"You... what nonsense are you talking about? My name is Emily! I haven't used my real name in years!" After saying this, she glanced around at everyone and added, "At my workplace, you can only find me if you call me 'Emily'. No one knows me by my real name!"

At this moment, everyone began to ponder, and Ashley Carter's expression also grew a bit serious.

From Emily's earlier words, Ashley Carter couldn't detect any sense of lying. Her storytelling was steady and her tone was calm.

This kind of narration, just like chatting with friends, could only prove two things. One, the story she told was either made up long ago and rehearsed many times; or two, she was telling the truth.

But now, the tattooed man had given Ashley Carter another line of thought.

That was "lying about one's name."

Lying about a name doesn't require logic or reason, and it's hard for most people to spot any flaws.

After all, none of the people present had met before, and names could only be known through self-introduction.

Ashley Carter carefully recalled what the goat-headed man had said. He said, "Among all the storytellers, one person is lying." This rule didn't specify that the liar had to use a "fake story" to lie; a "fake name" would work just as well.

Seeing herself being suspected, Emily's eyes widened in nervousness: "If you still don't believe me, my real name is Zhang Lijuan... I'm from Shaanxi... You can try calling me by my real name, but I won't respond. I'll only answer to the name 'Emily'... I, I..."

Hearing this, Ashley Carter silently shook his head.

This woman wasn't as clever as he had imagined.

In other words, she couldn't have come up with this lie in advance, let alone thought up the trick of "lying about one's name" on the spot.

The goat-headed man said, "There is one and only one liar," so that person could only be Ashley Carter himself.

If no one else noticed the seriousness of the issue with "Emily", then he had found a surefire way to win.

If he were to make up a name, "Qi" wasn't a great surname. While not rare, it wasn't common either, and he should avoid using a surname that people would easily remember.

In other words, everything he said should be as inconspicuous as possible.

So he decided to call himself "Li Ming."

The rest of the story he could tell normally, and even the most astute person wouldn't be able to spot any flaws.

The game was about to end.

Chapter 4 Disaster?

At this moment, the tattooed man raised his hand and looked at the goat-headed man: "Hey, referee, how do you judge someone using an alias? Does that count as lying?"

The goat-headed man neither nodded nor shook his head, only said blandly, "I will no longer participate in any part of the process. You only need to write down the name according to your own judgment. Just remember, 'the rules are absolute.' In the end, I will personally 'punish' the loser."

The word "punish" rang out with authority, making everyone shiver involuntarily.

"This, this means I didn't lie!" Emily shouted anxiously. "If I lied, I'd be dead by now, right? Even if it's an alias, my alias really is 'Emily'!"

No one answered her. At this critical, life-or-death stage, no suspicion could be overlooked.

"Then it's my turn to tell my story next." The tattooed man curled his lips, looking reluctant. "If this lady's story doesn't count as lying, then mine definitely doesn't either."

"My name is Brian Johnson, I live in Guangdong, and I don't really have a profession. Before coming here, I was collecting debts."

Brian Johnson's Mandarin was rather poor, so everyone had to listen carefully.

"People these days are really something. When they borrow money, they agree to everything, but when it's time to pay it back, they start playing the victim."

"Damned ingrates, they call us debt collectors devils, cold-blooded."

"But that loser should look at it from another angle. When he was most helpless, most in need of money, I was the one who lent him a hand. When no institution would give him a loan, I lent him money. To him, I wasn't a devil, I was a savior."

"But how did he treat his savior?"

"He went around whining about how hard his life was, claiming he was cheated out of two million. He even condemned us debt collectors as cold-blooded, trying to use the sympathy of neighbors to get out of his predicament. But when he borrowed the money, we signed a contract, and all the interest was made clear to him. Now that he can't pay it back, is that our fault?"

"Last night, I decided to teach him a lesson. I took him up to the roof of a tall building, but then there was an earthquake. I didn't want to kill him, but that loser suddenly pulled out a knife and tried to kill me!"

"In the chaos, he pushed me off the roof, and I hit an advertising sign. After that... I can't remember anything."

After hearing this man's story, everyone frowned.

And Emily seemed to have realized something, and laughed angrily, saying, "See! I knew you were trying to throw dirt on me! Turns out you're the real liar!"