Qi Xia raised his head in a daze. The person telling the story had now become Officer Li.
"My name is Li Shangwu. I'm from Inner Mongolia, and I'm a detective," Officer Li said calmly.
"Before coming here, I was on a stakeout for a con man."
"But I messed up. I was waiting for him, but we ended up getting into a struggle during the earthquake."
"He knocked me out, and then I ended up here."
What was once a lengthy story had now become just three sentences. Everyone else's stories were no different from before, but Officer Li's performance was extremely abnormal. Fortunately, Qi Xia was the only one who remembered what had happened before.
"A detective?"
Xiao Ran cried out in alarm.
"You're a police officer, why aren't you trying to figure out a way to save us?"
"Because I..."
Officer Li hesitated for a moment.
"To be honest, I don't know how to get everyone out of here. If the opportunity presents itself, I will certainly do my best."
"What kind of nonsensical logic is that?"
Xiao Ran asked, bewildered.
"You're a police officer, you should be investigating and trying to find a way out on your own! Whenever there's a murder, can you just close the case by saying 'I don't know who the killer is'?"
"This is different..."
Officer Li shook his head.
"There's very little I can do right now. I can only try my best to keep everyone alive..."
The more Xiao Ran spoke, the more agitated she became, until she pointed a finger directly at the Goat-Head Man.
"Isn't he the 'killer' right here? Go on, arrest him!"
"That's enough," Qi Xia couldn't watch any longer and cut in.
"All this yelling. Aren't you annoying?"
Qiao Jiajin nodded as well.
"Is a Cop not a person? None of us can move right now. The power over life and death is completely in the hands of the goat-head man. What do you expect the Cop to arrest him with?"
"You...!"
Xiao Ran wanted to argue more, but she suddenly caught Qi Xia's ice-cold gaze and then glanced at Qiao Jiajin's powerful, tattooed arms. She knew in an instant that these two were not good people to cross. She understood that people with eyes like that were different from the police.
She could yell at a police officer all day long, and they would never dare talk back to her disrespectfully, but these two men in front of her were not to be provoked.
"I... I was just too scared," Xiao Ran said, shaking her head with a wronged look on her face.
"Sigh, maybe I just believed in the police too much."
"Passive-aggressive. Bullying the good and fearing the evil," Qi Xia snorted coldly.
"You wouldn't happen to be 'The Liar' trying to sow discord, would you?"
"How is that possible?!"
Xiao Ran shouted.
"How could I be 'The Liar'? Don't you slander me!"
"Oh?"
Qi Xia nodded.
"Since you're not 'The Liar', what's written on your card?"
"It says..."
Xiao Ran was about to blurt it out when she froze. From beginning to end, the goat-head man had never said what the other Identity Card was, besides 'The Liar'. He had only said, "If you draw The Liar, you must lie."
To clear her name, she had to announce her identity in front of everyone. But what was written on the other identity?
'Truth-teller'?
'Commoner'?
'Participant'?
Or was it a blank card? Xiao Ran felt the blood run cold in her veins. She was so scared she couldn't control herself.
The young man before her was far too clever; with a single sentence, he had forced her into a situation with no escape. Several others were now staring blankly at Xiao Ran, their expressions puzzled. Indeed, if they started to suspect that Xiao Ran was 'The Liar', the situation would become quite complicated.
According to the rules they knew, "there is one and only one liar" present, and each person believed that liar was themself. Therefore, it was theoretically impossible for another liar to exist. This put them in a dilemma, making them wonder if there could actually be multiple liars.
"I... Why should I tell you?"
Seeing things were not going her way, Xiao Ran decided to throw caution to the wind and quibbled, "What if you're 'The Liar' and you're just trying to get the answer out of me?" Qi Xia nodded.
"You have a point. If that's the case, let's make a bet."
"A bet...?"
"That's right. I'll count, 'Three, two, one,' and we'll both shout the word on our cards at the same time. We'll let everyone here judge which of us is making up their identity."
Qi Xia was prepared to teach Xiao Ran a good lesson. There was no need to keep a black sheep around.
"This..."
Xiao Ran clearly hesitated. Qi Xia sneered inwardly. If this truly was a game with "one and only one liar", she was as good as dead.
No one here knew what the other identity was. All Qi Xia had to do was confidently announce an identity, and he would have already won.
"Three."
"Two."
Qi Xia began the countdown, his expression grim. Just as he was about to say "one," Doctor Zhao suddenly stepped in to smooth things over.
"Hey, let's just forget it..."
Qi Xia turned his head to look at him.
"Brother, we shouldn't make things difficult for a woman. I don't think either of you seems like 'The Liar'. If we really must vote, let's wait until everyone has finished telling their story," Doctor Zhao said with an apologetic smile.
Of course, Qi Xia had no intention of convicting Xiao Ran as 'The Liar' right here and now. The true answer had yet to be revealed. Besides, the "spring bamboo after rain" game later would require the effort of all nine people.
Xiao Ran couldn't die yet, so he agreed to Doctor Zhao's request.
"Fine," Qi Xia nodded.
"As long as that woman stops pointing fingers at other people, I have no objection."
"I wasn't pointing fingers..."
Xiao Ran pouted, putting on a pitiable expression.
"I was just so scared."
"Don't be afraid. I believe you," Doctor Zhao said with a smile.
After Officer Li finished his story, it was Lin Qin's turn. She recounted her story of being on the twentieth floor of a high-rise when the earthquake hit. Lastly, it was Qi Xia.
Qi Xia told his story in its entirety as well. When he finished, he couldn't help but marvel at what a strange thing 'time' was. Even though he knew everything that had happened, when he told the story for the second time, it was still noticeably different from the first.
This included all sorts of grammar, phrasing, and the order of his narrative. But then he looked at the others. Aside from Officer Li, they clearly didn't know what had happened before, yet their telling of the story was identical to the last time, without a single word changed.
If that was the case, who was correct? And who was wrong? When Qi Xia had also finished his story, the Goat-Head Man announced that everyone would now have ten minutes for free discussion.
Qi Xia also asked the Goat-Head Man for another blank sheet of paper and wrote down the formula he had written before, without a single mistake. The rest of the events unfolded as a matter of course.
Qi Xia led the group in pointing the finger at the "Goat-Head Man," and just like before, the "Goat-Head Man" shot and killed himself, much to everyone's astonishment.