Would You Lie to Me?

Lin Mo couldn't openly go against Vought, so he played dumb.

"I don't know the whole truth."

He spread his hands.

"So I can't be sure."

That was true. Although he knew what had happened in the original story, he couldn't guarantee that every detail matched reality.

Joanna, however, wasn't dwelling on whether Vought was right or wrong. Her thoughts had already turned to herself, and she asked a different question.

"Could what they told me be lies too?"

"Some of it is true,"

Lin Mo said.

"Some of it might be incomplete."

"What does incomplete mean?"

"They tell you one part and hide the part they don't want you to know. So it doesn't exactly count as lying."

Joanna lowered her head and looked at the back of her slender hand. Countless fragments of the past churned through her mind. Blood draws were for her health. Ability tests were meant to help her. Isolation was for her safety.

Even her precious chances to see Lin Mo came with a rule: she could have them only if she obediently followed instructions. There might be some truth in all those things, but what else had they kept from her?

"They said the experiments were for my own good,"

Joanna said.

"Is that true?"

Lin Mo didn't answer immediately. He knew Vought was listening, and he had known this question would come sooner or later.

"Some tests can tell them about your physical condition."

"That part is true."

"What about the rest?"

"They also want to find out what your abilities can do."

"Why?"

"Maybe your abilities are valuable to the company."

Joanna looked up.

"They take care of me because I'm valuable?"

Lin Mo's heart sank. She had caught the crucial implication faster than she would have before.

"I don't know what each of them is thinking,"

he said.

"Some might genuinely not want you to get hurt. Others might care more about the experimental results. People are different."

It was something he had been teaching her all along.

The cruelty of some researchers didn't mean she should see them all as the same enemy. But the kindness of a few didn't mean everything the company did was well-intentioned, either.

Joanna fell quiet for a while. She looked back at the dark television and thought of Soldier Boy.

"Did he know they were going to say he died?"

Joanna asked.

"I don't know."

"If he isn't dead, would he be angry?"

"Probably."

Joanna looked utterly confused.

"Why doesn't he come back and tell everyone?"

"Maybe he can't."

"Because he's locked up?"

Lin Mo looked at her.

Joanna had clearly reached that conclusion from her own experience.

If someone couldn't appear or refute the story others had made up about him, the easiest explanation for her to imagine was that he had been confined, just as she once had.

"I don't know,"

Lin Mo said slowly.

In the Game Room, Joanna had already shifted her attention from Soldier Boy back to Lin Mo.

"Would you lie to me?"

Lin Mo hadn't expected her to ask so soon.

This was more dangerous than asking whether Vought would lie. Joanna's trust in the company was still uncertain.

But her trust in Lin Mo was almost absolute. She had always believed he wouldn't hurt her.

That he wouldn't suddenly change the rules like the researchers, or disappear for good because she refused an experiment.

If Lin Mo said he never would, Joanna would feel safe at once. It was also the easiest answer for preserving their bond.

But he couldn't promise that. One day, for some reason, he might have to hide something from her.

"I might,"

Lin Mo finally said.

Joanna visibly stiffened the moment the words left his mouth.

"You would lie to me?"

Her voice was very soft.

"Anyone might say something that isn't true." Lin Mo met her gaze without flinching.

"Why?"

"Maybe they're afraid. Maybe they don't know how to tell you. Or maybe they think keeping quiet for now will protect you. That's what people call a well-intentioned lie."

Joanna immediately grabbed his wrist.

"Are you lying to me now?"

"No," Lin Mo answered firmly.

"How can you prove it?"

Lin Mo was briefly at a loss. His own argument had come back to bite him. You really won't let anything go, will you? One question after another.

But anyone who lied could claim they weren't lying, and Joanna had clearly realized that too.

Her fingers gradually tightened, though she still controlled her strength and didn't hurt him.

What she really wanted was an absolute promise. She wanted Lin Mo to tell her, I'll never lie to you. I'm different from everyone else. You can always believe every word I say.

But Lin Mo refused to give her a guarantee he might not be able to keep.

If a promise could be broken, he shouldn't make it just to comfort her now.

"I can't promise I'll never make a mistake,"

Lin Mo said.

"And I can't promise there won't be things I'm afraid to tell you someday."

Unease filled Joanna's eyes, and her voice trembled slightly.

"Then how will I know?"

"You can ask questions. You can watch what I do. And you don't have to believe me right away."

Lin Mo gently held her hand in return, offering what comfort he could.

"But what I'm saying now is true."

Joanna looked at him.

"What's true?"

"Vought might lie to you."

"I'm not always right, either. And right now, I'm choosing to tell you all this."

Joanna relaxed a little. She didn't like the answer. It gave her no absolute sense of safety.

Instead, it told her that even the person she trusted most might sometimes be unreliable.

But that was also why it felt more truthful than I'll never lie to you.

"What you're saying now is true,"

Joanna repeated slowly.

"Yes."

"What about later?"

"You can keep asking me."

"Will I be able to tell when you're lying?"

"Sometimes."

"How?"

Lin Mo was about to tell her to look for whether a person's expression, tone, and actions matched their words.

But before he could speak, Joanna tilted her head. Her gaze passed through the reinforced glass toward the Observation Room.

The researchers behind the glass were indistinct. An ordinary person would have heard only the muffled hum of equipment, but Joanna's senses were astonishingly sharp. She could still make them out.

Breathing. Heartbeats.

In the past, she had noticed such changes instinctively only when she felt threatened.

Now, for the first time, she deliberately connected those tiny physical reactions to whether someone was telling the truth.

The room's speaker suddenly came on, delivering a calm, standardized announcement in a voice whose tone gave nothing away.

"News-viewing time is over."

"Please return to your scheduled activities."

As soon as the announcement ended, Joanna's eyes narrowed slightly. Her ears twitched, catching a subtle change behind the screen.

She kept her head tilted and listened quietly for a moment.

"His heartbeat sped up when he spoke,"

she said softly. The researchers in the Observation Room immediately changed expressions. The man who had spoken instinctively touched his chest.

Through the glass, Joanna saw the tiny movement clearly. She also heard his heart beating even faster.

She looked at Lin Mo, seeking confirmation.