十天结束

Chapter 9: The Unbearable Truth

After seeing these three words, everyone's faces showed a hint of astonishment.

"I drew the 'Liar'," Qi Xia said slowly, "but whether this card is flipped over or not doesn't matter, because it's not important at all."

He picked up the card and casually tossed it onto the center of the table.

"If I'm not mistaken, every card in each of your hands is 'Liar'."

After hearing this, no one moved. After a while, Officer Li spoke up, "So... are you saying that everyone was lying just now?"

"Exactly," Qi Xia nodded. "You're all smarter than I imagined. Each of you added a little lie to your story, making it completely plausible in terms of plot logic."

Officer Li pondered for a moment, seeming to realize something.

"If what you're saying is true..." Officer Li sighed deeply, "then the problem becomes even more tricky."

Everyone looked at Officer Li again, puzzled.

Officer Li continued, "According to the rules, only if all of us choose the liar can we all survive together. But if that happens, the liar loses. So we..."

Dr. Zhao was the first to understand Officer Li's meaning. "You mean... we can vote freely because everyone's lying. This turns into a 'guaranteed win' game, and only the one voted for will die?"

"Exactly," Officer Li nodded. "The best solution now is to concentrate all the votes on one person. This way, we can minimize the loss, considering that the remaining people can survive..."

His words once again suppressed the atmosphere to its extreme, while Goat Head remained motionless.

So... they were just voting to send one of them to death?

Qi Xia sighed helplessly, looking at Officer Li. "Officer, is interrupting others your hobby? Does it give you a sense of accomplishment?"

"What are you saying?" Officer Li frowned, "Aren't I helping you strategize?"

"I don't need your help," Qi Xia said without hesitation, "Your ideas will harm everyone."

"What?" Officer Li was stunned. "How would my ideas harm everyone? Am I wrong? If everyone is lying, then wouldn't any vote be justified?"

"Officer Li, Goat Head said, 'The rules are absolute', 'There is only one liar among the storytellers', do you remember?"

"This..." Officer Li hesitated for a moment, recalling that Goat Head had indeed said these two sentences.

"Let me summarize the situation for everyone," Qi Xia said coldly, "In this game, it seems that the 'Liar' has a high chance of winning because everyone feels like they're winning. But if we vote randomly, everyone will end up dead in the end."

Qiao Jiajin, sitting beside Qi Xia, touched his tattooed arm and muttered to himself, "Because we've violated the 'rules'..."

"Yes," Qi Xia nodded, "But the interesting thing about this game is that we can't determine whether the other is lying or not. Just as Lawyer Zhang said, we can only rely on whether our experiences contradict each other to infer. But we're not from the same region, even if the events seem contradictory, there's no hundred percent certainty to prove the other is lying."

Qi Xia glanced at the pensive crowd and continued, "The 'Host' deliberately selected the nine of us sitting here for a purpose, which is to let us find flaws in each other's seemingly interrelated stories."

"But is that really correct? What assurance do we have that the other person must be lying?" Qi Xia sneered, "In this game, the only 'Liar' we can absolutely confirm from the known clues is this one person. What he says is completely different from our current situation."

Qi Xia picked up the pen and wrote down the words "Human Sheep" on the paper.

"I was curious before, why did Goat Head introduce us to 'Human Sheep' at the beginning, such a strange name that seemed unnecessary. Now I realize, this is also part of the game."

Everyone turned to look at "Human Sheep", who still didn't make any move.

Officer Li was puzzled for a moment, then shook his head. "Swindler, I have a question. Goat Head said the rules were that 'among all the storytellers, there is only one liar', but he didn't tell a story, did he?"

"Didn't he?" Qi Xia shrugged noncommittally, "I remember clearly that Goat Head said he gathered us here to create a 'God', isn't that a bizarre story?"

Officer Li bowed his head silently, feeling that what Qi Xia said made a lot of sense, but there was something strange about it.

"But..." Dr. Zhao spoke up, "All your assumptions are based on the premise that 'everyone is a liar', but how can you determine that we are the liars? What if we flip over the cards and only you are the 'liar'?"

"You couldn't have told the truth," Qi Xia smiled bitterly, looking somewhat desperate, "I spent some time verifying this issue. Not only do I know that you're all lying, but I also know where you lied."

He pushed his draft paper forward, then looked at Tian Tian beside him. "Tian Tian, were you 'working' in the car, with your head sticking out, and did the fallen billboard really hit the car, causing you to lose consciousness?"

Tian Tian pursed her lips, unable to speak.

"Qiao Jiajin, did you really just 'lose consciousness' after falling from such a height onto the billboard?"

Qiao Jiajin remained silent.

"Teacher Xiao Ran, did you really manage to avoid the speeding car while carrying that child?"

Xiao Ran's eyes shifted.

"Dr. Zhao, the operating room is constructed much sturdier than a regular room to maintain stability, but you claimed the ceiling collapsed in the operating room. Were you really just knocked unconscious?"

Dr. Zhao turned his head away.

"Han Yimo, you said you had no idea what happened, but when you're deeply focused on writing, you're most afraid of being disturbed. Don't you know how you ended up here?"

Han Yimo sighed softly.

"Lawyer Zhang, your car was lodged into a crack. How deep was that crack?"

Lawyer Zhang crossed his arms, expressionless.

"Officer Li, what brand of car do you drive? Can it instantly recline the seats and break free from someone's restraint behind you?"

Officer Li touched the red mark on his neck, hesitating to speak.

"Lin Qing, your ceiling also collapsed, but you claimed your studio is on a high floor. Once the high floor starts collapsing, wouldn't the entire building collapse?"

Lin Qing lowered her head deeply.

Qi Xia saw the expressions of everyone and gritted his teeth, saying:

"Admit it, everyone, including myself, we're all dead."