Chapter 10: Is It Over?
This silence lasted for several minutes, everyone processing this unbelievable truth.
After a moment, Officer Li was the first to flip over his identity card. Written on it was indeed "Liar."
The others also flipped their cards one by one. All of them read "Liar."
"You're very skilled..." Lawyer Zhang cast an appreciative glance at Qi Xia. "But how did you figure out that we were all already dead?"
Qi Xia pointed to his draft paper and said, "It wasn't difficult. I kept thinking: why is the room sealed? Why are lines drawn on the walls and floor? Why is a clock placed in the center of the table? And why did the Goat Head force us to take a 'mid-game break'?"
"A normal person consumes about 0.007 cubic meters of air per minute, which is 0.42 cubic meters per hour. There are ten people in this room, meaning the air consumption per hour reaches 4.2 cubic meters."
"According to the Goat Head, we not only slept for twelve hours in this room but also played the game for nearly an hour. If we multiply 4.2 cubic meters by thirteen, we get the number '54.6.'"
Qi Xia circled the "54.6" on the draft paper with his pen and said, "This is the amount of air we should have consumed."
He then looked around the room and continued, "But how many cubic meters does this room actually have?"
Everyone followed his gaze.
"The organizers left us clues. They drew lines on the walls and floor, dividing them into many squares, each with a side length of about one meter." Qi Xia pointed at the marks on the wall. "The number of squares on the walls is three by four, the floor and ceiling are four by four. The room's length, width, and height are four by four by three, totaling 48 cubic meters."
"And how can a room of 48 cubic meters accommodate 54.6 cubic meters of air?" Qi Xia frowned, his expression somber. "After all this time, the air should be getting thinner, but none of us feel any hypoxia..."
Dr. Zhao pondered for a moment, took Qi Xia's draft paper, pointed at the "49.14" written on it, and asked, "What does this number mean?"
Qi Xia looked at Dr. Zhao with a very serious expression and replied, "This is also the amount of air consumed, but calculated for 'nine people.'"
"Nine people?"
Dr. Zhao was stunned. After all, there were clearly ten people consuming air in this room, yet he was calculating for "nine"?
"I made a bold assumption." Qi Xia said expressionlessly. "If we suppose the Goat Head 'is not human,' would we have enough air? Obviously, it's still not enough."
"What kind of madman are you?" Dr. Zhao murmured. "Making such a bizarre assumption?"
"Is it that hard to understand?" Qi Xia pointed at the headless corpse to his right. "Dr. Zhao, you should know skulls very well. Can an ordinary human crush a skull with one hand?"
Dr. Zhao did not answer, because he knew it was completely impossible.
Not to mention a human skull, even crushing a rabbit's skull on a table with one hand is no easy feat.
Qi Xia withdrew his gaze, looked at the others, and said, "Time is running out. I've already written down my choice. Now it's up to you. But remember, if even one person's answer differs from mine, everyone here will be 'sanctioned.'"
The crowd felt a bit daunted.
A monster capable of killing at will was now about to be "voted out" by them.
Was he willing to accept that?
Qiao Jiajin glanced sideways at the Goat Head and saw that he remained motionless, his deep gaze piercing through the goat mask, lost in thought.
"Damn it, I'm all in!" Qiao Jiajin waved his hand and also wrote down "Human Goat."
The others hesitated briefly before writing down their answers one by one.
Qi Xia swept his gaze across the room. Without exception, all of them read "Human Goat."
The clock struck one. The game was over.
The Goat Head slowly stepped forward and said, "Congratulations, everyone. You have survived the 'Liar' game. Now, I will personally 'sanction' the loser."
Before anyone could react, the Goat Head pulled a gun from his chest, turned the barrel against his own heart, and pulled the trigger directly.
A deafening roar echoed in the cramped room.
In such a confined space, the sound could not dissipate easily, and everyone felt their ears ringing.
Immediately after, the Goat Head clutched his chest and began to scream.
The enormous cry quickly overpowered the echo of the gunshot, reverberating continuously within the room, sending chills down everyone's spine.
The Goat Head screamed and vomited blood as he writhed. It took over a minute for the sound to subside into pained groans.
"What... what the hell..." Qiao Jiajin stared blankly at the Goat Head. "Is he for real?"
Another few minutes passed, and the groans faded away.
The nine people in the room suddenly found that their legs could regain strength.
Dr. Zhao was the first to stand up. He walked over to the Goat Head and reached out to feel the pulse at his neck. He found that it had stopped beating.
"Hey!" Dr. Zhao shouted at the Goat Head. "The game's over! How do we get out?!"
But a quiet corpse gave Dr. Zhao no answer.
The others slowly rose to their feet.
Nothing in the room had changed, except that there was now one more corpse.
"How strange... Are we really dead?" Tiantian seemed to still be fixated on this question. She stretched out her slender hand and slapped herself hard across the face.
"Ah!" Tiantian yelped. "It still hurts... Why can we still feel pain even when we're dead?"
Qiao Jiajin shook his head helplessly. "What, have you died before?"
"I..." Tiantian paused slightly. "I guess I haven't died before..."
"So then, who knows what happens after death? Judging by this situation, maybe this is hell." Qiao Jiajin glanced at the two corpses in the room and felt extremely uncomfortable. "I can not only feel pain, but I can also smell the stench."
"So what are we? Souls?" asked the writer Han Yimo.
After hearing this, Dr. Zhao also checked his own body. His heartbeat, temperature, and pulse were all normal. He was breathing normally, yet he was not consuming oxygen.
It seemed that death was truly a mysterious thing, beyond the explanation of any medical knowledge.
"Whatever we are, I don't want to be trapped in this small room for the rest of my days," Officer Li said. "Let's find a way out."
Officer Li walked over to the Goat Head and picked up the gun that had fallen beside his hand.
This action startled everyone, and they instinctively backed away.
Officer Li skillfully pulled open the breech to check, then ejected the magazine. He found that the gun only had one bullet, which was now spent.
This was both good news and bad news.
The good news was that they didn't have to worry about anyone using the gun to harm others. The bad news was that they couldn't defend themselves if they encountered other dangers.
Qiao Jiajin, bold as ever, reached out and slowly removed the mask from the Goat Head's face, revealing a man whose features were completely decayed.
His eyes were rolled back, and there were no signs of life.
"What a terrifying face..."
Lawyer Zhang muttered in agreement.