"Now, the game is quite simple," Masked Man began with an air of deceptive casualness. "The name of the game is 'Test of Truth and Lie.' We will test your answers and know whether you lie or not."
He paused, letting the tension build before continuing, "And the game is simple because all restrictions will be down. This means," he gulped for dramatic effect, "you can use divination, mind reading, etc."
"So, what's the game?" one of the Dog Tribe members interjected impatiently. She looked like a subordinate to the Dog Tribe demi-human leader.
Instinctively, I thought, 'Patience, Dogfucker.'
"Oh, it seems our lady can't keep her patience," Masked Man said, his tone dripping with mockery. "Then I shall tell you about the game I prepared for you all." He possibly suppressed a smirk beneath his mask, then feigned disappointment. "Well, I wanted to tell you a lot about myself too, but it seems no one is interested in an old man blabbering."
From this, I deduced that he was either a young man or a mere Qi doll programmed to appear as one.
"So, with this, we will commence the first round of our game," he announced, hinting that the game would be quite long.
He instructed us to raise our hands if we wanted to play, and as someone intrigued by the unfolding events, I raised my hand along with many others.
Then he continued with the rules of the game.
"Rule No. 1: There will be five players in each group, and all need to be firm on the answer they have kept in their mind." By this, he likely meant the opinion we had on lying and being truthful.
"Rule No. 2: Some easy questions will be asked that everyone knows the answer to, and we can only progress when the Minority answers correctly. And the answer should be definitive." This meant we could never progress unless there was a crucial turning point that seemed hopeful but was actually a trap.
"Rule No. 3: If a minority in the group lies, all five must identify the liar. If they fail, there will be a penalty," though he left the nature of the penalty ominously vague.
And casually, he added, "All who raised their hand, move to the right door to play our easy-peasy game."
I took one glance at Hui Ying, who seemed uninterested in the game and possibly more concerned about reaching our destination early. Her eyes were sharp and in a mediation stance, but I am that I am, I told her I'll finish the game early and leaning close to her ear, added casually "Wait for me, my trouble wifey." And walked off past the red gate that smelled like fresh blood alone.
3
2
1
...
The room we entered was dimly lit, with a water fountain in the center. The light had no place here, yet it still found its way in. Peculiar designs adorned the walls, depicting mythical figures cloaked in robes of serpentine scales and many naked women kneeling in silent submission. These figures were chiseled from darkness itself, staring back at us with haunting intensity, like a constellation of nostalgic nightmares.
And We arrived in this secluded room after passing through the red gate, and by 'we,' I mean three other people along with me. The rest had vanished, perhaps through a warp gate.
The atmosphere was thick with tension as we silently sized each other up. Before we could even introduce ourselves, a small-sized tree suddenly popped up in front of us.
"Hello, everyone. I apologize for intruding and not giving you time to introduce yourselves. But then I thought it might be better to inform you of the other rules of the game since you all have participated and cannot forfeit."
The tree smiled, and I confidently gazed at the other four members who were partially keeping their composure. The first member was a young master of the Dog Tribe, a tall, thin Demi-Human with dark blue hair. His tail wiggling for no apparent reason.
The second member was Qiangsheng Tanji, as indicated by the nameplate on his robe. The third member was a sexy lady with an elegant and innocent look paired with a glamorous body.
The fourth one was... where was he?
'Fuck it,' I thought and paid attention to the tree.
The tree was a lean, seedy-looking bonsai. He could possibly be the fourth member pretending to be a judge, or he was actually the judge.
But the way he carried himself gave it away. "I never forget the appearance of anyone, but you really hid yourself. Let's cut to the chase and introduce ourselves," I said to the tree. The other two had faces that turned white.
"What are you talking about?" the tree asked in the same childish, laugh of pure happiness tone. I wasn't buying it at all.
"You can stop pretending to be the judge. There are supposed to be five members, and since one is missing, it's surely you. So let's cut to the chase," I said firmly.
The tree's smile didn't waver, but there was a flicker of something—surprise?—in its eyes. "Oh, you're quite sharp," it responded, now with a hint of amusement.
"It's really simple to figure out, as I said earlier," I continued, keeping my eyes on the bonsai. "Four of us here, one missing. That makes you the fifth."
It was just a play of letting my imagination run wild and the pattern I followed grounded on abstract reasoning, analyzing motivations, circumstances, and psychological states through which I reached my conclusions.
The tree sighed theatrically. "Well, you got me," it said, its voice changing subtly to a more mature, relaxed tone.
"Howl! You escaped my nose," the young master of the Dog Tribe said in annoyance, interrupting us.
I turned to the Demi human, raising an eyebrow. "Is that so?... Then That means he didn't enter the Red Gate from our ship. And given that everyone disappeared except for us, it must mean there's a warp gate, a surveillance magical device so the audience and administrators can entertain themselves, and many other people have participated in this game other than the people on the ship, which is further evident by the presence of," I stop, look at Tenji Qiangsheng and continue, "By your presence."
"So, where we ───"
"Excuse me, I am a nameless belonging to a midsize merchant family. I hope we all answer correctly in the game." The woman interjected; her interruption devoid of any social grace.
'Desperate to make her presence, is she?' I thought as we all turned our attention to her, taken aback by her lack of social sense. We were in the middle of an important conversation, for Allah-Kabeer's sake.
But then again, I couldn't help but smile as I reached into my Spatial ring, retrieving my divine gold jar to flaunt my wealth in stark contrast to her broke origins from a nameless merchant family. And turning to Qiangsheng Tanji I asked "Brother, are you single?" And not waiting for his answer, I turned back to the lady. "He likes you... Look at the way he's looking at you."
The lady could only smile hearing my joke which no one took as a joke and I continued without letting her gather her thoughts.
"Lady," I bowed slightly and then requested she fill the already filled Divine Gold Jar with cool water from the water fountain as I tossed it toward her.
She caught it, visibly flustered, while the others looked on in astonishment. It was either the first time they had seen such a jar up close, or they simply couldn't believe I had tossed one made of divine gold without care.
And soon, upon hearing my request, she ran toward the water fountain but stopped in the middle to throw the water on the flowerpot.
'This makes one thing clear to me: not only did she choose honesty, but she's also an airhead,' I concluded as I observed her actions. But why did I think that?
There were multiple flowerpots around, yet she poured all the water on one flowerpot rather than distributing a little to each dying plant, ensuring all could thrive. She seemed to lack mindfulness.
A completely foolish and naïve good for nothing. Neither a scum nor a loser or better than me in any realm. A pure soul. Not at all dangerous on her own and completely vulnerable.
And she was still fast, as she came back soon and handed me the divine gold jar. I thanked her for it and casually added, "You should have brought back some water for Brother Qiangsheng Tanji. Look at him, he was anticipating you to fetch him some too." I smiled and signaled them to go together. Though there was some resistance from Qiangsheng's side and embarrassment and awkwardness from the lady's side, they ultimately complied with my request.
And subsequently, after a certain time, they had gotten a bit closer and, in the meantime, I had some conversations with Cheng Lan The Demi-Human, and the Tree.
These two were quite dangerous for me because the Demi-Human was someone who belonged to the Dog tribe and could smell the Lie and this Demonic Tree may had the help of Dryads spirits.
...
*Ring*
*Ring*
*Ring*
The smoke filled the room.
"Howl!" The demi-human was howling, and the newly made couple were coughing. COUGH COUGH
And while the demonic tree was unaffected, and I could sense the space glitching.
Unexpectedly two petite hands appeared, opening the space with their bare hands. As the smoke dissipated, sucked into the space between spaces, I saw a pale-skinned girl with long black hair tied in pigtails, wearing a cross-collar robe.
This made my heart throb because, at this exact moment, the faces of everyone were quite pleasing to look at, reminding me that simply living as I want to is suffice; life itself is the ultimate purpose. And this was only the start of the game.