carefully to the goat head's words. He had said, "Among all the storytellers, one is lying." This rule didn't specify that the liar must use a "false story" to lie—a "false name" would also apply.
Seeing that she was being suspected, Tiantian's eyes widened, looking very nervous. "You, if you still don't believe me, my real name is Zhang Lijuan... I'm from Shaanxi... You can try calling me by my real name, but I won't respond. I'll only answer to 'Tiantian'... I, I..."
Upon hearing this, Qi Xia silently shook his head.
This woman wasn't as clever as she seemed.
In other words, she couldn't have fabricated this lie in advance, and she couldn't have thought of the "name-lying" trick on the spot.
The goat head had said "there is and can only be one liar," so that person had to be Qi Xia himself.
If no one else noticed the seriousness of Tiantian's "name" issue, then he had found a surefire winning strategy.
To fabricate a name, "Qi" wasn't a good surname. Though not extremely rare, it wasn't very common either. He needed to avoid surnames that were easily remembered.
In other words, everything he told had to be as inconspicuous as possible.
So he decided to call himself "Li Ming."
He could tell the rest of his story normally, and no matter how sharp others were, they wouldn't be able to see through it.
The game was about to end.