Leaf fall to you, fruit to me?
Had he really used some special method to steal that trace of hidden power from the Larrea family's bloodline?
They didn't know the details, but their ancestors most likely hadn't included anyone with a face like that.
The face on the dome had carried a hint of the uncanny, too, but there was still a fundamental difference between it and this face.
And he'd just called it a fallen leaf?
Was that face merely the residue left behind after its power had been stolen?
So this was why he'd come here!
That was also why Jining couldn't pull out the dagger... This man had secretly interfered, using it to guide the team's route.
The clue about the statue had come from him in the first place. There was no way to disprove it.
"Why didn't you leave us behind and act alone? That would've avoided the unnecessary risk of us interfering."
As everyone frantically tried to piece things together, Aiko was finally the one who couldn't hold back her question.
"You would've let me act alone?"
Fu Qian replied casually, never taking his eyes off the scene.
In the blink of an eye, the small figure on the dome fled in a panic, as though startled.
It didn't even crawl along the dome. Instead, a blood-red slit simply opened above, and it slipped inside before vanishing without a trace.
"Without a trace" wasn't Fu Qian's exaggeration. Those were the exact words in the notebook's insight.
Clearly, his decision not to attack had been the right one. That thing really did exist beyond the rules.
He'd really planned all this from the start!
Aiko took a moment to grasp the meaning behind his answer, then felt a chill run through her.
Whatever else,