"Liar..."
Qi Xia repeated the word in his mind a few times. After confirming his identity, he calmly kept his card face down. Just a minute ago, he had briefly entertained the thought of everyone surviving and leaving together.
But now, things had changed.
Though he didn't know these eight people in front of him, this time, the ones who would die were them, not him.
"If there are no objections, please remember the rule: there is only one liar in this game..." The Goathead raised his finger and pointed to the sexy girl on Qi Xia's left. "You will start, and we will proceed clockwise."
"Huh? Me?" The girl blinked in confusion, pouting slightly.
Qi Xia glanced at her. Starting from the girl on his left and proceeding clockwise was not favorable to him—he would be the last to speak.
In situations filled with intense tension, people typically remember only the first and last speakers.
However, raising an objection now would only seem out of place, so Qi Xia decided to play along and see how it went.
The sexy girl frowned, her large eyes darting around nervously. After a long pause, she sighed and began, "Okay... I'll go first, but I've never been good at telling stories, so if I mess it up, don't blame me..."
Everyone fell silent, waiting to hear her story.
The girl—named Tiantian—brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and began, "I'm Tiantian, a... well... I'm a 'tech worker'. We earn money by our skills, and I don't feel ashamed of it."
At that moment, everyone noticed Tiantian was dressed provocatively, wearing a low-cut, dirty miniskirt that left little to the imagination. Yet, she didn't seem bothered by it.
"I have a lot of stories, but most of them aren't fit to share. Let's just say I'm... more of an 'action' person than a 'describer'. I work in a place where, honestly, not many people would do the job if they had any education…"
She paused for a moment, her fingers nervously fiddling with her skirt. "Anyway, I was at work before all this happened. The customer I was with was really strange... He insisted on going to his car, saying it would be more exciting. So, I went with him, you know, for the money..."
The tension in the room was palpable, but Tiantian kept speaking, her voice steady as she recalled her story.
"It was my first time working in a car. The car looked nice on the outside, but inside it was so cramped. I was sweating like crazy, and I couldn't figure out what was 'exciting' about it. During all this, the guy's phone kept ringing, and he wouldn't pick up. I was getting so annoyed..."
Tiantian's eyes flicked nervously to the corpse on the table, and she shivered slightly before continuing, "Anyway, the 'earthquake'... When it happened, I thought it was just us shaking the car too much. But then, no. There was a real earthquake."
The mention of an earthquake caused slight movement among the others, as if they were starting to remember something.
"We were parked in a narrow alley. Above us was a huge billboard. My head was sticking out of the car when I saw it—suddenly, the billboard just fell, crashing right onto the car. And then... I blacked out."
She paused, taking a deep breath. "When I woke up, I was here. I swear, I thought I was going to die."
Tiantian put on a look of feigned innocence, one designed to appeal to men. As she finished, her eyes glanced around, hoping for some sympathy.
The man next to her, a heavily tattooed guy, furrowed his brow and spoke up, "Do we really need to keep going?"
Dr. White Coat looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"This 'lady' is lying," the tattooed man replied confidently. "Let's just vote her out now."
"What... what are you talking about?!" Tiantian exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise. "I didn't lie! I swear!"
The tattooed man shot her a cold, scrutinizing look and said, "You said your name was 'Tiantian', but all the escort girls use fake names. 'Tiantian', 'Xiaofang', 'Lili'—those are all common aliases. By hiding your real name, you've already lied."
Tiantian's face flushed red with embarrassment.
"What... What are you saying? My name really is Tiantian! I haven't used my real name in years!" She shot a glance around the room. "In my line of work, only 'Tiantian' gets recognized. Nobody knows me by my real name!"
The others began to ponder this new information, and Qi Xia's expression grew serious.
From what he had heard, Tiantian's story didn't give him the impression that she was lying. Her tone was steady, and her narrative felt natural.
This sort of casual storytelling could either mean she had rehearsed the story many times or that she was telling the truth.
But the tattooed man had pointed out an interesting angle.
Lying about a name was subtle and hard to detect. Most people wouldn't catch such a small discrepancy.
After reflecting on Goathead's words, Qi Xia realized that the rule didn't specify the liar had to tell a false story—lying about something as trivial as a name counted too.
When the others were still distracted, Qi Xia smiled inwardly. If they didn't notice this detail, he had already found the winning strategy.
To fabricate a name, he would avoid common names and go with something forgettable. "Li Ming" would work well.
He could tell a normal story, and no one would notice the discrepancy.
The game was almost over.