The silence lasted for several minutes as everyone tried to come to terms with the unbelievable truth.
Moments later, Officer Li was the first to flip over his identity card, revealing the word "Liar."
The rest followed suit, showing their cards one by one—all marked with "Liar."
"You're impressive..." Lawyer Zhang cast a look of admiration at Qi Xia. "But how did you figure out that we were all already dead?"
Qi Xia pointed to his notepad. "It wasn't difficult. I kept wondering: why was the room sealed? Why were lines drawn on the walls and floor? Why was there a clock placed at the center of the table? And why did the goat-headed figure force us to take an 'intermission'?"
"A normal human consumes about 0.007 cubic meters of air per minute, which amounts to 0.42 cubic meters per hour. With ten people in this room, the total air consumption would be 4.2 cubic meters per hour."
"According to the goat-headed figure, we were not only asleep in this room for 12 hours but also played a game for nearly an hour. Multiplying 4.2 cubic meters by 13, we get '54.6'."
Qi Xia circled the number "54.6" on his notepad. "This is the amount of air we should have consumed."
He looked around the room. "But how many cubic meters of air does this room actually contain?"
The group followed his gaze.
"The organizers left us clues. They drew lines on the walls and floor, dividing them into squares, each about a meter in length." Qi Xia pointed to the marks on the wall. "The walls have 3 by 3 squares, and the floor and ceiling have 4 by 4. This room's dimensions are 4 by 4 by 3, giving us a total of 48 cubic meters."
"And how could 48 cubic meters of space hold 54.6 cubic meters of air?" Qi Xia frowned, his expression dark. "After all this time, the air should be thinning, yet we don't feel any signs of suffocation."
Dr. Zhao, deep in thought, took the notepad from Qi Xia and pointed at the number "49.14." "What does this number mean?" he asked.
Qi Xia's face turned serious as he looked at Dr. Zhao. "It's also the amount of air consumed, but this calculation is for 'nine people.'"
"Nine people?"
Dr. Zhao was momentarily stunned. There were ten people in the room consuming air, so why calculate for nine?
"I made a bold assumption," Qi Xia said expressionlessly. "What if the goat-headed figure isn't 'human'? Would our air still suffice? The answer is clearly no."
"Are you insane?" Dr. Zhao muttered. "To make such a bizarre assumption?"
"Is it really so hard to understand?" Qi Xia pointed to the headless corpse to his right. "Dr. Zhao, you're familiar with human skulls. Could a person crush a skull with one hand?"
Dr. Zhao didn't respond. He knew it was impossible.
Even breaking the skull of a rabbit with one hand on a table would be difficult.
Qi Xia shifted his gaze back to the group. "Time is running out. I've written down my choice. It's up to you now. But remember, if even one of your answers differs from mine, we all face 'punishment.'"
The group hesitated.
A creature capable of killing at will was now subject to their "elimination by vote."
Would it accept this outcome?
Qiao Jiajin glanced sideways at the goat-headed figure, who remained motionless, deep eyes staring out from behind the goat mask.
"Damn it, let's go for it!" Qiao Jiajin said, boldly writing down "Goat-Man."
The others hesitated briefly before doing the same.
Qi Xia scanned the room. Without exception, everyone had written "Goat-Man."
The clock struck one, signaling the end of the game.
The goat-headed figure slowly stepped forward. "Congratulations, you have survived the 'Liar' game. Now, I shall personally 'punish' the loser."
Before anyone could react, the goat-headed figure pulled out a handgun from his coat, turned it to his own chest, and pulled the trigger.
A deafening blast reverberated in the confined space.
The sound echoed in the sealed room, leaving everyone with a ringing in their ears.
The goat-headed figure clutched his chest, howling in pain. The agonized cries soon overpowered the gunshot's echo, filling the room with a chilling resonance that sent shivers through everyone's spine.
As the screams subsided into painful groans, Qiao Jiajin stared, stunned. "What... is this... for real?"
Minutes later, the room fell silent. The nine remaining people found they could move their legs again.
Dr. Zhao was the first to stand, approaching the goat-headed figure and checking his pulse, which had stopped.
"Hey!" Dr. Zhao shouted at the lifeless figure. "The game's over. How do we get out?!"
But the silent corpse had no answers.
The rest stood up, looking around the unchanged room, now with one more body.
"This is strange... Are we really dead?" Sweetie muttered, still pondering. She slapped her own cheek, hard.
"Ow!" Sweetie yelped. "It still hurts... why does it hurt if we're dead?"
Qiao Jiajin shook his head. "What, have you died before?"
"I..." Sweetie paused. "I guess not..."
"So, who knows what it's like to be dead? Maybe this really is hell." Qiao Jiajin glanced at the two corpses, feeling uneasy. "I can feel pain, and I can smell decay."
"Then what are we? Spirits?" writer Han Yimo asked.
Dr. Zhao checked his own vitals, finding his heartbeat, body temperature, and pulse all normal, and even his breathing steady. Yet, they weren't consuming oxygen.
Death, it seemed, was a mystery that defied all medical explanation.
"No matter what we are, I don't want to spend eternity trapped in this room," Officer Li said. "Let's find a way out."
He stepped towards the goat-headed figure and picked up the gun by its side.
The movement startled everyone, who instinctively stepped back.
Officer Li expertly checked the chamber and removed the magazine, finding it empty except for one used bullet.
It was both good news and bad news.
Good, because no one could use it to harm anyone else. Bad, because they were defenseless if faced with further threats.
Qiao Jiajin, braver than the others, slowly removed the goat-headed figure's mask, revealing a face that had completely decayed.
Its lifeless eyes rolled back, devoid of any sign of life.
"What a terrifying face..." Lawyer Zhang said, echoing everyone's thoughts.