Chapter 580
Truth or Lies? That is the Question
The system sound from the "Disaster" game ended.
Wu Wang's vision was suddenly plunged into darkness.
In a daze, I realized that my posture when stepping into the dungeon passage had somehow changed to a sitting position.
Huh? Where am I sitting?
Boom!
A loud bang rang out overhead.
A beam of light, so bright it hurt the eyes, shone down from above, instantly dispelling the surrounding darkness and revealing the current environment.
A huge round table was placed in front of Wu Wang, which looked to be about ten meters in diameter.
Around the round table sat five other people besides him, who were also looking around with puzzled expressions.
Sitting to his right was a long-haired woman wearing a beige knit sweater. Her facial expression showed slight panic and tension, and the words "Sika Deer" appeared above her head.
Directly opposite was a Western youth in a suit and tie, with his hair neatly combed and a monocle on his right eye. He leaned back in his chair as straight as a ruler, looking at everyone with a cold and indifferent gaze.
He is the White Fox.
Looking clockwise, there's a middle-aged man with a buzz cut wearing sportswear, tagged as "Tiger";
Below her is a short-haired woman dressed in a sexy style with flamboyant makeup; this is [Du Juan].
Finally, there was an elderly man who looked very old, like a grandfather, who was resting with his eyes closed but his ears were twitching as he listened to something. He was the [Mammoth].
Wu Wang glanced up at himself slightly.
The label with the words "Black Crow" also floated above their heads.
It seems this must be the code name given by the game for the dungeon assigned by the [Thousand Machine Trial].
hum-
A mechanical humming sound arose, and a hole the size of a basketball appeared in the center of the round table.
A platform slowly rose from the void, upon which rested an exquisitely beautiful woman's head.
To be honest, this face would look stunning on any body type.
But it's a bit strange that his mother only has a head and no body!
Suddenly, the woman spoke up: "Welcome everyone to Game 029, [Lies as Chips]."
After saying that, a black dome rose up on the table in front of each person, blocking the view of those around them, with only an opening facing them.
Wu Wang reached in and touched some different shaped things inside.
His intention in ignoring the cover was clearly to prevent others from seeing his belongings.
Just grab it and take a look.
"Wow, these really are chips." Wu Wang tossed one of the red chips, which looked like the ones in casinos, into the air and caught it as it landed. He said, "The blue circle should be the truth chip, right? The red square is the lie chip, and the white fan-shaped one is hard to tell. It's too straightforward. The designer lacks poetry."
The Western youth with a monocle sitting opposite him raised an eyebrow and said, "The rules of the game haven't even been announced yet, but you've already deciphered the basic logic. Not bad, very perceptive."
“Logic is written in the material.” Wu Wang tapped the blue chip and explained: “The smooth edge of the circle symbolizes ‘perfect reality’, the sharp corners of the square symbolize ‘sharp falsehood’, and this white one… oh, the fan shape has both a part of the circle and a part of the corners, representing ‘I haven’t decided which side to stand on yet’, yes.”
Upon hearing this, everyone quickly checked the chips in front of them.
They discovered that they all possessed exactly the same things.
Each person has two red chips, two blue chips, and three white chips.
"The following are the rules of the game. Please make sure you memorize them."
The beautiful woman continued speaking.
Immediately afterwards, a virtual screen appeared in front of them.
It was clearly written above—
[Rules of the Lie-Based Game]
[Truth-telling bargaining chip (blue circle): Speech must be truthful]
[Lies as a bargaining chip (Red side): A statement must contain at least one falsehood]
[Neutral Chip (White Fan): Statements can be true or false, but they cannot be guessed as true or false]
After the game starts, each player takes turns drawing a topic card and speaking; the topic is randomized.
Speaking requires consuming one chip, and the speech cannot contain any content related to the Spirit Disaster game. The speech duration is thirty seconds.
[After a statement is made, within ten seconds, another person may place a bet of any amount of money to question the statement.]
The reason for questioning must clearly state which rule of stakes the speaker violated.
If a challenge is successful, the speaker must give the challenger a token of truth, and the challenger can get back their bet.
If a challenge fails, the bets are transferred to the speaker.
If a speaker uses a lie as a bargaining chip and is not questioned by anyone, the speaker receives one neutral chip.
Every two rounds, a trading session will be activated, during which players can secretly trade chips.
[After each round of trading, a real trial will be held where everyone reveals half of their chips, rounded down to the nearest whole number. The person who lies about the most chips will be punished.]
Players who run out of chips can beg to continue playing, but cannot win. There is no time limit for the game.
The player who holds at least three truth chips and no lie chips remaining at the end of the game wins.
Enjoy the game!
The light screen appeared for just enough time for everyone to finish reading the rules.
However, reading it doesn't mean you can fully understand or grasp it.
Or, in other words, besides these rules, are there any hidden rules in the game?
These things may need to be verified during the game.
"We can't include anything about the Necropolis game in our speeches? Does that mean we have to talk about things that happened before we became Necropolis players?" Miss Deer frowned, somewhat puzzled. "We can't even mention our own player IDs?"
Upon hearing this, the other four people besides Wu Wang all cast curious glances at her.
Tiger Brother slapped the table and laughed, "Little sister, is this your first time entering the [Thousand Machine Trial]?"
"Here, we don't care what the player ID is. We just need to use the tag that is randomly given at the start of each game as the temporary name. I'll call you Little Deer from now on, hahaha."
Wu Wang quickly grasped a key point—was this his first time entering the [Thousand Machine Trial]?
Wasn't it said that each person could only enter this secret realm once?
It's a password, and the unscrupulous penguin is still trying to scam people here.
But he immediately rejected the idea.
No, the unscrupulous penguin may indeed be unscrupulous in the business dealings, but the items traded themselves should be fine. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to establish his reputation as the "Master Merchant of All Realms" in the vast world of dungeons.
Oh... I understand.
Wu Wang's gaze turned serious.
He suddenly remembered that if a player failed to complete a dungeon, they would theoretically die inside the dungeon unless there was a special way to escape alone.
But the tiger brother said something like "Every game begins," which means he has already played more than one game in the [Thousand Machine Trial].
Failure to conquer this secret realm dungeon won't kill you!
Perhaps it's just a matter of throwing people into the next game.
Wu Wang sighed slightly after arriving at this conclusion.
It's been so long since he's played a dungeon where you can't die.
The last one was a non-death-based, reality-oriented game like "Fight Back to School".
Just as Wu Wang reached this conclusion, the old mammoth next to him slowly spoke up: "Another unlucky fellow has barged in."
This statement piqued Wu Wang's curiosity, who asked, "Oh? What makes you say that?"
Du Juan, standing nearby, sneered, "Does that even need asking? Since our Miss Lu didn't understand the [Thousand Machine Trial] before entering, she must have accidentally entered through some channel that she herself wasn't even aware of."
"It's easy to get in, but hard to get out."
"Losing a game won't kill you, but it will consume a certain amount of your lifespan when you're thrown into the next different game."
"And you too, haha, newbies should be prepared to pay for more than ten years of their lifespan."
Hearing her sarcasm, a hint of fear flashed across Miss Deer's face.
Because what the other party said was indeed correct.
I obtained a certain building block item by chance in a dungeon. After assembling it, it looked like a door.
Before she could even react to what was happening, she was sucked into this place by the door.
"More than ten years... how could this have happened..."
Somewhat unconvinced, she wanted to see if there was anything in her backpack that could help her break out of this predicament.
To his horror, he discovered that he couldn't open his backpack at all.
Tiger, who had been all smiles, said awkwardly, "Little Deer, don't try it. Most of the games in this godforsaken place don't use the player's items. You either have to rely on your brain to win, or you have to bet that your opponent is an idiot... Of course, I don't mean to call you an idiot, but if you're not very smart, you might get stuck for a long time."
After saying that, he scratched the back of his head and said, "I've played several games and haven't won once. I guess I've lost about ten years of my lifespan. They say losing one game deducts two or three years."
Suddenly, everyone's attention turned to the old man with the mammoth.
Holy crap! How many games did they lose?!
They're probably getting old and dying soon, aren't they?
Before anyone could continue their conversation, the woman's head in the center of the round table suddenly spoke up: "The order of speaking in the first round will be randomly generated... Ms. Sika Deer, please start."
Miss Deer was startled when she was suddenly called out.
Immediately afterwards, a card with the words "topic card" written on the back was spat out of the woman's mouth.
It glided gracefully across the round table and landed perfectly in front of her.
Wu Wang couldn't help but complain, "Who designed this twisted humor? I've seen dealers deal cards by hand before, but to hand them out by mouth is just too crude! Is there any saliva on them? You might get your hand covered in saliva!"
These words made Miss Sika Deer, who was about to take the cards, suddenly feel nauseous.
After a moment of mental preparation, he managed to pick up the topic card by the edge with his thumb and forefinger and turn it over.
As expected yet unexpectedly, there was no sticky liquid like saliva on the topic card.
It only says one sentence above—
Please describe your most memorable childhood memory.
Miss Sika Deer paused for a moment.
I didn't expect to be asked such a question.
But if it's about childhood, then it really has nothing to do with the Spirit Disaster game.
only……
Do I really need to tell the truth?
After a few seconds of contemplation, she slowly took a red chip from the cover and placed it on the table.
Lies as bargaining chips!
"When I was eight years old, the floor where my family lived caught fire."
“I was home alone, and after I went out, I ran away with a child my age.”
"Because I was the one who led him and ran ahead, after we got out, the firefighters and people around praised me for being brave. They all mistakenly thought that I had saved the child by myself."
“But I knew I was actually terrified at the time. I stood there and did nothing. It was that child who came up and pushed me to run forward. He was worried that I was scared and kept holding my hand from behind.”
"If he hadn't pushed me, my legs would have gone weak and I wouldn't have been able to move. He saved me all by himself."
"But after I got out, I didn't explain anything. I accepted the praise for my bravery and saving people without any guilt. This was the first time in my life that I lied."
After hearing what she said, Wu Wang raised an eyebrow slightly.
Although, in theory, players shouldn't be able to use their abilities.
However, one of his passive skills seems to be unaffected.
【Soul of Desire (Unknown): A gift personally bestowed by the being who holds the power of 【Desire】】
One very clear effect is—
[Effect 4 (Snake Swallowing Elephant): When faced with dungeon restrictions, this blessing is activated normally, but every 24 hours, the user's soul will sink deeper into the sea of desire until it is completely unable to break free from the shackles of desire.]
In other words, even in this restricted game, it seems I can still use another effect normally—
[Effect 3 (Sudden Realization): Users can see through the lie, but you will also unconsciously tell lies yourself.]
After listening to what Miss Sika Deer had to say.
Wu Wang's sudden realization told him—this was the truth!
She did tell such a lie when she was a child.
only……
Just as Wu Wang was about to withdraw his chips and use a different approach to question the other party.
Someone acted before him.
Snapped!
Suddenly, a white neutral chip was tossed onto the table with a crisp sound.
"question."
A calm voice rang out from opposite Wu Wang.
Wu Wang looked at the Western youth who had only said one sentence since they met, a guy whose appearance was very similar to Leonardo DiCaprio in his youth, and whose nickname was White Fox.
He was staring intently at Miss Sika Deer's face.
Wu Wang had some guesses about his identity.
Then the other party said, "You are using the red lie chip. Although you said that everyone mistakenly believed that you saved the child and you did not explain, it seems to be a lie. But in reality, what you are saying now is just stating the fact that you already know the truth."
"You have not lied about the matter itself or your statements at this moment."
"It violates the rule that a lie must contain at least one false element."
Upon hearing this, some people in the audience showed expressions of sudden realization.
Yes! Miss Deer was indeed lying when she was a child, but she's not lying when she recounts it now!
The original intention of the rules should be that the statement itself must contain false information.
If you're not careful, you could easily be fooled by her twisting of the facts!
Who would have thought that this seemingly clueless sika deer actually harbored such a clever idea?
She wanted to try and see if she could find a safe speaking area by skirting the rules.
But they were caught red-handed.
However, just when everyone thought Miss Sika Deer had been successfully challenged.
When you lose a truth-telling chip right before the game starts.
The beautiful woman in the center of the round table suddenly spoke:
"The challenge failed."
This left everyone stunned.
How could this fail?!
Is it really okay to tell someone a lie? Has the young man's cleverness backfired?
Or is this some kind of textual trap designed by Miss Sika Deer?
Everyone looked at Miss Sika Deer.
But she also looked completely bewildered and stunned.
Clearly, she herself did not expect to be questioned and fail.
Because the truth is indeed as the young man from the White Fox said—she intends to use this way of telling the truth to confuse the public and cover it up, consuming one lie as a bargaining chip while gaining one neutral chip.
When questioned and her ulterior motives were pointed out, Miss Sika Deer was actually lying through her teeth.
They've basically resigned themselves to losing a truth-telling chip right from the start.
What's going on now?
"I...I lied?" she said instinctively, pointing to herself.
A playful smile suddenly appeared on Wu Wang's face.
A lie that even the person involved wasn't aware of?
This game is getting interesting... (End of Chapter)