35: Chapter 35 Heart-to-Heart Talk with My Female Partner

How realistic!

What a realistic woman!

Looking at the favorability rating that had reached fifty, Shaun couldn't help but complain internally.

Just look at that!

Just because she saw a big mansion and he helped her catch a big fish, it was worth more than all the hard work he'd put into keeping her company for these past few days!

So, for women, companionship is the cheapest thing.

The key...

...is that you have to have some real ability yourself.

While Shaun was complaining, Ballard stood nearby, making a phone call, her voice very clear.

"Yes, take everything away. The car, the person, the evidence. I'll wait here."

She hung up the phone and looked at Shaun. "Twenty minutes."

Shaun was still complaining about his partner, but upon hearing this, he just nodded.

The two stood in the moonlight, with the unconscious Scarface lying between them.

For a moment, neither of them knew what to talk about.

...

The atmosphere was a bit awkward, so Shaun took the initiative to speak: "It should be fine tonight."

After he finished speaking, no one answered.

Shaun turned his head; Ballard was standing three steps behind him, not having left.

The moonlight shone through the clouds and onto her.

She had taken off her dark blue windbreaker, draped it over her arm, and was wearing only that gray tight-fitting T-shirt.

Shaun's gaze swept over her involuntarily...

Hmm!

It was definitely subconscious.

Ballard's T-shirt was very tight.

It was tight enough to outline the lines left by her long-term training: strong shoulders, a narrow waist, and the contour of latissimus dorsi muscles that only someone who had trained in combat would have.

Her standing posture was still the same, her center of gravity slightly forward, one hand hanging by her side, ready to strike at any moment.

But in the moonlight, those signs of training looked...

Shaun looked away.

He swore he only looked for a second.

Just one glance!

But Ballard spoke: "Seen enough?"

Shaun's back stiffened, and he subconsciously explained: "I didn't..."

"Enough." Ballard interrupted him, her voice devoid of emotion. "I don't mind."

She didn't mind?

What did that mean?

Could it be that this woman wanted to live in the manor?

While Shaun was wondering why Ballard was suddenly so easygoing, she had already walked over and leaned against the railing next to him.

The two stood side by side, looking at the pitch-black distance.

After a long silence, Ballard spoke: "Shaun, who exactly are you?"

Shaun turned his head and looked at her.

Ballard didn't look at him; she was still looking into the distance.

"Transferred from Los Angeles three months ago, no background, no connections, just an ordinary police officer."

"But you took me into a house that opens its own doors, and you can make the whole building come alive, making a group of gangsters run away in terror."

Shaun knew very well that by bringing Ballard to the manor, the manor's secrets would basically be impossible to hide.

However, he had no choice.

If he stayed in his dilapidated apartment, waiting for the Colombians to come and kill him, he would definitely die.

If he had to use [Psychokinesis], his secrets wouldn't be hidden either, and it would be easier for more people to see.

Besides, in Shaun's mind, he had roughly divided the people he was in contact with into two categories.

The first category was the locals like his old partner, Otis.

In front of such people, Shaun would absolutely not expose his secrets.

The second category was the "characters in the play" like his new partner, Ballard.

Facing these people, Shaun's boundaries were broader.

In his eyes, the degree of mutual acceptance between characters and objects in the play should naturally be higher.

While Shaun's thoughts were flying, Ballard's words didn't stop.

"That Scarface, I've been chasing him for three years. He's slashed more people than I've caught thieves. He's never afraid of the police, never afraid of doing time."

"But... he's afraid of your house."

Ballard hadn't seen the "dirty things" in the manor, but she had obviously guessed some of it.

Shaun thought for a moment and said hesitantly: "Ballard, I..."

"No need to say it." Ballard interrupted Shaun. "Everyone has their own secrets; you have yours, and I have mine."

"I just want to tell you..."

Ballard's voice suddenly became very soft, so soft that Shaun almost couldn't hear it.

"This world is more complicated than I thought, and more dangerous than I thought."

Shaun pondered these words, but didn't quite get the meaning.

Thinking that guessing blindly wasn't the way to go, he asked: "You just said you have secrets too?"

Ballard didn't hesitate: "When I was in Los Angeles, I worked on a case. A girl went missing. We searched for three months and finally found her in an abandoned church in the suburbs."

"She wasn't dead, but she was insane."

"She said she saw things in that church—not people, but something else."

"She said those things followed her home, followed her to work, followed her when she slept. Everyone said she was crazy, including me."

"Later, that church was demolished. When it was being torn down, workers found thirteen bodies in the walls, buried for over forty years."

Good grief, was that even a church?

That was a graveyard!

Shaun deliberated: "It sounds like that girl definitely encountered something."

Ballard said: "I don't know what she saw, but she definitely saw it."

She turned her head, looked at Shaun, and got back to the point: "So, I won't ask about today. I won't tell anyone about your house. As for how Scarface fainted, the report will only say 'fainted for unknown reasons'."

Shaun was about to nod, but noticed Ballard's eyes were very serious.

"But Shaun..."

Ballard said, stepping closer.

Very close.

Breaking the boundaries of an ordinary partner.

So close that Shaun could smell the faint scent of disinfectant on her, mixed with a bit of sweat and the dampness of the night wind.

He heard Ballard's warning in his ear: "Shaun, you have to be careful."

"Those people won't give up. You let them run away today, they'll come back tomorrow. You caught their number two person, they will do everything they can to retaliate."

"I don't know how many more skills you have, but remember, some things are not under your control."

Shaun looked at Ballard.

In the moonlight, this woman's eyes were very bright.

There was genuine worry in them.

So Shaun nodded very seriously: "I know."

Ballard stared at him for three seconds, then nodded and stepped back.

Checking the time and seeing that the backup police were almost there, she said: "Alright, you get some good rest tonight. I'm going to the station to interrogate Scarface first."

She added: "By the way, does this big manor of yours have hot water? I'll take a shower before I go."

Shaun asked in his mind.

The next second, the lights came on in a window on the second floor, and the indicator light of the water heater in the bathroom could be vaguely seen.

Ballard looked at that window, an expression of speechlessness appearing on her face, but in the end, she didn't say anything more and just headed toward that room.

Shaun stood where he was, and in his mind, the golden book continued to prompt:

【Renee Ballard Favorability: 50 → 65】

【Note: She saw your secret but didn't press for answers +5】

【She shared her past +5】

【She told you to be careful +5】

【Current Favorability: 65/100】

【Note】

She won't fall in love with you for now.

But she will trust you.

This woman hasn't trusted many people in her life...