Someone with skills

"Liar..."

Qi Xia repeated the word to himself several times. Once he confirmed his role, he calmly turned his card facedown.

Just a minute earlier, he had entertained the idea of everyone getting out alive.

But things were different now.

Although he did not know any of the eight people before him, this time, they would have to be the ones to die.

"If no one has any objections, please remember the rules. In this game, there is one and only one liar..." Goat Head pointed at the sexy young woman to Qi Xia's left. "We'll start with you, then take turns clockwise."

"Huh? Me?" The young woman froze, then pouted.

Qi Xia turned to look. Starting with the young woman on his left and proceeding clockwise did not work in his favor.

He would be the last to tell his story.

Under extreme stress and pressure, people could usually remember only the first speaker and the last.

But objecting now would make him stand out too much. He could only take things as they came.

The sexy young woman knitted her brows, her large eyes darting about. Finally, she sighed and said, "Fine... I'll go first. But I've never been good at telling stories, even as a kid, so don't blame me if I do a bad job..."

No one knew what to say. They could only listen quietly.

The sexy young woman raised her slender fingers, tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, and said:

"My name is Tiantian. I'm a... um... a 'skilled worker.' We earn our money through our skills, and I don't think there's anything shameful about it."

Only then did everyone notice how little the young woman named Tiantian was wearing. She had on nothing but a filthy, low-cut minidress that failed to cover everything it should.

But she did not seem bothered by it.

"A lot of my stories aren't really suitable to share with everyone... Basically, ask me to 'do it' and I can, but ask me to 'describe it' and I honestly don't know where to start. After all, who would go into my line of work if they had any education...?"

"Anyway, I was working before I came here. But that client was seriously weird... Our place provided rooms for the service, but he insisted on going to his car. Said it would be more exciting that way... So, for the money, I had no choice but to go with him..."

"It was my first time working in a car. I never expected a car that looked so fancy to be so cramped inside. Before long, I was sweating all over. I honestly don't know what was supposed to be 'exciting' about that lousy place. His phone kept ringing the whole time, too, but he absolutely refused to answer it. It was driving me crazy..."

Tiantian seemed about to curse the client some more, but her gaze accidentally landed on the corpse on the table. She shuddered in fright, then took a deep breath and said:

"Oh, forget it. I chose this line of work, so I'll live with it. I just never expected an earthquake to hit out of nowhere. At first, I thought we were moving too much and that was why everything was shaking so hard. Who knew it was an actual earthquake?"

At the word "earthquake," everyone's expression shifted slightly, as though they had remembered something.

"Our car was parked in an alley... There was a huge billboard right above it... My head was sticking out of the car at the time, so I saw it." Tiantian gestured above her head, her voice trembling. "For some reason, that huge billboard snapped with a crash and fell straight onto the car. Then I blacked out..."

She let out another long breath and said, "When I woke up, I was here. I was scared out of my mind..."

Tiantian wore an aggrieved expression that looked carefully practiced, the kind that could tug at a man's heart.

The man with tattoo sleeves sitting beside her paused, then said, "Everyone, do we really need to keep telling our stories?"

The person in the white coat looked at him in surprise. "What do you mean?"

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

"You...! What are you talking about?!" Tiantian cried in alarm. "What did I lie about?"

The tattooed man gave Tiantian a cold look. "Your name. You said your name was 'Tiantian,' but all hostesses use aliases. Names like 'Tiantian,' 'Xiaofang,' and 'Lili' are common aliases. So by hiding your real name, you've already lied."

By the time he finished, Tiantian's face had flushed red.

"You... What nonsense are you spouting? My name is Tiantian! I haven't used my birth name in years!" She looked around at everyone and added, "Where I work, you can only find me by asking for 'Tiantian.' No one would even recognize my birth name!"

Everyone fell into thought, and Qi Xia's expression grew serious as well.

Qi Xia had detected no hint of a lie in what Tiantian had just said. Her pacing had been steady as she described her story, her tone relaxed.

That casual, chatting-with-friends style of storytelling suggested only two possibilities. Either she had made up the story long ago and rehearsed it to herself many times, or she was telling the truth.

But now the tattooed man had given Qi Xia another idea.

Lying about one's name.

A false name did not require any logical consistency or plausibility. Most people would have a hard time spotting a flaw.

After all, everyone here was a stranger, and they could only learn one another's names from what they were told.

Qi Xia carefully recalled Goat Head's words again. He had said, "Among all the people telling stories, one person has lied." The rule did not specify that the liar had to use a false story. A false name would work just as well.

Seeing that she was under suspicion, Tiantian widened her eyes, looking extremely nervous. "I-if you still don't believe me, my birth name is Zhang Lijuan... I'm from Shaanxi... You can try calling me by my birth name. I won't answer to it. I only answer to 'Tiantian'... I, I..."

At that, Qi Xia silently shook his head.

This woman was not as clever as he had imagined.

In other words, she could not have prepared this lie in advance, much less come up with the tactic of lying about her name on the spot.

Goat Head had said there was "one and only one liar," so that person could only be Qi Xia himself.

If no one else realized how significant the issue with "Tiantian" was, then he had found a surefire way to win.

If he was going to invent a name, "Qi" was not a good surname. It was not rare, but it was not particularly common either. He needed to avoid a surname that would stick in people's minds.

In other words, everything he told them had to attract as little attention as possible.

So he planned to call himself "Li Ming."

He could tell the rest of his story truthfully. That way, even the sharpest person could not possibly spot a flaw.

The game was already as good as over.