After seeing these three words, everyone's expression turned confused.
"I drew the 'Liar' card," Qi Xia said slowly. "But whether I reveal the card or not doesn't matter, because it's not important at all."
He picked up the card and casually tossed it in the center of the table.
"If I'm not mistaken, each of you has drawn a 'Liar' card."
Everyone remained still after hearing this. After a while, Officer Li spoke up and asked, "So... are you saying everyone lied in their stories?"
"That's right." Qi Xia nodded. "You all are smarter than I imagined. Each of you added a little lie to your stories, making them seem completely logical without affecting the plot."
Officer Li thought for a moment, as if something had occurred to him.
"If what you're saying is true..." Officer Li sighed deeply, "Then the problem becomes much more complicated."
Everyone looked at Officer Li, not understanding.
Officer Li continued, "According to the rules, we can only survive if everyone selects the 'Liar'. But in that case, the 'Liar' loses. So we…"
Dr. Zhao was the first to understand what Officer Li meant. "You mean... we can vote freely because everyone is lying? This becomes a 'guaranteed win' game, where only the person who is voted for dies?"
"Exactly." Officer Li nodded. "The best strategy now is to concentrate all votes on one person, which minimizes the damage, as the rest of us will survive…"
His words once again cast a heavy atmosphere over the group, while the Goathead remained unmoved.
So, in the end… they were just voting for one person to die?
Qi Xia sighed helplessly and looked at Officer Li. "Officer, is interrupting others' speech your hobby? Does it give you a sense of accomplishment?"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Officer Li frowned and replied. "Am I not helping you strategize?"
"I don't need your help." Qi Xia responded without hesitation. "Your idea will get everyone killed."
"What?" Officer Li froze. "Why would I kill everyone? Am I wrong? If everyone is lying, doesn't that mean any vote would work?"
"Officer Li, Goathead said, 'The rules are absolute,' and 'There is only one liar,' remember?"
"This…" Officer Li pondered for a moment and recalled that the Goathead had indeed said those two things.
"Let me lay it out for everyone," Qi Xia said coldly. "In this game, it seems like the 'Liar' has the greatest chance of winning because everyone thinks they are about to win. But if we vote randomly, the result will be that all of us will die."
Qiao Jiajin, sitting next to Qi Xia, touched his tattooed arm and muttered, "Because we've broken the 'rules'…"
"Exactly." Qi Xia nodded. "But the interesting part of this game is that we can't really tell whether someone is lying or not. As Lawyer Zhang said, we can only infer whether there's a contradiction in each person's story, but we're not from the same region. Even if something seems contradictory, we can't be 100% sure that someone is lying."
Qi Xia looked around at the thoughtful expressions of the others and continued, "The 'organizer' specifically selected the nine of us to sit here, and there must be a purpose behind it—to make us try to find flaws in what seem like interconnected stories, thinking we can spot the lie."
"But is that really right? How can we be sure that someone is definitely lying?" Qi Xia sneered. "In this game, the only 'Liar' we can absolutely confirm, based on the known clues, is this one person. What he said is completely different from our current situation."
Qi Xia took a pen and quickly scribbled the words "Human Goat" on the paper.
"I've been curious why Goathead introduced the strange name 'Human Goat' in the beginning. It seemed unnecessary. But now, it's clear that this is part of the game."
Everyone slowly turned their heads to look at 'Human Goat', who was still motionless.
Officer Li froze for a moment, then shook his head. "Liar, I have a question. Goathead said the rule is 'There is exactly one liar among the storytellers,' but he didn't tell a story."
"Didn't he?" Qi Xia shrugged nonchalantly. "I clearly remember Goathead said he brought us here to create a 'god.' Isn't that a strange story?"
Officer Li lowered his head silently. He felt what Qi Xia was saying made sense, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.
"But…" Dr. Zhao spoke up, "All your assumptions are based on the premise that 'everyone is a liar,' but why do you think we're all liars? What if we open the cards and you're the only 'Liar'?"
"You all couldn't be telling the truth." Qi Xia smiled bitterly, his expression somewhat desperate. "I spent some time verifying this, and not only do I know you're all lying, but I also know exactly where you lied."
He pushed his draft paper forward and then looked at Tian Tian beside him. "Tian Tian. You said you were 'working' in the car, and your head stuck out, with a falling billboard hitting the car, causing you to lose consciousness. Did that really happen?"
Tian Tian bit her lip, unwilling to speak.
"Qiao Jiajin, you fell from such a high place onto a billboard. Did you really just 'lose consciousness'?"
Qiao Jiajin remained silent.
"Teacher Xiao Ran, you were with that child. Did you really avoid that speeding car?"
Xiao Ran's eyes flickered with hesitation.
"Dr. Zhao, operating rooms are mostly built underground to stabilize the environment, but you said the 'ceiling' collapsed. What does it mean for the basement ceiling to collapse?"
Dr. Zhao turned his head away.
"Han Yimo, you said you had no idea what happened, but when you're focused on writing, you hate being disturbed. You didn't know how you ended up here?"
Han Yimo sighed slightly.
"Lawyer Zhang, your car was hit and fell into a crack. How deep was that crack?"
Lawyer Zhang crossed his arms, expressionless.
"Officer Li, what kind of car did you drive? One that can instantly recline the seats and free yourself from being trapped behind?"
Officer Li touched the red mark on his neck, but didn't respond.
"Lin Qing, your ceiling also collapsed, but you said your studio was on a high floor. If the high floor started collapsing, wouldn't the entire building collapse?"
Lin Qing lowered his head deeply.
Seeing the expressions of everyone, Qi Xia gritted his teeth and said:
"Everyone, admit it. Including myself, all of us are already dead."