Chapter 5 The Doctor
1235 Words
“I…” The man in the white coat appeared much calmer than the others, even the corpse on the table didn’t seem to affect him. “My name is Zhao Haibo, I’m a doctor. You can probably 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. Over the past six months, it had continued to enlarge, causing mild hydrocephalus. If it wasn’t treated with a craniotomy in time, it would become life-threatening.”
“I chose the frontal lobe surgical approach, directly puncturing into the ventricle under CT guidance. This kind of surgery always carries significant risks, but the woman was willing to take the gamble for the sake of staying with her young son in the long run.”
“Normally, in an operating room, even the slightest breeze is prohibited to maintain a stable environment. But no one expected something far worse than wind to arrive.”
“When the earthquake hit, I had just removed the woman’s skull and was cutting the dura mater. If this step went wrong, it could easily cause brain contusions, leaving devastating aftereffects.”
“I made a quick decision to stop the surgery and temporarily place her skull back. Otherwise, in an environment full of dust, the woman’s life would be in grave danger.”
“But I didn’t expect this to be harder than I imagined. I could barely stand—how could I possibly place a small piece of skull back accurately?”
“The nurse beside me bumped into me, making me stumble. No one could maintain their balance. In the chaos, I could only cover the woman’s head with a sterile sheet first and then turn around to organize the evacuation. But at that moment, a medical trolley crashed into my leg, sending me to the ground.”
“Before I could get back up, the operating room ceiling cracked open. I immediately lost consciousness.”
After hearing the doctor’s account, everyone looked unsettled.
Throughout his story, he had used many medical terms. If even one of those terms was fabricated, no one would be able to tell.
“Dr. Zhao, where are you from?” The burly man asked casually.
“I don’t think I’m obligated to answer your question,” Dr. Zhao replied. “My story is already finished.”
The burly man opened his mouth as if to say something but ultimately remained silent.
“Is it… my turn now?” A bespectacled young man hesitated before speaking. “My name is Han Yimo, and I’m a—”
“Wait.”
The goat-headed figure suddenly interrupted Han Yimo.
Startled, Han Yimo turned back in confusion. “W-what is it?”
“It’s ‘intermission time,’” the goat-headed figure grinned. “We’ll take a twenty-minute break now.”
Everyone was taken aback.
A break? At a time like this?
Qi Xia glanced at the clock on the table. It had been half an hour since they woke up. It was now 12:30.
“So this break is mandatory,” Qi Xia thought to himself. “At exactly 12:30, no matter who is speaking, the game forces a break…”
But the game had only been going for thirty minutes, and now they had to spend twenty minutes resting?
Qi Xia frowned. He knew this wasn’t something he should dwell on. The organizer of this game was clearly insane—there was no point in applying normal logic to it.
All he could do was repeat one thing over and over in his mind:
“My name is Li Ming, I’m from Shandong.”
He had to ingrain this statement into his memory so that when his turn came, he could say it without hesitation.
The atmosphere remained heavy as everyone sat in silence.
Even though it was called an “intermission,” the tension only grew.
“Can we… talk?” The burly man asked the goat-headed figure.
“Oh, of course. This is your free time; I have no authority to interfere.”
The burly man nodded, then turned back to Dr. Zhao. “Dr. Zhao, where exactly are you from?”
Dr. Zhao’s expression darkened. “I’ve noticed that you’ve been targeting me from the beginning. Why must I tell you where I’m from?”
“Don’t get me wrong, I mean no harm,” the burly man said steadily. “The more you share, the more credible your story becomes. Since everyone else has mentioned their hometowns, there’s no reason for you to hide yours, is there?”
“The more I share, the more credible I become?” Dr. Zhao scoffed and shook his head. “All I know is ‘the more you say, the more mistakes you make.’ If the rules are absolute, then my story is flawless. Besides, I don’t trust any of you.”
“That’s a bit unfair,” the burly man said. “There are nine people here, and only one is the liar. If you’re willing to cooperate with us, we can work together to find the impostor. The more you evade, the more suspicious you become. This is the second time I’m asking—are you still going to keep it a secret?”
The burly man was clearly skilled at interrogation. With just a few words, he had pushed Dr. Zhao into a logical dead end.
His point was clear: only the liar had no reason to trust others, because they already knew their own identity.
If Dr. Zhao continued to evade the question, he would become the prime suspect.
But someone capable of becoming a neurosurgeon was no ordinary person. With a cold snort, he countered, “Then let me ask you first—who are you? What do you do?”
“Me?” The burly man didn’t expect Dr. Zhao to turn the tables on him, looking momentarily uneasy.
“That’s right. Since you were so persistent in questioning me after my story, I should be able to ask you before yours, right?” Dr. Zhao smiled. “Seems fair to me.”
The burly man pondered for a moment before nodding. “You’re right. I have nothing to hide. My name is Li Shangwu. I’m a police detective.”
At these words, the others turned to look at him.
At a time like this, the words “police detective” provided an unimaginable sense of security.
“You’re a cop?!” Dr. Zhao was momentarily stunned.
No wonder this man had seemed so investigative from the start. He was also the first to suggest that they should try to keep everyone alive. Maybe he really wanted to get them all out of here.
Dr. Zhao’s attitude shifted noticeably. “If that’s the case, then I apologize for my previous attitude. I’m from Jiangsu.”
At that moment, the tattooed man, Qiao Jiajin, frowned. “Hold on, Dr. Zhao—are you seriously going to trust this ‘Detective Li’?”
“Hm?” Dr. Zhao looked at Qiao Jiajin in confusion. “What are you trying to say?”
Qiao Jiajin tapped his fingers on the table and said flatly, “Right now, it’s not ‘storytelling time.’ In other words… anyone can lie.”
- Writer
