“We were completely panicked and hid to the side, afraid of being caught in his crossfire. Later, he stumbled and staggered his way outside.” The man pointed to the corridor behind Wang Shen, his eyes still filled with the terror of the memory. Wang Shen nodded, glanced around, and found the heavy glove under the dining table.
Wang Shen patted his pockets and realized he'd forgotten his plastic gloves. With no other option, he tore a piece of paper from his notebook, wrapped the gloves in it, and held them in his hand. He examined the gloves closely, then brought them close to his nose and smelled them.
"I have another question I need to ask you." Wang Shen looked up from his gloves and at the man who had just spoken.
The man looked at Wang Shen and nodded.
"Did you smell anything when that waiter came in?"
"The smell?" The man frowned slightly, thought for a moment, and then his face showed a look of sudden realization. "Right, they were saying at first that when the waiter came in, we smelled a pungent odor." The man glanced at the two ladies sitting next to him and continued, "When the waiter came in, we smelled a pungent odor."
"Take a sniff, is this the smell?" Wang Shen brought the glove closer to the man's nose.
The man immediately covered his nose upon smelling it. "That's right, that's the smell."
Wang Shen removed the gloves and nodded. The lingering smell on the gloves was still strong, the same smell left by the waiter when he passed by their table. Wang Shen wasn't unfamiliar with this smell; in fact, most people could easily recognize it as gasoline.
“At the time, we found it very strange that there was such a strong smell of gasoline.” The man interrupted Wang Shen’s thoughts and continued, “Later we thought that Blaziken might use this stuff, and it might not necessarily be gasoline, but we didn’t expect this to happen.”
Wang Shen nodded. The smell on the gloves was much fainter than when the waiter had passed by Wang Shen while delivering the food. Based on the man's description, Wang Shen guessed that the waiter had been doused with gasoline. No, that might not be entirely accurate. Wang Shen guessed that the waiter's clothes had been soaked in gasoline and then dried. However, this raised a big problem. Wang Shen and the others could smell the strong odor of gasoline, so why couldn't the waiter smell it? A normal person wouldn't wear clothes with such a strong gasoline smell, or would become suspicious. Moreover, knowing that this waiter would be handling open flames, why would he dare to wear such clothes?
Based on these clues, either the waiter was acting strangely, or someone somehow managed to get him to wear the clothes. The possibilities for these two explanations are simply suicide and homicide. Thinking about this, Wang Shen's head throbbed, and he rubbed his temples hard. Wang Shen had originally planned to enjoy his meal at this restaurant and then ask the manager, Han Lin, about Han Mo, but unexpectedly, he encountered such a thorny case.
Couldn't it have been an accident? Wang Shen asked himself this question, then immediately dismissed the idea. Without the gasoline on the clothes and gloves, there wouldn't have been this accident. And so much gasoline couldn't have accidentally gotten onto the clothes and gloves. Therefore, this burning incident was definitely not an accident. But who could have such a deep-seated grudge against this waiter, that they would use such cruel methods to kill him? Only an investigation into their network of connections could reveal the answer.
"As the parties involved in the incident, you need to go to the police station with my colleague to give a statement."
"Huh? We have to go to the police station?" The man stood up from his chair in surprise after hearing Wang Shen's words.
Wang Shen immediately waved his hand and reassured them, "This is just our routine procedure, and we hope you can cooperate and understand. Don't worry, it's nothing. I thank you for your cooperation in advance."
After hearing this, the man relaxed a little.
Wang Shen took out his phone, dialed the police station, and requested that they send some officers. He also immediately contacted the local hospital responsible for emergency medical services. After making the call, Wang Shen went to the crime scene. He saw Liang Zichen questioning the restaurant manager, Han Lin, about the incident.
"How is it?" Wang Shen walked to Liang Zichen's side, glanced at Han Lin, and then looked at Liang Zichen to ask.
"I've asked almost everything I could." Liang Zichen shifted his gaze from Han Lin and answered Wang Shen's questions. Liang Zichen followed Wang Shen a few steps toward the private room, avoiding the noisy crowd around them.
"Did you find anything?" Wang Shen asked Liang Zichen.
Unexpectedly, Liang Zichen shook his head. "Based on the restaurant manager's statement, I only learned the most basic information. The deceased was an employee of this restaurant, a migrant worker from out of town, named Xu Cheng, everyone called him A-Cheng, and he had been working there for several years."
"Wait, what did you say everyone calls him?" Wang Shen suddenly interrupted Liang Zichen and asked.
"Ah Cheng," Liang Zichen looked at Wang Shen with a puzzled expression.
"Acheng...Acheng..." Wang Shen murmured the waiter's name twice. After a few seconds, Wang Shen's eyes suddenly widened, and he immediately took his notebook out of his pocket. Wang Shen quickly flipped through the notebook beside him. "Acheng...Acheng..." Wang Shen kept repeating the name as he flipped through the pages. "Got it, it's here." Wang Shen stared at the two characters "Acheng" written on his notebook.
Wang Shen remembered everything perfectly. This A-Cheng was the deliveryman who delivered food to Han Mo on the night of her death. This time, the deceased was connected to Han Mo again. Wang Shen stared at the handwriting in the notebook, glanced at the person lying on the ground in the distance, and a bad premonition welled up in his heart.
"Anything else? What else did you discover?" Wang Shen closed his notebook and looked at Liang Zichen, continuing to ask.
"According to the restaurant manager, people used to have a pretty good opinion of Cheng. But in the last two years, his work attitude has become very arrogant, and he has made mistakes repeatedly. Strangely, he is rarely punished, and he has been promoted very quickly in recent years. He now earns the highest salary outside of management. In addition, his work has become easier and easier. Since last month, he has only been responsible for the flaming chicken dish. I think the reason for this is very strange."
"Strange, tell me what's strange about it?" Wang Shen frowned slightly, waiting for Liang Zichen's answer.
"First of all, the change in his behavior is very strange. A person who was originally well-behaved and liked by everyone suddenly became arrogant. There must be a reason for this. Moreover, for an outsider like him, who has no power or influence here, he should logically be more obedient. Why is he so arrogant? From what I understand, his colleagues in the store don't have a very good opinion of him now." Liang Zichen paused, frowning slightly as he began to think about the reasons.
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