Eyes that are the same as those of evil

Chapter 230 Confess to Me 3
I'm also a flying little cannonball.

Tan Jia lowered his brows and glanced at them: "Who are you?"

"We're friends with Lin Zhiyue...we've had dinner together, so we're friends, right?" The first half of the lie slipped out, but the second half was something he added after carefully considering Tan Jia's intimidating demeanor.

Tan Jia scoffed lightly: "I've lived under the same sky as 1.4 billion people and breathed the same air as migratory birds."

"..." The person trying to curry favor shut up.

But after holding back, he said, "This really has nothing to do with us. You can go back and ask Lin Zhiyue. We can spend some money to open a shop for fun, but we wouldn't dare get involved in a murder case."

"He won't make any guarantees." He might even cause trouble for others when he's upset.

“...That’s true.” The other person had an expression that said, “How could I forget that Lin Zhiyue is an autistic and rebellious person?”

Seeing that trying to use connections was no longer effective, the two of them were filled with frustration.

Tan Jia called them back.

"The best way to clear your name is to cooperate with the investigation honestly. Are you sure you don't know the deceased? Even though his face is disfigured, you might have seen him before it disfigured."

"I really don't recognize him!" said the boy with the snake tattoo on his arm. "I've never seen him inside the arena. Wearing a three-piece suit in this heat, if he had ever been inside or eaten anything, I would definitely remember him. But I've never seen him before, let alone know him!"

Another person said, "Yeah, we only saw him when the person who found the body ran out shouting... After I calmed down, his face was so mangled that even if we had met him before, we couldn't be sure who he was. We really didn't recognize him!"

"This is the first time I've seen him like this. His hair is platinum blonde. Have you ever met people with this hair color before?"

They all shook their heads.

She also said, "This color is outdated. This year's trending color is green, not yours."

She glanced at the top of their heads: "You guys shouldn't follow trends."

Seeing their dejected expressions, Tan Jia continued, "The body was found in your shop, so someone must have moved it in. If it wasn't moved through the main entrance and around the inner area, then there must be other passageways here."

"Yes, there is an employee entrance, specifically for cleaning staff... Wait a minute, could the culprit be one of the cleaning ladies I hired? No way!"

“Anything is possible until the investigation is complete. Give us a list of the cleaning staff you hired, and then try to recall when they last cleaned the house. Who was the last person to leave? Did you notice anything strange during that time?”

"There's nothing strange about it. At the time, I just felt that everything was ready except for the final push. I was sure that once my store opened, it would start a trend and become famous overnight, and then I..."

"And then your dream shattered."

"……"Grass.

They were depressed, and Tan Jia was also a little depressed.

After asking around, there was still no progress.

There were no clues at the crime scene, no clues about the murderer, no clues about the victim's identity, and even the speculation about the case was far-fetched.

Everything about it is strange, and everything seems to be hitting a wall.

She squeezed the plastic mask hard, venting her anger, and then asked one last question: "There must be a reason why the murderer displayed the body here. Either she works in your store, or the crime scene is closest to here, or the deceased was related to someone in your store. Which possibility do you think is most likely?"

Another shop owner with tattooed English letters was unhappy: "What do you mean there's a reason? You're just playing the victim card. We were innocently caught in the crossfire. Damn it, we're really unlucky. We inexplicably ran into a dead person, ruining our grand opening day. All my money is gone. If you find the murderer, I'll sue him to death!"

The person next to him chimed in, "Maybe they're just playing a business game. There are tons of themed event shops around here. They can't compete by throwing money around, so they're using this method to mess with us! They even dressed the deceased up like that, like a Disney character, as if they're afraid people won't notice how similar he is to our props. Is a three-piece suit something a normal person would wear on the street in the middle of summer? It's not like it's cosplay..." A flash of inspiration struck Tan Jia, who seized on it precisely.

"role play?"

She suddenly realized. "Yes, it could also be role-playing."

The scene in my dream wasn't a real shady clinic; it was a set, a specially constructed place.

The clothes she wears aren't her own; they're part of the character she's playing.

So the deceased would incongruously wear a three-piece suit and have dyed platinum blonde hair, appearing in an incongruous makeshift clinic, because he was just an ordinary boy who was playing a different role when he died.

Having come to this latest guess, Tan Jia immediately turned around to find Zheng Yan, leaving the two of them standing there.

The man with the snake tattoo tried to reach out and grab her, but Tan Ming blocked him with a slight step.

"What are you doing? Go back to where you were before."

The man cursed under his breath.

After the police officers left, the two of them still couldn't swallow their anger and took out their phones to vent to someone.

But under the watchful eyes of the police, the profanities he wanted to utter kept changing, and finally turned into a post on social media that he couldn't share.

Holy crap, how come Lin Zhiyue can handle such a cool and beautiful woman?!

The police officer was speechless.

...

The body has already been taken away by Lao Li.

Zheng Yan was checking the bathroom door lock and mirror with the forensic team, and also asked the bar's security guards questions.

Tan Jia walked over and called out to him, "Team Leader Zheng."

This means there's new progress. Zheng Yan listened to her guess from the side, quite surprised.

"role play?"

"It's not just simple role-playing; it could be celebrities or internet influencers filming a movie. Considering the distance and convenience of disposing of the body, it could also be a real-life murder mystery game, or a part-time job as an anime character in a scenic area."

The first guess is still within our understanding, but the latter two will be a real challenge for middle-aged people who work overtime every day.

"What is that? Explain it to me."

"Live-action murder mystery games involve everyone playing various roles in a story in a real-life setting. The NPCs are members of the creative team, and tourists pay to participate, becoming the protagonists of the story. They solve the script's puzzles through the characters' lines and actions, working together to solve the case. There are many horror-themed murder mystery games, with the scenes set up to be almost as scary as this bar."

Zheng Yan looked surprised, as if to say, "I never knew there was such a way to relax and have fun."

"What about part-time jobs at the scenic area?"

"For example, during a Disney parade, characters from the animated films will come out to greet you. Or, some scenic spots hold Journey to the West-themed events, where people dressed as monsters come and kidnap you, and you have to seek help from Sun Wukong."

“I understand this, I understand this. Shiyan was scared to tears by Pigsy when she was little. But there shouldn’t be any film and television shooting bases or tourist attractions around here. Even if there were, the former would be full of cameras and the latter would be packed with people. It wouldn’t be easy to kill someone and dispose of the body. But that live-action murder mystery game… Let’s go check it out outside the bar.”