Chapter 113: The Logic Behind the Birth of Deceiver's Tongue

The atmosphere froze at that very moment.

The Little Girl looked at the smoking Old Man, then turned her gaze to the overweight nerd.

'The dead Chen Ran was his arrogant persona, while the muscular youth must have been Lin Jiabei's wrathful persona.'

'The flaws of those two personas were simply too great, so they were the first to be eliminated by the others.'

'Whose persona was the middle-aged police officer? Lin Jiabei's. His gun showed a trace of red after killing the muscular youth.'

'Police represent justice. Two police officers appeared in the small motel, which means the female officer should be Chen Ran's justice persona.'

'The calm, chain-smoking Old Man must be Chen Ran's rational persona.'

'The overweight nerd, skilled at disguise and plotting, should be Chen Ran's cautious persona.'

'In that case, between the Old Man, the overweight nerd, and the female officer, who is Chen Ran's primary persona?'

'Or could it be that Chen Ran's primary persona hasn't even realized its true identity yet?'

'In this Werewolf game, one must absolutely not jump to conclusions until the final moment.'

Troubled expressions surfaced on the three of them. They were keenly aware that the five survivors were all the superior personas of Chen Ran and Lin Jiabei.

These five not only possessed high vigilance, but they also refused to jump to conclusions, making it incredibly difficult to trick them into telling a lie. Based on the current deductions, none of them had lied, and they had all seen through the traps set for each other.

"I have a question. Is there a possibility that the female officer from earlier isn't actually a real police officer?" the overweight nerd asked.

"What do you mean?"

The overweight nerd pointed at the Old Man. "When we entered the motel earlier, we saw him at the counter, so we assumed he was the owner. Even if we called him the boss, it wouldn't count as a lie."

"By the same logic, since she was wearing a police uniform, calling her an officer wouldn't be a lie either."

It was just like the Ghost Gate Pass in the Novice Tutorial Room. If a Newbie unknowingly called it the Ghost Gate Pass, they wouldn't be considered lying.

"So I was thinking, could Lin Jiabei and the two police officers have swapped identities on their way here?"

"For example, what if Lin Jiabei is actually the female officer, and the female officer is the driver of the light red car? They could have swapped clothes."

"If this deduction holds true, we just need to get the female officer to state that she is a cop. That statement would become a Deceiver's Tongue, and then we could simply negate it."

"In that case, Lin Jiabei's Deceiver's Tongue about driving the light red car, and the female officer's Deceiver's Tongue about being a cop, would both..."

"Turn into lies!"

The other two nodded. The overweight nerd's deduction had opened up a new line of thought for them.

"However, what is the basis for this theory?" the Little Girl inquired.

"Two points. First, the middle-aged officer claimed their car was knocked into a tree trunk by a white car. Although it was confirmed that a white car didn't hit them, the female officer was genuinely injured. She was still bleeding when they first arrived."

"Furthermore, if the female and middle-aged officers were riding in the same cruiser, why was only the female officer hurt while the man remained completely unscathed? That is highly illogical."

"Second, when the female officer first entered the small motel, we all noticed she didn't have a gun on her. But just now, she suddenly had one. This is highly suspicious..."

"According to normal logic, if the police car crashed and the female officer was injured, with the middle-aged officer trying to save her, her gun should have been left inside or right outside the vehicle in the immediate aftermath."

"That means there was a high probability her gun was still inside the cruiser."

"Of course, while she was lying in bed pretending to be unconscious, she had plenty of time to return to the police car down the muddy road to retrieve her pistol."

"But there are too many uncontrollable factors. For instance, if the first gunshot had occurred earlier, everyone would have gathered upon hearing the shot to do a headcount. If they realized she was missing from her room, wouldn't her cover have been blown?"

The Little Girl and the Old Man nodded in agreement. A risky move that could be exposed at any moment couldn't possibly have been part of a deliberate plan.

"Unless..."

The Old Man frowned. "Unless the person sleeping in the bed earlier was actually Lin Jiabei, while the female officer went back to the cruiser to get the gun."

'The police car crashed, injuring the female officer, yet the middle-aged officer was completely unharmed.'

'Could it be that the person driving the red car was actually the female officer, and after colliding with the police cruiser, the middle-aged officer dressed her in Lin Jiabei's police uniform?'

'However, the three of them must have reached an agreement not to subject each other to Judgment, working together to weave this lie.'

'How did the lie turn into a Deceiver's Tongue?'

'It was the uniform!'

'At the very beginning, we identified her as an officer based on the uniform she wore.'

'Following that logic, Lin Jiabei naturally became the driver of the light red car.'

'Thus, the lie transformed into a Deceiver's Tongue.'

'Therefore, even if Lin Jiabei—who is fundamentally a police officer—claimed she was driving the light red car, it wouldn't count as a lie.'

'A Deceiver's Tongue is just that overbearing!'

'A Deceiver's Tongue is a lie forged into truth. The very moment we accepted the woman in the uniform as a real police officer, the Deceiver's Tongue was established!'

Realizing this, beads of cold sweat rolled down their temples.

The Old Man's hands trembled as he lit his cigarette. If the overweight nerd's theory was correct...

The three of them had a high chance of being played to death by Lin Jiabei and the female officer.

With no time to waste, they immediately racked their brains to recall if they had said anything they shouldn't have.

A long while passed.

Their expressions finally relaxed. After all, they were the superior personas of Chen Ran and Lin Jiabei. Every word they spoke had been carefully considered, so they wouldn't fall for a trap that easily.

"This is going to be troublesome. First, we need Confirmation that our theory is correct. Secondly, we have to negate a specific link in their Deceiver's Tongue..." The Little Girl's face was filled with grave concern.

"Actually, it's not that complicated. The essence of a Deceiver's Tongue is that the victim speaks the truth while the Ghost Whisperer tells a lie. However, the victim cannot use this Deceiver's Tongue to pass Judgment on the Ghost Whisperer, and conversely, the Ghost Whisperer cannot use it to pass Judgment on the victim."

"The core of a Deceiver's Tongue is that the Ghost Whisperer builds traps around it to trick us into telling a lie."

"In other words, the female officer and Lin Jiabei will next set up traps based on this Deceiver's Tongue to deceive us into lying."

Even though the Old Man offered such rational reassurance.

The three of them knew perfectly well that Hell determined lies based on objective evidence. There was no such thing as: 'I think you lied, therefore you lied.'

But a Deceiver's Tongue was entirely subjective.

I lied, but I turned my lie into the truth, and since you believe I'm telling the truth, then what I say becomes the truth.

Then, when you finally realize that I have woven a Deceiver's Tongue, well, my apologies, but you must negate a single link of my Deceiver's Tongue from an objective standpoint before I can be judged a liar.

Furthermore, this specific link must be absolute, possessing no other possibilities, for someone to negate it using objective facts.

Therefore, in a duel between a Ghost Whisperer and a Liar-Slayer, the Ghost Whisperer was often the one initiating the attack, while the Liar-Slayer was forced into a passive defense, desperately searching for a flaw.

As the three of them pondered.

Crash! A loud noise echoed from the second floor, sounding as if something had just shattered.

The expressions on the faces of the Little Girl, the overweight nerd, and the Old Man grew incredibly grim.

'It's here!'

'The trap set by the Ghost Whisperer, revolving around the Deceiver's Tongue... It's starting!'