What's with these diners?
Each of them looked at Chen Ke with furious eyes, as if they harbored a personal vendetta akin to the murder of their fathers. Not minding the gazes, Chen Ke grabbed the boss and headed toward the door.
A white strongman rose from his seat, standing in the aisle between the tables, blocking Chen Ke and the entrance.
The white man stood nearly 2 meters tall, his eyes bulging out like those of a toad, and he suffered from a severe skin condition, with noodles and saliva hanging from the corners of his mouth. His white tracksuit had yellowed from a lack of washing, and he exuded a fishy stench.
"Excuse me," Chen Ke said unapologetically.
"Umph grumph... oh..." the man muttered indistinctly, with noodle remnants dribbling on his clothing—utterly disgusting.
Chen Ke didn't want to resort to violence. After all, everyone in the noodle house was a civilian, and killing was the worst possible course of action.
Not wanting to physically engage or even make a move but still drive this strange man away was what Chen Ke desired.
It was a good opportunity to test the effect of the killing intent trigger.
A surge of killing intent rose within Chen Ke, and a faint red stream, visible only to Chen Ke, whirled towards the man. This stream was the physical manifestation of killing intent, encircling the man's head and then tightening like a noose upon his forehead, seeping into his skin.
"Killing Intent: 45/50"
In an instant, the man shuddered unnaturally, his legs gave in, and he collapsed into the seat beside him.
Previously, at Pihom's gun store, Chen Ke had used 20 points of killing intent to intimidate the black bodyguard. It seemed that the consumption increased with the target's resistance.
The more ruthless the person, the harder they were to scare, and the greater the threat they posed to oneself, the more life and killing intent they provided.
"Why don't you accept charity and just leave quietly?"
At that moment, a female diner spoke to Chen Ke.
The female diner wore a black tracksuit, petite with messy brown hair like weeds, with a face full of freckles and yellowed whites in her eyes; her pupils were dull like those of a dead fish.
"What's that to you?" Chen Ke retorted coldly as he dragged the bespectacled man past the gazes of the other diners and out of the noodle house.
In the alleyway beside the noodle house, he pushed the bespectacled man against the wall and pulled out a Colt Python.
"Listen, you answer when I ask, no nonsense, no lies. If you dare lie to me, I'll blow your balls off. Got it?"
Chen Ke pressed his foot against an overturned trashcan, propped his right elbow on his knee, and casually aimed the barrel of the Colt Python between the bespectacled man's legs.
The bespectacled man nodded frantically, his face a mask of terror, instinctively covering his groin.
"Why did you poison the noodles?" Chen Ke asked.
"Wait... are you from the Administration Bureau? How do you know..." The bespectacled man hesitated, stopping mid-sentence, wary as he glanced around.
Chen Ke sniffed out a hint of conspiracy. He cocked the revolver's hammer, and the cylinder of the Python clicked as it rotated.
"I didn't poison the noodles, I swear! There's absolutely nothing wrong with my noodles!" The man with glasses felt his legs weaken as he heard the sound of the bullet being chambered.
"You're lying," Chen Ke raised the gun with one hand, ready to shoot.
"I swear I didn't poison anyone! Damn it, you have to believe me! I'm a victim too!"
The man with glasses almost fell to his knees in front of Chen Ke, ready to kowtow.
Chen Ke had a theory that the diners were cursed with a mutation after eating the noodles, slowly turning into the monsters from Pihom's photographs. At least, that's how it seemed, but the diners' killing intent remained inexplicable.
Could it be an effect of mind control brought on by the curse?
But the man with glasses didn't seem to be lying, and he didn't exhibit any killing intent. If he had the ability to cast such a curse, he surely wouldn't be purely human.
Looking at the situation now, it appeared that the man with glasses was indeed just an ordinary person and also a victim caught up in this bizarre incident.
"Then tell me everything you know," Chen Ke lowered his gun and instructed.
The man with glasses looked around the alleyway cautiously several times, making sure no one was watching, before he finally started to spill his troubles to Chen Ke.
It turned out that this man with glasses was named Li Bo, and he was the owner of the noodle shop. He had been running the establishment in the Lower District of Opportunity City for five years, and with his excellent skills and reasonable prices, his Good Wheat House had gained some local popularity.
But a few months ago, the reputation of the noodle shop plummeted. Many diners complained to Li Bo that the noodles they ordered had a foul smell and tasted like shoelaces.
Of course, Li Bo didn't believe it because, although he was the owner, he also cooked in the kitchen, and he was well aware of everything that the other two cooks were doing.
He checked the noodles that the customers had complained about and found nothing amiss, so he ended up arguing with the diners. To Li Bo, it seemed like the customers were being unreasonable, while to the customers, it looked like Li Bo was deceiving them.
The dispute escalated until the police from the County Police had to be called in.
Li Bo thought that the County Police would arrest the unreasonable diner for disturbing the peace, but what happened next was unexpected. As soon as the police officer entered the noodle shop, he too pinched his nose, questioning why a foul smell emanated from the kitchen.
Li Bo was dumbfounded. He cooked in front of the police officer and the customer, and the officer even inspected the ingredients, but still, after the noodles were made, both of them insisted that the bowl of noodles was giving off a rotten smell.
The County Police took a bite of the noodles, spat it out immediately, but due to the lack of evidence and no issues with the ingredients, they couldn't conclude anything. So they issued a verbal warning to Li Bo and instructed him to refund the customer's money for the noodles before leaving with pinched noses.
From that day on, Good Wheat House's business plummeted no matter how much they reduced the prices. People passing by the shop would pinch their noses and walk away as if the noodles were indeed emitting a smell that Li Bo couldn't detect.
Before long, some homeless people started coming to patronize. Li Bo provided cheap noodles at rock-bottom prices, but the meager income was unsustainable, and he eventually decided to close the shop.
However, on the night he closed the shop, he and his family were assailed by emaciated monsters, which would loiter outside his home every night, scratching the letters "Set up shop" on the hallway walls and door with knives.
He never thought it was just a prank from the homeless because through the door's peephole, Li Bo could see the appearance of these creatures, gaunt as if they were mummies without bandages.
Li Bo was forced to reopen the shop but also reached out to both the County Police and the Spiritual Ability Administration.
After several days of unprogressive investigations, the County Police started thinking that Li Bo was just making a fuss. His Asian background further reduced the efficiency and attitude of the County Police's work, and they soon stopped concerning themselves with the matter.
The Spiritual Ability Administration was even more indifferent, just taking down Li Bo's report over the phone and never following up. Frustrated, Li Bo had no choice but to spend his own money to hire private investigators from Spiritual Ability Enterprises to deal with the issue.
A female investigator did come to the shop and detected the foul smell. Initially, she showed great enthusiasm for the case, but as the investigation dragged on and Li Bo's financial burden grew heavier, he could no longer afford the investigators' daily fees. Finally, with no guarantee of payment, the female investigator also gave up.