Perhaps seeing the rich expression on my face, Li Hua curiously snatched the menu from my hand. After taking a closer look, he was shocked. He pointed at the menu and said, "What kind of dish is this Purple Air from the East? Why is it so expensive at 50,000 yuan?"
The waiter's face reappeared that mocking smile and he said, "Aren't you going to eat our most expensive dish? This is our most expensive dish. If you can't afford it, get out of here. There are so many people waiting to eat this dish every day. You are lucky today. The boss just came back with the stock this afternoon. If it were a normal day, you wouldn't be able to eat it even if you queued up."
I carefully watched the waiter's tone and demeanor when he spoke, and found that he spoke with confidence and a hint of pride. In other words, this so-called 'Purple Air Coming from the East', at least in the waiter's opinion, was absolutely worth the money.
I have never even seen or eaten a dish worth 50,000 yuan. Although I can't afford it now, I think this dish may be related to the murder.
Just when I didn't know what to do, Li Hua casually threw the bank card in his hand out and said, "I want this purple air coming from the east, it'd better be quick, I'm in a hurry!"
The waiter obviously didn't expect Li Hua to agree so quickly. He took the bank card and was stunned for three seconds before turning around and leaving the room.
I looked at Li Hua who looked calm and couldn't help but laugh at him: "You are really rich, you eat food worth 50,000 yuan? Are the benefits of the special case team so high?"
Although Li Hua pretended to be nonchalant, I could still see from his eyes that his heart was bleeding. Li Hua took a deep breath and said, "It doesn't matter. We are collecting evidence now. Once we find out what is wrong, we will make them pay the money! And they set such expensive prices for dishes privately. Regardless of whether this Xinyue Restaurant has anything to do with this murder case, I will make them pay the price!"
It seems that Li Hua also values money. I started to worry about the Crescent Hotel. If Li Hua's money is defrauded, who knows what crazy thing Li Hua will do.
Li Hua and I sat patiently in the private room waiting. During this time, I quietly leaned against the wall to eavesdrop on the people eating in the next room, but only the sound of eating could be heard. They didn't seem to intend to talk, but were just eating quietly.
After about half an hour, I became impatient and was about to go out to see what was going on. Then I saw the waiter from before walk in with a large soup bowl.
The soup bowl was bigger than any rice bowl I had ever seen. It was made of ceramic and covered with a lid. Hot air kept coming out from the gap in the lid, and I also smelled an indescribable delicious aroma. I immediately became hungry and wanted to see if this meal was worth fifty thousand.
The waiter carefully placed the soup bowl on the table, changed his previous expression of contempt for us, and said with a smile: "Please enjoy your meal, it will not taste good if it gets cold." After that, the waiter carefully left and closed the door of the private room.
Facing the expensive pot of 'Purple Air Coming from the East' in front of me, I was a little hesitant to touch it, but Li Hua seemed to be relieved. He picked up the soup spoon on the table, opened the lid, and prepared to taste it first.
The moment Li Hua opened the lid, an aroma that I had never smelled before hit my nose, and my stomach started to protest instantly. I didn’t care too much because it wasn’t my turn to pay, so I picked up the soup spoon and prepared to taste the dish.
But before I stood up to see what the dish was, I saw Li Hua holding the soup spoon in his hand high in the air. He seemed to be petrified, staring at the soup bowl in front of him with a look of shock on his face.
Seeing Li Hua's expression, I immediately realized that something was wrong. I stood up and looked into the soup bowl. Who knew that this look would completely overturn my outlook on life for the first half of my life
After Li Hua and I left the Crescent Hotel, it was completely dark. Li Hua secretly gave me an affirmative look, then turned and left in another direction. I seemed to have not recovered from what I had just seen. I felt my brain was in a daze, and I got up and walked towards home.
What I saw and heard in the restaurant just now is still vivid in my mind. Unconsciously, I have walked to the gate of the community and continued to walk towards home. The sky is particularly dark today. There is no moon or stars. What's more annoying is that few residents in the surrounding upstairs turn on the lights. The whole community feels particularly dark, as if even I, who am walking on the road, will be swallowed by the darkness.
As I was walking, I suddenly felt as if there was a pair of eyes behind me, staring at me in a dark corner. Although it was just a feeling, I felt as if I saw a pair of blood-red eyes approaching me.
Although I clearly felt the gaze, I still pretended to know nothing and kept walking forward without looking back, praying silently in my heart that my plan would not fail.
In this way, I walked forward about ten meters, and suddenly I heard a series of fast running footsteps behind me!
Hearing this voice, I could no longer hide the fear in my heart. I turned my head and saw a figure in the darkness, like a beast, rushing towards me at full speed! The speed was like a cheetah in the darkness, and it was five meters away from me in an instant, and I couldn't react at all!
However, at the same time, I saw Li Hua, who had vowed to protect me before, now chasing after the black shadow about ten meters away. With such a big distance difference, by the time he comes to save me, I will be dead!
Everything happened in an instant. I knew it was impossible to count on Li Hua, a teammate who was as stupid as a pig. I immediately got into a defensive posture, ready to deal with the impact of the black shadow at any time. But before the black shadow came to me, I saw the black shadow stopped in place instantly, as if it was frozen, and abruptly stopped moving forward.
"Where are you going? Aren't you afraid of falling if you run so fast?"
In the darkness, a strong figure gradually emerged. It was Bai Longfei, whom I had called in advance by text message!
The black shadow was grabbed by Bai Longfei's clothes, and the whole person let out a roar that only a beast could make. He turned around and prepared to deal with Bai Longfei, but who was Bai Longfei? Without even looking at the black shadow's fist that was hitting him, he punched the black shadow's abdomen hard. I heard a muffled sound that made my teeth ache even from a few meters away, and then I saw the black shadow lying on the ground with his hands on his stomach, unable to move at all.
"Ji Wen, why have you been attacked so often recently? Is it because of your bad luck? How about I take you to a high temple to ask for a peace charm one day?"
Dealing with the black shadow was a piece of cake for Bai Longfei, and I said gratefully: "Brother Long, it's a good thing you arrived in time, otherwise I would have been killed by the idiot Li Hua!"
At this time, Li Hua ran over and didn't care about my life or death. Instead, he grabbed the black shadow on the ground and said excitedly: "Just as I expected, this method really lured him here!"
"What do you mean by 'as expected'? The solution is my idea, okay?"
When Li Hua and I opened the so-called "Purple Air Coming from the East" dish, we were immediately shocked to find that in the relatively large soup bowl, there was a dish similar to meat stewed in clear soup. But when I took a closer look at the "meat" floating in the soup bowl, I discovered that the meat was actually a small baby whose appearance could be vaguely recognized!
I've heard that it's popular to eat stillborn babies in some places. Now that I've seen it with my own eyes, how can I not be shocked! No wonder this dish is called Purple Air Coming from the East, it turns out that it contains the hidden message of Ziheche! No wonder this dish is worth 50,000 yuan. If you ask me, 50,000 yuan is a bit cheap. After all, human life is priceless, let alone a baby.
Looking at the body of the baby floating in the soup basin, Li Hua and I understood immediately that this should be the main reason why the murderer left the pacifier after killing people. Although we still don’t know why the murderer acted so cruelly and inhumanely, I think we are not far from the truth.
At that time, we did not show any abnormal emotions. We discussed quietly and felt that if the two deceased, Ma Ming and Liu Sicong, were killed after eating here, then the suspects of the crime were very strong. According to Li Hua's suggestion, we should immediately call Officer Yang to seal off the scene, but I was afraid that this would alert the enemy. After all, it was only speculation that the murderer was an insider of the Xinyue Hotel. What if it was not? We would lose the best opportunity to catch the murderer.
Finally, after discussing, we decided to pretend that we knew nothing to lure out the real murderer! The reason why we speculated that the murderer was someone from the Xinyue Hotel was because the hotel did a very good job of keeping the guests who ate this purple air from the east very secret. Ordinary people could not know at all, let alone see the true face of the diners. Moreover, the real murderer must be secretly listening to our conversation somewhere.
After losing the game of rock-paper-scissors, I became the bait to lure the murderer. We first wrapped the baby's body in a plastic bag and secretly hid it in Li Hua's bag, pretending that we had finished eating. Then I deliberately said loudly that it was delicious and I wanted to eat more. Finally, I pretended to accidentally say that I was going home soon and where I lived. Then I left the restaurant with Li Hua. The affirmative look that Li Hua gave me before leaving told me that someone followed me out!
I knew that the murderer was extremely brutal and I was worried that Li Hua was unreliable, so I secretly sent a text message to Bai Longfei on the way. As it turned out, Li Hua was indeed unreliable. If Bai Longfei hadn't acted in time, I would have been injured even if I hadn't died.
Watching Li Hua lift up the black shadow, I realized that the black shadow should be a middle-aged man with a black mask on his face. I didn't know what was inside the mask. When I took off his mask, we all breathed a sigh of relief because this middle-aged man had a pacifier in his mouth that was exactly the same as the one at the crime scene. I also noticed that this middle-aged man was missing a front tooth!