Chapter 1019: Band of Brothers (and Sister)
Luke chatted with Darcy for half an hour, and casually told her some things to pay attention to in an emergency drill as he used anecdotes to teach her.
The most important “three points of cowardice” were a.n.a.lyzed logically based on real cases in his detective career.
Darcy had no ability to resist a combo of Mental Communication, Basic Hypnosis, and Elementary Pheromone Control. When she ran into an unavoidable situation, her first reaction now would be to “follow the rules.”
That could be considered a small compensation from Luke.
As long as she was cowardly enough, and instantly stayed far away from Thor, there was little chance of her being unlucky.
Luke couldn’t do anything else.
Darcy had come out to earn credit with her teacher, Dr. Jane.
She was also a freshman at Yale, and was under a lot of pressure in her studies. That was why she hadn’t taken a break for Christmas, and had followed her teacher out to earn credit.
In a place like Yale, there were many examples of people failing to complete their studies and ruining their own futures.
Since there currently was no danger, Luke couldn’t ask Darcy to give up the extremely important credit.
After the information and safety lecture, Luke returned to the tool shed.
Today was December 30th, at the end of 2004.
It was only the third day of the leave which Dustin had helped him to apply for.
If there was no emergency, he could rest for five days before going back.
Therefore, he wasn’t too anxious.
After five days, he could take it a day at a time, but he would have to return to New York for work in a week at most.
If that happened, he might have to use some small tricks to send that super troublesome crown prince to some remote place.
In any case, there were a number of spa.r.s.ely populated places in Texas.
A depressed Thor probably wouldn’t care too much, while Dr. Jane and Dr. Selvig were also carrying out research. With a huge sponsors.h.i.+p fee, it wouldn’t be a problem for them to take Thor a few more rounds around the remote countryside.
In the afternoon, Selina’s voice came through on their open channel. “Luke, look at the sky above Shackelford.”
Luke instantly appeared at the door of the tool shed and looked to the southeast where Shackelford was.
A huge cloud suddenly appeared in the clear afternoon sky.
It appeared in the sky not far from Shackelford, then spun like a tornado before it landed on the ground.
Luke knew that it wasn’t a tornado; a tornado wouldn’t travel in an utterly straight line from the cloud to the ground.
Little Snail also warned him, “Sir, there’s an abnormal energy reaction ten kilometers southeast of here.”
He took out his fake phone, adjusted the mid-sized drone in the sky, and looked from afar.
Soon, the fake tornado disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared.
The image transmitted by the drone clearly showed that four people had appeared in the location where the “tornado” had landed. There was a huge circular design with an orderly pattern on the ground.
Luke smacked his lips and said, “I’ll deal with them. Tell Robert to keep the officers away; just pretend they don’t exist.”
Selina said, “Got it.”
Luke drove Robert’s F150 to town.
A few minutes later, the F150 sped into town. When it was still a distance away from the four people, it slowed down to a normal speed, and drove unhurriedly to the four strangely dressed individuals.
Luke got out of the car and walked toward the four people on the roadside.
The four of them were asking a skinny old lady questions. Their expressions weren’t fierce, but they seemed a little… silly?
Frowning, Luke walked over and said to the old lady, “Lucy, you’re being naughty again.”
Granny Lucy had a helpless expression on her face. “I, ahem, I’m not feeling well. I want to buy some medicine…”
However, when she saw the same helpless look on Luke’s face, she stopped explaining and turned her head slightly. “Fine. I haven’t been out much lately. I’m just taking a walk today.”
What could Luke say?
Lucy was his neighbor and had saved Claire.
If not for that, he wouldn’t have bothered about her going out and wandering around. They didn’t have that kind of relations.h.i.+p.
He could only say, “Alright, remember not to stray too far from home. These few are…”
Lucy was relieved that Luke didn’t nag her. She liked Luke. He was so sensible and handsome, and nice to the elderly. He was way better than her own granddaughter.
She quickly said, “They asked if I’ve seen a blond guy, but I haven’t, so I told them to go to the police station.”
Lucy blinked at him.
Luke was impressed. Lucy, you’re wasted as a housewife.
An old granny in her sixties didn’t bat an eyelid at the four unusual people, and even smilingly pointed them to the police station.
If these people were ordinary lunatics, they would be like sheep entering a tiger’s den.
Shackelford had been under an emergency order for the past two days, and there were always more than two teams of police officers at the police station at any time, ready to deal with any situation.
If Granny Lucy were thirty, no, twenty years younger, Luke would be more than willing to recruit her.
Truly, the older, the wiser.
He winked at Lucy and said, “Leave it to me, then.”
Lucy smiled and nodded. “That’s good. Remember to give them directions. Oh, boys, and this beautiful lady, this child will show you the way. I’m going to go home and cook dinner for my old man.”
The four of them didn’t have any objections. The only woman even smiled at Lucy and nodded to express her grat.i.tude.
Watching Lucy walk off slowly, Luke turned around and looked at the four of them. They were indeed dressed in very old-fas.h.i.+oned outfits, but they were also fas.h.i.+onable.
The four of them were wearing something that looked like ancient armor, and were holding cold weapons. It was indeed very old-fas.h.i.+oned, but if the location was changed to some anime expo, they would be very trendy cosplayers.
However, these people were probably really “ancient,” and weren’t cosplayers.
With a smile on his face, Luke said to the only woman, “I’m a police officer here. May I ask, why are you here in Shackelford?”
The only woman among the four felt that the young man in front of her was very pleasing to the eye, like a big kid next door.
She spoke almost without hesitation. “We’re looking for Thor.”
Luke’s smile didn’t change, but he thought, Bingo. He had been right; these four were probably the crown prince’s comrades.
Their main purpose was to buy time for the protagonist and to use their own strength as a reference to highlight the crown prince’s prowess. Then, they would shout that he was awesome and applaud him. Finally, the crown prince and his band of merry brothers (and sister) would return home together.
It was the typical happy ending.
Still smiling, Luke asked the only woman among the four, “Are you his friends?”