Chapter 8: Showdown
These words almost jolted everyone awake, and they jolted Qi Xia awake as well.
Right. The "Liar" really did have too great a chance of winning.
Qi Xia frowned slightly. Why was his chance of winning so large?
Lying to a group of strangers—they didn't know him, didn't understand him. He could fabricate any lie and it would be hard for anyone to see through.
Could a fake name really send eight people to their deaths?
Or maybe...
Whoever drew the "Liar" was the chosen one, and this game was inherently unfair from the start?
"No..." Qi Xia thought to himself. "If drawing that card guarantees survival, then they might as well have just written 'Life' and 'Death' on the cards. That would make achieving their goal much easier. Otherwise, what's the point of this nearly hour-long game?"
A deep sense of dissonance spread through his heart.
Qi Xia kept replaying every word the Goat Head had said.
Could it be...
"Hey, it's your turn." Qiao Jiajin reached out and patted Qi Xia.
He snapped back to reality and realized everyone was staring at him with strange looks.
There was no time to overthink now, or else he would only seem more suspicious.
He steadied himself and reorganized his thoughts.
His mind kept replaying the phrase, "My name is Li Ming, from Shandong..."
But right now, he absolutely couldn't use that answer. If he wanted to find the "solution" to this game, he had to gamble.
Qi Xia opened his eyes and said to the group, "Everyone, my name is Qi Xia, from Shandong. I'm a professional con man."
"A con man?"
Everyone in the room exclaimed as soon as they heard Qi Xia's first words. After all, a "con man" had appeared in quite a few people's stories.
This con man also vaguely connected everyone's stories together.
And ironically, they had to judge whether a con man was telling the truth.
"Before I came here, I was figuring out how to launder the two million I had on hand."
"Anyway, it took some effort. In the end, I got one point four million. That was the cheapest way I could think of."
"But on my way back with the money, an earthquake suddenly struck. When I reached my door, I saw my house shaking violently."
"Logically, you should never enter a building at a time like that—the house could collapse at any moment. But I was worried about someone inside, so I had to rush in."
"Sure enough, as soon as I got inside, the porch collapsed, pinned me down, and I lost consciousness."
Qi Xia's tone was calm, his story brief. Everyone stared at him warily.
He knew he was taking a huge risk, but it was the only way to verify if his guess was correct.
As long as the Goat Head spoke up at that moment, it would mean his speculation was pretty much on the mark.
Just as Qi Xia expected, the Goat Head slowly stepped forward and said to the group, "Good. Everyone has told their stories. Now you have twenty minutes for free discussion. After twenty minutes, each of you must write down a name on the blank paper in front of you."
"Just as I thought!" Qi Xia's eyebrows rose. "There really is a twenty-minute window!"
That explains everything!
The group started to panic—only twenty minutes were left until their fate was decided.
Qiao Jiajin and Li Shangwu both wanted to vote for the other, perhaps due to their professions, which left them full of hostility.
Dr. Zhao began interrogating the writer Han Yimo, since Han Yimo's story had nothing to do with anyone else's.
Lawyer Zhang and Xiao Ran seemed suspicious of Qi Xia, while Lin Qin, Han Yimo, and Tiantian were still hesitating.
According to the surface rules, the "Liar" was about to win this game.
Because the votes weren't unified.
The rules clearly stated: only if everyone voted for the Liar would all eight people survive together.
Qi Xia didn't join any discussion; he silently closed his eyes.
Countless clues swirled in his mind.
The Goat Head had said, "Among those who tell stories, there is one and only one Liar."
The Goat Head had said, "The rules are absolute."
The Goat Head had said, "All of you have been asleep for twelve hours."
Qi Xia opened his eyes. He was just one piece of information short, and this "problem" could be solved.
But where was that piece of information?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck him.
The crisscrossing lines on the walls and floor instantly sobered him up. He looked at the clock on the table—it was almost 1 a.m.
"So that's how it is..." Qi Xia's eyes widened. "That was close... I'm a con man, but I almost got fooled by you all."
The others noticed Qi Xia's unusual behavior. But this con man had barely spoken from the beginning, so no one knew what he was thinking.
"Hey, can I have another piece of paper?" Qi Xia asked the Goat Head.
Upon hearing this, the Goat Head was clearly taken aback. He asked tentatively, "You... want another piece of paper?"
"Yes." Qi Xia nodded. "I need scratch paper."
The Goat Head was silent for a long moment, then pulled another piece of paper from his suit pocket and handed it to Qi Xia.
Qi Xia didn't stand on ceremony. He took the paper and started calculating.
He counted the large squares on the wall—there were nine in total, while the floor and ceiling had sixteen each.
"If I'm not mistaken..." Qi Xia quickly wrote something down, "The squares are one per square meter. That means we are in a room three meters high, four meters long, and four meters wide..."
"Four times four times three... forty-eight cubic meters."
Qi Xia's hands trembled slightly. "Not enough... not nearly enough..."
Everyone stared at Qi Xia in confusion. This was supposed to be about figuring out who was lying, but he was doing math problems.
He wrote out several vertical calculations, finally arriving at two numbers: "54.6" and "49.14."
When he saw these numbers, Qi Xia's face turned ashen, as if he was trying to accept something.
If his guess was completely correct, then the situation right now was absolutely terrifying.
His eyes flickered rapidly, his thoughts already flying far away.
The group's arguing gradually died down.
This man wasn't participating in any discussion, just calculating something. Had he really found the "answer" to this problem?
After a long time, he finally looked up at everyone.
His gaze was filled with fear, hesitation, doubt, and confusion.
"Everyone." Qi Xia cleared his throat and spoke softly. "I wasn't planning to save you at first. But if you choose wrong, I'll die too. I absolutely cannot die here—someone is waiting for me outside. So I have to find a way out. I have no choice but to reveal the answer now. I hope you'll let me finish."
"Bro, what do you mean by 'answer'?" Qiao Jiajin, who was closest to Qi Xia, was taken aback. "Do you know who's lying?"
Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he reached out and picked up his "identity card," then slowly flipped it open in front of everyone.
"This is the identity I drew."
Everyone took a closer look. The card bore three striking words: "The Liar."