Chapter 114: Three Versions (1)

The three of them arrived on the second floor.

Looking at the eight rooms, only the doors to Room 207 and Room 208 were ajar, with no light coming from within.

The three exchanged glances.

'There are people in both Room 207 and Room 208. The one wearing the police uniform might not be the female police officer, and the one not wearing the uniform might not be Lin Jiabei.'

'The crux of this Deceiver's Tongue is that, until the female police officer's identity is actively denied, she remains the female police officer regardless of whether she wears the uniform.'

'If this logic gets mixed up, things will likely go wrong very soon.'

'Furthermore, before it is denied, we cannot state our deductions with absolute certainty.'

'Actually, none of this matters. The most important thing is how to kill the others.'

All three harbored their own dark designs.

No response.

This meant that the object shattered earlier was the lightbulb in this very room. Unhurried, the Old Man pulled a flashlight from his pocket.

He shined it forward.

The person standing by the window was facing away from them, obscuring their face, but they were not wearing a police uniform. Instead, they wore Lin Jiabei's clothes.

Before they could step closer, the figure voluntarily turned around and looked at the trio.

It was the female police officer!

Under their astonished gazes, the female police officer walked over to the door and shut it.

She looked at the three and smiled. "I know you want to kill each other, and by that same logic, I want to kill Lin Jiabei too. However..."

She glanced at the plump nerd. "Do you really believe his deductions?"

"Since you've heard the version told by the middle-aged policeman, why not listen to my version? But because the Deceiver's Tongue has already become the truth, I can only say this: what I am about to tell you might be real, or it might be something I made up."

The three were taken aback.

They quickly realized the situation. At this moment, the Deceiver's Tongue had already become the truth. If the female police officer told a different version of events, she had no way to objectively prove that she was telling the truth.

As a result, it would be judged as a lie.

Simply put, even if she had experienced it firsthand and was indeed telling the truth, the existence of a different version of the Deceiver's Tongue—which was currently accepted as the truth—meant that...

Until the Deceiver's Tongue was actively denied, any personal experience she recounted would be treated as a lie.

Therefore.

She said, "It might be real, or it might be something I made up."

This way.

Regardless of whether the Deceiver's Tongue was denied or not, her account of her personal experiences would never be judged as a lie.

This was the Avoidance of Lying!

Furthermore, the phrase "or it might be something I made up" allowed her to openly smuggle in her own hidden agenda.

Just from the female police officer's opening statement alone, the three felt their brains spinning wildly into overdrive.

Heaven only knew what kind of mind-bending narrative awaited them next.

The female police officer gathered her words:

"I was driving a light red car when I was hit by a police cruiser on the road. I was severely injured. I knew that if I didn't discard my pistol before losing consciousness, anyone who tried to save me would be repelled by the gun's protective mechanism. However, I couldn't just leave the gun in the car either. I was afraid the person who hit me would tow the car away somewhere else, like a cliff, which would make it impossible for me to retrieve the pistol."

"So, I steeled myself and, before the people in the police cruiser could get out, I tossed the gun out the window into the bushes, and then I passed out."

"When I woke up, I found myself wearing a police uniform, sitting in the passenger seat of the police car. The middle-aged policeman was in the driver's seat."

"Additionally, I noticed there were actually two light red cars ahead of us."

"At that moment, I realized something was wrong, so I chose to play dead. I was brought to The Small Hotel by the middle-aged policeman. But without my gun, my subsequent situation would be incredibly passive."

"Therefore, I planned to climb out the window to go retrieve the gun. But I figured that if I just left like that, logically speaking, it would leave behind many unpredictable loopholes."

Hearing this, the three pondered silently.

'According to her, if someone discovered she wasn't in her room, the blame for killing Chen Ran, killing the muscular youth, and other crimes would most likely be pinned on her. If that happened, the people in The Small Hotel would be on high alert against her, and trying to trick others into lying would become harder than scaling the heavens.'

The plump nerd asked, "If what you're saying is the truth, you can go downstairs and tell everyone what happened. You are a direct witness to the entire incident. Your words could possibly crush the Deceiver's Tongue woven by the middle-aged policeman."

The implications of the words "if," "can," and "possibly" were self-evident.

"When that time comes, not only will the middle-aged policeman be judged as lying, but Lin Jiabei will also be judged as lying."

The female police officer cast a sidelong glance at him, her gaze piercing as if she could see right through the plump nerd's innermost thoughts.

"Everyone here is smart, so stop playing these kinds of cheap tricks."

"If I go downstairs and deny the Deceiver's Tongue, I have to produce evidence. Otherwise, I will be judged as lying."

The Old Man and the Little Girl also looked speechlessly at the troublemaking plump nerd.

'Right now, the female police officer has to preemptively apply Avoidance of Lying even for her own personal experiences. How could she possibly dare to go downstairs and tell the truth?'

'The moment she opened her mouth, it would be judged as a lie. He was trying to get her killed!'

'No, rather, he is trying to trick us into following this line of thought to deny the Deceiver's Tongue, which would result in us being judged as lying.'

'What a clumsy deception!'

The female police officer continued her story:

"So, I anticipated the mastermind's anticipation. Before climbing out the window, I took off the police uniform and memorized its exact position and the way it was folded."

"So, I anticipated the mastermind's anticipation. Before climbing out the window, I took off the police uniform and memorized its exact position and the way it was folded."

"Sure enough, when I retrieved my gun, I found that the police uniform had been moved. I carefully inspected every inch of the fabric and found it slightly damp. Therefore, the person who put on the uniform and disguised herself as me lying in bed was highly likely the escaping Lin Jiabei."

"I put the uniform back on, hid the pistol in the bedside cabinet, and continued to play dead."

"Not long after, the middle-aged policeman came to my room and moved me to Room 207."

"I'm sure you have all deduced what happened next."

After listening to her version of events, the three rubbed their temples, donning a Mask of Agony.

In the version told by the female police officer, she was not the weaver of the Deceiver's Tongue.

Furthermore, she had anticipated Lin Jiabei's own anticipation. Before retrieving the pistol, she had taken off the police uniform, allowing Lin Jiabei to disguise herself as her.

In other words...

In the version she recounted, the female police officer had cleanly absolved herself of everything.

The general implication was this: the Deceiver's Tongue had nothing to do with her. If they wanted to deny it, they should go deny Lin Jiabei.

What was even more interesting was that she had taken advantage of the fact that the Deceiver's Tongue had already become the truth to logically state the phrase for Avoidance of Lying:

"What I am about to tell you might be real, or it might be something I made up."

Seeing that the three remained silent, the female police officer ramped up the pressure. "I think there might be a flaw in your logic. Is there a possibility that both police officers are men?"

"If the second police officer is Chen Ran, then once the Deceiver's Tongue is denied, Lin Jiabei's earlier defense downstairs wouldn't be a lie either. She really was driving a light red car. After all, when I woke up halfway through, I definitely saw two light red cars."

"One was mine, and since Chen Ran is a police officer, then the other car must belong to..."

"Lin Jiabei!"