Whispering Verse

"Very good. Since the direction and time are right, let's catch up. If you can't catch up, go directly to the church. In short, you can't be hungry on the first day of the new world...I can't think like this, otherwise I will I feel a little pitiful."

With such "simple" thoughts in mind, Shade packed up his things and set off along the low wall on the street, chasing the man forward.

In order to prevent being discovered, although the fog lingering in the city became thicker as evening came, Shade still did not dare to follow closely. He is self-aware enough to know that he does not have the skills to stalk others.

So of course, ten minutes later, when they turned around the back wall of a milk distribution company and entered the alley, Shade completely lost track of the man.

"Ha~ Should I say, I really lost track of you."

Standing in the alley and looking around blankly, he confirmed that he had really lost track of his target, then shook his head and gave up searching. I didn’t continue to dwell on this matter. Since I lost track, I went to get the “relief food”, but——

"Where is this?"

In a completely unfamiliar city, tracking others while avoiding being discovered, Shade had no time to remember his route of action. He only knew that he was now in a narrow alley with a very bad smell.

To the left is the facade of a milk delivery company, and to the right is the side wall of a three-story apartment building. On the walls on both sides, in addition to rusty pipes climbing up and connecting in different directions, there are also layers of dirty words and graffiti, and garbage and feces are everywhere under the wall.

Only near the entrance of the alley are two or three rusty, thick-diameter steam pipes piled up. I don’t know who abandoned them here.

“Go look up the name of the milk delivery company and find the current location on a map.”

Shade had an idea and no longer cared about the person he wanted to follow.

Turn around and go back along the alley, being careful not to step on the filthy, indescribable things in the alley. When he was about to walk out of the alley, he carefully avoided it because a group of police officers in police uniforms hurried past on the street in front of him.

Among them, the tall, middle-aged man with stubble on his face at the end of the team glanced at Shade. Shade also looked at the man with innocent eyes, so the police officer ignored Shade.

"What happened over there?"

Shade stood at the entrance of the alley, looking in the direction where the police were running. Because I didn’t know which street this was, I couldn’t tell what was in that direction of the street.

"None of my business."

He whispered, walking towards the door of the milk delivery company with his notepad under his arm. This is not a factory, just an office building for the distribution department. The yard is surrounded by a two-story yellow building, and an old dog that looks a bit old is lying at the door.

The dog also glanced at Shade who was approaching here. When he saw that Shade was just stopping at the door and not coming in, he stood up lazily and moved to a position where the setting sun could see him.

The name of the milk delivery company is "Silver Parrot", which is a strange name, but it is indeed on the map. The previous detective also marked that a murder occurred here three years ago.

The murder case naturally had nothing to do with Shade. He walked forward with a quarter-expanded map while constantly confirming that his position was correct.

There are not many pedestrians on the street, so you won’t bump into anyone if you keep your head down while walking. Unknowingly, in the sunset and thick fog, we followed the direction of the pipes with white steam coming out from the wall and reached the end of the street. There is a five-way intersection ahead. According to the map, the distance is probably shorter if you take the road diagonally to the left with the dessert shop.

But the intersection was almost blocked by the crowd at this time. Near the mailbox on the east side was a silverware store. The sign was scrubbed clean, but something seemed to have happened there. The team of police officers that Shade saw at the alley just now were maintaining order and preventing people from approaching.

While he stopped to observe, more four-wheel carriages came from behind Shade and from other intersections. In just a few minutes, more police appeared here. There were even some people who looked like school scholars also walked out of the carriage, not knowing what they were going to do.

Xia De didn't want to join in the fun. Now the food relief matter is the most important thing. But because there were so many people joining in the fun, he was unknowingly pushed to the front of the crowd while trying to pass the intersection.

I want to retreat, but the people behind me won’t do it. The police in front kept shouting for people to disperse. There was nothing worth seeing here.

Probably because he saw Shade being squeezed over, he had no intention of getting closer. The young police officer who had a pen in his breast pocket to maintain order kindly reminded him to be careful of the thief.

This made Shade a little nervous, and he subconsciously touched the ten-penny note in his pocket. After confirming that they were still there, out of the corner of his eye, he saw another group of policemen with guns escorting three men in civilian clothes into the silver shop.

The tallest man among them was extremely strong, and the young man walking in the middle had the temperament of a scholar. The last man looked familiar to Shade. He seemed to be the missionary who handed him leaflets in the afternoon.

"Are the missionaries in this world still working part-time as police officers?"

Thinking about the conclusion that he didn't believe, he held the coins and pocket watch in his pocket tightly, planning to leave here quickly, otherwise he would be late.

The moment he turned around and tried to squeeze back, a strange warning suddenly came from his heart. Before I could understand the reason for this feeling, I heard a sound——

boom!

The explosion was beyond everyone's expectations, and the sound almost ripped apart the eardrums, causing the crowd to erupt in screams. Although no firelight could be seen, the glass display window of the silver shop immediately shattered, and the wall seemed to tilt, causing the metal pipes on the wall to make a harsh metal twisting sound.

Fortunately, the police did not allow the crowd to surround the store entrance, so no one was injured when the panicked shouts rang out.

The crowd immediately dispersed like a flood. Shade, who was standing in front of the crowd, kept calm and wanted to leave. When he saw a middle-aged man with brown hair running towards the door of the silver shop:

"I'm a reporter! I'm a reporter! What's going on here?"

He was holding the notebook in one hand and shaking his ID in the other. He rushed towards this side more excitedly than anyone else, and was quickly grabbed by the young police officer:

"The gas pipe exploded, sir, please stay away."

After hearing this conclusion, Shade didn't believe it at all. How could a gas pipeline explosion be possible——

boom!

Another almost heart-stopping explosion sounded in the silver shop, and the oscillating air almost produced the force to push people.

Even the glass on the second floor of the silver shop was broken. The falling glass shards forced the police who were maintaining order to temporarily flee. As Shade retreated, he saw through the window that on the second floor of the explosion, there seemed to be two people fighting in a white mist, and one of them seemed to have a light on his fist.

The distance was a bit too far, and the fog that came with the sunset was also reducing the field of vision, so Shade couldn't see very clearly.

"Extraordinary?"

he thought to himself.

【Yes. 】

The woman's voice startled Shade, but knowing that the other party would not explain much, he did not ask, but quickly left here.

"The three people just now are definitely members of the church, and this happened after they entered... Sure enough, the church in this world itself is most likely an extraordinary force, and it seems to be very closely integrated with the order of the kingdom. ...In this way, the probability that the Zhengshen Church can be trusted will be greatly increased. I wonder if I will have the opportunity to use the church's channels..."

Now there are two choices. Not only the psychiatrist, but the five churches in this city also have the opportunity for Shade to contact the supernatural and understand the voice in his head.

"But how come I happened to encounter such a thing by such a coincidence?"

He followed the dispersed crowd and walked in the original direction, and the woman's voice in his mind said the sentence he had already said:

[Observe his ring. 】

Although he still didn't know what the woman's voice was in his head, Shade at least knew that the other party had no obvious malice. He immediately followed the voice and looked around, and unexpectedly saw the young man wearing a pebble ring and carrying a suitcase again, walking not far ahead.

"Such a coincidence... No matter how much I think about it, I know it can't be such a coincidence. Wait, the explosion just now has nothing to do with him, right? How could I have such an idea? There is no evidence now."

With this thought, Shade didn't want to follow him anymore. If the other person can create an explosion with bare hands like the two people in the silver shop, following him is almost equivalent to trying to replicate the tragic end of the previous detective.

"No, no."

Shade slowed down his pace, wanting to make the other party disappear naturally from his sight. Unexpectedly, the young man also stopped, took out a map to check like Shade just now, and then carried the box into the alley next to it.

"To follow or not to follow?"

The woman's voice in his head reminded me of the ring three times, so he probably wasn't bored. But Shade, who knows almost nothing about the world, must also ensure the necessary caution.

He walked forward according to his original plan. When he passed the alley where the young man turned, he naturally glanced inward and saw the man turning the corner in front and disappearing.

"To follow or not to follow."

He asked himself again, suddenly realizing that the next decision would affect his life for a long time to come.

"To follow or not to follow?"

He was asking the woman in his mind, and he heard laughter and a murmured reply:

[The path of destiny is unfolding in front of you. Guest in a foreign land, are you willing to be ordinary, or do you long for immortality? The world is like an ocean. Do you have the courage to explore the horrors beyond the isolated island of peace? The road of destiny unfolds in front of you, one leading to the extraordinary, one...]

"Chase!"

Shade gritted his teeth and entered the alley against the wall.