Chapter 7: Montage Lie

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three shots. One precisely struck between the eyebrows, one hit the temple, and one pierced the heart.

The man who failed the Judgment collapsed to the ground, dying with his eyes wide open. Perhaps even up to the very end of his life, he couldn't figure it out. The Curly-Haired Woman and the Yellow-Haired Youth had said the exact same thing. So why was the Yellow-Haired Youth considered to be lying, but the Curly-Haired Woman was not?

After his death, his Liar-Slayer vanished into thin air. Noticing this detail, Chen Ran turned his gaze toward the corpse of the Yellow-Haired Youth and discovered that his Liar-Slayer had disappeared as well.

'It seems that after the Novice Tutorial Room ends, the Liar-Slayer becomes personal property. When the owner dies, the Liar-Slayer disappears with them.'

The Curly-Haired Woman gave Chen Ran a thumbs-up. "Young man, you are truly impressive. You hit him right between the eyebrows with a single shot."

Chen Ran scratched his head with a hint of shyness. "I only fired one shot just now. A bullet struck him between the eyebrows, and he died. I am not nearly as impressive as you say."

After he spoke, he noticed that a bizarre smile had once again surfaced on the Curly-Haired Woman's face.

Chen Ran returned her bizarre smile with one of his own.

The moment he turned his head, he found a pitch-black gun barrel aimed squarely at his forehead. Before the weapon's owner could utter the Judgment Command, he preemptively asked,

"Are you sure you want to pass Judgment on me?"

The owner of the gun was the bald man's last surviving temporary teammate. He was just about to retort when the bald man stopped him.

"He didn't lie."

"But I clearly saw you shoot that guy between the eyebrows just now! He fired a shot too, there's no way he didn't see it," the gun owner argued.

The bald man's face darkened.

The bullet that had struck between the eyebrows was indeed fired by him, but there was a catch in this Newbie's answer.

He had said: I only fired one shot just now. A bullet struck him between the eyebrows. He died. I am not nearly as impressive as you say.

This was a classic Montage Lie.

Every single sentence he uttered was the truth, but when strung together and heard by others, it created a lie.

If someone tried to pass Judgment on him for this, they would inevitably fail. After all, he hadn't lied; it was simply a flaw in the listener's comprehension.

Logically speaking, this type of situation should be categorized as a Common Sense Lie and deemed a falsehood.

However, the concept of a Montage Lie was a theory summarized by a foreigner. It was an obscure piece of trivia, not common sense.

...

The bald man carefully organized his words. "Just remember one thing: every single sentence he said just now was true. If you try to pass Judgment on him, you will definitely fail."

Seeing the solemn expression on the bald man's face, his last surviving teammate reluctantly put his gun away.

Chen Ran met the bald man's chilling gaze. "I thought you were going to say that phrase."

A Montage Lie wasn't technically a lie, but whoever uttered that phrase would be the one actually lying.

"You underestimate us Veteran Players too much. I'm in no rush. Besides this Secret Room, there are two more. We have plenty of time to play around," the bald man threatened, laying down his harsh words.

Chen Ran ignored him. He swept his gaze across the group and said coldly, "Even though there are some rules I don't know yet, you shouldn't embarrass yourselves with such petty tricks."

He was, of course, referring to the eight women.

Obviously, there was something deeply wrong with the appearance of those eight women. He didn't know which player in the room was responsible, but someone was trying to trap him here and get him killed. Left with no choice, he had used the Montage Lie to show off his capabilities and issue a warning.

It had to be said that this display of skill was beautifully executed. Now, not only the bald man but even the Middle-aged Uncle was looking at him with deep apprehension.

Was this really a Newbie?

Seeing that his desired effect was achieved, he found a random corner and plopped down onto the sand. Refusing to participate in the puzzle-solving any longer, he adopted a posture that clearly said, 'I'm not playing your games anymore.'

Lin Feng, who was also a Newbie, quietly witnessed this entire theatrical display of back-and-forth schemes.

At the same time, he was making his own calculations in his head.

'The position of the Daughter in the torn photograph is wrong. According to common sense, if she were an only child, the Daughter should be sitting between her parents. If there were two children, one would sit on the father's lap, and the other on the mother's.'

'In the torn half of the photo, the Daughter is sitting on the father's lap. Therefore, in the missing half, there should be a Child sitting on the mother's lap as well. The complete picture is a family portrait of four!'

'The Yellow-Haired Youth's analysis triggered a Common Sense Lie, so it makes perfect sense that he was judged and killed.'

'The crucial point is the Curly-Haired Woman. Her analysis was exactly the same as his. It wouldn't even be an exaggeration to say she was mimicking the Yellow-Haired Youth word for word, yet the Judgment on her failed.'

'Then, there is only one possibility...'

'The Curly-Haired Woman is not human!'

'Someone lost their composure and passed Judgment on the Curly-Haired Woman, resulting in a failed Judgment. The smoking Newbie, the Middle-aged Uncle, and the bald man were the fastest to react and say the Judgment Command. All three of them fired their guns, which proves they had already deduced that the Curly-Haired Woman wasn't human long before this.'

'I remember that right before the Curly-Haired Woman and the other seven appeared, the Secret Room briefly plunged into darkness. This might be some kind of signal.'

'The Middle-aged Uncle and the bald man are Veteran Players, so it's understandable that they could read this signal. But how did that smoking Newbie know?'

'Wait!'

'When the Secret Room went dark, four gunshots rang out, yet there were only three bullet holes on the Yellow-Haired Youth's body. Furthermore, only three voices had spoken the command at the same time. So where did the fourth shot go?'

'A Skill!!'

'The Middle-aged Uncle mentioned that most of the Veteran Players who come to the Novice Instance do so to bestow a Skill upon their Liar-Slayer.'

'In other words, among the players here, one of the handguns—one of the Liar-Slayers—already possesses a Skill!'

'The momentary loss of light in the Secret Room was a warning to the players present that someone was using a Liar-Slayer Skill! Hmm, a warning? Hell isn't that kind. It must be a form of camouflage, making it impossible to determine who exactly is using the Skill!'

Having reached this conclusion...

Lin Feng looked at the Curly-Haired Woman walking toward him. He sneered internally but maintained his facade of naive confusion.

"Young man, I didn't lie earlier either. Why would someone want to pass Judgment on me?"

Lin Feng flashed a brilliant smile, revealing two rows of perfectly white teeth. "No, you lied just now."

This answer caused the smiles to instantly freeze on the faces of the few people who had been waiting to see him get trapped and killed.

Someone had just failed to pass Judgment on the Curly-Haired Woman, which proved that she hadn't lied.

However, the Curly-Haired Woman had indeed lied just now.

If someone hadn't grasped the layer of truth that she wasn't human, virtually any other response they gave would likely lead to their doom.

Another freak!

This was the collective thought of the six Veteran Players present. Having one smoking Newbie was enough of a headache; they hadn't expected to encounter another Newbie this formidable.

The Middle-aged Uncle stopped pretending. He raised his handgun, aiming the barrel at the Curly-Haired Woman and the other seven. In an instant, the eight of them were sucked right into the gun barrel and vanished completely.

"No wonder you two were able to kill a Veteran Player in the Novice Tutorial Room. You really are impressive. What should I call you?"

"Lin Feng."

"Chen Ran."

The Middle-aged Uncle deliberately straightened his clothes. "I am Baili Qiangsheng, and that bald guy over there is Zhang Yuan. These are my three teammates: Liu Changsheng, Li Annan, and Ma Wenjie."

Offering one's name was the greatest sign of respect toward an enemy.

Chen Ran and Lin Feng's hearts skipped a beat simultaneously. Their expressions were taken in entirely by the bald man, who licked his lips. Staring at them as if evaluating his prey, he said, "Our purpose in coming to the Novice Instance is to bestow a Skill upon our Liar-Slayers. According to the rules passed down in Hell, the more Newbies you kill in a Novice Instance, the richer the final Reward!"