Ten Day Ultimatum

The man with the sleeve tattoos raised a hand, eyes locked on the goat-headed figure.
"Hey, ref—she's using a fake name. Does that count as lying?"

The goat-headed figure didn’t nod or shake its head. It simply replied:
"I shall no longer intervene in the proceedings. Each of you shall write down a name based on your own judgment. Remember: {the rules are absolute}. In the end, I shall personally deliver the {punishment} to the loser."
The weight of that word—{punishment}—sent a chill through everyone’s spine.
"This—This proves I didn’t lie!" Tian Tian burst out, desperate. "If I had, I’d be dead already, right? Even if it’s an alias, my alias really is {Tian Tian}!"

Her voice hung in the silence. In a place like this, where even a breath could be mistaken for intent, no one dared speak casually.
"Fine, then it’s my turn." The sleeve-tattooed man curled his lip, clearly annoyed.
"If her story doesn't count as a lie, then mine sure as hell shouldn't either."
"My name’s Qiao Jiajin. I live in Guangdong Province. I don’t really have a job. Before I got dragged here, I was collecting debts."

His Mandarin was rough, forcing everyone to lean in and listen carefully.
"People these days are hilarious. They’ll promise anything when they need money. But when it’s time to pay up, they act like victims."
"Goddamn bastards, always calling us cold-blooded."

"But those fuckers should think about it. When no one else would lend to them, I did. When they were flat broke and helpless, ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) I stepped in. I wasn't a devil—I was their savior."
"And how do they repay a savior?"
"They go around crying about how they got scammed out of two million, ranting about how ruthless we are. Trying to milk sympathy from their neighbors. But we had a contract—clear interest rates, signed and sealed. If you can’t pay, that’s on you."

"Last night, I was gonna teach the bastard a lesson. Took him up to a rooftop. Then boom—an earthquake. I wasn’t planning to kill him, but the asshole pulled a knife out and tried to stab me."
"In the chaos, he shoved me off the building. I slammed into a billboard. Next thing I knew, I was here."
The group fell into a frown-filled silence.

Tian Tian’s eyes narrowed like she’d caught something. She let out a scoff.
"See! That’s why you kept calling me a liar. Because you are one!"
"What? Who the hell are you to say that?" Qiao Jiajin snapped.
"I’m from Shaanxi. You're from Guangdong!" she barked. "You just ripped off my story! I said there was an earthquake, and suddenly you had one too? I hit a billboard, and guess what? So did you. What are the odds?"

"You think I give a shit where you live? I really did go through an earthquake." Qiao Jiajin glared.
"It’d be a lie if I made stuff up or left parts out. And yeah, I hit a billboard. There’s more than one billboard in the damn world!"
"You’re still the liar!" Tian Tian jabbed a finger at him. "Only scumbags do your kind of work. Of course you’d lie!"
He sneered.
"Oh yeah? Like your job’s any holier than mine?"
Qi Xia watched them clash, and something didn’t sit right.

It wasn’t the content of their stories that bothered him—but something deeper.
He too had experienced an earthquake.
But he wasn’t in Shaanxi or Guangdong. He was in Shandong.
How could all three provinces be hit at once?

An earthquake that stretched halfway across the country?
That kind of disaster would’ve been biblical.
"Enough fighting. Let’s get this over with."
The broad-shouldered man sitting opposite them stepped in, his voice firm.
"Let everyone finish. That’s the only way we’ll know who’s lying."

The two went silent, grumbling.
The woman next to Qiao Jiajin gave a timid nod.
"Well... My—my name is Xiao Ran, and I’m a kindergarten teacher."
She looked terrified. Her voice was barely audible.
"Before I came here, I was with a child... waiting for his parents."

"His mom usually picks him up, but lately... she got really sick. Something in her brain. Needed surgery."
"So lately, it’s been the dad. But he... he forgets. A lot."
"Last night it was already past six. I should’ve been off work. But his dad wouldn’t answer his phone..."

"I didn’t know the family’s address. I couldn’t just send the kid home. So I stood with him on the street corner and waited."
"I actually had something planned that night... An appointment with a therapist. I’ve been struggling with work. I wanted help sorting it out."
"But I ended up waiting for hours, so I missed the session."

"While I was zoning out, the ground suddenly started shaking. I freaked out... took a second to realize it was an earthquake..."
"It didn’t feel like I imagined. It wasn’t like the earth pounding—more like it swayed side to side. Like someone shaking a table under your feet."
"I grabbed the kid and just held on. I didn’t know what to do. I saw the Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple in the distance—they split open right in front of me..."

"Thankfully we were in an open area."
"But then this car came out of nowhere—completely out of control. I ran, holding the child, but I tripped again and again with the ground rocking like that."
"The last fall... I hit my head. Passed out. And when I came to... I was already here."

Her story was quiet. Almost too quiet. No real drama—except one thing.
Qi Xia’s eyes narrowed slightly.
The Three Pagodas of Chongsheng Temple.

They were in Dali. Yunnan Province.
He ran his fingers along the underside of his card. The word was hidden, but he knew it by heart: {Liar}.
Could there be more than one?

No. The rule was clear: {the rules are absolute}.
{There is only one liar in this game}.
The goat-headed figure said it. That made it law.
And if Qi Xia had drawn the {Liar} card, then no one else could have.
Which meant... all these stories were true.

But how?
Three provinces. Three earthquakes. Each story overlapping in eerie detail.
It couldn’t be coincidence.

This wasn’t just a game.
At that moment, the room fell into a tense hush as all eyes turned to the next person—
The middle-aged man in the white coat.