 Solution

Here is an explicit simplicial complex on six vertices. Take every subset of one of the following ten triangular facets:For example, $135$ denotes $\{1,3,5\}$, with all its edges and vertices included. Its one-skeleton has all fifteen edges of the complete graph. Every edge belongs to exactly two triangles. The links of a simplex at the six vertices are the following cycles, with the first vertex understood to repeat at the end:Thus every vertex has a disk neighbourhood, as do edge and face interior points. The realization is a compact connected surface without boundary. Its Euler characteristic isThe classification theorem for surfaces identifies the unique closed connected surface with this Euler characteristic as the real projective plane. Consequently this complex triangulates ${\mathbb{RP}}^2$. The explicit facet and link checks make this a genuine simplicial complex, not a polygon whose boundary identifications have been mistaken for simplicial faces.