Chapter 98: The Natural Order of Things

Qi Xia lifted his head blankly. Now it was Li Shangwu who was telling the story.

"I am Li Shangwu, from Nei Meng, and I am a Xingjing," Li Shangwu said calmly. "Before coming here, I was staking out a fraudster."

"But I messed up. I waited for that person, but we ended up fighting during the earthquake."

"I got knocked out and ended up here."

The originally lengthy story had now been reduced to just three sentences.

Everyone's stories were similar, but at this moment, Li Shangwu was acting very unusually.

Fortunately, only Qi Xia remembered what had happened before.

"Xingjing?" Xiao Ran exclaimed in surprise. "You're a police officer, so why aren't you trying to save us?"

"Because I..." Li Shangwu hesitated slightly. "Honestly, I don't know how to get everyone out. If there's a chance, I'll do my best."

"What kind of nonsense is that?" Xiao Ran asked, confused. "You're a police officer, so you should investigate and find a way! Is every murder case closed just because you say, 'I don't know who the killer is'?"

"It's not the same..." Li Shangwu shook his head. "What I can do now is very limited. I can only try my best to keep everyone alive..."

Xiao Ran grew more and more agitated, pointing directly at Ren Yang. "Isn't that the 'killer'? Just arrest him!!"

"Enough." Qi Xia couldn't stand it anymore and interrupted. "Always shouting like that—aren't you tired of it?"

Qiao Jiajin nodded. "Is a cop not a person? We're all immobilized, and Ren Yang holds all the power of life and death. What do you expect him to use to arrest anyone?"

"You...!" Xiao Ran wanted to argue more, but then she suddenly saw Qi Xia's cold gaze and glanced at Qiao Jiajin's muscular tattooed arms, realizing these two were not to be trifled with.

She understood that people with that kind of look were nothing like the police. She could yell at the police all she wanted, and they wouldn't dare respond rudely, but these two men were different.

"I... I was just too scared," Xiao Ran said, looking aggrieved as she shook her head. "Sigh, maybe I just believed in the police too much."

"Acting all sarcastic, bullying the kind and fearing the strong," Qi Xia snorted coldly. "You're not the 'Shuo Huang Zhe' trying to stir up trouble, are you?"

"How could that be?!" Xiao Ran shouted. "How could I be the 'Shuo Huang Zhe'? Don't accuse me out of nowhere!"

"Oh?" Qi Xia nodded. "If you're not the 'Shuo Huang Zhe', then what does your card say?"

"It says..."

Xiao Ran was about to blurt it out but suddenly froze.

Ren Yang had never mentioned what any of the identity cards said besides "Shuo Huang Zhe."

He had only said, "If you draw the 'Shuo Huang Zhe', you must lie."

To clear her suspicion, she would have to reveal her identity publicly.

But what was the other identity written on it?

"Shi Hua Zhe"?

"Ordinary person"?

"Participant"?

Or a blank card?

Xiao Ran felt the blood in her veins turn cold, overwhelmed by fear.

The young man in front of her was too clever; with just one sentence, he had backed her into a corner with no way out.

Several others were now staring at Xiao Ran with puzzled expressions.

Yes, if they started suspecting Xiao Ran was the "Shuo Huang Zhe", the situation would get complicated.

Based on the known rules, there was "only one Shuo Huang Zhe" in the scene, and everyone thought that person was themselves, so theoretically, no other liars should exist.

This left them in a dilemma, wondering if there could be "multiple Shuo Huang Zhe".

"I—I don't have to tell you!" Xiao Ran, seeing things going south, decided to play tough and deflect. "What if you're the 'Shuo Huang Zhe' and just trying to trick the answer out of me?"

Qi Xia nodded. "You have a point. In that case, let's make a bet."

"A bet...?"

"That's right. I'll count down from 'three, two, one', and we'll both shout out what's on our cards at the same time. Then the others can judge whose identity is made up."

"This..." Xiao Ran clearly hesitated.

Qi Xia smirked inwardly. If this was truly a game with "only one Shuo Huang Zhe", she was doomed.

Because no one else knew what the other identities were, as long as Qi Xia confidently stated one, he would win.

"Three."

"Two."

Qi Xia counted down coldly.

Just as he was about to say "one", Zhao Yisheng suddenly stepped in to defuse the situation. "Hey, let's forget about it..."

Qi Xia turned to look at him.

"Brother, we can't go making things hard for a woman. I don't think either of you is the 'Shuo Huang Zhe'. If we're voting, let's wait until everyone's finished their stories," Zhao Yisheng said with a placating smile.

Qi Xia couldn't condemn Xiao Ran as the "Shuo Huang Zhe" right then, since the real answer was still unknown.

The game ahead, like "rain after spring bamboo shoots", needed all nine people, so Xiao Ran couldn't die yet. He agreed to Zhao Yisheng's request.

"Alright." Qi Xia nodded. "As long as that woman stops pointing fingers at others, I have no problem."

"I wasn't pointing fingers..." Xiao Ran pouted, putting on a pitiful expression. "I was just too scared."

"Don't be afraid, I believe in you," Zhao Yisheng said with a smile.

After Li Shangwu finished his story, it was Lin Geng's turn.

She recounted her experience of the earthquake on the 26th floor of a high-rise building.

Finally, it was Qi Xia's turn.

Qi Xia laid out his entire story.

When he finished, he couldn't help but marvel at how "time" was truly a mysterious thing.

Although he knew everything that had happened before, when he told the story a second time, it still differed somewhat from the first—in grammar, wording, and narrative order.

But looking at the others, except for Li Shangwu, they didn't know what had happened previously, yet their retellings were identical to the last time, word for word.

So, in that case, who was right? And who was wrong?

Once Qi Xia finished his story, Ren Yang announced that they were entering a 20-minute free discussion period.

Qi Xia asked Ren Yang for another blank piece of paper and wrote down the formula he had written before, exactly as it was.

What followed happened almost naturally.

Qi Xia led everyone to turn their suspicions toward "Ren Yang", and under the group's astonished gazes, "Ren Yang" shot himself again.