Chapter 122: Debriefing

The text on the main doors read:

[Chen Ran: Cleared.]

[Lin Jiabao: Dead.]

(Lin Jiabei occupying Lin Jiabao's body)

Bang! The moment the text materialized, Qiu Yinong immediately used the Successor's pistol to execute Lin Jiabao, who had lost all his Poker Chips.

Simultaneously, a wall at the front of the Third Secret Room slowly rose, signaling that they could now return to the 18th Level.

"Hey, hey, hey. You could have at least let him say his last words before pulling the trigger."

Chen Ran's lazy voice drifted from the entrance of the Secret Room. His tone lacked its usual vigor; he was exhausted, thoroughly drained on a mental level.

"Lin Jiabao was occupying Lin Jiabei's body," Qiu Yinong replied flatly. "If he got his hands on Lin Jiabei's Liar-Slayer, he might have been able to unleash an entirely new Skill."

Now that Lin Jiabei was dead, the Thought Stamp no longer existed. If Lin Jiabao wanted to survive, there was no telling what extreme measures he might have resorted to.

"I am going to rest for a bit."

With that, Chen Ran closed his eyes. Qiu Yinong was in no rush either; she began to survey the Secret Room, looking for anything valuable they could take with them.

Both Successors were dead. The ordinary pistols they had been holding earlier vanished into thin air, as did the Dice on the long table.

After a moment of thought, she gathered the twenty Poker Chips and the Chest Plates, stuffing them all into her bag.

Roughly an hour passed.

Chen Ran's mental energy was mostly restored. The two of them sat down at the long table and began their debriefing.

"Two Nightmare-tier Escape Room Games. One was similar to the movie Inception, and the other was like Identity. They were both based on films. This means that Instance puzzle-solving doesn't just involve literary works; it includes movies and television as well."

"Identity... is that the movie where all the split personalities appear in a motel together?" Qiu Yinong asked, sounding slightly uncertain.

"Yeah. Back in The Small Hotel, I figured out the underlying logic of how a Whisper is formed based on the one Lin Jiabei created."

"First, for a Whisper to become the truth, it has to adhere to objective Common Sense. For example, when someone arrived at the hotel, the Old Man was sitting at the front desk. According to Common Sense, only hotel staff are allowed to sit there. Since he was the only person in the building at the time, it made him the boss. Moreover, before the Whisper underwent Lie Breaking, everything he said had to conform to the identity of the boss."

"Otherwise, once the Whisper was broken, he would be caught in a lie."

"So, the hotel was the physical evidence. The Old Man sitting at the front desk was his proof of identity, and his behavior served as the logical proof. We used objective Common Sense to subjectively determine that he was the hotel boss, which was the subjective proof we handed him."

"Therefore, for a Whisper to successfully form, it must satisfy several conditions: physical evidence, proof of identity, logical behavior matching that identity, and the subjective judgment of bystanders based on objective Common Sense."

"Next comes the issue of whether the statements made by Ghost Whisperers and non-Whisperers before Lie Breaking count as lies after the Whisper is broken."

"For the participant who created the Whisper, stating their disguised identity before the Whisper is broken does not count as a lie."

"However, after Lie Breaking occurs, it officially constitutes a lie and becomes eligible for Judgment."

"Take the Old Man, for instance. Before his Whisper was broken, he could claim to be the boss without it being considered a lie."

"But as long as he claimed to be the hotel boss at any point, once the Whisper was broken, he would be guilty of lying and subject to Judgment."

"Next are the non-participants in the Whisper's creation. Determining whether they lied is very simple. Before the Whisper is broken, them calling the Old Man the boss does not count as a lie. After the Whisper is broken, as long as they don't continue to call him the boss, they still aren't lying."

As Qiu Yinong listened to his explanation, her brow slowly furrowed into a tight knot.

'Based on Chen Ran's conclusion, it seems the Whisper creator is in more danger, while the non-creators are relatively safe.'

'But that is not actually the case.'

'A Ghost Whisperer can use their Whisper to trick many people into telling lies.'

'For example, if my Whisper is that I am a doctor, I could use that identity to completely deceive the other Players. Most importantly, Lie Breaking must follow the rule of exclusivity.'

'There is a lot of room for manipulation there. For instance, if I destroy the evidence that proves I am not a doctor, the Whisper becomes unbreakable. Furthermore, I could even use that evidence as bait, luring in those who want to break the Whisper and springing a trap on them.'

'I could also throw out fake evidence for Lie Breaking... and so on.'

'In short, once a Whisper is formed, the initiative lies entirely in the hands of the Ghost Whisperer. It all depends on how they operate, how they play you, and how they extract lies through Lie-Judgment.'

'And that is not all. Ghost Whisperers know their own weaknesses. While inside a Whisper, there is a high probability that they will neither confirm nor deny their own identity. That way, even if the Whisper is broken, the Ghost Whisperer themselves wouldn't be guilty of telling a lie.'

At this realization, a rare look of profound solemnity appeared on Qiu Yinong's face.

"This type of Ghost Whisperer can construct a Whisper without even speaking. So how do the ones who build Whispers through writing or conversation do it?" she asked.

Chen Ran spread his hands. He didn't know either.

However, one thing they were both certain of was that Ghost Whisperers who relied on their environment to construct Whispers were likely the lowest tier.

Those who could construct Whispers through written text would be mid-tier Ghost Whisperers.

And those who could construct Whispers purely through conversation had the hardest task of all; they were highly likely the absolute top-tier Ghost Whisperers in all of Hell.

Just imagine: you could be having a perfectly pleasant conversation with someone, only for them to suddenly whip out a Liar-Slayer and shoot you point-blank. How were you even supposed to counter that?

The core problem was that inside an Instance, acquiring Points was strictly necessary to avoid ending up on Death Row in the 18th Level.

To earn Points, you had to perform Lie-Judgment, and to do that, you had to speak.

While facts had proven that tricking other Players to their deaths inside an Escape Room Game could also earn Points, such a method relied entirely on the Secret Room's environment. Moreover, whenever a Secret Room presented a clear opportunity to kill other Players, everyone immediately realized what to do, meaning you wouldn't necessarily get the chance first.

Therefore, talking, baiting out a lie, and then executing a Judgment to obtain Points was still the most reliable method.

But against a top-tier Ghost Whisperer, the act of speaking to bait a lie became a wildly dangerous gamble.

"We know far too little about top-tier Ghost Whisperers right now," Chen Ran said. "Besides, with our current Star Rating, it's highly unlikely we'll encounter one anyway. We can set that problem aside for now."

At this point, Chen Ran sat up straight. His entire demeanor shifted into one of absolute seriousness as he adjusted his mindset.

"This next question is incredibly important," he declared. "It will determine the path we take moving forward."

"Hell, The 18th Level... what exactly is this place?"

"Before we died, the game your company was developing involved a virtual world overlaying the real world. Then, we both died under inexplicable circumstances. Because of that, the very first thing we need to confirm is whether this so-called Eighteen Levels of Hell is a product of a virtual world overlapping with reality. In simple terms..."

"Are we currently inside a virtual world?"

"Only by figuring this out can we ensure our future direction isn't completely wrong."