Chapter 11

Because he was sleeping in a strange place, Xia De woke up very early the next morning. Touching the pocket watch at the head of the bed, seeing the time was 6:30, he thought about going downstairs to see if there would be newspapers delivered. He knew that people in Tobesk City generally had the habit of ordering newspapers.

The previous detective, no matter how he looked at it, could be considered middle-class, and the nature of his work also required him to read newspapers to understand the news, so it was indeed possible for the current Xia De to inherit the newspapers in the future.

Wearing slippers and walking along the stairs to the foyer on the first floor, he looked curiously at the sealed first floor, thinking that when he had time, he could remove a wooden board to see what was inside.

Rotating the gas lamp in the foyer, it was a pity that he didn't see the newspaper inserted from the delivery slot on the doormat in front of the door.

Shaking his head with some regret, he wanted to change clothes and then go out for breakfast. But the slippers had just touched the first step, and he actually heard the sound of a bell.

There was a door rope outside the door of this apartment building. After pulling the rope, the rope would pull the gear mechanism inside the door and ring the bell located on the inside, which was a kind of simple doorbell.

"The newspaper delivery person came? No, why would the newspaper delivery person knock on the door... Could it be that it's time to pay the money for ordering newspapers for the next month?"

Xia De, whose savings were shabby, thought with some panic, calculating the money he had left, and turned to look at the door uneasily. No matter who was outside the door, he couldn't possibly know them. The possibility of collecting money was not high, and it was probably looking for the owner who was here before.

"Maybe a new client?"

In a worse situation, maybe the landlord collecting rent had arrived.

There was no structure like a cat's eye on the door, so Xia De could only come to the door and ask after translating with the language knowledge he got in his head yesterday:

"May I ask who it is?"

He immediately got the answer from outside the door, which was a familiar voice:

"Is this Hamilton Detective Agency? I am Bill Schneider, do you remember me? The psychologist from yesterday, we exchanged business cards at the door of the newspaper office opposite the Lark Club."

In this morning also shrouded in fog, the psychologist who was one of the few people Xia De knew the name of in this world came to visit him.

Not expecting the visitor to be Dr. Schneider, Xia De stood behind the door, not knowing whether he should open the door. He was only hesitant for a moment, which let the psychologist outside the door know the detective's defense:

"Mr. Hamilton, you don't have to think too much. Although it's strange to visit at this time, I have no malice. After all, time is running out, please take a look at this first."

The man outside the door said, and sent a piece of paper in from the newspaper delivery slot.

"Do you still remember what I said yesterday? Adult education, correspondence teaching. Detective, you have a very special talent."

Xia De bent down to take the paper and raised his hand to slightly brighten the light of the gas lamp in the foyer. By this light, he saw that it was an enrollment brochure.

"Hm?"

He suspected that his eyes were blurred, or he hadn't woken up yet.

The paper, about the size of A4, was outlined with silver edges in the shape of a parchment scroll. This was the enrollment propaganda document of a higher institution called "St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy." Except for the school emblem in the shape of a "book locked by a chain" at the top, there were not many patterns, and the printed text occupied most of the space on the paper.

St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy was not recruiting ordinary students; they were recruiting adult students for "correspondence."

Besides this point, the paper also wrote the ten departments of the academy, specified the tuition, enrollment time, academic year system, enrollment conditions and restrictions, and the registration process for the recommendation system. At least from these aspects, this was just an ordinary school.

"But why is there no address for the school?"

It took Xia De a long time to ask, and then he was surprised that he didn't ask whether the other party had a mental illness, actually coming over to send enrollment documents to a stranger early in the morning.

"Your observation is very keen."

The psychologist outside the door praised, and then asked again:

"Then, at least let me go inside and talk, okay? Maybe I can answer your questions, about... the other you in your head."

The voice in his head didn't appear because it was mentioned. Xia De, inside the door, opened his mouth, but still opened the door.

The middle-aged doctor carrying a briefcase, wearing a brown coat and a small silk hat, stood on the steps, wearing a pair of thick black boots on his feet. Still the sophisticated mustache, and the blue eyes that made people feel very likable:

"Don't forget your milk."

He pointed to the milk box on the left side of the door, his accent standard, probably a local of Tobesk City:

"Just now when I came, the milk delivery person just left."

"Okay, please come in."

Xia De nodded hesitatingly, examined the doctor, and tried his best to make a friendly expression. He picked up the key on the shoe cabinet to open the lock of the milk box, and the psychologist followed him into the apartment door only after Xia De got the milk bottle.

Also surprised by the part of the first floor that was sealed off, the doctor didn't say much, but followed the silent Xia De to the No. 1 room on the second floor.

Letting the doctor wait temporarily, Xia De returned to the bedroom to change clothes, and then boiled hot water to entertain the guest. Although the kitchen had no food, at least there was black tea to entertain the detective's event client, otherwise Xia De could only use plain water to entertain the guest.

Everything was packed, and the two sat down to talk.

The fabric sofa set in the living room had a considerable sense of the era, not knowing if it was an antique. Two long and two short, surrounding the wooden coffee table from four sides, very suitable for talking business with clients.

And the doctor and Xia De sat on the long sofas facing each other.

"Self-introduction is unnecessary. First, I want to make you trust me."

The psychologist Dr. Schneider with a mustache spoke first, thanking Xia De for the black tea with a smile:

"This time I came, it was really for the college propaganda paper I just gave you. First, let me describe your current symptoms—"

"Wait a minute, do the symptoms have anything to do with the school?"

Xia De asked, but he already had a guess in his heart. He was not a "local," had seen those crazy fantasies, and was more adaptable to this situation. The "St. Byrons Comprehensive Academy" mentioned by the other party was probably a type of school like Hogwarts.

"Of course it has something to do with it, please listen to me. Mr. Shade Hamilton, can you hear another voice in your head?"

Although Xia De tried hard to control his expression, he saw his failure from the smile of Dr. Schneider opposite.

The doctor added:

"That voice, is it saying some inexplicable things? And, some words are helpful to you? He will whisper in your ear, speak suddenly when you don't expect it, but has no malice toward you."

Xia De knew he couldn't hide it, so he nodded.

"And, Detective, this symptom of yours must have appeared within 72 hours."

"To be precise, 24 hours."

Xia De said.

"That's even better, then our time is still plenty. It seems that the talent awakening time is 72 hours, so I have more time to explain the situation to you."

Dr. Schneider laughed:

"The above symptoms are similar to the performance of schizophrenia, but in my eyes, it is not."

He pointed to himself, his blue eyes looking at Xia De, his speaking speed very slow:

"For a specific group of people, the existence of 'another me' is a wonderful and dangerous talent. No, it should be said that this is an initial performance of a talent. If it can be guided, then you can see a more real world, a mysterious, dangerous world. If it is not guided..."

"Return to ordinary?"

"No, worse."

The doctor shook his head:

"I don't want to deceive you, at least there is no need for this now. To put it very clearly, this is a performance sign of the 'Ringed Shushi' talent. A very rare talent. You can treat this as a gift of fate, or a curse of fate. As for 'Ringed Shushi', it can be treated as a special profession, a profession that can use... mysterious power. I hope you understand what I mean."

The doctor was deliberately observing Xia De's expression. This era was still an ignorant era, and people who believed in Zhengshen generally didn't accept concepts like "witchcraft." But fortunately, just like the doctor's investigation, the detective opposite had a problem with his head a few days ago, and only recovered because of the awakening of his talent, so his concept was different from normal citizens.

And on the other side, the guess was confirmed. Xia De nodded hesitatingly. He wanted to disguise surprise, because normal people would definitely be surprised, but at this moment his heart was exceptionally calm, even calm to the point of being a bit excessive. He thought this might be the reason for the great pressure yesterday:

"That is to say, hearing a strange voice in the ear is actually a performance form of some... system, power system? Many people are like this? Just like some people see further, some people hear more?"

Xia De asked.

"Yes, 'I am you, you are me', every Ringed Shushi is like this. If you can successfully become a Ringed Shushi, then this voice will accompany you for a lifetime, helping you for a lifetime. That voice is another you, it's just that your fields of vision are different. He will help you contact this crazy and noisy world in a more real way, contact mystery and weirdness. Knowledge, information, and even text all have dangerous power, and outside the safe ordinary world, we cannot use our souls to directly approach those powers that are enough to distort ourselves."

The doctor waited for a while, giving Xia De time to think:

"But the awakening time of Ringed Shushi talent is very short. From the first appearance of the whispering in the ear until the voice completely disappears, it will usually be within 72 hours, and not every talented person can frequently hear the voice and realize that the voice is not their own idea. They will only treat it as a hallucination, or that their ears have a problem.

So, Detective Shade Hamilton, whether it is the three major academies or the church, it is very difficult to recruit and cultivate new hands. Therefore, I said we are all lucky."