Whispering Verse

Only when you leave the house and go to the street can you truly enter the world. Compared to the hustle and bustle of the city, Xia De who walked into it was as inconspicuous as a drop of water flowing into the sea.

He rarely spoke and just walked towards his destination "Lark Club". Walk and listen along the way to learn about the world, the city, and everything around you.

To put it simply, this world is a bit like the past during the steam revolution of the 19th century. However, compared to the past world, the steam industry here has developed more prosperously. There are many people who can follow the road of steam without turning. Feel.

While noxious black smoke spewed from factory chimneys, all kinds of weird inventions were created, and the economy took off with the development of productivity.

Just as Shade had guessed, the city he is currently in is Tobesk City, the capital of the northern human kingdom of Delarian. This is the pearl of the northern continent, the gathering point of human civilization, and the essence of the times. .

A big city naturally has to look like a big city. Although limited by the shackles of the times, if you leave the streets and enter the alleys, you will inevitably encounter feces and garbage dumps, but the appearance of a big city is still reflected in a short one-hour journey. into Shade's eyes.

Fortunately, the "Lark Club" is not far from the city center. If it spans the entire city, Shade may not be able to reach it until midnight. The key point is that Shade has no money to ride in a carriage.

Along the way, he also gained more information about the world from the perspective of a bystander. The most important thing is to know the currency system. At least in the current country, the common currency is divided into gold pounds, shillings and pence, where 1 pound = 20 shillings and 1 shilling = 12 pence.

Of course, this name is very similar to British currency. It is not that they are exactly similar, but that Shade translated three different currency names from foreign languages ​​into familiar names. After all, the conversion methods of numerical values ​​are really similar.

The unfortunate fact is that the note with the number "10" that Shade found was worth 10 pence. With his current purchasing power, this is not even enough for him to take a carriage from his home to the club.

But if he was frugal and used 10 pennies to go to the bakery that was about to close in the evening and compete with the children and housewives in the slums to buy the cheapest bread crumbs, he could at least ensure that he would not starve to death within three days.

"At least it's an era of peace now. As one of the largest kingdoms in mankind, our country, the Kingdom of Delarion, has some local friction with the United Kingdom of Kasonrik in the south of another powerful kingdom. But relatively speaking, this is an era of peace and development. , it’s an era of progress… I’m pretty lucky.”

Shade is good at comforting himself.

The world is temporarily at peace, and the Kingdom of Delarion in the north of the Old World and the United Kingdom of Kasenric occupying the south have almost divided the world. Total war ended decades ago, and although there are still undercurrents, it at least represents peace.

Club culture seems to be a special culture of this era. Shade learned from the investigation report that the mistress under investigation, Mrs. Lasoya, would visit the "Lark Club" every weekend and would stay here for at least three days. Hour.

Detective Hamilton's report speculated that this was the place where Mrs. La Zoya and Mr. Lawrence had a tryst, because every time Mrs. La Zoya appeared in the club, Mr. Lawrence would also enter.

This is a private club for members. Shade did not have an entry permit, so after walking at the intersection and turning into Valente Pedestrian Street, according to the records in the investigation report, he stopped at the door of the newspaper office opposite the club to observe.

It was a newspaper owned by the "Tobesk City Evening News", and it was said that the royal family had a stake in it. Saturday is the busiest time for the newspaper office, because Saturday is the customary time for the King's Speech and the Parliament's report.

A group of people will gather at the door of the newspaper office at this time, waiting for new news to be delivered. Of course, the full-time reporters have already set off, and those who stay at the door of the newspaper office are all people waiting to try their luck.

Shade's plan was to blend in. Although it was already noon, the mistress La Zoya usually did not appear in the club in the morning. So if he is lucky, he will soon find the target appearing.

Just record the time the woman appeared and left, and the report is complete.

Completing this thing so easily gave Shade an unreal feeling. But after all, Hamilton has accomplished almost everything, so this is actually one of the "legacies" left by the dead gentleman.

Shade was holding the pocket watch that was one of Mr. Hamilton's legacies, so when he stood by the mailbox at the door of the newspaper office, pretending to be waiting for someone and looking around for a long time, he finally saw the target appearing, and immediately got involved with the report. Black and white photos were compared repeatedly. It was confirmed and recorded that one twenty-three was the time when the mistress Lasoya appeared.

The lady was dressed fashionably, and the lace decoration on the skirt and the jeweled hair accessories in her hair showed that they were expensive. She arrived directly at the door of the club by riding a carriage, holding a cloth umbrella even though the weather was gloomy.

She looks to be about thirty years old, with average height but plump body. Although the powder on her face is a bit thick, she can tell that she is a beauty.

Because he was worried about being discovered, Shade also knew that he had no tracking experience, so after confirming that he was the target, he immediately looked away.

[Look at her ring. 】

"What?"

The woman's murmuring voice appeared in his mind again. Although Shade didn't know who she was, he still turned his attention to Mrs. Lasoya.

At this time, the doorman of the club was already saying hello. When the woman turned around, Shade saw the ring clearly. Strangely enough, the ring was set with neither gems nor diamonds, but rather a small pebble.

Of course, since he was observing from across the street, and pedestrians on the street occasionally blocked his view, he was not sure whether he had made a mistake. Mrs. Lasoya also quickly entered the club and did not give Shade many opportunities to observe.

"What do you mean? Why do you want me to pay attention to that ring?"

He asked the voice in his head again, but the murmur did not actively sound because of his inquiry. This made Shade a little annoyed, but he knew to control his emotions. He was not the kind of person who gets angry easily.

"Sir, what time is it now?"

I was thinking about something when I suddenly heard someone talking next to me. Shade was startled, thinking that he was standing by the mailbox and looking at the door of the club on the other side of the street too conspicuously, but when he heard the sound, he realized that someone was asking for the time.

"Sorry, I forgot my pocket watch."

The person who explained his rash questioning was a middle-aged gentleman in his forties who looked quite elegant and easy-going. He was wearing a black silk hat, a formal suit for a party, and a white shirt. His face is somewhat broad, with a neat mustache on his chin, and his blue eyes are very attractive.

The middle-aged man smiled at Shade. Shade hesitated and took out the pocket watch that he had just put into the right pocket of his coat.

"One thirty."

He said, and was a little curious about the reason why the middle-aged man appeared here. This attire did not look like a reporter waiting for news, but Shade's attire with a notebook under his arm did.

As if he heard Xia De's thoughts, the middle-aged gentleman smiled and said:

"Thank you for your time. I have an appointment with the editor-in-chief of the newspaper. I didn't bring my pocket watch. I thought I was going to be late. But now it seems just right."

After saying that, he handed over his business card. Xia De took it politely and also handed over his business card. In fact, it was the dead Mr. Hamilton's business card. It had the address and business scope of the detective agency, and the name only read "Detective Hamilton" without adding a prefix.

Since Shade chose his last name as "Hamilton," of course he could also use these business cards. He is glad that there is no household registration system here and he does not even need to forge identity documents.

A middle-aged man named Bill Schneider runs a private psychological clinic. Unlike Shade, whose career is not yet stable, the Schneider Psychological Clinic is quite formal, and the income from the psychological clinic is obviously more than that of a detective like Shade, who relied on his inheritance to conduct his first investigation. The evidence is that Shade's business card is shabby compared to the doctor's business card. The other party's business card is much better in terms of paper and printing quality.

"If you need anything, you can come to me here."

Mr. Schneider said very friendly, pointing to the clinic address on the business card, which is the address in the East District of Tobesk City:

“My treatment range is broad.”

He looked at Shade. Shade, inexplicably, had a creepy illusion that he was going to be seen through those blue eyes.

"Including schizophrenia."

The psychiatrist said very friendly that he is very good at communicating with strangers.

"What?"

Shade had a sudden thought, but before asking, Mr. Bill Schneider quickly changed the topic:

"Speaking of which, Mr. Detective, have you ever considered getting adult education? Correspondence education."

"Correspondence adult education?"

The topic changed too quickly, and Shade failed to follow the train of thought:

"I have no plans to study psychology for the time being."

He regarded the other party as an enthusiastic graduate of a certain psychology school.

When Xia De refused, the doctor did not bother:

"Okay then, see you later."

The doctor nodded to the detective, put the detective's business card in his pocket, and then turned and walked towards the courtyard of the newspaper office.

"Correspondence course... Speaking of which, what did Dr. Schneider mean by specifically mentioning schizophrenia?"

Shade stood there and thought silently, and then realized that he heard a voice in his head, which seemed to be very similar to the so-called "schizophrenia".

"You don't have to laugh in my head. I admit that your laughter is very nice and charming. You are definitely not the product of my schizophrenia."

Shade said to the voice in his head.

Although I am sure that my situation is that of being exposed to a mystery, and it is definitely not schizophrenia. But what he was not sure about was what the psychiatrist he met by chance saw.

"I just went out, and I actually met someone like this who may be involved in extraordinary powers. Is it bad luck? Or is the density of extraordinary people in this world greater than I thought? Or maybe the psychiatrist just casually mentioned that I Thinking too much?”

Shade thought to himself and carefully put away Dr. Schneider's business card. Regardless, delegation is most important right now. Now that I know the psychiatrist’s address, I can go there anytime.

At least judging from the brief exchange just now, Dr. Schneider didn't seem to have any hostility. However, his true thoughts could not be revealed in a short exchange. Shade still wanted to know a little about the world before communicating with others in depth.