The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

"have you understood?"

Seeing the taxi driver nodding his head, Li Shanze opened the door with satisfaction and got into the back seat: "Drive."

Li Shanze calmly closed his eyes and let Mr. Wheel, who had been obediently steering the car.

Mr. Wheel has strong self-management ability. Although he was scolded by Li Shanze and was scared to death by Li Shanze moving him out of the Philadelphia Police Station, he still showed considerable enthusiasm when he thought about the $6,000 he was about to get.

So, soon, the car drove to a metal warehouse.

Li Shanze quietly glanced at his phone. On the map software, the GPS positioning showed that this was the seventh old dock on the Delaware River, currently registered as a scrapped vehicle processing plant.

At this time, Mr. Wheel cautiously woke up the dozing Li Shanze: "As I said before, we accept cash here, but we don't accept checks, drafts or credit cards."

He glanced at the golden emblem Li Shanze wore on his chest—he certainly didn't recognize it as the "Historian" emblem issued by the Time Corpse Brotherhood—and then added, "Of course, gold jewelry, antique firearms, or unregistered pet cats and dogs can also be used as exchange."

"Don't worry." Li Shanze opened his eyes, picked up his purse, and smiled. "I've got enough cash. How about we try to steal it?"

"You're joking, Mr. Li. We're honest businessmen." Mr. Che Lun forced a smile that was uglier than tears. "We'll go to the factory right away."

Yeah, the smuggling business is pretty damn honest.

"That's good." Li Shanze nodded.

195 The Legend of Consecration

The taxi slowly drove into the warehouse.

Then, the metal door of the garage slowly rose, as if a gluttonous beast had closed its mouth contentedly.

"German cars turn left, Japanese cars turn right," the taxi driver said enthusiastically. "As for those glorious American-made cars, they're definitely moving forward."

The taxi driver passed by a few young men who looked like gangsters who were chatting, and nodded to an older gang leader who was chewing gum.

The gang leader's gold teeth are particularly dazzling.

These young thugs seemed to want to say something to Li Shanze, but were stopped by the thug leader: "We are all guests! Stop causing trouble!"

Only after passing by this group of thugs did Li Shanze continue the conversation.

"Glorious American manufacturing? How glorious is that? How come I didn't know the US still has manufacturing capabilities?"

Li Shanze made sarcastic remarks, trying to get more information from the taxi driver.

The taxi driver wasn't angry, and it seemed like he didn't have much faith in American manufacturing.

He observed it carefully, then pointed to a cardboard box and said, "Look, it's printed on it."

Li Shanze curiously leaned over to take a look and saw the words "Proudly Made in America" ​​printed on the box.

"Cool." Li Shanze whistled, imitating the thugs. "What's in this box? Agricultural products? Like cheese or beef?"

"Oh, of course not." The taxi driver kept it a secret.

"What is that? Medicine?" Li Shanze continued to guess.

The taxi driver continued to smile and shook his head: "No, it's not, but I think the answer is obvious."

"Uh, auto parts? This is a car recycling plant after all." Li Shanze felt that he had to look at the United States in this world with new eyes. It could actually produce auto parts independently!

"No, no, no, no, what are you thinking? Any repair shop with normal intelligence and who doesn't want to go bankrupt will not purchase auto parts produced in the United States." The taxi driver shook his head.

Then he stopped teasing everyone and proudly solved the mystery: "In fact, Proudly Made in America only refers to this cardboard box."

Li Shanze didn't expect it to be so obvious.

"Ah." Li Shanze nodded. "The answer is indeed obvious."

The taxi driver shook his head. "I've carefully observed Philadelphia over the past five or six years, and I've noticed that only this cardboard box has "Made in the USA" printed on it. Everything else seems to have grown naturally on the shelves, just like the Tesla we're about to see."

Finally getting down to business, Li Shanze perked up.

But he still acted nonchalant: "What do you mean? Where did that Tesla come from?"

The driver nicknamed Wheel shook his head in confusion: "Sorry, sir, I don't know."

"You do not know?"

"Yes, to be exact, almost no one knows. These goods seem to be given to us by God - maybe they really grew out of the shelves." Wheel said half-jokingly.

"I'm afraid it's hard for people to make up their minds to buy things of unknown origin?" Li Shanze frowned.

"But everyone has gotten used to it. No one is trying to trace the origins of these unidentified goods."

Che Lu shrugged, looked at Li Shanze, and said seriously, "Please believe me, sir, these things are cheap and the quality is much better than those produced by American factories. As long as you buy them once, you will fall in love with them."

"Considering their quality is far superior to those produced in the United States, perhaps this is truly a product made in heaven."

At this point, the wheel lowered its voice: "And there are more than one or two people who believe this. Old Lame - I mean the boss Willy here - will even ask clergy to chant for these cars!"

What kind of mess is this? Asking clergy to consecrate goods brought from "heaven"?

Li Shanze was so shocked by this ridiculous news that he couldn't close his mouth.

"Really." Lun Lu was very eager to close this deal. In order to prove that this Tesla was a holy object made in heaven, he did not hesitate to reveal all the details of the boss here.

"Sir, have you noticed that there are actually not many customers today?" he whispered.

Li Shanze thought to himself, this is my first time in this damn place, how would I know what it's like normally?

However, in order to satisfy Che Lun's desire to talk and get him to reveal more information, Li Shanze still politely acted as a supporting actor: "Well, not much."

"That's right. Today is the day that Old Willy has invited the clergy to chant for these gifts from heaven, so according to tradition, no guests are received. I had to work hard to persuade Old Willy to receive you today."

Wheel's words and deeds were all asking for credit and reward.

"No wonder you wanted an introduction fee before. I'm afraid you were forced to give up part of your commission in exchange for me coming here today?" Li Shanze looked as if he had suddenly realized something.

"It's okay if you want a commission. Take me to the clergy who are chanting the scriptures. I want to see them consecrate these things with my own eyes."

Li Shanze looked at the taxi driver with interest and said.

Li Shanze felt that most of the valuable information in the Wheel Mouth had been taken out. The invited clergy and the boss here must know much more than him, a taxi driver.

"This, this won't do. Old Willy never allows anyone to get close to the clergyman who is in charge of the blessing..." Wheel said after hesitating for a moment.

But no matter what he said, he subconsciously took Li Shanze around a corner and came to a corner where there were no surveillance cameras and no other people.

Li Shanze smiled.

"Five thousand dollars, in cash, I'll pay you now." Li Shanze took out a stack of Franklins from his bag, counted out half of them, and shook them in front of the wheel.

Lun's breathing became noticeably heavier. He stared at Li Shanze, swallowed hard, and said with difficulty, "I want ten thousand."

"Six thousand." Li Shanze picked out ten Franklins and put them into the half stack of money.

"Nine thousand."

"Seven thousand, no more." Li Shanze pointed out ten more Franklins, and then waved the green papers in front of the driver.

The wheel's attention was completely drawn to the $7,000 in cash, and his focus was completely swaying with the swaying of the stack of money.

"If it's more, you should just take me to see the car. These dollars are goodbye to you, Mr. Wheel." Li Shanze pretended to put the stack of bills back into his bag.

"Just seven thousand! Just seven thousand! Give it to me now and I'll take you there!" Che Lun eagerly grabbed Li Shanze's wrist, but missed.

"I'll give you five thousand first, and then I'll pay the remaining two thousand after I meet the priest." Li Shanze stuffed five thousand dollars into Che Lun's open palm, and Che Lun subconsciously clenched the money.

He spat out his saliva greedily, carefully counted the fifty Franklins, then turned around and hurriedly hid them carefully into his shirt pocket.

Li Shanze waited patiently until Chelun had finished packing everything, then smiled and said, "Now, please lead the way, Mr. Chelun. There's another two thousand dollars and a commission for the Tesla waiting for you."

"Oh, by the way, my car broke down a few days ago, and I'm planning to buy a new one. Maybe I can put the blame on you."

Under the heavy reward, Che Lun was obviously excited: "Okay. But getting to the boat will be a bit troublesome. I need to plan the route carefully-"

"That's your problem. I only care about the results." Li Shanze stopped the wheel and said slowly, "Please lead the way, Mr. Jason Hawkins."

Did the clergy go to the ship to "bless" it? No wonder this car scrap processing plant was located next to the dock.

"Yes, yes, please follow me. We only need to avoid two cameras on this road. You must follow me closely." Chelun reminded.

"Don't worry, I can keep up."

Chelun thought about how Li Shanze avoided his wrist grab just now and nodded in conviction.

Obviously, under the temptation, the taxi driver had completely lost his vigilance. He didn't even think about whether it was reasonable for this "rich boy" to have such agile skills.

At this time, he reminded again: "Please remember not to look around, lest you see something you shouldn't see."

"What? Isn't that the cargo shipped from heaven?" Li Shanze narrowed his eyes.

"If ordinary people like us are not pious enough in our hearts, our brains will be burned if we face the glory of God." As long as we are willing to deceive ourselves, idealism will always be able to justify itself.

Li Shanze shook his head and laughed, without saying anything else, but took a step forward and followed the taxi driver.

Author's words: Thanks to Yuansheng Laji for the reward, urging votes and recommendation votes

Thanks to book friends 6880556864, Yinzhishisan, and Xiaopingguo112633 for their recommendation votes

196 Old Priest

After walking around for a long time, the two walked out of the warehouse carefully. The sunlight made the dilapidated dock as bright as a postcard.

Under the sun's gaze, the rusted ochre-red remains of the cranes seemed to suddenly straighten their backs, their shadows cast on the whiskey-colored rushing Delaware River.

On the mooring posts, faded to bone white, moss climbed up along the water marks from twenty years ago.

Hearing the footsteps, the stray cat hurriedly crossed the shadow of the mooring bitt with a fish in its mouth.

The old dock was too quiet, as if it had been abandoned for many years, except for an inconspicuous cargo ship.

No, to be exact, this ship is indeed inconspicuous in other busy ports.

But it seems too fresh in this old dock covered with patina and rust.

The containers lying on the ship are waiting to be loaded and unloaded. The golden cross and the words "SAN ANDREAS" on the side of the ship are particularly dazzling.

Li Shanze is not unfamiliar with this cross, which represents the Catholic Church.

Li Shanze almost couldn't hold back when he saw the side of the ship. He finally understood where the outrageous saying "cargo comes from heaven" came from.

"The San Andreas? Is this a Catholic Church ship?" Li Shanze raised his eyebrows. "But I don't see any crew members."

The taxi driver replied, "No, I don't know who the boat belongs to, and I've never been curious about it. But I have heard that the crew members are not angels from heaven, but from the Philippines."

The crew members are from Latin America and Asia... I don't know if this is a common situation.

Li Shanze nodded: "Why did you hear that?"

"Because no one has ever seen them, some people say that the crew members on the ship are strictly prohibited from setting foot on American soil. They are only allowed to stay on the ship and are not allowed to contact anyone, so at this time they are hiding in the cabin like 18th-century slaves."

The taxi driver shrugged and smiled.

"Compared to this statement, I am more inclined to believe that the crew members are those angels that we cannot see in person."

"Look at the state of this dock. Look, the rail crane has long been reduced to scrap metal. So how did these containers get unloaded from the ship? Obviously, the angels helped a lot."

The taxi driver seemed proud of it.

At this time, he pointed at a figure and whispered, "Look, the one in full holy robes who just walked out of a container is a clergyman."

Li Shanze looked in the direction the taxi driver pointed and indeed saw a fully armed clergyman.

The clergymen's robes hung down, appearing exceptionally solid, not swaying with the direction of the river wind, as if they were wearing solidified asphalt.

The grapevine patterns embroidered in gold thread on the cuffs of the holy robe were stained with the rust unique to the dock.

The square crown on the old priest's head stood tall, and seemed to emit a sacred glow under the sunlight. The cross on his chest also reflected the golden sunlight heavily.

In one hand he held the consecration kit for the sacraments and in the other he held the silver-plated holy water bottle.

When he raised the holy water bottle in his hand and sprinkled holy water on the containers, the splashing water droplets reflected small rainbows in the sunlight.

Half of the military gas mask strap was visible under the old priest's pearl-studded chasuble.

He walked to the door of another container, placed the consecration toolbox at his feet, and carefully picked up the holy grail filled with holy blood (note: actually red wine) which was converted from a ship's sextant, muttering something.

After a long prayer, he sprinkled the holy blood on the container.

The container made a violent hissing sound as if cold water was poured on an iron plate that was thousands of degrees Celsius. It sounded like a scream or a wail.

Then, he put on the gas mask, carefully opened the door of the container - it seemed that the old priest had extraordinary strength - and walked in.

The taxi driver, who hadn't dared to breathe a moment ago, wiped his sweat. "Okay, now that you've satisfied your curiosity and even witnessed the entire ordination, it's time to go back with me to look at the car. And here's two thousand dollars."