The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

Written in blood at his feet were the words: "Take heed and be on your guard against all kinds of greed, for a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions."

A considerable amount of blood was used to write this line of words. Li Shanze wondered if all of Mr. Cohen's blood had been drained.

"Look, the executioner even quoted the Gospel of Luke." Kate sighed weakly.

I have to say, this really looks like a religious execution ceremony.

"Is that why you were asked to recuse yourself from this murder case?" Li Shanze understood at a glance.

Kate nodded helplessly: "Yes, Tim Cohen is Jewish, that's the most troublesome part."

"Dr. Benjamin, a local doctor from Fern, has forced all of my people to withdraw from the investigation of this murder case, citing ignorant and shameful religious persecution as an excuse."

"This incident has even alarmed Washington and the Vatican. You know, these people are always very powerful. If I don't back down, these bastards who control the media will probably incite even greater trouble."

Faced with the shackles of the bureaucratic machine and the hegemony of media propaganda, even Kate, who has always been quite detached, had no choice but to give in.

"In particular, they said the name 'Hunting Gods' greatly angered the Vatican. They suspected this murder was another persecution of the Jews by the Catholic Church and an infringement on freedom of speech. The Church didn't want to get into trouble for no reason."

Li Shanze nodded. "Persecution of Jews" and "violation of freedom of speech" were the two politically correct sticks that could sweep away everything in the United States. Even the church had to avoid it.

"And the trouble doesn't end there." Kate didn't seem to have any good news. "Now no one wants to take over the show 'Hunting Gods,' so it can't continue. This in itself isn't a big deal, but the agreement I reached with Mr. Cohen was only verbal and hasn't been put into a contract yet."

At this point, the Great Knight threw up his hands helplessly. "So, those foundations and their investment plans for Fern Town have been canceled. Mayor Vincent was shocked and angry when he heard the tragic news, and he fainted. After a simple diagnosis, he was sent to a hospital in Pittsburgh."

Author's words: I'm taking the train home for the New Year today, so I only have one update. Please forgive me.

Thanks to 7749 for the monthly ticket and recommendation ticket

Thanks to Wukong and Xu Shihan for their recommendation votes

060 Help

"Mayor Vincent, is he in the hospital?" Li Shanze frowned.

Before Kate could answer, a voice spoke out: "Yes, I made the diagnosis myself. Vincent had a stroke and has been sent to a hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment. Alas, Vincent worked hard for Fern Town for so many years, and in the end he had a stroke..."

A slightly thin man walked in. He looked to be over 50 years old, with gray hair that was meticulously groomed. He wore a pair of round metal glasses on his nose.

Even if he pretended to sigh, he couldn't hide his cold expression and distant eyes.

He stared at Li Shanze without any concealment, looking him up and down, as if he was thinking about something.

Who are you to come and barge into our conversation like that?

Li Shanze had a very bad first impression of this person who suddenly broke in.

Seeing Li Shanze's puzzled look, the corners of his mouth curled up, as if this represented his smile: "Bain Benjamin, a doctor in Fern Town. This must be Mr. Li."

Dr. Benjamin, if I remember correctly, you withdrew Tim Cohen's investment in Fern Town.

I really don't know how you have the nerve to stand here and put on a compassionate face.

Li Shanze's eyes suddenly became sharp.

Li Shanze ignored Dr. Benjamin's outstretched hand and sneered, "You are Dr. Benjamin. Mayor Vincent had a stroke because you withdrew Mr. Cohen's investment in Fern Town. How dare you stand here and make sarcastic remarks like that?"

Dr. Benjamin seemed unconcerned with Li Shanze's contempt and accusations. He withdrew his hand and shook his head.

"I'm afraid you have quite a misunderstanding of me, Your Excellency. First of all, I was merely exercising Ms. Cohen's rights at the request of Mr. Tim Cohen's widow, Abigail Cohen."

As he spoke, Dr. Benjamin took out a thick stack of documents from his briefcase, spread them out on the table, and motioned Li Shanze to check them.

"Look, this is Mr. Tim Cohen's notarized will, and this is Ms. Abigail Cohen's written authorization..."

Although the person in front of him was just a doctor, Li Shanze believed that it would be difficult to find any loopholes in this thick stack of legal documents.

Perhaps lawyer Grey Hamilton is capable of spending considerable time finding loopholes in these long and tedious documents, but this is definitely not something that Li Shanze, a newcomer who is not even familiar with this world, can do.

Dr. Benjamin's implication was also clear: this was the opinion of Tim Cohen's son and had nothing to do with him.

Li Shanze had strong doubts about the whole thing.

Tim Cohen had only been dead for a few hours, and already all these legal documents were in place? It looked as if everything related to these legal documents had been prepared long before, as if the killing of Tim Cohen had been premeditated. The cancellation of the investment in Fern Town seemed like a perfect coincidence.

Li Shanze thought calmly.

Regardless of the reason for canceling the investment in Fern Town, Li Shanze gained a deeper understanding of a line from a famous TV series he had watched in his previous life: "No one else's promise to you counts. Only what you decide for yourself counts."

Seeing that Li Shanze remained silent, Dr. Benjamin continued, "Besides, I'm Vincent's old friend. We grew up together in this town. I've witnessed him combat drug dealers bit by bit and lead the townspeople in their fight against the drug epidemic. How could I bear to destroy his hard work?"

These words almost completely infuriated Li Shanze, but he still forced himself to suppress the anger in his heart and said contemptuously: "I'm sorry, I can't see even a little bit of pity in your eyes."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Your Excellency." Dr. Benjamin sighed. "I actually have some news that might please you."

"Oh?"

"Although Mr. Cohen's investment intention was withdrawn, I still used the connections I have accumulated over the years to persuade Mentos Pharmaceuticals to provide a little help to Fern Town's fight against drugs." Dr. Benjamin adjusted his glasses and said slowly.

Mentos Pharmaceuticals?

Li Shanze noticed that the name sounded familiar. In order to hide his thoughts, he picked up the teacup Kate offered him and took a sip.

Well, this tea is good.

Li Shanze praised in his heart.

Although Li Shanze didn't drink tea much in his previous life, after traveling to another world, tea became a prop for him to express his homesickness.

After taking a sip of tea, Li Shanze's mind seemed to become clearer.

Hmm, now I remember, isn’t this the pharmaceutical company where Jean-Pierre Anton is the chief chemist?

Li Shanze thought of Jean-Pierre Anton, who had pretended to be a ghost and scared the mercenary Simpson, who admitted to murdering Tim Cohen, to death.

Does this mean that Anton personally silenced the mercenary George Simpson?

There seems to be a lot of water involved here. No wonder Kate, a great knight of the church, was dragged into it and asked to recuse herself from the investigation...

Li Shanze subconsciously glanced at Kate, but found that Kate had no intention of speaking.

Not only that, this great knight was also humble and submissive, as if everything revolved around Li Shanze.

Why did Kate make such a gesture? After being asked to recuse herself, did she avoid suspicion so thoroughly?

Well, maybe she wanted to push me to the front to attract attention so that she could do something behind the scenes?

No, in fact, she had already created this illusion... When Dr. Benjamin issued the document, he spread it in front of me instead of Kate; Dr. Benjamin even used the honorific "Your Excellency" when speaking to me...

Of course, the information Li Shanze has currently observed is not enough for him to find the correct answer.

However, this did not affect Li Shanze's cooperation with Kate in performing "The Fox Borrows the Tiger's Power".

"What help?" Li Shanze asked curiously.

At the same time, Li Shanze once again picked up the teacup and held the fragrant tea in his mouth.

"It's mainly financial assistance, sir." Dr. Benjamin's smile seemed more sincere this time.

"Yeah." Li Shanze was sincerely happy that Fern Town had found another way out.

However, it was too early for Li Shanze to be happy.

"Mentos Pharmaceuticals has decided to kindly buy plasma, even from addicts."

"Cough, cough, cough!" Li Shanze almost spit out his tea. "So this isn't just selling blood? Selling blood sounds so nice!"

Dr. Benjamin shook his head. "No, sir. In fact, no pharmaceutical company would buy blood from addicts when purchasing plasma. I spent a lot of effort and used up decades of accumulated connections to convince them to agree to open a blood collection point in Fern Town."

"Moreover, Mentos Pharmaceuticals will gradually raise the plasma standards, requiring the drug content in the plasma to decrease year by year. After five to ten years, it will return to normal standards. This is also to guide addicts to quit drugs."

Leading people to gradually quit drugs in order to sell blood? Is this some kind of hellish joke?

Li Shanze, who had no idea about the situation in the United States, looked at Dr. Benjamin in disbelief.

Yet Dr. Benjamin said he was serious.

"In my opinion, this kind of long-term guidance is more effective than lobbying pharmaceutical companies for a one-time payment."

The doctor sighed and spread his hands. "After all, I'm just a small-town practitioner, and the connections I have can only take me so far. Please forgive me, Your Excellency."

Li Shanze narrowed his eyes. He didn't believe Dr. Benjamin's contradictory statements.

Without connections, how could someone take care of Tim Cohen's estate?

Even just because Dr. Benjamin was Jewish, he could not have been practicing medicine in a small town.

As for what role Mentos Pharmaceuticals played in this and why it wanted to come to Fern to purchase plasma...it might be better to ask the chief chemist Jean-Pierre Anton these questions.

Just when Li Shanze wanted to continue questioning Dr. Benjamin, an FBI agent ran into Kate's meeting room.

When the agent saw Li Shanze and Dr. Benjamin present, he seemed to want to say something but hesitated. His expression was very solemn. It was obvious that something unexpected had happened again.

Doctor Benjamin stood up tactfully and extended his hand to Li Shanze again: "It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. Now, please allow me to take my leave."

This time, Li Shanze did not refuse the handshake: "This way, please, let me see you off, Doctor Benjamin."

Author's words: Thanks to Xu Shihan and Wukong for their recommendations

Testimonials

Thanks to everyone for your support, it’s time for this book to be back on the shelves.

For me, the process of writing online articles is more like an odyssey that I experience together with my readers.

I am like a captain steering a sailboat through the waves on the ocean, and readers are like the cheering winds and ocean currents, giving the ship endless power to move forward.

The adventure process is full of surprises and pleasures, but in order to enjoy this pleasure, you must overcome all the hardships along the way.

Personally, I draw strength from reading everyone's comments.

Although I rarely reply to everyone's comments, I will read them over and over again, whether they are complaints, book reviews, or chapter reviews.

This is a form of communication that is difficult to define.

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Finally, I would like to thank every one of my readers again, and also thank my editor Luomu.

bow

061 Lost

After Li Shanze sent Dr. Benjamin away and returned to the reception room, he heard Kate's whispered question.

"What? How did it get lost?"

Although Kate's tone remained very calm, Li Shanze could still sense Kate's shock.

"It's not clear at the moment." The FBI agent shook his head.

"When, Julio?" Kate asked flatly.

"At least more than an hour ago." Agent Julio, who came to report, paused and looked at Li Shanze.

It's very inside information from the FBI, and they don't want me to know... Could it be that the ring was stolen again?

Li Shanze remained calm, pretending not to notice FBI agent Julio's hint, and continued to listen shamelessly.

In particular, Kate did not respond to Julio's hint, which made Li Shanze very satisfied.

In Li Shanze's opinion, the great knight of the church trusted him quite a lot and had an attitude of trusting his people.

Therefore, Li Shanze decided to return the favor and fully repay Kate's trust.

When Agent Julio noticed Kate hadn't said anything, he continued, "Mr. Tim Cohen's body was being transported to the forensic lab for an autopsy when the FBI vehicle transporting the body was attacked. The driver and the medical examiner were unharmed, but the body disappeared after the attack."

"The detective in charge suppressed the news and even hid it from us. I just found out about it."

Oh, it turns out that only Tim Cohen's body was stolen, not the ring that I had worked so hard to find.

Li Shanze breathed a sigh of relief.

No! Why would they block the road and attack the FBI's corpse transport vehicle and steal a dead body?

This seems even more outrageous than stealing the ring.

At least there was an understandable motive for taking the ring, but taking the body?

Li Shanze suddenly remembered Jean-Pierre Anton, the chief chemist of Mentos Pharmaceuticals, whom he had met in the Old Times Bar.