These words were like a wake-up call for everyone, and for Qi Xia as well. That's right, the odds of "The Liar" winning were indeed far too high. Qi Xia frowned slightly.
Why were his own odds of winning so high? Lying to a group of strangers... they didn't know him, didn't understand him. Anyone would have a hard time seeing through a casually spun lie.
Could using a fake name really cost him his life? Or perhaps… the person who drew "The Liar" was the chosen one, and this was an unfair game from the start?
"No…"
Qi Xia thought to himself.
"If drawing the card guaranteed survival, they might as well just write 'Life' and 'Death' on the cards. That would be a much easier way to achieve their goal. Otherwise, what's the point of this game that lasts nearly an hour?"
A deep sense of dissonance spread through his heart. Qi Xia kept replaying every word the goat-head man had said. Could it be…
"Hey, it's your turn."
Qiao Jiajin reached out and patted Qi Xia. Only then did he snap back to reality, realizing everyone was looking at him with strange expressions. It was too late to overthink it now; doing so would only make him look more suspicious.
He composed himself and reorganized his thoughts. The sentence "My name is Li Ming, from Shandong" echoed in his mind... But right now, he absolutely could not give that answer.
To find the "solution" to this game, he had to take a gamble. Qi Xia opened his eyes and said to the group, "Everyone, my name is Qi Xia. I'm from Shandong, and I'm a professional con man."
"A con man?"
Hearing just Qi Xia's first sentence, everyone present exclaimed in surprise. After all, the character of a "con man" had appeared in many of their stories. This con man also vaguely connected everyone's stories.
What was more ironic was that they had to determine if a "con man" was telling the truth.
"Before coming here, I was trying to find a way to launder the two million in my hands."
"Anyway, it took some effort, but I ended up with one million four hundred thousand. That was the most cost-effective method I could think of."
"But on my way back with the money, I suddenly encountered an earthquake. When I reached my door, I saw my house shaking nonstop."
"Logically, you should never enter a building at a time like this, since it could collapse at any moment. But I was worried about the person inside, so I had no choice but to rush in."
"Sure enough, as I entered the room, the doorway collapsed. I was pinned underneath and lost consciousness."
Qi Xia recounted this story in a calm tone with just a few sentences. Everyone stared at him warily. He knew he was doing something very risky, but only by doing this could he verify if his idea was correct.
As long as that goat-head man spoke up now, it would mean his guess was about ninety percent correct. Just as Qi Xia expected, the goat-head man slowly walked forward and said to the group, "Very good. Everyone has finished telling their story.
Next is a twenty-minute free discussion period. After twenty minutes, each person must write a name on the piece of white paper in front of them."
"Just as I thought!"
Qi Xia's eyebrows raised.
"There really is a twenty-minute period!"
This way, everything made sense! The group began to panic, as there were only twenty minutes left to decide their fates. Qiao Jiajin and Li Shangwu both wanted to vote for each other.
Perhaps due to their professions, the two were full of hostility. Meanwhile, Doctor Zhao started questioning the writer Han Yimo, since Han Yimo's story had no connection to anyone else's. Lawyer Zhang and Xiao Ran seemed to be suspicious of Qi Xia, while Lin Qin, Han Yimo, and Tian Tian were still hesitating.
According to the surface rules, "The Liar" was already on the verge of winning this game. Because the votes would not be unanimous. The rules stated very clearly that only if everyone chose The Liar could all nine people survive together.
Qi Xia didn't participate in any discussion, silently closing his eyes. Countless clues swirled in his mind. The goat-head man had said, "Among those who told a story, there is one and only one Liar."
The goat-head man had said, "The rules are absolute." The goat-head man had said, "You have all been asleep for twelve hours." Qi Xia opened his eyes.
He was just one last piece of information away from solving this "problem." But where was that piece of information? Suddenly, a flash of insight appeared in his mind.
The intersecting horizontal and vertical lines on the walls and floor instantly sobered him. He looked at the clock on the table again; it was almost 1 o'clock.
"So that's how it is..."
Qi Xia's eyes widened.
"That was close... I'm supposed to be the con man, yet I was almost conned by you."
The group seemed to notice something was off with Qi Xia. It was just that this con man had said very little from the beginning, and no one knew what he was really thinking.
"Hey, can you give me another piece of paper?"
Qi Xia asked the goat-head man. Hearing this, the goat-head man was clearly taken aback. He then asked tentatively, "You... want another piece of paper?"
"Yes," Qi Xia nodded.
"I need some scratch paper."
The goat-head man was silent for a long moment before pulling another piece of paper from his suit pocket and handing it to Qi Xia. Qi Xia didn't stand on ceremony, taking the paper and immediately starting to calculate. He counted the large squares on the walls—nine in total.
The floor and ceiling together had sixteen squares in total.
"If I'm not mistaken..."
Qi Xia's pen moved quickly as he wrote.
"The squares are one per square meter, which means we are now in a room that is three meters high, and four meters long and wide..."
"Four times four times three... forty-eight cubic meters."
Qi Xia's hand trembled slightly.
"Not enough... it's not nearly enough..."
The group stared at Qi Xia in confusion. This was clearly a problem of deducing who was lying, yet he was doing a math problem. They saw him write down many vertical equations, finally arriving at the two numbers "54.6" and "49.14".
Upon seeing these two numbers, Qi Xia's face turned ashen, as if he were trying to accept something. If his guess was completely correct, then the current situation was truly terrifying. His eyes blinked rapidly, his thoughts already soaring beyond the ninth heaven.
The sound of the group's arguments gradually died down. The man before them wasn't participating in any discussion, merely calculating something nonstop. Could it be that he had really found the "answer" to this problem?
After a long time, he finally raised his head and looked at the group. His gaze held fear, hesitation, suspicion, and bewilderment.
"Everyone," Qi Xia cleared his throat and spoke in a low voice.
"I didn't want to save you, but if you choose wrong, I will die too. I absolutely cannot die here. Someone is waiting for me outside, so no matter what, I have to find a way out. I can only announce the answer now. I hope you will listen carefully to what I have to say."
"Handsome, what do you mean by 'the answer'?"
Qiao Jiajin, who was closest to Qi Xia, was slightly stunned.
"Do you know who's lying?"
Qi Xia didn't answer, simply reaching for his Identity Card and slowly revealing it to everyone.
"This is the identity I drew."
The group looked closely. On the card, the two words "The Liar" were exceptionally eye-catching.