This statement almost woke everyone up, and it also snapped Elliot Hayes out of his thoughts.
Yeah, the odds of the Liar winning are definitely too high.
Elliot Hayes furrowed his brow, wondering why his chances of winning seemed so great.
Lying to a group of strangers who don't know or understand him—it's easy to spin a lie, and no one would be able to catch him.
But can a fake name really end up costing eight lives?
Or is it…
Could the one who draws the Liar card be the Chosen One? Is this just an unfair game from the start?
"No, wait…" Elliot Hayes thought to himself. "If simply drawing the card ensures survival, then they might as well just write Life and Death on the cards. That would make things much clearer. Otherwise, what's the point of this hour-long game?"
A strong feeling of incongruity spread in his heart.
Elliot Hayes kept replaying every word Basic Gemini had said.
Could it be…?
"Hey, it's your turn," Vincent Moretti said, tapping Elliot Hayes on the shoulder.
He snapped out of it and realized the others were all looking at him with strange expressions.
Now, there wasn't enough time to think. If he lingered too long, it would make him seem even more suspicious.
He took a deep breath, collected his thoughts, and refocused.
His mind kept returning to the words, "I'm James Miller, from Orlando"…
But at this moment, that answer couldn't work. To figure out the answer to this game, he had to take a risk.
Elliot Hayes opened his eyes and said to everyone, "Alright, everyone, my name is Elliot Hayes, from Orlando. I'm a professional conman."
"A conman?"
The crowd gasped as soon as they heard Elliot Hayes's first sentence. After all, the conman was a key figure in many of their stories.
This conman connected their stories in subtle ways.
And the irony was, they had to figure out if a conman was telling the truth.
"Before I got here, I was trying to clean up the two million I had."
"It took quite a bit of work, but I ended up with 1.4 million. It was the cheapest way I could think of."
"But on my way back with the money, I suddenly ran into an earthquake. As I was heading to the door, I saw my house shaking."
"Normally, in situations like this, you shouldn't go inside because the building could collapse at any moment. But I was worried about the people inside, so I rushed in."
"And sure enough, as soon as I stepped in, the porch collapsed, and I got trapped, losing consciousness."
Elliot Hayes calmly told his story in just a few sentences, and the crowd watched him warily.
He knew he was taking a huge risk, but it was the only way to verify if his theory was correct.
If Basic Gemini spoke up now, then his guess would most likely be spot on.
Just as Elliot Hayes thought, Basic Gemini slowly stepped forward and said, "Alright, everyone has told their story. Now, you have twenty minutes for open discussion. After twenty minutes, each of you will write down a name on the paper in front of you."
"Just as I thought!" Elliot Hayes raised an eyebrow. "There really are twenty minutes!"
That cleared everything up!
The crowd began to panic. After all, they only had twenty minutes left to decide their fate.
Vincent Moretti and Logan Carter seemed ready to vote for each other, perhaps due to their professional rivalry.
Dr. Clarke started questioning writer Damien Reid since Damien's story didn't connect to anyone else's.
Attorney Hart and Emily Parker seemed to be suspicious of Elliot Hayes, while Seraphina Grace, Damien Reid, and Sasha Venus were still undecided.
According to the surface rules, it seemed like the Liar was about to win.
Because the votes weren't unified.
The rules were clear: everyone needed to pick the Liar, and only then could all eight of them survive.
Elliot Hayes didn't participate in any discussions. He silently closed his eyes.
Countless clues were swirling in his mind.
Basic Gemini had said, "There is exactly one liar among the storytellers."
Basic Gemini had said, "The rules are absolute."
Basic Gemini had said, "You've all been asleep for twelve hours."
Elliot Hayes opened his eyes. Now, he just needed that final piece of information, and the puzzle would be solved.
But where was that information?
Suddenly, a flash of inspiration struck in his mind.
The lines crisscrossing the walls and floor brought him back to clarity. He glanced at the clock on the table—it was almost 1 AM.
"So that's it…" Elliot Hayes's eyes widened. "That was close… I'm a conman, but I almost got fooled by all of you."
The crowd noticed Elliot Hayes acting strange. After all, this conman hadn't said much from the start, and no one knew what was going on in his mind.
"Hey, can I have another piece of paper?" Elliot Hayes asked Basic Gemini.
Hearing this, Basic Gemini looked taken aback and cautiously asked, "You… need another piece of paper?"
"Yes," Elliot Hayes nodded. "I need one more."
Basic Gemini hesitated, then pulled another piece of paper from his suit pocket and handed it to Elliot Hayes.
Elliot Hayes took it without hesitation and started calculating.
He counted the large squares on the walls—there were nine. The squares on the floor and ceiling totaled sixteen.
"If I'm not wrong…" Elliot Hayes quickly scribbled something down, "Each square represents one square meter. So, we're in a room that's three meters high, and the length and width are four meters…"
"Four by four by three… forty-eight cubic meters."
Elliot Hayes's hand shook slightly. "Not enough… It's still not enough…"
The crowd looked confused. This was supposed to be about figuring out who was lying, yet he seemed to be doing math.
He quickly wrote down several equations and finally came up with 54.6 and 49.14.
When he saw these numbers, Elliot Hayes's face turned ashen, as if he was trying to accept something.
If his guess was correct, the situation was terrifying.
His eyes fluttered, his mind already soaring far away.
The debate around him grew quieter.
This man hadn't joined in the discussions at all. He was just calculating something—had he really figured out the answer to the puzzle?
After a long pause, he looked up at everyone.
His eyes were filled with fear, hesitation, doubt, and confusion.
"Everyone," Elliot Hayes cleared his throat and said softly, "I didn't want to save you all. But if you pick wrong, I'll die too. I absolutely can't die here. Someone's waiting for me outside, so I have to find a way out. I'll reveal the answer now. Please, listen carefully."
"Hot guy, what's the answer?" Vincent Moretti, who was closest to Elliot Hayes, blinked. "Do you know who's lying?"
Elliot Hayes didn't answer. He simply reached for his identity card and slowly flipped it open in front of everyone.
"This is the identity I drew."
The crowd looked closely, and the word 'Liar' on the card stood out clearly.