Chapter 836: Guessing the Truth

Chapter 836 -835: Guessing the Truth

Qin Cheng carefully observed Li Kan’s expression as he said, “My question for interrogation is: in your Setting Book, what exactly was the problem with Gong Zheng’s home purchase qualification?”

Li Kan’s expression changed a little; clearly, this question put him into a dilemma.

But he did not have much time to think.

In the end, Li Kan said, “In the Setting Book, the Mediator verified Gong Zheng’s ID, household registration booklet, marital status, and home purchase qualification information. The key point is that the household registration in those records had been canceled, so he automatically lost his home purchase qualification.

“But the Setting Book doesn’t state the specific reason.”

Qin Cheng seemed to have gotten the answer he wanted and continued operating.

[Community 2 chooses to ask the entire Audience a question.]

“My question is: did Gong Zheng’s county middle school teacher ever realize there was something abnormal about Gong Zheng’s father–son relationship?”

Huang Shengjie immediately pressed “No.”

Zhou Wanlin also pressed “No,” then said in sudden realization, “So that’s how it is. Even if you faithfully perform all the information in the Setting Book, you can still ask questions like this.”

Obviously, according to the Setting Book, this county middle school teacher of Gong Zheng never once felt there was anything wrong with Gong Zheng’s father–son relationship, and always thought this was just a very typical rural father–son dynamic.

But the other Communities didn’t know that.

Although Community 2 had always presented the stance of “faithfully performing all information,” the other Communities had no way to confirm whether Community 2 had actually hidden some key piece of information.

Sometimes just one hidden piece like this is enough.

If the other Communities believed this was Setting Book information Community 2 had deliberately kept hidden, they would choose “Yes” and fall into the trap.

…

All the Communities had finished interrogations and questions, but because the entire process was very tight, there were still about 10 minutes left before the intermission after Act Three ended.

Qin Cheng chose to talk with Community 10 while simultaneously entering input on the “Guess the Truth” interface.

As soon as the call connected, he heard fierce arguing coming from the other side.

“One of Li Kan or Hu Yingxu must have lied. As long as we manage to look them up, we can choose to swap rewards or punishments with them. Even if it costs 40,000, it’s worth it!”

“Where’s your evidence that they lied? Just because we tried several responsible persons and still didn’t find the truth?”

“Of course. Based on their performance, the responsible persons can only be the Mother and the Lovers, or the Mother and the Mediator! But we tried both options, which means it’s Hu Yingxu who lied; he concealed the bad things the Supervisor did!”

The player from Community 10 who answered the call let out a silent sigh. “We tried several options for the truth, but none were successful.

“Right now the other two Audience members are at each other’s throats over who the Liar is.

“But I’m actually more inclined to think… this game very likely doesn’t have a Liar.”

Qin Cheng nodded slightly. “You guessed right. There is indeed no Liar in this game.

“Because the ‘lying’ mechanism is just a decoy, existing only to disrupt players’ thinking.

“Its risk and reward are completely disproportionate, so any Community or player with a normal brain wouldn’t do it.”

The player from Community 10 sighed again. “But that also means our previous inferences all have to be completely overturned. The primary reason Gong Zheng decided to commit suicide wasn’t family factors.

“But… Zhang Lijuan was interrogated twice, and she clearly admitted it herself.

“You can’t lie during interrogation—that’s a basic rule of the game…”

Obviously, under such intense time pressure, even if he was very unwilling to overturn his previous judgment, he couldn’t quickly build a new set of conjectures.

Qin Cheng sped up his speech. “Time is limited, so I’ll keep it short.

“The truth is that the Gong Zheng in the story is not a single person.

“They’re a pair of brothers. The Gong Zheng before the college entrance exam is the younger brother, and the Gong Zheng after the exam is the older brother.

“The older brother stole the younger brother’s identity to get into university, and then used that identity to obtain home purchase qualifications.

“In the end he lost everything because the younger brother reported him, and that’s why he decided to commit suicide.

“Try submitting your answer with this truth in mind now.”

The player from Community 10 fell silent. Clearly, this sudden revelation shocked them.

But a moment later, the other side said, “Wait, it’s still showing an error.

“If it’s as you say, then the first responsible person must be Gong Zheng’s Mother, and the second responsible person should be Gong Zheng’s Lovers, since she also put a lot of pressure on him to buy a house.

“But that answer is wrong.”

Qin Cheng had of course already filled in his own content, but he hadn’t pressed the confirm and submit button yet.

“Your responsible persons are wrong.

“Do you remember how Community 11 interrogated Zhang Lijuan, and what Zhang Lijuan answered?

“She said the ‘Mother’ carried at least over eighty percent of the negative responsibility among all the roles played by the Actors.

“Why ‘among all the roles played by the Actors’?”

A moment later, the other side suddenly understood. “I see… because only that way can you exclude ‘Gong Zheng himself.’

“The true first responsible person is Gong Zheng himself, or rather, the older brother who used the name ‘Gong Zheng’ after the college entrance exam.

“And the second responsible person is Gong Zheng’s Mother, because she’s the one who actually pushed the whole operation through.

“The game rules never said the responsible persons could only be roles played by the Actors.”

Qin Cheng pressed the confirm and submit button, and a moment later a system prompt popped up on the screen in front of him.

[You have guessed the truth!]

[At settlement, your Community’s score will get an additional “+50%.”]

The player from Community 10’s voice came through. “It really is like this…”

“How did you do it? And why are you helping us?”

She asked two questions in a row, her voice full of shock.

Clearly, the players in Community 10 hadn’t been idle during this time. They had tried guessing the truth more than once, and had even considered whether to attempt identifying the Liar.

But without finding the truth, all of that was futile and would only waste more of their visa time.

At the last moment, Qin Cheng had pulled them up, dragging them back from the abyss.

If Qin Cheng had done nothing, Community 10 might very well have ended up at the bottom, which wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for Community 2.

Qin Cheng said, “Because we established a cooperative relationship from the very beginning, didn’t we?”

The other side stayed silent.

Although they had indeed established cooperation at the start, talking about “information sharing,” and that once one side guessed the truth they would inform the other, such oral cooperative agreements cannot truly be taken at face value.

After all, under this game’s mechanics, the Communities of the four normal performers can be seen as both cooperating and competing.

A difference of just a few points might mean a difference of one or two ranks, and the gap in rewards or punishments is like heaven and earth.

Helping Community 10 get an extra +50% to their total score means Community 10’s ranking will rise significantly. Before the dust settles, this move could actually affect Community 2’s own ranking and rewards.

Qin Cheng continued, “If you feel you’re taking advantage and want an equivalent exchange, that’s fine.

“How about sending us a reliable player?

“Let me introduce Community 2: our Community’s internal ecology is stable, and our overall strength is high. We enforce strict drug control within the Community; none of our players are drug-dependent.

“If there are like-minded friends, we’d be more than happy to welcome them.

“Right now our Community has two vacancies, one male and one female.”

The other side sounded a little amused and exasperated. “You’re really poaching people this blatantly?”

Qin Cheng’s tone was frank. “This is purely voluntary friendly negotiation. If you don’t have a suitable candidate, it’s fine; we’ll have more chances to cooperate later.

“You can also think of this person as an ‘Envoy,’ a link binding our two Communities for ongoing cooperation.”

The other side paused for a moment. “Anyone is fine? If it’s someone very strong, aren’t you worried they’ll disrupt your Community’s existing ecology?”

Qin Cheng: “Doesn’t matter.”