Chapter 471: Death of a Blind Man

The musician Mr. Bundy's eye disease was congenital. He was forty-one years old this year, unmarried, and lived alone in an apartment in the lower city district. Xia De admired this kind of blind person living alone. Although forty years of life might have made him used to groping in the dark, having the courage to live alone still made Xia De, who hadn't tasted the taste of blindness, feel great admiration.

The alley where Mr. Bundy lived was called Rotten Fish Alley. You could tell from the naming method that this was just an inconspicuous place in the city. You couldn't find the location of this alley on the city's travel map; only on the map left by Detective Schluch Hamilton could you find it in an inconspicuous corner of the north of the city.

Detective Schluch Hamilton wrote small characters with a pencil to make a note for this alley. The content of the note was that you could find loan sharks in the surrounding area of Rotten Fish Alley, and you could even find people selling contraband through certain secret codes.

Xia De set off from Saint Deran Square, first took a carriage to Chant Square in the lower city district, then walked north along the bustling northern street of Chant Square with the children running wildly.

The weather was quite good today, and Xia De didn't walk too fast.

He chose the northwest one at the five-way intersection at the end of the street, turned into the street, and walked inward at the second alley. After carefully avoiding the feces and garbage piles on the ground, he covered his mouth and nose with his raised collar, passed through the alley, and came to the entrance of the slum centered on a large locust tree.

Walking west along the slightly wider alley, walking through those old, dilapidated apartment buildings standing here, observing the direction of the gas pipes under the walls, he knew he hadn't walked the wrong way.

After passing an empty building that had been burned by fire and had no one living in it, Xia De finally saw the towers on both sides and the gray stone suspended corridor connecting the two towers.

Crossing the door hole under the corridor was the range of Rotten Fish Alley. After walking in, Xia De understood the naming method of this alley. The whole alley was filled with a smell of dead fish. This smell was different from the smell of mermen he had smelled in Coldwater Port and the smell of fresh live fish.

He guessed that a certain house nearby might have been used as a warehouse by aquatic product operators, otherwise this rich smell wouldn't have appeared here.

Xia De was very worried that when he went home, Little Mia would be smoked by the stench on his body.

The blind musician Mr. Frank Bundy, who lived alone, lived on the first floor of Apartment 13, Rotten Fish Alley. Xia De found the house along the faded and rusty doorplate. After knocking on the door, he was surprised to see the door open a crack.

This door wasn't locked at all.

He of course wouldn't rush into someone else's house rashly, so he stood at the door and shouted:

"Is Mr. Frank Bundy at home?"

If that gentleman wasn't at home, he could only be performing at the Noshan Opera Troupe.

He was worried that no one would answer, but unexpectedly, almost as soon as Xia De finished shouting, a grumpy man's voice came from the house:

"Bundy? He's dead."

Then footsteps appeared, and a man with a big beard, a head shorter than Xia De but with a slightly fat figure, walked out. Although the voice was grumpy, he looked kind.

"Dead?"

Xia De, who was on the

"Sorry, I am looking for the blind musician Frank Bundy. May I ask if he is truly dead? How did this gentleman die?"

He asked hurriedly.

"I am the landlord of this house. Who are you?"

But the bearded man did not answer the question immediately; instead, he asked with a frown. Xia De immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out a one-shilling coin:

"I am this."

"Oh, I see."

Squinting at the coin and taking it into his hand, the man's tone softened significantly:

"You're too late. Frank committed suicide in the middle of last month. Right here in my house. He got hold of some contraband drugs, and after taking a large amount, he was screaming manically in the house, crashing into things everywhere. When the tenant upstairs came down to check on the situation, Frank was already beyond saving. The poor man gave his suicide note to the neighbor upstairs and passed away on the way to the hospital... Oh, what a poor man."

The man shook his head with some sadness.

Judging from the information from Detective Sparrow, Frank Bundy had lived here for many years. As his landlord, the bearded man must have known the blind musician for many years, so it was normal for him to have such emotions when speaking of his death.

"The middle of last month..."

Xia De felt somewhat troubled. In the middle of last month, the 【Mercury Blood】 affair was nearing its end; he had not expected this commission to encounter such a turn of events at that time.

Originally, he had only wanted to check on Frank Bundy's recent situation and go find the client to submit his report after the visit. Now it seemed he should cautiously investigate further:

"Sorry, before he died, was his eyesight still in a cured state?"

"Yes, so we cannot understand it. Since he had finally managed to cure his eyes, there was no reason to give up hope for survival."

The landlord said.

"Then, may I ask if you have read his suicide note? Where is the note now? I want to know the reason for that gentleman's suicide."

As he spoke, Xia De handed over another one-shilling coin.

He did not use his MI6 credentials because it was completely unnecessary; if he used his credentials for every little thing, it would greatly increase the chance of Xia De's identity as an agent being exposed.

"We didn't read the note. Frank asked us to send it to the Noshan Opera Troupe. He left the furniture he had purchased to me and gave his other assets to the troupe. Sir, if you want to see the suicide note, you can go to the opera troupe to see it."

Xia De bit his lip. He had not expected that a commission he thought would be simple would become complicated. After thinking for a moment, he asked again:

"Then, before that gentleman died, did he say anything or exhibit any strange behavior?"

The bearded landlord stood at the door, hesitating, as if wondering whether he should say it. Xia De immediately went to reach into his pocket again, but the man waved his hand in refusal:

"I was just thinking about whether I should talk about the situation of that poor man after his death. Sir, I see you are a decent person, so you shouldn't go around spreading what I am about to say."

"Yes."

Xia De nodded immediately.

"Alright then. For a period of time before Frank died, his mental state had some problems."

The bearded landlord pointed to his own head, making a helpless expression:

"He seemed to be afraid of something. Even though he used to be blind, he was now very afraid of the dark and afraid of sounds that would suddenly ring out. This mental problem became more intense before he died. So, regarding his suicide, we were surprised, but not very confused..."

The bearded man sighed and lowered his voice:

"We suspect that he had been taking those contraband drugs for a while, which is why he gradually became mentally deranged."

Xia De was skeptical about this. It sounded like the blind musician Frank Bundy's mental problems only occurred after his eyes were cured.

"If you want to know more about his situation before he died, you can go to the 'Noshan Opera Troupe' and the 'Three Cats Inn' at Chant Square, where he often went to pass the time. Also, he left a last word before he died—'I was once trapped in darkness and never lamented my fate, but why must you let me see the light now?'"

Xia De frowned:

"Could Mr. Bundy's eye condition have deteriorated again? Did he commit suicide because he couldn't accept being blind again?"

"We don't know about that."

The landlord shook his head and then gave Xia De the information for the Noshan Opera Troupe's headquarters. Next, Xia De could go to the opera troupe and the Three Cats Inn to gather information, but because he wanted to see that suicide note first, Xia De planned to go to the Noshan Opera Troupe to check the situation first.

Opera troupes of any scale generally have their own headquarters to facilitate daily rehearsals and administrative work. But unfortunately, as a locally well-known opera troupe, the Noshan Opera Troupe's headquarters was not in the Lower City of the North, but near the "Tobesk Grand Opera House" in the south of Tobesk.

Within the city of Tobesk, the distribution is generally: South-Noble (higher terrain, mostly residential areas for nobles), North-Poor (Tobesk Lower City, lower terrain, more slums), East-Rich (more wealthy people and merchants), West-Dirty (relatively more textile factories, steam machinery factories, and out-of-town merchants), and Central-Power (Yodel Palace, kingdom administrative departments, City Hall, embassies). The university district is located between the core city, the South City, and the East City, so most of the famous opera houses in the city are distributed in the south and east of the city.

So, seeing that it was getting late, Xia De first took a carriage back to St. Theresa Square and had lunch with the cat. After lunch, he stayed at home for an hour to flip through books, avoiding the noon rest period, and only then set off again by carriage.

Although the daily life of a professional detective is quite leisurely, once busy, time is truly very tight.

Finding the Noshan Opera Troupe did not encounter any trouble. The troupe's headquarters was in an office building with yellowing wall plaster. The troupe's sign hung on the roof, but perhaps because of its age, most of the letters made of gas pipes were missing some horizontal or vertical lines.

When Xia De arrived downstairs, he was mistaken for an opera enthusiast coming to visit the actors by the old man at the door, and he was only allowed in after he took out his business card.

The inside of the building was also very lively. Not only were there clerical staff walking around with documents, but Xia De even encountered a group of young girls at the stairwell corner, wearing heavy makeup and patched coarse cloth long skirts, walking down from upstairs while giggling.

One of them even whistled at Xia De, which made everyone laugh.

In short, after some trouble, Xia De finally met the director of the Noshan Opera Troupe. The two met in a slightly cramped office filled with performance photos. The walls were covered with yellow wallpaper, and because of the color, the already small office seemed even more cramped.

After Xia De explained his purpose, the tall, monocle-wearing middle-aged man looked at Xia De's business card in surprise:

"Hamilton of Lei Jiede?"

"You know me?"

"How could anyone in Tobesk not know you... Do you need me to change to a better black tea for you?"

"No, that won't be necessary. I am conducting a commission and wanted to ask about Frank Bundy's situation. May I ask if I could see his suicide note? Also, after this gentleman's eyes were cured, did he exhibit any abnormal behavior?"

The knight title saved Xia De from a lot of trouble, and the director of the opera troupe was very willing to help Xia De.

He not only dug out Mr. Bundy's suicide note from the filing cabinet but even showed Xia De the belongings Mr. Bundy had left behind in the troupe.

As for the blind musician's behavior in the last period of his life, the director allowed Xia De to talk to anyone in the opera troupe at will and visit those who were familiar with Mr. Bundy.