Everyone stared at this message without moving at first… Observing the movements of everyone around them.
On the interactive screen that had just appeared in front of everyone were the names and pictures of all participants of the first trial.
And… as they looked at this list of names. They all had the same question on their mind: who would be the one voting first?
And they got that answer very quickly as Darius spoke up.
"As I said earlier, I vote that we skip this vote. There's no point in eliminating someone we have no information about."
Then, Darius pressed on the lower half of the screen, ensuring everyone could see him do it. Of course, none of them really knew for whom he had voted. However, from what he had said previously, there was no doubt he had voted to skip this vote since he had been talking about it for a while now.
The next one to vote was Alex, and it was painfully obvious that he had voted for Darius, as he kept eyeing him consistently while doing so.
Then, more and more people voted as they tapped on the air that was in front of them. There was no telling for who they had voted. However, Lucian had made his choice; he had voted to skip this vote and hoped everyone in this room would do the same.
'Let's hope that Ava does the same thing as me.'
Lucian knew that Ava wasn't the most independent, but he hoped that she would at least make the right choice given the current situation.
'Either way, she's not the one who will change anything even if she votes for Darius,' Lucian thought as he tapped on the button [Skip This Vote].
*Ding!*
Afterward, he couldn't touch anything and slowly looked at the countdown, waiting for it to reach the 0-second mark.
[0:02]
[0:01]
[The first voting is finished.
The results are:
-1 Vote for Lucian
-3 Votes for Darius
-6 Votes for Alex
-10 Votes for Skip this vote]
'Someone voted for me?'
That was the first thing that came to his mind. He didn't even care about the final result. Knowing that someone had voted for him was troubling him, and he wanted to know who had done so.
The most logical choices were obviously either Darius or his two friends, and Lucian was pretty sure one of the two had voted for him. Even Darius was an option since no one could truly see what they voted for the others.
'One isn't too bad. However, Alex was almost in trouble here… well, his defense was probably the worst one I've seen in a while.'
*Ding!*
[Since everyone has decided to skip this vote, I won't ask if you eliminated the impostors yet. You can now stand up and go fix the most urgent parts of the ship… or else, well… there won't be another vote. So, quickly move your asses!]
That message wasn't a personal one like the others. It popped up in the middle of the roundtable for everyone to see, and it didn't come alone... With it, there was the usual little timer that indicated there were five minutes left until they would be teleported here once again.
However, that message made everyone in this room panic… Well, everyone except Lucian and Alex didn't seem to mind, though it was clear that they both had different reasons.
"Quick! We need to go fix whatever that system is talking about," someone shouted as he stood up.
That person was the opposite of calm and collected, as his voice kept shaking every time he tried speaking.
'Let's see, they did talk about a map earlier,' Lucian thought.
*Ding!*
[Map Opened]
It seemed the system had registered the word "Map" and had opened it as a result. Instantly, a detailed map appeared in front of him with the multiple things needing fixing. Lucian seemed to be the only one to have remembered about the map as everyone was panicking and shouting.
"But how can we even find what we need to fix?"
"That's not the point! Even if we find it, does anyone here even know how to fix a spaceship?"
The responses to those questions were certainly lacking, as no one uttered a single word.
'Should I tell them about the "Map"?'
Lucian wasn't sure if it was the right choice in this situation since he could potentially win the game and reach the second floor by not telling them.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that not telling them might be a good idea.
'I need to win, after all. Fuck! This is so annoying if only I hadn't been an impostor.'
The only hope for Lucian to keep his friendship with Alex was simple: he needed Alex to be an impostor just like him. Because if Alex wasn't… then chances were… Lucian would die killed by him.
'Let's just hope that's the case.'
Lucian didn't really care about Ava since even if he betrayed her… He was pretty sure that she wouldn't even realize it. The only problem would be that she would be delayed compared to them.
Slowly but surely, Lucian debated inside his mind whether to tell them or not… And after a few seconds, he had made his decision.
Earlier, he had decided to take on the role of the good guy, and he would be sticking with it until the very end. He would try his very best to trick everyone in this room… not by killing people, but by putting people against one another, trying to keep only Alex, Ava, and him at the end.
He knew the task would be almost impossible, but he would try his best.
'I'll ask Ava later if she's an impostor. She'll tell me either way. Let's hope it's a yes… It would make things a lot easier.'
Lucian dismissed his thoughts and looked at everyone in the room.
"I think I know where we need to go to fix the spaceship…"
Don't forget to vote for this book...even Lucian is going to need it for his trial.
Lucian told everyone to open their Map, and there were many different red spots, yellow spots, and green spots on it. From a logical standpoint, Lucian guessed that the red areas needed the most fixing. That was how colors would usually be used on Earth.
"Everyone can see that the Spaceship Motor Area is a red zone, right?" Lucian asked to make sure that they weren't all seeing different things.
"Yes, we do."
"Yep! I see the exact same."
…
"Then, what are we waiting for? We only have four minutes left to fix this damn spaceship."
Once Lucian said that, everyone in the meeting room started to realize how fast they needed to act, and they all started running out of the room. However, before Alex and Ava followed them, Lucian grabbed both of their arms. He needed to know what their roles were.
He had thought about asking Ava and then Alex alone but realized it wouldn't change anything at the end of the day. If one of the two answered that they weren't an impostor and, instead, replied they were normal participants… then Lucian would have to make one difficult choice.
'Either I abandon them… or lose on purpose, letting them win… But there's no point in doing that.'
Between those two choices, Lucian was obviously more tempted toward the first one since it made a lot more sense… By choosing the first option, he would accelerate his growth even more.
"What do you want?" Alex asked.
He didn't have his usual attitude when he said that. He remembered what Lucian had accomplished during the Tutorial at the end. Alex was quite interested in knowing if Lucian had come up with another idea to win everything.
'Ahh! He grabbed my arm!' Ava shouted in her mind as her face became completely red.
She didn't manage to utter a single word as she felt Lucian looking at her.
Lucian made sure that everyone else had left as he put out his head in the hall, looking to his left and right. Seeing they were all running away, he decided to use one minute to talk to them… he needed to be fast enough that no one would notice they were gone.
He turned around and got scared for a fraction of a second. He thought he had seen someone in the shadows of the meeting room. However, after spending a few seconds looking at that exact spot, he was sure there was nothing there.
'Hm, weird. I could've sworn someone was there.'
He dismissed those thoughts and looked at both Ava and Alex.
"What are your roles? Did one of you become an impostor?" Lucian asked, praying that both answers would be a simple "yes".
"I'm not telling."
"Uh… I'm one," Ava uttered with some difficulty.
They both answered at practically the same time. Alex glared at her with clear animosity. It was clear that he was thinking of killing her right here, right now.
'Weird… I thought Alex would be an impostor from the way he acted earlier… wanting to kill them right away. Well, maybe this is a bluff… ah fuck, I can't read him. He's so dense.'
"What about you, Lucian? What role did the system assign you?"
Alex took a few steps while saying that, clearly ready to act, depending on the answer.
Sweat started appearing on both sides of his face, slowly dripping downwards… Lucian wasn't sure what he needed to answer.
Should he side with Ava?
'No, siding with her isn't a good idea… Either way, he can kill both of us if he wants to. Should I lie… or answer the same thing as him?'
Suddenly, Lucian seemed to have gotten an idea… something he had just thought of.
"Why aren't you answering?"
Alex was even closer this time, looking straight into Lucian's eyes… He wanted to make sure that Lucian felt as intimidated as possible since Alex had no way of potentially telling the truth.
"It's…uh... I am…an impostor."
Lucian knew there was no way for him to lie out of this one. Even if he wanted to create a role from the ground up… it wouldn't work…
Alex needed to be an impostor. There was no other choice… or else, they would be dead in a few minutes.
'There's still hope that this was all a bluff from his end.'
Alex kept looking at Lucian straight in the eyes, not moving the single muscle. They were at a standpoint, and Alex had the advantage.
Ava noticed the situation and tried to get in between as she didn't like seeing Alex so close to Lucian. However, Alex's arm stopped her before she could even take a step.
She tried to summon her wand, but Alex's sword appeared and was immediately placed right under her neck.
'Ah, shit… This is the end, isn't it? Man, even if we survive, everyone must have noticed already that we stayed behind.'
Lucian realized that he shouldn't have done such a thing. Asking for their roles was such a risky move from his end. However, he wanted to know if they could win together or not… that was the only thing that mattered.
He knew that by betraying them, a lot of consequences would follow.
"Are you lying?"
'Well, no way I'm changing my answer now…'
"No, I'm not. I really am an impostor. What about you? Can't you tell us?"
Lucian was doubling down. He wasn't sure if it was the right decision, but he surely hoped it was. If Alex was actually an impostor… it would make things a lot simpler.
Alex stayed silent for a few seconds as he looked a little at Lucian before looking at Ava. He did that a few times. Lucian was sweating like never before… and Ava seemed worried that something was about to happen to Lucian.
"Hmm, both of you aren't lying… Interesting."
'Can't he hurry up? We need to join the rest of the group, or one of us will be eliminated in the next vote, which is… in two minutes and thirty seconds. Ah fuck, even if I survive here, we're done afterward… no way we can convince anyone we were good guys when we didn't do anything to help,' Lucian thought, still not moving.
The only way for them to win was basically Alex telling them that he was, in fact, an impostor. However, the chances of that weren't high.
"I'm…"
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