“Nuwa…” The burly young man frowned deeply, feeling that this was just too hard to accept. He paused, then asked, “Are you some kind of religion?”

“Religion?” The goat-headed figure was slightly taken aback, turned to the young man, and said, “We are far grander than any ‘religion’. We have a ‘world’!”

After hearing this, everyone fell silent again.

The burly man’s question was quite pointed. What this goat-headed person was doing was no different from a cult, but most cults tend to invent a new god, not use a heroic figure like Nuwa.

“In that case…” the burly man continued, “what do you want us to ‘participate’ in here?”

“I’ve already said, it’s just a game.” The goat-head answered without hesitation. “If you win, one of you will become a ‘god’.”

“Damn it all…” Tattooed Man seemed to have calmed down. He cursed and said, “‘Investiture of the Gods’, huh? What if we can’t win?”

“If you can’t win…” The goat-head looked at the blood on his hand, and said with some disappointment, “If you can’t win, that’s a real pity…”

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

If you can’t win, you die.

Among the options he gave, there was no way to ‘leave alive’.

Either become the so-called ‘god’, or die here like that young man whose head exploded.

“If everyone understands… then this ‘game’ officially begins. The name of this game is ‘The Liar’.” The goat-head slowly pulled out a stack of papers from his coat, then casually walked to each person and placed one sheet in front of them.

He then took out a few pens and handed them out.

There were quite a few bloodstains on the table. When each person’s white sheet landed on the table, it was stained red. If you turned the paper over and wiped it with your hand, the blood-red color spread like paint, making the white paper even redder.

“Next, I want each of you to tell a story about the last thing that happened before you came here,” the goat-head continued. “But pay attention: among all the storytellers, one person will be lying. After all nine have finished, you will vote. If all eight people correctly identify ‘the liar’, the liar is eliminated and everyone else survives. If even one person votes incorrectly, the liar survives and everyone else is eliminated.”

“The liar…?”

Everyone was a bit confused. Would anyone really lie at a moment of life and death like this?

“Wait, can we discuss ‘strategy’?” Sturdy Man suddenly asked.

“Go ahead.” The goat-head nodded. “Before the game starts, you have one minute to discuss strategy. Do you want to use it now… or later?”

“I want to use it now,” Sturdy Man said without hesitation.

“Be my guest.”

The goat-head took a step back, away from the table.

Sturdy Man pursed his lips, then looked around at everyone, doing his best to avoid the headless corpse slumped on the table. He said, “I don’t know who among you is going to lie later, but this ‘rule’ sounds way too harsh. If even one person votes wrong, we all die. And even if we get it right, the liar dies. So no matter what, someone is going to die. But now I’ve thought of a way for everyone to survive…”

Everyone looked at Sturdy Man upon hearing this.

Is it really possible for everyone to survive?

“That is, none of us lie.” Sturdy Man didn’t wait for everyone to figure it out and immediately revealed the answer. “All nine of us tell the truth, and at the end, we all write ‘no one lied’ on the paper. That way, we don’t break the rules, and we can all survive.”

Lab Coat tapped the table lightly with his finger, then spoke after a moment: “Your plan is good, but there’s one premise: ‘you yourself are not the liar’. But how can we trust you? If you are the liar, and we all write ‘no one lied’, then in the end, only you survive.”

“What kind of talk is that?” Sturdy Man looked a bit angry. “If I were the liar, why would I make such a suggestion? I’d just look out for myself.”

The goat-head waved his hand slightly and said, “The minute is up. Please stop talking.”

The two men both snorted coldly and fell silent.

“Now, please draw a card.” The goat-head pulled a small stack of cards from his pants pocket. The cards were about the size of playing cards, with ‘Nuwa Game’ written on the back.

Sturdy Man was stunned and asked, “What are these?”

“These are ‘identity cards’.” The goat-head laughed loudly. “If you draw ‘the liar’, you must lie.”

Sturdy Man gritted his teeth fiercely. “Are you messing with us?! Why didn’t you say this rule earlier?!”

“This is to teach you a lesson.” The goat-head sneered. “I hadn’t finished explaining the rules, and you asked if you could discuss strategy. You wasted your precious minute, not me failing to tell you in advance.”