Chapter 4

"Since there is a short-term goal, then the current plan is to check the room in more detail, search for currency, find a city map, and search for books. Understand the world through text, investigate the era background and religious customs, and carefully adapt to this place. Whether to stay for three months to help the detective complete that matter, wait until I understand everything before making plans."

Xia De summarized the current situation and accepted the fact that the detective was dead. The worst situation at present was not that this world had mystery, but that there were no memories of the original owner, so he knew nothing about this world. Other than that, the status quo was still fairly good.

Standing up, Xia De walked toward the washroom.

The gas lamp in the washroom had some problems; even if adjusted to maximum power, it could only emit a faint light.

Looking at the person in the mirror in this light, dim golden hair, brown-black pupils, a male face of a distinct Western race, about 20 years old, the expression seemed a bit nervous, and the height was around 1.8 meters.

After all, he was a homeless person before, so his appearance wasn't particularly outstanding, but in Xia De's own aesthetics, it could be considered fairly good.

"This is me; don't be scared by the stranger in the mirror in the future."

He carefully exhorted himself in his heart, but didn't leave the front of the mirror immediately. Instead, after carefully looking around, he whispered:

"Hey, hello, are you still there?"

He tried to communicate with that whispering woman's voice again to determine what exactly the other party was. But there was no result for a long time, so he had to accept reality and give up for the time being.

Next was to find currency. When searching the kitchen just now, he didn't find any food, and this body was obviously hungry, so he needed to temporarily forget other troubles, get money, and eat.

But an accident happened again. About half an hour later, Xia De sat back on the sofa in the warm yellow light, the expression on his face having an indescribable panic.

In his hand was a banknote with the number 10 written on it. The banknote had many creases and stains and was smaller than the cards in the diary. The number side had a portrait of a person, and the back had the coat of arms of the Delarion Kingdom royal family where he was currently located.

Searching the whole house, rummaging through all the books and files, and emptying all the pockets in the wardrobe, Xia De actually only found this one banknote that seemed to have accidentally slipped into the gap behind the bookshelf.

"Could it be that the cost of living in this world is special, and this one banknote can let me survive for three months?"

Even using this joking method to comfort himself, he knew it was impossible no matter how he thought about it.

"This is bad."

He leaned back slightly, letting himself lean against the sofa back, closed his eyes, tilted his head up, and looked at the white ceiling:

"Mr. Hamilton, where exactly did you hide the money? I agreed to stay, you don't have to not leave me a penny..."

Even though he felt terrified, he really wanted to catch up with the carriage pulling the coffin at this moment and shake the corpse in the coffin awake to question him.

If the language was not understood, then being clever could also allow one to live; if the body was disabled, as long as one lived bravely, survival was not a problem. But having no money was completely impossible.

Mr. Sparrow Hamilton obviously didn't cook at home in the past. There wasn't even a vegetable leaf in the kitchen, so there wouldn't be any mouse corpses. Xia De didn't know when this body last ate, but he obviously needed to eat now.

Considering that human limits exist, Xia De had to immediately find a way to find money or find a way to make money, otherwise he might be forced to find a restaurant from a map after sunset and try his luck in the trash can in the alley outside the restaurant.

"No, it won't happen."

He looked at the only banknote in his hand with a very terrifying expression, his gloomy face like the sky outside:

"Although I don't know the face value, at least it's money. There's also the 【Sun 3】 card in the diary; these can let me survive. However, since I can't find money for the time being, I must consider long-term channels for making money."

The knowledge of a transmigrator might be valuable, but realizing knowledge in a strange place is not only troublesome but also dangerous, not to mention that this world itself has mysterious powers.

He thought that this was a detective agency, and Mr. Hamilton seemed to have said before he died that he had left some relatively safe tasks so that the "not very bright" Xia De could maintain the identity of a detective and keep the detective agency running.

Since he hadn't found the dead detective's coins for the time being, he had to prepare for the worst and consider his future means of making a living.

"Speaking of which, Mr. Hamilton knew that Shade—the original Shade—didn't have high intelligence, so what he left behind must be simple tasks to maintain the operating state of the detective agency. So, maybe he has already solved those cases, and I just need to go to the door to collect the money! Although this world has mystery, at least, the life of ordinary people is the mainstream."

Xia De suddenly had inspiration. He stood up and took the diary in the shadows from the bedside table in the master bedroom, and found the account book, memo, and work log that were the detective's legacy from the study. Although he didn't find money just now, these things were all found.

Detective Sparrow Hamilton was a very organized and rigorous person. Even though Xia De hadn't studied accounting or business management, he thought his records of the agency's operations were detailed to the point of being moving. Of course, it was mainly Xia De who was moved, because the cases currently unsolved by the agency were really all very simple, and most of them had been completed.

"Finding Miss White's sister who ran away from home, tracking Mr. Lawrence's mistress, finding the lost orange cat Little Mia, asking about a doctor who can treat eye diseases... They all look very simple and not very dangerous. Oh, Mr. Hamilton has already handled most of them. If I want to stay and manage this place, solving one thing thoroughly in two or three weeks is enough for this place to continue operating."

Xia De summarized while flipping through the report written by Mr. Hamilton. But what he needed now was not to operate the detective agency for a long time, but just to get a sum of money first to maintain his short-term livelihood.

Comparing the remaining difficulty, payment method of remuneration, and the amount of remuneration of the four things, Xia De decided to solve the commission of "tracking Mr. Lawrence's mistress" first.

Judging from the case report, Detective Hamilton had been tracking for several months, but had stopped tracking recently because his health was not good. In fact, the current report could be handed over to the employer to settle the remaining payment. But Mr. Hamilton left a note in the report, specifically taking care of Xia De's poor literacy, all of which were simple words.

The note said that if he intended to complete this commission, it was best to have recent records before submitting it, so that the remuneration could be a little higher, and it would also avoid the employer's suspicion.

That is to say, Xia De only needed to track one more time to complete the commission. Although this was not a perfect completion, at least it met the requirements of the employer, that is, Mr. Lawrence's wife, enough to get the balance of the commission marked as "1 pound 7 shillings," which was 1 pound 4 shillings.

Judging from the tone of the detective's notes, this was a considerable remuneration.

Choosing this commission was not only because of the remuneration, but also because Detective Hamilton had handled many commissions like helping a wife catch a mistress. It was the simplest commission and wouldn't cause any trouble during the final handover. Sparrow Hamilton was not a famous detective, but he was very good at handling extramarital affair investigations.

Xia De didn't want to stay in this terrifying house where someone had just died to drink cold water and eat paper to fill his hunger, so he prepared to set off to investigate, striving to submit the report to the employer before dusk.

"No problem, first get the first sum of money through this commission, then slowly explore the secrets of the dead detective, figure out the source of the voice in my head, everything will get better!"

He encouraged himself in his heart, first found the city map, and according to the legacy report of Detective Hamilton, combined with the calendar on the wall, inferred the location where the mistress named "Mrs. Lasoya" might appear. These were simple tasks, and the most difficult step was to find the current location in that "Tobesk City Map."

There were many annotations on the Tobesk City map of the agency, left by the previous detective, and even marked the taverns he often used to listen to news and the location of the black market for trading "sensitive items."

But the original detective didn't have the habit of marking his own home on the map. Fortunately, when Xia De was rummaging through the materials, he found a past tracking record with the action route of that operation, so he determined that the location of this apartment was at No. 6 St. Deran Square in the city center of Tobesk City.

"Thanks to Detective Sparrow Hamilton's detailed records... This is... a house by the square near the city center, hm? How much should the house price of this kind of house be?"

Xia De was surprised, and at the same time, he found a palace building complex called "Yodel Palace" just two streets away from St. Deran Square.

And judging from that crumpled newspaper, on the front page, the news of "the whole city carrying out the third round of steam pipe transformation," and the second page between the "investigation report on the collapse of the ancient high tower of Karas Mountain" on the third page, it was mentioned that "Yodel Palace" was the residence of the Delarion Kingdom royal family.

Xia De, who didn't have a house in his previous world, felt his heartbeat suddenly accelerate, and the panic and nervousness were even washed away by a momentary surprise.

He looked at the document in his hand and muttered to himself:

"That is to say, the location I am in now is the capital city of one of the two major kingdoms suspected to be in the world, the Delarion Kingdom, and it is an apartment next to the city center square... I actually have this kind of house, and I still have to worry about being starved to death?"

The oppressive mood from just now suddenly relaxed, but the house couldn't be realized immediately, and Xia De didn't intend to really give up on Mr. Hamilton's three-month commission. At least gain a foothold before considering it.

But at least a very sincere smile appeared on his face, replacing the nervous expression. With a house in this location in hand, there was no need to worry about the future... The smile on his face gradually disappeared, and Xia De realized that he had even flipped to the will just now, but he didn't flip to any house deed or property deed.

"This apartment wouldn't be rented, would it?"

The more he thought about it, the more possible it was. If he could afford a house in this location, why would he need to open a detective agency? Collecting rent would be enough to support himself. Even if the detective's original operation wasn't just to make money, judging from the interior decoration, this didn't look like a house that belonged to Detective Hamilton himself.

"That is to say, I very likely still have to pay an unknown amount of rent every month?"

Xia De incredibly reached this conclusion and looked at the calendar hanging on the living room wall again.

Now it was the Month of Sunshine in 1853, which was the third Saturday of June. If he really had to pay rent, the possibility of paying at the beginning of each month was very high.

"This world also has a twelve-month system, and the date of each month is very similar to before... Or should I just run? Pack clothes, pull a suitcase, carry a bucket, and run away, starting this journey of the mysterious world as a homeless person... Staying here not only has no income, maybe Mr. Hamilton also left me debts I don't know about."