Chapter 75: Chapter 75
Ray was still posted up on the sidewalk, camera aimed at his face while he pretended to look confused as hell. His right cheek was still burning and throbbing like crazy. Inside the restaurant you could hear SMACK! SMACK! loud and clear through the wide-open glass door. Everyone in there was still smiling big like nothing was wrong at all.
But outside... shit was already going off the rails.
The crowd on the sidewalk was blowing up. Started with like a dozen people, now it was dozens. Some filming on their phones, some whispering with their eyes bugged out, others laughing nervously like "This gotta be some crazy prank video." A few even got bold and walked right up to the glass door, peeked inside, then backed up looking pale as fuck.
Out of nowhere somebody in the back of the crowd started yelling.
"This shit’s insane! Somebody call the cops! This could get dangerous!"
A bunch of people immediately started pulling out their phones and calling. Others joined in shouting.
"Cops! Something weird’s going on in that restaurant!"
Ray checked his chat real quick. Viewer count already hit 4.1k and still climbing. Chat was flying by like everyone lost their minds.
[Bro crowd is getting massive]
[This shit is escalating so fast]
[Someone really called the cops??]
[Ray move back a bit]
Ray swallowed hard. In his head he was already starting to freak the fuck out.
’Fuck... this went way too far.’
Before he could even say anything, two young dudes suddenly got brave and walked into the restaurant "to check it out." The second they stepped through the door—
SMACK!
SMACK!
Two hard slaps landed almost at the same time. The waitress and waiter greeted them with big friendly smiles. Both guys came stumbling back out with bright red cheeks, but they were still smiling all polite.
"Uh... they just said hi or something," one of them said, looking confused.
Then he touched his own cheek and his eyes went wide.
"...Why the hell does it hurt?!"
Chat went crazy.
[THEY GOT SLAPPED TOO!!]
[THEY DON’T EVEN REMEMBER]
[This is getting worse]
[Ray get out of there bro]
The crowd was getting packed tight. People pushing and shoving to see better. Yelling, nervous laughing, all mixing together. Some folks started arguing loud.
"This has gotta be staged!"
"What kind of prank is this?!"
"Could be some government experiment!"
"Y’all are crazy, this is just set up for content!"
Ray kept backing up step by step, still gripping the tripod. His slapped cheek was stinging bad, but he had to keep acting confused on camera.
Then police sirens started wailing in the distance.
Two patrol cars pulled up with lights flashing. Four cops hopped out moving fast. The crowd opened up a path but stayed loud as hell.
"What’s going on here?!" one cop barked.
People started crowding around explaining everything at once. Some pointed at Ray who was still streaming. Others were like "Just go inside, you’ll see for yourself!"
One of the cops, probably feeling like he had to check, walked straight up to the glass door and stepped inside like he owned the place.
SMACK!
A super loud slap cracked across his left cheek. You could hear it all the way out on the sidewalk.
The cop came back out looking kinda dazed, still wearing a thin smile like somebody just greeted him nicely.
"Nothing weird in there," he said quietly. "Just... welcomed."
Then he reached up and touched his cheek. His face changed.
"...It hurts. Why... why does it hurt so bad?"
The other cops who saw it got confused as hell. One of them grabbed his radio and called for backup. The crowd went even more wild. Some people laughing hysterically, some yelling "Even the cops got hit!", others shoving closer with their phones out.
Ray backed up even more. He was a decent distance from the door now, but the crowd was still following him.
Then a blue-and-white TV van rolled up. Reporters jumped out with big cameras on their shoulders and mics in hand. Camera lights flicked on right away.
"Live from the mysterious restaurant where people are getting slapped but don’t even remember it!" one reporter shouted into their camera while pushing through the crowd.
People were shoving harder now. Some trying to get interviewed, some trying to get in the TV shot. Ray was getting squeezed from both sides. His tripod almost fell over.
His chat was complete chaos.
[TV CREW IS HERE]
[This is national news now]
[Ray move the fuck away]
[It’s too packed bro!!]
Ray finally spoke up to the camera, breathing kinda heavy.
"Guys... this is getting way too crazy. I can’t stay here much longer. I’m gonna move to a safer spot."
He backed away slow while still holding the tripod, trying to get out of the packed crowd. A few people still followed him, but he managed to get about twenty meters away from the restaurant. He stopped under a tree by the side of the road, camera still rolling, right cheek still red and burning.
Right when he was about to talk again, the chat suddenly flipped.
[Wait... why is this phenomenon only happening in ONE building now?]
[Before it was worldwide right??]
[State secrets leaked, WW3 almost happened, now it’s just this one restaurant??]
[Something feels off]
Then a comment that made Ray’s heart start pounding.
[What if this is all Ray’s doing. Ray created this phenomenon.]
[Yeah... maybe Ray is behind all this shit]
[He’s been acting too calm]
[Ray created this phenomenon??]
Ray went quiet for a second. In his head he was panicking like crazy.
’Fuck... they’re starting to suspect.’
But he quickly forced a little smile at the camera, voice staying calm even though it was shaking.
"No way bro. If I could create a phenomenon this big... why the hell would I still be streaming? Why would I still be grinding for viewers and donations? I could just use that power to mess with banks or big places, take as much money as I want while chilling at home. No need to be out here getting slapped on live."
Chat immediately started agreeing.
[Ray actually has a point]
[Yeah why stream if he can do that]
[No reason to hustle if he has that kind of power]
[Logical as fuck]
[Sorry for doubting Ray]
Some viewers even started defending him.
[He’s right, if he could do this he wouldn’t be here getting slapped for content]
[Ray’s just as confused as us]
Ray let out a slow breath behind the camera. His cheek still hurt like hell, but he felt a little relief. They bought it. They had no idea... that Ray had actually been using that Common Sense Alteration system to pull huge money from online gambling sites, and nobody suspected a damn thing.
He looked back at the camera, still pretending to be confused and exhausted.
"...I seriously don’t get it anymore, guys. This... is way too fucking insane." Ray was sinking deeper into his own lies.
In the distance, more police sirens and TV camera lights were still flashing bright in front of the restaurant that was getting even more packed and chaotic.
Ray was still posted up under the tree by the side of the road, about twenty meters from the restaurant. Camera still aimed at his face while he kept pretending to look confused, right cheek still red and a little swollen. But the crowd in front of the restaurant had gone completely fucking feral.
People were shoving and spilling out into the street. Some filming, some straight-up yelling, others just standing there looking pale as hell. Now there were already four TV vans on scene. Camera lights blazing from every direction, reporters competing to film and grab interviews from anyone walking by. Their voices all overlapping.
"Live from the restaurant that’s apparently experiencing some weird phenomenon!"
"Police have arrived on scene!"
"We’re still waiting for an official statement from the police!"
Inside the restaurant, the customers were starting to look confused as fuck. The ones who were all smiles earlier were now standing by the big glass windows, peeking outside with puzzled faces. Some were even whispering and pointing at the crowd and all the TV lights. Their common sense had been altered, so they had no idea why it suddenly got so packed and loud outside.
Then a police loudspeaker suddenly blared, making everyone on the sidewalk shut up for a second.
"ATTENTION! TO ALL CUSTOMERS INSIDE THE RESTAURANT, PLEASE EXIT IN AN ORDERLY MANNER. WE WILL BE TAKING STATEMENTS FROM SOME OF YOU. THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION."
Two cops stood in front of the door holding megaphones. Some customers started coming out looking dazed. The second they stepped through the doorway, a few of them got slapped again by the servers who were still smiling wide. But this time the vibe was different — as soon as they felt their cheeks burning and saw the massive crowd outside, they started freaking out and yelling too.
Ray’s chat was completely losing their minds.
[Bro this is getting way too big]
[Multiple news stations now??]
[Police using loudspeakers holy shit]
[Ray you need to leave before they notice you streaming]
[DON’T GET CAUGHT BRO]
[If police or reporter see you live they might shut the stream down]
Ray read the chat fast. His heart was pounding harder.
He gave a small nod to the camera and whispered, "Yeah... I know. I don’t wanna get caught either. I’m backing up more."
Ray slowly backed behind a bigger tree, trying to hide his body as much as possible while still keeping the camera on his face. He didn’t dare kill the stream — viewer count had already hit 5.8k and donations were still rolling in. But he also didn’t dare get any closer.
While he was backing up, his eyes accidentally flicked toward the dense crowd in front of the restaurant.
And right then... there was a girl standing right in the middle of the crowd, directly behind two TV reporters.
She was staring straight at Ray.
Ray frowned. The camera was still on his face, so the viewers couldn’t see her. The girl just stood there in the middle of all the chaos, eyes not even blinking, staring at him with this intense look. Then her lips started moving.
Ray squinted, trying to read what she was mouthing over and over.
She looked like she was clearly saying something, even though he couldn’t hear shit because of the distance and all the noise.
Ray tried guessing in his head while still pretending to talk to chat.
’I...?’
’Know...?’
’I... I know...?’
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