The Truth
The silence lasted for several minutes as everyone processed this unbelievable fact.
After a moment, Officer Logan was the first to flip over his identity card. Sure enough, it said "Liar."
One by one, everyone flipped their cards. They were all marked as "Liars."
"You're impressive..." Attorney Hart shot Elliot Hayes an approving look. "But how did you figure out we're all dead?"
Elliot Hayes pointed to his paper and said, "It's not that hard. I kept wondering, why is the room sealed? Why are there lines on the walls and floors? Why is there a clock in the center of the table? And why did Basic Gemini make us take a break in the middle of the game?"
"An average person consumes about 0.007 cubic meters of air per minute, which comes out to 0.42 cubic meters per hour. There are ten people in this room, so the total air consumption per hour would be 4.2 cubic meters."
"According to Basic Gemini, we've been asleep in this room for 12 hours, and we've been playing for nearly an hour. If you multiply 4.2 cubic meters by 13, you get 54.6. That's the total amount of air we should've consumed."
Elliot Hayes circled 54.6 on his draft paper and said, "That's the amount of air we should've used up."
He glanced around the room. "But how much air do we actually have?"
Everyone followed his gaze.
"The organizer left us a clue. They drew lines on the walls and floors, dividing the space into squares, each about one meter per side," Elliot Hayes said, pointing to the marks on the walls. "There are 3 rows and 4 columns on the wall, and 4 by 4 squares on the floor and ceiling. This means the room's dimensions are 4 meters by 4 meters by 3 meters, which gives us 48 cubic meters of space."
"And how could 48 cubic meters of air possibly be enough to contain 54.6 cubic meters?" Elliot Hayes frowned and said grimly. "After all this time, the air should be thinning out, but we don't feel short of breath at all..."
Dr. Clarke paused, then took Elliot Hayes' paper and pointed to 49.14 written on it. "What's this number?"
Elliot Hayes looked at him seriously and replied, "That's the air we should've consumed, but it's based on only nine people."
"Nine people?" Dr. Clarke was puzzled. There were clearly ten people in the room consuming air, so why was he calculating for only nine?
"I made a bold assumption," Elliot Hayes said flatly. "What if Basic Gemini isn't human? In that case, we wouldn't have enough air."
"You're crazy," Dr. Clarke muttered. "You're actually entertaining such a bizarre idea?"
"Is it really so hard to believe?" Elliot Hayes pointed to the headless corpse beside him. "Dr. Clarke, you should know a lot about skulls. Is it even possible for a human to crush a skull with just one hand?"
Dr. Clarke didn't answer because he knew it was impossible.
Forget human skulls—even a rabbit's skull would be hard to crush with one hand, especially on a table.
Elliot Hayes looked back at the group and said, "We're running out of time. I've already made my choice, now it's your turn. But remember, if anyone has a different answer than mine, we'll all be punished."
Everyone hesitated, feeling a chill at the thought.
A creature that can kill at will is about to be voted out. Would it go along with it?
Vincent Moretti glanced at Basic Gemini out of the corner of his eye. He hadn't moved. His deep eyes, peering through the goat mask, seemed lost in thought.
"Motherfucker, let's do this!" Vincent Moretti threw up his hand and wrote down "Basic Gemini."
The others hesitated for a moment but followed suit, writing down their answers.
Elliot Hayes scanned the room, and sure enough, everyone had written "Basic Gemini."
The clock struck 1:00. The game was over.
Basic Gemini slowly stepped forward and said, "Congratulations, you've all survived the Liar game. Now, I'll personally carry out the punishment."
Before anyone could react, Basic Gemini pulled a gun from his coat, pointed it at his chest, and pulled the trigger.
The deafening gunshot echoed throughout the narrow room.
In such a confined space, the sound seemed to linger, leaving everyone with a ringing in their ears.
Then, Basic Gemini covered his chest with his hands and began screaming in agony.
His scream quickly overwhelmed the sound of the gunshot, filling the room with a chilling intensity.
For over a minute, the screams continued, with Basic Gemini coughing up blood, until the sound gradually faded into painful groans.
"What... what's going on?" Vincent Moretti stared in disbelief. "Is he for real?"
A few minutes later, the groaning stopped.
The nine people suddenly found they could move their legs again.
Dr. Clarke was the first to stand up. He walked over to Basic Gemini's side and checked for a pulse on his neck, only to find it had stopped.
"Hey!" Dr. Clarke yelled at Basic Gemini. "The game's over! How do we get out of here?!"
But the quiet corpse gave no response.
The others slowly stood up as well.
Nothing in the room had changed, except for the new body lying on the floor.
"This is weird... Are we really dead?" Sasha Venus seemed stuck on this thought. She reached out and slapped her own face hard.
"Ouch!" Sasha Venus gasped. "It still hurts... Why can I feel pain if I'm dead?"
Vincent Moretti shook his head. "You've died before?"
"I..." Sasha Venus froze for a moment. "I've never died before..."
"So, who knows what happens after death? Maybe this is hell," Vincent Moretti said, glancing at the two corpses in the room. "I can feel the pain and smell the stench."
"So what are we? Ghosts?" writer Damien Reid asked.
Dr. Clarke checked his own body again. His heartbeat, body temperature, and pulse were normal. He was breathing normally, but he wasn't consuming any oxygen.
It seemed that death truly was a mystery—something beyond any medical explanation.
"Whatever we are, I don't want to be stuck in this room forever," Officer Logan said. "We need to find a way out."
Officer Logan walked over to Basic Gemini, grabbed the gun lying next to him, and casually checked the chamber.
This action startled everyone, and they instinctively moved away from him.
Officer Logan expertly opened the gun's chamber, checked the rounds, and found that the gun only had one bullet left. Now it was empty.
It was both good and bad news.
The good news was that they didn't need to worry about anyone using the gun to harm others. The bad news was that they couldn't protect themselves if another danger arose.
Meanwhile, Vincent Moretti, who wasn't afraid of much, slowly reached up and pulled Basic Gemini's mask off.
As the mask came off, Vincent Moretti finally saw his face—completely decayed. His eyes were rolled back, and there were no signs of life.
"What a terrifying face..."
Attorney Hart, standing nearby, echoed, "Yeah, that's one hell of a face."