Chapter 147: Liar-Slayer: Emperor Emerges from the Three Rivers

'Dorje also tracked us here; his skill most likely still forces people to speak.'

'The only uncertainty is Diwu Zeyi's skill...'

Chen Ran organized his phrasing. "Long Hui's skill forces the afflicted to speak, while Dorje tracked us to a specific point. It is highly likely that Dorje's skill counters Long Hui's. As for Diwu Zeyi, he should be on the third layer, meaning his skill most likely counters Dorje's."

Faced with Chen Ran's instigation, the three Three-Star Players simply ignored him.

Chen Ran glanced at the countdown on his arm that was about to end. He frowned for a moment, then turned to Qiu Yinong. "Give me the iron bucket."

"Alright." Qiu Yinong handed the iron bucket over to Chen Ran, and the two of them sat back down.

This psychological game seemed to conclude with a series of failures on Chen Ran's part.

The ten people took their seats.

However, they sat in pairs.

Li Zhitong and Long Hui.

Zhou Chen and Dorje.

Cao Xiu and Zhang Meili.

Soon, they noticed that although Diwu Zeyi and Lin Xiuyuan sat next to each other, they were not teammates.

The reason everyone sat in pairs was due to the influence of Long Hui's skill.

They either had to deduce the puzzle or converse with someone.

Putting aside logical deductions for the moment.

The key lay in conversing with others. A dialogue requires two people. If no one responded, the person speaking would merely be talking to themselves, which would be judged by the Silent Seal as an invalid conversation.

Therefore, by sitting in pairs and talking to each other before the countdown ended, they could avoid the skill's punishment.

But since Lin Xiuyuan and Diwu Zeyi were not teammates, that meant...

Infinite possibilities!

Furthermore, if any one member of these five pairs were killed, the remaining partner would be forced to solely deduce the secret room...

The subway train rumbled along its tracks.

Everyone conversed in hushed tones, but their gazes consciously or unconsciously drifted toward Diwu Zeyi and Lin Xiuyuan, wondering if the two would sabotage each other.

Lin Xiuyuan glanced at the countdown.

Then he looked at Diwu Zeyi, who sat beside him wearing a dazzling smile.

'This guy is a smiling viper.'

'I cannot trust him.'

'Deducing the instance does not trigger a lie.'

'But there is a prerequisite.'

'The prerequisite is that the knowledge used during the deduction must not violate Common Sense.'

'For example, one plus one equals two. If you insist on saying it equals three, and the secret room does not involve any anti-common sense phenomena where it actually equals three, then you are lying.'

It was just like...

The half-torn family portrait and the broken clock that Chen Ran encountered in the Novice Instance.

At the time, most players failed to realize why those two had triggered a Common Sense Lie while deducing the instance regarding the torn family portrait and the broken clock.

This was the exact reason.

Deducing the instance itself did not count as lying, but the common sense one spoke of could still constitute a lie.

The reason it was only a possibility was that the instance occasionally presented phenomena that subverted common sense.

For instance, building a snowman out of sand to summon eight female players—that was a subversion of common sense.

...

'There are no lies when deducing the instance. If a player is logically confused about the mechanics behind this sentence, they will be utterly ruined by Long Hui's Silent Seal.'

'There are two traps to this skill. The first is that if you speak and no one responds, it will be judged as an invalid conversation.'

'The second is that when deducing the instance, the words spoken during the deduction cannot trigger a Common Sense Lie.'

He checked the countdown.

Fifty-five seconds remaining.

Lin Xiuyuan turned to Diwu Zeyi. "Should we establish a Future Lie? Just to prevent a situation where we speak but the other refuses to answer."

Diwu Zeyi ignored him. He lit a cigarette and took a slow, leisurely drag.

Seeing this, Lin Xiuyuan's expression shifted slightly. He immediately stood up and focused on deducing the instance. "The next stop is the fifth station. It most likely corresponds to the fifth of the Sixty-Four Hexagrams, the Mountain Wind Gu. The meaning of the hexagram seems to be a warning against carelessness."

As soon as he finished speaking, the fingers Zhou Chen used to grip his gun trembled slightly. A sharp glare from Dorje stopped him in his tracks, bringing Zhou Chen back to his senses.

'The Sixty-Four Hexagrams are not Common Sense!'

'Even if Lin Xiuyuan lied about the contents of the Sixty-Four Hexagrams during his deduction, it would not be judged as a lie. On top of that, this guy even used terminology for the Avoidance of Lying.'

'I was too impatient. Long Hui's skill made me focus entirely on whether there were any common sense errors in his deduction.'

Only after Lin Xiuyuan sat back down did the smoking Diwu Zeyi slowly speak up. "I disagree with your earlier suggestion of establishing a Future Lie. I think things are perfectly fine the way they are."

Lin Xiuyuan remained silent. "..."

'Shameless!'

However, Diwu Zeyi completely ignored him. He slowly stood up and scanned the crowd.

"Ahem. Everyone, remember my name: Diwu Zeyi. I am now going to play a little game with you all."

As he spoke, he flashed a bright smile, drawing the Liar-Slayer from his waist and aiming the gun at the ceiling of the train car.

"Tell me, do you think I can use my skill right now? A friendly hint: there is a liar among us. I have already deduced who it is."

The other nine widened their eyes. They had no idea if this was Diwu Zeyi's own lie, or if someone had actually told a lie.

Without prior consultation, they all began to deduce the situation.

'What is certain is that when Qiu Yinong stopped using the Wheel of Time, there were no liars among the players present.'

'After all, inside the Wheel of Time, Qiu Yinong cast Judgment on everyone one by one. If anyone had lied, she would have already judged them to death.'

'Which means...'

'The liar only started lying after the Wheel of Time concluded.'

'Many people spoke after the Wheel of Time ended, and since everyone was just conversing in low tones, the possibility of someone lying definitely exists.'

'Many people spoke after the Wheel of Time ended, and since everyone was just conversing in low tones, the possibility of someone lying definitely exists.'

'Diwu Zeyi only claimed there was a liar after Lin Xiuyuan finished his deduction.'

'However, while there was an error in Lin Xiuyuan's deduction regarding the Sixty-Four Hexagrams—the fifth hexagram should be the Wind Heaven Xu hexagram, but he called it the Mountain Wind Gu hexagram—he would definitely be lying if this wasn't an instance deduction and if he hadn't used terminology for the Avoidance of Lying. But since he said it while deducing the instance, and because the Sixty-Four Hexagrams do not fall under the purview of Common Sense, it does not count as a lie.'

'Therefore...'

'Lin Xiuyuan is cleared of suspicion!'

'The people who spoke the most just now were Chen Ran, Long Hui, and Diwu Zeyi.'

'These three are the most suspicious.'

'First is Chen Ran. His cunning has been obvious to all since the instance began. Directly or indirectly, he has plotted the deaths of many. A slippery bastard like him probably weighs every single word in his mind before speaking, and moreover...'

'He is a One-Star Player. It is impossible for him to actively lie in front of Three-Star Players. If he dared to do so, he would just be courting death.'

'And if one argues that Chen Ran was unwittingly tricked into lying, considering his skill has been exposed and every player present wants to kill him, he never would have survived until now.'

'In that case...'

'Chen Ran is also cleared of suspicion.'

'Long Hui?'

'Even less likely. His Deceiver's Tongue in the 18th Level can even extend into the instance. He can use his skill at any time; there is no need for him to lie.'

'There seems to be only one answer...'

'Diwu Zeyi is the one lying!'

'But Diwu Zeyi is a dignified Three-Star Player. There is no need for him to lie just to activate a skill and drag himself down in the process.'

Seeing that no one was answering and no one had the intention of casting Judgment on him, Diwu Zeyi smiled. His grin carried a hint of smugness as he declared, "I just love running instances with you elites. Until you have absolute certainty, you elites won't easily cast Judgment on others."

"Since no one wants to play with me, I'll just reveal the answer. The answer is..."

"I can!"

"Liar-Slayer: Emperor Emerges from the Three Rivers!"