This time, the silence lasted for a full several minutes as everyone processed this unbelievable fact. A moment later, Officer Li was the first to flip over his own Identity Card. As expected, the words "The Liar" were written on it.
The others also turned their cards over one by one. They all said "The Liar".
"You're very impressive..."
Lawyer Zhang cast an approving gaze 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 wondering, why is the room sealed? Why are there lines drawn on the walls and floor?
Why is there a clock placed in the center of the table? And why did the goat-head man force us to have an 'intermission'?"
"A normal person's air consumption is 0.007 cubic meters per minute, which is 0.42 cubic meters per hour. There are ten people in this room, meaning the hourly air consumption would reach 4.2 cubic meters."
"According to what the goat-head man said, not only did we sleep in this room for twelve hours, but we also played the game for nearly one hour. If you multiply 4.2 cubic meters by 13, you get the number '54.6'."
Qi Xia used his pen to circle the "54.6" on his draft paper.
"This is the volume of air, in cubic meters, that we should have consumed."
He scanned the room again and said, "But how many cubic meters does this room have in total?" The others followed his gaze.
"The organizer left us clues. They drew lines on the walls and floor, dividing them into many squares, and the side of each square is about one meter long."
Qi Xia pointed to the marks on the wall.
"The number of squares on the wall is three by four, and the floor and ceiling are four by four. This means the room's length, width, and height are four by four by three, for a total of 48 cubic meters."
"And how can a 48-cubic-meter room accommodate 54.6 cubic meters of air?"
Qi Xia frowned, his expression grim.
"After so long, the air should be getting thin by all rights, yet none of us feel any signs of oxygen deprivation..."
Doctor Zhao pondered for a moment, took Qi Xia's draft paper, pointed to the "49.14" on it, and asked, "What does this number mean?" Qi Xia looked at Doctor Zhao with an extremely serious expression and replied, "That is also the amount of air that needed to be consumed, only it was calculated for 'nine people'."
"Nine people?"
Doctor Zhao was taken aback. After all, there were clearly ten people in the room consuming air, so why would he calculate the amount for "nine people"?
"I made a bold hypothesis," Qi Xia said, his face devoid of expression.
"If the goat-head man 'isn't human', would we have enough air? Obviously, still not enough."
"What kind of madman are you?"
Doctor Zhao muttered.
"To actually make such a bizarre hypothesis?"
"Is it that hard to understand?"
Qi Xia gestured to the headless corpse on his right.
"Doctor Zhao, you should know skulls very well. Generally speaking, can a human shatter a skull with a single hand?"
Doctor Zhao did not answer, because he knew it was completely impossible. Never mind a human skull, even shattering a rabbit's skull on a table with one hand would be no simple feat. Qi Xia withdrew his gaze and looked at the others again.
"There's not much time left. I've already written down my choice. What comes next is up to you, but remember, if even one person's answer is different from mine, everyone present will face 'punishment'."
The group was somewhat timid. A monster that could kill at will was now to be "voted out" by them. Did they dare?
Qiao Jiajin glanced at the goat-head man out of the corner of his eye and saw that he remained motionless, a profound gaze piercing through the goat mask, lost in some unknown thought.
"Damn it all, I'm going for it!"
Qiao Jiajin waved his large hand and also wrote down the two words "Goat-Head Man". After a moment's hesitation, the others also wrote down their answers one by one. Qi Xia looked around and saw that, without exception, every single one said "Goat-Head Man".
The clock's hands pointed to one. The game was over. The goat-head man slowly walked forward and said, "Congratulations, everyone.
You have survived the 'Liar' game. Next, I will personally carry out the 'punishment' on the loser." Before anyone could react, the goat-head man pulled a pistol from his coat, turned it around, pressed the barrel against his own heart, and pulled the trigger without hesitation.
An unimaginably loud bang echoed through the narrow room. In such an enclosed space, the sound struggled to dissipate, and everyone felt their ears ringing. Immediately after, the goat-head man clutched his chest and began to scream.
The tremendous cry soon drowned out the echo of the gunshot, reverberating ceaselessly within the room, sending a chill through everyone's heart. The goat-head man screamed while spitting up blood. It took a full minute before the sound quieted down, turning into a pained, muffled groan.
"What... what the hell..."
Qiao Jiajin stared blankly at the goat-head man.
"Is he for real?"
A few more minutes passed, and the muffled groans also faded away. The nine people present suddenly found that their legs could no longer support them. Doctor Zhao was the first to stand up.
He walked to the goat-head man's side, reached out to feel the artery in his neck, and found that it had stopped beating.
"Hey!"
Doctor Zhao yelled at the goat-head man.
"The game's over, how do we get out?!"
But a quiet corpse gave Doctor Zhao no answer. The others also slowly stood up. Nothing in the room had changed, except for the addition of another corpse.
"So strange... are we really dead?"
Tian Tian seemed to still be struggling with this question. She raised her slender hand and gave herself a hard slap across the face.
"Ouch!"
Tian Tian cried out in surprise.
"It still hurts... Why can I still feel pain if I'm dead?"
Qiao Jiajin shook his head helplessly.
"What, have you died before?"
"I..."
Tian Tian paused for a moment.
"I guess I haven't..."
"So there you have it. Who knows what it's like after you die. Looking at the situation, this might just be hell," Qiao Jiajin said, looking at the two corpses in the room and feeling a sense of unease all over.
"Not only can I feel pain, I can also smell the stench."
"So what are we? Souls?" asked the writer, Han Yimo.
Hearing this, Doctor Zhao also checked his own body and found that his heartbeat, body temperature, and pulse were all normal. He was also breathing normally, yet he wasn't consuming any oxygen. It seemed that death was truly a mysterious thing, unexplainable by any medical common sense.
"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 man and casually picked up the gun that had fallen beside his hand. This action startled everyone, and they subconsciously moved away from him. Officer Li skillfully opened the gun's chamber to look, then ejected the magazine, discovering that the gun had only one bullet, and it was now spent.
This was both good news and bad news. The good news was that they didn't have to worry about someone using the gun to harm others again. The bad news was that they couldn't protect themselves if they encountered other dangers.
But Qiao Jiajin was very bold. He reached out and slowly removed the goat-head man's mask, only to find a man with a completely rotted face underneath. His eyes were rolled up, showing no signs of life.
"What a terrifying face..."
Lawyer Zhang added from the side.