"Death in seven days..." Anton sat at a desk in his room, not bothering to rest because the work was more important. Considering the possibility of a curse by a cursed object, there should be many cases; otherwise, Anton couldn't explain why the dark entity left this place as soon as it killed that man.
Using the Eye of God connected directly to Japanese search servers, Anton searched for things related to a guaranteed death in seven days.
"[Search initiated, 237,992 results found.]"
Anton frowned when he saw the search result, so, being more precise, he instructed the artificial intelligence: "Now filter the results that have some connection with posts about curses, horror stories, or simply discussions on the internet."
"[Results filtered: 23,790 possible results.]"
"Now filter everything related to a real death. You must search for burial processes, deaths, or any cursed video."
Anton stared at the computer screen, waiting for a valid search.
"[233 searches found!]"
Much before he began to review, Anton made one last request: "Now show me a source where they say it's based on an urban legend."
Japanese people love horror and stories related to blood, so he wanted to know if what he was looking for had any connection with what happened to the man.
"[Results found: 34 searches have been filtered related to your requests!]"
Anton, who didn't want to read, activated the narration mode and began to listen. "[Among Japanese teenagers, a quite peculiar story seems to have spread in a very short time. The urban legend circulates that anyone who watches a certain video tape receives a call and dies exactly one week later.]"
"Are there any posts from people claiming to have seen those tapes?" Anton furrowed his brows because if what he was thinking was true, then there would be many victims before he could do anything.
"[Those closest to your location claim to have seen the tape; their last posts about it were five days ago, and judging by the dates, today is the last day those students remain alive, according to the urban legend.] "
"What are their names?"
"[Tomoko, Satari, Hinako...]"
While the names of those who claimed to have seen the tape were mentioned, Anton wanted to know what relationship the man who had died in this building had with the video tape and how his case related to the others, if possible.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
At that moment, someone knocked on the door. Anton walked over and, upon opening, saw a man in a suit. "Sir, your guest has arrived and is waiting for you in the lobby."
"I'll be down in a minute," Anton said as he approached the computer.
Knowing that someone might die, he would first find out if the legend was true and if they, like the man who had died in the hotel, were related. After noting the address of the place where Hinako Saeki lived, Anton went down to the lobby.
"Right this way, sir."
Anton nodded and, upon seeing Yoshio, who should be his assistant in this country, nodded in acknowledgment. "How are you?"
"Mr. ShadowBane, my name is Yoshio Tanaka. It will be a pleasure to work with you on this case."
Anton nodded and said, "I like enthusiastic people. Did the association give you anything for me?"
From what Anton could see, Yoshio is a young man with dark brown hair, short, slightly wavy hair, and narrow, dark brown eyes. His bangs frame his face, while some strands of hair gather in the center of his forehead. He is quite tall and thin in terms of physique, so he should be more for logistics than fieldwork.
"They gave you identifications, a residence, and a detective license."
Looking at the intensification, Anton nodded and said, "Then let's get to work. Do you have a car?"
"Right now?" Yoshio seemed puzzled; he didn't think Anton had had enough time to find anything.
Anton nodded, walked out of the Continental hotel, and said, "Drive to this address; I'll talk to you about the dark entity on the way."
"Eh, understood, sir." Although Yoshio was very confused, he adapted quickly and followed Anton to the exit.
For now, they needed to know the nature of the dark entity and how determined it was to kill people. But Anton had only one priority: to verify all his suspicions and give credibility to his assumptions before starting to devise a plan.