Chapter 18: Fighting for the Right to Deal

Zhang Yuan suddenly snapped back to reality, immediately sinking into deep thought.

'I am Cheng Si.'

'Through the reflections in their eyes, I can be certain that I have occupied Zhang Yuan's body.'

'In the previous Secret Room, Chen Ran and I worked together to lead Zhang Yuan to his death.'

'It's impossible for him to still be alive.'

'Therefore, this Zhang Yuan is a fake!'

'In that Secret Room, Zhang Yuan was the only person who submitted the wrong answer.'

'And based on our previous deductions, the Second Masked Man provided false information to the police.'

'Thus, in this Secret Room, Zhang Yuan is an imposter. He is the Second Masked Man.'

'But now that our souls have swapped, whose body did the soul of the Second Masked Man transfer into?'

At this thought.

Zhang Yuan turned his gaze toward Li Annan and Ma Wenjie, who were already seated.

'Li Annan suggested playing rock-paper-scissors, and Ma Wenjie was the first to announce that he would throw Scissors.'

'These two colluded to subtly plant psychological cues in the rest of us, causing both Baili Qiangsheng and me to throw Scissors during the third round.'

'Why would they do this?'

'Wait, a person can disguise their identity, but they can never disguise their intelligence.'

'Regardless of their motives, their intelligence is absolutely the highest among the six of us.'

'Among the five players, the most intelligent must be Chen Ran, followed closely by me.'

'If even I was played for a fool by those two, Baili Qiangsheng definitely couldn't have escaped their trap either.'

'It is safe to draw this conclusion: between Li Annan and Ma Wenjie, one is Chen Ran, and the other is the Second Masked Man.'

Snapping out of his thoughts, Zhang Yuan saw that Baili Qiangsheng was sitting in the seat next to Li Annan in the sequence. Out of the six seats, only the one positioned before Ma Wenjie remained. He had no other choice.

All six people were now seated.

Zhang Yuan scanned the person in each seat.

Assuming he was the first player.

The card-drawing order would be: Zhang Yuan, Ma Wenjie, Cheng Si, Chen Ran, Li Annan, and Baili Qiangsheng.

Li Annan and Ma Wenjie had not only broken up the trio of Baili Qiangsheng from sitting consecutively but had even prevented any three of the remaining four from forming a continuous sequence.

...

The six of them simultaneously looked at the Poker Cards.

According to the rules of the game, the Settlement would only occur after the first player finished drawing their second card.

In other words, the first gambler would have two chances to draw cards before the first Settlement.

However, the rules only explained how to play, not how to win.

Therefore, who got to deal the cards was incredibly important. By dealing two cards to oneself, that person would become the first player.

"What do you all say?" Li Annan asked the group with a bright smile, looking at the Poker Cards.

"How about we stick with rock-paper-scissors? Whoever wins gets to deal," Ma Wenjie suggested once more.

The other four felt quite helpless; it seemed that rock-paper-scissors was indeed the fairest method.

"In a moment, I will throw Scissors."

"In a moment, I will throw Scissors."

Li Annan and Ma Wenjie repeated the exact same words they had spoken earlier.

The other four: "..."

When they played rock-paper-scissors again, the result was astonishing.

The four of them threw Rock, while Li Annan and Ma Wenjie both threw Paper. The two of them won, which also meant that they had lied.

Unable to sit still, Cheng Si drew her Liar-Slayer and pointed it at Ma Wenjie, who was closest to her.

"You..."

Before she could finish the activation command, she noticed Ma Wenjie looking completely unbothered.

She forced herself to swallow the rest of the command.

'There was a loophole in what those two just said.'

'In a moment, I will throw Scissors.'

'How long exactly is in a moment?'

'Damn it, I almost fell for it!'

Seeing Cheng Si put away her Liar-Slayer, Li Annan and Ma Wenjie played another round of rock-paper-scissors. This time, both of them threw Scissors, fulfilling their earlier promise.

Witnessing this, Cheng Si broke out in a cold sweat.

Li Annan and Ma Wenjie exchanged a look, both essentially confirming the other's identity.

"Shall we continue?" Ma Wenjie asked.

"Of course," Li Annan replied.

"I'll throw Rock this time." As before, Ma Wenjie announced his next move in advance.

"Suit yourself."

The two finished their game.

Li Annan: Scissors.

Ma Wenjie: Paper.

"You thought I would throw Rock, so you tried to beat me with Paper? Sorry, but I was three steps ahead of you," Li Annan mocked.

"Lying is forbidden in Hell. Since I spoke a Future Lie, I was bound to throw Scissors. How did you know I would throw Paper?" Even though Ma Wenjie had lost, a smile still hung on his face.

Li Annan didn't say a word, simply pointing at the hand Ma Wenjie had hidden behind his back.

The latter cooperated, bringing the hidden hand to the front. On that hand, three fingers were curled, and two were extended straight—it was indeed Scissors.

Li Annan won the right to deal.

Without any suspense, he dealt himself two Face-up Cards, and three Face-up Cards to each of the other five.

The deck consisted of exactly seventeen cards. Although they couldn't see their own hands, they could clearly see the cards belonging to the other five.

There was a distinct pattern on each card.

There were three types of patterns in total.

A wolf's head, a sheep's head, and a shepherd.

Seeing this, the six of them fell into deep thought once more, pondering what these three symbols represented.

Zhang Yuan studied the Face-up Cards of the other five.

Ma Wenjie: Shepherd, Sheep, Sheep.

Cheng Si: Shepherd, Wolf, Wolf.

Chen Ran: Shepherd, Shepherd, Sheep.

Li Annan: Shepherd, Wolf.

Baili Qiangsheng: Wolf, Wolf, Sheep.

'The fourteen cards among the five of them.'

'Five Shepherds!'

'Five Wolves!'

'Four Sheep!'

'The first thing I need to do is deduce my own three cards.'

'Wolves eat sheep, while shepherds drive away the wolves to protect the sheep. That is the relationship between the three.'

'In other words, there are three factions among the six of us: Wolves, Sheep, and Shepherds.'

'In the second Secret Room, the exam question was: the cause, process, and result of the entire case.'

'But the ones writing the report were the police. In other words, whoever submitted the correct answer...'

'Is the police!'

'I am Cheng Si, and I submitted the answer. Baili Qiangsheng's trio also submitted their answers.'

'All four of us are the police!'

'Chen Ran played the Husband in the previous Secret Room, and the Masked Man was the murderer.'

'Therefore, the Shepherds represent the police, the Wolves represent the Masked Man, and the Sheep represent the Husband.'

'No wonder Li Annan and Ma Wenjie separated the four of us during seat selection, preventing us from forming a three-person sequence.'

'Those two guys deduced right from the start that there were three factions among the six of us.'

'There are six of us in total, so there should be exactly six Shepherds, six Wolves, and six Sheep!'

'A full deck is eighteen cards!'

'But there are only seventeen Cards in this deck. What could the missing card be?'

'Since the Wolf represents the Masked Man, and the First Masked Man was already killed by the seven and a half couples in the previous Secret Room...'

'Then the missing card must be a Wolf!'

'Therefore, among these seventeen cards: there are six Shepherds, five Wolves, and six Sheep.'

'And currently on the table, those five players only have five Shepherds, five Wolves, and four Sheep.'

'Missing one Shepherd and two Sheep.'

'So, my cards are: Shepherd, Sheep, Sheep!'

After deducing his own cards, Zhang Yuan looked up at the other five players.

He noticed that aside from Chen Ran, who had his brow tightly furrowed, the other four looked relaxed, likely having already figured out their own cards.

Now, only one question remained.

Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep—how did these three cards need to be combined to count as a win? However, Li Annan didn't give them a chance to think any further.

"I only have two cards, which makes me the first player. I'll draw first!"