Chapter 9: Unacceptable Truth

After seeing these three words, everyone's faces showed some astonishment.

"I drew the 'Liar' card," Qi Xia said slowly, "but it doesn't matter whether I reveal it or not, 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, everyone here has the 'Liar' card in their hand."

No one moved after hearing this, and after a moment, Li Jingguan spoke up: "So... you're saying that everyone just lied?"

"That's right," Qi Xia nodded. "You're all smarter than I imagined. Each of you wove a small lie into your story, making it completely plausible without disrupting the plot's logic."

Li Jingguan thought for a while, as if he had realized something.

"If what you say is true..." Li Jingguan sighed meaningfully, "then the problem becomes even more complicated."

Everyone turned to Li Jingguan, confused.

Li Jingguan continued: "According to the rules, we can all survive only if everyone draws the 'Liar' card, but that would mean the 'Liar' loses. So we..."

Zhao Yisheng was the first to understand what Li Jingguan meant: "Are you saying... we can vote however we want, since everyone's lying, turning this into a 'guaranteed win' game, where only the person voted out dies?"

"Exactly," Li Jingguan nodded. "The best plan now is to concentrate all the votes on one person, minimizing the loss, since the rest can survive..."

His words plunged the atmosphere into extreme suppression, while the Goat Head remained completely still.

In that case... were they just voting to send one person to their death?

Qi Xia sighed helplessly and looked at Li Jingguan: "Officer, is interrupting people a hobby of yours? Does it make you feel accomplished?"

"What kind of talk is that?" Li Jingguan frowned in response. "Wasn't I just trying to help you strategize?"

"I don't need your help," Qi Xia replied without hesitation. "Your idea will get everyone killed."

"What?" Li Jingguan was stunned. "How would I get everyone killed? Isn't what I said correct? If everyone's lying, then any vote would work, right?"

"Li Jingguan, the Goat Head said, 'The rules are absolute,' and 'There is and only one Liar.' Do you remember that?"

"Well..." Li Jingguan paused briefly, recalling that the Goat Head had indeed said those words.

"Let me clarify the situation for everyone," Qi Xia said coldly. "In this game, the 'Liar' seems to have a big advantage, since everyone feels like they're going to win. But if we vote randomly, we'll all end up dead."

Qiao Jiajin, sitting next to Qi Xia, touched the tattoo on his 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 can't tell if someone's lying, just as Zhang Lüshi said—we can only judge based on contradictions in their experiences. Yet, since we're all from different places, even if the events contradict each other, we can't be one hundred percent sure someone is lying."

Qi Xia glanced at the crowd lost in thought and continued: "The organizer deliberately chose us nine to sit here for a reason—to make us find flaws in these seemingly interconnected stories, thinking we're clever about it."

"But is that really right? What makes us so sure we can identify the liar?" Qi Xia smirked. "In this game, the only 'Liar' we can confirm one hundred percent from the clues we have is this one person. What he said doesn't match our current situation at all."

Qi Xia picked up a pen and quickly wrote the two characters "Ren Yang" on the paper.

"I was wondering earlier why the Goat Head introduced us to 'Ren Yang' right at the beginning—it seemed pointless at first. Now I realize it's part of the game."

Everyone slowly turned to look at Ren Yang, who still hadn't moved.

Li Jingguan was taken aback, then shook his head: "Liar, I have a question. The Goat Head said the rules are that 'among all the storytellers, there is and only one Liar,' but he didn't tell a story."

"Didn't he?" Qi Xia shrugged noncommittally. "I remember the Goat Head clearly said he gathered us here to create a 'god.' Isn't that an absurd story?"

Li Jingguan lowered his head silently; he found Qi Xia's words very convincing, but something still felt off.

"But..." Zhao Yisheng spoke up, "all your assumptions are based on the premise that 'everyone is the Liar.' Why are you so certain we're lying? What if we flip the cards and only you are the 'Liar'?"

"You couldn't have told the truth," Qi Xia said with a bitter smile, his expression despairing. "I've spent some time verifying this. Not only do I know you're all lying, I know exactly where you lied."

He pushed his draft paper forward and looked at the person next to him: "Tiantian, you were 'working' in the car with your head sticking out, and the falling sign really hit the car and knocked you out?"

Tiantian pursed her lips and said nothing.

"Qiao Jiajin, you fell from such a height onto the sign—was it really just 'losing consciousness'?"

Qiao Jiajin remained silent.

"Xiao Ran, you were with that child—did you really dodge the speeding car?"

Xiao Ran's eyes flickered evasively.

"Zhao Yisheng, operating rooms are built sturdier than regular rooms for stability, but you said the ceiling collapsed—were you really just knocked out?"

Zhao Yisheng turned his head away.

"Han Yimo, you said you had no idea what happened, but you're someone who hates interruptions while writing—don't you know how you ended up here?"

Han Yimo sighed softly.

"Zhang Lüshi, your car was driven into a crevice—how deep was that crevice?"

Zhang Lüshi crossed his arms, his face expressionless.

"Li Jingguan, what make of car do you drive? Could it instantly recline the seat and let you break free from whoever was restraining you?"

Li Jingguan touched the red mark on his neck and hesitated to speak.

"Lin Geng, your ceiling collapsed too, but you said your studio was on a high floor—if a high floor starts collapsing, the whole building wouldn't survive, right?"

Lin Geng hung his head deeply.

Seeing everyone's expressions, Qi Xia gritted his teeth and said:

"Everyone, admit it—including me, we're all already dead."