Chapter 9: The Hard-to-Accept Truth
Upon seeing these three words, everyone’s expressions showed some confusion.
“I drew the ‘Liar,’” Qi Xia said slowly. “But whether this card is revealed or not doesn’t matter, because it’s completely irrelevant.”
He picked up the card and casually tossed it onto the center of the table.
“If I’m not mistaken, every single one of you holds a ‘Liar’ in your hand.”
After hearing this, no one moved. After a moment, Officer Li spoke up and asked, “So… are you saying that all of us just lied?”
“That’s right.” Qi Xia nodded. “You all are smarter than I imagined. Each of you added a small lie to your story, making it completely valid without affecting the plot’s logic.”
Officer Li thought for a while, as if he had realized something.
“If what you say is correct…” Officer Li sighed meaningfully. “Then the problem becomes even more troublesome.”
The others looked at Officer Li again, confused.
Officer Li continued, “According to the rules, only if all of us choose the Liar can we all survive together. But in that case, the Liar loses. So we…”
Dr. Zhao was the first to understand Officer Li’s meaning: “You mean… we can vote however we want, because everyone is lying. This becomes a ‘guaranteed win game’—only the person who gets voted out has to die?”
“Exactly.” Officer Li nodded. “Right now, the optimal plan is to concentrate all the votes on one person. That way, the loss is minimized. After all, the remaining people can survive…”
His words pushed the atmosphere to an even more oppressive low, while the Goat Head made no move at all.
So, that meant… they were just voting to send one person to their death?
Qi Xia sighed helplessly and looked at Officer Li, saying, “Officer, is interrupting people your hobby? Does it give you a sense of accomplishment?”
“What kind of talk is that?” Officer Li furrowed his brow and replied, “Wasn’t I trying to help you come up with a plan?”
“I don’t need your help,” Qi Xia said without hesitation. “Your way of thinking will get everyone killed.”
“What?” Officer Li was taken aback. “How will I get everyone killed? Am I wrong? If everyone is lying, then wouldn’t any vote be valid?”
“Officer Li, the Goat Head said that ‘rules are absolute’ and that ‘there is one and only one Liar.’ Do you remember that?”
“This…” Officer Li pondered for a moment, recalling that the Goat Head had indeed said those two things.
“Let me lay out the thinking for everyone now.” Qi Xia said coldly. “In this game, it seems like the ‘Liar’ has a huge advantage, because everyone feels like they’re going to win. But if we vote arbitrarily, in the end, all of us will die.”
Qiao Jiajin, sitting next to Qi Xia, rubbed his tattooed arm and muttered to himself, “Because we’d be breaking the ‘rules’…”
“Yes.” Qi Xia nodded. “But the interesting part of this game is that we have absolutely no way to deduce whether the other person is lying. As Lawyer Zhang said, we can only infer from contradictions in each other’s experiences. But since we’re not even from the same region, even if events contradict each other, there’s no hundred-percent certainty to prove that the other person is lying.”
Qi Xia looked around at the people lost in thought, then continued, “The ‘host’ deliberately chose the nine of us to sit here—he must have had a reason. That reason is to make us, from one seemingly interconnected story after another, arrogantly think we can find the flaws.”
“But is that really correct? What certainty do we have to know that the other person is definitely lying?” Qi Xia let out a cold laugh. “In this game, the only ‘Liar’ we can confirm with a hundred percent certainty from the known clues is this one person. What he said is completely different from our current situation.”
Qi Xia grabbed the pen and scribbled the words ‘Human Sheep’ on the paper.
“I was wondering before why the Goat Head would introduce such a strange name as ‘Human Sheep’ at the very beginning. It seemed very redundant. Now that I think about it, this is also part of the game.”
Everyone slowly turned their heads to look at the Human Sheep, who still made no move.
Officer Li was stunned for a moment, then shook his head: “Liar, I have a question. The Goat Head’s rule was ‘among all the storytellers, there is one and only one Liar,’ but he didn’t tell a story.”
“Didn’t he?” Qi Xia shrugged noncommittally. “I clearly remember the Goat Head saying that he gathered us here to create a ‘god.’ Isn’t that an incredible story?”
Officer Li silently lowered his head. He felt that what Qi Xia said made a lot of sense, but something about it felt off.
“But…” Dr. Zhao spoke up. “All your assumptions are based on the premise that ‘everyone is a Liar.’ But why are you so sure that we are liars? What if, when we flip our cards, only you are the ‘Liar’?”
“There’s no way you told the truth.” Qi Xia gave a bitter smile, his expression somewhat despairing. “I also spent some time verifying this issue. Not only do I know that all of you are lying, but I also know exactly where each of you lied.”
He pushed his draft paper forward, then looked at Tiantian beside him. “Tiantian. You were ‘working’ in the car at the time, with your head sticking out. Did the falling billboard really hit the car and cause you to lose consciousness?”
Tiantian pressed her lips together, not daring to speak.
“Qiao Jiajin. You fell from such a high place onto a billboard. Did you really just ‘lose consciousness’?”
Qiao Jiajin remained silent.
“Teacher Xiao Ran. You were carrying that child. Did you really dodge the car that was speeding toward you?”
Xiao Ran’s eyes flickered away.
“Dr. Zhao. Operating rooms are built much sturdier than ordinary rooms to maintain stability. Yet you said the ceiling of the operating room collapsed. Did you really just get knocked unconscious?”
Dr. Zhao turned his head aside.
“Han Yimo. You said you have no idea what happened. But when you’re focused on writing, you hate being disturbed the most. Do you really not know how you got here?”
Han Yimo sighed softly.
“Lawyer Zhang. Your car was knocked into a crack. How deep was that crack?”
Lawyer Zhang crossed his arms, expressionless.
“Officer Li. What brand of car were you driving? Could the seat instantly recline to free yourself from the person holding you from behind?”
Officer Li touched the red mark on his neck, hesitant to speak.
“Lin Qin. Your ceiling also collapsed. But you said your studio was on a high floor. Once a high floor starts collapsing, the entire building wouldn’t exist anymore, right?”
Lin Qin bowed her head deeply.
Seeing everyone’s expressions, Qi Xia gritted his teeth and said:
“Everyone, admit it. Including myself, all of us are already dead.”