30 30 - Your Roles?

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…"