Reed Smart: AI Detective/Dine & Deceive

At the office, Jenna Rossetti explains her case to Detective Smart: Her aunt, Sophia, works at her shop, Sophia's Seaside Snacks at the pier. Her business was successful until a food reviewing podcast gave her a poor review on her food, accusing her of using questionable ingredients and causing her sales to plummet. Detective Smart and the player then head to the pier.

Upon arriving there, Detective Smart gets reminded of "a simpler time in [his] life" upon seeing the boardwalk. The player has to interview the customers in Sophia's Seaside Snacks. There, Sophia welcomes the player and invites them to try out a dish she names "Ants on a Log", insisting that it is "ant-free". Amazed that she met the player, she assumes that Jenna sent them here and misnames them "Detective Smarty", then explains her case. She complains that the podcast gave her false reviews that started endless rumors, worsening her reputation because of the ingredients the podcast claimed she uses. Seeing the reviews, Detective Smart notices the appearance of Empresa Picante frequently, which neither know about.

Inside the shop, the customers insist on buying Sophia's dishes no matter how harsh the podcast reviews are. Detective Smart then suggests to investigate the stockroom to look for any strange ingredients, but Sophia lost her key because she left her glasses in the storeroom. The player has to find the key on the wall using their magnifying glass, then take a picture of the ingredients which turn out to be regular.

Outside the shop, Dougie, the owner of the defunct Dougie's Pie Place, mentions that their shop received equally decreasing sales because of Seaside Food Show after it accused them of using insects in their pies. They reveal that the show even took the name of one of their dishes, the grasshopper pie, literally. Because of this, they had to sell their workshop to the Spy Sea Company, and as evidence, they tell the player about the podcast playing all day long next to the Pepper Perfection kiosk.

The rest of the customers are annoyed by the podcast: Sa'di became afraid of going to Dougie's Pie Place or Sophia's Seaside Snacks after hearing the podcast, Matt calls it hogwash, Meera is aggressively against what she saw as lies, and Edgardo gets disgusted after he realized that the snack shop sells lady's fingers and took it literally.

When Detective Smart notices the frequency of mentioning the kiosk, the player has to investigate it by watching the episode. There, the host Chris P. Bacon repeatedly insults Sophia's Seaside Snacks by calling it "Seaside YAKS" and claiming to have gotten sick after visiting it. He even compares the ingredients to those in a horror movie and puts himself in the case of the "food court". Noticing the attention of the shopkeeper Hal Penyo, the player decides to interview him about the case. He views the show as honest, which the player finds suspicious, and he tried to help Sophia by buying her shop only for the situation to worsen. Afterward, Detective Smart finds Hal suspicious and brings the player to the case board.

Upon arriving there, Detective Smart is amazed about the total emptiness of the office, assuming the staff went on vacation. After gathering enough clues around the office, he notices an open door leading to the studio director Dewey Kneadham. While interviewing him, he yells that he is currently busy, and after knowing about the podcast from Detective Smart, he reveals that he is Chris P. Bacon himself. He is also Al Dentey, Terry Aki, Sue Flaye, and Mack Aroney and the only worker in the studio, which is why he is so busy. After being asked why he has all the unused computers, he explains that he actually uses AI to play the role of his identities and trained them according to his likes and dislikes. He explains that AI can collect information about menus and user reviews in order to create each episode, but it sometimes causes AI hallucination, causing it to confuse anything. Upon learning about that, Detective Smart insults Dewey for having created Chris P. Bacon to accuse Sophia for serving dogs. After a long argument, Dewey affirms that such errors are uncommon and he got it all wrong after receiving complaints from the customers at Sophia's Seaside Snacks, mentioning an apology on episode 78 of the podcast. He confirms that the episode was out a few weeks ago, and yet the kiosk still plays the 77th with the poor review. In order to investigate, Detective Smart asks for a copy of episode 78 so he could share it with Sophia. Upon giving him the copy, Dewey says that the studio is owned by the Spy Sea Company run by Jalisco "Hal" Penyo, before Detective Smart tasks the player of arranging the clues on the case board.

Feeling suspicious about Hal and with the player's suggestion, Detective Smart heads with them back in the pier. At the kiosk of Pepper Perfection, he notices that episode 77 is still playing, suspecting Hal is trying to hide the 78th one. In front of the door, Smart reveals his plan: the player will penetrate and he attempts to distract Hal with long talk. Upon entering the gate, the player gets surprised by Hal promoting his peppers to them, but Detective Smart comes in to take their place in having the peppers.

While Smart distracts him, the player has to find clues in the back office, including a book, the computer, and an amusement park blueprint. At that moment, Jalisco startles them, thinking they got lost, and Detective Smart manages to get them out without trouble. Outside, he tells them that the pepper he had were too spicy for him, before bringing them to the office to arrange clues. One of them, the blueprint, shows that the park cannot be built until Spy Sea Company owns all the shops on the pier.

After connecting all the clues, Detective Smart tells the player to bring everyone to the office. After a long interrogation with Sophia and Hal, the latter affirms he owns all of the Spy Sea Company and used ill tactics to expand his amusement park. When episode 78 got released, he hid it because he knew the customers will cause the economy of Sophia's Seaside Snacks to improve. Feeling sorry for what he called an out-of-control plan, he asks Sophia for a collaboration so she sells her snacks alongside Dougie.