The Old Road (Twenty-Five)

Fran before him no longer wore the conflicted expression she'd had when she left just now. She had returned to looking like a young student.

If there was anything different about her, perhaps it was that she'd grown more composed after everything she'd been through.

Of course, that growth would lose its meaning before long.

"How's Lei now?"

Fran stepped aside to let Fu Qian in, then immediately asked him.

"Mrs. Mary and the sheriff have a strange atmosphere between them. I didn't feel comfortable asking."

"He's eating well and looks much better than you do."

Fu Qian replied casually, though his mind was on the pattern behind the changes in Fran and the others.

So far, the way to enter this superhuman state seemed fairly clear: overwhelming psychological threats and pressure, beyond what a person could bear.

As for how it ended, at first glance, it seemed to fade on its own after a while.

But after observing things along the way, Fu Qian had come up with another possibility: they took turns.

Could only one person be in the superhuman state at a time?

Did the previous person's state end automatically when someone else activated it?

While in the superhuman state, Harold had quickly planned and carried out his wife's accidental death...

And while it was happening, Lei, who had hit her with his car, was pushed into the superhuman state by the intense shock.

Faced with this masterful cover-up, Harold hadn't done anything else. He'd simply fled.

The same sequence had followed Harold's fall from the bridge and Cartman's disappearance.

And now it was the same with Fran and Lei. Lei had entered the state for the second time, and Fran had returned to normal.

To sum it up, the known order of Lasik's possessions could be