The Old Road (Twenty-One)

In this state, she was still trying to probe me. She really hadn't changed a bit.

Fu Qian didn't think Fran, with Lasik possessing her, cared all that much about the truth behind the disappearances.

When she'd asked if I wanted to go look for the body, she'd probably just wanted to see how I'd react.

But just as she was probing me, why shouldn't I probe her?

To me, the significance of all these disappearances was that they told me who Lasik was.

My next task was to learn as much as possible from his experiences and mistakes, and do what he hadn't managed to do.

And a remnant soul without self-awareness clearly couldn't be spoken to directly.

But that was fine. There were plenty of ways to communicate.

Fu Qian's straightforward refusal bought him more than ten minutes of peace and quiet.

And just as expected, the grimace on Fran's face flashed into view again.

She was doing everything she could to transcend the cycle of samsara, and instinctively hated the unknown. To her, I was precisely the kind of variable she'd never encountered before.

Fu Qian simply ignored it.

By the time the silence ended, the two of them were already in Sheriff Jones's yard.

What was surprising was that, despite everything that had happened, Jones hadn't put in overtime. He'd gone home early.

His wife, Mary, clearly had a good impression of Fran and came out to greet her right away.

"I thought you'd decided to spend the night in the car."

Fran didn't get out right away. Instead, she glanced at Fu Qian.

"I'm not that close to Cartman. In theory, I could get kicked out, too."

Fu Qian answered casually.

"And the sheriff would probably rather have me where he can see me