The North American Gourmet Demon Handbook

Jennifer fumed.

Then she saw a line of words: You have been kicked out of the discussion group.

Immediately afterwards, the TeleGhost app on her phone was automatically deleted.

Jennifer's mouth opened in surprise.

Kicked out of the discussion group? Deleted from the app? How dare she?

The first thought that came to her mind was not anger, but Li Shanze's calm yet unfathomable face.

Something seems to have gone wrong with the mission. She, Jennifer, actually messed up the first mission given to her by her master!

How will the master punish her?

A chill ran down my spine, the fear of unknown punishment.

But what followed was an indescribable, hidden electric current that flowed through the whole body in a numbing manner.

Punishment...the master's punishment...that meant that the master's gaze would be completely focused on her, which meant that she would completely submit, be controlled by him, and be "trained" by him.

Her breathing began to quicken and an unnatural flush appeared on her cheeks.

She imagined herself being bound, ordered around, deprived of all rights to resist, trembling and submitting under the absolute authority of her master... It was an extreme humiliation, but also an extreme pleasure.

These conflicting emotions intertwined fiercely in her heart, making her tremble with fear and shiver with desire.

However, this complex emotion was quickly replaced by another, stronger thought - anger.

Iko! That damn stupid dog! She must have done it on purpose!

How dare she? How dare she disobey him like this? How dare she cut off contact? This was clearly a naked provocation, an attempt to gain favor with the master!

She wanted to show her master that she, Jennifer, couldn't even handle a lowly hacker, thus devaluing her! Damn it! Did she think she could replace him like this?

No, she couldn't let Aikou succeed! She would complain to her master right now!

She wanted to let her master know how stubborn and ungrateful Aikou was, and how much she needed to be "trained"!

She wants her master to personally punish that ignorant hacker and let her know who is the real "bitch" who deserves to be loved and controlled by her master!

So she immediately stood up, walked out the door, and went to Li Shanze to complain.

However, before Jennifer filed a complaint, Ai Kou had already found Li Shanze to file a complaint.

Ai Kou: @Li, come out here! (Angry)

Li: What's wrong, Ai Ko? Why are you so angry?

Iko: What's with that crazy new woman you added?! (Furious) I kicked her out!

Lee: Kicked? Who? Jennifer? What happened?

Ai Kou: Yes, that crazy one! She started talking about "master" and "tool" and called me a "stupid dog"! Why did you add such a weird person?

Li: Huh? I told her that if she needed help with anything in information technology, she could ask you, the expert. Is she acting up again?

Ai Kou: (Screenshot of chat history) Look, is this asking for advice? What’s wrong with this woman? (Furious)

Li: Tsk, I get it. I will teach her a lesson.

Aikou: (alert) Wait? You guys aren't really in a pet-owner relationship, are you? Your social circle is a bit messy!

Li: Haha, what are you thinking! It's just that Jennifer has some mental problems and her condition is not very stable. She is one of my "patients".

Li Shanze laughed and made up an excuse.

Ai Kou: (feigning innocence) Huh? So Li is a psychiatrist? But isn't your doctor-patient relationship a little unusual?

Li: Okay, I'll go find Jennifer and ask her what's going on, and we'll talk later.

Li Shanze put down his phone and turned to Jennifer, who was standing there with her head lowered.

The smile on his face had disappeared, replaced by displeasure and a little confusion.

I thought your abstract disease had been cured, but now it seems that there is a risk of the condition getting worse.

"Jennifer." Li Shanze's voice dropped, simmering with anger. "Look at what you've done! Others are coming to our door!"

Jennifer lowered her head, not daring to look directly into Li Shanze's eyes, but her heart felt like it was bitten by a poisonous snake, and was filled with resentment towards Ai Kou.

That damned hacker, that bitch! How dare she tell on me in front of the Master! Who does she think she is? What an ignorant fool!

"Speak?" Li Shanze patted Jennifer's cheek unhappily. "Didn't I tell you before that you should behave normally in front of outsiders? Look at what you're doing, huh?"

"I think you don't take my words as your master seriously at all!" Li Shanze frowned.

"No..." Jennifer's body trembled violently, as if struck by electricity.

This sentence, "Don't pay attention to the words of my master", is her deepest fear and the accusation she can least bear.

Her face turned pale in an instant, paler than paper, and fine beads of cold sweat oozed from her forehead.

No! No! Master! I didn’t! How dare I not listen to your words?!

Everything I have is yours! I exist only to obey your commands! That bitch! Aikou! It's her!

It was she who angered me! It was she who was ungrateful! She did not deserve your gift!

Her breathing became rapid and disordered, and her chest heaved violently, as if she would suffocate in the next second.

Her legs began to tremble uncontrollably, her knees became weak, and she could hardly support her body.

She wrung her hands tightly, digging her nails deep into her palms, trying to use the pain to suppress the huge panic that surged from the bottom of her heart.

If she hadn't remembered what Li Shanze had said before, "You can't show that look without the master's permission," she would have been impatient to kneel on the ground and kowtow to admit her mistake.

"Master... Jennifer didn't... How dare Jennifer..." She finally squeezed out a few words, her voice as thin as a mosquito, with obvious crying and desperate trembling.

Li Shanze was completely unable to connect this frightened, pale woman with the arrogant chat screenshot on his phone - this woman's two faces were really hard to understand.

Although I can't understand it, the facts are in front of me.

Li Shanze had no choice but to reiterate, "Remember, from now on, do not speculate about the Master's relationship with anyone. That is not your place to overstep your bounds! You must treat everyone with courtesy. This is the Master's order! Do you understand?"

"Yes! Yes, Master!" Jennifer nodded hurriedly in response.

She raised her head cautiously, with a hint of begging and longing in her eyes, as if waiting for Li Shanze's "forgiveness" and "favor" - oh, or maybe it was not favor, but punishment.

Unfortunately, Li Shanze neither showed any favor nor prepared any punishment.

Li Shanze just looked at her and sighed.

"Okay, you go ahead. I'll forward it to you after I get TikTok's promotion strategy. Take care of the task I've assigned to you and don't let me down."

Hearing these words, Jennifer felt as if she had been granted amnesty. Her extremely tense nerves instantly relaxed, and a huge sense of relief, almost making her faint, swept over her body.

Her tense shoulders slumped, and a hint of color finally appeared on her pale face.

He hadn't abandoned her! The master hadn't abandoned her! He had given her a new mission! This meant she still had a chance to make amends and prove her worth!

"Yes! Master! Jennifer will definitely not let you down!"

Jennifer vowed.

"That's better." Li Shanze was speechless about Jennifer, who had just expressed her obedience and then caused such a commotion.

He even began to doubt whether it was the right choice to hand things over to Jennifer.

Li Shanze decided to give Jennifer one last chance - if she still couldn't do things well, she should just be a pet dog.

Whether she can seize the opportunity depends entirely on herself.

Author's words: Thanks to Qianxiao Anran and Xiaopingguo112633 for their recommendation votes

317 Witchcraft Counterattack

In fact, Jennifer did a pretty good job.

After Li Shanze got the TikTok push logic she deduced from Ai Kou, Jennifer's countermeasure plan was quietly rolled out.

The direction of the digital world is beginning to shift subtly but profoundly.

Initially, videos and posts that had been "polished" by Marco Giuseppe Romano's various cognitive wizardry spread across the Internet like a plague.

People unanimously and fiercely abused Theodore Lancaster, showing a kind of hysterical panic, as if the whole society was in a state of collective hysteria.

It was as if all the mistakes were made by Theodore Lancaster alone, and that as long as this evildoer of the world was executed, peace would be restored in human society, and America would remain the kingdom of God on earth.

However, just one day later, a strange voice began to quietly emerge.

Jennifer’s carefully designed “cleansing” video—which is not actually a cleansing, but rather a utilization and stimulation of the “independent thinking” education that Jennifer has been criticized for—has spread like a virus on TikTok with its seemingly harmless appearance.

Jennifer simply hid these runes that stimulate "independent thinking" among cute pets, music, film, television, sports stars, handsome men and beautiful women, and funny videos, and there was no information related to the pharmaceutical company at all.

So, she was just pushing all this forward silently.

And this soon produced results.

At first, there were only sporadic, skeptical comments.

Under a video denouncing Theodore Lancaster, someone suddenly said: "Wait, isn't this a bit too coincidental? All the blame is directed at him alone?"

Immediately afterwards, another account replied: "Yeah, it feels like he's the perfect scapegoat."

A seemingly popular science TikTok short video, with fast-paced editing and mysterious background music, shows the dark history of some large pharmaceutical companies in human experiments over the past few decades.

Although no names were directly mentioned, the blurred logos and news headlines flashing across the screen accurately pointed to Novartis, Johnson & Johnson and Merck.

Another video is a self-narration of a "conspiracy theorist". He used exaggerated expressions and gestures to claim that Theodore Lancaster's "crimes" were exaggerated and that there must be a larger force behind it.

"Have you ever wondered why it was Lancaster?" In a popular video, a man wearing sunglasses said mysteriously to the camera.

"He's just a small researcher, how could he have caused such a big commotion? It's obvious that someone is pushing him out to take the blame!"

Putting aside the facts, can't Merck's executives be just small researchers?

Finally, the man tapped his temple with his index finger: "Think independently."

The video ends abruptly, leaving just the right amount of blank space.

Although the content was ridiculous and full of factual errors that could be discovered with a simple search, the comment section exploded as soon as the slogan of independent thinking came out.

"Holy crap! It's terrifying when you think about it!"

"Yeah! He's a scapegoat! Who's the real mastermind behind this?!"

"A pharmaceutical company! It must be one of those companies that's doing human experiments! They used Lancaster as a guinea pig, and when something went wrong, they pushed him out to take the blame!"

"Novartis! Johnson & Johnson! Merck! I've known for a while that something was amiss with them! The speed with which those new drugs are being released is simply playing with human lives!"

"That Lancaster might be the only one with a conscience. He discovered something, so he was silenced (physically or socially)!"

"He's not a monster, he's a hero! He was just framed by those monsters from the capitalists and pharmaceutical companies!"

"We are independent-minded Americans! We will never be deceived by the information cocoon woven by algorithms and big data!"

The original hysterical invective against Theodore Lancaster began to turn into a new and equally hysterical "independent thinking".

People are no longer satisfied with the simple answers given by the authorities. They begin to dig deeper, to associate, to question - and to "think independently."

However, these doubts and associations fell precisely into the trap set by Jennifer.

All kinds of unreliable "evidence" began to be dug out by netizens with their sharp eyes.

"Look! Lancaster's office is right next to Novartis' old site! Can this be a coincidence?!"

Companies in Pharmaceutical Valley are close to each other - theoretically, Theodore Lancaster's office at Merck is next to all the pharmaceutical companies.

"Merck's recent stock price fluctuations are unusual. Is it trying to cover up something?!"

It would be strange if the stock price didn't fluctuate significantly after such a big scandal involving human experiments.

"Johnson & Johnson has had scandals before, and their human experiment reports have always been a mystery!"

This is true. Johnson & Johnson is mired in scandals.

Overnight, Theodore Lancaster went from being the evil of the world to a sacrificial lamb, and was even hailed by some as a martyr who revealed the truth and a great whistleblower.

The three pharmaceutical giants, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck, were suddenly pushed to the forefront of public opinion once again without any warning, becoming the new masterminds and the new evil of this world.

Suddenly, TikTok was flooded with short "truth-revealing" videos, accompanied by eerie background music and vague evidence, inciting people's anger and distrust of big pharmaceutical companies.

People's "independent thinking" did not make them sober, but instead led them from one extreme to another, from blindly believing in official opinions to blindly believing in conspiracy theories.

Unfortunately, in America, conspiracy theories are often right.