Chapter 10

The alley he turned into was completely a passage between two houses, so the area was very narrow, so besides garbage and filth, nothing else was piled up in the alley.

His heart was beating wildly. Xia De knew this decision was risky, but the voice in his mind was very right. If you crave the supernatural, you must accept the risk. Maybe the channels of the psychologist and the church were safe, but he didn't know anything, so for him, every path was actually a risk.

If you get it, you have to pay. He was willing to bear the risk, a small risk.

"If there is any problem, I will leave immediately."

Xia De gripped the walking stick tightly, walked forward on tiptoe, trying not to make a sound. At the end of the alley were some wooden boxes, and on the wooden boxes were wanted posters that could almost not see the text, which seemed to be a serial killer who had fled to Tobesk City.

The alley entrance could turn left or right, directly entering the slums of the lower city of Tobesk City. Xia De hid behind the wooden boxes and looked through the gaps between the wooden boxes at the direction the man just turned into.

It was also an alley, and only the young man wearing the pebble ring was there. He was now standing in the middle of the alley, looking around carefully. He even squinted his eyes to look at the sky, and after a long time, he put the black suitcase on the ground, and then took off the pebble ring on the index finger of his right hand, and in Xia De's surprised gaze, carefully kissed it.

The young man seemed to have lowered his head and said something, but Xia De didn't hear it clearly, and the wind and space obscured his hearing.

After kissing the ring surface, the young man looked relaxed.

He put the ring back on the index finger of his right hand, and thick smoke like fire immediately emerged from his body. The thick smoke emerged from the gaps in his clothes and soon wrapped the young man in it.

Xia De heard whispers in his ears, but it wasn't the elegant woman's voice in his mind. The whispering sound couldn't be heard clearly at all, as if it were chewing, and as if something was cursing.

Some discomfort appeared in his head, as if he had turned around a few times and wanted to walk in a straight line. The crazy whispering sound became more and more intense. At a certain moment, Xia De even thought he saw an evil soul rushing toward him.

Fortunately, the hallucination ended soon, but Xia De, who gradually recovered, still suspected that his eyes had problems. Because he saw that as the black smoke disappeared, the person wearing the white pebble ring in the smoke walked out, patted the skirt lightly, and then bent down to pick up the suitcase.

Mrs. Lasoya turned her head and looked around carefully again, the corners of her mouth seeming to be smiling. Confirming that no one saw this scene, she finally walked toward the other side of the alley with the suitcase.

Xia De covered his mouth and leaned against the wall, hiding in the gap between the wooden boxes and the wall, and didn't dare to move for a long time.

Just now Xia De was still puzzled by the church investigation personnel working part-time to distribute flyers. Now he understood that the other party might be like the clumsy detective Shade, also monitoring Mrs. Lasoya at the door of the club.

And when Xia De walked out of the alley entrance again, the three moons of silver, yellow, and red had already hung in the sky together, among which the yellow moon was white, and the light was the most obvious. The night here was as peaceful as the past world.

This street was a bit remote, so there were no street lamps. In the dim light, Xia De didn't know what expression he had at this moment. It took a long time before he took out his pocket watch. It was already close to eight o'clock in the evening. He stood in the wall crack for a full two hours before daring to leave. He didn't even know his physical quality was so good.

"Relief food is out of the question."

He shook his head somewhat decadently, and his mood was indescribably bad. Along the street, he walked toward the direction of home. Even if he had to be hungry, at least there was a house to live in, so the situation was not too bad.

The key now was that the commission to investigate the mistress, which was rich, seemed to be unable to continue.

Clearly, Mrs. Lasoya had the ability to turn into a man with a ring, or the young man had the ability to turn into Mrs. Lasoya with a ring. Xia De of course couldn't report this information to the employer, and he also didn't want to hand over the report of the dead detective, just pretending that nothing had happened.

Once the report was submitted, Mrs. Lawrence would inevitably let Mrs. Lasoya know that a detective had been tracking her without her knowledge because of the conflict between her and Mr. Lawrence. Even if the report didn't involve any secrets, Xia De couldn't guarantee what Mrs. Lasoya would do.

"This world is really a bit more troublesome than I thought... Does Mr. Lawrence love a man or a woman?"

Maybe Mrs. Lasoya was a good person, and turning into a man was not something that harmed others. But just coming to this world for less than twenty-four hours and encountering this kind of thing, Xia De had a considerable sense of crisis.

"Maybe the supernatural in this world also follows the rule that the supernatural will attract the supernatural."

He thought exhaustedly and walked along the street. Because he was worried about being robbed by people in the dark, or being harassed by drunks, or even bumping into illegal transactions, Xia De, who only had a walking stick and a fruit knife, didn't even dare to walk in the alley to take a shortcut home.

"Today is really unlucky..."

Turning left at Old John's Pawnshop at the street corner, thinking about sleeping in a house where someone had just died, his mood was even worse.

"Since there is the supernatural, then maybe there will be ghosts... Don't scare yourself... Wait, where did I turn just now?"

Stopping his footsteps, he tilted his head and retreated, seeing the signboard of "Old John's Pawnshop" again, as well as the inside of the shop where the gas lamp was still on.

"Alright, didn't think there was such a move, actually it's not unlucky. It will always get better."

Sighing slightly, he pinched the pocket watch and pushed open the door of the pawnshop.

In the end, he didn't pawn the pocket watch, but pawned the walking stick. The pocket watch was a very important daily tool, while the walking stick was dispensable. More importantly, the value of the pocket watch was not high. The owner of the shop, an old man who called himself John Jones, only wanted to pay 10 shillings, the reason being that the surface of the pocket watch had many scratches and might often be placed with the key ring.

But for that walking stick, he was willing to pay a price of 1 pound 12 shillings.

"Do you understand at all? This is the heartwood of natural snow cedar in the Delado mountains. Look at this texture, look at this workmanship. If you can provide information about the craftsman who made it, I might be able to pay more."

The old man seemed to be complaining that Xia De didn't know the goods. After confirming that he wanted to pawn this walking stick, he also exhorted him that if he didn't come to redeem it within half a month, then this walking stick would belong to the pawnshop.

Xia De of course understood that the price of the walking stick was definitely more than 1 pound 12 shillings. But he really had no mood to bargain now, and finally just took away two 1-pound banknotes and signed the contract to leave.

According to the cost of living, this money was enough for Xia De to live quite well within two weeks. If he lived frugally, not including the possible rent, it could support life for a month and a half. This money was even enough for him to dig up Sparrow Hamilton, publish an obituary in the advertising section of the newspaper, and hold a shabby funeral for the detective again.

Of course, he didn't have this idea for the time being.

"But the short-term food and clothing problem was solved. About the supernatural, about mystery, what exactly should I do?"

He ate dinner at a restaurant very close to the pawnshop, experienced the taste of thick soup with meat steak, and then walked home on foot.

When he returned to No. 6 St. Deran Square, it was already close to ten o'clock at night.

After checking that the hair left when he left was still in the original position, he entered the room. Carefully rotating the gas lamp on the wall of the living room, letting the light gradually appear, he then threw himself on the sofa exhaustedly. From the open door of the master bedroom, he could see the bed where Sparrow Hamilton had lain.

Xia De was determined to contact the supernatural in the near future, rather than living in ignorance. Although there was no definite danger yet, this world was not simple. Xia De didn't intend to find a way to solve it after encountering danger.

And the methods he currently mastered that might help him contact the supernatural totaled three.

First was that Mr. Bill Schneider, the psychologist who gave Xia De a business card; second was the five Zhengshen Sects in the city, visiting the church might have gains; last was Mrs. Lasoya herself. She must know the supernatural, and contacting her was also a method.

Each of the three had its pros and cons, but in the end, it was Xia De's understanding of this world that was too little, and he didn't have any channels to understand. Before going out today, he checked the map. This city didn't even have any public libraries to let him obtain free knowledge.

There were some private libraries in the city, but they also had to be introduced by acquaintances and pay a considerable fee before they could become a member of the library, and Xia De obviously didn't have this money now.

All he could rely on were the materials left by Sparrow Hamilton, but this gentleman didn't have the habit of collecting books, and this gentleman was obviously just an ordinary person.

Through the death of Sparrow Hamilton, investigating the cause of his death might also contact the supernatural, but this was undoubtedly a very dangerous approach, and Xia De's reason refused to do so.

"Can you give some suggestions?"

He patted his head, but only heard the woman's chuckle. It was the voice in his head that made him complete all the work of "investigating Mr. Lawrence's mistress," otherwise, relying only on him, it would be impossible to discover the secret of the ring.

He hoped that the voice could give hints again, but didn't get a response.

"People still have to rely on themselves."

He said to himself in a low voice, tilted his head to look out the window, and looked at the night sky where the three moons he had never seen appeared together. So magnificent, so mysterious, so intoxicating. Especially the silver moon among the three moons, every time he stared at it, he could feel his oppressive mood get a little better.

"Anyway, can't wait. Although there is no danger yet, since I have the initial plan to live as a detective, I must have the power of self-protection and must know how complicated this world is. Otherwise, Detective Sparrow Hamilton will be my end."

With money in his pocket for the time being, he shelved the idea of continuing other investigations and moved the main goal to contacting the supernatural.

"Church, psychologist, Mrs. Lasoya..."

He didn't think much of the last option, because the other party's appearance today and the investigation of the church and police seemed to overlap, so he instinctively thought that the other party didn't seem to be a good person. He was a bit moved by the first option. According to simple understanding, the Zhengshen Sect in this world was relatively open-minded.

But that was only his understanding. He couldn't make plans because of such a simple idea. And he was not a believer of any god, and as a homeless person, he had never been to a church. Whether the church's open-mindedness was aimed at people like him was hard to say.

"Maybe... I can investigate for a few more days. Now I don't have to worry about starving to death, and pawning some legacies can also support for a long time. As long as the possible rent collector doesn't appear, I have plenty of time to investigate. Centering on these three choices, I can always find the most suitable one."

With such thoughts, he fell asleep in the bedroom belonging to the original Shade in the apartment and spent the first night in the new world.

In the haze, he seemed to hear the woman's laughter in his mind again. That laughter made Xia De unexpectedly at ease. This night, he had a very relaxing dream, sitting on the ridge of the field and looking at the silver moon in the sky.

Accidents always break existing plans, and Xia De's plan of choosing one of three was disrupted early the next morning.