62 Tokyo Dream 03

◎Only when the murderer is found will the curse of Sun Yangzhengdian disappear◎

After a flash of white light, Zhu Heng opened his eyes and saw a very grand restaurant in Bianjing City in front of him.

The door of the restaurant was wide open, and the words "Zhengdian" were written on the floor lamp at the entrance. The storefront was decorated with colorful arches and a lantern in the shape of a gardenia fruit was hung high in front of the door.

The restaurant was packed with nearly a hundred people. When Zhu Heng appeared at the door, countless pairs of eyes looked at him, and the air was eerily quiet.

At this time, Zhu Heng finally realized that something was wrong.

He looked around at the empty surroundings - where were the others?

Suddenly, Augustus' voice came into my mind. It sounded like a telephone call: "I'm in front of a restaurant now. Where are you?"

"Me, me, me, me too." It was Xiao Zhao who stuttered.

He Landao's voice rang out: "Can you see the name of the restaurant?"

Zhu Heng looked around and saw a previously blocked floor lamp at the hotel entrance coming into his sight. The words "Sun Yang" were written on it in black ink.

"Grandson, grandson, Yangzheng Store." Xiao Zhao replied.

Zhu Heng looked around but didn't see Xiao Zhao.

"Why are you stuttering?" Helan Dao said.

Hearing this slightly playful tone, Zhu Heng was amused and chuckled. Even though he couldn't see Helan Taoist, he could imagine his expression, his brow furrowed in disdain, yet his eyes tinged with a hint of amusement.

"Stop laughing." Helandao suddenly said again.

His voice was very soft, so soft that it sounded like a feather mixed with his breath, slowly tickling Zhu Heng's earlobe.

Zhu Heng blushed all the way to his ears.

He even suspected that he was the only one who heard these words, because in his mind, Xiao Zhao was stammering in response to Helan's question without any pause.

Xiao Zhao said, "There's a group of people sitting in the restaurant in front of me. They're looking at me. I don't know why, but I feel so scared."

"Don't panic," another voice rang out. Liu Qiao'er said slowly, "Everyone is being watched like this."

Xiao Zhao: “?” Shit, this seems even scarier.

"So everyone is in front of the same restaurant? I don't see you." Augustus said.

He Landao's tone finally regained some normality. He explained, "This is the system's scenario replay. We may be in separate, single-threaded environments right now, but I've had... the system instruct the dungeon world to create a communication platform for us so we can communicate normally."

Xiao Zhao suddenly realized, "So these people in the restaurant are the 99 players!? Then what should we do? Just stand at the door and wait for the murderer for the next hundred days?"

Liu Qiaoer let out a soft laugh, which Xiao Zhao felt was more frightening than being stared at by a group of future dead people.

Zhu Heng walked to the door of the restaurant. He bent two fingers and knocked twice on the door.

While waiting for the waiter to come out to greet the guests, Zhu Heng said slowly: "We are the 100th guest."

Xiao Zhao cursed, "Fuck."

The system is so cool that it allows them to recreate the situation from the perspective of this group of people and immerse themselves in the experience of what it would be like if they only had a hundred days left to live.

Hearing Zhu Heng's knock on the door, the 99 people in the restaurant looked indifferent, glanced at him quietly, and then turned their heads back. Their movements were uniform and extremely weird.

A shop boy came out attentively.

"Welcome to Sun Yangzheng Restaurant!" the waiter said in a high-pitched voice, introducing the new guests at a rapid pace. "We are one of the seventy-two restaurants with the largest scale and longest history in Bianjing City. We welcome the rich and powerful as well as the common people, and we treat all our guests equally. Whether you are looking for a good time or a good chat, we can provide you with the best service here..."

"Living a life of debauchery?" Zhu Heng frowned.

He hadn't expected such a respectable-looking restaurant to offer such a debauched lifestyle. After all, in his limited understanding, gleaned from the clichéd 8 o'clock dramas about ancient humans, a brothel was a brothel, and the services offered by a restaurant or restaurant didn't quite overlap.

The servant suddenly frowned and slapped himself. "Oh, look at my memory! I'm so sorry, sir. If you want to live a life of luxury, you can't do that lately. Our prostitute died a while ago! I don't know who killed her and threw her body into the Bian River, straight and straight, with a smile on her face. What a sin."

As the servant spoke, he tore off a half-faded piece of paper from behind the door and handed it to Zhu Heng: "Please look, sir, this is a wanted poster. The murderer has not been caught yet, and now no one in the entire city of Bianjing dares to come drink with us!"

Zhu Heng looked expressionlessly at the 99 spectators sitting quietly in the restaurant.

——Redefine “no one”.

On the front of the wanted poster, the portrait of the murderer was blank, and the few lines of text below briefly described the circumstances of the prostitute's murder, which was almost the same as what the servant said.

He turned over.

There are actually three key pieces of information written on the back.

1. The murderer does not know that he is the murderer.

2. The deceased was a peculiar girl with a heart on the right side. After her death, she left behind a curse: all guests who entered Sun Yangzheng's restaurant would have a black mark on their foreheads, unknown to them. Once they discovered they were the ones with the black forehead, the next day, the deceased's spirit would throw them into the well in the restaurant's backyard in front of everyone.

3. Only when the murderer is found will the curse of Sun Yangzhengdian disappear.

Zhu Heng raised his eyebrows, his gaze focused on the six words "the heart is on the right side".

Xiao Zhao finished reading the wanted poster and muttered, "Why is this girl cursing the guests instead of the murderer? And the black forehead, there seems to be no pattern..."

"If the system lets you know the answer so easily, then what else does it want us to do?" Liu Qiaoer left this sentence and walked straight into the restaurant.

However, as soon as they came in, everyone was stunned.

All ninety-nine players present had a black mark on their foreheads.

Augustus sighed, "How cruel! They're all black-browed, leaving no one alive."

"So these people's deaths..." Xiao Zhao almost said out loud, but then he remembered the contents of the wanted poster and quickly switched his consciousness to talk to everyone, "So these 99 guests were all killed by the wronged spirits of the deceased? Then the murderer we are looking for is the wronged spirit of the deceased?!"

"This is an S-level mission. It's not as simple as you think." Liu Qiaoer broke Xiao Zhao's daydream without any hesitation.

Zhu Heng listened to the conflicting voices in his head without saying a word.

"The hundredth guest, why haven't you taken a seat yet?" The servant suddenly leaned close to Zhu Heng's ear and whispered. Zhu Heng smiled sinisterly, swung the towel over his shoulder, and then said madly, "The show is about to begin!"

After saying this, the servant left the restaurant hall in a hurry. At this moment, the light at the door of the hotel dimmed, and two donkey brays were heard from far away. A poor Taoist priest in tattered clothes riding a donkey appeared outside the door.

He glanced into the restaurant and his expression suddenly turned horrified. He pulled his donkey back two steps with a pale face, uttering incoherently, "Oh my God! There's a guest here with a black forehead!"

As soon as these words came out, nearly a hundred pairs of eyes in the restaurant looked at him.

The poor Taoist priest let out a deafening roar, then quickly mounted his bald donkey and ran away in a panic. Only the big red flower hanging from the donkey's butt was piercing everyone's eyes.

The ninety-nine guests slowly turned their eyes, and a strange light flashed by.

Xiao Zhao's heart skipped a beat: It's bad.

With a creaking sound, Zhu Heng pulled out a chair and sat down. Then he turned his head and glanced at the group of players in front of him who seemed to have lost their souls.

The ninety-nine players looked at each other and the people around them. They tried hard to control their emotions, but the gloating expressions on their faces still revealed their current mood.

Countless pairs of mouths opened and closed, making a hissing sound, as if they were saying something.

Zhu Heng listened attentively.

"Hiss... It seems like someone among us is going to die... Hiss..."

"Only by finding the murderer... can the curse be lifted... The murderer... deserves to die... hiss..."

"The murderer is hiding...hiss...among us..."

“That feels so good…hiss…”

"Hiss... there's more... excitement to watch..."

Xiao Zhao exclaimed in shock, "The murderer is hiding among us! But all ninety-nine people present died in the end, so the only one left alive is the murderer..."

He suddenly stopped here.

The only one alive is the 100th guest - him.

"Oh my god. Could the perspective we're putting ourselves in be the murderer?!"

"Not necessarily." Liu Qiao'er denied his words, "Maybe the murderer was one of these ninety-nine people, and he died with the others."

Xiao Zhao scratched his head: "Is that so... Why do I feel that..." something is not right.

At this time, Zhu Heng yawned: "I'm a little tired, I'm going to take a nap upstairs."

"Hey." Xiao Zhao shouted hurriedly, "Are you not looking for the murderer anymore?"

"What murderer are we looking for?" Zhu Heng looked puzzled, his chin raised towards Liu Qiao'er. "Didn't your leader tell us the murderer is among these ninety-nine people? Everyone will be dead in a hundred days, so there's no need to look for him."

Xiao Zhao let out a "hmm" sound, yes!

If the murderer is really among these ninety-nine dead, then the system would not have to give them this task. Wouldn't it be enough to wait until the murderer is killed by the ghost knife along with the other ninety-eight people after a hundred days?

Thinking of this, Xiao Zhao's legs softened. "That means the murderer really is 'me'. It's 'us'."

"You are you. You are the 100th player, not the murderer. Why do you need to confirm your identity?" Liu Qiaoer insisted on her point. "The murderer is among them. It has nothing to do with who the 100th player is."

Xiao Zhao didn't dare to speak.

At this time, Zhu Heng said in a cold voice: "Have you finished the discussion? If you have, go upstairs and rest. Come back in a hundred days."

Xiao Zhao: “?”

How many days?

Xiao Zhao asked cautiously, "Is there anyone in the middle being pursued by the ghost of the deceased and won't come down?"

“No one will be killed in the process.”

Xiao Zhao was a little confused and asked, "Why?"

"It's very simple," He Landao said with a smile, "It's a logic game."

He explained to Xiao Zhao, "The poor Taoist's meaning is very clear. Among these ninety-nine people, at least one person has a black mark on his forehead. Although everyone knows that everyone present has a black forehead except him, they cannot see that they have one too. So let's assume that if there is only one person here, that is, 'me', with a black forehead, according to the poor Taoist's statement that 'someone here has a black mark on his forehead', then when 'I' see that no one else has a black forehead, 'I' will know that I am the only one with a black forehead."

Xiao Zhao said, "So according to the curse, the next day I will be killed by the deceased's ghost and thrown into the well?"

"That's right. Now let's imagine there are two people with black foreheads: you and me. I see that you're the only one with a black mark on your forehead, so I assume you'll die the next day. And you, seeing the black mark on my forehead, will have the same thought. So, on the second day, I'll wait to see you killed by the wronged spirit, and you'll wait to see me killed. Then, you and I will realize we both have black foreheads. So, on the third day, we'll both die before everyone's eyes.

"Have you found the pattern? If one person has a black mark on their forehead, they will die on the second day. If two people have black marks on their foreheads, they will both die on the third day. So, if you increase 'two people have black marks on their foreheads' to '99,' then all 99 people with black marks on their foreheads will die on the 100th day."

After Helan Daoyi's explanation, Xiao Zhao finally understood the logic, but he soon realized that the problem was back to square one: "But even so, we still don't know who the murderer is?"

Zhu Heng said, "Rather than looking for the murderer, you should think about yourself first. You may not have much time left to live."

Xiao Zhao got goosebumps: "What does this mean?"

Zhu Heng said quietly, "How do you know that we don't have black marks on our foreheads?"