Who Was the Customer?

The clock was still ticking, and soon, with the soft ticking of the hands, it was 7:10.

A faint smell of blood wafted from the passageway, and then the two people at the cashier simultaneously heard footsteps.

The footsteps were chaotic; it wasn't just one person.

"Tick-tock."

The Sheep-faced leader reappeared in their sight, but this time, there was another person following behind him.

The man walked with his head down, wearing the same red apron as Yu Xing, silently following behind the Sheep-faced leader.

"Work properly. If you're already slacking off on your first day, you can go home if you don't want to work here." The supervisor's expression was strange, it was hard to tell whether he was pleased or angry, but the condescending attitude in his tone was very clear.

Yu Xing leaned lazily against the counter and heard the person reply in a low voice, "Okay."

The voice sounds like a man's, and he's quite young.

But it's that same phrase again. Why do I, like this "auntie" next to me, always like to reply with those two words?

Or have office workers simply gotten used to replying "okay" to their bosses?

Having little experience as a corporate slave, Yu Xing didn't think too deeply about it; his gaze fell on the floor behind the man.

Bloody footprints.

Bloody footprints stretched along the path the man and the foreman had taken, and the viscous liquid, half-congealed, outlined vivid patterns on the ground. Clearly, the man was injured.

But he walked very steadily, so where was he injured?

Yu Xing straightened up as the foreman approached, exuding a sense of restraint.

The supervisor glanced at the time again. "It's time to open. Remember to provide excellent service, greet our guests with a smile, and make them feel our hospitality. Understand?"

Yu Xing: "Understood."

The man and woman said in unison, "Okay."

A hint of surprise flashed in Yu Xing's eyes.

After finishing his speech, the supervisor walked towards the entrance of the barbecue restaurant, which was still locked. Only then did the supervisor unlock the door, and the door slowly opened.

This barbecue restaurant seems to be located on a main street, right across from the road, and even after opening the door, you can see that it's still dark outside.

Yu Xing then realized that the "7 o'clock" was not 7 a. m., but 7 p. m.

This barbecue restaurant only opens for business in the evening.

Are you... are you alright?

The cashier next to him couldn't help but ask the man a question.

It wasn't so much concern as a desire to see what others like us were going through, so as to serve as a warning to myself.

The man looked up.

He said, "I'm not doing well."

The woman's pupils constricted, and she almost screamed in fright, covering her mouth tightly with her hand.

Yu Xing took a step back in response, fixing her wary and surprised gaze on the man's face.

Half of the man's face was a bloody mess; his eyeballs and lips were gone, his skin had vanished, and only the vibrant flesh and crisscrossing veins were visible.

The ground was uneven and pitted, with some areas revealing stark white bones.

With his face, half intact and half grotesque, he gave them an ugly smile and repeated, "I'm not doing well, I feel like I'm not doing well."

The woman couldn't utter a single word; though she remained firmly rooted to the spot, she was trembling like a leaf.

The word she seemed to want to blurt out was "monster."

Seeing that the man was in such a state, yet he didn't cry out in pain, walked steadily, and had a strange demeanor, Yu Xing guessed that this must be a mechanic of the instance.

For example, pain shielding?

Or it could be outright spiritual pollution.

Generally, once something reaches this point, it's practically beyond saving. Most don't even have a chance to survive to the end, and even if they do, their level of mutation will likely be...

Was that chewing sound I just heard the foreman eating the man's face?

A strange feeling washed over Yu Xing again. He asked, "What do you do?"

"Back kitchen, serving food, but I need to meet in the main hall first." The man replied stiffly, "I was 'born' in the back kitchen. There are two chefs in the kitchen, and one of them got held up, so I was a little late."

It turns out that he didn't miss the first mission deadline because he was afraid or careless.

Instead, something was harming him.

"That cook was a pig, with a pig's head on his neck!" The man said, finally breaking his stiffness and regaining some of his composure.

He was terrified, and his voice unconsciously rose in pitch.

The woman quickly raised a finger. "Shh, keep your voice down, don't let the supervisor hear."

The man stopped abruptly and glanced at the back of the supervisor standing at the door.

The street was deserted, and no customers had come in yet. The manager seemed to be taking on the role of attracting customers as he stood at the door, seemingly uninterested in what they were talking about.

Yu Xing stared at him, asking urgently, "You said you were stopped by a pig-headed chef, so what about the other chef? Was he human or...?"

The hothead completely disregarded his companions' feelings, focusing solely on gathering as much information as possible.

The man paused, as if recalling something, then said, "The other one was human, a woman. She... she was incredibly cold, just staring at me like that... When the foreman came in to arrest me, she was also giving me a half-smile. I hated that look."

"That could be one of our comrades!" Yu Xing's eyes lit up on the surface, but in reality, she had already guessed who the people in the kitchen were.

The aloof woman with a half-smile—isn't that Qu Xuanqing?

The reason she had a half-smile was because she naturally had naturally smiling lips.

This is somewhat unexpected, though. Four of them are employees, which means only four people will become customers? Is it 50/50?

Something seems off.

Although Yu Xing hadn't thought much about it, his instincts and premonitions were screaming at him.

The woman then asked, "Are you a candidate or a deducer?"

Presumably, she learned from Yu Xing's actions that she assumed her companions would ask this question whenever they met.

"Me, me?" The man was taken aback, pausing for a long time. "I'm a candidate. I was shopping with my girlfriend at the mall today, and I just suddenly walked in."

The woman asked a few more questions.

They spoke in hushed tones, and the supervisor at the door never turned around.

Yu Xing listened casually for a moment, but was actually thinking about something else.

Before him were two candidates. Qu Xuanqing was most likely in the kitchen, so there was one more candidate left, as well as Gao Lou, Little Heavenly Master, and Assassin No. 17, who had never been seen on any of the major lists.

This barbecue restaurant is known to have two chefs, one food runner, one cashier, one supervisor, and him, the front-of-house server.

Are these the only people there? Isn't one waiter too few?

Are there any cleaners? If so, where are they? Is there a manager? Or is the barbecue restaurant owner here?

Before Yu Xing could even idly ponder this, there was finally movement at the door.

Like a floodgate being opened, the streets, which were just deserted, suddenly became crowded with people.

The dim streetlights provided almost impenetrable light, and many people passed by the barbecue restaurant, their conversations occasionally drifting in through the open door.

Some people would stop at the entrance of the barbecue restaurant, turn their feet, and walk inside.

The Sheep-faced leader immediately greeted them warmly, "Welcome! Please come in and have a seat!"

The woman quickly put on a smile, suppressing her nervousness. "Welcome! There's a QR code on the table; please scan it to order!"

To fit in, Yu Xing also greeted them with a welcome.

The man, whose face was now only half visible, forced a smile and silently walked towards the seated guests, seemingly intending to wait for them to place their orders before taking the slips to the kitchen to hand to the chef.

At first, it was just a few guests traveling together.

Soon, more and more people entered the barbecue restaurant, filling it to more than half capacity.

None of the guests had human heads on their necks.

At a glance, one sees sheep faces, pig faces, cow faces, and even dog faces—the faces of these species embedded in human bodies, speaking human language, and acting indistinguishable from humans, which is extremely spiritually polluting.

In comparison, Yu Xing and the other two, who possessed human faces, seemed like anomalies.

The shop was already bustling with activity. Yu Xing should actually be turning on the switches on the tables for the customers, bringing out the grill and charcoal, and laying out oil-absorbing paper.

But he didn't move.

First, he didn't know where these things were. Second, from the moment he appeared in the changing room, he had this idea in his mind—he didn't need to do these things; his job was simply to grill the meat for the guests after the raw meat was served.

Yu Xing is still waiting.

Sure enough, just a minute later, several waiters wearing aprons filed out from the back passage.

These waiters were also people with sheep-like faces, cow-like faces, and pig-like faces; they weren't wearing name tags, probably because they weren't high-ranking enough.

The newly arrived waiters skillfully helped customers solve many problems, and the charcoal brazier was lit, bringing a lot of heat to the barbecue restaurant.

The man with only half his face remaining had already taken several tables' worth of orders to the kitchen. Yu Xing walked over to the newly seated table of guests and waited for their meat to be served.

He overheard the guests chatting about their day's work like humans, and one of them, a woman in an elegant dress—no, a female sheep—was complaining to her male companion, "I can't stand this job anymore, I'm quitting next month!"

The man sitting opposite her laughed, "You say that every month, 'Keep it up, keep it up.'"

What a perfectly normal topic.

Yu Xing lowered her eyes and pretended to be obedient.

Soon, another waiter with a pig-headed face brought the food over.

Sure enough, there was more than just one man with half a face serving food; they only appeared after the barbecue restaurant started "working".

Yu Xing took the tongs and said softly, "I'll help the guests grill the meat."

Neither the female sheep nor the male pig had any objections.

Yu Xing placed the meat on absorbent paper, squeezed some more oil on it, and listened to the sizzling sound of the meat as his gaze deepened.

These plates of meat are unidentifiable; they certainly don't resemble the usual beef, lamb, or pork.

In the deduction, Yu Xing assumed that all the meat he couldn't recognize was human flesh.

No need to even think about it.

With his back to the cashier, he was out of the way, so the cashier couldn't see him. He remained calm and focused on his work, showing no sign of panic, and sported a warm smile.

After filling the grill pans at this table with meat, Yu Xing went to another table to begin serving.

This table of guests had quite a few requests; it was a family of three.

The male sheep teased the little lamb in his arms while repeatedly instructing him, "Bake this batch first, add plenty of oil, and sprinkle with cumin."

Yu Xing replied gently, "Okay."

The mother sheep also asked, "Could this meat be cooked a little longer?"

Yu Xing smiled even more deeply, "Okay."

Just then, he sensed a familiar presence and glanced at the entrance of the barbecue restaurant.

A predictor is coming in.

Strangely, the aura felt incredibly familiar, so familiar that he was momentarily stunned.

This was the only genuine doubt he had since he started this simulation.

They're in.

Several people with incongruous human faces walked in at the beckoning of the Sheep-faced leader, and were then led to an empty table by a greeter who appeared out of nowhere.

The group was quite large, consisting of eight people.

The greeters led them to the largest table, and most of them followed cautiously. Even when they sat down, the atmosphere was heavy, unlike the lively atmosphere at the other tables.

They didn't even look familiar with each other.

However, the staff at the barbecue restaurant didn't need to care about the relationships between these customers. An employee came forward to serve them, and one of the young men, with a pale face, scanned the QR code on the table and ordered food with a rather innocent and timid expression.

Yu Xing hearing and can easily distinguish what people at that table are saying in a noisy environment.

Seniors, what would you like to eat?

Despite his tall and muscular build, the young man's expression was perfectly natural, making him seem like a novice who needed protection.

Beside him, the woman with a cold expression remained silent, seemingly unconcerned about what they ate, so the young man's gaze fell on the other people.

A woman around 40 years old, a young man of average appearance, and an excessively young girl all lowered their heads, showing no intention of making a decision.

The boy, still looking like a teenager, clicked his tongue, took the young man's phone, and said casually, "I'll order."

"Alright, alright, Little Heavenly Master definitely knows what's edible." The middle-aged man in a suit and tie replied with a relaxed expression and a smile.

As they were talking, the young man who had handed over his phone seemed to sense Yu Xing's gaze. He tilted his head slightly and looked in Yu Xing's direction with a hint of confusion.

When those deep blue eyes showed any inclination to move in their direction, Yu Xing naturally turned her head away, leaving her back to them.

His expression was calm, but his heart was pounding wildly in his chest, making him feel a sudden sense of suffocation.

It cannot be seen.

The phrase naturally came to mind.

The eight people at that table were five deducers and three candidates.

That included himself.

He cannot be seen by "himself".

The existence of two selves at the same time would be a mistake; he must never be recognized, at least not have his face seen.

A strong sense of crisis washed over Yu Xing, who felt it was almost absurd.

"Waiter, could you please grill the meat for our table?" A group of people at a table two meters away waved to him.

He calmed his racing heart, making sure not to face the largest table, then walked towards the guest with a perfectly composed expression, putting on an impeccable smile, and replied, "Okay."