Chapter 24: Setting a Trap

The four of them fell silent.

They realized that their souls had been swapped yet again.

The atmosphere turned heavy and oppressive.

Everyone unanimously looked at the Cards. According to the Common Sense of the gambling table, the winner dealt the next hand.

However.

Li Annan had just won. They all knew the soul currently inhabiting Li Annan's body was Chen Ran, but who had actually claimed the victory—the soul or the body?

Chen Ran looked toward Li Annan. "Are you waiting for us to deal the Cards, or what?"

His words made Li Annan hesitate for a moment before he gathered the Cards from all six spots on the table.

He shuffled and cut the deck.

Li Annan began to deal. Since two people were missing, the current seating arrangement was: Li Annan, Zhang Yuan, Ma Wenjie, and Chen Ran.

'There are seventeen Cards in total.'

'The first position gets two Cards. The remaining three players get three Cards each, leaving six Cards in the deck.'

'Given that there are leftover Cards, deducing one's own hand becomes significantly more difficult.'

'After the first round, the player acting right after the first position will only have two Cards left. This means there are three possible hand combinations: Shepherd and Wolf, Shepherd and Sheep, or Wolf and Sheep.'

'Shepherd and Wolf: Draw.'

'Shepherd and Sheep: Draw.'

'Wolf and Sheep: Wolf wins.'

'As long as the player next in line determines whether they have a Wolf Card or a Sheep Card on their table, they can use the winning and losing Settlement of the Scales of Judgment to deduce their second Card.'

'The player acting right after the first position has the advantage!'

With this in mind, he dealt two Cards to Chen Ran, who sat before him in the turn order, and gave three Cards to everyone else.

Zhang Yuan: Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep.

Ma Wenjie: Wolf, Wolf, Sheep.

Chen Ran: Wolf, Sheep.

Li Annan: Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep.

'Perfect. Zhang Yuan has both a Shepherd Card and a Sheep Card in front of him.'

At that moment, Ma Wenjie spoke up, "Just looking at your miserable faces tells me your logic is flawed. Think carefully—why did Ma Wenjie lie just now?"

Chen Ran sounded slightly anxious as he interjected, "Do not listen to him. Ma Wenjie might have only lied so he could use his Liar Hunter Skill."

Hearing this, Zhang Yuan and Li Annan furrowed their brows.

'Your logic is flawed.'

'Where have I heard that phrase before?'

Li Annan stared deeply at Chen Ran while his brain worked in overdrive.

He sat there lost in thought for a full five minutes.

Strangely, despite being in the first position, Chen Ran was in no rush to draw. He waited patiently for Li Annan to finish pondering before he finally made his move.

What was even more astonishing was this.

Chen Ran drew Li Annan's Wolf Card.

Li Annan drew Zhang Yuan's Shepherd Card.

Zhang Yuan drew Ma Wenjie's Sheep Card.

Ma Wenjie drew Chen Ran's Wolf Card.

Chen Ran drew Li Annan's Sheep Card.

The first round ended:

Zhang Yuan: Wolf, Sheep, Sheep.

Ma Wenjie: Wolf, Wolf, Wolf.

Chen Ran: Wolf, Sheep, Sheep.

Li Annan: Shepherd, Shepherd.

Shepherd had one victory, Wolf had one victory, and Sheep had two victories.

The Scales of Judgment tilted two notches to the left.

Seeing this outcome.

Everyone immediately deduced the Cards resting on their own sections of the table.

A Cigarette dangling from his lips, Zhang Yuan chuckled. "The situation is clear now. The Sheep lied earlier. As long as we let the Sheep win, the moment they pick up the Pistol dropped on the tray, we will know exactly who the Sheep is. Then, we can use our Liar-Slayers to execute a Judgment and kill them!"

Chen Ran offered a cautious reminder, "Buddy, you are being far too optimistic. Be careful about capping in a shallow ditch."

The second round of drawing began:

Li Annan acted first. Under Zhang Yuan's astonished gaze, he drew a Sheep Card.

Zhang Yuan had no other choice but to draw one of the three Wolf Cards belonging to Ma Wenjie.

Ma Wenjie then drew Chen Ran's Sheep Card.

Chen Ran drew Li Annan's Shepherd Card.

Li Annan drew Zhang Yuan's Wolf Card.

With that, the second round came to a close:

Zhang Yuan: Wolf, Sheep.

Ma Wenjie: Wolf, Wolf, Sheep.

Chen Ran: Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep.

Li Annan: Shepherd, Shepherd, Wolf.

Shepherd had one victory, Wolf had two victories, and Sheep had one victory.

The Scales of Judgment once again tilted two notches to the right.

It was only one notch away from bottoming out.

Tilting to the left favored the Wolf and the Sheep. The Shepherd's score was useless. Currently, both the Wolf and the Sheep had three victories.

The third round would decide life and death.

If the Sheep won, the Instance would end.

If the Wolf won...

Zhang Yuan's eyes widened. He abruptly raised his head to stare at Li Annan, his gaze filled with pure disbelief.

'That cannot be!'

'That absolutely cannot be!'

'As long as we let the Sheep win, they will expose their identity the moment they grab the Pistol.'

'The Sheep already lied! Exposing their identity is no different from digging their own grave!'

'As long as we kill the Sheep, the three of us can easily clear this Novice Instance!'

'Victory is right in front of us!'

The third round of drawing commenced:

Zhang Yuan was acting first.

Zhang Yuan drew Ma Wenjie's Sheep Card.

Ma Wenjie drew Chen Ran's Wolf Card.

Chen Ran drew Li Annan's Wolf Card.

Li Annan drew Zhang Yuan's Sheep Card.

Bang! Zhang Yuan slammed the table and sprang to his feet, backing away from the trio. He stared at the gambling table in terror and pointed a trembling finger at them.

"You guys!!"

"You!!"

"You are all intentionally setting me up, aren't you!!"

The Cards on the table for the four players were now:

Zhang Yuan: Wolf, Sheep.

Ma Wenjie: Wolf, Wolf, Wolf.

Chen Ran: Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep.

Li Annan: Shepherd, Shepherd, Sheep.

Zhang Yuan was in the first position, so he still had one more chance to draw a Card. However, Ma Wenjie's Cards...

Wolf, Wolf, Wolf.

He had no choice but to draw a Wolf Card. The final result was:

Zhang Yuan: Wolf, Wolf, Sheep.

Ma Wenjie: Wolf, Wolf.

Chen Ran: Shepherd, Wolf, Sheep.

Li Annan: Shepherd, Shepherd, Sheep.

Shepherd had one victory, Wolf had two victories, and Sheep had one victory.

The Scales of Judgment tilted completely.

The sum of victories across all three rounds:

Shepherd: three victories. Wolf: five victories. Sheep: four victories.

In the end, the Wolf still emerged victorious.

The Wolf wanted to kill the Sheep, but the Shepherd would block the shot. This meant that one of the two "Police" was destined to die.

Throughout these three rounds, Li Annan had drawn Zhang Yuan's Shepherd Card right from the start, and Chen Ran had never drawn either of the two Shepherd Cards in Li Annan's hand.

In other words, during these three rounds, Zhang Yuan had been losing constantly, while Li Annan had been winning consistently.

Zhang Yuan's score was at the absolute bottom!

He was undoubtedly going to die shortly!

Simply put, the three of them had joined forces, coordinating flawlessly and drawing Cards in perfect synchronization to completely screw Zhang Yuan over.

Looking at Zhang Yuan's panicked state, the other three simultaneously placed their hands on their Liar-Slayers.

"Draw your Card. Do not be a sore loser just because you lacked the skill," Chen Ran urged.

"I do not understand!"

"Why are you doing this?!"

"I just do not get it!"

"Victory is right in front of us! Why in the world are you helping the Masked Man?!"

"I really cannot wrap my head around this!"

Zhang Yuan screamed hysterically, his eyes completely bloodshot. While there was genuine fear of death in his gaze, it was mostly overwhelmed by pure rage.

"Do you still not understand? The difficulty of this Novice Instance has already vastly exceeded normal parameters. Do you not know what that implies?"

A glint of madness surged in Li Annan's eyes. "It means the prize pool contains a Liar Hunter Skill! It might even be a reality-altering Skill!"

One could not blame him for having such thoughts. After all, back in the Second Chamber, the Masked Man's false testimony had actually managed to fool the Police.

Zhang Yuan glared fiercely at Li Annan. No matter how the three of them laid out their trap, the person who ultimately drew his Cards was always this bastard, Li Annan.

'When did they join forces?'

'Did they have a secret signal?'

Suddenly, Zhang Yuan remembered what Ma Wenjie had said earlier: "Just looking at your miserable faces tells me your logic is flawed. Think carefully—why did Ma Wenjie lie just now?"

'The secret signal was not the final question.'

'Rather, it was...'

'Your logic is flawed!!'

'That is Chen Ran's catchphrase! He said the exact same thing during his deductions in the first two Secret Rooms!'

'If Ma Wenjie is actually Chen Ran...'

'Then the soul inside Chen Ran's body...'

'Is the Masked Man!'

'The Masked Man already lied when he used his Skill earlier. As long as I kill him, this damned Novice Instance will finally be over!'

With this realization.

Baili Qiangsheng's soul, which resided inside Zhang Yuan's body, hardened its resolve and drew out the Liar-Slayer.

He aimed the muzzle directly at Chen Ran.

"You lied!"