It had been a long time since he had driven Grande's truck, but Zach was not as relaxed as before. He held the steering wheel with one hand and fiddled with the radio with the other. When nothing seems interesting, I keep changing channels.
Zach parked the car.
Because there is a person on the roadside, well, not counting people, there is a mirror person. Didi was wearing a housewife's outfit and was walking slowly on the road with a silent expression. When she saw Zach parked his car, he looked at the vampire who stuck his head out.
"Didi?" Zach himself was not in a good mood and frowned, "What are you doing?"
Didi looked at Zach for a while and then did something inexplicable and embarrassing - she pulled off her clothes and exposed her body to the vampire on the side of the road!
A flowing mirror like mercury replaced the place where the skin should have been. Under Mirror Man Didi's clothes, human skin has disappeared.
Zach pursed his lips and said, "Put down your clothes, Didi, and respect yourself."
"Nick is dead, and the real Didi has started a new life. I'm going to die." Didi slowly put down her opened clothes, "Why should I respect myself?"
Zach shook his head, not knowing what to express, "You should go home, what are you shaking on the road?"
"Didn't you let me be my own person?" Didi's eyes were cold. "I don't want to die in someone else's home (the real Didi), but as Didi, I have no place to go." She looked at it blankly. Left and right, "Just here, there happens to be no one, and it won't scare anyone." The voice lowered, "Just disappear, as if it didn't exist at all."
There are indeed no people around here, and there are no farmers. Because it is close to the Allen Funeral Home, a place where people deal with funeral arrangements, it is unlucky after all. The same is true for Grande. The nearest neighbor is the Church of the Holy Child.
Zach frowned, still not knowing what to say, and started exercising again.
After a while, Zach stopped the car again and looked helplessly at the rearview mirror, "Didi, why are you following me?"
"I changed my mind." Without haste, the mirror man walked under the car window and looked at Zach, "You let me do my own thing, and now I am going to die to let you see the end. , tell you the consequences of casually giving life advice to others.”
Zach opened his mouth and looked at the person in the mirror. A crack extended upward from the other person's housewife's dress, past his neck and up to his chin. With a slight crackling sound, something like skin broke, peeled off, and dissipated in the air.
"Do you want me to watch you die?" Zach said crookedly.
The mirror man didn't say anything, walked around the front of the car, spoke with action, and knocked on the passenger door.
Zach had no choice but to open the door and watched as the mirrored man with peeling skin got into the car and sat in the passenger seat. "Where are you going?" He was about to die. Fortunately, this guy was curious about where Zach was going. It's really big.
"Alan." Zach curled his lips, answered, and continued moving forward.
"They are going to sell it, is it true?"
"You shouldn't talk. Your skin is breaking apart accelerating." Zach curled his lips and glanced at the mirror man whose cracks continued to extend. "I just decided not to sell it today." This was still the answer to the question.
"Then what are you here for? Grande wants to buy it?" Mirror Man refused to listen and seemed completely prepared to ignore any of Zach's opinions.
"No." Zach shook his head. He didn't want to explain the inheritance and the purpose of his trip too clearly, because looking at the reality, if he explained it, the other party might not be able to hear the end. In that case, the final Zach All you get is the frustration of talking to the air.
Mirror Man seemed to be self-aware, so he stopped asking and sighed inexplicably, "What a pity, I haven't received a reply from "Urban Legend" yet, and my questions have not been answered yet."
Zach glanced at the man, half of his face was gone, which was quite scary. I don’t want to continue to give the other person a reason to talk.
"You know, I'm a little disappointed." But there is actually no way to stop a dying man from talking, "I originally thought that this week's urban legend, that medicine would write my story."
Zach pursed his lips. Indeed, Zach thought so too, but Madison wrote the story of the Kraken, which is about a group of sea creatures wearing human skin that occupy a certain manor. (Zach asked Sibella to find Riley to raise the group of sirens. End of the first volume)
Zach asked Madison, and Madison's answer was that his submission for the South Side story was rejected. The editorial department said that the South Side was not considered a city... and then he rushed to write this story that Riley told him.
The point is not that the South Siders are sad, but that Madison and Riley's friendship has been restored.
The mirror man raised her half-cracked eyebrow, "Who is Zhiyao? Is it you? I'm going to die anyway, so tell me it doesn't matter."
"Madison." Zach answered simply.
"The one from the mill?" The mirror man seemed surprised, "We met Nick a few times before he was cremated. He is a human being." Don't you forget the cooperation between the mill and the police, so Nick's body was thrown to the mill for disposal .
"He has special abilities." Zach frowned.
"Oh." Mirror Man seemed to have lost interest, "If I had known it was him, it would have been easier to ask him directly if I had any questions. It would have been a waste of all the letters I wrote."
Zach was helpless, "Have you written many letters to him?"
"Yes." Mirror Man nodded, "But he doesn't reply to every letter." He looked a little unhappy, "When I asked him about Grande's details, he didn't reply. When I looked for problems in his story, he just Reply. Huh, he is really a cautious guy."
Zach looked at the man in the mirror, speechless. Forget it, let her go and relax, "What do you usually ask him in your letters?"
"Yeah. Let me think about it." Mirror Man actually started to think seriously, "For example, you don't seem to care much about that 'general', so why did you let him become your descendant? What are your plans? ?”
"Not at all, I just made a mistake when I saved his life." Zach told the truth, there was no need to lie now. Right.
"Oh." The voice trembled, the last piece of skin peeled off and shattered, and a pile of clothes fell on the passenger seat without support, "What happened to Ravenqi? He has never written this story, and Sibella has never written it. I haven't said it before, I'm just curious." From now on, only foreigners can hear this voice.
Zach glanced at the mirror man, whose mercury was slowly fading away from his body and was also losing his body, "I have become Papa Midnight's Alpha." The car stopped on the side of the road, and Allen arrived.
When I got off the bus, although there were people in uniform walking around, no one came to pick me up.
The layout here is very similar to that of Grande. After all, it was once a property of the city government. The structure is similar, except that Grande is where the warehouse is in the south. It was replaced by a bungalow with a chimney, which should be the incinerator for cremation.
"That woman from the Republic is..." The mirror figure floating beside Zach interrupted himself, his voice becoming self-deprecating, "I think I don't have enough time to satisfy my curiosity. Let's talk about something casually."
Zach didn't reply. Talking about anything would never end well, so just let the other person follow. As the Mirror Man said, let Zach watch until the end.
No one greeted him anyway, so Zach walked into Allen Funeral Home on his own. The internal layout is completely different from Grande. Except for an office, it seems that everything has been converted into living areas. This makes Allen's house very big.
"You just came." Allen appeared on the stairs, looking down at Zach, "I think this is what professionals are like." He was actually sarcastic.
Zach didn't respond and looked around, looking for the stairs to go upstairs. It's not that he didn't want to, but beside Allen, there was an earth-bound spirit who kept showing hatred and a ferocious face, and bared his teeth and claws at Allen. It was that accountant.
Are you wondering why no hellhound came to drag this thing away? No, Ellen is the territory of Saint Sissy, which is the posture of the fallen angel Crowley.
However, judging from the accountant's face, there probably won't be any angels to take him to heaven. This is probably his fate that will eventually disappear.
"This is not Grande's major." Zach found the stairs, but did not go there because Allen came down, "It is the major of the previous generation." To Allen, Zach had nothing to be vague about, remember? This guy had personally been to Grande's office. He once said that when Grande first appeared in the South District, he never imagined that Grande would develop into what it is now in the funeral industry. It's obvious, isn't it? He knew what Grande used to do, and he once thought that Grande would not pose any threat to his funeral industry.
"You are still here, that means you have inherited the profession of the previous generation." Allen was also unambiguous, "restaurant."
Zach motioned for the other party to lead the way, raised his hand, and waved away the Earthbinder attached to Allen's back. But after a while, the guy regrouped, became more transparent, and glared at Zach.
What could Zach do? He passed through it without any regard, and the other party dispersed again. Zach was kindly reminding the Earthbinder that vampires were not something alien souls should touch. Whether the opponent's new earth-bound spirit can accept it or not is none of Zach's business.
"You put the body in the refrigerator." Although it was a statement, Zach was questioning it, not the fact. He was questioning Allen's personality state when he saw the human-shaped plastic bag in the refrigerator.
"Otherwise, if you put it anywhere, employees will see it when you move it out." Alan was very calm.
Zach pursed his lips, "The problem still remains, do you expect me to prepare to get this thing away?"
"You're asking me?" Allen stared at Zach.
Zach shook his head and looked around the restaurant casually, probably to save himself some face, "You missed the blood stains under the carpet."
Allen frowned, left the open refrigerator, walked to the dining table, and lifted the carpet. Sure enough, the dark red blood stains were still slightly moist.
Zach stared at the things in the refrigerator and crossed his arms, "You want to tell me how this happened."
"Are you a police detective or a 'cleaner'?" was asked rhetorically, but not directly. Allen took out gloves and cleaning supplies from the kitchen, half-knelt on the ground and began to eliminate incriminating evidence.
"You entrusted me with it, didn't you." Zach was not in a hurry, "You want this matter to disappear, don't you? Understanding what happened will help me make this matter disappear." Just like the carpet being lifted now, Blood stains mixed with foam. Zach has a point.
"It was supposed to be a lunch." Allen was silent for a while and then said, "Following your prompts, I have discovered the problem with the accounts. I am going to ask about it at lunch and let him confess to me."
The regrouped Earthbinder was unable to continue to harass anyone. He was entangled by the disappearing Mirror Man. He may have seen a 'species' different from his own, suspended stiffly in the restaurant, allowing the mirror man to move through his body at will.
Zach raised his eyebrows, "You're injured." His disgust for the blood of the deceased made Zach block out his senses a little. Now that he had been in contact with Allen for a while, he discovered something, "It's not light. .”
Allen stopped cleaning, frowned and glanced at Zach, "He stabbed me." He pointed to his left shoulder with a confused look, "I reacted quickly, and then I stabbed him back."
"Are you telling me, is this actually self-defense?" Zach asked.
"Does it make sense?" Allen continued to scrub the floor. "I have thought through all the possible developments of the matter. It is impossible for Allen Funeral Home to survive in this kind of thing. I just have some hope that I can keep this industry. "
Zach actually nodded. Allen was right. Even the defense was excessive. Allen could not escape responsibility. There was a scandal in the funeral home. Not to mention keeping this property, even if it was eventually sold, this place would be sold. What a good price. This is a very realistic consideration.
So, with Zach now here.
"So, I guess there are countless witnesses who know that you are having lunch together." Zach curled his lips and exaggerated, just talking about the employees here. Then he pointed to the guy in the refrigerator, "Did anyone see this guy leave?"
Allen frowned and wiped the floor without looking at Zach, "No."
"My coming here can be explained as you have closed the sales channel. As a peer and the most likely buyer, I am here to ask for details." Zach began to understand that Alan in front of him had indeed thought clearly, "But, you How do you expect me to make the outside employees accept that this guy left with me?" He added a little sarcastically, "And how do I explain that I still carry such a thing out."
"Why are you still asking me?" Allen was actually impatient, "I gave you a job, finish it!"
Zack shook his head helplessly and began to think seriously. After all, he couldn't let this commission be completed in front of the client. It would be too vampire-like. "Do you have a way to make those employees leave?"
"No, some employees live here."
"Does anyone know anything about what happened at lunch?" Did Allen have an accomplice? Are there any hard witnesses
"No." Allen shook his head impatiently, "I still want to give him some face. After all, he is an old man who has worked with our Allen family for decades. No one will bother us during our lunch. Me." He paused. After a moment, he said, "After I prepared lunch, I asked him to resign and let him go."
It sounds really tragic.
Zach couldn't help but notice the Mirror Man.
The faded mercury mirror is returning, and the dots of skin color are turning out of the body of the mirror that is beginning to gather into a human form again.
Like what? Well, like in a mirror placed in a far-reaching corridor, a person walked out from the deepest part of the corridor.
Zach raised his eyebrows and touched his chin.
"He lost his loyalty." Mirror Man spoke, not Didi, "I picked it up."
Allen lowered his head and looked up, seemingly startled by the sudden voice, "You, you..." When he saw the naked man in his restaurant, he was completely frightened and lost his voice. He looked at the refrigerator and the body bag. The bulging thing is still there, "..."
brush!
Zach pulled off the tablecloth and put it over his shoulders, then dragged out the contents of the refrigerator and carried it over his shoulders.
He also casually flipped over the refrigerator, and food and ice cubes were scattered everywhere. Successfully diverted Allen's horrified gaze to himself, to be specific, to a pair of red eyes.
"Alan, I'm very disappointed." Zach spoke, "I'm very sincere in acquiring Allen, and now you're telling me not to sell it?" What is Zach talking about, "Southern District is only so big. Do you have to be my competitor? Haha, it’s up to you.”
He walked towards Allen, who had a dull look in his eyes, slit his finger, and poked his mouth twice, "If you want to play like this, then I'll play with you. I'm not a generous person." By the way, the table was lifted and the carpet kicked.
After looking at the naked mirror man, Zach curled his lips and continued to face Allen, "Mr. Accountant, if you want to continue to waste time here and ask the guy who fired you for a second chance, you'd better be more conscious and keep you." To save my face, let’s just leave like this.”
For people shrouded in red, their true memories have been covered up by falsehoods. He began to clear his eyes and scan around his restaurant.
Yes, even the real scene has been covered up - the restaurant was a mess.
The Mirror Man glanced at the Earth-bound Spirit who was exactly the same as himself. By the way, his whole body was flashing in surprise, as if he would collapse and disperse at any time.
"I can probably live for two more days." Mirror Man said, "I'll help you one more time."
"please."
Yes, this commission is over. But don't expect to receive money from this commission, because it never existed. (.)