When... had he lied?
"Hey! You... didn't you say you couldn't lie?"
Bailey had meant to demand an answer at the top of his voice, but the moment he met Xie Qi's eyes, his voice weakened. Still, he insisted on finishing what he had to say.
"Oh? Is your answer that I started lying when I said I couldn't lie?"
Xie Qi smiled happily as he confirmed Bailey's answer.
"No, wait while we discuss it."
Song Nan interrupted Bailey and Xie Qi's conversation, rubbing her forehead with a slight headache.
Their game was built on the premise that Xie Qi didn't lie. If he had lied from the very beginning, what was the point of playing?
More importantly, which of his statements were true, and which were false?
Were Stock and Brussels really dead?
Or had he killed them all and lied about it?
But two things could be confirmed: the chef should have been telling the truth in the first two questions about himself.
Once they had established that, they had a way to approach the rest.
Phil was also somewhat confused by Xie Qi's words this time and joined their discussion of his own accord.
"If we rule out the first two questions he asked, then he should have been telling the truth in his answers about Stock and Brussels' deaths in between."
Saul stroked his chin as he analyzed the situation.
Sofina nodded, indicating that she thought the same.
"Then when he said he hadn't killed all of them and implied that someone among us had killed someone, was that a lie?"
Bailey raised the question. He couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
As for the later question about the kitchen, everyone tacitly avoided bringing it up. They all had a feeling that something bad would happen if they did.
Annie listened quietly to their analysis without saying a word.
Phil interrupted them. "Why are you so sure he lied?"
His words drew everyone's attention. Bailey disliked him and challenged him. "Didn't the chef ask the question himself? No matter how distracted you are, shouldn't you take this seriously at a time like this?"
"What I mean is..."
Phil slapped both hands on the table, making Bailey flinch.
His lowered eyelids creased around his deep green eyes, lending him an unfamiliar, oppressive air.
"Since he said he couldn't lie, if he lied afterward, that would mean his first statement was false. So there are only two possibilities: either he was lying from the start, or—"
"He never lied at all."
Annie suddenly spoke up, finishing his sentence.
Their words quieted the others. Thinking carefully over everything the chef had said, they realized that was indeed the case.
Unless the chef was deliberately toying with them by creating an inexplicable logical contradiction, there were only two answers to the question.
One was that he had started lying when he said he couldn't lie.
The other was that he had never lied at all.
Which one should they choose?
[Whoa—really? The chef really didn't lie? When I heard his last question, I got goosebumps all over. I thought he'd been lying the whole time!]
[That's the clever thing about the question. Even if he didn't lie, asking it makes you unconsciously start thinking that he did.]
[Why do I feel like the chef really did lie? Like with the question about the large intestine in the kitchen, he didn't tell the truth either.]
[Not telling the truth doesn't mean he lied. To him, it was a decoration. He never denied that it was made from human intestines.]
[I thought he'd started lying when he talked about cooking, but thinking about it this way, everything the chef does is just for the sake of cooking for Mrs. Caster. There's nothing wrong with saying that.]
After discussing it, the six of them had much the same thoughts as the bullet comments.
They all leaned toward the conclusion that the chef hadn't lied.
So Phil gave their answer.
When Xie Qi heard it, he gave Phil a satisfied smile. "Correct~ I'm so moved. You actually trust me this much. It seems our relationship has improved rapidly over the past two days."
His smile gave Phil goosebumps all over. At a loss for words, Phil retorted, "Act normal. I'm not interested in men."
Even Xie Qi was momentarily at a loss for words. He looked at Phil with a false smile. "You certainly know how to joke, sir."
"All right, it's time for the guests to ask a question."
Next, Song Nan spoke up. Her throat was tight as she asked, "Why did you kill them? Did Mrs. Caster order you to do it?"
The question was crucial to their safety in the villa going forward.
If he was a murderer who killed everyone he saw, none of them would escape. They could only band together and fight him.
But if he was acting on orders, they might still have a chance to persuade him and escape together.
Everyone watched Xie Qi's reaction closely, but he remained completely at ease, tilting his head in thought. "Hmm—them? Do you mean those two guests? Didn't I say so already? I only killed the taller guest. I wasn't the one who killed the first."
He went on explaining, but realized no one cared about that point.
He could only sigh. "All right, as for the second guest, how should I put it? I invited him to meet the first guest, but as soon as he saw that guest's head, he started shouting and making a fuss. He even tried to attack me. What else could I do? I had no choice but to defend myself. I admit, I may have used a little excessive force, but that guest was so strong and sturdy. If I hadn't done that, I'd have been the one to die."
When he finished, he spread his hands, looking quite helpless.
But although he looked innocent, a strange feeling still lingered in everyone's hearts.
He had invited Brussels to see Stock's head?
Was that something a normal person would do?
Brussels' reaction was perfectly normal. Anyone who saw that only their companion's head remained would suspect the person who had brought them there.
Bailey had encountered serial killers when he was a lawyer. Now, he felt that the chef resembled those people: they all had the same lack of reverence for human life, treating people as though they were livestock.
By now, Xie Qi's image had taken shape in their minds. He was a murderer, a demon with no moral restraints who killed at will according to his own desires.
Were there any normal people in this villa?
The chef had been here for so long. Had no one noticed what he had done?
Saul instinctively reached for his gun, only to realize he hadn't brought it.
Xie Qi noticed his movement. Looking at that smiling face, Saul felt a chill run through him.
But Xie Qi said nothing. He simply turned back and clapped his hands, startling the six out of their thoughts.
"All right, that's enough about me. Let's move on to the next question."
"Hmm, for the fifth question, I'd really like to know, all of you guests here—"
"Have you ever eaten mutton?"