Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Witnessing this scene, the others were frozen in place, terrified, not daring to try again so easily.

I glanced at the man ahead who had just submitted the wrong answer.

His cards and pocket watch had vanished along with his death, leaving me with no way to glean any extra information.

There was a man and a woman nearby as well; I remembered they were declared failures before they even had a chance to adjust the time on their pocket watches.

That meant the cause of death wasn’t simply entering the wrong answer.

[You must never let others see your rules.]

It was highly likely they had seen each other’s cards without knowing this rule beforehand.

However, if you couldn’t see other people’s rules with your own eyes, exchanging information carried an extra layer of risk.

You couldn’t be certain if the other person was lying.

Human nature cannot withstand the test in a life-or-death game like this.

I turned my head, and my eyes met those of a Short-haired Girl diagonally behind me.

Since the game began, her gaze had been lingering on me, seemingly intentionally yet subtly.

“Want to exchange information?” I walked straight toward her, getting right to the point by spreading out the numbered side of my cards.

A flicker of surprise crossed her face, but she immediately and straightforwardly showed the back of her cards containing the rules, just as I had.

My numbers were 2, 3, 6, and 10.

Hers were 4, 7, 9, and 10.

I pulled out the Spade 6, which she didn’t have: “This rule explains the relationship between the White Rabbit Pocket Watch and real time-whether it’s fast or slow.”

She took out the Heart 4: “This is mine. Rule 4 gives the specific time difference between the White Rabbit Pocket Watch and real time.”

Knowing the time on the pocket watch, the time difference, and the fast/slow relationship, the correct answer was obvious.

But if the other party lied intentionally, the difference between being right or wrong was a single thought.

Around us, losers continued to collapse one after another.

Some violated unknown rules due to information gaps, while others fell because they foolishly trusted the lies of other players.

The Short-haired Girl clearly shared my concerns, as she hesitated to state the specific values.

“Four players have passed the first round of the trial. Will the remaining players please hurry up?”

The White Rabbit broadcasted the stage progress mechanically. Carrying a half-full small bucket, he muttered to himself:

“The red paint prepared for the Red Queen… I haven’t collected enough yet.”

“Let’s swap pocket watches and submit the same answer at the same time.”

I gripped my pocket watch tightly and held it out to her.

Holding each other’s answer sheets was the only way I could think of to prevent foul play.

But she shook her head in refusal, waving the Club 9 that I didn’t have: “The rule says you cannot take another player’s items. You should have seen it too-someone just tried to snatch another person’s card and was immediately judged to have committed a violation.”

I stared into her eyes, trying to determine if she was lying.

She claimed with absolute certainty that one couldn’t take others’ items, yet the reason I had proposed this was that I had personally witnessed a successful player swap pocket watches with a teammate.

Was she lying to me?

I looked at the cards of various suits in my hand, then at the countless losers around us. A theory began to form in my mind that needed verification.

I took out the Heart 10 and pointed at her Spade 10: “Cooperate with me. On the count of three, we both say what Rule 10 says.”

She hesitated for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

“Three-two-one-”

“You must never proactively look at another person’s rules.”

“You must never let others see your rules.”

I understood!

“The rules are lying.”

I pointed at an eliminated player lying on the ground.

“I’ve been observing the people around us. After he swapped pocket watches with his teammate, both were fine. But then he did something redundant: he showed his rules to the other person. That’s why he was eliminated while the teammate was fine.”

“The person whose card is seen commits a violation, but the person looking at the card does not. This proves the correct rule is Heart 10: You must never let others see your rules.”

“The suits represent different truth-or-falsehood attributes. Hearts are correct, Spades are false, and Clubs are half-true, half-false. You said Club 9 says you can’t take other players’ items, but the real rule should be that you can’t take their cards. Other items, like the pocket watch, are not restricted.”

Most people never doubted the authenticity of the rules from the start. Even if they found a teammate to cooperate with in good faith, they would still fall into the trap set by the rule-maker.

That was why there were so many seemingly careless victims at the very beginning of the game.

I proactively pressed my pocket watch into the Short-haired Girl’s hand, and as expected, nothing happened.

She handed her pocket watch to me as well.

“Heart 4: The difference between the White Rabbit Pocket Watch and real time is 21 minutes.”

“Spade 6: The White Rabbit’s pocket watch is faster than real time.”

We informed each other of the specific contents of our rules.

Based on the previous deduction, the Spade rule was false, so the real Rule 6 should be the opposite.

The pocket watch showed 20:27, and it was 21 minutes slower than real time.

“The correct answer is 20:48.”

She and I turned the hands and pressed the button simultaneously.

In the next second, everything turned pitch black, and I began falling rapidly into a bottomless hole.