"Everyone, stop yelling!" Rebecca suddenly shouted while holding her belly.

All of us turned toward her. She looked at us with eyes full of pleading.

"I'm eight months pregnant. Please… I don't want to die."

The noisy room fell silent in an instant.

Rebecca's voice trembled as she began.

"I'll go first. I've had three abortions. My husband's family only cared about having boys. They said if my first child wasn't a boy, they'd force my husband and me to get a divorce. I went to a private clinic and secretly did ultrasounds. Whenever it was a girl, I aborted it without telling anyone."

I looked at her closely and noticed how thin she was, almost gaunt, except for her swollen belly.

Helen spoke next. "I… I lied to someone once."

At that, Oliver immediately yelled at her. "Are you kidding me, you idiot? That's nothing! You think that counts as a sin? Are you trying to ruin the game?"

I couldn't stand it anymore and snapped at Oliver. "Then why don't you tell us what you've done?"

Oliver puffed up, proud for no reason. He lifted one brow and said with twisted satisfaction, "Me? I killed someone."

"What? You're a murderer? Are you the one who brought us here?" Cheryl screamed first, and everyone stared at Oliver with mixed expressions.

Oliver sneered, "Don't pretend you're all saints. None of you is better than me. I know exactly what filth every single one of you has done."

He pointed at Cheryl.

"You seduced a married man while pretending to be a tutor. Then you pushed him to kill his wife and daughter, ruined their whole family, and pinned the crime on them before running off with a pile of cash."

Cheryl's face lost all color.

Oliver pointed to Dwayne.

"You took huge fees to defend a murderer. Thanks to you, he walked free. And the day he got out, he slaughtered the victim's entire family."

Then, his finger swung toward me. "And you."

His eyes swept over me from head to toe before he snorted. "You caused someone's death. Indirectly, but you did."

The mood in the chamber shifted. Everyone's masks of dignity were torn away, revealing something far uglier underneath.

As Oliver finished speaking, the countdown on the wall froze.

The speakers crackled.

"Congratulations. You have completed the first round. Unfortunately, one of you has lied. To enhance your experience, please identify the liar and vote them out. If not, the game will continue."

"Who lied? Which one of you lied?" Dwayne shouted, losing his usual polished composure. His gold-rimmed glasses had fallen somewhere. "Come out and say it! If we don't figure it out, we all die!"

"Was it you?" Oliver shouted at Helen.

Helen flinched and sobbed uncontrollably, shaking her head.

I looked at Oliver. "Why are you targeting her over and over?"

"She's the most suspicious."

"And how do you figure that? All I see is you bullying her nonstop. Maybe you're trying to cover up your own guilt."

Helen shot me a grateful look through her tears.

Oliver suddenly panicked and cursed at me.

"You pathetic loser. You think you can question me? Stop pretending you're the good guy. You're way filthier than I am. What would an idiot like you know?"

His insults were vicious.

I pressed my lips together. "Then tell us. How do you know so much about every one of us?"

"Who exactly are you? What's your role here? What else do you know? Are you the one who lied?" I asked relentlessly.

The more I pressed Oliver, the more he panicked. He snapped like a cornered dog, lashing out at anyone he could.

Every person in the room turned suspicious eyes on him.

The overhead speakers crackled again. "Players, please hurry. You have one minute remaining before the voting round begins."

I raised my voice. "Let's vote him out first. He's the most suspicious."

"It's not me. It's not me! You damn loser, you're trying to kill me. You're trying to kill me!" Oliver yelled.

The speakers rang out. "Thirty seconds remaining. Please hurry."

As the countdown began, the water tanks that had stopped filling suddenly resumed.

Cheryl stared at the wall in terror, tears streaking her cheeks. "We don't have time. Vote him out first, or we're all dead!"

At the word "dead", Dwayne lost control. "Yes! We have to vote. Let's vote him out!"

Everyone quickly aligned against Oliver.

He turned to Rebecca for help, but Rebecca looked down at her belly and whispered, "I'm sorry. I want to live."

Oliver collapsed, as if the strength had drained out of him.

Every hand pointed toward him.

"Time's up. Players, cast your votes."

Oliver's eyes went vacant, his whole body limp.

"Oliver Carlson is eliminated."

As soon as the announcement ended, Oliver suddenly jolted upright and began thrashing wildly.

He slammed his palms against the glass over and over while gasping for air. His veins bulged across his neck, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.

The air inside his water tank was being sucked out.

Oliver flailed like a fish left on dry land, his mouth gaping and his features warping in pain. His nails split and snapped one by one.

I turned my head away, refusing to watch.

A second later, a loud bang echoed through the chamber.

Oliver's head exploded.

Pieces of skull and flesh splattered across the glass, sliding downward in thick, nauseating streaks.

"Aaaaah!" Cheryl let out a piercing scream.

The speakers crackled again. "Unfortunately, players, the game continues."

If Oliver hadn't been the liar, then who was?

Before I could think, Dwayne kicked me hard. His reddened eyes were terrifying. "It was you, wasn't it? You're the one who lied!"

I shook my head quickly, signaling that I knew nothing.

Helen's gaze changed, too. The gratitude she showed earlier disappeared, replaced by fear. In an instant, I became the target of everyone's suspicion.

I finally understood Oliver's situation.

"It wasn't me," I tried to reason. "It really wasn't…"

Cheryl's carefully done makeup had run down her cheeks in thick black streaks, making her look almost monstrous.

"It has to be you! You were the one who said Oliver was the killer, so we voted him out. It has to be you. We're voting you out next!"

Just when I had nowhere to turn, the broadcast sounded again.

"Since all of you seem eager to survive, we will share one more detail. To increase the excitement of the game, we placed an undercover agent among you. The undercover agent's mission is to eliminate you and make you lose. There is one way to survive: find the undercover agent and vote them out."

The one who lied earlier was the undercover agent.

So who was it?

Everyone began looking around, suspicion rising all over again.

The undercover agent's task was to kill us and sabotage the game.

"It's you. Let's vote you out first!"

Dwayne pointed straight at me.

Everyone turned to look at me, their eyes filled with suspicion.

"No, it really wasn't me!" I tried my best to defend myself. "I was just trying to…"

"Shut up! Stop making excuses!" Before I could finish, Dwayne cut me off sharply.

Only his bloodshot eyes remained fixed on me with pure hostility.

Dwayne started directing everyone.

"Listen to me. We vote him out first. Think about it. Oliver died, but the game didn't end. That means Oliver wasn't the undercover agent. And who pushed us to vote him out? This guy. He pointed all the suspicion toward Oliver. If it weren't for him, none of us would have voted at all. He directed the whole thing!"

Cheryl nodded in agreement, and suddenly, my situation became dire.

"I noticed something wrong with him from the start. When Oliver suspected Helen, he defended her and provoked Oliver on purpose to shift all suspicion. He's definitely the undercover agent."

Cheryl sounded completely convinced, and judging from the logic, I really had become the most likely suspect.

"Wait, let me explain. I…."

"Shut up!" Dwayne cut me off again. "There's nothing to explain. You're just trying to confuse us. You're the undercover agent!"

Rebecca, who had been silent the entire time, finally spoke, her voice trembling. "Why won't you let him finish? What you're doing now is trying to force us to turn against him. You're the one confusing everyone."

"Shut your mouth, you stupid woman! Do you even know what you're saying?" Dwayne snapped and kicked Rebecca hard.

Rebecca grabbed her stomach, her face twisting in pain as she collapsed.

"My stomach… It hurts… It really hurts…"

"What the hell are you doing?" Helen screamed at Dwayne.

"Oliver already said that you took huge fees to defend criminals, just to make money. You're the kind of person who'd do anything for profit. Who knows if you sneaked into this game for money or for some filthy reason? You'd even attack a pregnant woman. Who knows what kind of rotten heart you have?"

Cheryl covered her mouth while staring at Dwayne in horror.

His face had turned an ugly shade, and in an instant, the balance shifted. His position became far more dangerous than mine.

I didn't know whether he was the undercover agent, but I did know one thing: I wanted to survive.

"In this game, the last one standing wins. The undercover agent would definitely know all of our identities from the beginning. They'd work as hard as possible to eliminate us in the early rounds. So think carefully. Who's been stirring up alliances and confusion from the start? All of you know the answer," I said.

When I finished, the situation became clear.

Dwayne was now completely cornered.

"You stupid women! Do you even know what you're doing? What kind of poison did that loser feed you? You're a bunch of brainless idiots!" he snarled.

Dwayne thrashed wildly, the chains on his body rattling loudly. His neat suit was hanging crooked on him, making him look pathetic.

I pushed my glasses up and looked at him calmly.

"If I remember correctly, the person you defended back then was the son of the former city commissioner. Do you know what that guy did? He and his friends assaulted a 17-year-old girl, and they murdered her afterward. For your own gain, you forged medical records and claimed he had mental issues. Because of you, that monster walked free!"