Chapter 2: Who's liar?

The woman's scream ceased, and everyone's thoughts came to a halt. 

The few men who had been shouting and cursing moments ago fell silent as well. 

It was no longer a matter of legality; the strange person before them was truly capable of murder. 

After a silence that lasted over a minute, the Snow Wolf Head nodded slightly. "Very well, nine of you. It seems you have all quieted down." 

The faces of the crowd changed color, but no one dared to speak. As he said, there were indeed now only "nine." 

Lucas reached out with trembling hands and removed a piece of pale-yellow substance from his face. 

The shattered brain, still warm and slightly pulsating, lost its vitality like a deflated balloon after a few seconds. 

"Now, allow me to introduce myself..." the Snow Wolf Head extended his blood-soaked fingers, pointing to his mask. "I am the 'Werewolf,' and you are the 'Participants.'" 

The crowd was momentarily stunned, then puzzled. "Werewolf" and "Participants"? 

"Bringing you all together now is to participate in a game and ultimately create a 'God,'" the Snow Wolf Head said in a calm tone. 

These two consecutive sentences made the crowd furrow their brows. After a few minutes of interaction, they had already grasped that the man before them was a lunatic. Yet this lunatic claimed to want to create a "God"? 

"Create... what kind of God?" the muscular young man asked nervously. 

"A God like 'Prometheus'!" The Snow Wolf Head danced around excitedly, exuding a foul odor, his voice tinged with ferocity. 

"How wonderful! You will witness history with us. Prometheus created humanity, but because he stole fire, he was bound to the Caucasus Mountains, where his liver was pecked at by a great eagle every day... We cannot lose Prometheus. We must create a new Prometheus! A great task awaits the 'God'!" 

His voice grew increasingly fervent, as if he had been injected with adrenaline. 

"Prometheus..." The muscular young man furrowed his brows, feeling that this matter was simply too difficult to accept. 

He paused and asked, "Are you some kind of religion?" 

"Religion?" The Snow Wolf Head blinked and turned to the young man, saying, "We are much grander than 'religion.' We have a 'world'!"

After hearing this, everyone fell silent again. 

The muscular man's question was pointed and the actions of this wolf-headed figure were reminiscent of a cult, but most cults tend to invent a new god rather than use a heroic figure like Prometheus.

"Well then..." the muscular man continued, "What do you want us to 'participate' in here?"

"I've already said, it's just a game," the wolf-headed figure replied without hesitation. "If you win, one of you will become a 'god'."

"Oswald..." the tattooed man seemed to calm down, muttering as he spoke, "Is this some kind of Greek mythology 'divine comedy' series? What if we can't win?"

"If you can't win..." the wolf-headed figure looked at the blood on his hands, somewhat disappointed, "It would be a shame if you can't win..."

Although he didn't say it directly, everyone understood what he meant. 

If they couldn't win, they would die. 

Among the options he offered, there was no "getting out alive" route. 

Either become what he called a "god", or die here like the young man with the split head.

"If everyone understands... then this 'game' officially begins. This game is called 'The Liar'." The wolf-headed figure slowly took out a stack of papers from his pocket and casually walked to each person, placing one down.

Then he took out several pens and distributed them to everyone.

There were many bloodstains on the table, and when each person's blank paper fell onto the table, it was stained with red. When they flipped the paper over to pick it up, the blood-red color spread like paint, making the white paper even redder.

"Next, I want each of you to tell a story about what happened just before you came here," the wolf-headed figure continued, "But be careful, among all the storytellers, one person is telling a lie. After all, nine stories are told, you will begin voting. If all eight people select the 'liar', the liar is eliminated, and the rest survive. If one person gets it wrong, the liar survives, and the rest are eliminated."

"The liar...?" 

Some of the people were slightly puzzled. Would anyone really lie at such a life-and-death moment?

"Wait, can we discuss 'tactics'?" the muscular man suddenly asked.

"Feel free," nodded the wolf-headed figure. "Before the game starts, you have one minute to discuss tactics. Would you like to use it now... or later?"

"I want to use it now," the muscular man said without hesitation.

"Go ahead."

The wolf-headed figure took a step back from the table.

The muscular man pursed his lips, then looked around at everyone, trying to avoid looking at the headless body lying on the table. 

He began, "I don't know who among us is going to lie later, but this 'rule' sounds too arbitrary. If even one person votes incorrectly, we all die. And even if we vote correctly, the liar will also die. So, no matter what, there will be casualties. Now, I've come up with a way for everyone to survive..."

Upon hearing this, everyone turned to look at the muscular man.

Is it possible for everyone to survive?

"That is, none of us lie," the muscular man didn't wait for everyone to fully comprehend, he immediately announced the answer, "All nine of us tell the truth, and then on this paper we write 'No one is lying'. This way, it doesn't violate the rules, and we can all survive smoothly."

Blue Coat tapped the tabletop lightly with his fingers, and after a moment, he spoke, "Your plan sounds good, but there's one condition: that you are not the liar yourself. How can we trust you? If you are the liar, and we all write 'No one is lying', then the only survivor in the end would be you."

"What are you talking about?" The muscular man's face showed some anger. "If I were the liar, why would I propose such a suggestion? I just need to save myself."

The wolf-headed figure waved his hand slightly and said, "The one-minute time limit is up. Stop communicating."

The two men snorted coldly and fell silent.

"Now, everyone please draw a card." The wolf-headed figure pulled out a small stack of cards from his pocket. The cards were about the size of playing cards, with the words "Prometheus Game" written on the back.

The muscular man was puzzled and asked, "What is this?"

"These are 'identity cards'," the wolf-headed figure said with a big smile. "If you draw the 'liar', you must lie."

The muscular man gritted his teeth fiercely. "Are you playing tricks on us?! Why didn't you mention this rule earlier?!"

"This is to teach you a lesson," the wolf-headed figure said coldly with a sneer. "I hadn't finished explaining the rules, and you asked if you could discuss tactics. It was you who wasted the precious minute, not me for not mentioning it earlier."

The muscular man's expression soured, but considering the wolf-headed figure's murderous methods, he swallowed his anger.

In the span of a minute, all nine people drew a card from the wolf-headed figure, but none dared to look at it.

If the card said "liar", then it would become a question of whether they would survive or someone else would.

All four girls' hands were trembling slightly, and the men's faces didn't look good either.

What they drew wasn't "identity", but "life and death".

Lucas took a deep breath, casually grasped his card with his hand, and then brought it in front of him.

He gently flipped it open and read it.

It boldly stated "liar" in three words.