"I…" The man in the white coat appeared calmer than the others, and even the corpse on the table did not affect him. "My name is Zhao Haibo, and I am a doctor. You should be able to tell from my attire."
He tugged at his dirty white coat and continued, "Before coming here, I was performing surgery on a woman. She had an intraventricular tumor that was growing rapidly; it had been enlarging for nearly six months and had already caused mild hydrocephalus. If not addressed promptly, it could endanger her life."
"I chose a frontal approach for the surgery, directly puncturing into the ventricle under CT guidance. In fact, every time this kind of surgery is performed, it carries considerable risks, but the woman chose to take the risk in order to be there for her young son for as long as possible."
"Typically, the operating room must maintain a stable environment—there shouldn't even be a breeze. But no one expected something worse than the wind to come."
"When the earthquake struck, I had just removed the woman's skull and was in the process of cutting the dura mater. If something went wrong at this stage, it could easily cause brain contusions, leading to devastating consequences."
"I made a snap decision to terminate the surgery and cover the woman's skull back up for the time being. Otherwise, in such a dusty environment, her life would be in jeopardy."
"I didn't expect this step to be more difficult than I imagined. I could barely stand, so how could I accurately place the small piece of skull back on?"
"The nurse beside me bumped into me, causing me to stagger, and everyone was unable to maintain their balance. In my panic, I could only cover the woman's head with a sterile sheet, and then I immediately turned to organize the evacuation. But at that moment, I was hit in the leg by a medical cart and fell to the ground."
"Before I could get back on my feet, the ceiling of the operating room cracked open, and I immediately lost consciousness."
After hearing the doctor's account, everyone's expression became somewhat unnatural.
He used many medical terms in this story. If any of those terms were made up, no one would be able to recognize it.
"Doctor Zhao, where are you from?" a sturdy man asked casually.
"I don't feel obligated to answer your questions," Dr. Zhao replied. "My story is already finished."
The sturdy man opened his mouth but didn't say anything.
"Is it my turn now?" A boy wearing glasses said, his eyes flickering for a moment. "My name is Han Yimo, and I am a…"
"Wait." The man with the goat head suddenly interrupted Han Yimo's speech.
This startled Han Yimo, and he turned around in confusion.
"Wh-what's wrong?"
"It's 'halftime' now," the goat-headed man said with an awkward smile. "We'll take a twenty-minute break."
Everyone seemed a bit bewildered.
Is there really a 'halftime' at a time like this?
Qi Xia glanced at the clock in the center of the table; half an hour had already passed since she woke up.
It was now twelve-thirty.
"So this 'break' is mandatory," Qi Xia silently thought to himself. "At twelve-thirty, regardless of who the speaker is, there will be a mandatory twenty-minute break…"
But the game had only been going on for thirty minutes; now they were taking a twenty-minute break?
Qi Xia frowned, knowing that this was not something he needed to dwell on.
The organizers of this game were clearly insane, and there was no need to think about it with a normal mindset.
So he could only repeatedly brainwash himself in his mind.
"My name is Li Ming, and I am from Shandong."
Only by drilling this phrase into his head countless times could he spit it out when it was his turn to speak.
Everyone sat in silence, looking somewhat awkward.
Although it was called a 'halftime break,' the atmosphere was even more oppressive.
"Excuse me… can we talk?" the sturdy man asked the goat-headed man.
"Oh, of course, you are free to talk now; I have no authority to interfere," the goat-headed man replied.
The sturdy man nodded and then looked at Dr. Zhao. "Doctor Zhao, where are you really from?"
Dr. Zhao's expression darkened. "I say, you seem to have been dissatisfied with me from the very beginning. Why should I have to tell you where I'm from?"
"Don't misunderstand, I have no ill intentions," the sturdy man said in a steady voice. "The more you say, the stronger the authenticity. Since everyone has shared their hometown, there's no need for you to hide, right?"
"The more you say, the stronger the authenticity?" The doctor shook his head noncommittally. "All I know is that 'the more you speak, the more you err.' If the rules are absolute, then there is no problem with what I've said. Besides, I don't trust any of you."
"That statement is somewhat biased," the sturdy man replied. "There are a total of nine people here, and only one is an enemy. If you are willing to cooperate with everyone, we can work together to root out the liar. The more you hide now, the more suspicious you become. This is the second time I've asked you. Are you still going to conceal it?
The sturdy man seemed very skilled at interrogation, having pushed Dr. Zhao into a logical corner with just a few words.
His meaning was clear.
Only the "liar" wouldn't need to trust others, after all, he knows his own identity.
If the doctor continued to conceal information now, he would become the target of everyone's suspicion.
But how could someone who became a neurosurgeon be an ordinary person? Dr. Zhao snorted coldly and asked, "Then you answer me first: who are you? What do you do?
"Me?" The sturdy man didn't expect the doctor to suddenly turn the tables, and his expression became somewhat unnatural.
"That's right. Since you insisted on questioning me after I spoke, I can also ask you a question before you share your story," Dr. Zhao smiled. "Fair enough, right?"
The sturdy man thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "You're right, I have nothing to hide. My name is Li Shangwu, and I am a criminal police officer."
As soon as the words left his mouth, everyone turned to look at him.
At that moment, the term "criminal police officer" provided an unexpected sense of security to the group.
"You're a police officer?!" Dr. Zhao was taken aback.
No wonder he had felt that this man was probing for something from the very beginning; he was also the first to propose "that everyone should survive." Perhaps he really wanted to save everyone.
Dr. Zhao's attitude noticeably improved: "If that's the case, then I apologize for my earlier attitude. I am from Jiangsu."
At that moment, the tattooed man, Qiao Jiajin, looked somewhat displeased. "I say, Dr. Zhao, do you really trust Officer Li?"
"Eh?" Dr. Zhao looked at Qiao Jiajin in confusion. "What do you mean?"
Qiao Jiajin tapped his fingers on the table and said calmly, "This is not 'storytelling time.' In other words... everyone can lie right now."