"Stop trying to sow discord," Officer Li glared at Qiao Jiajin, his tone stern. "You're a loan shark, and I'm a police officer. Who do you think everyone here will trust?"
Qi Xia glanced at the arguing group. He believed Officer Li wasn't lying—he truly was a criminal investigator.
But his approach was flawed.
Perhaps it was his professional instincts, or maybe his sense of justice, but he was determined to organize everyone into an orderly group.
The intermission was already halfway over, and the room gradually fell silent.
Qi Xia had repeated the phrase "My name is Li Ming" countless times in his head by now, to the point where it was starting to irritate him.
After all, there was a corpse with a shattered skull lying right next to him, making it nearly impossible to focus.
Blood dripped from the table onto the floor with a steady "drip… drip…". The group had been trapped in the same room with the body for almost an hour, and a strange, putrid odor was beginning to fill the air.
Qi Xia glanced absentmindedly at the corpse beside him. His pants were already stained and filthy.
When a person dies, various bodily functions cease suddenly, leading to loss of muscle control and involuntary excretions.
Before the stench of decomposition fully sets in, the sharp smell of bodily fluids already assaults the senses.
Qi Xia and a young woman were seated on either side of the corpse. The woman, clearly disgusted by the smell, kept her hand over her nose and mouth.
Another ten minutes passed, and finally, Goathead spoke again: "The twenty-minute intermission is over. The game will now resume."
The young man named Han Yimo steadied himself, took a deep breath, and began: "My name is Han Yimo. I'm an online novelist."
"Before I arrived here, I was at my rented apartment, working on the final chapter of one of my novels. Since the finale involved a cast of over a hundred characters, I was intensely focused on writing and didn't notice anything happening outside."
"In fact… I didn't even realize when the earthquake struck or when I lost consciousness."
Han Yimo's story was concise and vastly different from those before him. His account seemed completely "independent" and ended in just a few sentences.
"That's it?" The muscular man blinked in surprise. "You're just going to end with 'I don't know'?"
"Because I can't lie, I don't need to fabricate an answer just to cater to everyone," Han Yimo replied calmly. His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an inexplicable sense of credibility.
"Fine... Let's move to the next person," Officer Li said, still visibly skeptical. He turned to the next individual. "It's the lady's turn."
"Hey, cop." Qiao Jiajin looked displeased with Officer Li's attitude. "We're all 'participants' here. Stop making it seem like you're the team captain."
"Someone has to organize everyone," Officer Li retorted. "I've already said, there's only one enemy among us. The other eight have to work together."
"And who made you the leader?" Qiao Jiajin sneered, ignoring Officer Li's words. "Outside, maybe I'd be afraid of you. But in this situation, no one knows if you're the liar."
"Enough, you two," the cold woman interjected, interrupting their argument.
From the beginning, this woman had been logical and composed, even accusing Goathead of holding them captive for 24 hours.
Seeing the two calm down, she continued: "In this so-called 'game,' whoever wins in the end will be seen as having committed 'indirect murder.' That's what you should really be considering."
Hearing this, Qi Xia's expression shifted slightly.
If he truly made it out of this room alive, it would mean he had "killed" the other eight participants.
But what could he do about it?
The card in front of him clearly stated he was a "Liar." Who would willingly sacrifice their own life to save others?
"My name is Zhang Chenzhen. I'm a lawyer," the cold woman said, crossing her arms with a blank expression. "It's unfortunate to meet you all under such bizarre circumstances. Otherwise, I would've handed out my business card."
The group didn't seem to understand her humor, but she didn't appear to care.
"Before I came here, I was organizing materials for a court case. My client had been scammed out of two million yuan. The amount was significant, and the circumstances were egregious."
When she mentioned "two million yuan," most of the group remained expressionless, but Qiao Jiajin's face showed a flicker of shock. "Two million?" he asked.
"That's right, two million. Lawyers are supposed to be impartial and unbiased, but we do have personal feelings. That man took out high-interest loans to support his family, and it's deeply concerning. But illegal lending is a separate case and unrelated to me."
"When the earthquake struck, I was driving to meet my client. I was on Qingyang Avenue, just past Du Fu's Cottage, near Wuhou Shrine. I remember… I wasn't driving fast, only about 40 km/h. Then I saw the ground ahead cracking open."
"I braked immediately, coming to a stop right in front of the crack. But I didn't expect the car behind me to fail to stop in time, causing a chain reaction of collisions."
"I heard several loud crashes, and my car was pushed into the crack. After that, I blacked out and woke up here."
Another story concluded. Only three people had yet to share their accounts.
"Wuhou Shrine…" Dr. Zhao muttered thoughtfully. "You mean the one in Chengdu?"
"Yes, I work in Chengdu."
It seemed this earthquake had affected the entire nation.
Judging from the fragmented stories, figuring out who was lying was proving incredibly difficult.
"It's my turn now," Officer Li said, looking around the group. "As I mentioned earlier, my name is Li Shangwu. I'm a criminal investigator from Inner Mongolia."
"Before coming here, I was staking out a fraud suspect. We had reliable information and had pinpointed the suspect's location."
"The suspect had scammed someone out of two million yuan. It was the first major fraud case in our city this year."
"My partner and I had been sitting in the car, watching the suspect's residence, waiting for him to show up."
"But the suspect turned out to be even smarter than we thought. He must've sensed danger because he didn't show up for three days."
"During those three days, we stayed in the car, eating, drinking, and even relieving ourselves there. It was mentally exhausting."
"But do you know what's worse for a grown man than being hungry or thirsty?"
"Running out of cigarettes."
"Neither of us had a single cigarette left. Technically, we weren't supposed to leave our post, but the craving was unbearable."
"So I sent my partner to go buy cigarettes while I kept watching the suspect's residence."
"But just after my partner left, the ground started shaking violently. I was about to get out of the car to see what was happening when someone suddenly wrapped a thin wire around my neck from behind."
"Even though I'm trained in close combat, it's incredibly difficult to deal with a wire coming from the back seat. I couldn't reach the person behind me, nor could I remove the wire from my neck."
Everyone stared at Officer Li. They noticed a visible red mark around his neck.
"I immediately reclined my seat to regain my breath, but I still couldn't turn around. My large frame was stuck under the steering wheel."
"While I was down, the attacker struck me hard on the head with something. I blacked out and woke up here."
After hearing Officer Li's story, suspicion began to rise among the group.
His account was completely different. Before him, all the participants had described accidents that led to their injuries and unconsciousness.
He was the only one who claimed to have been attacked.
If they had to choose the most suspicious person, wouldn't it be him?
[--------------------------------------------]
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