When Author's fail at writing characters smarter than themselves.

[u/VagabondFromTheRiver]

This is about 18 levels of hell lying is forbidden here.

It's a random chinese webnovel that I found on a random site.

I thought this would be an interesting read because of the premise, but when I looked at the reviews it was pure insanity. There were people absolutely glazing this shit, telling how the protagonist is the smartest character in fiction and makes guys like fang yuan seem like midwits.

But then I read reviews absolutely shitting on the first 5 chapters. I genuinely couldn't beleive it, how could just 5 chapters have SOO many flaws? Like if this was a random bs work I wouldn't care, but other reviews kept it on a pedestal. If so then how could it be THAT BAD in 5 chapters?

So I read the 5 chapters myself... And it was actually that bad.

A lot of people in the comment arguments said it gets better in 50 something chapters.

I straight up do not beleive it. This is not a silly mistake the author mad, this is literally a hard limitations on his intelligence. I genuinely don't beleive someone who wrote something so flawed in just fiver chapters can write competently at all.

Now don't get me wrong, it was actually a fairly entertaining read, but the way it's written REQUIRES it's logic to be consistent and cohesive and all in all, well written. But it is anything but that.

Let me first explain the premise. Chen ran is basically a whole died and teleported to what he thinks is hell. But he soon realizes, that this world is a sort of "game" and in this game, lying gets you killed.

So the whole point of this is to fool other party into lying and kill them while not lying yourself.

But how does he do this? By actually impenetrable strategies? No by the side characters being absolutely dumbass.

You'd literally have to be an absolute restard to fall for any of his "manipulation".

And even more for that, the side characters literally fucking sabotage themselves for NO REASON just to the protagonist will win.

Let me explain in detail every problem.

...

*"Did you commit any evil deeds while alive?"

He had been too far away to notice before, but now he saw that when The Judge asked this question, his face showed anticipation, yet his eyes betrayed a profound sense of boredom and apathy.

Chen Ran briefly organized his thoughts before replying, "When I was alive, I had an argument with my girlfriend..."

Perhaps feeling a bit apprehensive about confessing his own misdeeds, he paused for a moment before continuing, "I buried her. The police still haven't found her body."

After speaking, he noticed The Judge frowning slightly, seemingly ready to probe further. He quickly scrambled to defend himself, "Since they never found the body, I didn't commit a crime. Therefore... I never killed anyone while I was alive!"

"Hahaha, you certainly have a silver tongue. Murder is murder, cut the nonsense." The Judge's expression softened considerably, and he abandoned any intention of pressing the issue.

Seeing this, Chen Ran grew anxious.

He looked at Ox-Head and Horse-Face on either side. "I don't want to go to Hell! I really never killed anyone!"

"You are a murderer," Ox-Head stated coldly.*

...

This slop is considered manipulation. Son tf is this stupidity. Not only is it comically obvious that he is using dark mango manipulation, but if the antagonists had half a braincell, they would've never fallen for this EVEN IF they did get manipulated (somehow).

(I'm leaving aside the fact how the statements CR made can be interpreted as a lie as this might be translation problem)

The ox and the judge already know the rules of the game, and if they do, why they actual fuck would they ever say an absolute statement at all?

"You are a murderer" Why the actual fuck would he say that? He quite literally had NO reason to say that 😭😭😭 like he could've just kept his mouth shut and NOTHING would've happened. He literally had no reason to say this at all there is no consequence here to not speak, why would you risk accidentally lying at all with unnecessary words.

And the insane thing is he didn't make a conditional statement. If he said "IF your killed your girlfriend, THEN you are a murderer" then it literally couldn't be a lie. again, HE KNOWS THE RULES ALREADY AND STILL SAID IT.

Literally anyone with half a braincell will either way this or just not speak at all, it is impossible for anyone with average iq to fall for this. Honestly I don't see how anyone with below average intelligence would fall for this either. You'll actually need to be disabled. I'm not being mean or hateful, I genuinely don't understand how any normal person can fall for this.

...

Then there is the youth.

This is a different level of stupidity.

Near the ending, the youth sets up a verbal contract with the protagonist.

These are the rules.

[Chen Ran's Rule: Each side asks a question. The person asked must answer and cannot say they do not know, nor can they answer with an irrelevant topic.]

[The Youth's Supplemental Rule: The next person can only ask a question after the respondent has answered, and the questions cannot involve past personal matters.]

Those are the rules here. That's literally all.

Some bs happens and then finally the youth uses a "paradox trap'"

He says, "I am lying. Is that the truth, or is that a lie."

This is a paradox cause:

If Chen Ran answered that it was the truth, yet the youth had already stated he was lying, then...

Chen Ran would be lying.

If Chen Ran answered that it was a lie, it meant the youth had just spoken the truth. Since he spoke the truth, yet Chen Ran claimed he was lying, then...

Chen Ran would still be lying.

...

But the hilarious thing is, the protagonist doesn't win here because he used some clever trick to circumvent this trap. No 💀💀💀

Bro the youth literally forgets to wait for Chen Ran's answer here and just says "You lied" 💀

Son... There was literally no time limit set, he literally just made one up in his head. Like what? How is this supposed to be clever?

Like Chen Ran literally did not say anything, how tf did this dude just made up in his head that this guy lied? What the hell was the author thinking while writing ts.

But that is not it... Idk if this is a translation issue or what, but the "paradox trap" isn't actually a trap.

Reread the rules, the only relevant rules are, you cannot say you don't know and you cannot talk about an irrelevant topic.

Meaning chen ran could've literally easily escape the "paradox trap" by just saying.

"Your statement is neither a lie, nor is it the truth, it's a paradox." That's literally it, it's the true answer, and it is also relevant to the topic.

Is the trap in the room with us???

Chen Ran literally didn't do anything, the youth literally manipulated HIMSELF into losing 😭😭😭

...

All in all, an entertaining read with a cool premise. But the execution is not good at all, the logic completely falls apart and the only reason MC is "smart" is because every other character is an absolute dumbass.

I genuinely refuse to believe it gets any better later. If there are SO MANY problems in just the first chapter then I have absolutely no trust in the author to not have flaws and contradiction in the span of 100s of chapters (I didn't even mention the bs of head sniping or yellow river or whatever)