Chapter 185: The Gunshot and the Silver Coin

The cheers and the excited chatter of the people made Xia De's ears ache, even though he was right in the middle of the scene and unable to participate.

Xia De's expression was grim. His eyes were fixed firmly ahead, and finding an opportunity, he squeezed through the crowd behind him to step back, preparing to clear some space to jog a few steps and then accelerate into a jump, sprinting across the street before the motorcade arrived.

Further away from the motorcade, a middle-aged man separated from Xia De by about a dozen people slowly withdrew his right hand from the inside pocket of his coat amidst the chaos and joy of the moment.

His eyes were fixed intently on Wang Hou Diana in the approaching motorcade, staring unblinkingly, not looking to the side at all.

Miss Beiya and her team members were at the station entrance, surrounding the Thirteenth-Circle Sorcerer who had come from afar. Her eyesight was excellent; she spotted the taller Xia De in the distant crowd at once, a smile appearing on her face as she considered whether to say hello.

Doctor Schneider, with his blue eyes, who had come to watch the excitement with friends from the psychological clinic, also saw Xia De across the street. He shook his head with a smile, sighing that he hadn't expected the detective to enjoy joining in the excitement either, so he opened his mouth, about to greet him.

Miss Miss Jia Lin Na, sitting beside Wang Hou Diana in the carriage, saw Xia De by the roadside. The red-haired duchess had no intention of greeting him.

Captain Lades, on the other side of the street, had his muscles tensed, busy lunging toward the fat woman, and did not notice Xia De.

Mr. Anluosi, the Director of MI6 in the crowd, noticed Xia De at close range, but because they had only met once, he hesitated for a moment before confirming it was him, wondering what the young detective's strange posture at this moment was meant to achieve.

Taking advantage of the policeman in front of him looking to the left toward the arriving motorcade, Xia De jogged forward two steps.

The middle-aged man watched Wang Hou Diana's face inside the carriage window, his right hand slowly withdrawing from his inside pocket.

The crowd's cheers grew more fervent, and the band waiting at the station entrance began to play, making the scene even more lively and chaotic.

Xia De frowned, pushed aside the policeman in front of him, and with a burst of strength in his legs, lunged forward, crossing the human wall.

The middle-aged man, a dozen people away, suddenly whipped the object in his pocket out with his right hand.

Xia De jumped beside the policeman.

The middle-aged man drew a pistol from under his coat.

Xia De's feet left the ground as he reached the air, his forward momentum very fast.

The gunman could not hesitate; he raised his hand toward the front and pulled the trigger.

In the instant after his finger moved, he saw a person suddenly appear between the muzzle and the carriage window.

"Huh?"

"Huh?"

Bang!

"Ah!"

A massive sound wave seemed to explode in his ears. Caught completely unprepared while in mid-air, Xia De was sent sliding toward the carriage by the immense force. He was hit accurately amidst the sound of the gunshot, then clutched his chest, fell to the ground, rolled twice, and lay motionless, face up.

Screams, the echo of the gunshot, shouting, angry curses, the neighing of horses... these sounds grew fainter and fainter in the ears of Xia De, who lay on the ground.

Lying on the ground, he looked past the clothes flashing by him, watching the thin mist above and the glaring sunlight piercing through it. The sunlight spilled onto his face, onto his bloodless face.

Time seemed to stop at this moment. He didn't know what the situation was just now, only that he had been shot precisely in the left chest.

"So this is bad luck..."

Footsteps scattered chaotically in his ears, shoes trampled the ground, hemlines swept past his legs, and more incomprehensible sounds mixed together, but none of this mattered anymore. The cold earth was beneath him, and above him was the gloomy, oppressive sky.

"Xia De!"

"Detective!"

"Hamilton!"

"Detective Hamilton!"

"You..."

The crowd was moving away from him. In a daze, he saw Miss Miss Jia Lin Na in the carriage through a gap in the crowd, saw Captain Lades tackle the fat woman, saw Miss Beiya walk over to check what had happened, saw Doctor Schneider standing on tiptoe behind the crowd with a panicked expression, and saw Mr. Anluosi frantically trying to grab the man who had fired the shot.

But the two were too far apart, and Mr. Anluosi could not immediately cross the crowd.

The middle-aged man who fired the shot looked at the young man lying on the ground, gave a bitter smile as if mocking himself, and aimed the pistol at his own head.

Bang~

Xia De shifted his gaze, lying there looking at the gray, misty sky, scenes from after he arrived in this world flashing before his eyes. His expression became calm...

Then he heard laughter in his ears, which was definitely the sound of mockery.

"That's not right. I only threw out a 9, so how could I be shot dead in the street and left exposed?"

Amidst the astonished gazes of Miss Miss Jia Lin Na, Captain Lades, Miss Beiya, Doctor Schneider, Mr. Anluosi, the onlookers, the police maintaining order, the Royal Guard, and Wang Hou Diana, who was being urgently protected, Xia De nimbly supported himself on the ground and sat up.

He brushed the dirt off his clothes and looked at his own body:

"Why doesn't my chest hurt anymore?"

Muttering to himself, he reached toward his left chest under the gaze of everyone nearby. The custom-made pistol and bullet were indeed powerful; he felt the pocket on the chest of his shirt, paused for a moment, and took the object out.

Round, exquisite, small, cold, the silver material reflected the sunlight that was currently piercing through the overcast clouds and thick fog.

The bullet head was embedded with absolute precision in the center of the "Dawn Cathedral 1053 Holy Prayer Festival Commemorative Coin." The silver coin was dented, but the gap on the holy emblem had the circular ring clamping the bullet head tightly.

"Oh~"

He scratched his head, inexplicably wanting to laugh, and stood up to look at everyone around him.

In the distance, there was still shouting, still noisy sounds, and police whistles echoing under the sky. Police were cordoning off the nearby streets, and plainclothes officers on standby and more royal guards were surging over.

But at least the people around the royal carriage—those royal guards, the police from Reedwich Yard, the citizens of Tobesk, and the friends Xia De knew—everyone was looking at the silver coin in Xia De's hand.

Sunlight spilled onto Xia De from above. He held the silver coin, and the suicide's corpse lay before him. At this moment, he actually felt that this whole affair was full of absurdity.

He looked up at the sky, then at the people around him:

"Bad luck led to being shot in the street, but because I don't ask for much, the bad luck wasn't too bad, and I just happened not to die... Fate is fair, the manipulator will not have a good end... Ha~ I understand now~"

She chuckled softly in his ear.

He looked down at the silver coin held in his hands:

"I will never dare to manipulate fate again."

He thought to himself.

"I must donate more money to the Dawn Cathedral."

He said aloud, secretly winking at Miss Beiya and Doctor Schneider to signal that he was fine, and then, amidst the gasps of the people, he clutched his chest with a pained expression and fell to the ground, groaning:

"Oh, I've suffered internal injuries, the impact of the bullet was too..."

Xia De fainted beside the suicide's corpse, his head happening to land on the soft body, so he suffered no harm.

Of course, the fainting was faked.

The smoke from the muzzle rose into the sky, far away from the noisy and chaotic streets. Although Tobesk today was still shrouded in a gray, thin mist, it was exceptionally lively.