In Honkai: Star Rail, one side quest takes you to solve a number of puzzles involving cycranes, including one fun and tricky Dissatisfied Cycrane truth and lie riddle!
“I either can only tell the truth, can only tell lies, or must say a lie after a truth. You can only ask two questions, and then I’ll ask for your answer.”
—Dissatisfied Cycrane
Dissatisfied Cycrane Truth and Lie Riddle – 1st Question
You should pick “Are you telling one truth and one lie?” This immediately rules out 1 or 2 of the answers because:
- If the cycrane only tells lies, it will tell two lies. But that means its answer to whether it is “telling one truth and one lie” will be a lie – it will say “yes
- If the cycrane only tells truths, it will tell two truths. And that means its answer to whether it is “telling one truth and one lie” will be the truth – it will say “no”
- If the cycrane tells “a lie after a truth”, it will tell one truth and one lie. And that means its answer to whether it is “telling one truth and one lie” will be the truth – it will say “yes”
The Dissatisfied Cyrane will respond affirmatively, “I thought so.” So we know it either “only tells lies” or “says a lie after a truth”.
Dissatisfied Cycrane Truth and Lie Riddle – 2nd Question
You should pick either “Are you telling one truth and one lie?” again or “Are you telling only lies?” The trick here is to distinguish between the two remaining possibilities:
For “Are you telling one truth and one lie?”
- If the cycrane only tells lies, it will lie again, and say “yes”
- If the cycrane tells “a lie after a truth”, it told the truth before when it said yes, but now it will lie in response to the same question and say “no”
For “Are you telling only lies?”
- If the cycrane only tells lies, the truth is yes, so it will lie and say “no”
- If the cycrane tells “a lie after a truth”, the truth is no, so it will lie and say “yes”
The other question fails to distinguish the two, because both will say “yes” to only telling truths (because both are lying in response to this question).
Result
You will find that the cycrane lies both times, so the correct answer is the cycrane only tells lies. If you get it right, the cycrane will look unhappy. If you get it wrong, the cycrane will be happy.
Regardless of if you answer correctly, the cycrane will return to its job, and you’ll receive the same reward of 10 Strale and 1 Condensed Aether. But you’ll have the satisfaction of solving the riddle!
Also check out our answers to the Honkai Star Rail Ministry of Education Quiz!
I thought of an alternate solution. I’m not sure what questions the game allows you to ask but if you think about this like a normal logic puzzle and If you count the set up itself as a truth or lie (especially the part where they say “then I’ll ask for your answer”) then you can simply ask “Do you tell the truth at all?” And no matter what they say, ask again, “Do you tell the truth at all?” If their answer changes then they tell one truth and one lie. If their answer doesn’t change and they ask for your answer afterwards then they only tell the truth. If their answer doesn’t change but they don’t ask for your answer afterwards then they only tell lies. I don’t know if asking the same question twice and treating the set up as a part of the puzzle is cheating or not but this is what I came up with.