Listening to the owner’s shameless self-boasting, Lin Wanwan almost rolled her eyes straight to the sky.
This was probably what people meant by shamelessness being invincible.
However, she was also clear that now was not the time to argue with him.
Forcing down the sarcasm in her heart, she pulled up the corners of her mouth without taking up the conversation.
Seeing that she didn’t join in, the owner didn’t feel embarrassed either. While nimbly packaging up portions of raw-marinated seafood, he relentlessly pitched his products:
“Look at this flower crab, it was just unloaded from the fishing boat early this morning. The ones I picked are all the fattest, guaranteed full of meat and crab roe; and these mantis shrimp, they’re all stock I snagged directly from the boat, other shops can’t get ones this fresh at all.”
Lin Wanwan’s gaze fell upon the flower crab in the owner’s hands.
To be fair, the seafood used by this raw-marinated shop was indeed very deceptive.
The size of the flower crabs he used was indeed large.
However, thinking back to the mushy texture and faint fishy smell she ate last night, combined with the Salmonella and Vibrio parahaemolyticus mentioned in the email, her stomach churned.
Forcing down her discomfort, she watched the owner sort the raw-marinated seafood into transparent food containers.
After paying the money, Lin Wanwan carried two heavy bags of raw-marinated seafood, turned around, and walked away.
The early morning breeze blew against her face, carrying the aroma of steamed buns and fried dough sticks from street breakfast stalls.
Yet at this moment, she had no appetite at all, her mind completely filled with how to quickly complete the testing.
Walking briskly for a dozen meters, Lin Wanwan saw at a glance that Golden Arches store with its yellow sign lit up.
The glass door was wide open, and there were already quite a few customers inside, some burying their heads eating breakfast, while others were eating breakfast while scrolling through their phones.
Lin Wanwan took a deep breath, carrying the bags as she walked inside with quick steps.
The reason for choosing this place was also very simple.
As a large chain restaurant, Golden Arches wouldn’t lack surveillance cameras inside.
As long as she sat in a position that the camera could clearly record, the entire testing process would be completely recorded. Even if the shop owner wanted to act shamelessly later, this surveillance footage could serve as strong evidence.
Lin Wanwan walked around the lobby and finally selected a seat by the window.
Raising her head to glance at the camera diagonally above, the angle was just right to capture the tabletop.
She didn’t rush to perform the test, but instead ordered a set meal on her phone.
After all, she was occupying someone else’s space, and Lin Wanwan didn’t have the habit of freeloading.
After placing the order, she then unpacked the two large bags of raw-marinated seafood on the table one by one.
The moment the food containers opened, a rich garlic aroma and seafood scent spread out.
Had it been before, smelling this rich aroma would have made Lin Wanwan’s mouth water long ago.
But at this moment, smelling this rich garlic fragrance, she only felt a churning in her stomach.
She first took out the detection kit for Salmonella, following the steps on the instruction manual.
Using the sampling spoon from the kit, she took a little sample from each box of raw-marinated seafood, carefully placed it into the matching buffer tube, capped it, and shook it gently.
The transparent buffer solution quickly turned light pink. Holding her breath, Lin Wanwan used a pipette to draw up a small amount of liquid and dripped it into the sample hole on the test strip.
Having finished all this, she picked up the detection kit for Vibrio parahaemolyticus and repeated a similar operation.
Every step was exceptionally cautious, for fear that her own error would affect the test results.
Although Lin Wanwan had been testing quietly all along, laying out a table full of raw-marinated seafood in Golden Arches still attracted the attention of quite a few people.
Lin Wanwan was completely oblivious to everyone’s gazes, her eyes staring fixedly at the test strips on the table.
Time passed second by second, the wall clock ticking away, every second feeling like a agonizing ordeal.
Lin Wanwan watched the reaction lines on the detection kits slowly appear, her heart rising into her throat along with it.
She carefully picked up the detection kits.
One bar… no problem.
Also one bar…
As she picked up more and more test strip kits, Lin Wanwan’s expression became increasingly strange.
She originally thought that at least one or two boxes would show a positive reaction, but as time went on…
However, after she finished checking all the detection kits, a look of confusion appeared on her face.
All of them were one bar!!!
This meant that the test results were all passing.
“How could this be?”
Lin Wanwan murmured to herself, her voice so light it was almost inaudible.
Staring at the test strips and looking at them repeatedly, suspecting whether she had misread, she leaned closer to identify them carefully.
Yet no matter how she looked, those clear control lines were telling her…
There was neither Salmonella nor Vibrio parahaemolyticus in these raw-marinated seafood items.
Seeing the results, the first thought in her mind was that something must have gone wrong!
She first thought of the testing process.
If the process went wrong, failing to detect it was also possible.
She picked up the instruction manual and read it carefully twice more.
The testing process was correct!
Refusing to accept this, Lin Wanwan performed the test once again.
Five minutes later, the results came out once more—still all passing.
Lin Wanwan’s heart sank, her first reaction being that the test strips were fake.
She hurriedly pulled out her phone and searched for the pharmacy she had ordered from last night.
A state-owned pharmacy, with a qualification certificate issued by the Market Supervision Administration underneath.
These two models of detection kits she bought were also among the better ones currently on the market.
“In all probability, it’s not a problem with the test strips…”
Lin Wanwan frowned, her fingers tapping unconsciously on the tabletop.
Since there was no problem with the testing process and no problem with the test strips, where exactly did the problem lie?
Could it be that the information in the email was wrong?
Impossible, the email couldn’t be wrong!!!
Then what was wrong was the timing!!
The time of the mass poisoning occurrence might not be today, but tomorrow!
Immediately following, another possibility also popped into her mind!
Besides time, it might also be related to the production batch!
This shop was the kind of mini shop opened at the entrance of a shopping mall, with no seating inside, only display counters and freezers.
The space inside was extremely narrow, at most around 10 square meters.
After placing the freezer and display counter, the remaining space was just a aisle less than half a meter wide.
Lin Wanwan hadn’t even seen space for preparing raw-marinated food inside.
This meant that these raw-marinated items were not prepared on-site inside the shop, but brought over after being prepared elsewhere!
No problem with this batch of raw-marinated seafood didn’t mean no problem with the next batch.
Lin Wanwan rubbed her temples, a sense of powerlessness surging from her heart.
If the problem didn’t lie in this batch, then the testing she was doing right now held no meaning whatsoever, let alone being able to prevent the tragedy from happening in advance.
She had originally thought that as long as a positive result was detected, she could immediately report them to the Food and Drug Administration.
But looking at it now, things were far more complicated than she had imagined.
Although this test didn’t yield the result Lin Wanwan wanted, she didn’t get discouraged because of this.
The remaining time wasn’t long; added together, it was only two days in total!