The end of ten days

Chapter 3 The Skilled Man

"The Liar..."

Qi Xia silently repeated these three words in his mind. After confirming his identity, he calmly placed the card face down. Just a minute ago, he had entertained the thought of "everyone leaving alive." But now, things were different. Although he didn't know the eight people in front of him, this time, it had to be them who died.

"If no one has any objections, please remember the rules: in this game, 'there is one and only one liar'..." The goat-headed man pointed to the sexy girl on Qi Xia's left. "Starting from you, we'll proceed clockwise."

"Huh? Me?" The girl was startled, then pouted her lips. Qi Xia glanced to his left. If the storytelling began with the girl next to him and proceeded clockwise, it wouldn't be favorable for him. He would be the last to speak. In situations of extreme tension and pressure, people usually only remember the first and the last speaker. But raising an objection now would seem too abrupt. He had no choice but to take things one step at a time.

The sexy girl furrowed her brows, her large eyes darting around. Finally, she sighed and said, "Alright... I'll go first. But I've never been good at telling stories, so don't blame me if it's not great..."

Everyone remained silent, listening intently.

The girl reached out with slender fingers, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, and began, "My name is Tian Tian, and I'm a... uh... a 'technical worker.' We earn our living with our skills, and I'm not ashamed of it."

Only then did everyone notice that the girl named Tian Tian was dressed very lightly, wearing only a dirty, low-cut dress that left little to the imagination. But she didn't seem to care.

"My stories aren't exactly suitable for sharing... Anyway, you can call me 'action,' but asking me to 'describe' is really hard. I mean, if I were educated, I wouldn't be in this line of work, right?"

"Anyway, before I came here, I was working. But the client I met was really weird... Our shop provides a service area, but he insisted on going to his car, saying it would be more exciting... So, to make money, I had to go along with it."

"It was my first time working in a car. I didn't expect such a fancy-looking car to be so cramped inside. Before long, I was drenched in sweat. I really don't see what's so 'exciting' about this kind of place. During that time, the client's phone kept ringing, but he refused to answer it. I was so annoyed..."

Tian Tian seemed like she wanted to curse the client a bit more, but her eyes accidentally caught sight of the corpse on the table. She shuddered, took a deep breath, and continued, "Well, whatever. I chose this line of work, so I'll own it. But I never expected an 'earthquake' to happen. At first, I thought it was just us moving too much, but then I realized it was a real earthquake."

At the mention of "earthquake," everyone's expressions shifted slightly, as if recalling something.

"Our car was parked in an alley... and right above us was a huge billboard... At that moment, my head was sticking out of the car, and I saw it." Tian Tian gestured above her head, her voice trembling. "That massive billboard suddenly broke with a loud crash and fell right onto the car. Then I lost consciousness..."

She took another deep breath and said, "When I woke up, I was here. I was so scared..."

Tian Tian put on a pitiful expression, one that seemed practiced to make men feel sympathetic. The tattooed man sitting next to her was slightly stunned and said, "Everyone, do we need to continue?"

The man in the white coat looked at the tattooed man, confused. "What do you mean?"

"This 'lady' has already lied. We can just vote now," the tattooed man said confidently.

"W-what are you talking about?!" Tian Tian exclaimed, her face turning red. "Where did I lie?"

The tattooed man gave her a cold look and said, "Your name. You said your name is 'Tian Tian,' but all hostesses use pseudonyms. Names like 'Tian Tian,' 'Xiao Fang,' or 'Li Li' are very common. So by hiding your real name, you've already lied."

At this, Tian Tian's face flushed even redder. "Y-you're talking nonsense! My name is Tian Tian! I haven't used my real name in years!" She glanced around at everyone and added, "At my workplace, only calling me 'Tian Tian' will get you to me. No one knows my real name!"

Everyone began to ponder this, and Qi Xia's expression also turned serious. From Tian Tian's story, Qi Xia couldn't detect any signs of lying. Her storytelling was smooth and calm, as if she were chatting with friends. This could only mean two things: either she had rehearsed the story many times, or she was telling the truth.

But now, the tattooed man had provided another perspective: lying about her name. Lying about a name didn't involve logical or rational inconsistencies, making it hard to detect. After all, none of them had met before, and names could only be known through each other's accounts.

Qi Xia recalled the goat-headed man's words: "Among all the storytellers, there is one liar." The rule didn't specify that the liar had to lie about their story; lying about their name also counted.

Seeing that she was under suspicion, Tian Tian's eyes widened in panic. "I-if you still don't believe me, my real name is Zhang Li Juan... I'm from Shaanxi... You can try calling me by my real name, but I won't respond. I'll only respond to 'Tian Tian'... I... I..."

Hearing this, Qi Xia silently shook his head. This woman wasn't as clever as he had thought. In other words, she couldn't have fabricated this lie in advance, nor could she have come up with the idea of lying about her name on the spot.

The goat-headed man had said, "There is one and only one liar." That person could only be Qi Xia himself. If no one else noticed the issue with "Tian Tian," he had found a surefire way to win.

If he were to fabricate a name, "Qi" wasn't a great choice. While not rare, it wasn't common either, and it was easy to remember. He needed to avoid drawing attention. In other words, everything he said had to be as inconspicuous as possible.

So he decided to call himself "Li Ming." As for the rest of his story, he could tell it normally. That way, no matter how sharp the others were, they wouldn't be able to spot any flaws.

The game was about to end.