Doomsday Wonderland

"Are you dumb?"

Hina's loud voice was the first to break the silence again, directed at the short-haired man. "Why would you say that out loud? Now everyone's going to be on guard against you! I, for one, definitely won't believe anything you say anymore."

The short-haired man realized his mistake immediately, his expression turning dark. He stammered a few "I didn't mean to" but couldn't come up with a convincing explanation. Finally, he collapsed heavily onto the sofa, staring at the group now focused on him. "So that's it? I made one mistake because I have no experience, never been in a pocket dimension, and it's game over? What am I supposed to do now? If I don't get enough mouthpieces, what happens to me? I forgot..."

Everyone exchanged glances.

"I don't remember either," Guan Nan murmured.

Dr. Chen shook his head. "I have no impression of it."

"I feel like the rules didn't even cover that," Ya Rong said with a frown.

"They didn't," Lin Sanjiu said in a low voice. "I paid attention while listening. The rules only mentioned that those with four mouthpieces could win and leave, but nothing about what happens to the losers."

It was the truth, but Lin Sanjiu had a private motive for revealing it now.

The rules stated that proving sincerity—when others believe what you're saying is true—would increase credibility. What the rules didn't specify was the scale of events needed to make this happen. Lin Sanjiu was now testing just that.

As the others nodded, agreeing with her statement that the rules didn't mention the losers' fate, Lin Sanjiu glanced at the small white number representing her credibility in the upper right of her vision. Almost as if in response to her anticipation, the number moved.

"It increased," Mrs. Manas exclaimed with a brief flicker of excitement before deflating. "But only by 0.058?"

It had to be divided by twelve, after all.

Lin Sanjiu frowned, calculating silently. According to the rules, any trust value less than 0.1 wouldn't count. Multiplying the increase back by twelve meant that only seven people had believed her statement enough to generate the minimum trust value.

"At least we know now. One true statement can generate 0.1 trust value per person," she said to Mrs. Manas. "I'll try again to test this theory."

While the group was still discussing the rules, Lin Sanjiu thought for a moment and added, "This scene isn't mine."

"Well, obviously," Hina blurted, her tone making it clear she thought Lin Sanjiu was stating the obvious. Her gaze held a hint of disbelief, as if Lin Sanjiu's brain was working at half-speed. "He—what's your name again? Tenny Voltz? What kind of weird name is that? Anyway, Tenny Voltz already said this was his scene."

Whatever Hina said after that barely registered with Lin Sanjiu. She almost missed the short-haired man's name entirely because her focus was on the upper-right corner of her vision. Sure enough, the number moved again.

This time, 0.358 jumped twice: first to 0.391. Before she could feel pleased, it dropped to 0.291.

"Damn it," even Mrs. Manas swore, which was rare. "This means—"

She didn't have time to finish analyzing the numbers before the elegantly poised woman with makeup-like features coldly interjected, addressing Hina, "Think about it again. Her saying this isn't her scene, and Tenny Voltz saying it is his scene, carry entirely different implications."

1

Hina blinked, confusion flickering across her face before morphing into a thin layer of irritation. "Watch your tone with me. If you're going to talk, at least make sense!"

Her height, build, and booming voice all carried an air of authority. When she extended her arms, it felt as though she could grab any grown man, twist him up, and toss him out a window.

Even the slightly aloof woman had to soften her tone as she explained, "The hairy dame says this scene isn't her hotel. Statistically, that statement has an 11/12 chance of being true. On the other hand, Tenny Voltz saying this scene is his has only a 1/12 chance of being accurate. Understand?"

Hairy dame—was that supposed to mean her? Lin Sanjiu touched her bushy eyebrows and thought to herself that the woman was not only sharp but had a knack for naming. Both "mouthpiece" and "hairy dame" were oddly fitting.

Hina clearly still didn't get it but seemed too annoyed with the other woman to ask further questions. She huffed, then turned to Tenny Voltz and asked, "So what's the answer in your scene?"

"Over there," Tenny Voltz replied quickly, pointing without hesitation. The group followed his finger to see a large stack of newspapers piled against the wall in the lounge area. Judging by the thickness, there were eleven in total.

He hadn't even needed to look for it. Did that mean he was telling the truth?

"I think... he might be telling the truth," Ya Rong said hesitantly. Her voice grew quieter under the scrutiny of the aloof woman's gaze. "If he were lying, wouldn't the real owner of the scene know immediately and deduct 0.1 from his credibility? If others are just uncertain, it wouldn't affect his score either... but starting out with a loss of 0.1, that's a significant disadvantage. Of course, this is just my guess... maybe there's another possibility."

Lin Sanjiu pondered this and sat down on one of the sofas.

Her earlier statement—This scene isn't mine—had only convinced four people, based on her calculations. One of them was likely the sharp-tongued woman. She'd gained 0.4 divided by 12 in credibility, only to immediately lose 0.1 because someone doubted her sincerity.

It wasn't mild skepticism, ambivalence, or indecision; those wouldn't reduce her credibility. Whoever doubted her had been entirely certain she was lying.

Why?

Was it Ya Rong again? If Ya Rong doubted everything Lin Sanjiu said, her credibility could plummet to zero in three scenes at this rate. She needed a solution.

"All that effort for nothing." Mrs. Manas sighed.

"No, at least my theory is correct," Lin Sanjiu murmured back. "A true statement, or what they believe to be a true statement, can generate 0.1 trust value. But it's risky. Just one person doubting me cancels out all that trust."

Still, there might be a way to recover the lost 0.1.

"That young woman was right. There's an 11/12 chance that what I said is true," she said, raising her voice slightly. "I don't know if you trust Tenny Voltz, but I'm not going to ask any of you to pick up anything from this scene or say anything strange. You're welcome to keep an eye on me."

Her credibility ticked up by 0.025; three more people had believed her. The impact of her statement alone likely wasn't that strong. It seemed the "11/12 probability" argument had played a significant role in swaying them.

At least her score was now 0.316, better than where she'd started. A small victory.

"I don't get it," Hina said, throwing up her hands. "My brain's scrambled. I can't tell who's lying and who's not. From now on, I'm not trusting anyone. That way, I'll stay undefeated."

"Truth or lies don't seem that crucial right now. I'll take a look around," Dr. Chen said, diffusing the tension with a warm tone. "And don't laugh, but I haven't eaten a thing since last night. My blood sugar's low; I can't handle the hunger."

"But what if..." Ya Rong's head shot up abruptly.

"Don't worry, I'll only touch items that total fewer than 11," Dr. Chen said with a smile.

It was clear that even he had some doubts about Tenny Voltz's claim. After all, each scene's media was supposed to have at least 12 items. Lin Sanjiu made a mental note; this could be a way to identify the true media.

Hina shouted, "I'm coming too!" and was quickly joined by Guan Nan and Wen Ya. With four people gone, the lounge area felt much less crowded. The remaining participants glanced at one another. No one got too close, but no one strayed too far either.

Lin Sanjiu thought it over and understood why. If someone distanced themselves from the group in a non-hostile scene to stay safe, it would raise suspicions if they suddenly moved closer during their own scene. That would make them stand out too much.

"Wait a second," a young man who hadn't spoken until now muttered as he paced in his seat. He was round-faced, with a rounded nose and lips, giving him an honest and unassuming look, a natural advantage in a game like this. "Flowers! There are more than 11 flowers in the vase on the table."

"You're just noticing this now?" Jiang Tian, the woman with the flawless, makeup-like complexion, sat down beside Lin Sanjiu and crossed her long legs. Her tone was far from kind. "I suspect they added extra items in every scene to obscure the true media. Each scene probably has multiple objects with more than 12 pieces."

"What else?" asked a man with a sharp chin and delicate, refined features. Though his face vaguely resembled a rodent's, his appearance was considered attractive. "Have you checked?"

"See for yourself." Jiang Tian tilted her chin toward the far-off reception desk. "There's a glass bowl on the counter with those decorative balls. Bet there are more than 11 of them too."

Clearly, these Twelve Worlds Centrum ordinary folks hadn't recognized the decorative orbs for what they were. Inspired by her suggestion, everyone except Tenny Voltz began combing through the lounge. They soon discovered that the wine cabinet held more than 11 bottles, there were over 11 glasses on the shelves, and the reception desk was stacked with hundreds of blank papers. Even the group returning from the restaurant delivered some bad news: no food item had a total below 11.

"If I eat it, does that count as taking it?" Dr. Chen pointed at a bag of bread slices in the kitchen and sighed.

Unfortunately, no one could recall the rule.

"I told you, media is the newspapers," Tenny Voltz snapped and stormed into the kitchen. He ripped open a bag of bread. "Don't believe me? Then don't eat. I'll eat it myself."

The group watched as he brazenly opened the fridge and pulled out a box of turkey slices. Seeing no immediate consequences emboldened the others. Ironically, those who joined Tenny Voltz in eating were likely the least convinced of his honesty. That, perhaps, was a twist Tenny Voltz hadn't anticipated.

There's something disarming about eating together; people naturally let down their guard. Soon, the room buzzed with idle chatter. The tall, muscular man with the prominent forehead even cracked open a bottle of wine, sharing drinks with the round-faced and sharp-chinned men.

Now was the perfect time to resolve things with Ya Rong.

Everyone was busy. Though their eyes still roamed the room, they weren't as fixated on one another as before. Lin Sanjiu wandered between the lounge and the restaurant but couldn't find Ya Rong.

"Looking for someone? Not hungry?"

Lin Sanjiu didn't need to turn around to know who was speaking. She turned to see Jiang Tian's face, as flawless as if dusted with powder.

"You're not eating either," Lin Sanjiu countered.

"True," Jiang Tian said, folding her arms. Her tone had a knowing edge. "Earlier, your speech was an experiment to test how to raise credibility, wasn't it?"

She squinted at Lin Sanjiu—though Lin Sanjiu's thick eyebrow coverage was perhaps the only silver lining to her appearance, making her expressions less readable.

"Actually, I've been doing the same," Jiang Tian continued. "I increased my credibility by 0.1. What about you?"

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