"You kid, stop trying to sow discord."
Officer Li glared at Qiao Jiajin and said with great severity, "You're a loan shark, I'm a police officer. Who do you think everyone will believe?" Qi Xia glanced at the arguing crowd.
He knew Officer Li probably wasn't lying; he really was a detective. But his approach was wrong. Perhaps it was his professional instinct, or maybe it was his sense of justice, but he was constantly trying to organize everyone in an orderly fashion.
The intermission was already half over, and the crowd gradually fell silent. During this time, Qi Xia had already repeated "My name is Li Ming" countless times in his mind, to the point that he was growing irritated with himself.
After all, a corpse with a shattered skull lay slumped right next to him, making it impossible to quiet one's mind. Blood dripped from the table onto the floor, drip by drip. Everyone had been sharing the room with this corpse for nearly an hour, and a strange stench had begun to spread.
Qi Xia casually glanced at the corpse beside him. Its trousers were already filthy. After a person dies, their various organs lose muscular control in a short time, leading to incontinence.
Even before the stench of rot set in, a foul odor already assailed the nostrils. Qi Xia and another woman were seated on either side of the corpse. The woman seemed very displeased with the smell and kept her hand over her mouth and nose.
Another ten minutes passed. The goat-head man finally spoke: "The twenty-minute intermission is over. The game will now resume."
The young man named Han Yimo from before composed himself, took a deep breath, and said, "My name is Han Yimo. I'm an online novelist."
"Before coming here, I was in my rented apartment writing the final chapter of a novel. Since there were over a hundred characters in the book, and almost all of them had to appear in the finale, I was completely engrossed in my writing and heard nothing of the commotion outside."
"I don't even know... I don't even know when the earthquake happened, or when I lost consciousness..."
The story Han Yimo told was different from everyone else's. For now, it seemed he was completely 'unconnected,' and his tale came to an abrupt end after just a few sentences.
"That's it?"
The sturdy man was slightly taken aback.
"You're just going to end it with an 'I don't know'?"
"Because I cannot lie, there is no need for me to fabricate an answer just to cater to everyone."
Han Yimo's voice wasn't loud, but it was inexplicably convincing.
"Fine... let's move on to the next person."
Officer Li, his face still etched with suspicion, spoke again.
"It's that lady's turn."
"Hey, cop."
Qiao Jiajin was somewhat displeased with Officer Li's attitude.
"We're all 'participants' here. Don't act like you're some kind of captain."
"Someone has to step up and organize everyone, right?"
Officer Li retorted.
"I've said it before, only one of us is the enemy. The remaining eight must unite."
"That doesn't mean it's your place to give orders."
Qiao Jiajin completely dismissed Officer Li's words.
"Outside, I might be afraid of you, but in this situation, no one knows if you're 'The Liar'."
"You two, stop arguing."
The cold woman spoke up, interrupting them. This was the same cold woman who, from the very beginning, had accused the goat-head man of imprisoning them for twenty-four hours. She appeared clear-headed and extremely calm.
Seeing the two of them calm down, she continued, "In this so-called 'game,' no matter who wins in the end, the survivors might be considered accessories to murder. After all, we collectively voted for the Goat-Head Man to kill him. This is something you should all consider."
Hearing this, Qi Xia's expression shifted slightly. If he really did make it out of this room alive, then he would indeed have 'killed' the other eight people. But what else could he do?
The card before him was a genuine 'Liar' card. Who would be willing to voluntarily give up their own life so that others could live?
"My name is Zhang Chenze. I'm a lawyer."
The cold woman crossed her arms, speaking with a deadpan expression.
"It's a pity to meet you all in such a strange place. Otherwise, I would certainly offer you my business card."
The others didn't seem to understand Zhang Chenze's humor, but she herself didn't appear to care.
"Before coming here, I was organizing case files for a trial. My client was swindled out of two million yuan. The amount involved was huge, and the nature of the crime was vicious."
When she mentioned the figure 'two million,' the others' expressions remained unchanged, but Qiao Jiajin was visibly shocked. He asked, "Two million?"
"That's right, two million. People say lawyers are the most impartial and selfless, but we have our personal feelings too. That man, in order to support his family, went so far as to borrow from loan sharks, which is very worrying. But illegal lending is a separate case and has nothing to do with me."
"When the earthquake hit, I was driving to meet my client. I was on Green Goat Avenue, having just passed Du Fu Thatched Cottage and was near the Shrine of Marquis Wu. I remember... I wasn't driving very fast, about forty kilometers an hour, when I suddenly saw the ground crack open not far ahead."
"I slammed on the brakes and came to a steady stop just before the fissure, but I never expected the cars behind me to be unable to avoid it, causing a chain-reaction collision."
"I only heard a few loud bangs as my car was pushed into the fissure. Then I lost consciousness and ended up here."
Another story ended. Now, only two people had yet to speak.
"The Shrine of Marquis Wu..."
Doctor Zhao pondered for a moment.
"Is that the Shrine of Marquis Wu in Chengdu?"
"Yes, I work in Chengdu."
It seemed this earthquake had spread across the entire country. Just based on these disconnected and unfamiliar stories, trying to guess who was lying was truly too difficult.
"It's my turn next."
Officer Li looked at the others.
"I've already told you my name. I'm Li Shangwu, a detective from Inner Mongolia."
"Before coming here, I was on a stakeout for a swindler. According to a reliable tip, we had already confirmed the suspect's exact whereabouts."
"This suspect had swindled a huge sum, as much as two million yuan. It was the first major fraud case our city had received this year."
"My partner and I were monitoring from our car the whole time, just waiting for the swindler to appear."
"But the suspect was smarter than we had imagined. He seemed to have sensed the danger and didn't show his face for several days."
"For those few days, we ate, drank, and relieved ourselves all inside the car. We were on the verge of a mental breakdown."
"But do you know what's more agonizing for a grown man than having nothing to eat or drink?"
"Running out of cigarettes."
"Between the two of us, we didn't have a single cigarette left. According to protocol, we absolutely couldn't leave our post, but the feeling of being without a smoke was just too unbearable."
"So, I had my partner run out to buy some cigarettes while I kept my eyes glued to the exit of the suspect's residence."
"But what I didn't expect was that not long after my partner left, the whole earth began to shake violently. I was about to get out of the car to see what was happening when suddenly, a thin wire was wrapped around my neck from behind."
"Although we're both skilled in close-quarters combat, a thin wire pulled taut from the back seat is extremely difficult to deal with. Not only could I not touch the person behind me, but I also couldn't get the wire off my neck."
At this point, the others stared at Officer Li and noticed that there was indeed a red mark on his neck.
"So I immediately reclined the seat, which allowed me to breathe again, but I couldn't turn around. After all, with my large frame, my legs were pinned beneath the steering wheel."
"While I was laid back, the person behind me took the opportunity to hit me hard on the head with something, and I lost consciousness."
After hearing Officer Li's words, the others couldn't help but grow suspicious. He had described a completely different situation. Before him, every participant had been injured and knocked unconscious due to an accident.
Only he had been brought here after being attacked. If they had to choose the most suspicious person among them, wouldn't it be him?